Unmasking Requests and Small Business Administration Programs — Congressional Record, Senate, May 20, 2020
Summary
Page S2533 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for May 20, 2020. Remarks on unmasking requests state that, before General Flynn's name was unmasked, Power submitted seven separate requests, Clapper three, and Brennan and Lew two each, and that the name was unmasked in response to 39 separate requests. The speaker cites the Department of Justice inspector general, Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and the Attorney General. Later remarks cover Small Business Administration programs, Memorial Day and Oklahoma wheat.
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“Unmasking Requests and Small Business Administration Programs — Congressional Record, Senate, May 20, 2020.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-05-20-crec-2020-05-20-pt1-pgs2533-ab1934234f/
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May 20, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2533
The meticulous requirements Con- You have to wonder, why are these The proper investigative and prosecutorial
gress mandated in the Foreign Intel- high-ranking officials, including the standards of the Department of Justice were
ligence Surveillance Act and the pains- Vice President of the United States, abused, in my view, in order to reach a par-
ticular result. We saw two different stand-
taking procedures of the FISA Court unmasking the name of an American ards of justice emerge, one that applied to
were created to help instill trust and citizen in foreign intelligence on an eve President Trump and his associates, and the
confidence and accountability in the of the inauguration of their successor? other that applied to everyone else. We can’t
institutions charged with protecting Then-U.N. Ambassador Power sub- allow this ever to happen again.
our national security, while at the mitted seven separate requests. Direc- I agree with the Attorney General.
same time protecting our privacy and tor Clapper, then-Director of National This entire matter has been riddled
civil liberties. Sadly, much of that Intelligence, submitted three. Director with a combination of exploitation,
trust has been destroyed by these rev- Brennan and Secretary Lew each sub- abuse of power, and possible crimi-
elations uncovered by the inspector mitted two. nality. At the very best, it highlights
general of the Department of Justice, Somehow—I know this sounds dysfunction, but at worst, it looks like
and sadly, another recent development strange, working in Washington, DC— a coordinated effort by one administra-
has sown even more distrust and sus- somehow, once General Flynn’s name tion to abuse its power, to sandbag and
picion of the FBI and the Department was unmasked in response to 39 sepa- undermine its successor.
of Justice during the previous adminis- rate requests from Obama-era officials, Despite the time and taxpayer dol-
tration, their motives, and the legality that information was leaked to the lars that have been funneled into the
of their actions. press. In the intelligence community, Russia-related probe, it has provided
Last week, the Acting Director of intelligence is shared based on the need no evidence of collusion that we
National Intelligence, Richard Grenell, to know. What I want to know is, what thought and were told was its object.
provided a declassified list of senior need did these 39 Obama-era officials Instead, it has highlighted men and
Obama administration officials who have for this surveillance, which in- women at the highest levels of govern-
made requests to unmask the identity cluded the name of a U.S. citizen? I ment using their positions for political
of Michael Flynn. Masking the name of suspect it was done because—what nat- purposes. This is a far cry from the
a U.S. person in foreign surveillance is urally happens next? The more people peaceful transition of power our fore-
routinely done to minimize the intru- who know, the more likely the infor- fathers wanted and provided for.
sion into their privacy rights. mation is to leak to the press in serv- When exiting the Constitutional Con-
I know trying to keep up with the ice of a narrative. vention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was
flood of facts about these incidents can While unmasking can be legal if done approached by a group of citizens who
be a challenge, so let’s quickly recap. by the rules, leaking that information asked what type of government the del-
General Flynn was a member of the is not. It is a crime. It is a felony pun- egates had created. He famously an-
Trump campaign, and at the beginning ishable by up to 10 years in prison. swered ‘‘a republic, if you can keep it.’’
of the administration, he was named as As I mentioned, when it comes to un- In order to maintain this grand Re-
the National Security Advisor. We derstanding this investigation, there is public, we must be able to trust our in-
know his tenure was short-lived. Only a lot of information to sort through. stitutions, especially law enforcement
a few weeks after assuming the post, That is why I am glad that Chairman and the intelligence community. We
General Flynn resigned after a storm LINDSEY GRAHAM, chairman of the Ju- need to respect the choices of the
erupted when leaks were published diciary Committee, plans to hold ex- American people in our elections,
about his conversations with Russian tensive hearings into this whole which provides those elected with le-
Ambassador Kislyak. mater—something that the Presiding gitimacy and authority. These are es-
I am not here primarily to talk about Officer and I will participate in as sential to a constitutional republic
General Flynn’s case. That is in the members of that committee. But I like ours.
hands of the courts. But the list of worry that in the process of leaning in, These revelations about actions from
Obama-era officials provided by Acting trying to connect the dots in a very Obama administration officials under-
Director Grenell gave us some unset- complex situation, we could lose sight mine that trust, and we must and will
tling details about the larger context of the big picture. get to the bottom of it so we can en-
of the whole Russia investigation. If an It appears that high-ranking officials sure that it never ever happens again.
American citizen is intercepted in con- from a political party used their posi- I yield the floor.
nection with foreign intelligence, the tions to gain and leak information on a The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs.
name of that person is masked when political rival. We are not just talking BLACKBURN). The Senator from Mary-
intelligence reports are disseminated about one or two rogue operators here; land.
in order to protect their identity and more than three-dozen senior officials SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
their privacy, but it is not unusual for released that information to the media Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I
intelligence officials to request that only 8 days before the end of the think each person in this body recog-
somebody be unmasked. It could be Obama administration. nizes the importance of small business
critical to a counterintelligence inves- Add to this the rapidly growing list to our economy and to our way of life.
tigation or to understanding the na- of wrongs we have learned about so far: Small businesses are called the job cre-
ture or context of the intelligence. the inspector general report on the for- ator in our economy. They create more
Here, over the course of about 6 eign intelligence surveillance abuse, jobs than larger companies. They pro-
weeks between late November 2016 and the infamous texts between Lisa Page vide innovative ways in order to move
January 2017, 39 separate Obama-era of- and Peter Strzok, the first altered and forward on our economy. They can fig-
ficials made unmasking requests—39. now missing 302 for Michael Flynn, ure out better ways to do things more
This list is very odd. It included a Susan Rice’s inauguration day email to efficiently, meeting the needs of the
range of high-ranking officials at the herself. Well, there is political intrigue people of our community.
Departments of Treasury and Energy and manipulation written all over this. They are also more vulnerable. They
and a number of Ambassadors and even Here is the point. Our intelligence don’t have access to the type of capital
NATO officials. It extended to the community and system of justice must that larger companies have. They don’t
highest levels of the Obama adminis- not be manipulated for political pur- have the resiliency. So when COVID–19
tration—U.N. Ambassador Samantha poses, and they certainly must not be struck, we recognized—those of us in
Power, CIA Director John Brennan, used as a tool to disrupt the peaceful the Senate and the House recognized
FBI Director James Comey, the Presi- transition of power that is the very that we had to take special effort to
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
dent’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, foundation of our democracy. protect the economic viability of the
and even Vice President Biden himself. On Monday evening, Attorney Gen- small businesses in our country. They
It reads like a guest list for an Obama eral Barr was asked about the inves- did not have the reserve capital and
administration state dinner. It is not tigation, and he made a comment that they did not have the resiliency to deal
what you would expect to see for legiti- I think appropriately sums up the en- with this prolonged downturn in our
mate unmasking requests. tire issue. He said: economy.
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S2534 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 20, 2020
Eight weeks ago, we came together, Then we provided debt relief for and Entrepreneurship Committee with
Democrats and Republicans, by a 96-to- those who have micro-loans or 7(a) Administrator Carranza being there
0 vote and passed the CARES Act. I was loans or 504 loans under the SBA—6 answering questions from the members
proud that a significant part of the months of relief—and, quite frankly, of the authorizing committee as to how
CARES Act responded to the needs of we don’t know a lot about how that this program is working.
small businesses. program has been working. We don’t We have to have that public hearing,
We had a working group, a bipartisan have much information about it. and, quite frankly, Senator RUBIO, the
working group. Senator RUBIO, the That is what we did 8 weeks ago and chairman of the committee, has been
chairman of the Small Business and then supplemented it with some addi- trying to get that for us, and he has
Entrepreneurship Committee—I am the tional funds. What should we do now? been rebuffed by the SBA. That is not
ranking Democrat—we were joined by The Senate has not finished its work as acceptable. We need to have a public
Senator SHAHEEN and Senator COLLINS, it relates to helping the small busi- hearing. I support Senator RUBIO’s re-
and we worked in an expedited way in nesses of America. We still have work quest that we schedule this hearing. It
order to see what we could do to help we need to do. should have been scheduled by now. We
small businesses get through COVID– First and foremost, we need to have should have already had this hearing,
19. transparency and data related to how but we are scheduling it for the week
The CARES Act provides new oppor- these programs are working. Expedi- we return, the week of June 1, and I
tunities for us to help small businesses ency does not excuse transparency and hope Administrator Carranza will ad-
during this unprecedented disaster. We accountability. Yes, we wanted to get here to the request of both the chair-
passed the PPP program, the Paycheck the money out quickly, and we got the man and ranking member to be here to
Protection Program, and provided $660 money out quickly under the PPP pro- answer questions about these pro-
billion of help for America’s small gram. That was our desire. But we need grams.
businesses. to have transparency, and we need to We have a responsibility. We have ap-
I want to compliment the men and have accountability. propriated over $700 billion. We have a
women at the Small Business Adminis- We need to get the geographical in- responsibility to conduct an adequate
tration and at Treasury for putting formation, including how many loans oversight hearing on how those funds
this program together literally over- can be given in the traditionally under- are being used.
night, and today 4.3 million loans have served communities—minority busi-
We need to do more than that. We
been given under this program that nesses, women-owned businesses, vet-
also need to recognize what is going to
didn’t exist just 8 weeks ago. eran-owned businesses, the rural com-
be the next step and what is going to
There are $513 billion in loans under munity, and the smaller of the small
come next. I will tell you, there are
the Paycheck Protection Program. businesses. We need to get information
certain things that can be done admin-
That is quite an accomplishment, but by the size of the business, the number
istratively. Some might require the ac-
there are challenges. There are chal- of employees they have, the industries,
tion of Congress, but some things can
lenges with any new program, but this and the lender types. We need to get
be done administratively, and we need
program has major concerns. When we the numbers on how much has gone to
to get that done as quickly as possible.
passed the program, we thought that 8 the nonprofit community and to affili-
weeks later, our economy would be per- One of the things we need to get done
ates and those under the NIC code ex-
forming at a much higher level than it is to make sure that the underserved
ception.
is today. We need to revisit that. All that is information we need to community gets adequate resources.
A second program that we modified have in order to carry out our respon- When we reauthorized the extra $310
and changed was the Economic Injury sibilities in the Senate. And, yes, we billion for the PPP program, we allo-
Disaster Loan Program. We provided need to get information from the Small cated $60 billion to smaller financial
an additional $50 billion of funds for Business Administration and from institutions, and that was a step in the
the EIDL loans so that the Small Busi- Treasury so that we can properly pre- right direction. I noticed that Sec-
ness Administration, which makes di- pare for additional resources that may retary Mnuchin mentioned in a hearing
rect loans, could provide $360 billion of be needed in order to fund these pro- this week that he was amenable to al-
additional loans to small businesses. grams. locating additional monies to the
The EIDL Program works with the This is not a new request that I have CDFIs. We need to allocate at least $10
PPP program. The PPP program covers made. On April 17, I joined with Sen- billion to the CDFIs and the minority
payroll for 8 weeks, plus some addi- ator SCHUMER, Senator SHAHEEN, and depository institutions in order for the
tional expenses. The EIDL Program Senator WYDEN in a letter to Secretary resources to be targeted to the under-
provides working capital so small busi- Mnuchin and Administrator Carranza served and the underbanked commu-
nesses that have been impacted by asking for this information to be made nity. But, quite frankly, I think we
COVID–19 can stay afloat. available on a regular basis. To date, need to do even more than that.
Here, the results are nowhere near as we have still not gotten that detailed I have introduced legislation with
promising. Only 252,000 loans have been information. Senator BOOKER that will help to de-
issued under the EIDL loan program So I filed legislation in order to man- velop the financial institutions in the
for under $25 billion. As I pointed out date that that data be provided, much underserved, underbanked commu-
earlier, they have the capacity for $360 of that on a daily basis. We tried to get nities. It will strengthen the abilities
billion. It has been very slow at the a UC on it, and we could not do that, of those communities to have institu-
SBA in issuing EIDL loans. but we had certain promises that infor- tions in place that can help deal with
Then we provided for grants under mation would be made available. the credit gap in the underserved com-
the EIDL Program. Initially, we pro- We are still not getting the granular munities. Our legislation would also
vided $10 billion, and we increased that information that is necessary for us to strengthen the SBA tools that serve
to $20 billion. Yet the number of loans properly evaluate this program. We the underserved communities. We be-
that have been issues or grants that need to get that information. We need lieve all of this can be done to help
have been issued under EIDL—a little to have transparency. We have to have strengthen our commitment, which
over a million—a little over $10 billion. accountability. You have heard about was in the CARES Act, to make sure
But this program has not operated as the highly visible loans that were made that all communities are fairly treated
we intended. We wanted these grants to that were given back by the pro-bas- with the tools that we made available.
be given within 3 days—we put that in ketball team and by the larger public Another thing that we can do imme-
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
the statute—and we certainly didn’t corporations. We need to see exactly diately is to get the data. That infor-
expect that the average loan would be how the money was allocated. mation can be made available now. I
between $4,000 and $5,000 when we gave Then there is a second thing we need noticed that Secretary Mnuchin has
grants up to $10,000. So challenges exist to do in addition to getting the data tried to help us get certain data, but
on both the loan and grant program and having transparency. We need to we are still not where we need to be.
under EIDL. have a hearing in the Small Business We need to get that information now.
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May 20, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2535
Another thing we can do—and, quite programs—and I hope that by oversight Decoration Day was first declared lo-
frankly, I think there is bipartisan sup- we can get the EIDL Program working cally in 1866, after the Civil War. It was
port and a willingness on behalf of the properly and get those loans out a day to remember those who gave
administration—is to deal with return- there—we can increase the size of the their lives in battle for our country by
ing citizens who were denied any abil- EIDL grants, get more information decorating the graves and remembering
ity to participate in the PPP program. about the loan forgiveness, and get the their sacrifice.
My goodness, for a person who has paid PPP program working in all commu- Now we call it Memorial Day. We re-
their debt to society, who has returned nities, including the underserved com- member all of those who have given
to the community, who is working a munities, giving more flexibility to their lives for our Nation. It is, unfor-
small business, should we say no, we businesses on the 8-week period. tunately, not those who just gave their
are not going to help them survive? We are going to need additional help. lives long past. Unfortunately, it is
They have enough challenges out Eight weeks of payroll help is not still in the painful present.
there. We certainly don’t want to take going to be enough for many small Last weekend, I sat in the agonizing
away their ability to take advantage of businesses. So as we start to consider funeral of TSgt Marshal Roberts, who
tools that are available to all Ameri- the next round, I hope that we will was killed by rocket fire just 21⁄2
cans in order to help their small busi- look at a program that is targeted to months ago. He was in the process of
nesses. I believe there is bipartisan the small businesses that need the help getting others to safety when a rocket
support for this, and we hope that we the most. took his life. He is the first Oklahoman
will be able to get that done adminis- When we passed the bill 8 weeks ago, air guardsman to ever lose his life in
tratively. After all, the restrictions our objective was to get money out battle. This Memorial Day will be very
were imposed administratively. They quickly, and we succeeded in doing different for his wife, his daughter,
can be removed administratively. that. It was successful. Now we need to their family, and the State of Okla-
Then there is another issue that we look at those small businesses that homa, because it is not just a day
need to deal with immediately, and have the greatest need. We need to tar- about sleeping in and sales on dish-
that is the 8-week restriction that is in get it to those that have had signifi- washers and cars. It will evoke the
the PPP program. It was well intended cant revenue losses. We need to target memory of TSgt Marshal Roberts and
when we passed it. It was based on the it to the underserved communities. We the hundreds of thousands of others
dollars that were available, and we need to target it to the smaller of the like him. They gave their everything
thought that after 8 weeks, by June, we small businesses. If we can target the for the sake of our liberty. Those men
would see our economy back per- program properly, the cost will be and women are not forgotten. They are
forming at a level in which small busi- our heroes, and this Memorial Day we
much less than the original cost, and
nesses could be expected to be able to will remember.
we can save businesses that otherwise
do well. Well, that is clearly not the
would have a hard time surviving. AGRICULTURE
case. We now need to provide addi- The key to what we did is that we Madam President, in this time, it is
tional help to small businesses as it re- worked together. It was bipartisan interesting to note that, with all that
lates to the 8-week period. from the beginning. We need to do that
We can do that. We recognize that. is going on, America is still eating, and
again. Our small businesses, our work- America is still moving because there
The monies have already been appro-
ers, and our economy depend upon our are essential workers who are still
priated. This does not really require
getting this right. I look forward to serving. They are healthcare workers.
any additional funding, but it will
allow us to give small businesses the working with my colleagues in order to They are grocery store workers. They
opportunity to spend the money over a get this done. are truckers. They are folks at conven-
With that, I yield the floor. ience stores, gas stations, sanitation
longer period of time. Why? Because The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
their businesses aren’t open. The 8 workers, and in power generation.
ator from Oklahoma. They are farmers and ranchers. They
weeks started the day they got the Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, I
loan. Yet today they are still not at are the refineries. Yes, they are even in
ask unanimous consent to complete my government—public safety and law en-
full operation, and some are not at any remarks before the vote begins.
operation. forcement.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without While the news every day covers
So I was pleased to see that the objection, it is so ordered.
House acted on this by extending this folks who are at home waiting to re-
NOMINATION OF JOHN F. HEIL III turn to work, at times we forget the
to 24 weeks. I hope that we could find
Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, people who are working twice as hard
common ground, because I think there
in a few minutes, the Senate will vote right now to be able to make sure that
is support on both sides of the aisle and
on the nomination of John Heil to is even possible. And we are grateful
with the administration to give greater
serve as a district court judge for Okla- for what they are doing. We are grate-
discretion on that 8-week period so
that it is a longer period of time and so homa. ful for the sacrifices of their families
We have three areas in Oklahoma: and of the hours they are putting in.
that the small businesses have the op-
the Northern District, Eastern district, But I want to highlight a couple of
portunity to spend the funds that are
and Western district. This judge posi- different groups that are unique in this
under the loan in a way that they can
tion covers all three of those, and they mix—some of the folks who are really
get maximum forgiveness of that loan,
move to wherever there is the greatest and truly behind the scenes and whom
which will also require us to extend the
June 30 date for those businesses that need, and we are in great need. This is we really don’t see a lot, but we see the
need extra time in order to bring their a position that we have needed for a end result of their products.
workers back. while, and I am proud that John Heil Let me start with farmers and ranch-
I think there is general agreement on has gone through this process. He was ers. They are folks who are on the farm
this. I hope that we can act this week overwhelmingly confirmed in his nomi- and the ranch, and they are taking
on that provision, because by the time nation process through committee. I care of our food because, as we know
we come back after recess, the very expect him to have wide bipartisan well, food does not grow in a grocery
first loans that have been issued under support when it passes this floor in a store. It actually has to happen some-
the PPP program will have reached few moments and look forward to him where by folks putting in the workout
their 8-week period, where loan for- transitioning from being a great attor- in the Sun and getting the chance to be
giveness applications are going to start ney in our State to being a great judge able to bring that crop in.
to be processed. We need to act before to serve the people of Oklahoma and We are watching it happen across my
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
that date. There is a sense of urgency. the United States on the Federal State and across the country right
We need to get that done this week, if bench. So I am looking forward to that now. In Oklahoma, wheat is coming in,
at all possible, and we should work to vote being completed. and it looks beautiful. It is green still,
try to get that done. MEMORIAL DAY but in the days ahead, as it comes in, it
Let me also point out that, even Madam President, in the days ahead, will be very important to us. But it
when we fix the problems with these we will celebrate Decoration Day. will be interesting to see this crop, if it
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