Unanimous Consent Request on S. 2828 — Congressional Record, Senate, December 16, 2020
Summary
Page S7514 of the Congressional Record, Senate, for December 16, 2020, begins with a subcommittee chairman's remarks on 5G and robocalls, noting the TRACED Act signed into law the previous December. Wyden then makes a unanimous consent request on S. 2828, saying his Eastern Oregon constituents built a coalition that brings people together on a contentious issue. A Senator says additional work is still needed and objects, and objection is heard. Wyden thanks Senator Barrasso and goes on to outline the constituents' effort, with printed material from the Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition.
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“Unanimous Consent Request on S. 2828 — Congressional Record, Senate, December 16, 2020.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-12-16-crec-2020-12-16-pt1-pgs7514-3329e43016/
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S7514 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 16, 2020
Now, 5G has the potential to offer that I have mentioned. I want to thank compromise. This give-and-take is a
tremendous benefits to rural commu- the subcommittee’s ranking member, good thing, for it lets people closest to
nities, from expanded access to tele- Senator SCHATZ, for all the work he the issue have a significant voice. So I
health services to precision agriculture has done to make our committee so ef- appreciate the efforts the stakeholders
technologies, and I am committed to fective. I look forward to continuing to on the ground in Oregon have made to
ensuring that rural communities are work with all my subcommittee col- get this bill to where it is today. How-
not left behind in the 5G revolution. leagues to advance the 5G revolution, ever, I believe additional work is still
Pretty much every American has address the challenges presented by the needed.
been forced to deal with annoying and internet age, and to make life better I would let my friend from Oregon
illegal robocalls. These calls are a for the American people. know that I will work with him and
major nuisance, and too often, they are I yield the floor. any other Senators with public lands
more than a nuisance. Every day, vul- I suggest the absence of a quorum. issues before the Committee on Energy
nerable Americans fall prey to even The PRESIDING OFFICER. The and Natural Resources. We may not al-
more sophisticated scammers and have clerk will call the roll. ways agree on a given outcome, but I
money or their identities stolen. The senior assistant legislative clerk am committed to having those discus-
I have worked on this issue for years, proceeded to call the roll. sions with Members of this body.
and in 2019 I introduced the Telephone The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. For this reason, I object.
Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement SASSE). The Senator from Oregon. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec-
and Deterrence Act, or the TRACED UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST—S. 2828 tion is heard.
Act, along with Senator MARKEY. Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, in a mo- The Senator from Oregon.
While this legislation won’t stop every ment, I am going to make a unanimous Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I know
robocall, the TRACED Act provides consent request on a piece of legisla- my colleague does have other business
tools to discourage illegal robocalls, tion on which my Eastern Oregon con- that he has to get to, but before he at-
protect consumers, and crack down on stituents have done an extraordinary tends to that, I just want to thank him
offenders. I am very proud that last De- job with respect to building a coalition for spending time with me already on
cember, the President signed our legis- that brings people together on a con- this issue. I am going to outline the ex-
lation into law. tentious issue. It deserves enormous traordinary effort that was made by
More and more, Americans get news credit, and I will describe their efforts my constituents.
and information from social media here shortly. I think we all know—and I am going
sites, and particularly during this past I also want to thank, as we begin, to discuss it—that in the West, very
election cycle, a lot of questions have Senator BARRASSO. Senator BARRASSO often, citizens feel nobody is listening
arisen about the ways that social will be taking on a new role in January to them, that nobody cares about
media platforms are filtering the infor- on the Senate Committee on Energy them. The Senator and I have talked
mation that we see. Internet platforms and Natural Resources. He and I have about this. This is kind of a question
have actively cultivated the notion worked together often, and I have ap- of, How do you empower them with a
that they are merely providing the preciated his talking with me on this framework that can help them but also
technology for people to communicate matter as he begins to look to his new serve as a model for the country?
and to share their thoughts and ideas, duties in January. So a big thanks to my colleague, and
but the reality is somewhat different. Mr. President, as in legislative ses- I am looking forward to working with
Sites like Facebook and Twitter make sion, I ask unanimous consent that the him on this and other matters next
use of sophisticated content-modera- Energy and Natural Resources Com- year.
tion tools, algorithms, and rec- mittee be discharged from further con- What Senator BARRASSO and I are
ommendation engines to shape the con- sideration of S. 2828, the Malheur Com- discussing is the Malheur Community
tent that we see on these platforms. munity Empowerment for the Owyhee Empowerment for the Owyhee Act,
Now, content moderation can cer- Act, and the Senate proceed to its im- known in our part of the county as the
tainly improve the user experience. mediate consideration; further, that Malheur CEO Act. The bill has been in
Most of us would prefer that YouTube the bill be considered read a third time the works since late 2018. Back then,
recommend videos that match our in- and passed; and that the motion to re- when a group of ranchers and business
terest. The problem is, the content consider be considered made and laid people who live in Malheur County,
moderation has been and largely con- upon the table with no intervening ac- OR, came to see me, they came to talk
tinues to be a black box, with con- tion or debate. about this incredible part of Oregon
sumers having little or no idea how the The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there they call home. It is wide open coun-
information they see has been shaped objection? try, and not many people live there,
by the sites they are visiting. The Senator from Wyoming. but those who do want to make sure
Last year, I chaired a subcommittee Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, re- they have a say in how it is going to be
hearing on this issue, and the informa- serving the right to object, I do appre- preserved and managed for the future.
tion we gathered helped inform two ciate the work the Senator from Or- When I say this bill has been in the
pieces of bipartisan legislation that I egon has done on this public lands bill. works since 2018, that is not the whole
introduced this Congress—the Filter I know the amount of effort that has story, because the fact is that the
Bubble Transparency Act and the Plat- gone into this legislation is significant. groundwork for this bill has been in
form Accountability and Consumer Locally driven public lands bills take the making for decades, and it is only
Transparency Act, or the PACT Act. an incredible amount of time to get recently that an incredible coalition of
Both of these bills would increase right. Oregonians from across the political
transparency around the content-mod- This legislation has gone through in- spectrum has come together to make it
eration process so that users have a tensive local stakeholder involvement, possible for us to propose this legisla-
better sense of how the information very similar to what we have done in tion.
presented to them is being filtered. The Wyoming with the Wyoming Public As I touched on with Senator BAR-
Filter Bubble Transparency Act and Lands Initiative in my home State. RASSO, in rural areas of the West, like
the PACT Act go a long way toward The Wyoming Public Lands Initiative Malheur County, there is often a feel-
making social media and other sites was spearheaded by our Wyoming ing that people from thousands of
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more accountable to consumers, and I County Commissioners Association. miles away, particularly in DC, think
will continue to work to advance these This initiative was started in order to that they somehow know better than
legislative efforts here in the Senate. resolve, through local negotiations, the rural citizens about what is good for
I am grateful to have had the oppor- status of so-called ‘‘temporary’’ wilder- those rural communities. I guess I
tunity to chair this subcommittee over ness study areas in Wyoming that have would sum it up as: In rural areas,
the past Congress and for the oppor- now, seemingly, become permanent. there is the sense that somehow, often,
tunity it has given me to work on the I recognize and understand that pub- elites just look down on them; that no-
important issues and the legislation lic lands negotiations often result in body is listening; that people in power
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December 16, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7515
consider them kind of simple cowboys business people came to me with a very Now, the other area I want to touch
who care little about saving land, air, improbable request for a Democratic on is—I said at the get-go and I think
and water. U.S. Senator: Would I be willing to this has implications for dealing with
Now, I have townhall meetings in work with them to pass land manage- public lands in the West. I said that
every county in Oregon. I had 970 of ment legislation that could serve as an there has got to be three requirements
them until earlier this spring when we alternative to a designation as a na- to help us all protect the land and pre-
couldn’t do them in person due to the tional monument? serve the ranching way of life.
pandemic. So we started doing them I thought this would be the point my First, we would have to bring every-
virtually. I know from all of those colleagues would be interested in: I body to the table—environmentalists,
townhall meetings that constituents in asked one member of the group if they ranchers, local folks, and we would
Eastern Oregon are actually working had come to me because they thought have to bring some of the folks from
every day to try to propose common- I might take leave of my senses and the more metropolitan area as well.
sense, practical policies to preserve say yes to their request. When I asked That is because, in effect, when I said
special places for their kids and their them, the person who was looking at that, they said: OK. You know your
grandkids. They know that they are me said: Yes, that is what we thought, way around legislation. We will try to
working for all Americans because all Ron. find common ground.
Americans own public lands. Eastern Looming over the discussion was the And there is common ground on the
Oregonians believe—and I think it is a history of this wonderful part of East- key question. In every nook and cran-
very powerful point—that nobody cares ern Oregon. I am not going to take my ny of Oregon, there are people who care
more about protecting Oregon’s nat- colleagues through a long discussion of about our natural treasures in the
ural treasures than those who live the history of the Taylor Grazing Act, Owyhee Canyonlands. Malheur County
every day in those communities and as it goes all the way back to 1932. So may keep its clock on Idaho time, but
are always thinking about what the fu- I will just start with the fact that in it is enormously loved all across our
this area, Malheur County makes up State. In my view, that alone ought to
ture is for their kids and their
most of the Vale District of the Bureau be a reason, after decades and decades
grandkids.
I will repeat that. of Land Management, which, of course, of differences with respect to how to
Folks in rural Oregon know that the is part of the Department of the Inte- manage these treasures, that alone is a
land is public land, that it belongs to rior. The Vale District was the poster reason to work together.
all Americans, and they know that The second rule of our discussions
child for ‘‘scientific grazing manage-
their communities’ futures depend on was all about we weren’t going to liti-
ment’’ in the 1960s and early 1970s
gate this with the press and outside
keeping the lands healthy and usable. under the Taylor Grazing Act. Did it
groups every time somebody had a lit-
The ranchers of Malheur County want live up to its potential? I would say it
tle question, any kind of a dispute. So,
to be active participants in improving didn’t because its efforts really were in effect, we had set it up so that other
and keeping the ecological health of not adequately funded, and it lacked groups, environmental and ranchers,
our public lands, and with this legisla- the consistent monitoring or the there was going to be a lot of oppor-
tion that we are discussing today, they adaptive management needed to make tunity for folks to have their say.
will have a real shot at doing just that. it work on the ground, and that raises And the third rule was that there
The fact is that, in some parts of the the question: What results are really at would be an understanding that we
West, there have been bad actors who issue? would respect our environmental laws.
have abused the land for their own gain The Taylor Grazing Act is about That was also very pivotal. So, in
and flouted the law in a dangerous turning cattle out onto public lands March of 2019, we got our group to-
way. For example, in 2016, a heavily and attempting to assure they don’t gether in the conference room at the
armed group of extremists that was not destroy the land, but where is the act National Guard Armory in Ontario,
from Oregon, led by members of the when it comes to fighting invasive OR, and those were the things that we
Bundy family, stormed the Malheur weeds and actually improving soil wanted to start with that we thought
National Wildlife Refuge and occupied health and responding to climate gave us a chance to build this coalition
it for weeks. There was a standoff that change and the effects of rangeland that could lead to passing legislation
people all over the country saw, be- fires? In looking at what happened over to manage these treasures. So we got
tween them and Federal, State, and the decades—the 1930s, the 1960s, the ranchers, environmentalists, local
local law enforcement. There was one 1970s—this bill says we are going to an- businesses, and we meet, essentially,
death. Further south, in Nevada, the swer those questions for 2020. every other Monday for months and
Bundys have not only stolen millions The Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coa- months.
of dollars’ worth of grazing fees from lition from Malheur County wanted to I also want to thank the Bureau of
the American people, they also basi- work together. I was glad that they Land Management and the U.S. Fish
cally pushed aside basic environmental came with their improbable request. I and Wildlife Service, Oregon State
standards laid out by the Taylor Graz- said we have got one chance here on parks, fish and wildlife management
ing Act, leading to degraded land- our watch to bring people together, to agencies, local Tribe representatives,
scapes. come up with a sensible proposal. And all of whom put in enormous amounts
Now, in Malheur County, just a few when they indicated they wanted to of time offering information, expertise,
hours of wide open spaces east of the work with me, I basically said: How and good will. I met with local county
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that could I refuse? officials, as well, relearning their
the extremists took over, our ranchers Knowing the violence that can erupt thoughts with respect to roads and
and our small business people, to their in the West when people become closed water infrastructure and their most
great credit, said: We are going to take off, when people just refuse to talk, important local economic needs. So
a different path, a better path. In that is when you have a prescription that is what really led to this legisla-
Malheur County, you don’t have the for trouble. As long as we are talking, tion.
Bundys breaking the law. Our Malheur as long as we are coming together, as Finally, what we said is that we have
County ranchers are committed to long as we are sitting with each other to make sure that people have an op-
being better and doing better, but that and maybe just having a coffee, a tuna portunity to also talk, sort of, a little
doesn’t mean they aren’t skeptical of fish sandwich, you have an opportunity bit offline. So after these sessions, we
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people coming in and changing the to come up with solutions. That is why always found a way to make it to a
rules when it comes to public lands I agreed to this. gathering place somewhere where peo-
surrounding their communities. I agreed, in effect, to try to match ple could just have a soda, perhaps
So, in 2018, the Owyhee Basin Stew- the courage of these ranchers and busi- something a little bit stronger, and we
ardship Coalition from Malheur County ness people in coming forward, and I could just take the time informally to
came to Washington to meet with me. said: If they are going to be willing to talk about what we thought the future
Senator BARRASSO will be interested in think through how to do this, I am was for this incredible part of the
this. This group of ranchers and small going to join them. world.
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S7516 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 16, 2020
Now, in closing up, I want to mention retail businesses, which I think we all Steve Russell, chair/rancher
that I think land designation discus- understand desperately—desperately— Andy Bentz, former sheriff and Cliff
sions pit people against one another in need our attention. Bentz’s brother
Linda Bentz, rancher and Cliff and Andy’s
the West if you do it the traditional I also want to thank at this point,
sister-in-law
sort of way. We needed some unity if while I am on floor, Senator GRASSLEY. Elias Eiguren, rancher
we were going to come together on a He and I have led the bipartisan effort Mark Mackenzie, rancher
bill. So that is why we wanted to make on the Finance Committee. Jaime Yturriondobeitia, rancher
sure everybody had a shared under- I see Senator MANCHIN here. He Paulette Pyle, local consultant and former
standing of how this would be ad- knows how strongly we feel about get- advocate
dressed. ting the small businesses the deduct- And members of the environmental com-
I particularly want at this time to ibility associated with these PPP munity who also sat through all or most of
the meetings that lead to S. 2828
commend Sarah Bittleman, who is sit- loans. Tim Davis, Friends of the Owyhee
ting here with me, who, month after I bring this up only by way of saying Ryan Houston and Corie Harlan, Oregon
month after month, call after call after that we are grateful to Senator GRASS- Natural Desert Association
call, email after email after email, al- LEY for working with me. He is the David Moryc, American Rivers
ways tried to keep this on focus. chair of the Finance Committee. I am Nicole Cordan, Pew Charitable Trust
I also want to mention at this time the ranking Democrat, but Senator Liz Sullivan, Northwest Sports Fishermen
our inspiration was the late Mary MANCHIN and others deserve credit for With special thanks to Brent Grasty and
Gautreaux, who was in our office for helping us get that proposal moving, Don Gonzalez at the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment without whose expertise many of our
over two decades. She was the spirit of and we made it clear we have to get discussions would have been a lot shorter.
this effort. She lived in Portland. Yet that in before we go home. Part of it is Mr. WYDEN. I yield the floor.
she was beloved—beloved—by the peo- our concern for the small retail busi- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
ple of rural Oregon, the people of nesses that we saw in the Owyhee. ator from West Virginia.
Malheur County. So with Sarah and Finally, the bill provides for amen-
Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I
Mary as the energy behind this, we ities at the Owyhee Reservoir with a
would like permission to basically be
really set out to build this coalition, marina. That is also good for the local
able to complete my remarks.
which has gotten us to this point. It economy. Recreation is a big economic
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
was a coalition driven on the fact that engine in our part of the world.
objection, it is so ordered.
people would take the time to do this And the last point I will just mention
CORONAVIRUS
right. is the bill is a compromise. Everybody
When I brought it to the attention of had to make some concessions. Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I want
Senator BARRASSO, who obviously will There are folks who feel that the en- to start by thanking all of the Mem-
play a key role in the Energy and Nat- vironmental groups got too much here. bers—and I mean all of the Members—
ural Resources Committee next year, There are folks who feel the ranchers who have worked so diligently to
the first thing he wanted to hear about and the small business people got too produce this product.
was the kind of groundwork that had much. But the fact is, all sides said: We This is the product we produced with
been laid for local input, for local have some core values and some core the so-called Gang of 8, but it turned
stakeholders. I described to him much priorities. Let’s see if we can address into a bigger gang than that because
of what we have been talking about. the core values and core priorities on more and more people want to work in
So I introduced the Malheur CEO Act both sides of this so that this spectac- a bipartisan way in the Senate. I have
in November of 2019. It was part of a ular portion of Eastern Oregon could be said: It is alive and well; we just have
legislative hearing in 2020, and let me protected and preserved and we could to exercise it more.
just very quickly describe a couple of respect and empower the people who We did that. We brought over the bi-
elements of it. It works this way: It in- call it home and work so hard to make cameral group, the Problem Solvers,
cludes range land management en- a living there. and they were tremendously instru-
hancements, loop roads to focus tourist Finally, I ask unanimous consent to mental in being involved in this proc-
travel and build the local economy, and put into the RECORD the names of all ess. I am so pleased to have that bi-
about a million acres of wilderness des- the people who worked so hard on this cameral work, bipartisan work. We
ignation. It also moves around a mil- effort—our Owyhee Basin Stewardship need more of it, and we are going to ba-
lion acres of land now being studied Coalition. They are ranchers; there are sically demand more of it. But with
into multiple-use management. folks on various kinds of environ- this product right now, as the ‘‘four
The bill implements a few key strate- mental organizations and groups; and corners’’ are working, this is the tem-
gies: a plan to let ranchers do range they deserve incredible credit for being plate they have used.
improvements, irrigation systems, re- willing to put in the time and effort on Leader SCHUMER has said that this is
moving water-sucking juniper, and re- something that seemed so improbable. what they have used because the legis-
placing invasive weeds with native Finally, I want to thank my partner lative language has already been pro-
grasses and improve the ecological here in the Senate, Senator MERKLEY. duced. There might be some tweaks to
health of the range land. He has been terrific as we worked on it, but there are so many people.
So here are the pictures to my left. this. We both share a love of the land Let me tell you how it started. My
The first is a picture of rangeland in Eastern Oregon. dear friend Senator DURBIN is here.
being overrun by weeds. The second Now it is up to the U.S. Senate to get After the election, we called each other
shows rangeland in a native, healthy this passed. It isn’t going to happen back and forth, a few of us, saying:
condition. today, unfortunately, but I want the Something has to be done. Nothing is
Now, the bill also establishes a Senate to know I am going to stay at moving. People are hurting.
Malheur Community Empowerment for it until this gets done. I think it will We heard that all during the election,
the Owyhee advisory group so on an on- be of enormous benefit for rural Or- and they couldn’t figure out why we
going basis it can advise BLM on land egon. I think it will be of enormous hadn’t done anything. I had no good ex-
management. And the bill also provides benefit for our State, and I think it planation because, basically, the two
substantial funding for the BLM so it will be a model for how our country leaders on both sides of the aisle were
can finish environmental soil surveys brings people together, particularly as locked, and I said we didn’t know how
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and carry out environmental policies it relates to issues where we have been to break it. The only way we could
associated with this bill and monitor polarized in the past. break it is by doing something showing
the implementation of the bill. There being no objection, the mate- we could come together.
The bill includes funding for the rial was ordered to be printed in the We did that. We did that in a way
study and designation of three loop RECORD, as follows: that—we had a dinner. Senator MARK
roads designed to improve the visitor The Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition WARNER from Virginia said: Let’s have
experience, keep visitors out of trou- members who sat through most of the meet- a dinner. Senator LISA MURKOWSKI
ble, and drive more traffic to the small ings: said: Come to my house. So we go to
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