Congressional Record, Senate, April 28, 2022: Vol. 168, No. 70
Summary
Senate proceedings from the Congressional Record for Thursday, April 28, 2022, Volume 168, No. 70. The Senate met at 10 a.m. with Mr. Leahy as President pro tempore, a prayer by Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black, and Ms. Rosen presiding as morning business closed. A speaker on energy says the President has called for hiking taxes on fossil fuel companies by tens of billions of dollars and is conducting a campaign against conventional energy production, which is that speaker's characterization. Mr. Toomey also moves regarding the managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, April 28, 2022: Vol. 168, No. 70.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2022-04-28-crec-2022-04-28-pt1-pgs2199-6-9c9022558f/
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Congressional Record
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117 th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
United States
of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE
Vol. 168 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022 No. 70
Senate
The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. of an energy crisis, calls for hiking
called to order by the President pro ROSEN). Without objection, it is so or- taxes on fossil fuel companies to the
tempore (Mr. LEAHY). dered. tune of tens of billions of dollars. And
f f the list goes on.
Perhaps even more troubling, how-
PRAYER CONCLUSION OF MORNING ever, is the more insidious campaign
The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- BUSINESS the President has been conducting
fered the following prayer: The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning against conventional energy produc-
Let us pray. business is closed. tion, using the long arm of financial
Almighty God, to You all hearts are f regulation and government pressure to
open, all desires known, and from You, directly or indirectly discourage in-
no secrets are hid. Strengthen all who LEGISLATIVE SESSION vestment in fossil fuels and other in-
put their trust in You. dustries disliked by his political base.
Empower our lawmakers to glorify The Securities and Exchange Com-
You by following your precepts. May AMERICA CREATING OPPORTUNI- mission recently issued a completely
they please You both in their desires TIES FOR MANUFACTURING, unworkable proposed rule requiring
and deeds. Lord, grant that the words PRE-EMINENCE IN TECHNOLOGY, publicly traded companies to disclose
they speak and the thoughts they AND ECONOMIC STRENGTH ACT information not only about their own
think will be acceptable to You as You OF 2022—MOTION TO PROCEED greenhouse gas emissions but about
pour upon them the abundance of Your The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under those of their suppliers and even their
mercies. the previous order, the Senate will re- customers—clearly attempting to
Prosper Your providence through sume consideration of the House mes- make companies diminish or outright
their efforts, according to Your holy sage to accompany H.R. 4521, which the cut ties with traditional energy. Never
will. clerk will report. mind whether this expanded environ-
And, Lord, we continue to intercede The bill clerk read as follows: mental, social, and corporate govern-
for Ukraine. House message to accompany H.R. 4521, a
ance—or ESG, as it is called—desired
We pray in Your mighty Name. bill to provide for a coordinated Federal re- by the far left can be accurately or
Amen. search initiative to ensure continued United consistently measured, much less
States leadership in engineering biology. proved to have a positive impact on the
f
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- economy or for the climate.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE But the administration doesn’t stop
ator from South Dakota.
The President pro tempore led the there. The Commodity Futures Trading
ENERGY
Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: Commission established a so-called Cli-
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, from mate Risk Unit that potentially seems
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the the beginning, the Biden administra-
United States of America, and to the Repub- designed to pressure industries into
lic for which it stands, one nation under God,
tion has displayed a hostility to fossil making certain investment choices.
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. fuels. The Federal Reserve, which has zero
President Biden set the tone on day 1 business inserting itself into debates
f
of his administration when he canceled over climate policy, is suggesting that
RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME the Keystone XL Pipeline, an environ- it should provide ‘‘supervisory guid-
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under mentally responsible pipeline project ance’’ to large banks on so-called cli-
the previous order, the leadership time that was already underway and that mate-related risks. Similarly, the Of-
is reserved. was to be paired with $1.7 billion in pri- fice of the Comptroller of the Currency
The Senator from Nevada. vate investment in renewable energy to recently issued draft principles for
Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, I suggest fully offset its operating emissions. He banks on ‘‘climate-related financial
the absence of a quorum. almost immediately froze new oil and risk.’’
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The gas leases on Federal lands and is only President Biden’s climate envoy,
clerk will call the roll. now making new onshore leases avail- former Secretary of State John Kerry,
The senior assistant legislative clerk able for sale after being ordered to do has actively—actively—pressured
proceeded to call the roll. so by a Federal judge. His first budget banks not to invest in fossil fuels. And
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask contained a series of tax hikes on con- disturbingly, the original draft of the
unanimous consent that the order for ventional energy production, and his National Credit Union Administra-
the quorum call be rescinded. budget this year, released in the midst tion’s Draft Strategic Plan for 2022 to
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∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.
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S2200 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 28, 2022
2026, though it has since been revised, found that ethanol derived by increas- problem hasn’t been this high since the
went beyond discouraging investment ingly higher crop yields has a more last time Democrats controlled the
in conventional energy production and than 40 percent lower lifecycle carbon White House.
actually suggested that investing too footprint than gasoline. Just this morning, we got a dev-
heavily in agriculture—agriculture— Beyond all this, Mr. President, is the astating quarterly GDP report. The
could be problematic for climate-re- fact that the President’s attempt to economy actually shrank 1.4 percent
lated reasons. Now, I am not sure dictate investment by privately owned over the last 3 months. No longer are
where the National Credit Union Ad- banks and credit unions and companies Democrats just presiding over a dis-
ministration thinks our food is going is a misuse of the financial regulatory appointing recovery. Now they have
to come from if banks and credit system. The President’s use of the fi- thrown the recovery into reverse, and
unions don’t provide capital to their nancial regulatory system to pressure we are actually going backward. We
farms and ranch clients. companies on energy investment has haven’t seen inflation this bad in more
All of these measures, as I said, are all too familiar echoes of the Obama than 40 years—month after month of
designed to directly or indirectly dis- administration’s Operation Choke skyrocketing prices.
courage investment in conventional Point initiative, which used the Fed- It is exactly what everyone knew
energy production and other industries eral Deposit Insurance Corporation and would happen if Democrats dumped $2
that the far left believes interfere with the Department of Justice to target trillion in printed money on an econ-
its unrealistic environmental agenda. companies whose activities the Obama omy that was already ready for a
And that is a problem. While I am a administration didn’t like. comeback. But Democrats rammed
longtime supporter of clean energy and The question also becomes, Where through the far-left spending. So work-
come from a State that in 2020 derived does this end? The government is al- ing Americans are paying dearly.
83 percent of its energy generation ready pressuring companies on fire- This week, the same Washington
from renewables, the fact of the matter arms and energy investment, and now Democrats who drove this inflation
is that our country is nowhere close to there are dangerous signs that agri- have finally figured out their response.
being able to eliminate our reliance on culture could be targeted on perceived They want to raise taxes on the Amer-
fossil fuels. Clean energy technology climate-related grounds. ican people. The Democratic leader
has simply not advanced to the point Well, what is next? Is the Biden ad- said this Tuesday:
where we can replace all conventional ministration going to pressure banks If you want to get rid of inflation, the only
energy production with renewables. not to lend to companies who don’t way to do it is to undo a lot of the Trump
And cutting off investment in clean, espouse the Biden administration’s ex- tax cuts and raise rates. No Republican is
responsible oil and gas production will treme abortion agenda or who donate ever going to do that. So the only way to get
do nothing but drive up energy prices to causes the Biden administration rid of inflation is through reconciliation.
for American consumers and increase doesn’t support? Is it going to pressure Said the Democratic leader. Now, re-
our reliance on energy from unstable banks not to lend to States with laws member, Senator SCHUMER is the same
or unfriendly countries, which, I might the administration doesn’t like? person who said in March 2021:
add, often extract energy in far less en- These are legitimate questions. As I do not think the dangers of inflation, at
vironmentally friendly ways than do we have seen more than once, the least in the near term, are very real.
U.S. producers. Biden administration doesn’t have a Now the same person who predicted
Americans are already struggling lot of tolerance for those who disagree that inflation would not happen is say-
with high energy prices, thanks, in with its far-left policy goals. Concerns ing we have to fight inflation by dra-
part, to the Biden administration’s like these are one reason why I led 10 matically raising taxes on the Amer-
hostility to domestic oil and gas pro- of my fellow Republicans earlier this ican people.
duction, and I don’t think too many month in sending a letter to the Presi- The answer for Democrats hurting
Americans are eager to see energy dent expressing our alarm with his ad- families once is for Democrats to hurt
prices rise even further. In the worst- ministration’s use of the financial reg- families twice. This is literally the
case scenario, limiting investment in ulatory system to attempt to choke off Democratic economic agenda for your
U.S. conventional energy production lending to conventional energy produc- family: high prices and less money.
could not only drive up prices but con- tion and potentially target American Republicans’ 2017 tax cuts just about
tribute to fuel shortages here at home, agriculture. And I will continue to doubled the standard deduction for
as we may end up seeing with countries work with my colleagues to ensure households. We created a brandnew
that are overly reliant on Russian en- that the Biden administration and its zero percent tax bracket for the first
ergy. And I am pretty sure there aren’t regulators are not making improper $24,000 that a married couple brings in.
many Americans who are eager to wait use of executive power to discourage Repealing that law would cut that in
in line at gas stations for a rationed investment in essential production and half and raise your taxes. That is what
amount of gas. to pick winners and losers among repealing the 2017 tax bill actually
And it is not just high energy prices American industries. means.
that Americans could have to worry Americans should not have to suffer Republican tax cuts also double the
about. If Democrats take their climate because Democrats’ climate agenda is child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000, a
hysteria as far as discouraging lending out of control. tremendous help for working families.
to certain sectors of the agricultural I yield the floor. Repealing the 2017 tax law would slash
economy, like livestock, which now I suggest the absence of a quorum. those credits in half, but that is what
seems possible, Americans could also The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Democrats say they want to do because
see food prices rise sharply. I think it BOOKER). The clerk will call the roll. of the inflation that they created.
is safe to say that it is the last thing The legislative clerk proceeded to This is Senate Democrats’ position:
American families need in an economy call the roll. Because their bad decisions have hurt
that is already beset by 8.5 percent in- Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I Americans once, the solution is to hurt
flation, not to mention the fact that ask unanimous consent that the order Americans twice. First, they hurt you
agriculture should actually be regarded for the quorum call be rescinded. with inflation, and now, they want to
as a good investment when it comes to The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without hurt you with tax hikes.
climate change considerations. Amer- objection, it is so ordered. We will see what our citizens have to
ican agriculture should be leveraged as RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY LEADER say about that later this year.
part of environmental and conserva- The Republican leader is recognized. IMMIGRATION
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tion policies, and our farmers have a INFLATION Mr. President, now, on another mat-
vested interest in our land and water. Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, ter, yesterday Secretary Mayorkas tes-
Add in the biofuels industry, and our runaway inflation is crushing working tified: ‘‘We will not lose operational
agriculture sector can responsibly pro- American families on Democrats’ control of the border.’’ But, of course,
vide food, fuel, and fiber for the Nation. watch. The share of Americans who say the truth is they already have. The
In fact, the Department of Energy has the economy is our most important Secretary’s own Customs and Border
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April 28, 2022 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2201
Protection personnel are struggling to Russia against NATO today or the tion legislation, and we will work with
keep up with the massive, massive threat of aggression by China, Iran, the House to finalize this jobs competi-
numbers. Only halfway through the fis- North Korea, or some other adversary tiveness bill. We will also vote next
cal year, they have already encoun- tomorrow, America must be prepared Tuesday and Wednesday on 28 motions
tered a million people trying to enter to project power all over the globe. to instruct—8 from Democrats, 20 from
our country illegally, and that doesn’t We cannot assume our adversaries Republicans.
count all the people they actually will give us time to prepare for battle There is still a lot of work to do be-
never caught. or to restock in the middle of one. For fore we send this competitive jobs bill
But now President Biden wants to rip the sake of deterring the next conflict to the President’s desk. Not everyone
away the one remaining bandaid pre- or winning it if deterrence fails, we is going to get what they want, but
serving any semblance of law and must invest in our military readiness. even so, this bill is going to be just
order. He is canceling the pandemic au- For 2 years in a row, the administra- what the doctor ordered to boost our
thorities that let CBP immediately tion has submitted budgets that do not economy, bring back manufacturing
turn people around and actually send adequately resource our military. They jobs, and lower costs for American fam-
them back home. have failed to even keep pace with ilies.
This week, the administration put President Biden’s inflation, meaning a Let me say it again. Today, the Sen-
out a laughable excuse for a new border net cut in funding. And with prices ate is moving forward on legislation
security plan. In this new memo, Sec- soaring, it won’t just take longer to that is awash with good news for Amer-
retary Mayorkas says he aims to have build new Stingers and Javelins; it will ican jobs, American families, American
a total capacity to hold 18,000 illegal cost more for them as well. innovation. It is great news for Amer-
immigrants in custody at one time. Congress has already given the ad- ican families who want to see lower
But here is the problem: That is the ministration significant tools and au- costs on daily essentials. It is great
number of illegal immigrants that thorities to help America’s defense in- news for workers who want to see good-
some CBP officials fear we could soon dustry address the urgent and growing paying manufacturing jobs brought
be seeing every single day. Let me say demand for critical munitions and back from overseas. It is great news for
that again. The administration hopes weapons systems. This is precisely— our businesses, especially our chip
they will soon be able to hold 18,000 precisely—the situation the Defense manufacturers that need help strength-
people total in custody, while the ex- Production Act was designed to ad- ening supply chains. And it is great
perts warn we could soon have 18,000 dress. But instead of invoking the DPA news for our innovators, scientists,
coming in every single day. as intended, this administration has workers at universities, and creators
So perhaps that is why the second entertained far-left schemes to use it who will help us create new tech-
main point in this Mayorkas memo is for unrelated liberal goals like environ- nologies and generate the next wave of
this: ‘‘moving with deliberate speed to mental policy. good-paying jobs in this century.
mitigate potential overcrowding at But I am glad to hear President Now, we Democrats have bent over
Border Patrol stations.’’ So if you Biden will be traveling to Alabama backward to get this bill done. We al-
translate that from Washington speak next week to visit a facility that man- lowed a very long list of motions to in-
into plain English, it means they want ufactures Javelins. While he is there, I struct. In fact, it is the most votes on
to speed up catch-and-release a whole hope he will reconsider what his ad- motions to instruct of any bill in dec-
lot faster. They don’t have a plan to se- ministration is doing to ramp up pro- ades. And it is a sign of both the im-
cure the border. They have a plan to duction of other critical munitions and mense good will we have shown to our
keep the turnstiles greased up and weapons systems. Republican colleagues and the fact
spinning as fast as possible—a total ab- I hope he will recognize what is need- that many Members on both sides of
dication and the opposite of what the ed to enhance America’s security and the aisle have a stake in seeing the bill
American people expect. that of our NATO eastern flank allies finalized.
NATIONAL DEFENSE and Asian partners threatened by Frankly, it shouldn’t have taken us
Mr. President, now, on one final mat- China. The President should use the so long to get to this point of forming
ter, the free world has rallied behind powerful tools he already has—he al- a conference on the USICA legislation,
Ukraine, including by supplying lethal ready has—to fix this shortfall before but, once again, it is good news that
aid that Ukrainians need to actually it is too late. the bill is moving forward.
fight and win this war. But it is not I suggest the absence of a quorum. I thank my colleagues from both
enough for Americans and our allies to The PRESIDING OFFICER. The sides of the aisle who worked in good
help arm Ukraine; we need to mod- clerk will call the roll. faith to help us reach this point. I give
ernize and grow our own defenses at The legislative clerk proceeded to a particular shout-out to Chairman
the same time. After just 2 months, our call the roll. CANTWELL, as well as Senator YOUNG,
aid to Ukraine has drawn down a quar- Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask my cosponsor on this legislation.
ter—a quarter—of our entire stockpile unanimous consent that the order for CONFIRMATIONS AND NOMINATIONS
of Stinger anti-air missiles and a third the quorum call be rescinded. Mr. President, as I also mentioned,
of our Javelin antitank missiles. Our The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without we got more good news yesterday after
eastern flank allies’ stockpiles of simi- objection, it is so ordered. the Senate confirmed every single U.S.
RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY LEADER attorney who had been blocked by a
lar weapons have also shrunk as well.
So this is a wake-up call and not just The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- handful of Republican obstructionists.
about our ability to support the cur- jority leader is recognized. It was about time that Republicans
rent fight; Ukraine’s expenditure rate BUSINESS BEFORE THE SENATE finally relented on their dangerous and
of critical munitions should cause us to Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it has indefensible blockade on Federal pros-
question whether our own wartime re- been a good week in the Senate because ecutors. I don’t think it has ever hap-
quirements for weapons systems and two important things happened. First, pened before. These U.S. attorneys are
munitions are sufficient. we finally confirmed every single U.S. vital to keeping Americans safe. They
This would be less of a problem if we attorney that had been blocked by Re- are not political positions; they are en-
had a robust defense industrial base to publicans, making the country safer. tirely dedicated to preserving public
quickly refill our armories. But defense And today, the Senate is taking the safety and protecting our communities.
manufacturers have admitted that the next big step toward enacting major It was totally reckless for a very
production lines for some critical com- legislation to create jobs, bring back small band of Republicans, who claim
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ponents have actually dried up, and it American manufacturing, strengthen to care about public safety, to have
could be years before they could re- supply chains, and unleash another halted these Federal prosecutors for so
place the weapons that we have already generation of American innovation. long just to score political points.
sent to Ukraine. Later today, we will vote to enter Still, after months of unnecessary
We live in a dangerous world. Wheth- into a conference committee with the delay, Americans in Georgia and
er it is the prospect of escalation by House on the competition and innova- Michigan and Ohio and Nevada and
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S2202 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 28, 2022
Minnesota and New Hampshire and This is a fight against democracy— work. That means, for instance, that
other States can breathe a sigh of re- this is a fight of democracy against the biggest 25 energy giants in America
lief that the Republican blockade on authoritarianism. reported a breathtaking $205 billion in
Federal prosecutors has broken. So every penny we approve for profits in 2021. If there were real com-
Now, there are many other very im- Ukraine is money well spent. And the petition, they would fight to get the
portant and uncontroversial nominees fight is far from over. We can’t stop price lower to get some market share,
who are still being blocked by a hand- now. We must make sure that the but with very little competition, they
ful of Senate Republicans. Many of Ukrainian people will continue to have just keep the price up, and the con-
them deal with national security. the help they need for as long as they sumer is strangled. One executive even
Many of them would help our country need it. bragged to shareholders about the ben-
find ways to lower costs. Republicans The Senate must also work in a bi- efits of ‘‘capturing value from high
should drop their holds on these partisan way to pass another round of prices.’’
uncontroversial nominees at once or time-sensitive COVID funding. On both What are the oil companies doing
else we are going to have to keep Mem- Ukraine funding and COVID funding, with all this cash? They are helping
bers here in the Chamber for late night Republican obstruction will not serve their CEOs and their biggest, wealthi-
and weekend sessions to get them the American people. est shareholders. The amount of
through. The administration has made clear it buybacks is skyrocketing. Buybacks do
Finally, I want to say it was egre- needs more COVID money right now in no good. They don’t help the worker.
gious for Republicans to similarly pre- order to secure the next round of vac- They don’t help the consumer. They
vent the nomination of Lisa Cook to go cine doses, testing, and the new life- don’t even produce more oil, for those
through this week. Make no mistake, saving therapeutics, which are so good who believe that is the way to go. They
we are going to get her confirmed that if you get a positive test and you simply line the pockets of the CEOs
through the Senate as soon as we can. take the therapeutic, the likelihood of and the biggest shareholders, and then
Lisa Cook is a historic and highly getting any kind of COVID, particu- they can go back and say: I got the
qualified nominee. She will be the first larly the more severe kind, is vir- stock price up—but not the way you
Black woman ever to sit on the Federal tually—is minimal. These are amazing are supposed to in capitalism by mak-
Reserve Board of Governors. Her fam- drugs. But what is happening? Since we ing your company sell more, be more
ily, literally, fought segregation grow- don’t have the money to purchase productive, but, rather, by this hor-
ing up in rural Georgia. And despite them, other countries are going to the rible buyback, which has become en-
personally facing immense discrimina- companies—American companies, demic in corporate America and is very
tion, she is now professor of economics American innovation that has made harmful to America. Yet we are seeing
at Michigan State, a former adviser to them. And God forbid there is another it in oil more than anywhere else right
President Obama’s Council of Eco- variant. We may not have them—all now.
nomic Advisers, and is on the Chicago because of delay and political games on So it is high time—we need somebody
Fed Board’s academic advisory board. the other side stopping the COVID leg- to look under the hood, see what the
A historic Federal Reserve nominee islation. problem is, and give them the tools to
who accomplished as much as Lisa The administration has made clear fix it. That somebody is the FTC. It is
Cook deserves far, far better treatment they need this money right now, and, high time for the FTC to roll up their
than what Republicans have shown. as I said, if we wait, other nations are sleeves and drill down on what is going
But, nevertheless, the Senate will vote going to beat us to the punch, and on at the big oil companies.
on her confirmation as soon as we can. America might be left waiting for Very soon, the Senate will confirm
FEDERAL FUNDING months before more supplies are made. Alvaro Bedoya and return the FTC to
Mr. President, on Ukraine and This is a risk. It may be a few months full strength. But Congress needs to do
COVID, this morning, President Biden away but very real. It is a risk that the more to beef up the FTC’s ability to
has sent Congress his request for $33 American people simply can’t afford. crack down on potential gas price ma-
billion in emergency funding to sup- Of course, there is a very simple way nipulation and price gouging, so we
port the Ukrainian people. This is a big we can prevent another closure of will work on legislation to that end,
but critically necessary package. I will schools and churches and businesses. among other proposals to lower gas
make sure the Senate prioritizes this Republicans should work with Demo- prices.
important funding package so we can crats to pass another COVID funding Once again, as we reach the end of
get help to the Ukrainian people fast— bill ASAP. No political games. No poi- this week, let me say that I intend to
ASAP. son pills. No dithering about. put legislation that eases the pain of
It was also good to see the President In short, we must get both Ukrainian gas prices on the floor for a vote when
call for legislation to get tough on Rus- emergency relief and COVID funding it is ready.
sian oligarchs. This must be done. I relief done quickly. I yield the floor.
will ask the Senate to arm the Federal OIL COMPANIES The PRESIDING OFFICER. The sen-
Government with the tools necessary Mr. President, finally, on gas prices ior Senator from the State of Montana.
to put further pressure on Russian and the FTC, earlier this morning, I RURAL AMERICA
oligarchs and Putin’s cronies. I will ex- joined with Senator CANTWELL, Speak- Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I could
pect we will include authorities that er PELOSI, and Chairman PALLONE to hardly hear you, but thank you very
expand existing forfeiture laws to detail some of the ways Democrats are much for that recognition.
achieve that end. helping Americans ease the pain they I am about to talk about an issue
We need to go after these crooked are feeling at the pump. We are focused that the man in the Chair, the good
oligarchs who have gotten rich off like a laser on developing and passing Senator from New Jersey, I know is
Putin’s regime. The war in Ukraine is legislation to lower costs and improve passionate about. It is certainly some-
on their hands, and the Federal Gov- Americans’ daily lives. thing that I know Montanans are pas-
ernment should be fully empowered to Nowhere else are Americans feeling sionate about, and, quite frankly, it is
make sure their moment of reckoning the hurt as viscerally and as repeatedly what I do every day when I am not in
comes. as they are when they fill up their tank this body, and that is, talk about rural
Two months into the war, Putin’s at the gas station. We are thus working America and talk about the issues that
hopes for a quick takeover of Ukraine on legislation to fight bad actors who are facing working families and com-
have all but extinguished, thanks to may be using COVID and Ukraine to munities across our State, across our
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the bravery of the Ukrainian people jack up prices on consumers to pad country, those issues being inflation
and in addition to the aid that the their profits, and I intend to put that and rising costs and market consolida-
United States has provided in the legislation on the floor. tion and depopulation and drought.
forms of Javelins, Stingers, armed car- Oil is basically an oligopoly. A few Last year about this time, I made a
riers, tanks, and so many other critical small companies dominate it. And that quick trip to the town of Great Falls,
weapons. means supply and demand doesn’t which is about 75 miles away from my
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April 28, 2022 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2203
farm, to pick up some tires, and I was prices being artificially low, requiring that, over time, the numbers, they
shocked about not only the price but this government’s support. To further don’t work out anymore. The amount
the availability. Prices had gone up, contribute, whether it is buying inputs of money you have coming in when you
and availability was—well, they were or selling our products—our grain, our sell your product isn’t that much dif-
high in demand, and there wasn’t a lot cattle, our postcrops, or whatever it ferent than it was years before, but yet
of inventory. might be—consolidation in that mar- input costs have gone up.
When I got back home, almost the ketplace, whether it is on inputs or in By the way, I might add, they are not
same moment in time, I got a call from the market itself, has made profit- that much different than they were be-
my equipment dealer—and this was the ability at the farm gate a huge chal- fore because we have some serious con-
first time this has ever happened to me lenge, to the point where we have been solidation in the marketplace, which I
in my 44 years on the farm—and the driving folks out of business for dec- am going to talk about in a second, but
equipment dealer said: We are going to ades and decades and decades, and it is yet inputs go up. Look, in the last 44
have harvest in about 60 to 90 days, and getting worse. years that I have been on the farm, I
if you have any repairs that you need As most folks know here, I have a have seen many boom-and-bust cycles
to be done on your combine, we need to real life, and that real life is as a farm- in agriculture, and I can tell you, every
know what those are today so we can er. My wife Sharla and I took over our time the price of grain or cattle has
get the parts ordered. Otherwise, we family operation in 1978. This oper- gone up, the input costs have risen
can’t guarantee you those parts will be ation is the same operation that my more than what you are getting in the
here. grandfather and my grandmother marketplace, and then when those
That was the second shock about the homesteaded in the early 1900s and marketplace numbers drop, the input
supply chain issues that I was dealt that my folks took over from them and prices never go down.
with. farmed through the forties, the fifties, But getting back to that farmer that
So when I came back here to DC, I the sixties, and a good portion of the you imagine yourself to be like, I want
rang the alarm about the rising costs seventies. you to think about what it would be
that were occurring in rural America In many ways, the little community like to take over the farm that your
and impacting producers in rural in which I live is much the same as grandfather or great-grandfather or
America caused by this pandemic. I when my parents lived there. There is great-great-grandfather homesteaded
had a manufacturer in my office a few a big difference, though: The farms now and it has been successful for genera-
weeks ago saying how this pandemic are bigger, and they are fewer. tions, and now, all of a sudden, the
has made it so they can’t supply Amer- This is an aerial shot of our place, books don’t balance. You don’t have
ica with what they were making. He and the arrows point to farms that, enough money to pay the bills. And it
said: You know, during the pandemic, quite frankly—farmsteads where— is not because you are a bad operator.
we told folks to go home, and the 40- when we came to the farm, there were It is not because you don’t know what
and 50-year-olds have forgotten to families who lived there. There were you are doing. It really is through no
come back. people who sent their kids to the
So, quite frankly, this pandemic has fault of your own that you can’t make
school who lived there. Now, those it work anymore.
created some challenges in business, in
places—those farmsteads and those And we wonder why we have a chal-
manufacturing, and in agriculture that
we need to be paying attention to. farms that go with those farmsteads lenge with mental health in rural
Then we have Putin’s war in Ukraine, are farmed by other people. America.
which has made things worse, particu- In fact, in my home county of So the question is, is why did we lose
larly in the areas of energy and, from a Chouteau County, which is a big coun- 345,000 farms in the last 30 years, many
farm standpoint, fertilizer. It has also ty—it is a big agricultural county— of them generational farms?
put a strain on our family farms across since 1987, we have lost nearly 35 per- It is because folks can’t make the
this country, which, by the way, have cent of our farms. The numbers have numbers work anymore. And that main
already spent years under the gun gone from 752 farms down to 477 farms. culprit is consolidation in the cor-
where things have not been that This is from 1987 to 2017, a 30-year pe- porate ag world. No competition means
cheery. riod, which is the last that we have you don’t get fair prices.
Even before the pandemic upended data for. So I have listed four companies up
supply chains and the global economy, In the State of Montana overall, op- here that in the—or four industries, I
we had the previous administration’s erations over $2,500 have gone from should say—in the poultry business, 54
unnecessary, needless, and, quite 20,000 basically to 17,000, as this chart percent of the poultry processing is
frankly, stupid trade wars, which dis- shows—once again, the same 30-year controlled by one company. Sixty-six
rupted critical ag markets for the fam- period from 1987 to 2017. percent—or by four companies, I mean.
ily farmers across this Nation and the Across this Nation, operations with Sixty-six percent of the hog processing
family farm ranchers across this Na- more than $2,500 in sales have dropped is controlled by four companies. Four
tion who depend upon trade to make from nearly 1.6 million farms down to commodity traders control 70 percent
ends meet. In the years since, we have 11⁄4 million farms in 2017, as this chart of the global market for grain, and four
seen the price of grain rise because this shows. companies control over 80 percent of
administration has done a much better So, look, if these charts show you the beef processing in the United
job on trade policy than the last one, nothing else, they should show you States.
but the fact is, we have also seen in- that, from a rural America standpoint Now, any one of these sectors—truth-
creases in fertilizers, in chemicals, in and a food supply standpoint and a food fully, any one of these sectors, those
housing, and in retail food. security standpoint, we are not four companies could go out on a golf
But the reality is that rural America healthy. We are heading in the wrong course and set the price that my neigh-
truly is in crisis today, and it has been direction. bors are getting for their products and
a growing problem for decades under You know, there has been a lot of that the consumer is going to pay for
both Democratic and Republican ad- talk about agriculture and its impact their products when it is on the retail
ministrations here in Washington. Ag on mental health. So try to imagine for end.
producers have become so reliant on a second that you are a farmer or a And this happens while they continue
the Federal Government that in the rancher. You are working nearly every to pull in record profits. And the ulti-
year of 2020, the last year of the Trump day on the land that was your grand- mate effect of all this consolidation on
administration, 39 percent of net farm parents or your great-grandparents, po- rural communities is it has pushed
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
income was provided through subsidies tentially your great-great-grand- family farming and ranchers to the
by the American taxpayer. That is a parents. The land is literally a history brink of extinction.
big problem, and it is not something of your family and the generations be- And so you ask yourself: Why should
that farmers and ranchers want either. fore you who did basically the same I care?
The reason for this is because of mar- work—feeding people—in the same Well, for one, the American taxpayer
ket consolidation, because of farm gate place to make the same living, except is paying a pretty penny because of
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S2204 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 28, 2022
this consolidation. In recent years, we So bottom line is, we have got to put they can have it their way because
have averaged well over $10 billion a some guardrails on the system if we they have had it their way for a long,
year to help keep American farmers in are going to make this marketplace long time. And because they have had
the business across this country. I be- work because it is not working today. it their way for a long, long time, con-
lieve it is money well spent, but the So we have got some legislative solu- sumers are paying higher prices be-
truth is that there is not a farmer or a tions. Congress has the opportunity to cause there is no competition, without
rancher out there that doesn’t want to do something, and I have worked very any regard to what people can afford.
get their check from the marketplace; closely with a number of my col- It is all about the profit margins,
they do not want it from the Federal leagues, including the man that is sit- which—I will show you that one again
Government. But without it, we would ting in the chair today, on bipartisan too.
see even a bigger mass exodus out of legislation that can put guardrails on It is all about record profits. It is not
rural America. They want their mar- consolidation and puts some sunlight about making sure that we have food
kets to work. They want to make it so on this industry. security. It is about how we can maxi-
it benefits them and it benefits the I particularly want to thank Sen- mize our money at the expense of fami-
consumer, and, quite frankly, right ators GRASSLEY, FISCHER, WYDEN, and lies.
now it is not working because we have ROUNDS, as well as Senator BOOKER, for And by the way, the same is true on
four companies that control 54 percent their good work. the agriculture side of the equation.
of the food supply in chickens, four In the case of GRASSLEY, FISCHER, We will maximize our profits, and we
companies that control 66 percent of WYDEN, and ROUNDS, we have put forth don’t care if these generational ranch-
the supply in pork, 70 percent in the the bipartisan Cattle Price Discovery ers go broke. We don’t care. Somebody
grain markets, four companies, and and Transparency Act. That is a long else will buy it. We will still get the
over 80 percent when it comes to beef. name for a bill that is going to increase cattle. It will be some big hedge fund in
There is no competition, folks. There transparency in the marketplace and New York City. It is OK.
is no competition. And this is also bad set regional mandatory minimum So we need to do something because
not only for the taxpayer, but also for thresholds for negotiated cattle pur- our citizenry needs to have access to
our food security. chases. This is going to ensure that the food that they can afford. These two
What this pandemic has taught us is ranchers get a fair price, but it won’t bills are going to help capitalism work
when you have big processors with ensure it alone. We have to do more. for farmers and it is going to help cap-
thousands of people that work in these We have to also pass the Meat Pack- italism work for consumers because, I
plants and you get an incidence of ing Special Investigator Act, which am telling you, when capitalism works,
COVID, for example, it shuts the entire will put teeth back in the Packers and everybody does better.
plant down because you literally have Stockyards Act, which was passed back I said this problem has been around
people in these plants that are working in 1921 because of consolidation in the for over 100 years since the Packers
shoulder-to-shoulder processing meat. and Stockyards Act was passed in 1921.
packing industry, and we are more con-
So COVID goes through these plants So there will be some in this body who
solidated today than we were in 1921.
like that. So they shut them down. So this will give the Department of say: Look, we don’t need to do this.
Or you end up with a fire like we had Ag a team of investigators within the This is government intervention. It is
at a processing plant in Kansas, which, not necessary. Things will be just fine.
USDA, with subpoena power, dedicated
obviously, a fire shuts the plant down. I can guarantee you one thing for
to preventing and addressing
Or we have a cyber attack that hap- sure: If you look at where we have been
anticompetition practices in the meat and predict where we are going, if we
pened on one of these big four, JBS,
and poultry industry and enforcing our do nothing, there will be very, very,
which shuts them down.
So you say: What the heck? It is just Nation’s antitrust laws that are cur- very few people living in rural Amer-
one plant. rently on the books. ica. Family farm agriculture will be
Well, these plants individually make And I am asking my colleagues, when dead in this country. And if we lose
up a large portion of these percentages these bills hit the floor—and I believe family farm agriculture, this country
that I talked about. they will hit the floor, hopefully this will change for the worse in a major
And so what happens? The market- work period—to pass these bills, get way for all the reasons I have already
place goes away once again for the pro- them to the House so we can get them put out.
ducers, the farmers, the ranchers; and to the President’s desk as quickly as So I am going to tell you what. Folks
on the other end, it limits supply and possible. serve in this body because they want to
the family—the working family that If you take these two bills, the meat do right by the next generation. They
goes to the grocery store sees their packing special investigator bill and want to make sure our kids and our
prices go up and they say what do we the bipartisan cattle price discovery grandkids have the same opportunity
want? Well, we can’t do this. I mean, bill—by the way, they are both bipar- that we had. They want to make sure
we can’t afford to eat because the tisan—and you combine that with the this country remains the greatest
prices are jacked up. dollars that the administration has put country on Earth. I implore the Mem-
So it is bad for producers; it is bad out to loan to small meat packers, to bers of this body: When these bills
for the consumers. expand and start up meat packers, we come to the floor, and they will come
And the fact is, is these packers are will infuse more competition into this to the floor because I think they are
doing pretty darn well. The last quar- marketplace and that will be good for going to come out of Agriculture prob-
ter of 2020, Tyson Foods increased their producers and it will be good for con- ably in the next week to 10 days—no
year-to-year profit over $469 million to sumers and we will not continue to see pressure, Chairman STABENOW, but
$1.13 billion. That is a 140-percent in- this decline in rural America. that is what I hope happens—and we
crease in profit. Look, a well-fed citizenry is essential can get these bills to the floor, I hope
Now, I am going to tell you some- if a democracy is going to survive. that you put your shoes—put your feet
thing. I don’t think there is anything With the consolidation that we have in the shoes of those people that are in-
wrong with making a profit. In fact, I seen over the last many decades, we see volved in agriculture, and I hope you
think if you are going to have a busi- the potential for food to become a seri- put your feet in the shoes of the con-
ness that is successful, you have to ous problem in this country, and poten- sumer, because if we do these bills, we
make a profit. But the fact of the mat- tially even weaponized. will be putting the country back on the
ter is, if we are making a profit—these Rural America is going to dry up if right track for food security for the
kinds of profits—and it is killing our we don’t fix this problem. It is going to long term.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
folks in family farm agriculture, I continue to see this diagram where we The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. WAR-
don’t think that is quite right. And I could see fewer folks on the land and REN). The Senator from Washington.
don’t think that is good for rural we see bigger corporations manipu- Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I
America, and I don’t think it is good lating for their prices, because, quite ask unanimous consent that I be al-
for the consumers that live in this frankly, they have already found out— lowed to complete my remarks prior to
country. ‘‘they’’ being the big packers—that the vote.
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April 28, 2022 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2205
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Obviously, I hope my colleagues will We are a leader in global technology.
objection, it is so ordered. vote yes to compound this motion and We know that we can solve our prob-
Ms. CANTWELL. If the Senator— go to conference and allow for these lems by solutions that we, together—
first of all, I want to associate myself various motions to instruct. business and labor and government and
with the comments of the Senator from It has been 324 days since the Senate R&D investment—can bring the best
Montana, and I wanted to ask a ques- passed this bill on June 8, 2021, and it ideas to fruition and help us as a na-
tion because I—look, I hear from my has been 488 days since we authorized tion.
cattlemen about this all the time. the CHIPS Program. I am here to im- But we have to show that we, Demo-
I think the issue is, they think they plore my colleagues to get this done crats and Republicans, House and Sen-
are going to get a price, they think today and to say that we need to move ate, can master the next step in the in-
they are going to grow beef, they think faster. novation process. That is what these
that they are going to have some cer- We just heard yesterday from Com- underlying bills do. It basically allows
tainty in this marketplace, only to merce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who us to dust off our R&D skills and say:
find, at the last minute when the beef said even in Ukraine, weapon replace- Let’s do more translational science.
is about to be delivered to the packing ment is being hindered by a lack of So we have had lots of letters from
house, the packing house comes up chips. We know that we are facing people supporting tech hubs—invest-
with a scheme or scenario to drop their other problems. I am talking about ments of universities working with
price after our growers have made Beijing with further lockdowns. What business in a centralized location to
does that mean? It means fewer people solve engineering problems and move
these investments. Is that right?
Mr. TESTER. Yeah. So, look, you producing products. It means more se- ahead. We have the Manufacturing Ex-
rious supply chain issues. So if you are tension Partnership Program. And
have a situation where you have got
serious about America’s competition, many of our small and medium-sized
four companies who control 82 percent
Americans being allowed to build more businesses that need access to tech-
of the meat in this country. There is no
and invest more in the United States, nology and supply chain data to better
secret. When you don’t have any com-
onshoring of our manufacturing supply compete in a global economy and pro-
petition—and that is not competition— vide security want this legislation.
that you are not going to get a fair chains, our competitiveness, then you
want to vote yes and go to conference. So the risks of inaction are too great
price. to ignore. The U.S. Innovation and
And, by the way, these ranchers all We have had so many letters in the
last month—the American Society of Competition Act is clearly part of our
have fixed costs. It is not like they can supply chain solutions. I urge my col-
just cut their costs. They have fixed Engineering Education, tech compa-
nies that believe in the competition leagues to not only help us by invoking
costs. cloture and going to conference but
And right now, because of the and the opportunity that we have
seen—writing us and saying to please help us resolve these issues in a timely
drought west of the Mississippi, hay fashion so we can send a price signal
prices are at an alltime high. So all get this legislation done. We have seen
used car prices shoot up 40 percent be- about the investments that we want to
this stuff exacerbates the problem. make in the United States of America
What we need is more competition. cause semiconductor shortages have
basically created havoc in the auto- to make our Nation and our manufac-
We will get more competition. And turers more competitive.
when we get more competition, it will motive market.
And it is clear that our European and With that, I yield the floor.
be fair for everybody, both the pro- CLOTURE MOTION
Asian counterparts aren’t waiting.
ducer and the consumer. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
They are moving ahead trying to deal
Ms. CANTWELL. Well, I thank the SCHATZ). Pursuant to rule XXII, the
with this supply chain shortage be-
Senator from Montana for articulating Chair lays before the Senate the pend-
cause as the Secretary also told us yes-
this issue. ing cloture motion, which the clerk
Too much market control, not terday, the shortage is well defined. We
know that it is going to last well into will state.
enough transparency, and our growers The senior assistant executive clerk
the future; that is, there is demand.
basically get stuck with having in- read as follows:
So the question for the world econ-
vested costs never to recuperate them omy is, Are you going to try to meet CLOTURE MOTION
because somebody used that market that demand? And the answer is, there We, the undersigned Senators, in accord-
power to basically lower those costs. are a lot of people who are going to try ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the
And, you know, we have seen this a lot. to meet that demand. Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby
We have seen them import a ton of Ca- The question is, Are we going to try move to bring to a close debate on the mo-
nadian beef right at this very moment, tion to insist on the Senate amendment to
to meet that demand? The longer we H.R. 4521, a bill to provide for a coordinated
right when they are about to deliver wait, the longer we take to meet that Federal research initiative to ensure contin-
U.S. product into the meat packing demand, the more the investment is at- ued United States leadership in engineering
plants: Oh, we just dropped the price tracted to go somewhere else. biology, agree to the request from the House
because we got so much supply because Now, the United States of America for a conference, and authorize the Chair to
they just let a lot of supply in from believes in having the leading edge in appoint conferees on behalf of the Senate.
Canada. semiconductor production, and we are Charles E. Schumer, Michael F. Bennet,
So this—the gentleman from Mon- excited that the next generation of Tammy Baldwin, Richard J. Durbin,
tana is talking something that is exist- Patty Murray, Margaret Wood Hassan,
chips can do so many things for the Gary C. Peters, Mazie K. Hirono, Tina
ing in other aspects of our economy smart appliances; smart tools; clean Smith, Alex Padilla, Debbie Stabenow,
too. So I am very glad that we are try- energy economy; obviously, the com- Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Mark R. Warner,
ing to better police these markets and munications economy; the next genera- Tim Kaine, Tammy Duckworth, Brian
do a good job. And I know you and the tion of all sorts of technology as it re- Schatz, Jon Tester.
Senator from Mississippi have focused lates to our telecom sector. But we The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unan-
on this issue, and we very much appre- need to get this bill done. We need to imous consent, the mandatory quorum
ciate you doing that. resolve the differences between the call has been waived.
Well, Madam President, we are about House and the Senate. And we need to The question is, Is it the sense of the
to go to conference on the United have bipartisan support to show that Senate that debate on the motion to
States Innovation and Competition Act the U.S. Senate can function legisla- insist on the Senate amendment to
and the House America COMPETES tively on an issue that is not a manda- H.R. 4521, a bill to provide for a coordi-
Act. Boy, this is a long time coming. I tory or annual bill but a process by nated Federal research initiative to en-
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
want to thank Leader SCHUMER and my which an issue, presented to us as a na- sure continued United States leader-
colleague Senator WICKER, also Sen- tion—supply chain, competitiveness, ship in engineering biology, agree to
ators YOUNG and CORNYN and other manufacturing issues—that we can get the request from the House for a con-
Members who worked hard to help us the job done. ference, and authorize the Chair to ap-
reach an agreement so that we can We in the United States pride our- point conferees on behalf of the Senate,
have this process today. selves on being a nation of inventors. shall be brought to a close?
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S2206 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 28, 2022
The yeas and nays are mandatory is the announcement that on May 23, areas. So this title 42 decision by the
under the rule. distressingly, the crisis is going to get administration likely, at that point,
The clerk will call the roll. a lot worse. saved thousands of American lives; it
The senior assistant legislative clerk On May 23, the experts tell us, in- protected our public health; it helped
called the roll. cluding people from this own adminis- our Border Patrol bring down illegal
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the tration, that the number of people ille- immigration.
Senator from Connecticut (Mr. MUR- gally coming to this country could Last July, Joe Biden tried to end
PHY) and the Senator from Oregon (Mr. double or even triple overnight. Since title 42. He said coronavirus was over;
WYDEN) are necessarily absent. Joe Biden took office, there have been it was behind him. He was patting him-
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is millions and millions of illegal cross- self on the back for the great job he
necessarily absent: the Senator from ings from our southern border into the had done. And then the Delta variant
Missouri (Mr. BLUNT). United States. The Border Patrol esti- hit the country like a sledgehammer.
The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 68, mates that more than 700,000 illegal Joe Biden and the administration were
nays 29, as follows: immigrants got away from them since caught by surprise. People looking for
[Rollcall Vote No. 141 Leg.] Joe Biden has taken office. This in- testing were running into long lines,
YEAS—68 cludes 62,000 people just last month. It empty shelves. He and the administra-
Baldwin Hassan Risch works out to about 2,000 illegal immi- tion were caught completely off guard
Bennet Heinrich Romney grants vanishing into the United as has this administration on so many
Blumenthal Hickenlooper Rosen States every single day. These are the things—on the border; on the failure in
Booker Hirono Rounds
Brown Kaine
ones who got away. These aren’t the Afghanistan; on inflation, which they
Sasse
Cantwell Kelly Schatz
tens and tens of thousands who are said was going to be temporary and
Capito King Schumer coming through the process and being transitory, month after month after
Cardin Klobuchar Shaheen registered and released into the United month.
Carper Leahy
Casey Luján
Sinema States. Once they get in, most likely, The administration showed they have
Smith no core competence to run this Nation.
Cassidy Manchin
Stabenow
they will never leave.
Collins Markey
Sullivan Under Joe Biden, we are breaking By September of last year, the Biden
Coons McConnell
Cornyn Menendez Tester record after record, and these are the administration was forced to admit
Cortez Masto Merkley Tillis wrong kind of records to break. Last that one in every five illegal immi-
Crapo Moran Toomey year, the number of illegal immigrants grants coming to this country was
Daines Murkowski Van Hollen
Warner
who came to the United States was the bringing disease with them. That is
Duckworth Murray
Durbin Ossoff Warnock highest ever recorded. At the same tens of thousands of illegal immigrants
Feinstein Padilla Warren time, America’s immigration enforce- bringing disease into a country each
Gillibrand Peters Whitehouse ment is the least amount ever. And to month.
Graham Portman Wicker But now Joe Biden wants to end title
Grassley Reed Young
that point, the Biden administration
seems to think everything is going just 42 forever and do it on May 23. If it
NAYS—29 fine. ends, we are told and believe that this
Barrasso Hagerty Marshall Yesterday, the Secretary of Home- will cause a tidal wave of illegal immi-
Blackburn Hawley Paul land Security testified before Congress. gration like this Nation has never seen
Boozman Hoeven Rubio
Braun Hyde-Smith Sanders
I was on a conference call with him the before. Right now, Homeland Security
Burr Inhofe Scott (FL) day before, where he met with a num- is preparing for up to 18,000 illegal im-
Cotton Johnson Scott (SC) ber of the Members of the Republican migrants each and every day after title
Cramer Kennedy
Cruz Lankford
Shelby leadership. What the Secretary said 42 ends. That is half a million people a
Thune yesterday is this. He said: month. That is a population equal to
Ernst Lee
Tuberville
Fischer Lummis We have effectively managed an unprece- the entire population of the State of
NOT VOTING—3 dented number of non-citizens seeking to Wyoming. Mr. President, I assume the
enter the United States. State of Maine—I don’t know the exact
Blunt Murphy Wyden
‘‘Effectively managed?’’ population—but if you bring in half a
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. To me, this is an early candidate for million people a day, it doesn’t take
KING). On this vote, the yeas are 68, the the fact checkers’ ‘‘lie of the year.’’ too many days to add up to the popu-
nays are 29. They haven’t effectively managed any- lation of the State of Maine.
Three-fifths of the Senators duly cho- thing. The only thing they have effec- So what are Democrats saying about
sen and sworn having voted in the af- tively managed to do is erase the bor- this? Well, Barack Obama’s Secretary
firmative, the motion is agreed to. der completely. of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson,
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- The men and women on our Border whom we met with regularly when he
ator from Wyoming. Patrol are working around the clock. was in that position—he once said 1,000
BORDER SECURITY They are heroes, although they have a day would overwhelm the system.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I been vilified by the President of the Joe Biden seems pretty happy with
come to the floor today to talk about United States. This crisis is happening 18,000 a day. Right now, we are at 6,000
the Biden border crisis. Right now, our because Joe Biden’s policies have tied a day.
Nation is facing a dangerous national the hands of the border agents. They We have a system that is over-
security crisis at the border, and it is are being both abused and disrespected whelmed and it is going to get a lot, lot
all because of the policies and the ac- by this President and this administra- worse. Joe Biden could triple the num-
tions of President Joe Biden. tion. ber of illegal immigrants overnight to
Now, there are a lot of crises that we On Joe Biden’s first day in office, he 18,000 a day come May 23.
are facing. There is the border crisis; stopped all construction of the border Earlier this month, former Secretary
the crisis of high gas prices; there is a wall. He ended the successful ‘‘Remain Jeh Johnson, whom I alluded to ear-
crisis of inflation, which is at a 40-year in Mexico’’ policy. In fact, just last lier—this is what he said. He said the
high; and there is the crisis of the issue week, his lawyers were pleading a case current crisis trends are unsustainable.
of international affairs with Vladimir before the Supreme Court to eliminate He said it overwhelms communities in
Putin on NATO’s doorstep having in- a policy that protects the national se- Texas and Arizona; it overwhelms the
vaded Ukraine. curity of our Nation. Border Patrol. This is Barack Obama’s
When you take a look at all of these, Joe Biden is now ending title 42. Peo- Secretary of Homeland Security saying
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
the two that I hear about most at home ple at home say: What exactly is this that. I believe Secretary Jeh Johnson
in Wyoming are that of inflation and title 42? Well, it is a section of our laws is right.
that of illegal immigration. The thing that deal with public health. At the Recently, the head of the Del Rio,
that is really bringing this to the fore start of the pandemic, the Centers for TX, Border Patrol union—and my col-
today and why I am coming to the Disease Control closed our border to league from Texas is on the floor here,
floor to talk about Biden’s border crisis people from coronavirus-impacted the senior Senator—this head of the
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April 28, 2022 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2207
Del Rio, TX, Border Patrol union spoke They voted for the Biden border agen- bers oppose what this President is
here on Capitol Hill. He said there are da, and every Democrat shares the doing to this country in terms of how
some days in Del Rio when officers are blame for this crisis. he is affecting the economy, inflation,
so busy with transportation and proc- What happens if the border doesn’t energy prices, and the border. This is a
essing of these illegal immigrants that stay at the border? No, it makes each President with record low numbers on
no one is patrolling the border, the one of us less safe. Border Patrol tells all of those areas, and it is all of his
southern border of the United States. us they have caught, so far, 42 terror- own doing and his own making. Mr.
And I am certain that the senior Sen- ists trying to cross the border since President, do not make this, your own
ator, the distinguished Senator from Joe Biden took office. How many got border crisis, even worse.
Texas—Senator CORNYN, who is on the away? We are hearing the numbers get- I yield the floor.
floor—will address this issue after I get ting away is 60,000 a month—getaways. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
finished speaking because he sees this How many of those are terrorists who ator from Texas.
every weekend, as he is home in Texas are now living in our midst? Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, let me
and talks to people from Texas every Federal narcotics agents say that the start by expressing my gratitude to the
day, the crisis that is hitting his home vast majority of illegal drugs in this Senator from Wyoming, Senator BAR-
State and is hitting this entire Nation. country came here over our southern RASSO, for laying out the nature of the
So this Del Rio sector covers an area border. That is how they are getting in. border crisis that we are experiencing
of 240 miles of border. And the head of Drug overdoses have never been higher and have experienced at the highest
Del Rio, TX, Border Patrol told us no than they are right now. One hundred levels in 20 years, during the year and
one is patrolling that section of the thousand Americans died of drug a half—or year and a quarter, I guess,
border because the personnel are too overdoses last year. People are dying of the Biden administration.
busy filling out paperwork and moving every day in every State because of But I want to come to the floor and
illegal immigrants from location to lo- drugs being brought in across the talk about an aspect of the border cri-
cation. southern border by the lax border poli- sis that has not been sufficiently dis-
In Yuma, AZ, up to 90 percent of Bor- cies of Joe Biden and the Democrats. cussed or noticed, and that is the con-
der Patrol agents are busy with trans- If title 42 ends, it is going to mean nection between the flood of illegal
portation and caretaking duties. Nine- more drugs, more crime, more death in drugs coming across the border—not
ty percent of their agents cannot spend all of our States. Even the Washington just with the 100,000 drug overdose
their time guarding the border. As a re- Post newspaper—their editorial board, deaths we experienced in America last
sult, large portions of the southern that is not known for being conserv- year, but also with crime and gangs
border in Arizona are wide open, which ative or lining up with conservatives— and guns in every community across
is why I believe the junior Senator this is what they recently said: the United States, from Maine to
from Arizona is so vehemently oppos- A migrant surge is coming at the border— Texas, from Virginia to California.
ing the President of his own party for and Biden is not ready. A Gallup poll published earlier this
a reckless move by a President, who All of America knows that. They month found that 80 percent of Ameri-
seems to disregard the importance of know Biden is not ready. He is not cans are worried about crime and vio-
even having a border to our Nation. ready to be President, not ready to run lence. It seems like there is a new
Media reports show that 60,000 people the economy, not ready to help with headline every day about acts of vio-
right now are waiting at our southern the military, not ready on any level, lence in cities across our country.
border. They are counting down the and at the border, the Washington Post Two weeks ago, for example, a gun-
days until title 42 is over. Some of points out he is not ready. man set off smoke grenades and opened
them will bring in drugs, some will be The article went on and said: fire on a crowded New York City sub-
human traffickers, some of them may The predictable effect of lifting Title 42 is way car. Chicago just experienced its
even be on the Terror Watch List. If a new influx of migrants . . . which would most violent weekend this year, with 8
you are a foreign terrorist on the Ter- compound an existing surge at the . . . bor- people murdered and 42 others shot.
ror Watch List, this is a dream come der . . . for weeks or much longer. Earlier this month, a gang shootout
true if you are trying to get to Amer- The Washington Post points out and in Sacramento killed 6 and wounded 12.
ica. predicts: The American people aren’t just notic-
On May 23, we will face a humani- Absent progress on [addressing the root ing this trend; they are demanding so-
tarian crisis, a public health crisis, and causes], the Biden administration . . . will lutions. Rising crime rates have caused
a national security crisis all in one surely face more chaos at the border. many leaders to change their tune on
greater—much greater than the one we This is an administration of chaos. this idea, this crazy idea called ‘‘defund
are facing today and is already terri- The Washington Post—that was my ad- the police.’’
fying Americans in every State because dition. They ended by saying ‘‘more New York City, Oakland, and Balti-
with an open border, every State is a chaos at the border.’’ I am adding ‘‘an more are among the cities to reverse
border State, every city is a sanctuary administration of chaos.’’ their previous cuts in police funding.
city, and people are subjected to the Look, the Post is exactly right. This And that is for a very simple reason. It
drugs and the crime that is coming crisis is 100 percent preventable. It is a is because defunding the police is dan-
with it and the deaths that are coming crisis of Joe Biden’s choosing and Joe gerous.
as well. Biden’s making. It is a crisis that is en- There is no question that law en-
Now, many Democrats are asking tirely the result of Democrats’ reckless forcement plays an important role in
and telling Joe Biden: Keep title 42 in open border policies. We need to go stopping crime, but we have to remem-
place. Yet these same Democrats, they back to policies that work. ber that this crime surge is tied to far
voted in lockstep with CHUCK SCHUMER I ask the President to keep title 42 in more than just police departments. I
and Joe Biden the last 15 months. They place. Listen to the Democrats who are am reminded of a quote by H. L. Menc-
understand today that Joe Biden’s pol- talking to you in addition to us, Mr. ken:
icy is unwise and very unpopular. But President, who say keep title 42 in For every complex problem, there’s a solu-
these are the same Democrats who place. tion that is simple, neat, and wrong.
came to the floor and voted to stop And enforce the laws on the books, So when looking at the factors that
building the border wall; the same close the loopholes that encourage ille- fuel this upsurge of violence and crime
Democrats who in this very Chamber gal immigration, finish the wall, bring in our cities across the country, we
voted to give stimulus checks—send back the ‘‘Remain in Mexico’’ policy; can’t ignore a big contributor of that,
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
out checks to illegal immigrants when we know it works. which is the crisis occurring along our
they voted last year. Not one of those The American people in every State southern border. Some of the numbers
Democrats joined us in supporting title are pleading with Joe Biden. Only are familiar to all of us. For example,
42 last summer. about one in three Americans support Customs and Border Protection en-
Democrats can run for reelection, but the President’s policy at the border, countered more than 200,000 migrants
they cannot run from their records. two-thirds don’t. Overwhelming num- along the southern border last month
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S2208 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 28, 2022
alone, the highest number in more As we all have learned, fentanyl is a go to Atlanta. They go to New York.
than two decades. uniquely dangerous drug because it is They go to San Diego. They go to vir-
The total number of migrant encoun- so potent, a lethal dose can fit on the tually every community in our country
ters over the last 12 months exceeds 2.2 tip of a sharpened pencil. where they are then distributed to peo-
million. You might be tempted to ask In the first 3 months of this year, ple to feed addictions, which result in
what in the world is going on; why are Customs and Border Protection seized overdoses and death. It is not just a
things changing? I want to make one nearly 1,200 kilograms. Now, a kilo- border problem. This affects every sin-
thing clear, though. I am in no way gram is 2.2 pounds, so that is 2,640 gle community in our country.
suggesting that all of these individuals pounds of fentanyl were seized at the Last year, the special agent of Chi-
coming across the border are dangerous border, enough to wipe out the entire cago’s DEA office spoke about what
criminals. Many of them are economic U.S. population. happens when these drugs and crimi-
migrants looking for a better life. Cartels and criminal organizations nals reach your backyard. He said car-
Something we all understand. aren’t just trying to smuggle their tels use every means possible to get
But there are definitely people com- product into the United States, they drugs from Mexico into the United
ing across the border who are dan- have to have a way to distribute those States and then to local markets. In
gerous criminals, primarily associated drugs across our country. And that is Chicago, that means predominantly to
with the drug cartels, who threaten where the criminal gangs come into the gangs that control the drug mar-
public safety in every city in America the picture. kets in Chicago.
every day. Last Tuesday, agents from the Rio But it is not just Chicago. It is lit-
We need to acknowledge that a Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector ar- erally every community in America.
human flood of people, even people po- rested an MS–13 member. MS–13 is one These are the same gangs that fuel the
tentially associated with legitimate of the most violent gangs on the plan- overdose epidemic, the same ones that
asylum claims, but that flood of hu- et. The following day, agents arrested perpetuate crime and gun violence.
manity, just the—having to deal with an 18th Street gang member, and, over These are the same gangs that engage
that many people, opened gateways for the weekend, agents arrested four addi- in deadly fights over control for terri-
truly dangerous criminals and the tional gang members. This all hap- tory and market share. And the cruel
drugs that are smuggled across the bor- pened in one Border Patrol sector in reality is, this is happening on a daily
der undetected. less than a week’s time. basis in every community in our coun-
I will give you an example of how
What we need to remember when we try, which is contributing to the spike
that happens. Last fall, more than
look at all this data is that these are in violent crime and the public’s rea-
15,000 migrants, primarily Haitians
just the ones we know about. We have sonable concerns that they have ex-
who had been living in South America,
absolutely no idea how many drugs and pressed about it, including boneheaded
arrived at the small border town of Del
criminals have slipped through the ideas like defunding the police.
Rio, TX, a town of a population of
cracks. Now, the Border Patrol has a A Drug Enforcement Agency report
35,000 people.
So all of a sudden, 15,000 migrants name for this, they call it ‘‘the from 2017 acknowledged that drug traf-
show up in a town of 35,000 people. It is getaways,’’ but the truth is we don’t ficking profits ‘‘increase the staying
not by accident. To state the obvious, really know how many people have got- power of both street gangs and drug
the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector did ten away, undetected, to smuggle drugs trafficking organizations.’’ The more
not have the capacity to process and or dangerous criminals into the United money they make, the more drugs that
care for that many migrants at a given States. are manufactured and brought into the
time. But that was part of the plan of By one estimate, 385,000 getaways country and spread throughout our
the drug cartels and the criminal orga- came across the border in 2021. And communities.
nizations associated with them. But in there is a reason they didn’t turn No community in America is safe. A
response, the administration moved themselves in to the Border Patrol; rural, an urban, a suburban commu-
Border Patrol agents from other check- they are not seeking asylum. They are nity, none of them have been spared
points to the Del Rio sector to try to not saying: I have been persecuted in the pain and suffering of the drug over-
help. But, of course, that is exactly my home country, and, thus, eligible dose epidemic, drugs which predomi-
what the cartels hoped for. for asylum potentially in the United nantly come across our southern bor-
Taking people off the frontlines in States. der by these criminal cartels.
other sectors to handle the surge of mi- These people, these getaways, are the I mentioned it before, but it is worth
grants in Del Rio opened up avenues ones that don’t want to be detected by noting that last year we hit a grim
for the drug cartels to smuggle their law enforcement because they are up to milestone in America. For the first
poison into the United States. no good. time on record, more than a hundred
Administration officials later told I think this chart shows the network thousand Americans lost their lives to
Congressional staff that this massive of gangs and criminal organizations op- drug overdoses in a 12-month period.
surge of migrants was, they acknowl- erating within the United States. Now, I remember what happened
edge, part of a coordinated effort by You know, most of the time we all when Al Qaeda hit the United States
the cartels. They directed the Haitian think, well, the drugs come across the and killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11. We
migrants to show up at a single loca- border, and we forget what happens declared war, and we committed our-
tion in a small town on the border to next. But as you can see, cartels—this selves to rooting out these terrorists
make sure that other paths into the is a DEA, a Drug Enforcement Admin- that exported this terrorist plot to hit
United States would be cleared for istration, chart—as you can see, the our homeland.
their illicit contraband of drugs. cartels in transnational criminal orga- When 100,000 Americans die of drug
Talk to any Border Patrol agent and nizations have a presence in most overdoses, what do we do? Well, we
they will tell you that this happens all major cities across the United States. throw up our hands. We say there is
the time. The cartels are very sophisti- Many of these are members of dan- not much we can do about it. Supply
cated. They know how to game the sys- gerous gangs who want to make meets demand. And there is some truth
tem. They watch, they wait, they co- money, so they sell drugs in their local to that, but it is not the whole story.
ordinate, and at the right moment, community, and they fight for terri- As I said, in recent years, the number
they bring their poison into our coun- tory, for market share. They commit of drug overdose deaths caused by syn-
try. other property crimes, other crimes of thetic opioids, including fentanyl, has
In many cases, they are moving violence, carjacking, larceny, armed skyrocketed, and so have the seizures
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
drugs—everything from marijuana to robbery, in order to fuel their need for of fentanyl at the border, virtually all
methamphetamine to heroin. But in re- money. made from precursors from Asia, pri-
cent years, Customs and Border Pro- So once cartel members and their marily China, shipped to Mexico, man-
tection has seen an alarming increase gang associates get drugs across the ufactured there in an industrial oper-
in synthetic opioids, fentanyl coming border, where do they go? Well, they go ation which can make a fentanyl tablet
across the border. to Chicago. They go to Detroit. They look a lot like some other medication
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April 28, 2022 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2209
that you might take. Many people—too jobs or violence, but they are having to The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
many people—have died thinking they pay the price now, not just with the further debate?
were taking a drug for some condition, flood of people coming across the bor- If there is no further debate, the
only to find out it was laced with der, for which the Federal Government question is on agreeing to the com-
fentanyl, resulting in their drug over- is completely unprepared, they also pound motion.
dose death. have to deal with the opioid abuse and Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I ask for
The alarming increase in the supply the criminal organizations that are the yeas and nays.
coming across our border foreshadows flooding our communities with The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a
even worse overdose statistics in the fentanyl, heroin, and other dangerous sufficient second?
months to come. substances. There appears to be a sufficient sec-
Fentanyl isn’t the only dangerous But it is not just the border. Cities ond.
drug—methamphetamine, cocaine, her- all across this country are combating The clerk will call the roll.
oin. According to the DEA—the Drug violent crime at numbers that we have The bill clerk called the roll.
Enforcement Administration—threat not seen for decades. This is directly Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the
assessment, 92 percent of the heroin tied to the drug business at the border Senator from Connecticut (Mr. MUR-
that comes to the United States comes because the criminal gangs are the PHY) and the Senator from Oregon (Mr.
from one place: Mexico. Ninety-two ones who distribute those drugs in our WYDEN) are necessarily absent.
percent. communities. Mr. THUNE. The following Senators
So when you zoom out and get a The status quo is deeply unfair to the are necessarily absent: the Senator
broader perspective and quit looking dedicated men and women of law en- from Missouri (Mr. BLUNT), the Senator
through a soda straw at what is hap- forcement, including the Border Pa- from North Carolina (Mr. BURR), the
pening at the border, you see it is not trol, who put their lives on the line to Senator from South Carolina (Mr.
just an immigration issue. The drugs secure our border and protect our com- SCOTT), and the Senator from Pennsyl-
pouring across our border make this a munities. vania (Mr. TOOMEY).
public health crisis as well. Last week, Texas lost a 22-year-old The result was announced—yeas 67,
The criminals sneaking across our soldier who was doing a job that the nays 27, as follows:
border who are distributing these drugs Federal Government should have done, [Rollcall Vote No. 142 Leg.]
in our communities all across the but he was there at the southern border YEAS—67
country are a public security crisis, a as part of a State National Guard ef- Baldwin Hassan Risch
public safety crisis. The unlicensed fort called Operation Lone Star. Bennet Heinrich Romney
Texas Army National Guardsman Blumenthal Hickenlooper Rosen
guns that the gangs use to protect Booker Hirono Rounds
SPC Bishop Evans was attempting to
their territory makes this a gun vio- Brown Kaine Sasse
rescue two migrants who appeared to Cantwell Kelly
lence crisis as well. Schatz
be drowning as they were crossing the Capito King Schumer
Every single American should be out- Cardin Klobuchar
river from Mexico. He disappeared into Shaheen
raged by what is happening at the bor- Carper Leahy
the treacherous waters of the Rio Sinema
der, but if you don’t care about 2.2 mil- Casey Luján
Smith
Grande and, tragically, did not survive. Cassidy Manchin
lion people showing up on our front Stabenow
Making matters even worse, initial re- Collins Markey
doorstep, if you don’t care about the Coons McConnell Sullivan
ports from law enforcement indicate Tester
100,000 Americans who died of drug that the two migrants whom Specialist Cornyn Menendez
Cortez Masto Merkley Tillis
overdoses, do you care about the spikes Evans was trying to save are suspected Van Hollen
Crapo Moran
in violence and crime in your neighbor- of drug trafficking. Daines Murkowski Warner
hood, in your local community? All of There are a million and one reasons Duckworth Murray Warnock
these are inextricably intertwined. why President Biden should want to Durbin Ossoff Warren
I don’t care if you are a liberal Demo- Feinstein Padilla Whitehouse
address this border crisis, and it is ab- Gillibrand Peters Wicker
crat or an Independent or a conserv- solutely inconceivable to me that his Graham Portman Young
ative Republican, this failure of the administration has done nothing to Grassley Reed
Federal Government to deal with our make this better, and I would argue NAYS—27
border crisis is absolutely appalling, that through some of the policies pro- Barrasso Hagerty Lummis
and it hurts us all. mulgated by Director Mayorkas, he has Blackburn Hawley Marshall
I have heard someone say that every actually made it worse. He has made it Boozman Hoeven Paul
city is a border town these days, and Braun Hyde-Smith Rubio
more attractive for more people to Cotton Inhofe Sanders
this makes that point. This state of come and attempt this dangerous jour- Cramer Johnson Scott (FL)
chaos is dangerous for the migrants ney from their home into the United Cruz Kennedy Shelby
who turn themselves over to human States. He has made it easier, given the Ernst Lankford Thune
smugglers who care nothing about Fischer Lee Tuberville
business model of the cartels, to get
them, only the money they can gen- more of those drugs across the border NOT VOTING—6
erate from smuggling them into the and into our communities, contrib- Blunt Murphy Toomey
United States. I have seen the bleached uting to the crimewave that is shock- Burr Scott (SC) Wyden
bones of migrants left behind, injured ing so many people. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. VAN
or sick, because the coyotes, the smug- As we head into the summer months, HOLLEN).
glers, care nothing about them but just which are traditionally the busiest On this vote, the yeas are 67, the
the money they can garner from smug- times for border crossings, the Biden nays are 27.
gling them into the country, not to administration needs to do something. The compound motion was agreed to.
mention the girls and women who are And let me just say, I am prepared—I The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma-
sexually assaulted on the long trip know a lot of us are prepared on a bi- jority leader.
from their home country into the partisan basis to do what we need to do Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I
United States. to end this crisis. If the Biden adminis- would note Maryland is in the House.
It is unfair to the border commu- tration doesn’t want to lead in the ef- UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT—H.R. 4521
nities I represent. We have 1,200 miles fort, at least they could allow those of Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask
of common border, Mexico and Texas. us here in the Congress to come up unanimous consent that the motions to
My Governor, my State legislature, the with ideas, like my bipartisan, bi- instruct at the desk, which may be
people I represent are outraged that cameral Border Solutions Act, to try made with respect to the message to
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
the Federal Government is not living to address this crisis that we cannot accompany H.R. 4251, be printed in the
up to its responsibilities. It is unfair to tolerate any longer. RECORD for the information of the Sen-
those communities, most of which are I yield the floor. ate.
Hispanic majorities by large majori- VOTE ON COMPOUND MOTION There being no objection, the mate-
ties, who are sympathetic to the desire Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I yield rial was ordered to be printed in the
of people for a better life, fleeing no back all time. RECORD, as follows:
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S2210 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 28, 2022
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the under the final conference report, such as a
Mr. PAUL moves that the managers on the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 be grant or tax credit, from purchasing mate-
part of the Senate at the conference on the instructed to insist that the final conference rials, technology, or critical minerals mined,
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the report not include the provisions contained produced, processed, or refined in the Peo-
Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 be in the following sections of the bill (as ple’s Republic of China or the Russian Fed-
instructed to insist that the final conference passed by the House of Representatives): eration.
report include the provisions contained in (1) Section 30609 (relating to building MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
section 6107 of the Senate amendment (relat- United States economic growth and techno- Mr. RUBIO moves that the managers on the
ing to prohibiting funds made available to logical innovation through the Green Cli- part of the Senate at the conference on the
any Federal agency from being used for gain- mate Fund). disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the
of-function research conducted in China). (2) Section 30607 (relating to addressing Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 be
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES international climate change mitigation, ad- instructed to insist that the final conference
aptation, and security). report include a Federal Government-based
Mr. BARRASSO moves that the managers on
(3) Section 30601(b)(7)(E) (relating to the counterintelligence review to certify recipi-
the part of the Senate at the conference on
sense of Congress on implementing the Paris ents of grants, funding, awards, or other re-
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on
Agreement). sources provided, and intellectual property
the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521
(4) Section 30610 (relating to ensuring a developed, as a result of the conference re-
be instructed to insist that the final con-
whole-of-government response to climate ac- port, have national security protections in
ference report include provisions that re-
tion). place to prohibit misappropriation and theft
quire immediate development of a 2022–2027
Federal oil and gas leasing program on the MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES of Federal resources.
outer Continental Shelf, which shall be final- Mrs. BLACKBURN moves that the managers MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
ized not later than June 30, 2022, and which on the part of the Senate at the conference Mr. JOHNSON moves that the managers on
shall provide for a minimum of 10 region- on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses the part of the Senate at the conference on
wide oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of on the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on
Mexico and Alaska Regions of the outer Con- 4521 be instructed to insist that the final the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521
tinental Shelf, with a minimum of 2 oil and conference report include a provision that be instructed to reject any proposals to pro-
gas lease sales per calendar year, not fewer requires the Director of the Office of Man- hibit the possession, acquirement, receipt,
than 1 of which shall be in the Gulf of Mexico agement and Budget, in consultation with transportation, sale, or purchase of mink
Region each calendar year. the Administrator of General Services, the raised in captivity in the United States for
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES Director of the National Institute of Stand- fur production.
Mr. CRUZ moves that the managers on the ards and Technology, the Director of the Cy- MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
part of the Senate at the conference on the bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Mr. SANDERS moves that the managers on
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Agency, the Director of National Intel- the part of the Senate at the conference on
Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 be ligence, the Secretary of Defense, the Sec- the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on
instructed to insist that the final conference retary of State, the Secretary of the Treas- the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521
report include section 3258 of the Senate ury, and the Chairman of the Board of Gov- be instructed to insist that the final con-
amendment, which requires a report identi- ernors of the Federal Reserve System, and ference report include provisions that re-
fying ‘‘major areas of diplomatic, energy, in- consistent with information security re- quire each beneficiary of Federal financial
frastructure, banking, financial, economic, quirements designed to address any national assistance for semiconductor manufacturing
military, and space cooperation . . . between security risks, to develop guidance for execu- to be banned from purchasing the stock of
the People’s Republic of China and the Is- tive agencies requiring adequate security the beneficiary, from outsourcing employ-
lamic Republic of Iran’’, regarding the policy measures for any transfer, storage, or use of ment opportunities of the beneficiary to any
of the United States to limit such coopera- digital yuan on information technology. country outside of the United States, and
tion through terrorism-related sanctions im- MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES from repealing any collective bargaining re-
posed on the Central Bank of Iran and the Is- quirements of the beneficiary, and that re-
Mr. COTTON moves that the managers on quire each such beneficiary to issue warrants
lamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as such
the part of the Senate at the conference on and equity stakes in the enterprise of the
sanctions are necessary to limit such co-
operation. the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on beneficiary to the Federal Government and
the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 to remain neutral in any union organizing
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES be instructed to insist upon rejecting the au-
Mr. MENENDEZ moves that the managers on effort of the employees of the beneficiary.
thorization of appropriations for contribu-
the part of the Senate at the conference on MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
tions to the Green Climate Fund under sec-
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on tion 30609(b) of the text of the bill as en- Mr. SCOTT of Florida moves that the man-
the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 grossed by the House of Representatives and agers on the part of the Senate at the con-
be instructed to insist upon the provisions insisting upon including an authorization of ference on the disagreeing votes of the two
contained in section 73003 of the Senate appropriations of $8,000,000,000 within section Houses on the Senate amendment to the bill
amendment (relating to establishment of an 2118 of division A of the Senate amendment H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the
Inspector General of the Office of the United (relating to funding for the Defense Ad- final conference report include provisions
States Trade Representative). vanced Research Projects Agency) for De- that ensure that any taxpayer funds spent in
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES partment of Defense research, development, the bill, including those provided to univer-
Senator RISCH moves that the managers on production, and procurement of weapon sys- sities and private sector corporations, are
the part of the Senate at the conference on tems needed to compete with China. subject to comprehensive return on invest-
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on ment analyses and claw back provisions, and
the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES corresponding timely reports on the use of
be instructed to insist that the final con- Ms. MURKOWSKI moves that the managers such funds to Congress and the American
ference report include provisions that take on the part of the Senate at the conference public.
actionable steps to address the risks of and on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
counter malign or undue influence and ac- on the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. Ms. HASSAN moves that the managers on
tivities in the United States and abroad by 4521 be instructed to insist that the final the part of the Senate at the conference on
the Chinese Communist Party, the Govern- conference report include the text of each of the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on
ment of the People’s Republic of China, or the following: the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521
individuals or entities acting on their behalf. (1) S. 3245, 117th Congress, as introduced on be instructed to insist that the final con-
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES November 18, 2021. ference report include provisions that expand
Mr. KELLY moves that the managers on the (2) S. 140, 117th Congress, as reported to the the research and development tax credit for
part of the Senate at the conference on the Senate on December 17, 2021. small businesses and preserve full and imme-
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the (3) H.R. 1447, 117th Congress, as referred in diate expensing for research and develop-
Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 be the Senate on May 19, 2021. ment investments.
instructed to insist that the final conference MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
report include incentives to support invest- Mr. SULLIVAN moves that the managers on Ms. ERNST moves that the managers on the
ments in semiconductor manufacturing and the part of the Senate at the conference on part of the Senate at the conference on the
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innovation in the United States, including the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the
investments in the fabrication, assembly, the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 be
testing, advanced packaging, and research be instructed to insist that the final con- instructed to reject the provision as agreed
and development of semiconductors. ference report include provisions that pro- to by the House of Representatives that
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES hibit a renewable energy project receiving would reauthorize the Small Business Inno-
Mr. LEE moves that the managers on the Federal financial assistance, a subsidy, or vation Research and Small Business Tech-
part of the Senate at the conference on the any other financing mechanism authorized nology Transfer programs under section 9 of
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April 28, 2022 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2211
the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638) with- supply chains and sharing data and best the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521
out authorization to prevent the Russian practices; be instructed to insist upon the provisions
Federation and the People’s Republic of (3) support investments that strengthen contained in section 73001 of the Senate
China from acquiring technology critical to the diversity, security, resilience, and reli- amendment (relating to establishing a proc-
national security developed through pro- ability of critical supply chains, which may ess for exclusion of articles from duties
grams of the Small Business Administration include working with allies and partners of under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974).
and participating Federal agencies. the United States to reduce reliance on MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES countries of concern, consistent with inter-
Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina moves that
Mr. LANKFORD moves that the managers on national trade agreements to which the
the managers on the part of the Senate at
the part of the Senate at the conference on United States is a party;
the conference on the disagreeing votes of
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on (4) expand and strengthen United States
the two Houses on the Senate amendment to
the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 manufacturing, mining, shipbuilding, trans-
the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that
be instructed to insist that the final con- portation, and logistics capabilities, while
the final conference report include a require-
ference report include provisions requiring enhancing environmental sustainability,
ment that any new legislation providing for
that any agreement negotiated by the safety, and equity; and
new mandates on greenhouse gas emissions
United States with the Islamic Republic of (5) support United States manufacturers,
should not be enacted unless similar man-
Iran addressing Iran’s development of nu- including small- and medium-sized enter-
dates are enacted in the People’s Republic of
clear weapons— prises, to improve their resilience to supply
China.
(1) also includes provisions addressing the chains shocks, train their workforce, and
adopt new technologies to make them more MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
full range of Iran’s destabilizing activities,
including development of the means of deliv- globally competitive. Mr. LUJÁN moves that the managers on the
ery for such weapons (such as ballistic mis- MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES part of the Senate at the conference on the
siles), support for terrorism, and evasion of disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the
Mr. WARNOCK moves that the managers on
sanctions by individuals, entities, and ves- Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 be
the part of the Senate at the conference on
sels in the trade of petroleum products with instructed to insist on provisions supporting
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on
the People’s Republic of China; the work of the Department of Energy, user
the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521
(2) does not lift sanctions on the Islamic facilities of the Department of Energy, and
be instructed to insist that the final con-
Revolutionary Guard Corps; and National Laboratories, including work in
ference report include provisions that fully
(3) does not revoke the designation of the microelectronics and across the key tech-
fund programs to build institutional re-
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a for- nology focus areas (as defined in section 2002
search capacity at historically Black col-
eign terrorist organization under section 219 of the amendment).
leges or universities that are developing re-
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 search institutions. f
U.S.C. 1189). MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES EXECUTIVE SESSION
Mr. DAINES moves that the managers on
Mr. SANDERS moves that the managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on ---
the part of the Senate at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to reject provisions that weak- Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I
be instructed to recede from the provision en the energy security of the United States,
contained in section 2614(c) of the Senate
move to proceed to executive session to
prohibit the development of an all-of-the- consider Calendar No. 546.
amendment (relating to contract redundancy above energy portfolio, or direct funds to for-
and funding for the human landing system eign entities for international climate objec-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
program of the National Aeronautics and tives. question is on agreeing to the motion.
Space Administration, which would likely go
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
The motion was agreed to.
to Blue Origin). The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES Mr. CASSIDY (for himself and Ms. WARREN)
moves that the managers on the part of the
clerk will report the nomination.
Mr. CASSIDY moves that the managers on Senate at the conference on the disagreeing The senior assistant legislative clerk
the part of the Senate at the conference on votes of the two Houses on the Senate read the nomination of Joshua Frost,
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 be in- of New York, to be an Assistant Sec-
the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 structed to insist that the final conference retary of the Treasury.
be instructed to insist that the final con- report include the provisions contained in
ference report include provisions that re- CLOTURE MOTION
section 90306 of H.R. 4521, as agreed to by the
quire the President to directly address trou- House (relating to college transparency).
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I send
bling developments in Mexico’s energy sec- a cloture motion to the desk.
tor that intentionally cause harm to United MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clo-
States jobs and economic interests, business Mrs. CAPITO moves that the managers on
ture motion having been presented
and investor interests, and climate goals the part of the Senate at the conference on
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on under rule XXII, the Chair directs the
through the use of consultations under the
USMCA (as defined in section 3 of the United the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 clerk to read the motion.
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implemen- be instructed to insist that the final con- The senior assistant legislative clerk
tation Act (19 U.S.C. 4502)). ference report include provisions that— read as follows:
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES (1) emphasize that, under current law, the CLOTURE MOTION
President may not—
Mr. BENNET moves that the managers on We, the undersigned Senators, in accord-
(A) declare, on the basis of climate
the part of the Senate at the conference on ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the
change—
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby
(i) a national emergency under the Na-
the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4521 move to bring to a close debate on the nomi-
tional Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et
be instructed to insist that the final con- nation of Executive Calendar No. 546, Joshua
seq.);
ference report include provisions to Frost, of New York, to be an Assistant Sec-
(ii) an emergency or major disaster under
strengthen the resilience, capacity, and secu- retary of the Treasury.
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
rity of critical supply chains to reduce costs Charles E. Schumer, Brian Schatz, Alex
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et
for United States consumers and businesses Padilla, Benjamin L. Cardin, Jack
seq.); or
and to avoid supply chain shocks that in- Reed, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Tammy
(iii) a public health emergency under sec-
crease prices and jeopardize the national and Duckworth, Angus S. King, Jr., Patrick
tion 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42
economic security of the United States, in- J. Leahy, Chris Van Hollen, Catherine
U.S.C. 247d); or
cluding provisions that— Cortez Masto, Gary C. Peters, Eliza-
(B) invoke, on the basis of climate change,
(1) reinvigorate United States semicon- beth Warren, Jacky Rosen, Ben Ray
the authorities of the Defense Production
ductor manufacturing and promote the re- Luján, Cory A. Booker, Christopher A.
Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.); and
search and development needed to regain and Coons.
(2) provide that nothing in H.R. 4521 grants
maintain the ability to manufacture, test,
the President the authority to make a dec- f
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assemble, and package advanced semicon-
laration or invocation described in para-
ductor products in the United States; LEGISLATIVE SESSION
graph (1).
(2) strengthen supply chains in critical in-
dustries and improve the availability of crit- MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I
ical goods important to the national and eco- Mr. TOOMEY moves that the managers on move to proceed to legislative session.
nomic security of the United States, includ- the part of the Senate at the conference on The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
ing by identification and mapping of those the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on question is on agreeing to the motion.
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- www.govinfo.gov