The presiding officer the senator from louisiana. Kennedys mr. Kennedy thank you, madam president. I want to talk for a few moments this morning about money, 5g and radio waves. Mr. Kennedy a radio wave is nothing more than electromagnetic radiation moving through the air. Thats all a radio wave is. Think of it as a imagine a pond, and think of a radio wave as a ripple or wave in that pond. The wave goes like this and has a peak and a valley and peak and a valley, and eventually it gets shorter and shorter. Thats what a radio wave is. And there are different kind of radio waves. I dont know how many, but a bunch. And they are, theyre differentiated by the length of the peak and the valley. Remember, radio waves doing this. As it goes to the top and comes to the bottom, thats called a cycle. And frequency, youve heard that term before. Frequency is nothing more than how many cycles a radio wave goes through in one second. So we have out there we cant see them, theyre invisible, but thousands, millions of these radio waves, once again, doing like this. What does that have to do with 5g . Well, 5g is nothing more than a certain type of radio wave, and ill come back and talk a little more about 5g in a second. When i make a cell phone call, madam president , to you, whats happening is that my voice is being converted into an electrical signal, as you know, thats being sent to your phone through a radio wave. And then your telephone, once it gets my signal carried by the radio wave, your telephone converts it back into my voice. And thats all a cell phone is. I say hello, madam president. That, my voice, is converted into an electrical signal, sent by radio wave to your telephone. And thats how a cell phone works. Whats 5g . 5g stands for fifth generation Wireless Technology. Now, the very simple answer to what is 5g, it is an incredibly fast radio wave that can carry a huge amount of data. I mean, it is lightning fast. It is ten times faster than anything we have right now, even if you have fourth generation. Fifth generation is going to be, those waves are going to be ten times faster and carry way more data, way more information. And its going to change the world. Not just the United States of america, its going to change the world. Its going to change space. You heard about the internet of things . One of the things 5g is going to be able to do for us, you can hook up all kind of devices that can talk to each other simultaneously. Once we get 5g in america, ill be able to open my garage door half a mile away. Madam president , youll be able to set the timer on your coffee pot from here in the senate if you want to. Surgeons will be able to conduct surgery through the internet thousands of miles away from each other. Well have driverless cars. Any of you ever get money out of an a. M. T. . Theyre going gone. We wont need a. T. M. s anywhere. Youll be able to get the money through a smartphone. Farmers through 5g technology will be informed well in advance when there are disease, diseases encroaching upon their crops. We wont have to sign our name anymore. 5g will make possible whats called personal heat signatures. Its going to change the world. Remember 5g is just a radio wave. Who owns that radio wave and the air that it goes through . The people of america do. Every country owns its own radio waves. And if theres any doubt, the Communications Act of 1934 says that the United States of america you and i own that radio wave and the ability to send that radio wave from my cell phone, madam president , to your cell phone. Now youll not be surprised to learn that all radio waves i told you there were millions of them, billions probably, all radio waves are not made in the same way. Theres a special kind of radio wave that is just perfect for fifthgeneration Wireless Technology. This is called the c band. And the c band is between 3. 7 gigahertz and 4. 2 gigahertz. Thats the frequency. I think of it as thats a certain type of radio wave that is perfect for sea band that can be c band that can be sent through the air to effectuate 5g and that certain radio wave and the air and the right to execute that service belongs to the American People. And the f. C. C. Is in charge of it. Now the f. C. C. Auctions these radio waves all the time. When a company says, gee, i want lets say a Radio Company or Television Company or an internet company, they say, you know, i need to use some of those radio waves. They go to the f. C. C. , and the f. C. C. Says okay, were going to auction that radio wave off because we believe in competition. And because these radio waves belong to the American People, so we want to get the best price. In the last 25 years the f. C. C. Has conducted over 100 auctions of radio waves. They dont call them radio waves. They call them spectrum. Youve heard of the term spectrum auction. But the f. C. C. Has done a public auction, over 100 of them, of these various radio waves or bands of spectrum. Theyve brought in 123 billion for the American People. Done an incredible job. So now were about to assign the special radio waves for 5g. I dont blame you for trying, but three foreign countries, two Foreign Companies from luxembourg i love luxembourg, great country and one Foreign Corporation from canada i love canada these three foreignowned Satellite Companies have gone to the f. C. C. And said we can do an auction faster than the f. C. C. Can. And we need to get these 51g radio waves out to the Wireless Companies real fast. And if you will just give us these foreign Satellite Companies said, if youll just give us those radio waves, well auction them off for you, and well do it a lot fast he that un. And when i first read about this madam president , i said, am i reading this right . The f. C. C. Has held over 100 auctions, brought in billions of dollars. We have these radio waves for 5g that the experts say are worth 60 billion, and instead of auctioning them off and letting everybody fairly compete, these three Foreign Corporations want the f. C. C. To give them the airwaves and let them auction them off and the Foreign Companies get to keep the money. But and im astounded. I said, gosh, i couldnt ask for Something Like that with a straight face. But you know whats even more incredible . The f. C. C. Is thinking about doing it. Theyre thinking about doing it. Theyre thinking about taking 60 billion that belongs to the American People and giving it just giving it to this alliance of companies, two from luxembourg, one from canada, saying here, its yours. Go auction it off, even though theyve never conducted a spectrum auction in their life. You know how much he 60 billion . I did the math, madam president. Our f. C. C. Is thinking about doing it. And what i find really incredible is the president , he just issued this executive order. He did a little while ago. Buy american and hire american. I was so proud when i saw this executive order. Buy american and hire american. Doesnt mean we dont love our worlds neighbors, but america first. And whats our f. C. C. Thinking about doing . Theyre thinking about giving our spectrum to three Foreign Companies and letting them keep the 60 billion. Talk about swampy. These are also Foreign Companies. I dont mean that in a pejorative sense, and i love luxembourg and i love canada. They had a French Company in here. The French Company has bowed out at least for a while. But our job is not to maximize profits for Foreign Corporations. Our job is to help our people. And this 5g has National Security implications. Before we give away these 5g airwaves to a Foreign Corporation, we need to know who theyre going to give it to. What if they give it to china . What if they say, well, well conduct our own auction and they give it to huawei . There is another reason that this whole approach is foolhardy. Madam president , 5g is going to be great for the cities. Thats where its going first. But what about the people who dont live in the city . What id like to see us do, and i am encouraging the f. C. C. To do, is to hold a public auction, take some of that 60 billion theyre going to get, and use it for rural broadband. To make sure that the people who live in rural areas get taken care of as well the people who live in the cities, because our Wireless Technology companies are going to have to be encouraged. They make a whole lot more money selling in the city than they do out in the rural areas. Now, remember this Foreign Corporation group says they can do an auction faster, even though theyve never done an auction in their lives. They say, we can do it faster, and we got to beat china. So give us the radio waves. Well do a quick auction. We get to keep the 60 billion, but well get it out there. Theres just one problem all those Wireless Technology companies that didnt get to bid, every single one of them is going to file suit, every one, if we dont do a public auction. So were going to have this thing tied up in court for 20 years, for 20 years. Were going to be so far behind china, china is going to have lapped us several times. Were going to think were in first place, but were really going to be in last place. Im just ive held hearings. Im not because of anything that i did or any competence on my part. Im chairman of the Financial Services and general Government Subcommittee of the appropriations committee, as you know, madam chairwoman. And the only reason i got the job is seniority, okay . But, nonetheless, i got it. And the f. C. C. Is under my jurisdiction. And ive been holding hearings. And im going to hold more hearings. And so far the only reason that anybody can give me to take these 5g airwaves and give them to a Foreign Corporation is that they think they can do it faster, despite the fact that we will have litigation and despite the fact that theyve never done an auction before. The best way to resist temptation, in my opinion, is a proper upbringing, a strong set of values, and witnesses. We need to have a public auction of this internet, of the 5g radio waves. Everybody needs to compete. If we dont want a Foreign Company to get control of it and i dont; we can put it in the bid specks. Huawei need to the apply. Nothing personal. But as long as you spy for china, you cant work here. But p we need a level playing field. We need to have competition. Competition is a moral good. Everybody needs to get an equal bite at the apple. This doesnt need to be done in a backroom swampy deal. Im not saying that anybodys brotherinlaw is going to get taken care of here. Im not saying that. But it sure looks swampy. And we need to do it exactly like weve done for the 100 past broadband spectrum auctions, and im saying that not only to our Senate Colleagues here and to the chair, but i hope im speaking clearly enough to the f. C. C. Do the right thing. Dont give away 60 billion that belongs to the people of america to two companies in luxembourg and one of them in canada. Its wrong. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from virginia. Mr. Warner i ask that the proceedings of the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Warner im going to speak on another matter in just a moment, but i want to thank my friend, the senator from louisiana. There is a number of subjects that are debated on this floor that i may know a little bit about or may not know much at all about. But on the subject he was just addressing the question of spectrum and the challenges and the threats around 5g i spent i can still claim this i am proud of the fact that i have spent a longer time in business than i have in politics. My whole career was spent in the business of mobile communications, wireless communications. Spent the last three or four years on the Intelligence Committee in a bipartisan way looking at both the challenge and the opportunity in 5g, and let me assure you some of the items that the senator from louisiana has raised in terms of the security threats that are being posed if we end up with the wrong vendor in 5g is an enormous problem. I dont always agree with the president. On this item, he is right. I hope it is that he will stick to his guns and not trade that away in a trade negotiation with china. And i also know that getting spectrum aligned the right way has been one of our challenges because other nations have been able to, frankly, in asia and elsewhere align spectrum better, so theyre almost the underpinnings are better positioned than we are, so how we do this is 100 right. And let me also say, whether it is louisiana or virginia, one of the issues i hear the most and ill not talking far rural, im talking small town and even midsize city virginia. Im sure the case is the same in louisiana. The issue is, when am i going to get broadband in an accessible way . And if we dont make sure that we think this through on spectrum, recognizing the National Security implications and also recognize if we roll out 5g and leave in my state 18 of the population behind who dont even have broadband, their ability to compete in the 21st century is going to be dramatically undermind. So i hope i have a chance to visit with my friend, the senator from louisiana, and see if we might be able to Work Together on some of these issues. And as somebody who for a while at least before the f. C. C. Auctioned off that spectrum, it was left in other hands, and i know how much that suffice is to say, i know how much that spectrum is worth. Now id like to turn to a different matter. Madam president , i move to proceed to calendar number 278, s. J. Res. 52. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk motion to proceed to s. J. Res. 52, a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States code, of the rules submitted by the secretary of the treasury and so forth. Mr. Warner madam president , i know of no further game. The presiding officer is there further debate on the motion . If not, all in favor say aye u those opposed, say no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the joint resolution. The clerk calendar number 278, s. J. Res. 52, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States code, of the rules submitted by the secretary of the treasury and the secretary of health and humanniveses relating to state relief and empowerment waivers. Mr. Warner i ask the presiding officer there are now ten hours of debate equally divided. Mr. Warner madam president , i ask unanimous consent that craig radcliffe, counsel on mesa, be permitted floor privileges for the remainder of the day. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Warner madam president , i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. Madam president , i withdraw the quorum call. Mr. Inhofe madam president , we the presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Inhofe i have four requests for committee to meet today during the session of the senate and they have the approval of the majority and the minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Inhofe madam president , for 58 years, the congress has passed the National Defense authorization act with large bipartisan margins, and i believe were going to do so again this year. In fact, we must. If it were up to me, it would have already been done by now. People have to realize how this is the most important bill of the year. Its one that we have to do. We have to do it by the end of the year. Thats the end of december. Were not going to fund our military. Thats how serious it is. Ill keep working with my colleagues in the house and the senate to get this done. Im going to say that again because theres been a rumor out there to the contrary. Im going to we are still working to get a comprehensive bill done. Were going to keep working on it. Its even more important because of what happened over the weekend. Our brave special Operations Forces successfully executed a Dangerous Mission to get isis leader albaghdadi, and it was successful. It was the right call by President Trump to bring down one of our most dangerous terrorists that the world has ever seen. And it was successful. It also underscored the importance of the annual Defense Authorization bill. There is a he no better time to pass an ndaa thats the National Defense authorization bill that puts our Service Members and their Families First than after a perilous operation demonstrating bravery, service, and sacrifice of our troops. Because it took a lot of people to pull this thing off. But to ensure that we give the that we give the men and women the tools they need to fight and win, no matter what, we are filing a skinny bill today. Let me explain what that is. We have to have a Defense Authorization bill. Its happened for 58 years in a roavment if it row. If it happened for 58 years in a row, it will continue to happen. People know it will pass. Consequently people put more and more things on the bill th