Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20240712

The presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to change their vote or to vote . If not, on this vote, the yeas are 87, the nays are 13. Threefifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Ms. Ernst mr. President , the coronavirus doesnt come with a label saying made in china, but perhaps it should. This pandemic which began in wuhan, china, has flooded the world just like so many products from china that we all now rely upon to protect ourselves against the spread of contagion. The situation underscores the conundrum our nation faces balancing the need to work with the Chinese Government and the challenges of holding the communist Party Accountable for its devious deeds. Plain and simple, the Chinese Communist party attempted to cover up the outbreak of covid19 from the very beginning and continues to do so today. Rather than containing the spread of the virus, the regime has focused on containing knowledge of the outbreak, going so far as to punishing chinese scientists who dared to warn about the virus imminent danger. As a result, we now face a worldwide pandemic that has claimed countless victims and could impact every aspect of our lives for months, if not years to come. Folks, china doesnt play by the rules. They constantly seek to undermine the law. And if you ask an iowa farmer, theyll tell you the same. For years, china has stolen intellectual property and reneged on their trade agreements. While we have seen china still purchasing some of our corn and soybeans, they havent completely held up their end of the deal when it comes to china phase 1. Folks, when china cheats on trade deals, the impact is real. American jobs are lost, and wealth is transferred from the u. S. To the communist party of china. This is unacceptable, especially after the damage already caused to our economy by chinas mishandling of the coronaVirus Outbreak. And for decades, our leaders in washington played along, remaining quiet as china stole American Intellectual property and scientific research, cheated on trade deals, and violated basic human rights. Those days are over. President trump is standing up to china by taking decisive actions against the communist regime for its flagrant violation of trade deals and crack down on the autonomy and rights of hong kong. Ive heard this from my farmers in iowa. They know that this president is standing up for them and pushing back on china. And here in the senate, my colleagues and i are also Holding China accountable. Right now, im laser focused on decreasing our dependency on china for critical supplies. The covid19 pandemic has been what i call a great awakening when it comes to the vulnerabilities in our supply chain. The United States has become far too dependent on communist china for items like personal protective equipment, Prescription Drugs, and other essential medical supplies. We need to fix that, and thats what im fighting to do. During my military service, including as a logistics Battalion Commander in the Iowa Army National guard, i learned firsthand the importance of securing the defense supply chain. We cannot continue to rely on our adversaries like china for critically Important National security materials. Thats why in this years annual defense bill, i made it a priority to boost support for University Research in places like iowa to ensure we can make and manufacture metals and materials here at home. This will help make sure china doesnt corner the world market on key materials. Retaking our supply chain from red china also means removing unnecessary red tape imposed by washington. I am working to waive the tax penalties for manufacturing and medical supply companies that choose to relocate to america. I have also demanded the Treasury Department investigate how Chinese Companies are avoiding taxes that u. S. Businesses have to pay. Iowans across the state have told me how much they appreciate this president for standing up to them pushing back years of bad actions by the communist party. They want to end our dependence on that same communist regime. Yes, we can and should continue trading important agricultural products, but at the same time, we should bring jobs back and make critical supplies ourselves so when you look at a products label, it proudly reads made in the u. S. A. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Portman mr. President , i want to thank senator ernst for putting this colloquy together and what she said the importance of having reliable sources here in america is absolutely right and the supply issue is one i hope we address in the covid19 package with regard to our personal protective gear, the p. P. E. If we cant rely on having masks and gowns and other p. P. E. Made here in america, its tough for us, particularly during an International Pandemic like this to build and rely on countries like china. Some of the products that come from china have not been reliable itself. I appreciate what youre doing and the work youre doing to encourage us to be more resourceful here at home to ensure we do what we have to do to protect ourselves from foreign influences, including china. Part of our issue with china i think is a lot of us point fingers at china and were not pointing the fingers at our own internal problems. We need to get our house in order and protect ourselves better. We have legislation that will do that that was reported out of the Governmental Affairs committee. It has to do with china coming to the United States and systematically targeting Promising Research and researchers and saying we would like to get that research. The research is often supported by the u. S. Taxpayer, so its sort of, you know, tough here for us here in america to lose our research to other countries and our innovation and intellectual property. It is particularly tough when taxpayers have paid for it, 150 billion goes to the National Institutes of health, National Science foundation. Thats good. We have cures for some kinds of cancers. We helped to develop the internet and a lot of great things have come out of the research. One thing that really troubles me is that for 20 years now china, taking the lead, other countries as well, iran, north korea and others, having targeted this research and said we want to get that and frankly get it on the cheap because the research is being paid for by our tax dollars. Let me give you an example of what im talking about. Recently in my home state of ohio there was a case along these lines and i applaud the f. B. I. And the department of justice, our u. S. Attorneys for finally getting on top of this issue the we spent a year studying this issue here in the congress in what is called the permanent subcommittee on investigations that i chair. And we found out it was a huge problem and wrote ra report last year. In the report we implored our National Law Enforcement airnltscies to get on this. An f. B. I. Agent testified and said, its true we havent been focused on this and weve got to make that up now and they are making it up. They are arresting a number of people. They are doing the things that should be done to stop some of this really stealing of our seed corn, of our technology, our innovation, our intellectual property. Heres the ohio example. Recently the f. B. I. Announced they arrested a researcher connected with the world renowned Cleveland Clinic and this individual had received a huge grant from the National Institutes of health, n. I. H. , that grant was for about 3. 6 million. This same individual, of course not telling n. I. H. Or telling the Cleveland Clinic or case western or anybody else it accepted money from china. And in the contracts that we were able to research during our investigation, these contracts with china say youre not allowed to reveal that you have this relationship with china, that youre getting the money from china. They not only gave this money, they gave him 3 million and gave him a dean ship at Wuhan University and gave him money to hire in wuhan and he could recruit others many he recruited 30 or 40 people according to the f. B. I. These are all allegations. The arrest has been made. He actually is alleged to have taken biological examples from cleveland, ohio, and taxpayers paid for it and he took it to china and paid for lodging for him, a luxury apartment in wuhan. This is about people who are not patriots but instead willing to sell us out by selling their research, their expertise that our taxpayers have funded to china and other countries. N. I. H. Recently, by the way, fired or forced the resignation of 54 researchers. Not ones and twos and threes, 54 people. Weve been pushing them hard to find out who these people are and what they are doing, but they havent been willing to reveal that yet because this is a matter under investigation. They have told us that of those under investigation at n. I. H. , 90 have ties to china. So wake up, america. Here we are. You know, were in a situation where other countries, particularly china, have targeted American Research, American Researchers and are now taking this back to china to benefit their military, to benefit their economy, to benefit their health care system. By the way, i do not believe this is for academic purposes. Its wrong whats happening, but its even more wrong, because its not as if they are taking it back to do joint research on an academic basis. Let me tell you what the state department told us at the hearing at the end of last year. They said, quote, the Chinese Communist Party Declared Chinese University systems to be on the front line of military civilian fusion efforts for technology acquisition. This is our own state department. That means theres a clear link between the research taken in america and the latest advancement in chinas military and its economy. It has its been happening for 20 years. Its time to put an end to it. The legislation that we were able to get through committee today takes a really important steps in step in that direction. There are for our orfire four or five elements. It will give the f. B. I. The ability to create a new criminal law that says if you lie on these forms, if youre taking money from china, certainly a conflict of commitment and a conflict of interest, you know, you can be taken to task for that and be held accountable. They cant right now. They are arrested for mail fraud, tax evasion, like they had to go after gangsters before there were laws against racketeering. This is something that we need to of give people the tools they need. We need to help the state department, we helped with regard to our universities to ensure we are reporting and being transparent so the money that they are receiving from china and other countries. I thank my colleague from iowa for this colloquy. There are two other colleagues who are well versed and i want to hear from them as well. But i would say i hope on a bipartisan basis, and by the way, our legislation is bipartisan, our investigation was bipartisan, i would say nonpartisan. This is an american issue. We should all be standing up to protect the American Research enter pricing and to be sure that our taxpayers, when they pay for this are important research, have the benefit of it rather than it being taken, in particular by china, to benefit their military and their economy, which has been going on for two decades. Time to wake up. With that, i yield to my colleagues. I dont know whos up next. My colleague from are arizona. The presiding officer the senator from arizona. Ms. Mcsally i thank my colleague from ohio and florida and other states coming here to talk about this important issue, a National Security issue. I served 26 years in the military and we have seen the threat of the rise of china. Its a threat to americas security, our jobs, and our role as a leader in the world. They are on a deliberate path to try to dominate the world and shape it into their vision and they need to be stopped. When i was a ka did at at the air force academy, we had an honor code not to lie, cheat or steal. China has p been lying, cheating and stealing for far too long. Americans are now weag up to this waking up to this threat and will hold china accountable. This cant be done by us alone, our European Partners and others need to join with us and wake up to chinas dangerous path. We have been calling this a return to Great Power Competition as if to assume were all playing by the same rules. We werent. Arent. China is cheating the system for their own gain and power. The Chinese Communist party is a reckless, predatory adversary. They are dedicated to supplanting our nation as a world dominant leader. They have increased their military spending by 85 , they have building their navy, expand their missile stockpile and emerging in hypersonic warfare and article official intelligence. From their illegal maritime claims, them building artificial islands where they didnt exist before and militarizing them in the South China Sea with their maneuvers and exercises that are aggressive and belligerent. To their covert attempts to infiltrate the u. S. And stealing our technology, Chinese Forces are expanding their tentacles far beyond their borders to the detriment of National Security interest. Congress must do our part to respond to this threat. For these reasons i introduced several pieces of legislation that immediately stop china from taking advantage of Government Funds and taxpayer dollars to purchase product and services from Chinese Companies with ties to the chinese military. To end our reliance on chinas control of manufacturing of p. P. E. I authorized the president to incentivize american countries to produce equipment and drugs. It is very clear that outsourcing the production of p. P. E. To an adversary was wrong and risky. I witnessed the ingenuity of companies to step up to fill the gap. Thats no excuse for ignoring the fact that weve got to bring manufacturing back home, vital medical equipment, p. P. E. , so its made in america. The coronaVirus Outbreak has taken a catastrophic toll on our country and the world. The virus began in china, spread globally because the Chinese Government lied about what they knew about it and destroyed evidence and silenced doctors and whistleblowers. Like the rest of the nation, arizona suffered devastating consequences due to the pandemic. We have lost over 2,900 arizonians plus the economic toll. Communist china unleashed this virus on the world and it should face severe chinas action cost lives and devastated the world economy. It must be held accountable. I move do just that by introducing the Civil Justice for victims of covid act. Americans who have been victimized by the lies and deceit of the Chinese Communist party to include those who lost loved ones or suffered business losses deserve the opportunity to hold china accountable. I appreciate many of my colleagues joining with me. It is due time we hold china accountable for belev lent behavior and demonstrate that the greatest country in the world will not be taken for a fool. We will advance over communist chinese rogue agenda with american will, American Innovation an american spirit, we will prevail. I want to yield the floor, mr. President. I appreciate my colleague from florida joining as well. Mr. Scott mr. President. The presiding officer the president from florida. Mr. Scott i recognize my colleagues for their commitment to Holding Communist China accountable. I rise to discuss the threat of communist china, a threat that poses a huge risk to the National Security of the United States, our allies and the stability of world markets. Communist china is simply stealing american jobs and technology and a spying on our citizens. General secretary of the communist party xi is a dictator, a human rights violator who is denying basic rights to the people of hong kong, cracking down on dissidents, threatening taiwan and militarizing the South China Sea. Uighurs are being rounded up, blindfolded and loaded on to trains to be taken to concentration camps. You cant believe this is happening today in this world simply because of their religion. Their deception surrounding the coronavirus pandemic should be the last straw for every american. It doesnt matter to communist china that their lies and misinformation killed hundreds of thousands of people around of world. Communist chinese is on a mission to be the dominant world player. Chairman xi will stop at nothing to grow their influence. For communist china and chairman xi, this great power conflict is a sum zero gain. In order for china to be stronger, america and all freedom loving countries around the world must be weaker. We cant allow that to happen. Its time we finally stand up and address the new cold war occurring between the United States and the Chinese Communist party. For too long washington politicians have been concerned with shortterm political success, more with shortterm political success than the longterm threats to our way of life. But not anymore. Its time for action. We can no longer rely on countries like communist china for critical supply chain. We need to build up the National Stockpile of p. P. E. And our pharmaceutical industry with supplies from americanmade producers. We can no longer accept Chinese Technology that could be used to spy on us and were working to prohibit the federal government from purchasing drones from our adversaries. We can no longer allow communist china to steal from us. We have to be aggressive in protecting American Research and American Innovation. Including potentially lifesaving research into a coronavirus vaccine. We should do everything we can to stop buying products, quote, made in china, unquote. Because every time we do, were putting another dollar to the pockets of those stealing our technology, denying their people basic human rights, and propping up dangerous dictators like munn diewr row maduro and venezuela. We have to hold them accountable and their lies that led to the global spread of the coronavirus. They are responsible for the devastation. We have to stand up and say its wrong to allow beijing to host the 2022 olympics. That is wrong. The World Community cant condone or reward their despicable behavior and human rights violations. Its important to be cleareyed. We have to seek communist see communist china for what it is. We almost do our part to support our nation and make it clear to communist china that the people of the United States wont stand for their behavior. I will not stop fighting until our future and the future of all of our children and our grandchildren is secure from this threat. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cruz mr. President , i rise today to join my colleagues in discussing the single greatest geo political threat facing the United States for the next century. And that is the rise of communist china. We are right now months into a deadly Global Pandemic that has sickened over 14 Million People worldwide and has taken the lives of over 600,000 people. And why are we in the midst of a Global Pandemic . Because the Chinese Communist party deliberately lied to the world, covered up the outbreak, and allowed it to spread. The coronavirus pandemic has thrown into high relief the fact that china is our most dangerous threat. For eight years in the u. S. Senate i have worked hard to lead the fight to address the threat of Chinese Communist power and aggression and hostility headon. To make the United States economy as free and independent from china as possible and to thwart the never ending propaganda and sensorship campaign from the censorship from the Chinese Communist. Last week the Chinese Communist government made the decision to sanction me personally. So i am now, i awoke to discover, prohibited from traveling to communist china. Somehow i think i will overcome that great burden. And i will tell you i wear china sanction as a badge of honor. Theres a reason theyre lashing out. Theres a reason they have decided to direct personal sanctions on me because they are scared, they are terrified. The Chinese Communists are murdering, lying, torturing, tyrants. For a long time in washington there were politicians in both parties, democrats and republicans, who were apologists for china, who denied the threat was there, who insisted that the path forward was getting more and more and more in bed with the Chinese Communist. Well, the most significant longterm Foreign Policy consequence of this Global Pandemic is peoples eyes are opening up on both sides of the aisle here in washington and across the world. One need look no further than the United Kingdom reversing its decision to allow huawei to build their telecom infrastructure, how chinas revealed to the world. How do we deal with the Chinese Communist party . First of all, we should sanction chinese officials involved in the ongoing suppression of medical experts, of journalists and political dissidents, all of whom have been disappeared by the chinese tyrants. Ive introduced legislation to do just that. Over the past several years, ive entriesed roughly a dozen separate pieces of legislation all focused on different aspects of addressing the china threat. Another aspect is chinese propaganda, chinese propaganda that is reflected here in the United States. Big business, giant corporations, the media, hollywood, all are terrified to take on communist china. All see the billions they can earn from access to the Chinese Markets as more important than free speech. With respect to hollywood, sadly too many movie producers here in the United States have been perfectly content to allow the Chinese Communists to censor american movies. So, for example, later this year the sequel to top gun is scheduled to out, top gun, one of the greatest military recruiting films ever made. Well, the sequel now, a mavericks Bomber Jacket on the back, the flag of taiwan has been removed and the flag of japan,jan, both the chinese overlords deemedensi and our heroic First Amendment champions in hollywood dutifully complied with censorship. By the way, it neednt concern Political Affairs in asia. Another hollywood movie, bohemia ramzi, a fabulous buy optic, the chinese censors decided it offended their sensibilities to have scenes in the movie that revealed that freddi mercury was homosexual. I ask you to pause for a second and ask, how on earth do you tell freddi mercurys life story without including the fact that he was gay. It was integral to who he was. And yet hollywood who on so many other issues are glad to be woke social justice warriors dutifully complied when the chinese censors said take it out and deleted the scenes from bohemian rhapsody. Ive introduced legislation in this body called the script act that will impose consequences when American Companies allow the Chinese Government to censor our films. The consequences are simple. We dont have the power as the government to impose direct negative consequences but what we do have the power to do is use the incentives we have, namely lots of movies borrow federal assets. You go watch a movie and you see a plane or a ship or a tank. You go watch a movie thats on the border and you see d. H. S. Assets, all sorts of federal agencies allow movies to use equipment that is the property of the federal government. Script act is very simple. It says if youre going to allow the Chinese Communists to censor your movie, the federal government is not going to loan you equipment or material. Were not going to facilitate making a movie if youre going to give the Chinese Communists the editing and censoring pen. Not only do the Chinese Communists engage in propaganda in hollywood, they also engage in espionage and pop began today propaganda on our university campuses, a very deliberate, systematic effort to steal and deceive. In the National Defense authorization act for fiscal year 2019, i was proud to secure a funding prohibition for the department of defense from funding universities where the money could go to a Confucius Institute as a result of that Bipartisan Legislation that earned support from republicans and democrats, 17 Confucius Institutes have been shut down. When it comes to our supply chain, we have seen in recent months the incredible foolishness of allowing the American Supply Chain to be dependent on china. Medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, p. P. E. , in the midst of this pandemic one Chinese Government state controlled newspaper explicitly threatened to cut off lifesaving pharmaceuticals to the United States of america as a tool of economic warfare. Well, mr. President , if they were to do that, that wouldnt just be economic warfare. That would be actual warfare. That is literally threatening the lives of millions of americans. We need to break our supply chain dependence on china, especially concerning critical infrastructure. And ive introduced a host of legislation designed to do so with respect to pharmaceuticals, with respect to critical minerals. We have to be keep the American Peoples lives and safety not dependent upon the whims of communist china. And a final point right now in china today there are roughly one million uighurs in concentration camps, orwellian style dystopian government where the government has all power to monitor what you say, to monitor who you talk to, to monitor your beliefs, and i introduced legislation to impose sanctions on any American Technology companies that facilitate the monitoring and oppression of the chinese people. And im proud to say the Trump Administration took major portions of that legislation i introduced and implemented it to increase the pressure, to stop facilitating chinese torture and oppression. The overwhelming challenge for this body and for this country for the next century Going Forward is how we stand up to the threat of china. China is waging a thousandyear war. And for the sake not only of americans but for the sake of the free world, America Needs to win this contest. I yield the floor. Mrs. Blackburn mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mrs. Blackburn thank you, mr. President. You know, i was thinking a bit earlier today about what we were doing at this time last year. And we were busy hosting tennessee tuesdays and welcoming tennesseans and families and children with just such curiosity and bright eyes and lots of questions about our nations government. And about these beautiful buildings in which we work every day. And about the job that we have in representing them. I like that curiosity and i like that energy that generally is brought to our chambers and to our work during the summertime. And this year things really are a little bit different. And i think it is a very worthwhile exercise. And i appreciate that my colleagues are participating in this exercise to remind ourselves why this year is different. And the answer, of course, as to why is this year different is because of the Chinese Communist party. They are the ones that are to be held responsible, to be blamed for the sickness, the chaos, for this crisis that we have had which is a health, food, and financial crisis all rolled into one. And it has happened because of decisions that china made, decisions that were made by the Chinese Communist partys leadership. Theres some things that are the known knowns if you will. Theyre the things that we know happened. As you look back over what has happened with covid19. What we know is this. On decem on december 2019, government officials in wuhan, china, confirmed that they were monitoring the president the pra disease the president is of a disease that looked a lot like pneumonia. Didnt have all the markers but a lot. But on new years eve, they let us know, hey, we got a problem out here. Just days later, they confirmed it was caused by a novel virus that had infected dozens of people. We now know it was hundreds of people. It wasnt until january 23, however, that authorities shut off wuhan from the rest of the country. By this time, the virus was spreading like wildfire. And, mr. President , lets pay close attention to what i just said. They shut off hubei province. They shut off wuhan, not from the rest of the world, not from other countries, but from the rest of china. Dont you dare go anywhere else in our country. This is contagious. Now, as if that 23day gap wasnt bad enough, credible watchdog reports revealed that the c. C. P. Chinese communist party lied, they lied, to Global Health officials about the danger posed by the virus for not just a day or two while they figured it out but for 51 days before they sounded the alarm and said, listen up. Pandemic. Pandemic. 51 days. This deception allowed a regional outbreak to spread into a Global Pandemic that has so far killed more than 140,000 americans. Now, it would be easy to chalk all of this up to incompetence and overwhelmed bureaucrats, but every member of this body knows that is not what happened. And thats why over the past few weeks, more and more of my colleagues here in the senate have agreed to support legislation that will allow americans to hold china accountable for the destruction caused by the pandemic. On monday, senator mcsally introduced the Civil Justice for victims of covid act, a bill that i am very pleased to support and to be a cosponsor. This bill contains elements of my stop covid act, which i introduced earlier this year. It would strip chinese officials of their sovereign immunity for reckless actions that caused the pandemic and would give our federal courts the authority to hear claims that china has caused or contributed to the covid19 pandemic. This is not an unusual step. We did this after 9 11, for the 9 11 families. And what we would do is give them the opportunity to go to court and make their case, hold china accountable. Mr. President , its time for this body to reject the artificial backstops that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle use to protect china from criticism. And i encourage those colleagues to ask themselves, what are you afraid will happen if we hold china accountable for what they have done . What do you fear . Weve known for years that beijing uses every tool in its toolbox to spy on us. Look at what weve learned about huawei. They embed the chips in the hardware. You do not know theyre there until they activate. We know they steal our intellectual property. Look at what they have done to the music industry, to the entertainment industry, to publishers, to automotive engineers. China they cant innovate their way to success, so what do they do . They steal their way to success, and then they lie about it. And china continues to cause chaos on the international stage. Look at their work pushing into the South China Sea. Look at what they have done to the Freedom Fighters in hong kong. Look at how they act and how they pressure and try to stifle taiwan. This is Standard Operating Procedure for the Chinese Communist party. Now, because they chose to lie and not come forward, we have more than 140,000 americans who are dead. Millions more have lost their jobs, and they have lost their sense of community. How much further are we willing to let this go . Because i will tell you this as i every single day talk to tennesseans about china and what has happened with china and how china has not been an honest broker, not only in this but for decades, tennesseans have had enough. I yield the floor. Mr. Lankford mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Lankford the world is watching whats happening with covid19. Its affecting every single one of our families in some way. While the world is watching and were doolittleing with all the issues and were dealing with all the issues in the United States, you cant lose track of whats happening on the world stage because china is using this moment when the world is distracted to be able to push its way into hong kong, into i can bring its word and to break its word. When we deal with china, we know what theyve done, the predatory tactics theyve done, either to their own people or to countries around the world. In the United States of americas, when we do foreign aid, we help other countries gain more security, freedom, economic growth. We dont ask anything in return. We engage to be able to help them. China is working with developing countries around the world by moving into countries and taking collateral of their ports, airports, and establishing military bases around the world when poor countries default on the loans they give them. Theyre not helping other countries. Thats right a. Taking over other theyre taking over other countries. Theyre stepping into country after country and offering them technology from Companies Like huawei. But what theyre really doing is gathering their people and gathering data on people all around the world. The Security Systems are not there to set up. Theyre there for the dictatorship of china to be able to track whats going on there in the emergencies development. We should be aware of what china is doing and we should not ignore this moment for the free people of hong kong. Today Many Americans are aware of how china has handled the issue of protective equipment, medical equipment that weigh desperately needed in march, april, may, much of it manufactured in china, we could not get because the communist government of china kept the materials from American Companies that were manufacturing in china, the Chinese Communist government wouldnt allow the export of that. They just took that equipment over, putting all the schedules behind. Suddenly americans woke up and understood that our supply chains are at risk. Our pharmaceutical supply chains are at risk. Our p. P. E. Supply chains at risk and what many people dont know is that our Rare Earth Minerals is at risk. A lot of folks like the solar panels and electric car batteries. Well, great except for the Rare Earth Minerals that are in those are completely dependent on china. And if we dont develop our own sourcing for those Rare Earth Minerals, which we have those same Rare Earth Minerals here, if we dont develop our own supply chain, our own manufacturing for pharmaceuticals and for the precursors of pharmaceuticals, well continue to be vulnerable to the Chinese Government and at the moment the communist government determines they will take over that supply and we will be at risk. For decades, the Confucius Institutes have thrived on College Campuses, spreading a communist philosophy all through our College Campuses. It is now at a moment that we need that College Campuses and leadership in colleges are starting to wake up to be able to say, why are we allowing communist indoctrination on our campuses . It it is a bill that i have pushed, that i will continue to push. It is an issue that i have pushed for years dealing with communist chinese spying on American Technology, stealing technology and also stealing our scientists and inventions. They come over with a granting from the United States with a grant from the United States and said they are real estate going theyre going to send over research and really what theyre doing is Harvesting Research and take it back to china. They take over any items of production and all the manufacturing that comes to china, theyll then take that same technology, move it to a different factory and literally compete against the First Company because to do business in china, you have to turn over all your intellectual property to the communist government, who then takes it an uses it on their own. The Chinese Communist government is not the ally of freedom for the world. We should be aware of that. Certainly the people of hong kong are aware of that. In 1997, after 150 years as a british territory, hong kong became a part of china under the joint declaration. It was had in one country, two systems that hong kong for 50 years would remain autonomous and free. Well, just over two decades later, the Chinese Government has broken their promise and hong kong is no longer free. While the world is consumed with whats happening with covid19, the communist government has moved into hong kong and has taken it over. They passed a law in beijing that they sent overred and declared into hong kong that you cant have anything of what they call subversion, organization and perpetuation of what they call terroristic activities, conclusion with a foreign country or external element, which ill explain later. This new security law was delivered to the people of hong kong at midnight and went into place immediately. The next step was Chinese Communist police, military Law Enforcement moved into hong kong to begin to implement this. Threats to Free Speech Free speech immediately stopped. The protesters on the street just wishing to be able to vote and to be able it speak their mind were immediately rounded up. Teachers and academics have been arrested or fired or threatened. Communist chinese leaders have contacted them to represent them about teaching about human rights in their classroom. Remembering that in hong kong it was required, it was a required class in hong kong just weeks ago to learn about human rights and freedom and now the Chinese Government is removing those teachers and threatening any other teach that teaches about human rights that they will be removed. Faith leaders have been squashed. You see under this security law that is passed, you cant have any external element collusion. Thet define external element as any kind of worship of god as well that does not align with the communist government. So any faithbased group that is there in hong kong is immediately being washington, d. C. The Muslim Uighurs are gathered up in communist china and nut in concentration camps to reeducate them on how to be more chinese. Now the people of hong kong are experiencing that same type of oppression as the first step has stepped into to take away their right to free speech, their right to gather and protest and now also their right to be able to have freedom of faith. Leaders of the Democracy Movement have been rounded up and arusted. This is something we should not ignore. We have said as a world, never again. And we should engage. While i know many people in my state will say we should focus on covid19 and we should. There is much that needs to be done. We cannot take our eye off of freedom and the world as well and the people of hong kong as they lose their freedom, the world loses freedom. And china sees it can move into one more place, one more time. Taiwan is next and they will continue to be able to move in this same way. We should stay engaged. Theres multiple bills this body has done on sanctions, and we should continue. We should continue to be able to press in to be able to speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves in hong kong, and that are being isolated. Senator tim kaine and i just dropped a bill yesterday dealing with Internet Freedom for the people of hong kong, saying that the American Government should be engaged in trying to break through what is called the great fire wall in china so we know they will extend this fire wall into hong kong as well and will prevent the people of hong kong from access to social media, interacting with each other or information on the outside world just like they have with the people of china. But the people of hong kong have grown up and lived in freedom. They know what it means to get outside information, and the Chinese Government is actually working to shut that down. We should actively work to push back on that to make sure the free people of hong kong continue to be able to communicate with each other and the outside world and so that we can stay engaged with that basic function of human rights. Its why senator kaine and i are so partb about this. We should are so passionate about this. We should engage as a government to make sure they continue to have free speech as we have. When anyone loses their human rights indignities, the world loses human rights and dignities. There are many things that need to happen with covid19 right now and were actively working on those things as well, and should. But we should not lose track of freedom. Freedom is our responsibility to model and to live and to help other free people to guard. Lets stand with the people of hong kong. With that, i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from connecticut. Mr. Murphy thank you, mr. President. Im glad to have the opportunity to talk for a bit on the floor of the United States senate on u. S. Policy towards china because there has been no better friend for chinese interests in likely our lifetime than president donald j. Trump. Articles suggest that when you survey Chinese Communist party leaders, they are to a person rooting for the reelection of this president. And i dont need to go through the litany of ways in which china has become for influential, more powerful all around the world because of this administrations policies, but at the top of that list is the abdication of the United States traditional leadership role on human rights, which has allowed the Chinese Communist party to march on the uighurs and others. It is a failed trade policy that has allowed china to extend its influence into places like africa and throughout. Its americas break with europe that has shattered our ability to negotiate together the future rules of the economic order. But what china is really ecstatic about is this president S Performance since march. In the wake of a virus that now shows the United States as having 25 of the worlds covid cases while only having 4 of the worlds population. My friend, senator blackburn, recited the early moments of this Virus Outbreak in china, and she is right that china was nontransparent and unhelpful in those early days. But you know who the greatest cheerleader for china was in the first two to three months of covid19s outbreak there . President donald trump. On 45 occasions he went on to social media or gave statements to the press in which he lauded chinas response. He talked about how transparent they were, how they were doing a great job. The World Community couldnt put pressure on china to open up with respect to what they knew about the virus in large part because the leader of the nations most powerful country was doing the bidding of the Chinese Government. But the second thing that believing president has done that makes china very, very pleased is to essentially make the argument for the chinese that the autocratic model that they are perfecting is the best method by which to organize society around the world, because they say, listen, weve got to virus under control in a matter of months, and the worlds greatest democracy is still dealing with an epidemic that looks to be raging newly out of control. And so as we engage in this broad fight between models of governance, our inability, this administrations inability to get this virus under control is maybe the greatest gift that this president has given to china. Now heres what makes it so unconscionable. We know that democracy is inefficient. We know that Capital Markets can sometimes be inefficient when pressed up against the wall by emergencies. And so we built into the statutes of the United States Emergency Powers to give to this president , to any president , so that when they are faced with an emergency, they can cheer for some of the inefficiencies of democracy. We are on the floor today, senator edwin and myself, senator stabenow senator baldwin and myself, senator stabenow and senator brown to talk about the Defense Production act. It allows the president during moments of emergency to commandeer parts of the manufacturing supply chain in this country to make sure that we are making everything we need in order to repel a foreign invader, as sometimes that may be an army, but in this case its a pathogen. And what we have known from the very beginning is that there is no way for this country to have enough personal protective equipment masks and face shields and gowns and gloves. There was no way for this country to be able to have enough tests to know who has it so we can track it and get rid of it without the federal government stepping up and utilizing the Defense Production act. 20 of Nursing Homes today have less than a weeks supply of p. P. E. Doctors at one hospital in houston where the outbreak is raging out of control are being told to wear their n95 mask for 15 days in a row when its recommended for a single use. The Senate Strategic stockpile once had 82 million gloves. Today they have less than one million. And guess what . Its going to get worse. More people need to be tested. Schools are about to reopen. The superintendent of the 100,000 student Jefferson County district until louisville, kentucky, says that he needs 10 million to order face masks alone, 25 billion is how much its going to cost schools across this country to purchase medical supplies. And these are medical supplies that are going up in price because the supply is so low. We have a solution. The Defense Production act. But we also dont have enough tests. It now takes 7 to 10 to 14 days to get a test back. In kentucky it used to take just one in kentucky it used to take one day. That person who gets tested goes out and spreads it during that time. James davis from quest dying no particular said we would double capacity tomorrow but it is not the labs that are the bottleneck. Its our ability to get physical machines, our ability to feed those machines with chemical reagents. Things, equipment that could be produced in the United States if the president took control of the manufacturing supply chain, not forever but for the extent of this crisis. And so the medical supply transparency and deliver act that senator baldwin will talk more about, my colleagues will talk more about, essentially picks up the ball the president having dropped it, and commanded president to operationallize the Defense Production act, put somebody in charge of its effectuation to make sure that we are producing in this country all of the medical equipment, the masks, the gloves, the testing reagent, the cartojes it is possible to produce in this nation. The level of gleeful, willing, knowing, purposeful incompetence from this administration is absolutely stunning, and no one should normalize an administration which has the power to save lives and refuses to operationalize it. Why wont this administration take control of the supply chain . Why are they willing to let people die . States cant run the supply chain by themselves. Its a national and International Supply chain. Hospitals cant create their own supply chains. They need to be focused on saving lives, not being mini procurement organizations. We know that democracies and capitalist economies are by nature and design oftenly often inefficient when faced with these urgent crises. Thats why we give president s enormous but temporary powers to smooth out inefficiencies of a multibranch, multijurisdiction democracy. When it comes to calling in the federal troops to beat the hell out of protesters, this president seems perfectly willing to exercise his powers as commander in chief. But when it comes to making sure that my kids teacher or my local doctor has a mask this fall, this president is all of a sudden impotent, and it falls to us, members of the United States congress, to stand up and pass legislation, the medical supply transparency and delivery act, to make sure, to make sure that we are using the extent of the statutes provided to this government and to this president to make sure that people are safe and make sure people are tested in the middle of an ongoing epidemic. Im glad to be joined here on the floor today by a number of my colleagues to talk about the need to pass this legislation we are going to offer a unanimous consent request. Senator baldwin will do that. Ive been very pleased to be a partner with her in developing this legislation to require the operationalling operational lization of the d. P. A. Senator stabenow. Ms. Stabenow its wonderful to be here with my great friends from connecticut, wisconsin, and ohio. This is such an important discussion we are having today and such an important bill that needs to be passed. And let me start again by underscoring something that senator murphy said because despite what happened in the beginning as it relates to china and certainly over the years i have been, i have not been shy to address concerns related to stealing our intellectual Property Rights or other issues related to china, but the reality is that despite that whatever the smoke screens are about china, you cant say that they are the reason that with 4 of the population we have 25 of the cases of covid19 and 25 of the deaths in the world. There is much more to it. And it lands right in this country with the lack of National Leadership that has been completely awol when it comes to the kind of National Strategy we need to get our people the equipment, the support that they need, the testing that they need, and to have a strategy to safely reopen the economy and our schools while at the same time putting the health and safety and lives of Americans First by addressing the pandemic. So i rise today to urge the senate to take up and immediately pass the medical supply transparency and delivery act, and i want to thank again senator baldwin, senator murphy, senator brown for introducing this important legislation. Im very proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill. So as all of you know who love history and i love history perhaps no state was as crucial to our nations victory in world war ii as was michigan. My colleagues may debate that, but i have the mic and im going to talk about michigan. The truth of the matter is more than 500,000 michigan men and women proudly served in uniform, including my own dad. Back home the people of our state were hard at work producing the bombers, the tanks, the trucks, the helmets, the guns needed to win the war. In fact, michigan was called at that time the arsenal of democracy. We make things. And during world war ii, we were making the things that were needed to win the war, the arsenal of democracy. And both at home and abroad, victory in many ways depended on the people of my state. For the past six months our nation has been fighting a different kind of war, a raging health pandemic, taking over 141,000 american lives so far. And unfortunately this time our National Generals appear to be missing in action. How is it possible that six months after the first case of covid19, on january 20, our Health Care Workers still are struggling to get the personal protective gear they need to treat patients while keeping themselves safe . How can that be . And how is it possible that six months after the first case of covid19 was detected in the United States, people are still struggling to get tested . Ill tell you how. Its because of the complete lack of federal leadership coming from this white house that we have seen since day one in this crisis. And none of us want it to be this way. We all live here. Our families are here. We are desperately concerned about our families, our friends, the people in our states. We want this white house to be successful in fighting the pandemic. We all need to be successful in fighting it this pandemic. But the reality is that the administration could have immediately used the Defense Production act to ensure we have Quality Equipment and protective supply at the in the right place at the right time. Instead we have the administration providing example after example of either telling the governors, okay, you do it. We dont want to do it, you do it. Well be right behind you. Governors turn around, nobodys there. Nobody wants to support the governors and their communities but you go ahead or putting together shady contracts, nobid contracts, one after the other. One i will mention to you called fillakit which was a 10 million nobid contract to produce testing supply by somebody who already had problems in the past and who was given a nobid contract after setting up a new company. Weve heard this over and over again and it was reported that the testing tubes they produced were repurpose dz miniature repurr bossed purposed soda bottles. They were dumped into plastic bins before squirting saliine into them. Michigan received some of those testing supplies and needless to say they were not usable. Governors, hospitals, Nursing Homes have spent time, and pitted against each other for p. P. E. And testing supplies. This is no way to fight a pandemic. This is no way to fight a war. Certainly no way to win a war. In michigan, after the cares act passed, going back to the state and working with the great governor and her team and our delegation, i literally was in a situation of reaching out because of my work in health care to people in the medical supply business and we got some of the first masks because i knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy in china. That was how we got the masks. No National Supply chain. Masks coming in, 50cent masks being bumped up to 5, 6, 7 apiece. Nobody worrying about could we get the best deal, were the hospitals able to get what they needed. It was complete chaos. Again, its no way to fight a pandemic and its certainly no way to fight a war. During world war ii michigan didnt decide to become the arsenal of democracy on its own. The federal government saw a need and called on Michigan Companies and workers to fill it, and we did. Its the same thing this administration should be doing right now today today to produce the p. P. E. And testing supplies we need to end this pandemic. Instead doctors and nurses are wearing the same masks for a week or more. People are waiting more than ten days for test results and more than 141 americans, so far, have died, including more than 6,100 in michigan. Its time to pass this important bill. Its past time. Its time to put our great American Companies to work producing the supplyings we need supplies we need. Its time to win this war. Weve done big things before and we can do it again. I join with my colleagues in urging that this bill be taken up immediately. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor and i would yield to my great friend from ohio. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. I particularly thank senators murphy and stabenow and senator baldwins leadership on this. I echo senator murphys early words on china. Its Campaign Season so its time to bash china even though theyve been in the pockets of china. I was in the other body when corporate interest game and lobbied the house of representatives, lobbied the senate asking for all of these china to get all of these trade breaks and tax breaks so that American Companies could shut down production and in milwaukee or cleveland and move overseas to china and get all kinds of tax breaks. And then my republican colleagues were also prochina because they wanted these american corporations and contributors, starting with senator mcconnell down the hall to get all of the advantages. Now if youre thinking about running for president , you bash china. If youre in a tough reelection right now for the senate, you bash china. If youre a house member and afraid of being defeated, you bash china. If you want to help the cause for donald trump, you bash china. It doesnt matter that china that President Trumps been the best friend to china. It doesnt matter that Republican Leadership has been in the pocket of Chinese Communist interests because of their support for american corporations. Its just good poll particulars to bash china. So we know that and senator murphy touched on that. Mr. President , i want to say a few words first about agent orange and thank senator tester for his work on behalf of the tens of thousands of vietnam vets who suffer because of exposure to agent orange. The National National economy of science showed that there are diseases associated with agent orange. There is a list. They resisted this. Mr. President , times running out for these veterans. We did this to them. The American Government decided to spray agent orange. We knew it was harmful. We know its harmful now. If you were exposed to poison while serving our country, you deserve the benefits, period. For three years, mr. President , in the veterans committee, i sat in the veterans committee, i begged the Veterans Affairs to recognize that these three illnesses were caused by Agent Organization and should get Veterans Administration benefits. I begged the president of the United States, President Trump says hes a friend of veterans, but he couldnt bother he couldnt be bored to add that too bothered to add these three illnesses on the list. These veterans individually have to get down on their knees and beg the v. A. For benefits when it ought to be automatic. Thats what senator testers amendment does today is it makes it automatic. The white house said no, the Veterans Administration said no, but because of the work of senator tester today, my colleagues have finally it doesnt happen often around here my republican colleagues actually stood up to the president of the United States and said, no, mr. President , youre wrong about covering these illnesses on vietnam vets, and, finally, this congress did the right thing so i thank senator tester for that work. Mr. President , i ask that the following remarks be placed in a different place in the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Brown thank you. We know a lot of things. We know that 144,000 americans are dead. Weve grown number to these numbers. We cant forget who they are, our neighbors, our sisters, other brothers. Weve accounted with almost 30 of the deaths in the entire world. Thats not because we dont have skilled doctors. Its not because we dont have smart scientists, its not because we dont work hard, its because of leadership. We know this president and this majority leader down the hall who does the bidding every single day of this president had chance after chance to get aheat aof this get aced head of this virus. They have stopped pretending to try. The president demands that schools reopen, no plan to protect teachers and students. He demands businesses open up. No plan to protect workers and consumers. The American People have done their part, made incredible sacrifices. Essentially they bought the president time, march, april, may, june, they bought the president time and he wasted it. This spring people stayed home, they worked hard to flatten the curve. Members of both parties, both parties begged him to use the Defense Production act to scale up production of medical supplies, including testing supplies, and coordinate their deployment. All the way back in march we knew we faced shortfalls, m95 masks, gowns, the materials we needed most importantly for test production, like cotton swabs. I immediately convened ohio manufacturers and asked them what support they needed. I released a plan and sent a letter to the white house outlining the actions the president could take immediately. This was march, since then, april, may, june, july and essentially nothing happened. The federal government can acquire the resources our country needs and send them when they are needed most. Senator crapo and i worked together, republican from idaho, to include provisions in the cares act ensuring the president has the ability to use e. P. A. Authority. We worked with colleagues in the Appropriations Committee to include 1 billion in new funding, yet hundreds of millions of dollars sit around waiting to be use. Our state, our Health Care Workers continue to face supply shortages. What exactly is the president waiting for . Imagine if he used that d. P. A. Money in the spring and said we need to produce a million tests awooc a week by the end of the summer. Imagine if he said our goal is to be ready to open schools in the fall and im calling on american businesses and workers to produce the tests. Other countries figured this out. Were being left behind. Its time for us to step up. If the president wont lead, we must. If the president wont use d. P. A. , Congress Must use the authority to force him to. Thats why its disappointing to see my republican colleagues objecting to the bill. Of course they are objecting because they are doing the bidding of President Trump and they want to blame china for everything instead of taking responsibility themselves. But objecting to senator baldwins bill which would force the president to actually do his job and coordinate a National Response to a national crisis, that is the answer. The American People should not have to fend for themselves again and again and again in the middle of a pandemic. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from wisconsin. Ms. Baldwin President Trumps response to this pandemic has been a failure of leadership. So we are here today to provide leadership in the senate to do what the Trump Administration has failed to do. In april, my good friend, the senator from connecticut, senator murphy, the two of us introduced legislation called the medical supply transparency and delivery act. That act would force President Trump to take action and scale up american production of things like test kits, swabs, personal protective equipment, and the medical equipment needed at the local level to address the ongoing covid19 pandemic in our country. Three months later states still do not have the supplies they need. Now, more than 3. 8 million americans have been infected with the coronavirus, and tragically, over 141,000 people have died in our country. And for three months our legislation has been in the majority leaders legislative graveyard. Since this Public Health crisis started, the Trump Administration has had no National Testing plan, and theyve never had a plan to provide states with the testing supplies they need to combat this pandemic. As a matter of fact, last month the president said we need to slow down testing, and this weekend, as President Trump once again said the coronavirus would disappear, there were reports that the white house was trying to block federal funding for states to conduct testing and contact tracing. President trump has not only abandoned each and every one of our states, he has also turned his back on frontline Health Care Workers who continue to face shortages of personal protective equipment including gloves, gowns, face shields, and masks. The Trump Administration has created absolute chaos in the medical supply chain, leaving Health Care Workers at hospitals and longterm care facilities at the forefront of this crisis to fend for themselves, rationing the scarce personal protective equipment that has been provided to them. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago Vice President mike pence, who was put in charge of our pandemic response, said the administration will be issuing guidance encouraging Health Care Workers to reuse personal protective equipment. This is the same Vice President who declared in i that the u. S. Would have this coronavirus epidemic behind us by memorial day weekend. He was tragically wrong, and this white house continues to play catchup on a pandemic and a virus that is spreading faster than ever. The person who President Trump put in charge of our medical supply chain was his soninlaw, Jared Kushner. Jarred Jared Kushner predicted in april that by june we would be back to normal and by july we would be rockin again. Its july. Its july, and this is where we are. Last thursday america had its highest number of new coronavirus cases in one day. And in my home state of wisconsin, we had our highest case count ever yesterday. Yesterday. And we have many hospitals across my state with less than a weeks supply of face shields, goggles, gowns, paper medical masks, and n95 masks. This Public Health crisis has not disappeared. We are not back to normal, and we are not rocking again. The fact is President Trump has failed to lead, and this white house has taken us in the wrong direction in our fight against this pandemic. New coronavirus cases are rising in the states that we work for, which means we need more testing supplies, more testing, and more personal protective equipment for our workers. The question this senate needs to answer is if we are going to let this president continue to take our country in the wrong direction or are we going to lead and do what we all know needs to be done. Not one of my Senate Colleagues can make an honest case that their state has everything they need to fight this pandemic. In wisconsin, weve been shortchanged by this administration. They have failed to provide adequate supplies for our states clinical and private labs. Paralyzing our ability to expand testing to the level that we need. In some cases, what we have received from the Trump Administration were unsuitable and unusable testing supplies. Foam applicators that cannot be used for swabs and saline tubes that were too short to transport swabs used in the majority of covid19 tests. In addition, the majority of labs conducting covid19 tests in wisconsin are clinical or private labs. These labs cannot access resources from the administration and are essentially being told to figure it out. Over 80 wisconsin labs that are currently performing tests do not have access to a consistent supply of reagent. We are not alone. States across the country have been abandoned by the Trump Administration. They have been forced to go this alone while President Trump has tried to pass off responsibility for his own failures. Every single one of us knows that our states need more resources and supplies so we can ramp up testing, identify those who are infected, isolate positive cases and safely trace all contacts so that the spread of this virus can finally be contained. We all know that President Trumps broken supply chain has been a failure, and my legislation with senator murphy supported by 46 democrats will help fix it. In order to put people back to work and safely reopen businesses and schools, we need both a National Testing plan and the supplies to implement it. This is true in wisconsin and every other state in our nation. Our legislation will help respond to this Public Health crisis and prepare for the future by mobilizing a federal response to increase our National Production of the testing and medical supplies that we need at the state and local level. Specifically, the bill would provide critical oversight of the distribution of medical supplies and put an expert in charge to oversee covid19 equipment production and delivery. So we know were putting science and facts over politics and private distributor profits when it doms responding to this peld when it comes to responding to this pandemic. Finally our legislation unlocks the full authority and power of the Defense Production act so that we can produce and deliver tests, testing supplies, personal protective equipment, and medical equipment that we need to take on this pandemic, treat patients, protect workers, open businesses and schools, and save lives. My friends on the other side of the aisle have a choice. They can continue to ignore President Trumps failure to respond to this Public Health crisis, knowing full well that until we confront it in the bold and effective way that we should, we will not solve our economic crisis. Or they can choose to liberate themselves from this failure and support a solution that will serve the people who sent us here to work for them. If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle believe that, as this Vice President does, that this pandemic is behind us, then object. If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle believe that, as Jared Kushner does, that we are rockin again in july, then object. If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle believe, as President Trump does, that the coronavirus will just magically disappear, well then object. If you oppose the failures of this president and this administration in responding to the covid19 pandemic, then i ask for your vote to pass the medical supply transparency and delivery act today. And so, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the Homeland Security rand Governmental Affairs committee be discharged and that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate bill 3627, the medical supply transparency and delivery act. And i further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from wisconsin. Mr. Johnson let me say first i appreciate my colleague from wisconsins work on this issue. Its an important issue, ones we have been working diligently on. Since the beginning of the crisis we have held five hearings on a roundtable on exactly this issue, exploring and doing oversight on the National Stockpile and supply chain vulnerability. Just today we marked up five pieces of legislation very similar to what my colleague from wisconsin is introducing here and trying to pass by unanimous consent. The five pieces are the federal emergency pandemic preresponsible act, securing Health Care Response equipment act, National Response framework improvement act, National Infrastructure simulation annual center pandemic, and finally and this is one closest to my colleagues bill, the p. P. E. Supply chain Transparency Act. Its actually the piece of legislation that got the most discussion. Two amendments, including a seconddegree amendment to one amendment, before passing it unanimously. So our committee has done a lot of work. My concern about what my colleague is doing here trying to pass this by unanimous consent is by and large bypassing the committee process. It is true her staff reached out to my staff a couple weeks ago. We asked have you vetted it through the department. Apparently shes begun that process, but this legislation has not been properly vetted. Its not gone through the proper and full committee process. So again, without expressing opinion on a piece of legislation, but also acknowledging the fact that our committee has done a lot of work, passed five pieces of legislation on a nonpartisan basis today because were concerned about this as well, mr. President , i have to be 0. The presiding officer objection is heard. Ms. Baldwin mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from wisconsin. Ms. Baldwin i of course am very disappointed that we cannot move this forward. And i wanted to respond to a couple of the comments made by my colleague from the state of wisconsin, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee. It is july. It is july, and cases are rising. Action was not taken in february, march, april, may, june, or so far this month of july. We had more than fair warning that we had shortages of masks and gloves and gowns and face shields and testing swabs and testing media and reagents. And yet its july. As i said earlier, yesterday wisconsin announced the most cases positive for coronavirus in a single day that weve seen since the pandemic began. As we strive to reopen our economy, as the president he he exhorts all schools to hold fivedaya week classes, we know the testing, the demands for masks will only increase exponentially the need to keep workers safe as they return to work, the need to keep customers safe as they enter and engage in commerce. To say that this needed to happen back in february is an understatement. I am pleased that my colleague has held hearings. This bill was filed in april when it became apparent that the president was not going to act. This bill was available for Committee Review since april. The house has passed many elements of the medical supply transparency and accountability act in their heroes act which they passed two months ago. And i just ask where would we be today had this been put into law . Theres been time to review. Theres been time to study. But it is past time to pass the medical supply transparency and accountability act, and i hope that we can create another opportunity for the senate to act on this in the days to come because it is so overdue. I want to again thank my colleagues who join me on the floor this afternoon, my coauthor, senator chris murphy of connecticut; my colleague from michigan, debbie stabenow; and my colleague from ohio, senator sherrod brown. And the 45 other members of the United States senate who have joined me in sponsoring this bill. I yield the floor. Mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer im proud to join my colleagues to pass legislation that will finally require the president to invoke the authority of the d. P. A. , the Defense Product act so the government can get testing supplies and p. P. E. To our country struggling under the weight of the pandemic. Medical professionals, frontline workers fighting this virus still do not have the medical equipment and testing supply they need because the Trump Administration failed to invoke the d. P. A. This is the crisis the president is making. Covid19 continues to surge across the country. As cases keep growing, our testing supplies and p. P. E. Already in short supply are reaching critical levels from seattle to miami people are waiting in line for hours to get tested. In many places were missing basic supplies, swabs, gloves and certain hospitals its been reported doctors and nurses are told to reuse their m95 masks. Its been six months since weve been fighting this virus. How is this still happening . The problem should have been solved months ago, but the president has been derelict in its duty. The administration has been a failure when it comes to testing and p. P. E. Instead of ramping up the production of critical supplies early on, President Trump has left doctors, nurses, medical staff fighting this disease with one hand tied behind their back. He failed to keep us and those working on the front line safe. This bill, however, would finally force the president to do what he should have done ages ago. Weve been talking about the d. P. A. Since way back in april. I called the president up in april, got him on the phone, urged him to invoke it. He told me he would and then contradicted himself a few hours later. How typical, but how devastating for the American People. Then, he quickly lost interest again, typical of this president whose Attention Span is much too short for the big fight that we have with covid. So what we say is the president s approach it the pandemic was typically here, no followthrough, no strategy, no comprehension of the problem. The president s mindboggling refusal to revoke the d. P. A. Should not be piled on top of the challenges our medical workers and citizens already face. Im sorry we didnt pass this legislation. I hope we can do it soon. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from south dakota. Mr. Thune mr. President , i have eight requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Thune before i begin i would like to take a moment to honor john lewis who died on friday. He was one of the 13 original freedom riders and organizer of the 1963 march on washington. He was a man of conviction and supreme courage. When you seeing is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up, you have to do something, he would say. Mr. President , john lewis did something. Confronted by the great sin of segregation, john lewis put himself front and center of the fight. He organized sitins, he led demonstrations. He maferred for freedom marched for freedom and he paid for his convictions with his blood. A man who espoused nonviolence, he experienced violence at the hands of Police Officers and civilian mobs. He was attacked and beaten untold number of times. During a march in selma, alabama, a Police Officer fractured john lewis skull leaving a scar that he carried to the end of his life. Yet, john lewis was unbowed. No matter how many times he was attacked or what he suffered, he got up again and joined the fight. His death is a great loss but john lewis will live on in the annuals of american hoarse. May we hoarse. May heroes. So far congress has provided 2. 4 trillion to fight the coronavirus. Over the past couple of months here in the senate, weve been closely tracking the implementation of the money and working with the administration on disbursement. In june alone we held 30 hearings in the senate on covidrelated issues. All of this has helped us identify the priorities need to shape our next bill, which were hoping to pass in the next couple of weeks. Those priorities are kids, jobs, and health care. First, kids. Getting kids back in School Safely needs to be a priority. Being able to attend school in person is important for students Academic Development and for their social and emotional wellbeing. The American Academy of peed at ricks pediatrics has stated all policies for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school. Maybe not every school can reopen, but we need to make sure those schools that can reopen have the resources need to reopen safely. Thats why the legislation the republicans are drafting here in the senate will provide more than 100 billion to help schools ensure they have what they need to safely welcome students back to class. Well, our First Priority is getting kids back to school, or i should say getting kids back to school is ensuring their academic and social wellbeing, getting students back in school is important for families economic health. There are a lot of parents in this country who cant afford to have one parent stay home to home school. We need to ensure that those parents have access to schools and child care wherever possible so they can keep or return to their jobs. Enabling americans to return to work is key to our economic recovery. Currently there are more than 17 million unemployed americans. While this is a significant improvement from where we were two months ago, that number is still too high. We have to do everything we can to get these americans back on the job and receiving a regular paycheck. Thats why the legislation were drafting will provide the incentive for businesses to hire and retain workers. It will have a ability to get the Small Businesses the cleaning supplies they need to keep employees safe and encourage americans to return to businesses. It will provide another round of assistance to those who have been hit the hardest by the pandemic. We also expect to issue another round of direct payments to hardworking americans to help them get back on their feet and stimulate the economy. The third bucket of our Coronavirus Response is, of course, health care. We have to keep ensuring our Health Care Professionals have the resources needed to treat patients, develop new treatments and to find a vaccine to detain this virus once and for all. The coronavirus legislation were drafting will address all three of those priorities. Our legislation will also include another important priority that will protect jobs, schools, businesses and Health Care Workers and that is liability protections. No matter how many precautions schools and businesses take, there is no way for theyll to completely eliminate all risk of employees, students, or customers contracting the virus. But an army an army of trial lawyers is waiting to levy lawsuits against even the most careful schools and businesses. Mr. President , there is absolutely no question that schools and businesses should be liable for gross negligence or for intentional misconduct. But businesses and schools that are taking every reasonable precaution to protect employees and students should not have to worry about facing lawsuits for virus transmission that they could not have prevented. And Health Care Workers giving their all on the front line to treat coronavirus patients should not have to worry that their efforts will be rewarded with lawsuits. Mr. President , i would like to think that we can put a bipartisan bill together and get it to the president s desk in the next couple of weeks. Republicans are ready and willing to work with democrats to get this done. We will introduce our draft shortly and be ready to negotiate with democrats to arrive at a final bill. The same process that we followed with the cares act, our largest Coronavirus Relief bill to date. But this will only work if democrats are willing to come to the table and negotiate a reasonable bill. My democratic colleagues sometimes behave as if government money is drawn from a magical pot of gold that will never run out, but its not. Its not. Every dollar of the coronavirus funding that we provided so far has been borrowed money and every dollar we appropriate in phase four bill were drafting will likely be borrowed money as well. Now it can be argued, mr. President , that its money that we need to borrow, but we need to remember that it is borrowed money and that the bill for that money will eventually come due. The more we drive up our debt, the greater the threat to the health of our economy, not to mention to the Economic Future of todays younger workers. We have an obligation to them to limit our borrowing to what is absolutely necessary to fight the virus. The democrat leader has come down to the floor the past couple of days and suggested that the heroes act, a 3 trillion coronavirus bill that the house passed is, and i quote, a good product to start with, unquote, when it comes to a phase four Coronavirus Relief bill. Mr. President , thats ludicrous. The bill the democrat leader is promoting, the bill he thinks is a good starting point for coronavirus legislation, is a bill that mentions cannabis, cannabis more often than it mentions the word jobs. Let me just repeat that, madam president. The bill the democrat leader thinks is a good starting point for Coronavirus Relief legislation mentions the word cannabis more often than it mentions the word job. While the democrat leader is certainly welcome to disagree with me, i dont think diversity studies in the cannabis industry have a major role to play in defeating this virus or getting americans back to work. Nor does federalizing election law, another priority the democrats included in their bill. Madam president , despite its 3 trillion price tag, the bill the democrat leader is endorsing fails to meet one of the most basic requirements of any Coronavirus Relief bill. And thats providing a meaningful plan for getting americans back to work. And its disappointing to hear the democrat leader promoting such an unserious piece of legislation at a time when we should be devoting all of our efforts to getting a bipartisan bill to the president. I hope my other democrat colleagues here in the senate are ready to look beyond partisan wish lists and focus on negotiating a relief package that addresses the real priorities that were facing. Helping kids and parents, getting americans back to work, and providing the Health Care Resources needed to fight this virus. Madam president , republicans are ready to come to the table, and i urge democrats to join us. Madam president , i yield the floor. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin madam president , im expecting senator lee from nevada pardon me from utah to come to the floor momentarily to resume an issue, a debate over an issue which was raised yesterday and we suspended to move to a vote that had been previously scheduled. But since this item, this issue that we are discussing is of such importance to so many individuals in our country today and many of them are following this debate carefully and closely, i wanted to make sure that we return to it today to at least consider one aspect of the debate. Yesterday when i made a unanimous consent request, senator lee said hed not had time to look at my proposal. Thats why i waited until today to come back so that he would have that opportunity. Yesterday i came to the floor to speak about the plight of immigrant workers who are suffering because of a serious problem in our immigration system known as the green card backlog. Many of these immigrants are essential workers who are helping to lead the fight against covid19, but the green card backlog puts them and their families at risk of losing their immigration status and being subject to deportation. Under the current law, there are clearly not enough immigrant visas also known as green cards available each year. The numbers that we have established in 1990 are still applicable today, though our National Economy has doubled since then. We are still talking about 140,000 employment visas each year. These socalled green cards have resulted in many people waiting for long periods of time, literally for years for the opportunity to become legal permanent residents, becoming securing one of the green cards. While they are waiting, their families are at risk. These backlogs are particularly difficult on children because as they wait, the children of course advance in age and when they reach age 21 regardless of whether the spouse or parent rather has a green card, they are subject to deportation. I have met with these families and i have talked with them. Its a heartbreaking situation. And the unanimous consent request which i will make today addresses the plight of those children directly. Senator lee objected to it yesterday but said he had not had a chance to look at it. I hope hell reconsider when i make the same request today. These children who face what we call aging out at age 21 would be protected by the unanimous consent request which im making. In addition to the green card backlog, its clear that there is a solution to this issue which im afraid were not going to be able to achieve. Its to increase the number of green cards available each year in this country. These immigrant workers who are seeking green cards are already in the United States working legally. This is not a question in increasing the number of green cards, of bringing in new immigrants to compete with American Workers. These workers are already here. Its about whether immigrant workers will continue to be able to work on temporary visas where they have to depend on their employer for their immigration status and their futures and their future is uncertain. I introduced legislation known as the relief act. My cosponsors are senator Patrick Leahy of vermont, senator mazy hirono of hawaii. The relief act would increase the number of green cards to clear the beak log for all immigrants waiting in line for green cards within five years. Eliminate the backlog for green cards within five years. This relief act would keep immigrant Families Together by treating children and spouses of green card holders as immediate relatives just as the children oand spouses of citizens are so they dont count against the green card caps and the relief act would protect the aging out children who qualify for a green card based on a parents immigrant petition. The relief act that im describing is not novel or controversial. It is based on a provision of the 2013 comprehensive Immigration Reform bill which i helped to write with the socalled gang of eight. That included senator mccain, senator graham, senator flake as well as senator rubio on the republican side, myself, senator schumer, senator menendez and senator bennet on the democratic side. We worked hard and passed that measure through the Senate Judiciary committee, and on the floor by a vote of 6832. So what i am proposing is something i have proposed in the past, crafted, passed, and offered to the house of representatives to start to solve the Immigration Crisis which we currently have in this country. Unfortunately the republicans who control the house of representatives when this measure came before them several years ago refused to even take up this measure and debate it. If they had, we wouldnt be here today. The green card backlog would not exist based on a provision which i offered with others in the comprehensive Immigration Reform. Unfortunately, some of my republicans on the other side of the aisle are still unwilling to increase any number of non rather immigrant visas. They want to keep the immigrant workers on a temporary basis where they and their family are at risk of losing their immigration status and being deported. The senior senator from utah, senator lee has introduced s. 386 known as the fairness for highskilled immigrants act to address the green card beak log. I have a basic backlog. I have a basic concern with that bill. It includes no additional green cards. Without any additional green cards, s. 386 will not reduce the green card backlog. Without additional green cards, s. 386 will not reduce the green card backlog. Dont take it from me. There are those who will disagree and say durbin is wrong, hes just mistaken in saying that. Please go to the congressional, the nonpartisan Congressional Research service. Heres what they said about s. 386. Senator lees legislation. Quote, s. 386 would not reduce future backlogs compared to current law. So despite my concerns about senator lees bill, i agreed to sit down and work in good faith with him to resolve our differences. Last december we reached an agreement, i believe we did, on amendment to the bill. The amendment doesnt address the core problem because it doesnt increase the number of green cards. As a result it would not reduce the green card backlog but there was an improvement in the amendment which we put together. I talked about it yesterday. Let me highlight two key provisions of our agreement. We protected the families that are stuck in this backlog waiting for a green card. Immigrant workers and immediate family members would be allowed to, quote, early file, close quote, for their green cards. That was a proposal that came to me from senator lee and i thought was reasonable. These individuals would not receive their green cards early but they would be able while waiting to switch jobs and travel without losing immigration status. I think thats reasonable. Early filing adds a critical protection that wasnt in s. 386. Listen carefully. Our agreement prevents the children of immigrant workers from aging out of green card eligibility so they will not face deportation while they are waiting for a green card. Our agreement also would crack down on the abuse of h1b temporary work visas. Really i think this is at the heart of the problems were running into. There are corporate entities in india which have extraordinary power over securing of these h1b visas. The amendment we put together would allow legitimate use of h1b visas but heres what it would say. It would prohibit a company from hiring additional h1b workers in the future if the companys workforce is more than 50 employees and more than 50 of those are temporary workers. The 5050 rule is from a bipartisan h1b reform bill which i offered authored with senator grassley. This provision also included was included in the 2013 comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. Senator lee has said publicly and i quote, this is a commonsense reform to root out abuse. I think hes right. I know these companies despise this provision and i think its one of the reasons that we find ourselves with no Common Ground today. If this is included, they dont want anything to pass and theyre doing their best to stop it. The reality is that the top recipients of h1b visas today are outsourcing companies that use loopholes in the law to exploit immigrant workers and offshore american jobs. In a most recent year for which data is available, eight of the top ten recipients of new h1b visas were not individuals going to work for hightech companies. They were these companies outsourcing companies in india. Unfortunately yesterday senator lee objected to this proposal which we had put together. Instead he offered a revised version that included some changes that were requested by the Trump Administration. Let me explain senator lees changes because i think they are basic and i believe they are a problem. First i wants to remove a provision from our original agreement known as the hold harmless clause. When it says is very simple. It assures immigrants already waiting in line for green cards that theres nothing that we will do that will in any way injure or delay their pursuit of a green card. They cant fall further behind in line. We hold them harmless from any change that we make. Why wouldnt he . Some of these people have waited for years. If you waited ten years with ten more to go and we say wait a minute, those ten years dont count, its 20 years all together, thats not fair. The hold harmless provision basically says were going to protect you wherever you stand in line. The second thing that senator lee wants to do is to delay for three years the Effective Date of the 5050 rule to crackdown on outsourcing companies. I dont know why we want to wait three years to do that. We dont have to. We shouldnt. Why on earth would we give these companies that are outsourcing american jobs and exploiting immigrant workers a free pass for an additional three years . Third, senator lee wanted to delay for years early fighting for people filing for people who are stuck in the green card backlog. The object behind the early filing and the reason why it was so appealing to me was that it would protect the individuals applying as well as their families from the start. And now the senator has suggested that we delay this. That just means that many children will age out during the threeyear period of time and be subject to deportation. We shouldnt do that to these children and these families. Yesterday i made a simple proposal to senator lee which he said he hadnt even personally. Thats why ive come back today. While we continue to debate the best way to fix the green card backlog, lets make sure that no children of the affected families are harmed or deported. Just that simple. I offered a new bill, very simply stated, the protect children of immigrant workers act. This brief threepage bill would ensure that children do not age out while waiting for a green card. If you brought your children to a United States, worked on a visa. And your children are waiting for you for the green card, you are paying for them to go to college because they dont qualify as american citizens for any type of federal Financial Aid . Youre making great sacrifices for them and then the day comes when they reach the age of 21 and they can be deported and your family divided. Why would we want to let that happen . This threepage bill, the protect the children of immigrant workers act, protects those children. It would not increase the number of green cards. It would not provide any special benefits. It would simply allow the children of immigrant workers to keep their place in line for a green card and be protected from deportation until they could get that card. Yesterday senator lee said hed hot had a chance to review it, so i wanted to return to the floor today. I believe this is timely and important and now hes had chance to look at it. Senator lees original bill does not offer any protection for these children. Which i any is a major humanitarian problem caused by the green card backlog. The early filing provision in my agreement with senator lee will immediately protect the kids in the backlog under the age of 21. However, if early filing is delayed, as senator lee now proposes, those kids would age out and lose their green card eligibility. I have met many of these young people. It breaks my heart 20 hear their story that they may reaching a point where they age out and be deported. Thats why i wanted to offer this specific single provision. Ness no reason these children should be punished for a broken immigration system. Its beyond their control, but its not beyond our control to help them. I am now going to ask unanimous consent on the protect children of immigrant workers act. Madam president , i ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee being discharged of s. 4243, the protect immigrant workers act, and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. Furs of further, that the bill be considered hed read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Lee madam president . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Lee reserving the right to object, for well over eight months, my friend and distinguished colleague, the senior senator from illinois, has been publicly blocking legislation protecting the children of immigrant workers and now comes forward with something called the protect children of immigrant workers act. He comes to the floor asking that we pass this bill by unanimous consent. A bill that, as he notes, was introduced just yesterday. Well, we must pass this now, he says. Right now. Because these children shoop have to suffer because she is children shouldnt have to suffer one more hour. With all due respect, senator, they could have had relief months ago. They can still have relief today. Ive taken the time since yesterday to review senator durbins legislation, and i cannot support it. This legislation allows the children of h1b workers to remain in the country for the 20 to 30 years that their parents have to wait in the green card backlog, the same green card backlog that you, sir, are now decrying. When their parent dies, children of immigrant workers will not be immediately deported, but this prolonging of dependent status is helpful only in the parent lives and works in this country until his or her green card application is actual a judd indicated. It does nothing for the child an immigrant whose dead parents green card application is ultimately denied because his or her job is no longer available. Nothing. To be honest, the 20 to 30 years is a short wait for most of the indian nationals currently stuck in this awful hellish green card backlog. In fact, it is a drop in the bucket. In 2020, the wait for an ev2 green card is not in fact 20 to 30 years for a an indian national. What is it then . Is it 30, is it 40 . 50, 60 . No, much longer than that. It is 195 years. So what this means is that someone from india entering the backlog today would have had to would have to wait 195 years to receive an eb3 green card. Even if we give their children this limbo status, none of them will have a prayer of becoming a u. S. Citizen. To put this in perspective, 195 years ago john quinnly adams had just recently been inaugurated as president of the United States. The legislation purports to allow aging out children to move to a student visa statistic us a. But it also fails to accomplish even this. Student visas require the applicant to have a residency . A foreign country, which obviously these children do not have. Perhaps these are merely drafting errors. But as such, they underscore my concerns about passing slapdash legislation just because it bears a title that compels us to believe that it will correct the most egregious problems and protect the most vulnerable populations. Even if we generously overlook these drafting errors, this legislation goes from sloppy to worse. Most egregiously, it will increase the existing backlog. If we pass this legislation on its own, highskilled workers from high li populated countries will have fewer and fewer green cards available to them, meaning theyll have to wait longer and longer for relief. In fact, by the time we stretch this out to 2030, the 195year backlog i mentioned a moment ago would be extended out to 450 years of backlog. Thats not fair. I cant imagine thats what the senator from illinois wants. If we want to actually protect the children of immigrant workers, we need to end the inequities of the green card system, real protection for the children is impossible unless we have a fair path forward for the parents. Now, ive worked for nine years on a thoughtful solution to these problems in the fairness for highskilled immigrants act. This compromise protects children, it protects widows and widowers, and it provides an equitable pact forward for all of our highskilled immigrants. And thats why i call on senator durbin to lift his hold on the fairness for highskilled immigrants act. And to provide relief to immigrant children and to their parents. As to the suggestion that the changes made to this legislation were bad, that they were a departure from what we agreed on, its not true. The implementation delay simply allows the uscis the time to develop the adequate infrastructure to implement what we had proposed, the 50 50 rule change is three years three years is there to protect the h1b visa holders that were only here. The hold harmless provision, this takes care of the three to nineyear transition that now covers them. In any event, madam president , this legislation, the one that senator durbin now tries to pass by unanimous consent, introduced for the first time yesterday that ive now reviewed, is sloppy. It doesnt solve the problem. And it would make a lot of things worse. I, therefore, object. Mr. Durbin madam president . The presiding officer objection is heard. Mr. Durbin madam president . The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin madam president , there is no question that there is a green card backlog for eb2 visas. We issue 140,000 a year. We estimate that there are some five million seeking them. I want to increase the number of green cards. The senator from utah opposes that. As a result, the bill that he introduced, according to analysis by the Congressional Research service, this is not durbins language the Congressional Research service, s. 386, the lee legislation, would not reduce future backlogs compared to current law. So when he talks about 195 years and John Quincy Adams or whatever his historical analogy was, he doesnt address that at all in s. 386. And the problem, of course, is that he is bound to a position of his party that will not allow one additional new immigrant, none. I dont take that position. These men and women and their kids have been living in the United States, many of them for year, some of them for decades, some of them are doctors in hospitals in my hometown. I trust them and i trust their kids. What ive asked him to do simply today is to join with me in he can prosecuting their children while we in protecting their children while we resolve the other issues. He refuses. He refused yesterday. He refuses again today. He calls might approach sloppy. Well, lets see the lee alternative to protect the children. Id like too see what hed like to propose. Maybe it is language thats better. Maybe i could embrace it. But thats the take part of that issue. Why would we leave these children now aging into adults at risk . That the wrong way to approach this. We can solve this and we should. While we solve it we should protect these children. It is within the can of both senator lee and myself to sit down appeared come up with that legislation. Im going to continue to offer this, this opportunity for senator lee to protect these children, until we can sit down in good faith and resolve any differences we have between us. But ive heard this case over and over again about the plight of these children. I am trying to address it. He continues to object. Madam president , i yield the floor. Mr. Lee madam president . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Lee madam president , weve got the opportunity right here to pass this right now. This bills fixes this problem. As to the suggestion that we cant do any of this without increasing the total number of green cards, this is a poison pill. My friend and colleague knows that its a poison pill. Being in, we this that very discussion. Now,io ordinarily, in fact i have a policy against publicly talking about private conversations that weve had as colleagues. We now brought it to the floor. We talked about this. And this was the basis upon which we reached a deal in your office in december. The point there was to understand that we cant passing is, certainly by unanimous consent, that increases the total number of employmentbased green cards. Its not going to happen. So were dealing here with that finite universe and that was the basis of the deal that we reached in december. As to your suggestion that we cant do anything without increasing the total number of green cards, you know, thats not on the table. No, thats not fair. What we want to do is make this process fair, even if we only had have a limited number of green cards to work with, which is the case, whether you like that political reality or not. It is the political reality. It is the factual understanding that you and i discussed and understood in december when we made that deal. The lee alternative is the encapsulation of that, and thats why, madam president , i ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of h. R. 1044 and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, furthering that the lee amendment at theesque did be at the desk be agreed to, the lee amendment be agreed to and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Durbin reserving the right to object the presiding officer senator illinois. Mr. Durbin just do the math. 140,000 eb2 visa year and five Million People waiting. You think you can solve this without changing the number of green cards . You cant. You may address it from one angle or another. You may help some who are waiting as opposed to others. You only do that give assistance to some at the expense of some other group. I understand your position, and i dont quarrel with the fact that you made it clear from the start that from your perspective and perhaps from your side of the aisle, there is just no appetite for increasing the number of green cards, even for these people who have been living and working here in the United States for years and sometimes decades. Even for physicians from india and other countries who are literally risking their lives today on the one hand covid19 patients on covid19 patients. You told me there is a no appetite for giving them additional green cards so they can stay here on a permanent basis. I this i thats unfair, and i that is my position. You have made it clear. And i am not saying otherwise that you disagree with me. So what ive tried to do is come in and say, at least during the pendency, while theyre waiting for green cards which could be decades unless the law is changed let us at least protect their families. Thats all ive said. Unfortunate a. Come back and say, i want to come in a provision that takes out the hold harmless provision. I want to protect these people who are outsourcing companies in india that have captured the lions share of these h1b visas and i want to make sure that those who are going to be protected have to wait three years until there is any protection. Why would key do any of thought things . I am not going to accept these at this point unless we can find a starting point, protection for the children of these families. If youll agree to to that, ill discuss the other provisions again. Because the other provisions are now what youre offering, i object. The presiding officer the objection is heard. Mr. Lee madam president , the protection of the children is found in my proposal which senator durbin has now objected to. The presiding officer the senator from utah is recognized. Mr. Lee madam president , the protection for the children is now found in the proposal, in the amendment now at the desk, the one that was just objected to by my friend and colleague, the senator from illinois. I would ask my colleague rhetorically or directly as he may choose, if in fact you are unwilling and remain unwilling to negotiate on any bill addressing this problem without increasing the total number of employmentbased green cards, why on earth did you waste months of my time . Why did you lead me to believe in your office that you were open to such an agreement . That was in fact the premise on which we proceed. We spent months on that. And i worked in good faith as i mentioned yesterday, it was against my better judgment that i agreed to to announce with you on the senate floor that we had reached an agreement because i knew that we had to work out a few kin king few kinks. But i proceed based solely on the feasibility and our ability to implement that bill. That was the only change that we made. If you want to make some adjustment to that, bring it forward. I would love to consider it. But what our annoy telling me is the very premise on which we proceed and spent weeks and months working on was false, that the whole premise, that is, that we could reach some sort of compromise, an actual compromise that wouldnt increase the total number of green cards available was illusory. I find that disappointing. Mr. Durbin madam president , i think the gentleman has addressed a question to me, i believe. Mr. Lee rhetorically or otherwise. Youre welcome to answer it. The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin no other members are waiting to speak so ill try to be as concise, brief as possible. I understand your position. You dont want another green card. You believe members on your side of the aisle dont want to increase the number of green cards, period. I knew that going in. You made that abundantly clear. We cant solve the underlying problem without it but we can make it better. And thats why we continue to talk and negotiate and i hope we will continue to talk and negotiate. But for goodness sakes, the starting point out to be the protection of these children. We agree that we will protect the children and then proceed to continue the negotiations on the premise that you cant accept one more green card. I can. You cant. But we will try to improve the system with that premise accepted. But at the starting point, for goodness sakes, lets protect the children while we negotiate and debate and hopefully we can do it on a timely basis. Thats my response. Im willing to continue to work and i understand you cannot issue another green card. The math never works with five Million People working and 140,000 green cards a year. It never is going to work. But im willing to try to make the system better understanding that i would increase the number of green cards and you would not. Mr. Lee madam president . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Lee im always happy to discuss any counterproposal. If you want to make one, id love to see it. It is not fair to say that i dont care about those kids because im unwilling to create additional green card slots. If you want to protect these children, pass this bill. Pass it today. Pass it this very moment. Thank you, madam president. I yield the floor. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from massachusetts. Mr. Markey thank you, madam president. Madam president , i rise to speak in support of s. 4019, the Juneteenth National Independence Day act legislation that i have introduced along with senator cornyn. We have 54 cosponsors, broad bipartisan support that would make juneteenth a federal holiday. And in a few minutes i will ask unanimous consent that the senate take up and pass this important bill. Our country is in the midst of a long overdue reckoning on race and justice. The murder of george floyd by members of the Minneapolis Police department has galvanized the nation as protesters have taken to our streets demanding justice, justice for george floyd, justice for breonna taylor, and justice for countless other black and brown americans who have been hurt or killed at the hands of Law Enforcement. But this reckoning goes well beyond seeking accountability for Police Officers who betray the trust we bestow upon them. The mistreatment of black and brown americans permeates our society. It infects our courts, our schools, our places of work. It reflects the unfulfilled promise of a nation built upon the notion that all are created equal. And it has its roots in our nations original sin, slavery, a crime against humanity that we have for far too long failed to acknowledge or address or come to grips with. One way to further the process of further reconciliation and healing is to recognize, honor, and celebrate the formal end of slavery in the United States and to do so at the federal level. And perhaps the most effective direct and farreaching way is to do that with a federal holiday commemorating that historic event. For more than 150 years the juneteenth holiday marking the emancipation of slaves has been observed one way or the other across our nation, including texas. But if is long past time to place juneteenth on par with other federal holidays so that all americans in all 50 states celebrate juneteenth alongside veterans day, memorial day, Martin Luther king day and other federal holidays. The celebration of juneteenth dates back to june 19, 1865, when Union Soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger traveled to galveston, texas, with the announcement that the civil war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This was to and a half years after the date of president lincolns emancipation proclamation but either the news of lincolns order had not yet reached many including those in texas or look officials local officials refused to enforce it. On june 19, 1865, Major General granger read to the people of texas general order number 3, the first lines of which told them clearly and unequivocally, quote, the people of texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the executive of the United States, all slaves are free. Juneteenth celebrations followed as did the recognition of juneteenth as the formal end of slavery in the United States. Since 1865 communities all across the nation have celebrated juneteenth with parades, cookouts, gatherings, historical and cultural readings, musical performances, and many other celebrations. These events have provided many with the opportunity for reflection, education, and a deeper understanding of our history as a nation, the whole history and how it has affected and shaped the lives of black americans. Nearly every state in the District Of Columbia has passed legislation recognizing juneteenth as a holiday or observance. And the senate has passed a resolution designating june 19 as juneteenth Independence Day. But juneteenth has never received the higher status it deserves as a federal holiday. The Juneteenth National Independence Day act rights the wrong and makes juneteenth a federal holiday. We still must travel a long and difficult road to justice and equality in the United States, but we cannot get there without recognizing the original sin of slavery and marking its end. It is incumbent upon all americans to truthfully acknowledge and understand our past and how it affects our present and our future. Making juneteenth a federal holiday will not right all the wrongs before the past or fix what remains broken, but it is an important step. It is the truth of our history. And the missing half of the story of our nations freedom and independence. It is long past time to recognize juneteenth as a federal holiday. Let me stop there and recognize my partner in this effort, the senior senator from texas, senator cornyn. Mr. Cornyn madam president . The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn madam president , ill be brief. Let me just tell the senator from massachusetts i agree with everything you said and it shows how people of maybe different political ideologies, certainly different parties, can come together and recognize that there is a moment available to us here where we can demonstrate our nonpartisan support for this act of racial reconciliation in our country. I agree that slavery was the original sin. Our founding documents said all men and women are created equal but that certainly wasnt the practice when it came to African Americans at the time which were officially designated as something less than fully human and outrageous, outrageous act at the time. And our country has paid a dear price for that over the years from a civil war to the violence that led up to the peaceful Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and its obvious from the recent events, George Floyds death in particular, that were not where we need to be. We still have room to grow as part of that developing that more perfect union. But i know our friend and colleague tim scott whos been at the forefront of this discussion with his advocacy for the police act, a bill that includes a lot of bipartisan ideas for police reform, he points out that as an african american, his experience is much different from those of nonAfrican Americans. He said over the last two decades hes been stopped driving while black as he puts it. I think about 18 different times. I sat next to a pastor of a church in houston who happened to be the local head of the naacp at a round table sponsored by mayor Sylvester Turner that i had requested. He said, i honor the police. I respect the police. I support the police. But he said, my son is afraid of the police. And we have to do everything we can to cure that trust deficit. In texas weve recognized juneteenth as a state holiday for 40 years, 40 years obviously because of the fact that this occurred as a result of the emancipation proclamation being announced in galveston, texas. I recently cosponsored a bill with congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee to study a trail, basically, from galveston to houston as a possible designation of national of a National Park in further recognition of thisevent. I believe of this event. I believe strongly that we need to remember our history. Because if we dont remember our history, we will in the words of one sage, we will be condemned to relive it. And weve come so far but we know we still have farther to go. And i do believe that the appropriate word to use is reconciliation. This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our concern, our commitment to equal justice and equal treatment under the law by recognizing juneteenth as a federal holiday. Mr. Markey i thank the senator from texas. This is a thoroughly bipartisan effort. Its long overdue. And madam president , i ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. 4019. Further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from wisconsin. A senator reserving the right to object. Let me start out by saying i agree with virtually everything my coo colleagues from massachus and tbs have said about celebrating the emancipation of slaves. That was an important moment in u. S. History and should be observed and celebrated. Very no disagreement with that whatsoever at all. Mr. Johnson the one area of disagreement is how they have cheschosen, the bill sponsors, w to celebrate that holiday. As the senator from massachusetts has pointed out, its been observed since 1865. Celebrations, cookouts. Thats an appropriate way of doing n. I object to the fact doing this. I object to the fact that by naming it a National Holiday, what theyre leaving out of their argument, the main impact of that is it gives federal workers a paid day off that the rest of americans have to pay for. The sponsor of the bill when i asked for a c. B. O. Score had not even obtained i think they still have not obtained a score. Their estimates in what in terms of what it costs to the american taxpayers in the private sector to pay for a paid holiday for federal workers is about 600 million per year. So the c. B. O. Score would come in at 6 billion over ten. Let me put a couple of facts in terms of why i object to the 600 million bill that Hardworking Taxpayers would have to foot in an era where we are 26. 5 trillion in debt and 17 million of our fellow americans are currently unemployed. The first chart here. Lets talk about how many days federal workers get off currently. I have two coal apples, minimum and maximum. Paid holidays, they get 10. Most people in the private sector get something similar, seven, eight, in my opinion, or ten. Paid leave days, a minimum of 13, up to 26. Paid sick days, 13. Minimum and maximum. And let what we just added in last years ndaa was paid apparental leave, which allows an individual, either mother or father either with a Natural Childbirth or adoption, 60 days of paid leave. So for a total at a minimum, 96 days, up to 109 days if they take paid persistent papersal leave. Looked at a dinner way, as a ratio, if they take the maximum number of 109 days, for every 1. 4 day you work, you get a day off. On a minimum basis with paid papersal leave, for every 1. 7 days you work you get a day off. I realize the paid papersal leave is just a few peoples in somebodys career phenomenon. It will show that what the number of days that federal workers get off paid is still quite generous. Again, paid holidays, they get ten. Paid leave, 13 up to 26. For a total of 3649. So again going back to that ratio, the maximum number of days without paid parental leave, a federal worker can work 4. 3 days and then get a day off. A fourday workweek for the entire year. Quite generous. So what im objecting to is discreting a National Holiday that gives federal workers another day off with pay, paid for by the american taxpayer and were electively already 26. 5 trillion in ebbet did. Last slide. I would like to just in general talk about the privatesector pay versus federal worker pay. There are some disputes about this in terms of education, that type of thing. But still this is pretty solid information. So the 2018 average annual wage, just wages, salary or wages, for federal workers over 94,000 of. For privatesector worker, average 63,000 or about 67 of what a federal worker makes. When you add inist abouted, when you add in benefits, the average for federal workers was 136,000, just shy of 136,000. In the private sector the total cost of compensation, a little more than 75,000, 55 of what federal government workers make. So if you strip out and just compare the benefits were talking about an extra paid day off, an extra paid holiday for only federal workers to celebrate june teenage, paid for by American Workers who make about 12,000 on average per benefit compared to 41,000 in benefits for federal workers, thats only 29 . So those are the facts. Thats what i object to. Again, i am happy to celebrate june teenth. I think we should celebrate the fact that we did remove in a original sin by emancipating the slaves. That is day of celebration. I agree with that. I simply dont believe we should make american taxpayers in the private sector pony up 600 million a year, 6 billion over ten years, to give federal workers who already are paid quite generously and have quite a few days off one more paid day off. So what im proposing again because i dont object to juneteenth and the celebration. But if were going to make that a federal holiday, which again the main impact is giving federal workers a paid day off, i would just suggest, why dont we take away one of their days of paid leave. So i have an amendment at the desk and i would ask the senate to modify the senator from massachusetts request to include my amendment. The amendment be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer does the senator so modify his request . Mr. Markey reserving the right to object so, the senators proposal rather than allowing this unanimous consent request to go through, the senator proposed proposes to hold it hostage to taking away the lead benefits that come with paid holidays for American Workers. Thats something weve never done before and with good reason. We shouldnt be penalizing our workers by taking away benefits, especially not in the current environment, and especially not as the price to pay for recognizing a long overdue federal holiday. I object. The presiding officer objection is heard. Is there objection to the original request . Mr. Johnson reserving the right to object the presiding officer the senator from wisconsin is is recognized. Mr. Johnson pardon . The presiding officer you are recognized. Mr. Johnson so reserving the right to object, and to quickly respond to the senator from mass marks im not taking anything away from federal workers im just not log to give them an extra day paid. So if we create juneteenth and a federal loll day, im say, lets keep them hole by removing a paid leave dade and then they will have the exact same number of days off as they have currently and the american taxpayer will not be out an extra 600 million per year or 6 billion over ten years. So, madam president , is object. The presiding officer objection is heard. The senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley i want to, before i speak, several of my colleagues on this side of the aisle over the next several minutes probably for at least more than a halfhour are coming to the floor to discuss what im discussing, which is a very important problem we have of rapidly increasing drug prices. So i want to thank, after i speak, these other senators will come to the floor senator braun, senator cassidy, senator collins, senator hydesmith, senator mcsally. All of these people have been supportive of the Prescription Drug reduction act. I want to thank them for helping bring attention to this very important issue of unjustified increases in drug prices. After these folks i just mentioned speak, i understand that a my colleague from iowa, who is in support of the legislation, is going to come at a later time today. So thank you to my colleagues. According to a recent gallup poll, nine out of ten americans are concerned about Prescription Drug prices. Specifically, they are concerned that the pharmaceutical industry will take advantage of the current pandemic to increase drug prices. That poll was published a month ago. Unfortunately, those concerns have become a reality now. So i say two weeks ago politico reported that pharmaceutical companies have raised prices on hundreds of Prescription Drugs just during the pandemic. The report says that there have been more than 800 800 price increases just this year. Ive been working on a bill for over a year and a half to stem these increases and rein in drug prices. It would cap increases in the rate to to the rate of inflation and Save Companies nearly 100 billion. It wasnt simple, but im glad to have produced this kind of bill with Ranking Member wyden and my colleagues here with me today. But im disappointed. My partner and all of my democratic colleagues who approved this bill in committee by a vote of 199 declined to cosponsor an improved version of the bill that they helped put together in the first place. This is the work of about 18 months. I cant be sure why, but i have to assume its because its an election year. And somehow by passing a bill that would do so much good in a time with so much hardship might help republicans who also support the bill, hurting democrats chances of taking the majority. As we consider a new relief bill, we ought to put aside that kind of politics before people method of legislating. We need to approve the Prescription Drug pricing reduction act as part of that package. Our country is facing the most serious Public Health cries in a generation, not just a generation, as you think back by generations. Millions of americans are newly unemployed and many Small Businesses have slowed or shuttered teeth. People across the country are stretching their paychecks and their savings to get through this virus pandemic. In the cares act passed in march and in subsequent legislation, we helped slow the hurt caused by this virus, but theres only so much a stimulus check or tax relief can do when your bills just keep coming up and going up, meaning the pharmaceutical bills. These drug price increases are a weight that americans shouldnt have to bear, especially seniors, on tomorrow the virus is taking a particular toll. The increases arent a result of a functioning marketplace or an industry with healthy competition. Addressing these price increases is also something we all largely agree on. In 2016, the president caned on making the caned on making the marketplace for the president campaigned on making the marketplace place more fair. He even talked about that in his state of the Union Message when he says he wants congress to send a bill for him to sign this year. So the president made this Campaign Promise in 2016 and the president has done many things since then to carry out that Campaign Promise. Hes even helped me in the development of this legislation. Now, thats 2016. This is 2020. In 2018, in between now weve had many House Democrats campaigned on making the marketplace for Prescription Drugs fairer and more affordable. Many of them won and they took over the house of representatives. Its time to put politics aside and finally act. Just because figure phrma was bankrupting patients before the pandemic doesnt mean that we should allow them to keep on doing it now. In fact, theres no better time to put an end to big pharmas price gaging than right now. I yield the floor i yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from indiana. Mr. Braun senator grassley and i share a passion that i think most americans do in that its time that we end this stranglehold that the Health Care Industry has on all of us because they pose as free enterprisers, but theres nothing free about the way they actually operate. Free enterprise means you embrace competition. Youre not putting up barriers to entry. You enj. O. I. Gauge the consumer you engage the consumer where they can see what youre charging them. That does not occur. And the alternative will be its clear on the other side of the highly they want on the other side of the aisle that they want to make government the partner of industry. If the industry doesnt get with it and start doing what all the rest of us do when we go to the marketplace embrace competition, be willing to compete, dont ask for barriers to entry, and, yes, we tell the customer what we charge them before they buy it. That doesnt happen in health care. The market is opaque and complex. Theres nothing free about it except that drugmakers are free to charge whatever they want. The market is dependent on governmentsanctioned rebates and monopolies by the f. D. A. Exclusivityies and patent abuse. Its time to fix this. P. B. M. s, that may not mean much to the public pharmacy benefit managers. That is a structure of middle men that arent present in all other industries. Normally when you have transparency, prices cascade down through the system in a way that everybody can see it, and the successful survivors in that industry have performed because they give good value to their customers. They keep their overhead low. And they earn the business. P. B. M. s use techniques like spread pricing. Normally there is a spread. You buy it for this and sell it for that, but not to where people cant see it. Its time that weve got to get away from this complexity and the opaqueness of it because the day of reckoning will come, and the day of reckoning is not too far away. Because most of us, i recently come from the business world. No one likes the Health Care Industry other than the c. E. O. s and owners of these businesses. All of us that have to deal with them are just asking for that one simple thing show us what things cost, quit hiding it. Insurance companies have these secret deals with hospitals, with pharma, and its starting to cost too much. It shows up in the fact that its nearly 20 of our g. D. P. Here in the u. S. And it costs almost half of that in most other developed countries. And the sad thing is the results arent any better. In many cases the results are better at a price thats half the cost. Both chairman grassley and i have talked with President Trump. President trump has been the most vocal individual in d. C. About trying to get the industry to work like the rest of us entrepreneurs do. Every time he has an executive order, they take him to court. Thats ending because just recently the hospitals tried that, and District Court overturned it. Theyll probably appeal it. Hopefully the Appellate Court will overturn it. Ive got a transparency bill which is as simple as show us what youre charging us before we engage your service. Chucks got the same thing basically on drug pricing. And let me tell you how that works. This is a real live experiment that i put into place 12 years ago. I was so sick and tired of the Insurance Agents coming in telling me how lucky i was, its only going up 5 to 10 this year. I didnt think i was very lucky. My company wasnt large enough to spend a lot of time on it. When we got to be 300 employees, that starts to add up. Now we have 1,000. Thank goodness my kids have to deal with that with a good young executive team, but i put something in place 12 years ago im proud of. I said enough is enough. What do we have thats really going to change the dynamic . And youve got to remember, 12 years ago. Talk about trying to find transparency then, we were lucky that we were large enough to selfinsure. And by doing that, we probably saved close to 25 . And by engaging our employees in their own wellbeing and incentivizing them to shop around to enable their ability to find better prices, it was even there if you looked for it hard back then. Long story short, weve not had a premium increase at my company in 12 years. Proud of that. And we covered preexisting conditions with no caps on coverage because we took a radical change to how health care should be bought by the consumer, the employer, and forced the transparency out of a system that wasnt giving much of it then. Now theres more transparency but its just on the fringes. If you get that to happen, prices will cascade down through the system. President trump had another executive order for pharma. All these expensive drugs you see advertised, put the price along with the advertisement. Ed and a lot of times its deceptive, you can give it as little as 5 a month. Somebody is paying for that 60,000 or 70,000 drug. Its generally the employer, the employees some of it. But its again due to the fact that we cant see anything. Americans are blindfolded from prices only to receive medical bills often that they get two months later and have no idea, they open the envelope with trepidation, and oh my goodness, whew, it wasnt what i thought it would be. More often than not, its oh my gosh, this is terrible. Its got to end. And it would be different if we were asking for something that was radical. What were asking for is tell us what youre charging us before we have to engage your services. And that is why its so important. The white house is behind it. Hopefully the other side of the aisle will get behind it, support chairman grassleys bill , Prescription Drug pricing reduction act, and support my bill, the Health Care Price Transparency Act. The story i told you about my own company would happen across the country, and we wouldnt be complaining about these surprise billings. We wouldnt be holding our breath. We would be simply doing what all other educated consumers do when they go to buy from truly free enterprise. I yield the floor. A senator madam president mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from louisiana. Mr. Cassidy covid19 is a continuing threat to americans physical and financial health. Its at this intersection that congress can make an meaningful impact on the Family Budgets of all americans by passing simple legislation to lower the cost of Prescription Drugs. Legislation such as the Prescription Drug pricing reduction act, or as i like to call it, making coronavirus medications Affordable Act. Now there is an urgent need to lower the cost of Prescription Drugs. The high price of drugs is not a new problem, but its a problem thats going to be made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of households have seen their income suffer due to economic lockdowns aimed at containing the virus. Now im encouraged that the jobs numbers continue to outpace expectations, but still a lot of millions of fellow americans are out of work, which affects their pocketbook and potentially their insurance coverage. Americans do not need the added burden of expensive drugs, particularly right now. Congress has provided relief for American Families and businesses through the covid19 crisis, and were considering another round of support. I think we should include how do we make drugs more affordable. That way if folks become ill, they know they will be able to afford the cure. And i believe the best path forward is the making the coronavirus drugs Affordable Act, as i call it. Or as chairman grassley calls it, the Prescription Drug pricing reduction act. Again, i like mine better. Now the difficulty in addressing the issue of the price of medications, mr. President , you have to strike a balance between making sure the medication is affordable but making sure there is still a profit motive that will incentivize the researchers and the pharmaceutical companies to find these cures that we know that we need. Just think about it. Without innovation, we would not be able to find a vaccine for coronavirus, a vaccine that will save millions of lives worldwide and allow us to go back to a normal life. And let me just praise the pharmaceutical industry. Weve seen them respond to this crisis in many helpful ways. Additionally, theyve recently committed 1 billion to antimicrobial resistance, which is to say to find an antibiotic that will work when other antibiotics no longer do. Theyve invested in rapid and largescale vaccines and Treatment Options and its only through this innovation that we will beat this virus and end the pandemic. But we must remember this, if a patient cannot afford the innovation, the new medicine, it is as if the innovation never occurred. The making coronavirus drugs Affordable Act strikes the balance between lowering costs for families and Incentivizing Companies to find those cures. Let me show you what this bill does. It caps the patients out of pocket expenses. It lets patients pay over time. It protects patients from price gowging, and it preserves incentive for companies to find cures. Let me explain each of these. First, the bill caps the outofpocket expense for those in the Medicare Partd program, which are those who are Senior Citizens. And particularly for the most vulnerable seniors with chronic conditions. Research has shown that seniors are at the most risk for severe complications and death from covid19, and when a treatment or cure is widely available, cost should never be a barrier for a senior to access the drug that she or he needs to survive. Under the current system, mr. President , this is what a Senior Citizen pays for their medical benefit under Medicare Partd. They have a deductible for which the senior pays 100 , the initial coverage phase and coverage gap phase of which they pay oneforth of the expense. In the catastrophic phase the patient pays 5 of their cost no matter how high that expense goes. So lets just imagine a medication which costs over 1 million. Theyre paying 5 of that medication cost. And if i could stand up any higher, but i keep on luting my microphone, they would pay 5 of that. Lets think of a theoretical drug that costs 3 million a year, the senior would be required to pay 5 of whatever that drug costs. Thats under current law. What were trying to do is fix this. If this occurs, the senior will not be able to afford lifesaving medications. Can we have the next one, please. Under the legislation that were attempting to pass, we change the Medicare Partd standard benefit design so that theres still the initial deductible in which the senior pays 100 . But after paying 20 of the initial coverage phase, there is no longer that 5 towards infinity. We make medications affordable for the senior. And if thats all the bill did, we would do something quite remarkable for the ability of a patient to be able to afford a potentially lifesaving drug. By the way, im a physician, mr. President. I know this is a barrier for patients to be able to have their drugs. And so we address that in this bill. Now the second thing we do, you might say, wait a second, the Senior Citizen, if she or he has to pay this all, say a very expensive drug, in the month of january, they cant afford that. Under the current situation, the senior has to pay her deductible and her initial coverage phase whenever its due, which might be in the first week of the year. What we also do in this bill is we give the Senior Citizen the opportunity to pay all this lump sum as a series of payments over 12 months. So lets imagine that this is 10,000. Instead of having to pay it all in january, she could pay 800 every month over the course of the year. That allows her to budget and to factor it in with the other sources of income that she has. So not only do we cap the Senior Citizens outofpocket expense, but we also allow her to pay that expense over a set of months so that she can factor it into her budget. That, mr. President , is a second great thing that this bill does. What is another thing that we do . Senator braun already referred to this. But we also have cost transparency. If there is a medication which has the price being elevated unnecessarily and if the customer knew that, she would know, wait a second, i can get my medication far less expensively here versus there, or if i accept a substitute again the medication will be more affordable, we mandate that kind of Price Transparency that hall louse the customer to make an informed decision. Now, i know there are competing ideas on how to lower drug costs, how democrats, for example, have introduced legislation that they claim would lower costs. But remember, mr. President , i told you that there is a problem, how do we preserve the incentive to innovate while making sure the innovation is affordable. House democrats have put up a bill, yes, it makes medicine more affordable, but it kills the desire to innovate. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that if the bill that House Democrats have proposed is passed, there will be 38 fewer cures, mr. President , invented by pharmaceutical manufacturers. 38 fewer cures. Let me tell you a story, mr. President. I mentioned im a physician. I came in my residency of if you will, when the aids epidemic hit. I was 25 years old. I have seen men of my age dying of h. I. V. We didnt have an Antibody Test then. But if you were diagnosed with h. I. V. Again we called it aids then, you basically were dead because we had no cure we had no cures. Since then, we now have medications that if youre infected with h. I. V. , you can live until youre 75 years old, 80 years old. We have found something which doesnt quite cure but it allows it to be treated as a chronic condition. Now, what if we didnt have that cure, mr. President . What if that was one of the 38 cures we never had . Mr. President , what if one of the cures we lose out on is the cure for alzheimers . My parents died of alzheimers. All of us know somebody affected by alzheimers or dementia. What if the cure we lose is the cure for alzheimers . Mr. President , you may think youre making medications more expensive, but in terms of human life, youve made it that much more expensive. Because instead of finding that cure for alzheimers, you instead have consigned those people with alzheimers to a slow, awful death. Awful for them, awful for their loved ones as they see their parent decline. So, mr. President , i would argue that it is fools gold to say that the House Democrat bill saves money. It just shifts it, and it shifts it to the misery of the family that will never enjoy one of these cures that is not otherwise developed. So to fix the problem of the high cost of drugs, it will take a bipartisan coalition. We have this bill that ends government handouts to pharmaceutical companies, but it doesnt price fix. It saves 80 billion for the taxpayer and for the patient, and it maintains incentives for lifesaving innovations. Some in this chamber will be tempted to stop this bill until after this years election. To them, i would say dont let politics keep us from delivering drugpricing relief for American Families. Too much is on the line, especially during this pandemic. To do nothing while families try to pay medical bills is wrong. Lets Work Together to pass this bill to lower the cost of drugs, to protect innovation, and to save lives. Thank you, mr. President , and i yield the floor. Ms. Collins mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from maine. Ms. Collins thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , first let me recognize and thank senator grassley for his extraordinary leadership on an issue that matters so greatly to the American People, and that is the high cost of Prescription Drugs. His persistence has produced the Prescription Drug pricing reduction act, a farreaching set of bold proposals that i strongly endorse and that builds on the work that i have done as the chairman of the senate aging committee. Mr. President , more than half of all americans and 90 of our seniors take at least one Prescription Drug each month. We should be able to Work Together to help the American People, particularly our seniors, on an issue that affects their health and their finances. No senior should be faced with the choice of buying food they need, paying a bill for their oil to heat their home, and buying their Prescription Drug. I remember very well, mr. Chairman, being in the line at the pharmacy in bangor, maine, and the couple in front of me found out that their copay was 113. And the husband looked at his wife and he said honey, we just cant afford that, and they left the prescription that one of them needed that was prescribed by their doctor there on the pharmacy counter. And when i asked the pharmacist how often does this happen, he said each and every day. Every day. That is why we should be working together and pass senator grassleys bill as well as many of the other bipartisan bills that you have heard described today, including legislation that i have advocated to improve the lives of millions of americans. This goal surely should be beyond partisan politics. In just the last year, three Senate Committees advanced legislation to reform our flawed drug pricing system. Mr. President , i cant think of anything else that we buy where the price is less transparent, is more opaque than Prescription Drugs. The finance committees bill, the Prescription Drug pricing reduction act, which im proud to cosponsor, would make crucial improvements. As senator cassidy just ably explained, one of the most important improvements is to Medicare Part d. It would protect our seniors with an outofpocket spending limit. It would also include cost control measures such as an inflationary cap to limit price hikes. Now, mr. President , we have made some progress in this area. I brought up legislation thats making a difference for patients. One of the laws that i authored bans gag clauses that had prohibited pharmacists from informing their customers if there were a less expensive way to purchase their Prescription Drug. And amazingly enough, sometimes its cheaper to pay out of pocket than to use your insurance card. Not something that most consumers would ever realize unless the pharmacist informed him or her. My bill also updates a 2003 law requiring drug manufacturers to notify the federal trade commission of patent settlement agreements, giving the agency greater visibility into whether they include tactics such as anticompetitive reverse payments that slow or defeat the introduction of lower cost drugs. Another law i authored is helping to bring lower cost generics to the marketplace more quickly by expediting their approval by the f. D. A. But clearly, there is more that we must do. At a time when economic and Health Security are more linked than ever, congress has an opportunity to deliver a decisive victory in lowering costs for patients. In addition to the finance committee package, the help Committee Bill i served on the help committee which is chaired by senator Alexander Incorporated more than 14 bipartisan measures to increase price competition, including portions of a bill that i introduced with senator tim kaine, the biologic patent Transparency Act which is intended to prevent drug manufacturers from gaming the patent system. Patents are important to encourage the development of earthbreaking, groundbreaking new pharmaceuticals, but the system should not be gamed so that when the patent is about to expire, a host of new patents are filed on the medication in order to block a lower cost generic from coming to market. Mr. President , in october, the institute for clinical and economic review published its first annual report on unjustified price increases of Prescription Drugs in our country. It should surprise no one that humira, the poster child for patent gaming, led the list. Humiras price increased by nearly 16 from 2017 to 2018, costing american patients and insurers an extra 1. 86 billion. Why do we want to wait any longer . And how did humira do it . It once again put up this patent thicket in order its manufacturer did in order to block the lower price biosimilar. The Judiciary Committee has advanced bills that empower the federal trade commission to take more aggressive action on drug pricing. This year, the f. T. C. Charged the infamous martin schrakelli with a scheme to increase the price of the lifesaving drug deraprim by more than 4,000 overnight, which was the focus of an aging Committee Investigation that i led with former senator Claire Mccaskill in 2016. Floor consideration should also allow for action on other important Prescription Drug bills, such as legislation that senator Jeanne Shaheen and i have authored to eliminate incentives that create price spikes distorting the insulin market. Insulin has been around for 100 years. And i realize there is fastacting and slowacting insulin, but there is no excuse for the skyrocketing price of insulin. There is another bill that i cosponsored, introduced by senators klobuchar and grassley, that would end payfordelay schemes. We must come together on Prescription Drug legislation without further delay. Three committees have produced strong bipartisan bills, and we should proceed to act and pass this legislation. Thank you, mr. President. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator is recognized. A senator are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are not. A senator i call on my colleagues to include the Prescription Drug pricing act of 2020 in the next Coronavirus Relief bill so we can finally address the high cost of Prescription Drugs. Mrs. Hydesmith the troubles caused by skyrocketing drug prices are a neverending source of hardship for mississippians and people across this entire country. I hear about this issue from constituents more than just about any other issue when i go home. I hear this all the time. I go to church with people who have to decide if theyre going to buy their drugs or if theyre going to buy food. That is a reality that we live with. Let me highlight a few stories shared with me by some of my constituents. Emily quinn lives in mississippi, her husband brian was diagnosed with type 1 tiebts at the age of diabetes at the age of 2. Her son dillon, now 16, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 6. They pay more than 2,700 each month for bryan and dillons insulin, not including the other supplies that they have to have. It is shocking that more than a century not a decade, a century after insulin was discovered, insulin prices continue to rise by staggering amounts, nearly 300 over the last ten years. Scott crawford of jackson, mississippi, is a volunteer advocate for multiple sclerosis. Scott was diagnosed with primary progressive m. S. In 2002. Only one drug named ogerpris can slow the advancement of this disabling disease. That drug cost a staggering 65,000 a year, more than most mississippians make. Even with good insurance coverage, scott cannot afford the 15,000 copay for his medication so he goes out. M. S. Drugs have seem some of the most shocking creases of all with increases of all. Too young neurologists in mississippi told me about their medicare patients who move into catastrophic face Medicare Part d early in the year even though these patients face only a 5 out of pocket cost for these drugs in this phase, that small percentage can amount to thousands of dollars these patients depend on because there is currently no Medicare Part d out of pocket cap, these patients will get no relief from high drug prices later in the year when they still have to have them. These are just two of many stories that ive received from mississippians. As i have one of my own as well. My mother, a Medicare Beneficiary living in mont monticello, mississippi, faced 454. 50, right there, out of pocket costs for her prescription eye drops earlier this year. A tiny bottle of eye drops, 454. 50. The drug restasis has been on the market well over a decade, more than enough time for alorgon to recoup its investment, yet they have increased the price 250 in ten years. Almost unbelievable when my mom called me and told me what she paid for eye drops. This case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court because alegon had undertaken one of the most blatantly anticompetitive schemes, fearing competition after his restasis patent expired, they transferred it to a native american tribe to use the sovereign immunity to shield alergon from lowerpriced generic alternatives. As i said, this case went all the way to the Supreme Court in 2008. Even though the Supreme Court ultimately ruled this scheme was illegal, the companys underhanded ploy successfully delayed competition while it continued to reap outrageous benefits from restasis costing the u. S. Health care system over 2 billion per year because of their monopoly pricing. Mr. President , we want pharmaceutical companies to succeed. The great cures and treatments they discover improve the lives of many, Many Americans. We recognize that fact. But these cures and therapeutics can only save lives if the patients can afford them. And too many mississippians and individuals across this country cannot afford their Prescription Drugs due to the anticompetitive prices of Companies Like allegon that continue to increase their prices year after year. Today the threat of the coronavirus pandemic has only increased concerns about drug pricing as new vaccines and treatments for covid19 are being tested and developed, the affordability of Prescription Drugs is more important than ever. Just as much as we need a vaccine or treatment to be discovered, we also need it to be affordable to americans if we are going to get on the other side of this pandemic. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the finance Committee Chairmans comprehensive drug pricing reduction act to bring affordability to the drug market. This bill must be an immediate priority for us as leaders if we are serious. If were serious about helping patients afford the drugs that they need. This important legislation would create a true out of pocket cap for medicare beneficiaries, reinforce the Market Forces that have supported the research and develop so many miracle cures. Keep pharmaceutical companies from price gouging, prevent taxpayers from being on the hook for unlimited price tax, stop the hurtful tactics of pharmacy benefit managers that hurt patients and Community Pharmacies while enriching the middle men. These reforms would c. E. O. Dues out of pocket spending on Prescription Drugs by 72 billion, reduce premiums by 1 billion and save taxpayers 95 billion. And the Congressional Budget Office expects it to save in the commercial health market. This is it a priority this is a priority that should Transcend Party politics. Those who supported chairman grassleys reform legislation have walked away from the drug pricing motion to table all together. They would rather deny President Trump a victory on this issue than help the millions of americans struggling to make ends meet due to high drug costs. There is no doubt about it. They are putting electionyear politics ahead of making Prescription Drugs affordable for the American People. Mr. President , the American People cant wait. Every month this continues to block this vital legislation is another month of thousands of dollars in insulin expenses for the quinn family in fulton, mississippi. Every month delays is another month that Scott Crawfords m. S. Advances because he cannot afford his medications. Every month is another month that those neurologists in jackson will continue to worry about their patients on medicare who face unlimited expenses due to no out of pocket cap. These patients and millions more like them cannot wait until next year or until the coronavirus epidemic passes or until democrats decide to put the American People over politics. Mississippians and americans need a solution now. My friend, the senator from iowa, has done the hard work of writing a bill over the past 18 months that can address the heart of the issue and garner bipartisan consensus. I call on my colleagues to include the Prescription Drug pricing reduction act in the next Coronavirus Relief package. Ive been very excited to work on this. This is one of the very reasons that i came to washington, d. C. , is to help mississippians. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Ms. Mcsally mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from arizona. Ms. Mcsally i want to thank chairman grassley for his tireless leadership on lowering the cost of Prescription Drugs for americans, and im proud to join with him on the floor today and join with him in his legislation that we must pass to help americans and to help arizonians. Everywhere i go and when im hearing from arizonians, im constantly hearing about the the rising cost of Prescription Drugs. Its among one of their top and most pressing concerns, from seniors who cant afford their medications to parents struggling to care for a child who suffers from chronic conditions, out of pocket drug costs are too high. Far too many seniors and hardworking individuals in our state either cant afford both their groceries and their medications or theyve been forced to ration their prescriptions because of skyrocketing drug costs. In 2017aarp in arizona reported that a whopping 26 of residents stopped taking their medications as prescribed due to cost. Last fall i heard from a constituent in her mid60s from green valley, arizona, who was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and taking several medications to treat her condition. When she transitioned to Medicare Part d from her Employers Health plan, her out of pocket cost for a drug went from 10 to nearly 6,000 per month. This is a 600 increase in her monthly out of pocket cost just for this drug alone. I dont know anybody who can afford 6,000 be a month for one drug as a senior, as anyone. This is insane. She had to switch to another medication twice, but because they were infusions, she now has to travel 84 miles roundtrip to get treated. The significant jump in drug costs have affected both her pocketbook and her quality of life. This is unacceptable and i worked with my Senate Colleagues on both sides of the aisle, with chairman grassleys leadership, over the past year and a half since ive been been in the senate to bring down the costs of drugs. Senator grassleys bill which im proud to be an original cosponsor of does just that by Holding Big Pharma Companies Accountable for exploiting loopholes and keeping prices high for seniors, families, and taxpayers. Our bill pulls back the curtain on drug pricing and negotiations. It ends the sticker shock at the pharmacy counter and it caps out of pocket costs for seniors so that arizonians can afford the medicines they need. According to the Congressional Budget Office, our Prescription Drug pricing reduction act would save taxpayers close to 95 billion, reduce out of pocket spending by 72 billion and reduce premiums by 1 billion. This bill is even more important now that we are navigating a Global Pandemic and its subsequent economic challenges that are squeezing family and fixed income senior budgets even more than enternormal times. With over in normal times. With over 17 million americans unemployed, including many arizonians and the threat of the coronavirus, affording prescription medicine should be the least of their concerns. Our bill would give americans and arizonians one less thing to worry about during these extraordinarily difficult an unprecedented times. Despite this bill receiving strong bipartisan support, up until just a few months ago, democrats recently chose to walk away at the direction of their partys leadership and they refused to join in on the reintroduction of this legislation that they coauthored. This only happens in d. C. Just to be clear. They were for it before they were against it. This is maddening. This is why people all over my state are so frustrated with the dysfunction in this place. Where people are willing to put looking for power and ee electoral poll particulars over what politics over what people need now. They need relief and relief for their out of pocket costs for all the issues they are facing as seniors, as families, any of the diagnose and these lifesaving and quality of life medicines, we have to lower the prices. Arizona patients, taxpayers, and seniors need washington to act now. I want to urge our democrat colleagues to put politics aside. I know its hard to do in an election year, but put it aside. Service before self is one of the core values i learned in the air force. Bring it i bring it here today. Serving others first. Thats why youre here. Put those politics aside. Lets act to lower the out of pocket costs of Prescription Drugs. In our upcoming Coronavirus Relief bill. We have to come together as a congress to make sure that hardworking americans, seniors can access the treatments they need at an affordable cost. Lets pass this bill now. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Reed mr. President , i rise together with the chairman of the Armed Services committee to talk about the chairmans plan to conclude the deliberation of the legislation before us today. As you well know as a member of the committee, this was a process that was bipartisan, thoughtful, extremely well orchestrated by the chairman, and we accomplished a great deal. As you know as a member of the committee, we considered literally hundreds of different amendments by the members as we marked up the legislation. Then we passed the bill out of committee. We brought it to the floor. And at that point a total of 8830 amendments were filed 880 amendments were filed. 446 republican amendments, 422 democratic amendments, and 12 joint amendments. So we had a rich field to pick from in terms of trying to improve the legislation. The first substitute that was introduced on the floor to begin formal deliberation included a total of 79 amendments, 34 republican amendments, 34 democratic amendments, and 11 joint amendments. Then we proceed forward and last week we came up with another unanimous consent to allow votes that took place this week on several very important amendments, but in addition to that, we incorporated another legislative proposal including 62 amendments. So from the introduction of the bill to the floor and to this moment, we have adopted 141 amendments. They are bipartisan, both democrats and republicans, and now were at the point and the chairman, i believe, has a very thoughtful way to conclude the legislation, to consider another round of amendments, and then be able to move to final passage very quickly. And again, let me conclude by saying the chairman has done a remarkable job. I commend him for his bipartisanship, his thoughtfulness, his consideration. And i am completely supportive of his proposal to bring this bill to a conclusion. And with that i yield the floor. Mr. Inhofe thank you. Mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Inhofe first of all, let me say that senator reed has been incredibly great in this whole process. Weve been working on this for a whole year now. And were now to the point where tomorrow we should be able to pass it out it wont be passed at that time. We also have the conference well have to be faced with and all that. But this is a very today today and tomorrow morning are very important to us. Now, the point that was made by senator reed, if you add up all the amendments, really its you guys in the senate who drafted this bill. I mean, not only is it 141 amendments since we came out of committee, but in the committee we had over 800 amendments that were part of the bill to start with. So this is a bill that has been made. One of the reasons i think i speak for senator reed and myself at the same time. Weve had some experiences in the past where since the senate operates with unanimous consent, that were unable to have any amendments at all on the floor. So in order to do that to make sure if that should happen again, we wanted to make sure we had all these amendments already in the bill. That was our starting point. Now, heres where we are today. We had a great vote on the ndaa receiving 8713 vote in favor of ending debate on the substitute. Take was great. Thats today. Now, that means we are at kind of the end of this process now. We have continued to work on another managers package. Last night we hot lined a lot of people who may be watching this are not familiar with the technology. We hotlined sent out to all the democrats and all the republicans any objections they might have to another group of amendments. It is a large group. An equal number of amendments for democrats and republicans. It came back and it was there are a lot of objections to it. So weve now taken that and started on one last managers package, a modified version that were going to hotline tonight. A lot of times people arent listening. Certainly the staff should let their members know that theyre going to get a hotline on 20 amendments actually, 40 amendments, 20 democrat amendments, 20 republican amendments tonight. Thats going to be the hotline. Theyre going to look at it. Some of your staff and some of the members may not have read these amendments yet. Likely thats the case. If you have objections to amendments in this package, thats what were hotlining, we encourage you to lodge those objections to the cloakroom. Thats when you get these. This is going to be tonight. Well note those objections and see what remains. Now tomorrow morning, lets say we have all the objections have come in tomorrow morning at we were hoping the time will be around 10 30 tomorrow but we know a lot of people want to talk. A lot of people want to be heard. We cant control that. But we will ask for unanimous consent to pass the package with a balanced number of amendments from both democrats and republicans. This is tomorrow. Hopefully at 10 30. Maybe that will work. Well require members that want to object to the final package to come down to the floor in person and object. If youve already if you already have an objection to a specific amendment in this package, register with the cloakroom. The amendment should have been pulled from the package. It wont even appear at that time. Otherwise you need to be here to object in person. Now, we use the term balance. This is how this works. We have 40 amendments that are going to be hotlined tonight. If the republicans have eight of them that they object to, the democrats have seven they object to, theyve got to find one more to object to so it ends up being eight and eight or the number will be equal. Sounds a little complicated. Sounds like something that might not work but it will work. Weve been doing this now for over a year. Actually, we started this process two years ago. And so its going to be the responsibility of the democrats and the republicans to make that even so no one can say that its being biased to one side. So all that thats whats going to happen. Its very important that staff and members be aware of that because what we dont want to happen is have someone come along and say they were not aware of this process that was taking place. So thats the process were going to use. Its one thats fair. And again, i dont think this will be the 60th consecutive year. Theres never been a year in my memory that has had more amendments considered than we have considered this year. With that i would yield the floor. Mr. Lee mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Lee mr. President , when americans see a made in the u. S. A. Label on a product, its a source of great pride and justifiably so. It represents the american virtues of entrepreneurialism and industriousness. Also as americans we have a common sense of destiny and a common appreciation for the inherent dignity and eternal worth of the human soul. Its a symbol of support for American Manufacturing jobs, for local communities, and for high quality products. And so it often spurs American Consumers as well as foreign consumers to buy a particular product, a product lucky enough to have that label. The federal trade commission currently enforces a difficult standard for all products that want to claim the made in the u. S. A. Label. It requires that, quote, all or virtually all, close quote, of a product be made in the United States, and is issued a lengthy legal guidance document or series thereof establishing rules for who may or may not claim that title. However, one state holds a different standard, one thats nearly impossible for businesses to meet. Under californias law, if more than 5 of the components of a particular product are manufactured outside the United States, even if that means just a few bolts or a few screws, that product cannot lawfully be labeled made in the u. S. A