The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Senate section on pages S7065-S7067 on Nov. 18, 2020.
The Department includes the Census Bureau, which is used to determine many factors about American life. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department is involved in misguided foreign trade policies and is home to many unneeded programs.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, here it is November 18. It seems like the election was a few years ago. Time is flying by, but there is still a lot of work to be done here in the 116th Congress.
I hope that our friends across the aisle will reconsider their objections to working with us on another COVID-19 relief bill. I know back home in Texas, many small businesses that received PPE loans are uncertain, for example, what the tax consequences are going to be associated with that. Many of them, for whom that was a lifeline, are running out of that lifeline due to the passage of time.
We also know we need to pass an appropriations bill before the December 11 deadline to both avoid a government shutdown and give our government agencies the ability to plan and operate with certainty.
Of course, perhaps most significantly, we need to pass a final version of the National Defense Authorization Act. The foremost obligation of the Federal Government is the peace and security for the American people. We do that by passing the defense authorization act and funding our military each year on an annual basis. This bill determines how we maintain our military bases, modernize our aircraft, and invest in the next generation of aircraft and weaponry.
Of course, we know that our adversaries--most notably, countries like China and Russia--are moving very quickly to modernize their military and their weaponry in a way that could jeopardize the balance or the deterrence of our current systems. It is very, very important.
This is also how we supply our servicemembers and their families with the money they need to provide for their families. It is how we take stock of the evolving threat landscape--things like hypersonic glide vehicles--and ensure our country is taking active steps to counter threats on the horizon.
The most important thing, I think, Ronald Reagan taught us or reminded us of is ``peace through strength,'' that weakness is actually a provocation to the bullies, tyrants, and dictators who will take advantage of any opportunity. It causes instability and perhaps even miscalculation and people taking risks that, ultimately, will lead to armed conflict. The best thing we can do to maintain the peace is make sure the United States of America remains the preeminent military force on the planet.
Of course, it is no secret that, in recent years, China has emerged as one of the greatest threats to world order. It is increasingly belligerent and well resourced and continues to demonstrate a lack of respect for basic human rights and dignities.
The challenge of China is they don't play by the rules. I know back when China became part of the World Trade Organization, there was a hope expressed that maybe by becoming part of the World Trade Organization, they could join the other rules-based economies and countries, but they have not. They continue to steal intellectual property, and they continue to want to dominate the United States, both economically and militarily, in the long run.
The Chinese Communist Party has made no secret of its desire to flex its economic and political power throughout the world as evidenced by their Made in China 2025 Initiative. It seeks to advance Chinese dominance in high-tech manufacturing for everything from electric cars to advanced robotics to artificial intelligence to seemingly innocuous devices like jetways at airports.
One major component of this plan is semiconductor manufacturing, and China is making serious headway. Since 2000, China has gone from manufacturing zero chips to 16 percent of the global supply, and it plans to invest another $1.4 trillion in the semiconductor technology.
Why is this important? Well, because these microcircuits that have gotten smaller and smaller and smaller and make up the working components in everything from iPhones to our weapons systems--these have become harder and harder to manufacture.
In fact, one of the things this COVID virus has taught is the vulnerability of our supply chains. Right now, one of the sole sources of the most sophisticated semiconductor that goes into everything from our iPhones to our national defense systems is manufactured overseas, primarily in Taiwan.
While China has upped its production of semiconductors dramatically and its investment, the U.S. has dropped to producing roughly a quarter of the world's semiconductors to only 12 percent. That is a big problem.
First is the obvious economic implications. Giving up a significant global share of manufacturing means missing out on thousands--indeed tens of thousands--of high-paying jobs that could be stationed right here at home.
It also ignores the benefits of a strong U.S. manufacturing supply chain to support products made by the United States and our trading partners. Our growing dependence on others, including China, for semiconductors also poses a serious national security risk.
As I said, these chips are everywhere. They are also critical components to our infrastructure, things like cell towers, hospital equipment, missile defense systems. Our most critical technologies rely on a product we are looking for a country overseas to supply, whether it is Taiwan or China or some other country.
Earlier this year, we, of course, experienced how dangerous that is. It is as simple as things like personal protective equipment. China has long been a major supplier of masks, gloves, and gowns, and other PPE used by our healthcare workers. That didn't seem to be a problem because they could always make it cheaper, but when the virus hit, we found out it was a serious problem.
By the time the virus began spreading to the U.S., China had been battling it for a number of weeks, maybe even months. So when it came time for American hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers to beef up their supply of personal protective equipment, the supplies were already depleted or we were dependent on China to produce them.
Healthcare workers did what they could by reusing masks throughout an entire shift in order to conserve supplies. Hospitals were pleading with the general public to donate any unused personal protective equipment so their workforce could remain safe. We didn't reach that point because of lack of preparation, but because of our reliance on other countries, namely China, to produce that medical gear.
This has been a wake-up call, I think, for me and, I think, certainly many others about our supply chain vulnerabilities. It is a clear signal that we need to take action to secure other critical supply chains.
When it comes to semiconductor manufacturing, that is easier said than done. Building a new semiconductor foundry is a very, very expensive undertaking. It simply will not happen without a robust private-public partnership. We know our adversaries are making a big down payment on their own semiconductor manufacturing.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that 21 major semiconductor firms across a number of countries received more than $50 billion in government support between 2014 and 2018. This is not exactly a market that is going to depend purely on the private sector. It is going to require the Federal Government to step up if we are going to bring that manufacturing onshore and if we are going to reduce our vulnerabilities, both from an economic and national security perspective.
Some of the countries investing, though, in manufacturing these technologies are South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Ireland, Germany, and--yes, you guessed it--China. We have lost ground to our global competitors, and unless we take action, it is estimated that, by 2030, 83 percent of global semiconductor manufacturing will be in Asia--83 percent. We simply can't allow that to happen. The U.S. needs to make a strategic investment in semiconductor manufacturing to regain lost ground, and this year's National Defense Authorization Act includes the critical first step.
I introduced a bill, along with our colleague, our friend from Virginia, Senator Warner, called the CHIPS for America Act, and a version of this bill was adopted as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. It had bipartisan support--a vote of 96 to 4. It will help restore American leadership in semiconductor manufacturing by creating a Federal incentive program through the Department of Commerce in order to encourage chip manufacturing here in the United States.
In short, this will help stimulate domestic advanced semiconductor manufacturing and boost both our national security and global competitiveness. It will enable us to bring the manufacturing of these critical devices back home and strengthen the supply chains for our military systems, our critical infrastructure, telecommunications, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, and virtually every other industry you could name.
Senator Warner and I have worked closely with Senator Cotton, of Arkansas, and with Senator Schumer, of New York, in drafting this bipartisan amendment. I am glad our colleagues in the House have approved a similar amendment to their legislation, and I am eager to see the final version in the conference report. When the NDAA makes its way to the President's desk, it will mark the 60th consecutive year in which Congress has passed such bipartisan legislation to fund, supply, and equip our Nation's military.
I appreciate the strong bipartisan support of Chairman Inhofe, of the Committee on Armed Services, and Ranking Member Reed, and I am eager for this legislation to come to the floor for a final vote, but the next step is to secure funding for the programs to incentivize domestic semiconductor manufacturing. We have been working with the administration, particularly with Secretary Mnuchin, Secretary Ross, and Secretary Pompeo, who have identified this as a major vulnerability and have worked with us to try to close that gap. I have enjoyed working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that we provide full funding for this legislation, but we are not there yet.
This is the key to our long-term national security and economic competitiveness, and it is my top priority in the coming weeks as the Senate prepares to consider appropriations bills. A secure semiconductor supply chain will strengthen our national security, and our economy will reap countless benefits by bringing these manufacturing jobs back to the United States.
As we work to counter increasingly sophisticated adversaries around the world, passing the National Defense Authorization Act and funding these new programs could not be more important.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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