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 BILL” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Senate section on pages S5574-S5575 on Aug. 1, 2018.
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 BILL
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, a short while ago the Senate passed the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act. Here is why I opposed that legislation: It is a national security bill that weakens our national security. This afternoon I want to discuss why.
The Chinese tech company ZTE was revealed not long ago to be a serial sanctions violator. They violated U.S. sanctions against Iran and North Korea, knowingly selling American technology to those countries. For their violations, the Commerce Department dropped the hammer and hit them with crippling penalties, including a fine of $1.2 billion.
That is until Donald Trump stepped in to save ZTE.
With a speed and a focus this administration seems incapable of bringing to any other issue, the President ordered his team to spring into action to rescue ZTE. He fired off tweets. He made the eyebrow-
raising comment that it was a problem that U.S. sanctions were hurting jobs in China. His Treasury Secretary virtually apologized for the U.S. having taken action against a serial sanctions violator. This all comes from an administration putting on a show--constantly tough talking--and from a President pretending that he puts America first. He sure didn't in this case.
Now there are a few sides of this issue for everybody at home to remember--the national security aspect, as well as the trade and economic aspect.
First, I sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a few months ago, the committee held an open hearing with Bill Evanina, the Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. He is the point-man for the Trump administration when it comes to questions of counterespionage and counterterror. In response to my question, he told me that ZTE poses a national security risk to the United States.
That was not some outside individual providing testimony. He is not a hearing witness chosen by Democrats. Again, that is the person who has led the National Counterintelligence and Security Center since 2014. He says ZTE poses a threat to America, but his boss, the President of the United States, let ZTE off the hook.
Here is the second issue: the Trump administration loves to tout what it calls new trade deals, but as far as I can tell, just about the only deal they have cooked up with any teeth, the only one that is actually finished, is this ZTE deal that saved jobs--in China.
Colleagues, the President and I don't agree on much, but one of his favorite talking points that I do agree with is that our country has to do a lot more to stop China from stealing our technology and our jobs, but when you look at this ZTE case, he seems to be giving away our jobs and our security.
It is an absolute head-scratcher to me and to a whole lot of other people including Senators on both sides of the aisle. It raised the question are the President's decisions being guided by something else, something other than American interests? That is because the ZTE deal came right after the Trump family secured valuable trademarks in China and a Trump project in Indonesia got a $500 million loan from a Chinese state-owned company.
So a bipartisan group of Senators, myself included, said let's figure out a way to reinstate the penalties against ZTE as a part of the annual defense authorization bill, but when it came time to hammer out the differences between the Senate's bill and the House's bill, Republicans watered down the ZTE penalties. Republicans in both Chambers caved to the White House and handed a big gift to China at the expense of American jobs and national security.
In my view, it is inexcusable that the plan put together by Senators on both sides--a plan that would have protected our security and punished a serial violator of U.S. sanctions--was stripped out of this bill. The weaker House proposal that took its place doesn't go nearly far enough to fight the espionage threat that the Trump administration's own counterintelligence nominee testified to.
Bottom line, Trump's ZTE deal is bad for American security and American jobs. The House got it wrong with their weaker legislation. The Senate was under no obligation to accept their watered-down bill. That is why I voted no, and that is why members who voted for this proposal cannot claim innocence when it comes to letting ZTE off the hook for its violations of our sanctions.
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