No Taxpayer Dollars for Communist China COVID Tests Act

Madam President, as our Nation continues to battle against COVID-19, we know that the best way forward for defeating this virus is making sure Americans have adequate prevention and treatment options against this terrible illness.

While I understand that we are still learning about COVID-19 every day, I share the frustrations of public health leaders and the American people at the Federal Government's lack of proactive leadership in fighting this virus. Even with a vaccine developed under the previous administration, President Biden has not been able to slow COVID-19's spread.

The Federal Government's most important role during a public health crisis is to provide accurate information to the American people. Unfortunately, over the past year, there has been mixed messaging, cruel and unfair finger-pointing, baseless censorship, and a striking lack of effort put into comprehensive public health education efforts.

You should be able to get a test, period, but many Americans have been frustrated at the lack of at-home tests as the virus has continued to spread under President Biden. However, as we seek to ensure the health and well-being of American families, we must do so while using taxpayer dollars responsibly.

It is imperative that the Federal Government do everything in its power to complete our public health mission in a manner that prioritizes support for domestic manufacturing. That is why, as soon as I learned about the administration's intent to purchase 500 million at- home COVID-19 rapid tests for the public earlier this year, I wrote to the HHS Secretary and urged him to prioritize the purchase of American- made COVID tests and prohibit the purchase of tests made in communist China.

We know that at least two FDA-authorized at-home COVID-19 antigen tests are manufactured in communist China and imported into the United States. The last thing the American tax dollars should go towards is funding a country that is guilty of starting the pandemic, covering up and lying about the origins of COVID-19, committing genocide again millions of Uighurs, destroying democracy in Hong Kong, persecuting Tibetans, harassing and threatening Taiwan, stealing American technology and research, and engaging in illegal and unfair trade practices.

Giving communist China taxpayer money would be a complete abuse of the public trust. Sadly, although unsurprisingly, that is exactly what the Biden administration has done in its decision to funnel $1.28 billion to Andon Health, a Chinese company. That is right--instead of supporting American manufacturing and exclusively ordering American- made tests, the Biden administration is handing nearly $1.3 billion of taxpayer funds to a company in communist China. This isn't a secret; it was widely reported by Reuters last month.

I am sure we all remember Biden's promise to ``Buy American.'' It is a commitment I and many of my colleagues in the Senate applauded. But, like so many promises made by this President, it has been broken.

That is why I introduced the No Taxpayer Dollars for Communist China COVID Tests Act--a bill to right the wrongs of the Biden administration and prohibit buying or importing COVID-19 tests made in communist China with U.S. tax dollars. I would like to thank Senator Roger Marshall for cosponsoring this bill.

We need this legislation because President Biden has announced that the government will be purchasing 500 million more at-home tests, and just last week, the Department of Defense announced it was buying more than 100 million tests from Andon Health to achieve Biden's goal. That is more money for communist China's economy and less investment in our own economy.

The Federal Government has a responsibility to support American manufacturers, especially as our economy recovers from COVID-19. We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that it was the Chinese Communist Party that lied about this deadly virus, tried to hide it, and has continuously covered up the origins of COVID-19. We know that every dollar spent on COVID-19 tests manufactured in communist China goes directly to supporting General Secretary Xi and his genocidal regime.

People in this town think taxpayer money is free money to use as they want. They forget that for every dollar collected, there is a hard- working American who earned that money by the sweat of their brow. We have a duty and obligation to ensure that we spend that money wisely.

Thankfully, we won't lose anything or experience shortages by not giving these contracts to Chinese companies. It means HHS will have to work harder to get good, responsible contracts. But the Biden administration's willingness to fund the communist Chinese economy instead of the American economy is an absolute disgrace. It is another example of Joe Biden's willingness to appease dictators and forsake democracy, freedom, and human rights.

So, with many of these tests already repurchased and the Biden administration planning to spend billions more taxpayers dollars, it is important that Congress act on this immediately, which is why I will be asking to pass this good and commonsense bill today.

As if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3565, which is at the desk; further, I ask unanimous consent 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.

First off, if my colleague actually wanted to help American families, he would do whatever he could to get American families jobs.

I can't understand why my colleague would object to this bill. When did the Democrats decide that they no longer care about the oversight authority of Congress?

My colleague never said that HHS couldn't find American manufacturers for these tests. He didn't go back and check to see if they did. It seems like every one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is just another member of the Biden administration focused on covering up for Joe Biden and his appeasement of General Secretary Xi.

I am actually trying to support American jobs and American families so they can support themselves.

I want to support American manufacturers and the American supply chain. The Biden administration is actively choosing to support the communist Chinese regime and their economy instead. This is what he was elected to do, and this is the last thing American families want to see their tax dollars go for.

As stewards of taxpayer dollars, it is our duty to make sure we are doing everything we can to support the American economy, not the communist Chinese economy, especially following the pandemic and during this time of record-high inflation.

So I think objecting to this bill is a choice just to appease communist China, and it is dearly disappointing that we couldn't pass this good, commonsense bill today.

Reserving the right to object.

I will offer another proposal shortly as an alternative to Senator Scott's unanimous consent request, and I am going to make a few brief points before I do that.

I want to make clear that on this side, nobody--nobody--takes a backseat to anyone else when it comes to standing up to the horrific abuses of the Chinese Government against its people as well as its economic cheating that has ripped off American jobs and our prosperity.

That is why I worked with our colleague from Ohio, Senator Brown, to close once and for all an immoral and unjustifiable loophole that allowed some products made with forced labor to enter into the United States.

That is why I have also worked with Senator Crapo on a bipartisan effort to build on that progress with respect to forced labor and crack down on the rest of China's playbook of abuses and rip-offs. We wrote a bipartisan amendment that deals with forced labor investigations, with intellectual property protection, and with counterfeiting. It helps level the playing field in the fight against China. It helps strengthen and speed up trade enforcement and increases transparency in trade agreements and trade law. These have been priorities of mine throughout my time in the U.S. Senate.

Obviously, I was very pleased when our bipartisan amendment with Senator Crapo was included in the China competition bill. Overall, the bill--and it was bipartisan--is all about creating jobs by building up supply chains within the United States, investing in sensible science, and battling some of the key cost drivers--cost drivers--in inflation.

Mr. President, colleagues, Senator Scott voted against that bipartisan bill. The bipartisan bill passed by a vote of 68 to 32, but my colleague from Florida voted no. So I just want--as people reflect on this debate--to note for the record who exactly was working to make progress in the fight against China's worst practices and who is making speeches about them.

Second, America needs as much manufacturing capacity as possible as soon as possible here for antigen tests to meet our needs. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. The Biden administration recently launched a free-to-order testing system--free-to-order testing system-- online. Sixty million households have ordered tests. That is nearly half the total number of households in the country, so there is big demand.

The President has committed to making a billion tests available through that particular program. That is on top of other programs sending millions of tests each week and month to nursing homes, rural health clinics, schools, and elsewhere. The administration is buying all the American-made COVID tests it can get its hands on, but it is not enough to meet demand.

Let's make no mistake--all steps are being taken to make these crucially needed tests available to Americans.

The Scott bill would create a shortage of COVID tests. So, in addition to voting against the bipartisan bill that really would have tackled the big issues dealing with China, my colleague has an effort to create a shortage of tests. That would be a mistake. It would prolong an Omicron wave and put lives in danger. That just isn't common sense.

The American people want the supply of COVID tests to be large enough that nobody has to camp out in a drugstore parking lot waiting for the next delivery. That doesn't mean they are in league with the Chinese Government's horrible genocide against the Uighur people, but that is essentially what this bill is saying.

After we have dealt with the Scott proposal, which doesn't do anything to help America's working families and our children, I am going to propose something that does and does it quickly.

The fact is, there are tens of millions of families across the country who need help paying for housing and childcare and the other basic necessities of life. That is what the Senate ought to be focused on. That is what we ought to be zeroing in on because that is going to make life better for families and for kids. So when this legislation is disposed of, I am going to propose that the Senate pass a 1-year extension of the expanded child tax credit, which expired on January 1. That is something, colleagues, which really helps families, and they are hurting right now. The Senate knows they are walking on an economic tightrope, balancing the food bill against the fuel bill, and the reality is, a lot of them had extra expenses due to the variant.

I have been trying to get colleagues on the other side of the aisle for well over a month to support the child tax credit. Our colleagues on this side of the aisle have been relentless in their support for it. Child tax credit payments cut child poverty nearly in half; food insecurity among families dropped by 25 percent--story after story from parents across the country talking about how the program helped them put food on the table, how it helped them buy their kids' school clothes and helped them avoid financial ruin when a parent was laid off.

The fact is, Social Security was a bond between the government and elders. What the child tax credit has been all about is creating a new bond to try to help families, vulnerable families and their kids--an economic lifeline to them.

What I am going to propose, I think, as we move to this debate-- because we will hear from our colleague from Florida--we have a choice. If you want to do something that does absolutely nothing but put Americans in a tougher spot in terms of getting the help they need to deal with COVID, that is what happens under the proposal by my colleague from Florida, or do you want to do something that will put cash into the pockets of parents so they can help their kids?

I can tell the Presiding Officer, I am sure he, as a new parent, hears this from his contemporaries: The child tax credit is going for luxuries.

I was just home. I had six townhall meetings--by the way, in mostly conservative areas--and families were using those child tax credits for buying shoes and food and essentials.

So that is what the choice here is going to be.

For the reasons that I describe now, I object to the unanimous consent request from our colleague from Florida.