Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 258, which was submitted earlier today.

I further ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be discharged from further consideration of S. 409 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Stabenow-Boozman amendment be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; that

the amendment to the title be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 711 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Feinstein amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Now, Madam President, finally, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate adjourns today, it stand adjourned to then convene for pro forma sessions only, with no business being conducted, on the following dates and times, and that following each pro forma session, the Senate adjourn until the next pro forma session: Tuesday, June 1, at 11:30 a.m. and Thursday, June 3, at 11 a.m.

Madam President, I further ask that when the Senate adjourns on Thursday, June 3, it next convene at 3 p.m. on Monday, June 7; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; further, that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Neals nomination as provided under the previous order.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the provisions of S. Res. 258 as a further mark of respect to the late John Warner, former Senator from Virginia, following the remarks of Senator Cantwell.

Madam President, the Senate opens this morning after a very late night of amendment votes on the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act--USICA; those are the initials--five in total, four of which of these amendments were sponsored by Republicans. So far on this bill, the Senate has held votes on no fewer than 18 amendments, 4 from Democrats and 14 from Republicans, and there are more to come.

As I mentioned yesterday, in a landmark moment for bipartisanship in the Senate, we even adopted an amendment from Senator Rand Paul by voice vote. Yes, that is right. I said the two words together. Rand Paul; voice vote--four words. I said the two concepts together: Rand Paul; voice vote--four words.

Now, the media will tell you that if you are talking process, you are losing, but the process was really important here. For years, Senators have been clamoring for a more open process and more amendment votes. I can't tell you how many speeches I have heard on the floor about the virtues of regular order. Well, this competition bill ought to be the answer to my colleagues' prayers.

The bill has moved through regular order, flying through various Senate committees with staggering bipartisan votes. The entire Senate opted to take up the bill by a vote of 86 to 11.

Here on the floor, we have held the kind of vigorous, bipartisan, open amendment process that Senators have been calling for. Some of these votes were tough for our side. In the old days, we would have said no. We said yes, we will vote for them, but let's keep moving forward, and we are.

Listen to this. It is only May, roughly 5 months since Democrats took the majority in this Chamber, and already more amendments have received rollcall votes than during any of the past 4 years. Let me repeat that so people hear it from one end of the Capitol to the other, particularly on this side of the aisle. In 5 months, more amendments have received rollcall votes in this Democrat-led Senate than during any of the years in which Donald Trump was President and Senator McConnell was majority leader.

We have considered the competition bill in an exceedingly bipartisan way.

There will be a few final steps to take, a few final amendments to consider, but I hope my Republican colleagues have seen our commitment to developing, drafting, and perfecting this legislation in total concert with the other side of the aisle.

With cooperation from our Republican colleagues, we can finish the bill today, and I hope we do. That is our intention, because despite the lack of attention it has garnered from the press, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act will be one of the most significant pieces of bipartisan legislation we pass in a very long time. It could be a moment in history that future generations look back on as a turning point for American leadership in the 21st century.

Everyone knows the Federal Government's commitment to science and technology has been slipping for decades. We have become complacent at the top of the global heap, and our position as the world's economic leader is teetering. We now spend less than 1 percent of our GDP on basic scientific research. The Chinese Communist Party, as a percentage, spends more than twice that. We have put ourselves in the very precarious position of potentially falling behind the rest of the world in technologies and industries that will define the next century. If that happens, the days of America leading the world in scientific innovation and the days of America being the leading economic and military power in the world may be over.

This is a moment when the U.S. Senate can arrest the decline and lay the foundation, instead, for another American century. That is why this is a moment in history that future generations could well look back on as a turning point for American leadership in the 21st century.

By investing in science and technology and shoring up critical industries like semiconductors, boosting our universities, laboratories, and businesses, we can keep America on top and outcompete the world in industries of the future. That is just what this legislation would do. Our two parties have worked very hard on it. I think we have made a number of notable improvements to the bill. It is time to move forward together and pass this bill.

Now, Madam President, on another matter that should also be just as bipartisan in the Senate: the Commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

We all know that January 6 was one of the lowest moments in our democracy and one of the lowest moments in the grand, grand history of our 200-and-some-odd-year experiment--noble experiment--in democracy. An outgoing President of the United States, fresh off an electoral defeat--a significant electoral defeat--did something that no other President in recent history has done. Rather than accept the results of the election and support the peaceful transfer of power--a hallmark of our democracy that has inspired democracies all over the world--former President Trump unabashedly lied, repeatedly, about the results of the election and fomented an armed rebellion at the U.S. Capitol.

We are all witnesses to those events. We all heard the lies. We lived through their terrible consequences. Lest we forget, 140 police officers were injured in the attack, and 5 Americans would eventually lose their lives.

In the weeks since, faith in our elections has plummeted. More than half of the Republican Party now believes that the 2020 elections were rigged and that Joe Biden isn't the actual President of the United States. Republican State legislatures across the country, captured by Donald Trump's Big Lie, are tripping over themselves to restrict access to the ballot box. Arizona Republicans, in an ``election audit,'' have been searching for traces of bamboo fibers in the 2020 ballots--chasing a bananas-crazy, rightwing internet conspiracy that China had ballots imported to tip the scales for Biden. That is how insane this has become--hunting for bamboo in ballots.

We need to put a stop to this cancer in the Republican Party. We need to stand up to the Big Lie. We must get at the truth and do everything in our power to restore Americans' faith in our elections and this grand, ongoing, noble experiment of democracy.

In that light, a national, bipartisan, independent Commission to report on the events of January 6 is exactly what the doctor ordered. We have to investigate, expose, and report on the truth. We need to establish a trusted record of what really transpired on January 6 and the events that preceded it. That is what this Commission is designed to do in a bipartisan, straight-down-the-middle manner.

Now, I have gone through all the silly excuses that we have heard from our Republican colleagues about why the Commission isn't needed or is too early or will go on for too long or needs to be modeled after the 9/11 Commission, even though it already is. The truth of the matter seems to be that Senate Republicans oppose the Commission because they fear that it might upset Donald Trump and their party's midterm messaging.

I am not speculating. It was reported in POLITICO yesterday that the Senate Republican leader warned his Conference that a January 6 Commission could hurt the Republicans politically.

Well, too bad. This is too important.

For the sake of Americans' faith in our democracy, there must be a full, thorough, and trusted account of what happened on January 6. Senate Republicans must decide if they are on the side of truth or on the side of Donald Trump's Big Lie.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 135; that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nomination; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and that the Senate then resume legislative session.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I move to direct the Sergeant at Arms to request the attendance of absent Senators, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, we were greeted this morning by some very sad news, that our former colleague Senator John Warner of Virginia had passed away at the age of 94.

A five-term Senator, he was a consummate public servant, a consensus builder, an authority on military affairs--one of the last World War II veterans to serve in this Chamber. And he actually interrupted his law school studies to join the Marine Corps during the Korean war. The kind of stature that he had, his great, great reaching across the aisle in bipartisanship is something this Chamber misses, and we miss him.

At my request, the flags around the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol will be lowered to half-staff in his honor.

On behalf of the Senate, I want to express our condolences to his family and his friends and our gratitude for his amazing service to America throughout his life.

Now, Mr. President, on the competition act, the Senate today will continue work on the bipartisan U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, legislation that will supercharge American innovation and preserve our competitive edge, not just for the next few years but for generations to come. It will be true that our children and even our grandchildren will benefit from this legislation.

Right now, this legislation doesn't get the big focus of the press-- A, because it is bipartisan; there aren't too many clashes; B, because it is positive; and, C, because it is long term. It won't have an immediate effect tomorrow, but it will have a profound effect 3, 4, 5 years from now and generations after.

So it is really important legislation. I think it is one of the most important things this Chamber has done in a very long time. And the hallmark of the bill has been its bipartisanship. It pulls together bipartisan legislation from no

fewer than six Senate committees and includes the input of nearly every Member of the Senate. The vote tallies you are seeing on this bill are from another era, maybe the John Warner era--24 to 4 in the Commerce Committee, 21 to 1 in Foreign Relations. The Senate, as a whole, voted to proceed to the bill by 86 to 11.

And the process here on the floor is no less bipartisan. I have heard it from Members on both sides of the aisle: Let's try to do regular order. Let's get on the floor and do amendments the way we used to.

Well, we are doing just that. We have already considered 10 amendments--more than I can remember in a long time--8 of which were led by Republicans. So it is hardly that the Democratic majority is only doing what we want. Three Republican amendments were adopted by voice vote last night. I mean, who would have ever thought that the Senate would adopt an amendment from Senator Rand Paul by voice vote? We did it.

So, look, we are moving forward in a very bipartisan way. We will consider at least another three amendments of the bill today, and if both sides continue in good faith to schedule amendment votes and debate, and there are no eleventh-hour decisions to delay or obstruct, there is no reason we can't finish this bill by the end of the week. That is my intention.

Taking a step back, the depth of bipartisanship on this bill reveals two things. One, Members want to work together if given a chance. This bill came through the regular order. Senate committees drove the process, and here on the floor, Members have participated in robust debate and a robust amendment process. But, second, and maybe even more importantly, it reveals that Democrats and Republicans are united in our efforts to preserve and maintain American leadership on the world stage.

We all know that investing in sciences, innovation, and technology holds the key to our future--the key. It has been one of the great hallmarks of America from 1950 on, maybe even earlier, from Thomas Edison on, maybe even earlier than that. But today--today--we have let that lag. We became far too complacent. The United States commits less than 1 percent of its GDP toward basic science research--1 percent. That is the fault of government, but it is also the fault of the private sector. The world is so competitive, and global competition is so severe. Companies feel they can't invest as much in the kind of research that might payoff profits 5 or 10 years down the road.

So while all this is happening, the Chinese Communist Party spends nearly 2.5 percent on research and has pledged to the world that they will increase scientific investments by 10 percent in the future. If that happens unchallenged, the days of America leading the world in science and innovation, the days of America being the leading economic power of the world will be over, and we will regret it and look back 10 or 20 years from now and say: Why the heck didn't we do this? It was so simple and easy.

But we have to.

I heard my friend from Illinois, Senator Durbin, say that in 1990, the United States produced 37 percent of the world's semiconductors--a technology we invented. Today, we produce less than 12 percent, and it is going down. Some have predicted--many have predicted--that at this rate, we will produce less than 6 percent of them a few years from now. If we don't step up our game right now, we will fall behind the rest of the world.

That is what this legislation is ultimately about--righting the ship, investing in science and tech, so we can outinnovate, outproduce, and outcompete the world in the industries of the future, some of which we know and some of which we don't even know, but we know that scientific investment will produce them. And if we are at the forefront of this, we will have America continue to be the leader in these new technologies yet unimagined.

Around the globe, authoritarian governments smell blood in the water. They believe that squabbling democracies like ours can't come together and invest in national priorities the way a top-down, centralized, and authoritarian government can. They are rooting for us to fail so they can grab the mantle of global economic leadership and own innovations that will define the next century. We cannot--we cannot--we must not let that happen. I do not believe we will let it happen.

The bipartisan--the strongly bipartisan--work on this competition bill has revealed that in this Chamber we still believe--Democrats and Republicans alike, united and moving forward--that another American century lies on the horizon.

Let's move forward. Let's finish our work and pass the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act as soon as possible, certainly before the end of the month this week.

On another matter, the January 6 Commission. Last night, I filed cloture on the House-passed legislation to create an independent Commission and report on the events of January 6.

There is an obvious and urgent need to establish such a Commission. What happened on January 6 was a travesty, the culmination of months of deliberate lies about our elections, propagated by the former President, a dishonest man, and his allies.

The Capitol was breached for the first time since the War of 1812. Capitol Police officers were brutalized. One was killed in the attack. I shouldn't need to remind this Chamber of the scene on January 6. We were all there. At one point, I was within 20 feet of these White supremacist hooligans.

That day continues to haunt us. Faith in our elections, in our democracy has nosedived. Listen to this. In a variety of polls, more than half of the Republican Party believes the election was rigged and Joe Biden isn't the real President. That is a flashing red warning sign for our democracy. If the American people, if a large chunk of them believe the Big Lie, if the majority of Americans believe that our elections are not on the level, we are on the road to ruin. This grand, beautiful, wonderful, several-century-old democracy could teeter when people don't believe it is fair, when people don't believe the elections are on the level.

All the fighting in the past, all the internecine fighting--I can't remember a moment in history where people doubted the veracity of our elections. They may not have liked the outcome, but they believed they were on the level. We stop believing that and, believe me, it will spread. One side will feel that way one day and then the other side will feel that way the next day, and then nobody will believe in this democracy.

But right now, unfortunately, there is a lack of courage from the other side when it comes to defeating these lies. Down the hall, House Republicans have started to make ridiculous claims about January 6-- defending the mob, blaming antifa for the attack, pretending the entire event was just a peaceful protest.

Congresswoman Cheney, a brave woman, was literally fired for saying that Joe Biden is President--for just saying the simple fact that Joe Biden is President.

We need an independent, trusted, bipartisan Commission now more than ever. It is critically important to establish a trusted record of events and begin to restore faith in our democracy. And I think our Republican colleagues know it or at least they used to because over the last few months, a funny thing has happened. Our Senate Republican colleagues have gone from mostly supporting the idea of an independent Commission to mostly opposing one. And they can't seem to get their story straight.

Over the weekend, one Senate Republican told a national news program that it was ``too early'' to establish a Commission on January 6, even though more than 5 months have gone by. Another Republican Senator worried the Commission's work would end up ``dragging on indefinitely.''

Which is it, too early, too late? Of course, both concerns are silly. There is no justification for a waiting period, and the legislation itself includes a firm deadline for the Commission to issue a report no later than December 31 of this year.

One Republican said that he wouldn't vote for a January 6 Commission ``until it was bipartisan.'' Of course, the legislation we are talking about

was negotiated by the Republican ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, the committee of jurisdiction; House Democrats accepted every change requested by the House Republican leadership; and the bill received 35 votes in the House and, likely, a lot more if House leadership didn't flip their position at the last minute.

Despite the pressure of Donald Trump to go along with his Big Lie, 35--35--House Republicans voted to go forward. They are brave, should be commended, and it shows that this truly is a national need, a bipartisan national need.

Another Republican Senator, in worried tones, said the January 6 Commission should be more like the 9/11 Commission and be chaired by outside independent investigators appointed by both parties. Hello. I hate to break it to my Republican colleagues, but the legislation passed by the House is modeled after the 9/11 Commission and, you guessed it, would be chaired by outside independent personnel appointed by both parties. They say they want that in the bill. It is in the bill.

So what is really going on here? Why the various, shifting reasons why Republicans can't support a simple bipartisan, down-the-middle, 50- 50 Commission to report on a very serious event in our Nation's history?

Well, it seems the real reason has nothing to do with the structure of the Commission, nothing to do with the details of the bill. It all has to do with politics. According to POLITICO this morning, the Republican leader, Senator McConnell, told his Members behind closed doors that ``regardless of tweaks to the bill . . . approving the Commission could hurt the party's midterm election message.''

Again, that is a quote from a report in POLITICO magazine or POLITICO newsletter--whatever POLITICO is. Let me repeat that. According to this report, the Republican leader of the Senate opposes any independent inquiry into the January 6 insurrection because he is worried the truth could hurt the Republicans politically.

Look, I am sorry if an independent Commission to study an attack on our democracy isn't the Republican ad maker's idea of a good time. This is too important--too important.

We cannot let the Big Lie fester. We cannot let faith in our elections continue to erode. We must get at the truth and restore Americans' confidence in this beautiful, noble, ongoing experiment in democracy.

The Senate will vote on the Commission. I hope our Republican colleagues rise to the occasion.

I yield the floor.

As if in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate vitiate the previous action on Executive Calendar No. 135.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res 245, submitted earlier today.

I further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.