Business meeting to consider S.1682

Good morning, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will come to order. I appreciate the Republican members who are here this morning for the markup. We are gathered at a time where in the United States Senate, Senate Democrats have decided to be utterly and completely dysfunctional. So for more than three weeks, we have had the Department of Homeland Security defunded and shut down because Democrats have decided their overwhelming priority is fighting for illegal aliens, and they care so much about preventing gangbangers and murderers and child rapists from being deported that they are willing to defund the Department of Homeland Security at a time of heightened risk of terrorism. We have had four terrorist attacks in the last two weeks, all from radical Islamic terrorists. The Department of Homeland Security exists to prevent terrorist attacks, and every Democrat but one, every Democrat but John Fetterman, has voted seven times now to defund DHS. They voted seven times not to pay the TSA. We now have 450 TSA agents who have been forced to quit. We have waiting lines of two, three, four hours or more at airports across the country. TSA agents have missed two paychecks. What the Democrats are doing to TSA agents is wildly irresponsible, and they are deliberately inflicting massive pain on the American people, again, because their number one priority is illegal aliens, and apparently American citizens who they were elected to represent is not a priority. This markup was designed to be a markup to move bipartisan legislation that had overwhelming agreement. Today's markup, every one of the bills on the markup is bipartisan. Of the 28 members on this committee, 24 of the 28 cosponsored legislation on the agenda today. That's by design. The legislation scheduled for the markup includes the Alex Gates Safety Act from Senators Curtis and Klobuchar, directing the Consumer Product Safety Commission to address automatic sliding gates. It's named for Alex Quanbeck, who tragically lost his life to one of these gates in 2019 when he was just seven years old. The No Fentanyl on Social Media Act, introduced with Senators Klobuchar and Blunt Rochester, responds to the tragedy of minors accessing deadly drugs online. We face the challenge of opioids time and time again. Last February, this committee heard directly from Janna Ellinger of Texas, whose son tragically passed away after taking what he thought was a Xanax. Increasingly, drug dealers are reaching young people via platforms like TikTok and Instagram, pitching supposedly legitimate pills that are in fact laced with fentanyl. To address this issue, the bill before us directs the Federal Trade Commission, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services, to report on the ability of minors to access fentanyl on social media. The Stop the Scroll Act, introduced with Senator Fetterman, would require a warning label regarding mental health harms associated with social media. The bill has been scoped to avoid First Amendment challenges and to help remind young users of what we heard at our Section 230 hearing last Wednesday, that social media comes with risks. Next, we have several security-related bills. The Secure Space Act from Senators Fischer and Lujan would bar FCC licenses and U.S. market access for certain satellite systems held or controlled by our adversaries. The Satellite Cybersecurity Act, introduced by Senator Peters, would establish a centralized clearinghouse of cybersecurity resources at the Department of Commerce. The SAFEGUARDS Act, introduced by Senator Moran, makes changes to the mandatory security fee that passengers pay when they buy plane tickets. More of the money will go to the Aviation Security Capital Fund as well as a new bucket for security tech at checkpoints. And finally, we turn to the realm of science with two program reauthorizations: Senator Wicker's bill to reauthorize Regional Ocean Partnerships, introduced with Senators Blunt Rochester and Markey, will reform and reauthorize a state-led non-regulatory model for coordinated ocean research and management. The National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act, introduced by Senators Young, Cantwell, Blackburn, Lujan, Budd, and Baldwin, among others, will catalyze federal quantum research by supporting new centers and testbeds. I will not pretend quantum is easy to explain, but I know that it has the potential to unlock computing power far beyond what is possible today. And because quantum could one day break the encryption that protects sensitive data, it is critical that America leads this field. This overwhelmingly bipartisan markup was actually going to be the Senate doing its job. But instead, and I guess it is fitting with the shutdown we're seeing, we are treated to a Democrat temper tantrum. Our Democrat colleagues have decided they're not willing to show up to this markup to pass their own damn bills. They are the author or co-author of every bill on the markup, and yet apparently they don't want to pass their own legislation. The origin of this dispute is last Tuesday, the day before we noticed this markup, Senator Duckworth's staff for the first time asked my staff to put a bill of hers on the markup. With one day's notice, we did not have time to review the bill or to assess it. And so Senator Duckworth had planned to introduce 50 amendments to be dilatory, to keep members here for hours and waste their time to try to block these amendments. I will say that is a very strange way to conduct business. And I will speak to my Republican colleagues, every member of this committee knows that last year when I became chairman, I went personally to the office of every member of this committee. And I asked every member of this committee, what are your priorities? What matters for your constituents, what do you want to move forward? And it wasn't just Republicans, I went to the office of every Democrat and said, what do you care about moving in the Commerce Committee this year? I went to Senator Duckworth's office and I asked her, what are your priorities? Neither she nor her staff raised this issue with my team until Tuesday of last week. And so this temper tantrum is bizarre, but sadly it is fitting with what we're seeing the Democrats doing across the board. Look, the United States Senate is a body that is meant to be occupied by adults who are actually responsible and capable of doing their job. Half of this committee showed up to work today. Half of this committee is prepared to pass bipartisan legislation that would actually make a difference in this country, but the other half, the Democrats, are more interested in throwing a fit than doing their job. That is unfortunate. Senator Fischer has asked to be recognized, and so Senator Fischer.

Well thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to take a moment in advance today to recognize the incredible work of my longtime staffer, Erica Andeweg, whose last day happens to be today. And Erica, I do apologize in advance for the embarrassment, but after eight and a half years, you've more than earned a tribute. Over that time, you've been at the center of some of the most complex and consequential issues this committee handles: broadband mapping, dark patterns, spectrum policy, and USF reform. And across all of it, you've brought the same rare combination: precision, persistence, and sound judgment. You've never lost the thread and you've never cut corners. What has always set Erica apart is her understanding that lasting policy change rarely arrives all at once. She has a genuine gift for putting points on the board, advancing careful, methodical wins that over time add up to something real and durable. That kind of patience and strategic thinking is harder to find than most people realize. Erica also carries a level of credibility that can't be manufactured. It comes from being deeply knowledgeable, clear-eyed, and always grounded in substance. She represents the best of what this committee aspires to be: serious, objective, and focused on getting the policy right. Erica, you have been an invaluable member of my team and a genuine asset to this institution. You will be deeply missed by me, by Nebraska, and by everyone who has had the privilege of working alongside of you. So I thank you for everything and I wish you nothing but success in your future. [Applause.]

Erica, I will say, Senator Fischer and I were both elected on the same day, we're the lone remaining Republican members of the class of 2012, and in 14 years serving with Senator Fischer, I've seen her tear up precisely once, and that was about 90 seconds ago. And so that's a tribute to your service. Senator Wicker.

Mr. Chairman, kudos to Erica and Godspeed. She's been here eight and a half years. Senator Fischer has been here longer than that. I've been in this, on this committee for 16 years. I started down at the very end there where Senator Lummis is. I've been chairman of this committee, I've been ranking member, and I've been in a number of capacities. What our Democratic colleagues are doing today in this committee, I don't believe I've ever seen in my 16 years as a member of this committee and as a member of the United States Senate. I was speaking to my staff last night or yesterday afternoon as we were about to leave and they told me about the impasse and the number of proposals, and I said it will, it will be solved, it's always solved by the morning. Sometimes it's worked out in the late hours of the evening before a markup, sometimes it's in the early 6:00 and 7:00 and 8:00 time of the day of the markup, but it's always worked out. And this is the first time I've seen a complete attempt to shut down the committee on the part of an entire membership of one party. And this is unfortunate. We've always worked on these bipartisan bills, as the chair says, that have Democrats as as primary sponsors and certainly Democrats as as co-sponsors. This is a shame on this committee and on our colleagues who I have great affection for on a personal basis and who I've worked with in in many capacities. Here is what is about to happen with the Department of Homeland Security, which really has little to do with this bill, but the the back and forth that we've had for the last number of weeks has everything to do with this. We've we've had an impasse over funding the Department of Homeland Security and we are beginning to see more and more distress among the American people. It's time for a compromise. We've seen the lines at air at airports. I believe, Mr. Chairman, the members the the employees of the department are about to lose their or about to have postponed their third paycheck and they have families and and bills to pay and tuition payments and grocery payments and I'm sure credit card payments. This needs to end and it needs to end today, it needs to end this week. And the President of the United States, who is he's hard to budge on issues, but basically he has agreed to give the Democrats virtually everything that they've been asking for for the past two weeks. And now that he has understood how important it is to to end this madness and to get these people back to work and prevent these long lines and and be adults as Americans, the Democrats have said no, what we've offered we take that back and it's not good enough. We want a little something else. That's what's happened. And I I ask the members of the press to check us out on that. This is outrageous, it it's an insult to this committee, but what is about to happen on the floor where our colleagues across the aisle will not take yes for an answer from the President of the United States is is outrageous. It offends us as members who've seen this committee work in a bipartisan fashion for decades, but it hurts American citizens and American families and it needs to stop. And I yield.

I fully agree with Senator Wicker. Senator Blackburn.

Mr. Chairman, thank you. I think it is so egregious that our colleagues across the aisle have decided that they're not going to show up for work today and it is really unfortunate for the American people. I want to comment on quantum, which you mentioned. This is something that has been bipartisan, several of us have worked on the quantum initiative and getting this restarted, it had lapsed. It is important to do for Tennessee, it is important to do. Chattanooga, Tennessee is the first, the first, they're developing the first commercially available quantum network in the country. This is important to innovators and doing things with Chattanooga, with Oak Ridge National Lab, which is handling much of the innovation when it comes to quantum and AI and our lab network. This is vital to our country as we look at the computational sciences and the race in quantum and AI, digital assets. So it's unfortunate they've decided to stall on this and not move forward. I do want to draw the committee's attention to the decision against Meta in the New Mexico case and that verdict that was announced yesterday. Now, a jury found that Meta knowingly misled consumers and children on their networks and the dangers and the harms. Now, I bring this up because the Kids Online Safety Act did not make it on the markup for today and I know you've agreed to move this forward. We need to move this legislation forward. It came out of the Senate last year 91 to three. And the parents deserve and now we have this court finding, this verdict in New Mexico that shows it is a decision that they knowingly allowed this harm to happen. So I would encourage you, Mr. Chairman, I encourage my colleagues, the House has passed a version of KOSA, we need to get this out of the Senate and work with the House so that we can have a bill to the President's desk and see this signed into law.

Thank you, Senator Blackburn, and I fully agree. Senator Lummis.

Mr. Chairman, this question is addressed to you and to Senator Fischer, who's a member of the Rules Committee. Does any committee have a rule that would allow for a call of the committee? As opposed to a call of the Senate, it would seem logical that if one party doesn't show up for a scheduled markup and they show up deliberately and en masse, that committees should have the ability to invoke a call of the committee so committee work can be done. And the reason I ask is I fear that this is going to spread like a cancer around the Senate and we'll see additional committees suffer the same fate as did the Commerce Committee today. And if there's not a committee that has a call of the committee, is there a way to amend the committee rules and authorize this committee to have a call of the committee?

It's an interesting idea, I'm not aware of any provision in the rules that governs that, but you're right, if this obstructionism proves to be a persistent pattern, I think we will discuss all sorts of creative ways to deal with it. Newton's third law of thermodynamics, every action produces an equal and opposite reaction and if we continue to see unprecedented obstruction, we will see the majority have to respond to that. Senator Moreno.

So Mr. Chairman, I will echo what Senator Blackburn just said in this regard. And I don't know if the camera operators can take the camera off of me and pan the Democrat side because what the American people are witnessing is Democrat senators literally not showing up for work. And just a couple of days ago, they blocked a measure in United States Senate by objecting and running out of the chamber for a measure that would say if we haven't done our job and funded the government, your paycheck should also be withheld. Literally so that the objector wouldn't be caught on camera, said I object and sprinted, I thought he was going to trip, sprinted out of the chamber. And yet here they are not paying 260,000 people who are going to work to defend this country while they get paid $175,000 a year and not doing their job. They are a total disgrace. Quite frankly, I hope that what somebody does is files a wage and hour lawsuit against the Democrat senators because if I owned a business, Mr. Chairman, which I did, and my colleague did as well, if we did not pay our employees for one hour that they were entitled to, we would suffer a wage and hour lawsuit. So to the 260,000 employees of DHS, sue the hell out of the Democrats today for not paying you, for being hypocrites, not showing up for work and yet still getting paid and refusing to hold their paycheck. This is a dark day, Mr. Chairman, in the history of the United States Senate. I try really hard to be bipartisan and they're making it really, really difficult.

Senator Moreno, very well said. You know, I would note anytime any of us or anyone at home, if you go to the airport and are flying on a flight right now, I would encourage you to take the opportunity to thank the TSA agents that are there because none of them are getting paid. And they're showing up to work without a paycheck to keep planes flying, to let you and your family go on spring break, to let you travel to visit relatives, to let you work, they're showing up. In contrast, the Democrats are getting paid and they're not showing up. And and I would note to the best of my knowledge, every one of the Democrats on this committee and every Democrat in the Senate is drawing their paycheck. I've instructed the Clerk of the Senate to hold my paycheck, I'm not going to accept a paycheck as long as there are workers in the government who are being denied their paycheck. I don't know of another Democrat who's doing the same and so the hypocrisy is stunning. Senator Sullivan.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I like my colleagues want to just reemphasize what's happening right now. Senator Wicker mentioned the agreement that we and the White House had come to with our Democrat colleagues and they just moved the goalposts again. They just moved the goalposts again. And we all know what's going on here, the leader, minority leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, is not the leader, it's the far left of the Democratic Party. And when they say jump, he says how high. And everything that is happening right now is due to his fear of the far left and he's not in control and we're just seeing that. We just had an offer that we met their offer and then last night they said no, no, no, we're going to add a bunch more new things. But Mr. President, one thing that I want to emphasize here, Mr. Chairman, is it's not just TSA who do heroic work, it's the United States Coast Guard. The United States Coast Guard. And they are protecting our country, not just the coasts, but we have Coast Guard members in the Middle East right now serving alongside Marines, sailors, soldiers and those brave military members are getting paid, but not the members of the Coast Guard. This happens almost every shutdown, it happened in November and it's happening now. And I can't imagine another service that's doing more important work to protect our country, certainly in my state where we have a huge Coast Guard presence and they're not getting paid. And nobody's talking about the Coast Guard and this committee has oversight of the brave men and women in the Coast Guard. So to the brave men and women in the Coast Guard and their families, you should know that we are working every single day to get you paid. Every single day we appreciate what you're doing to keep our country safe. And I've seen it in my career and it makes me mad as hell. Chuck Schumer doesn't give a damn about you. Not a damn about you. We're going to keep trying to make sure you get paid, but the Democrat leader in the Senate is more scared of his left wing than paying the brave men and women of the Coast Guard and is obscene. And like Senator Moreno mentioned, I work across the aisle with my Democrat colleagues all the time. They know this is wrong. I've talked to several of them in private, they know this is wrong, but they're scared to stick their head up and vote with us because they think the left wing's going to come after them and that's the dynamic that's happening in the Senate right now. It's a shame. But to the men and women of the Coast Guard again, we got your back, we are trying to fund you every day and your families, we are not forgetting about you. Thank you for your heroic service. By the way, the military members, they got to go to work. They can't quit. They got to go to work. So that's what they're doing. We should be paying them.

Amen and Senator Sullivan, thank you for your passionate and constant defense and advocacy for the Coast Guard, it is enormously important. Senator Capito.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, I've been sitting here listening and watching and as many of you know, I've been on Capitol Hill for quite some time. I've been in a lot of committee meetings. I have never experienced a walkout like I see today. I'm trying to find what the reason is. You say a member came to you a day before and wanted something put on the list of bipartisan bills. I didn't know the option was if you don't get your way, you just quit. No, the option that we've all done through our careers is to start working across the aisle to see can I catch on the next one, on the next markup. We know something's coming. We know you and your staff will be working. But to not show up? Then I look at the list of bills that you very diligently went through and I hear my fellow Senator Sullivan talk about the Coast Guard and guess what one of these bills is? A promotion for somebody who works in the Coast Guard, has dedicated their life to the service and safety of this country through their Coast Guard service. So I just think externally, I'm just wondering, have—have people lost their mind here? I mean, have—is there no longer a way to say I don't get everything I want every time, every day, so I quit? And I'm going to punish everybody else in this country, whether you're with FEMA, whether you're with Coast Guard, whether you're with the Secret Service, whether you're with border patrol, whether you're doing investigations to prevent fentanyl to come in this country. Your option is I just quit and walk away? That's the choice they made today. And we've worked—I've worked with many of the members on the other side and I'm sure we'll continue to do this, but not if you just quit. I mean, that is—I sometimes I try to frame what we do here in terms of what I've tried to teach my children. I have three children, nine grandchildren. Do I tell them if you don't get your way, you just walk away? You don't show up? No. You tell them every day keep trying, try to, you know, present your case, try to make things make sense. You don't just quit and you don't quit on your country. And to me, this is quitting on your country. And we've seen this over the last several months, but this is just the height of it. It's not like we're discussing these deepest issues that we need to, you know—these are issues that we all pretty much agree on. And so for you, I think, Mr. Chairman, to have—to have us here to be able to sort of vent and express our extreme—I'm just aghast. I kept going, where is everybody? Why aren't they here? Oh, they're not showing up. Is that an option? To not show up? So for our Coast Guard who's not going to get Coast Guard member who's not going to get his promotion today or his or her promotion today, I offer you my sincere empathy and apology, but these folks, they've got to answer to that. Thank you.

Hear, hear. Very well said and I want to thank the Republican members of this committee for showing up to work today and I look forward to the time when the Democrats do the same. At this point, the committee will take a recess and reconvene at a later time. The committee stands in recess subject to the call of the chairman.