Business Meeting to Consider 9 Bills and Coast Guard Nominations

good morning senate committee on commerce science and transportation is called to order uh we are i think one person short of a quorum to proceed but uh we're gonna gavel in now because uh ranking member Cantwell has an opening statement so we'll proceed to ranking member Cantwell

thank you mister chairman and thank you for the hard work on this mark-up I want to uh start the meeting this morning by congratulating nasa and the entire artemis team, especially astronauts reid weissman, victor glover, christina cock cook and jeremy hansen uh from yeah From the launch to the splashdown, the artemis two mission was extraordinarily successful. not only did the mission succeed on a technical level, meeting all of its key objectives, but it also succeeding in uniting our nation as we followed Artemis two around the moon, and as the crew went further from our planet than anyone has ever before. And perhaps equally important, I believe we have inspired the next generation of astronauts, scientists and engineers who established a sustained will establish sustained moon presence on the moon and lead us to Mars and beyond. so mr. chairman i enjoyed uh being with you and other members as we were able to ask the crew questions last week as you were from houston with the administrator and i was in seattle what a great experience so returning to earth we are considering uh several bills here and six coast guard promotions i wanna take a moment to address what happened uh a few weeks ago we certainly want to work together in a bipartisan fashion to make sure committee amendments are considered. We are holding today's mark-up on World Quantum Day, so it's very appropriate that this morning we have legislation from myself, Senator Young and sixteen co-sponsors to authorize the National Quantum Initiative across the full research to application spectrum. It will strengthen research and accelerate applications and expand initiatives including NASA's research activities. And it will establish three new NIST quantum centers and create a nsf multidisciplinary center for quantum research and education and new quantum testbed tools i don't know if my colleague is here yet but appreciate working with him i'm also grateful to senators wicker blunt rochester and markey for leading the regional ocean partition parts partnerships reauthorization act um of twenty twenty six i'm cosponsoring this bill that will reauthorize noah's regional ocean partnerships through fiscal year twenty thirty one Coastal ocean management and conservation issues frequently cross boundaries, requiring coordination from federal, state, tribes and local governments. This bill ensures that these essential partnerships, including the West Coast Oceans Alliance, continue to thrive. We will also uh consider uh aviation uh bills. Um and I know that great progress was made last night between um the duckworth and cruise teams on on aviation so appreciate everybody working late into the night and i'm sure you'll have and senator duckworth will have more to say on that i certainly appreciate the the aims of the duckworth legislation and everyone working so diligently uh to try to resolve that issue uh the mental health aviation act also sponsors by senator duckworth senator hoven fisher hickenlooper klobuchar curtis moran kim moreno sullivan and baldwin seeks to build improvements to fa s aerial medical process and the fa reauthorization act. Importantly the bill would require the fa to update regulations and issue guidance to encourage and de-stigmatize and disclosure of treatment for mental health conditions and this legislation would authorize funding to bolster the aviation medical examiner workforce. We also are considering the safeguards act of twenty twenty five with senators moran sheehy Capito Hickenlooper Rosen and young, would set aside some passenger security revenue for aviation security technology purposes in the t a s a budget since the national lab at the state of washington p n and l takes the lead on national security issues and does most of the technology development in this area i'm glad to see that people are focused on next generation technology in aviation security um and while we do have some issues that we still see with the legislation happy to move it today and working with my colleague on that. Um, TSA is very important and, Mister Chairman, we'd like to see that TSA funding. Um, the Secure Space Act, two bills related to satellites, first, Secure Space Act of twenty twenty-five with Senators Fisher and Lujan would amend the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Act of twenty nineteen to ensure the FAA cannot grant satellite license companies that pose a national security threat. and the satellite cyber security act of twenty twenty five from senator peters to help small business strengthen cyber security through their satellite systems by directing the department of commerce to create a publicly accessible clearinghouse and continue best practices um also on the mark up are three bills that aim to protect children the no fentanyl social media act from senators houston Klobuchar Blunt Rochester uh that directs the ftc to submit a report to congress on how minors access fentanyl through social media platforms. Fentanyl is taking too many lives in the United States of America. In twenty twenty one, Brilliant Lynch, a young woman from Bellevue, Washington, lost her life to fentanyl poisoning just one week after she celebrated her eighteenth birthday. Brilliant met her dealer through Snapchat and messaged her h with him over Instagram. No parent should have to find their child dead of a drug-ordered overdose. And studying the access to fentanyl I believe will help us address this problem. The Alex Gate Safety Act of twenty twenty five from Senators uh Curtis and Klobuchar would improve gate safety at places like schools, parks and recreational areas and directs the CPSC to adopt voluntary industry standards as a final consumer product safety standard for large, manual gates. These kind of gates have become detached, fallen and crushed children, and this bill directs the Consumer Product Safety commission to undertake a national campaign to promote awareness and educate the public about these manual gates and finally the stop the scroll act from senators brit and Fetterman would require social media platforms to display a mental health warning label from the surgeon general to users under eighteen this warning label will make clear the social media is associated with significant mental health harms has has um it a clear warning label from them social media platforms must display the warning label to minors, and at least once each day the minor access the platform, and once again three hours after continued use. So, so appreciate this uh legislative agenda. Mister Chairman, thank you for people working together to uh get to where we are at this moment.

Thank you, Senator Cantwell. Uh, and I will say we've got a number of bills on the agenda, I spoke with them at length at the last mark-up. We had a little bit of a bumpy ma- mark-up last time, but I'm very glad the committee has come together and we've got nine total bills on the agenda today. Uh, of of those nine bills we have a total of twenty-eight members on this committee. This is the largest committee in the Senate. And twenty-four of the members of this committee have cosponsored at least one of these bills. So this is a good example of, even at a time when often it seems Republicans and Democrats are screaming at each other on a million different issues, this is an example where we can come together and actually do something productive at the same time. And with that, uh, I recognize ranking member Cantwell for a motion.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, I move that S thirty two fifty seven, Mental Health and Aviation Act of twenty twenty five is amended by the crew's substitute as modified be favorably reported.

Is there a second? Is there any discussion?

Mister Chairman.

Senator Duckworth.

Thank you, Mister Chairman. Um, uh, The underlying bill is introduced, it makes significant improvements on how the FAA handles medical certification for pilots, air traffic controllers and those in training to become pilots and air traffic controllers. For far too long, many individuals who love to fly uh and everything to do with it have struggled in silence with untreated mental health conditions for fear of losing their careers. Individuals like John Hauser from Illinois who was studying to become a commercial pilot at the University of North Dakota when he tragically completed suicide. in letters to his parents, john described feeling trapped between wanting to feel better and losing his license to fly, which he loved. in his words, he asked his parents to get the faa to change the rules on pilots seeking help with their mental health. he said, and i quote, i know it would change a lot of things for the better and would help a lot of people out end quote. mr. chairman i would like to submit this letter from john's parents in support of the mental health and aviation act into the record.

without objection.

thank you mr. chairman like john's parents i support a strong bill that aims to fix problems at faa that have caused so much harm to so many that is why i was proud to join senator

change

hoven in introducing the mental health and aviation act last november it is also why i and senator hoven introduced on the same day the aviation medication transparency act a

oh great

simple broadly supported non-controversial bill that is intended to move alongside the mental health and aviation act the duckworth hoven aviation medication transparency act would simply require the faa administrator to make available to pilots an air controllers and those in training information on medications that are safe for individuals holding or applying for fa medical certificate as well as medications that necessitate grounding i went through this myself when my when the attending physician here of the senate switched my blood pressure medication uh during my pregnancy to one that was safe for pregnancy and i lost my medical certificate for six months now i'm a i'm a general aviation pilot i'm my job didn't depend on it um and it was something that i that i got back a little over a year later um but this is gonna be vital for people who are seeking employment in aviation. And right now, this crucial information of what medications is allowed is not easily accessible to non-aeromedical physicians. It is buried in a multi-hundred page document that is meant for aeromedical examiners. So as a result, individuals holding FAA medical certificate may unknowingly take medications that could potentially jeopardize their careers or they may not seek treatment at all. mister chairman i want to reiterate what i said earlier the s thirty two fifty eight the aviation medication transparency act is simple strongly bipartisan broadly supported my bipartisan bill does not change which medications are approved or prohibited it does not alter the medical certification process and it does not impose new cost on industry

so it's

s thirty two fifty eight and s thirty two fifty seven are bipartisan companion bills

right

that were introduced together and my colleague and i agreed to move them together our staff was in negotiation to the mental health and aviation act a republican led bill but i never heard up any concerns about uh from your end or from anybody on the aviation medication medication transparency act after months of my urging to advance both senator hervin's bill and my bill at the same time committee majority of staff refused to engage in the aviation medical transparency act until last week now they were working on this to one am this morning i was on the text with them and i appreciate the last minute cooperation And that is presumably why it is not on today's agenda, even though our staff is close to an agreement on the modified text. The Aviation Medication Transparency Act is endorsed by the Pilot Mental Health Campaign, Airlines for America, National Air Traffic Controllers Association, National Business Aviation Association, National Flight Training Alliance, United Aerial Firefighters Association, and Southwest Airlines Pilot Associations. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask that the following letters of support to advance thirty-two fifty-eight to Aviation Medication Transparency Act are included. for the record.

Without objection.

Thank you. Um, it's a letter from Southwest Airlines uh uh Pilots Association, the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, and the Allied Pilots Association stating that failure to advance this legislation risks prolonging a known safety and transparency gap within the aeromedical certification system a letter from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association urging you to place both bills S thirty two fifty seven and S thirty two fifty eight on the agenda for consideration a letter from the united aerial firefighters association urging committee to include s thirty two fifty eight on the next executive session on which legislation we consider a letter from the national flight training alliance who offered their unqualified and unconditional support for s thirty two fifty eight and urge its immediate passing by the us senate mr. chairman i really appreciate you reaching out to work out an agreement to move the aviation medical transparency act and i appreciate your staff finally engaging on this bill and i thank you uh uh for speaking with me and uh working with me to move the aviation medical transparency act at the next appropriate time and your staff's engagement

thank you senator duckworth and thank you for working cooperatively to move this market forward we have a number of bipartisan priorities thank you for your hard work on aviation and healthcare and aviation uh if there is no further discussion the question is on senator cantwell's motion all those in favor say aye

aye

all those opposed say no The motion is agreed to and the bill is ordered to be favor favorably reported.

That's

Uh, I recognize ranking member Cantwell for an additional motion.

Okay, that's good.

Thank you. Mister Chairman, I move that um I'm good, so I don't have to repeat the motion. Right.

Hence that one.

S twenty three seventy eight, the safeguards act of twenty twenty five as amended by the Moran substitute, as modified, be favorably reported.

is there a second

second

uh is there any discussion

mister mister um mister chairman i'd like to

is there a marquee

i'd like to call up marquee number three is modified

go ahead you're welcome to discuss your amendment

i uh thank you uh mr. chairman last week during the congressional recess president donald trump leveled an unconstitutional threat against Iran and its ninety million residents. The president threatened that quote " a whole civilization will die tonight" and spoke openly about destroying key civilian infrastructure and unleashing devastation across Iran. This rhetoric is not strength of leadership. It is an anti-American statement that betrays our values and undermines the moral standing of the United States. Every member of Congress, including every member of this committee, as a moral obligation to reject this uncons- unconscionable rhetoric. My amendment would do just that. It condemns uh President Trump's threat to, in the strongest possible terms, as morally repugnant. Uh, you cannot uh publicly say in the name of the American people that a whole civilization will die tonight. Uh, it is repugnant to, and contrary to the values of the people of the United States, and unbecoming to the office of the president so i recognize this type of amendment is not typically within the jurisdiction of the senate commerce committee but when the president makes appalling threats against ninety million people this committee should not act as if it's business as usual at a bare minimum we must unequivocally condemn these threats if we fail to speak out

yeah

against rhetoric that casually invokes the annihilation of tens of millions of civilians then we are abandoning the very principles we claim to defend. So I urge my colleagues to support my amendment.

Well, thank you, Senator Markey. Uh, you rightly noted that this amendment is not within the jurisdiction of this committee. Uh, I will also observe that this modified amendment was not timely filed. It is not a technical correction to a filed amendment. Uh, in the original Markey three was an immigration amendment. Now it is an Iran amendment. and look uh let me say on the substance and we're gonna vote on your amendment momentarily on the substance it used to be the case that that politics ended at the water's edge that when we were in a military conflict democrats and republicans would fight like cats and dogs but we'd say you know what we all stand together behind the servicemen and women who are fighting for america we stand for our national security i will say unfortunately that's not the world we live in our colleagues on the democrat side they they cannot stand donald j. trump so much so that the fact that they are standing up we are right now standing up to iran engaged in a military conflict that i think is the single most consequential decision uh president trump's presidency has driven virtually every democrat uh nuts that's unfortunate senator markey said uh i i forget his exact language but something to the effect of its unconscionable call for the death of a civilization. Well, for forty seven years, the Ayatollah has screamed death to America and has led mobs chanting death to America. The Ayatollah has been waging, there have been now multiple Ayatollahs, have been waging war against the United States for forty seven years. The Islamic Revolution began by seizing our embassy in Iran, holding our hostages there for four hundred and forty-four days. the iranian regime is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism hamas which committed the horrific october seventh atrocities ninety percent more than ninety percent of hamas's funding comes from iran more than ninety percent of hezbollah's funding comes from iran more than ninety percent of the houthis funding come from iran iran has killed nearly one thousand americans And so I'm grateful that the President as Commander-in-Chief is standing up to a theocratic regime that has been murdering Americans for nearly fifty years, and is unequivocal in its stated desire to continue murdering Americans. And so I recognize there there are genuine and heartfelt disagreements on this. Uh, but I wish we were living in a world where both sides would stand together and say, we're gonna keep our partisan disagreements here at home, we're gonna stand together united when servicemen and women are risking their lives unfortunately that's not where we are um if there are no further discussion

there's

um

a roll call vote right

uh the the clerk will call the roll

roll call vote

mister thun

no by proxy

mister wicker

no by proxy

mrs. fisher mister murrian mr. sullivan mrs. blackburn mr. young mr. bud mr. schmidt

no by proxy

mr. curtis mr. moreno mr. sheehy mrs. capito

no

miss lemus

no

miss cantwell

aye

miss klobuchar

aye

mr. schatz

aye by proxy

mr. markey aye mr. peters

aye

miss baldwin

aye

miss duckworth

aye

miss rosen

aye

mr. loohan

i by proxy

mr. hickenlooper

i by proxy

mr. federman

no by proxy

mr. kim

i by proxy

miss blunt rochester

i by proxy

mr. cruz

no

the no's are sixteen the yes's are twelve

uh the amendment is not agreed to uh if there's no further discussion on the substantive bill the question is on senator cantwell's motion all those in favor say aye

aye

all those opposed say no the motion is agreed to and the bill is ordered to be reported favorably uh i once again recognize ranking by

mr. chairman could i be recorded no on that please

uh on the bill sure um uh senator markey will be recorded as a no uh with that i'll recognize ranking member catwell for an additional motion

mister chairman i move that s sixteen eighty-two the Alex gate safety act of twenty twenty-five as amended by the curtis klobuchar substitute s eighteen eighty-five stop the scroll act as amended by the federman substitute duckworth one and federman one the s nineteen sixty-two secure space act of twenty twenty-five as amended by fisher-luhan substitute as modified by fisher one s thirty five ninety seven the national quantum initiative reauthorization act of twenty twenty six as amended by the young cantwell substitute blackburn one as modified blackburn two as modified duck worth two as modified duckworth three as modified hickenlooper one as modified kim one as modified and peters blackburn one as modified s three six one eight no fentanyl on social media act as amended by cruise one as amended by cantwell one to cruise one as modified duckworth one duckworth two as modified and duckworth three as modified s thirty seven ninety one regional ocean partnerships act of twenty twenty six as amended by the wicker substitute as modified and duckworth one the s thirty four O four satellite cyber security after twenty twenty five is amended by peter substitute is modified be favorably reported

is there a second second all those in favor say aye no

aye

all those opposed say no the motion is agreed to and the bills are ordered to be reported favorably i recognize ranking member cantwell for another motion

mister chairman i move that p n six two two the coast guard promotions be favorably reported

is there a second second All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say no. The motion is agreed to. The n- the nomination is ordered to be reported favorably. Uh, I ask for unanimous consent that staff are authorized to make technical and conforming changes without objection, so ordered. Uh, are there any members wishing to make, uh, additional remarks? Senator Blackburn.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, I am really pleased that we are moving forward with Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act and really pleased that the advancing Quantum Manufacturing Act which I have led it is included. Now this is going to require NIST to determine the feasibility of a manufacturing USA institute which is focused on quantum manufacturing. And then a second bill of mine, the quantum sandbox for near-term applications act uh this is going to create public-private partnerships for near-term applications for their development for their acceleration to be able to move to commercialization and we are looking forward to seeing more of these applications hit the market place and be more broadly used i've also um have a bill senator peters and i have done which will ensure that the federal government moves expeditiously toward quantum resistant cyber security standards this is an area where we are needing to place some emphasis and i appreciate the work that we are doing there the national quantum initiative has really been a cornerstone of the work that is being done at some of our national labs like Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee as we look at how we revolutionize national security, how we look at innovations in medicine and of course every sector of our nation's economy. Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you. Senator Moran.

Chairman, thank you. Uh, thank you for the consideration today of the Safeguard Act, and I appreciate cooperation of the ranking member in moving this forward. Uh, just to let my colleagues know, as I'm sure they already do, uh, what we were what we approved today. Uh, in the wake of September eleventh attacks, Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act to protect the traveling public. A key component of that nine eleven, uh, was the nine eleven passenger security fee, currently at five dollars and sixty cents. It's designed to fund airport security improvements for the Transportation Security Administration. However, for more than a decade, the security fee has been diverted away from its intended purpose. Congress has repeatedly used these funds to offset unrelated spending in other legislation. As a result, the TSA has been left without funding necessary to modernize. Today, many of the US airports still rely on outdated screening systems. At the current pace, TSA is not projected to fully deploy next-generation checkpoint and baggage screening technology until twenty forty-two. an advanced credential authentication technology for uh identifying uh verification identification may not be implemented implemented until twenty forty nine. By the time these systems are in place, much of the technology will have become uh uh obsolete. So, simply put, the the passengers pay this fee with the expectation it will be used to make uh travel safer, and the safeguard act honors that commitment by making certain these funds are used as intended. to protect the American people and secure our skies. Thank you, Mister Pr- Mister Chairman.

Thank you, Senator Moran. Senator Curtis.

Thank you, Mister Chairman. Today's vote on the Alex uh Gate Safety Act represents the government taking common sense action to protect consumers Yeah, that would be better. Well, I mentioned from avoidable-caused and poorly designed maintain gates. By codifying industry standards for simple and affordable safety mechanisms, this bill will help prevent tragedies like those a seven-year-old Alex Quangbeck in California and Esther Nakajigo in Utah. I'd like to thank the chairman, the ranking member, for bringing up this important measure. Also, big shout out to my colleague, Senator Klobuchar, for her partnership in this effort. I have a number of letters of support from stakeholders like Ready, Set, Safe and the American Fence Association, and I ask you now as consent to submit these to the record.

Without objection.

Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. Thank you.

Sure, thank you. I also thank uh, curtis and the leaders of this committee this is a common sense low cost solution to what has become a tragic problem and this will require the consumer product safety commission to adopt some safety standards uh i also am hopeful uh that another bill that senator curtis and i lead um the virginia graham baker pool and spa safety re reauthorization act um can also um get heard before this committee for a mark up and we this been a long time bill going way back to the days of ted stevens who said he'd help me on it cause there weren't that many pools in alaska but nevertheless it has saved countless lives uh because of some of the low cost requirements in the bill and also the education efforts we were losing so many people a year to these drainage pool deaths and uh we've really turned that around and we wanna continue to do that so i hope we'll also hear that bill soon thank you

thank you senator klobuchar are there any additional members wishing to give remarks uh if not uh that concludes our executive session for today the committee is adjourned