Business meeting to consider S.2586

Good morning. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will come to order. The bills on this morning's mark-ups span the committee's jurisdiction, from fishing, to aviation, to sports, to telecommunications, to tech. Senator Sullivan's Bycatch Reduction Act reforms how fisheries manage these Those excess or accidentally caught fish, they do not want and cannot sell. It puts forth a number of fixes, like establishing a gear performance standards for mid-water and bottom trawl fishing vessels. I want to commend Senator Sullivan for his dogged leadership in working to protect honest fishermen and the environment. Senator Peter's Regional Great Lakes Partnership Act, introduced with Senator Marino and cosponsored by Senator Duckworth, would make clear that the Great Lakes Commission is an authoritative and important leader in NOAA's Regional Ocean Partnerships program. Turning to aviation, Senator Sheehy's Air Traffic Situational Awareness Enhancement Act requires the FAA to acquire and install certified systems for use at certain air traffic control towers. These tools are for towers that lack traditional radar. where controllers often depend on sight. As my aviation staffer put it, and I at least pretend to understand the lingo now, APRT is like ADSB for ATC.

Amen.

That sadly was a real sentence in a real conversation we had. Relatedly, Senator Moran's runway safe tea act co-sponsors by Senators Hickenlooper, Klobuchar, Wicker, Blunt, Rochester, Fisher and Sheehy would have the FAA convene an airport driver training task force. The bill responds to recent near-misses and runway incidents, including the ground collision at LaGuardia Airport in March of twenty twenty six, where a landing flight hit an airport fire truck. Senator Klobuchar's Virginia Graham Baker Pool and Spa Safety Reauthorization Act, introduced with Senator Curtis, reauthorizes a Consumer Product Safety Commission program to prevent drowning in in pools and spas. Sad to say, drowning remains the leading cause of death among children ages one to four. This bill would dedicate resources to prevent such tragedies. The Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, which I introduced along with Senator Rosen, would establish a new option for league-style unified boxing organizations. Unlike other major professional sports, boxing has no central authority to govern itself, leading to the decline of the sport. The bill is widely supported by boxing organizations and fighters, including Nico Ali Walsh, the grandson of Muhammad Ali. Finally, we have tele telecommunications bills. The Mystic Alerts Act is a response to disruptions in wireless coverage that occurred amidst the severe flooding in central Texas last summer. The floods horrifically resulted in the death of at least one hundred and thirty-five people, including twenty-five children, and three employees at Camp Mystic, a Christian girl summer camp. While multiple alerts were issued in the lead-up to the storm, coverage gaps limited the reach of alerts to those spending the night at Camp Mystic. This bill from Representative August Flueger would ensure that the wireless emergency alerts can be transmitted to mobile devices via satellite, helping solve that problem. Similarly, Senator Duckworth's ITS Codification Act will help develop emergency communication and tracking technologies to locate individuals trapped in caves and other places where radio communication is limited. The bill codifies ongoing efforts being led by the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences within the NTIA and the Communications Technology Laboratory within NIST. Finally, a word about the Jawbone Act, which I have introduced along with Senator Wyden. The abolitionist Wendell Phillips once said that quote, "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." We must be zealous in protecting First Amendment rights, not only when it is convenient, but when it is hard. The Jawbone Act, named after a type of censorship where the government compels a third party to suppress the speech of another. takes important steps to protect a constitutional right of citizens that government is supposed to serve. This bill protects the First Amendment without fear or favor to different kinds of speech. It doesn't give the government an excuse to trample your First Amendment right and take down disfavored opinions under the expansive and phony pretense of safety or national security. The Supreme Court has repeatedly found that jawboning is prohibited by the first amendment. In twenty twenty four, however, it held in Murthy versus Missouri, a case with which Senator Schmidt is intensely familiar, that censored Americans lack standing to pursue their claims. The Cruz-Wyden bill would provide a private right of action for the coercive governmental threat itself when the threat is made against a broadcaster social media or similar kind of tech company. And it would ensure that the public has needed visibility into the instances where the government directs platform to take specific content actions. As ranking member Cantwell has said on this issue, transparency is a quote " good antiseptic". I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan proposal. And now turn to ranking member Cantwell for her opening remarks.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, before I start I wanna give my uh condolences to those impacted by the LA helicopter crash of a news organization that occurred last night. A similar crash occurred in the state of Washington in twenty fourteen, and I hope the NTSB's investigation of both that crash and this crash will lead to better safety measures. I also want to reiterate my support, as Senator Cruz and I did, for getting the Rotaract passed and into law before the end of this year. This week we joined with the families who lost loved ones in the mid-air collision over the over the Potomac to say that this legislation needs to get over the goal line. While we've made great progress working with our house colleagues, much more work needs to be done, and I hope that aviation safety remains a top priority. Today we discussed nine bills and four Coast Guard promotions. We considered two aviation safety bills, the Air Traffic Situation Awareness Enhancement by senators she he merkeley danes and wyden would require the faa to deploy airborne position reference tools and non faa towers that do not have certified rad radar displays this would improve safety at small airports across the country providing air traffic controllers a radar display of airspace to supplement their visual observations and radio communications the runway safety act by Senators Moran, Hickenlooper, Klobuchar, Wicker, Blunt, Rochester, Fisher, Cortez Masto, Sheehy and Kennedy would require the FAA to establish a task force composed of key stakeholders to develop recommendations for improving training programs for personnel who operate ground vehicles at commercial airports. Recommended personnel training improvements, including technology to help understand safety risks and what could have the potential to help reduce the frequency and severity of vehicle safety incidents on taxiways, and runways and other airport airport safety surfaces. The Virginia Graham uh Baker Pool and Spa Reauthorization Act, I want to thank Senators Klobuchar and Curtis, who reauthorized and strengthened this act, which supports a grant program that provides funding to implement and enforce pool safety standards and education programs to help prevent the drowning and entrapment of children in pool spas. I wanna thank Senator Klobuchar for getting this law first enacted. It was her leadership that got it into the law and now we need it to be reauthorized. So thank you for that continued advocacy on this important safety issue. It's codification act, which is from Senator Duckworth, codifies the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, a division within NTIA that performs research and development for telecommunications technology. It would also require ITS to better support the development of emergency communication and tracking technologies that are used for locating individuals trapped in confined spaces like mines, where traditional radio communications can be impaired. The mystic act, a bipartisan bill from the house which would modernize the emergency alerts last year's tragic flooding in Texas showed how much we need to do. And and, Mr. Chairman, I remain totally committed to the Weather Act, totally committed to other technology improvements in responding to what are weather conditions and giving our uh residents across the United States better information further in advance so it's all hand in hand but in this instance, allowing the alerts to be sent via satellite in case ground cell phone networks fail, is an important step. The Regional Lakes Partnership Act by my colleagues Senator Peters and Moreno designate the great lakes um commission as a regional great lakes partnership under NOAA's regional ocean partnership program in order to strengthen the federal support for the great lakes research and conservation efforts data enhancement and coordination across state agencies I can't say enough about this approach um most people realize that we did a similar approach for the Chesapeake and that provided a lot of good management in science. We've tried to do similar things for Puget Sound. Just because you have large bodies of waters that aren't called oceans, doesn't mean that they don't deserve a lot of attention. And I think that's what this bill does, is give large bodies of waters that have significant impacts on our economies, the kind of scientific research and management strategies that we really do expect out of NOAA. So thank you both for your leadership on that issue. The Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act of twenty twenty six from Chairman Cruz and Senator Rosen. I want to thank Senator Rosen for her leadership on this. I get that uh Las Vegas is the capital of a lot of boxing events and a lot of uh people who live and and organize around that, so very much appreciate uh making continued improvements on the existing federal requirements. Under this legislation, UBOs would be permitted to combine the traditional roles of sanctioned bodies with promoters, which is not currently allowed in boxing. This bill would also establish new health and safety standards for all boxers, setting a national minimum health and sa health and insurance coverage, requiring medical examinations before a boxer is cleared to fight, and requiring the certification of ringside physicians. Um, there is the bycatch legislation by Senator Sullivan seeking to reduce bycatch, obviously a big priority um for all of us. and uh the the the bycatch reduction in engineering program and finally Mister Chairman I can't tell you how much I support yours and Senator Whiten's efforts on jawbone we had a great hearing here where most of the witnesses agreed on what had to happen let me start with what happened with Chairman Carr and ABC and Jimmy Kimmel under the current law Mister Kimmel almost no had no way to vindicate his rights. Chairman Cruz called that a dangerous as hell, and he was right. He was right. A speaker should have a real remedy when the government leans on a platform to silence them. And this limit this legislation would provide that remedy. But the bill also includes a number of other provisions that I don't support, which is first, it includes AI models as covered entities. There is essentially right now no federal law governing ai so under the chairman's text almost any government conversation with an ai company and safety could be called coercion for example if an employee of the department of energy asks a company to stop its model from explaining how to enrich uranium that is content action with no existing federal law behind it that means that communication could be illegal under this bill and the employee could be sued Americans for Responsible Innovation have shared their concerns and implications on AI safety of this bill. At this time, when Americans are increasingly concerned about the risk of AI, we should be focused on giving them the actual government oversight and regulation and tools needed to address safety, not threatening them and uh because they have conversations with providers. The bill uh potentially makes every employee contractor and the executive branch subject to lawsuits rather than limiting it to actual decision-makers finally it opens the door to a potential abuse of the judgment fund after the one point seven billion dollar anti-weaponization fund we should not create a new cause of action that could be settled conclusively so for these reasons i don't support the bill today but i look forward to working with the chairman on it to get the bill over the goal line thank you mr. chairman

ok Thank you, ranking member Cantwell. Uh Alright, I'm gonna start with a motion. I move that S four seven four nine, the jawbone act, as amended by crew substitute, be favorably reported. Is there a second?

Second.

Is there discussion? Uh, Cantwell number one.

I'll substitute first. I'm sorry, it's a substitute. It's a Cantwell substitute.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I mentioned the Jimmy Kimmel issue and again applauded you and Senator Wyden for your general efforts here. My substitute keeps that part of the bill intact. But it does fix four problems. First, it takes AI models out of the bill. which I'm happy to continue to work on. And I hope that we will have a mark-up and uh get Senator Klobuchar-Thun bill and many other bills that we passed out of this committee two years ago that got held up and elamed up. Hopefully we'll get those really, really basic bills about empowering NIST and others to do their important work and background on standards and setting done and accomplished. But right now there is essentially no federal law governing AI. So, under the chairman's text, almost any government conversation with an AI company about safety could be called coercion. If the Department of Energy, as I mentioned earlier, uh, asks a company to stop its model from explaining how enriched uranium and saying that there, because there is no statute behind that, the employee could be sued. Second, it strikes the portal of government communication section four and five, making every federal employee log content conversation with a platform broadcaster ai company for the posting on the website that is a database of government speech and as has a practical matter so um the fourth it requires the judge to find any consent judgment in the public interest so i hope that what we will do mister chairman working with organizations like americans for responsible innovation who share my concerns about this bill take this improvement and continue to work on the ai section of the legislation I ask my colleagues to support the substitute.

Thank you, Senator Cantwell. Um, I oppose this amendment. I urge my colleagues to vote no. Uh, as everyone here knows, artificial intelligence is the next transformative technology. It will be the means by which we create and share new expression. As humans, AI developers and their users don't surrender their first amendment rights, merely because they communicate through a new technology. If the government coerces an AI provider into suppressing speech, that is unconstitutional under current law. But ranking member Cantwell's amendment is meant to neuter the protections in Jawbone with respect to AI. So the government has the ability to dictate the content of LLMs. That concerns me. First of all, when such communications are coercive, they clearly run foul of the First Amendment. And moreover, dictating the expression of the frontier labs is exactly the kind of thing that should give us all pause. The last time we saw censorship under the guide of public safety and security and public health, it was at the height of COVID, when the government tried to suppress dissent from the medical establishment. We had a hearing last fall about how CISA tried to quote " fortify our elections" by suppressing political posts on Twitter. Judging from some of the panic going on right now, I could see the government trying to do something similar with AI. Remember, jawbone doesn't try to redefine what constitutes government coercion that is unconstitutional under the first amendment. It just supplies a remedy for jawboating when the government attempts at censorship is unsuccessful. And so, in the scenario where AI is providing some dangerous technology that could pose a legitimate harm such as nuclear technology or otherwise the government has the full ability to express that that view to the company and indeed, as senator Kant well noted I have been working closely with senator Klobuchar and senator Thune on legislation to fortify the government's power to address and mitigate the potential for catastrophic risks, from ai Jawbone addresses the altogether different situation. If you imagine hypothetically, if my Democrat, uh, colleagues could imagine the Trump administration calling the major AI companies and coercing them to produce as a result, if someone types in who are the Democrats, that your answer must be the Democrats are communists who hate America. Now, some might agree with that statement, some might disagree with that statement. I hope all of us would agree the federal government has no business forcing ai companies to give that answer to give the speech that whatever party in power happens to agree with. That should not be government's role. And so I ask my colleagues to join me in voting no on Cantwell one. Uh

Mister Chairman, if I could just respond to that

Sure.

when you're done.

Sure.

Yeah. Mister Chairman, the issue is the fact that we have no federal ai policy. So by definition, any communication by any agency, which would then be recorded with a company, could be seen as coercive, and more so can be sued over that. So, we know AI can provide a step-by-step instruction on making pathogens, like Ebola. I want scientists at our national labs to work with AI companies to manage these risks. But right now, when we have no federal policy on that, if that scientist or agency said, this is dangerous policy, take it down, they could end up being sued under your legislation. So, I ask us to fix this and get it right. I ask us not to have a chilling effect on the communication at an urgent time. We had, all intents and purposes, a private sector whistleblower say something really, really shocking to all of America, that AI could actually kill humans. So now is not the time to basically say, when there's no federal law, if you're a federal employee and you jawboned as a NIST employee over someone's printing Ebola instructions they could be sued, I think is a ludicrous idea.

And I and I will say, Senator Cantwell, I I I don't believe this bill would do that but but i'm also happy to commit to you that after we move this bill out of committee uh i'm happy to work with you and your team to make sure that we harmonize what this bill does with the clobber-charthoon catastrophic bill because i i wanna move that as well and and this is not in any way intended to facilitate uh catastrophic risks to human life and and i agree the government should have meaningful protections against that. This is this is focused on political censorship, which both parties have engaged in and have abused, and we should be willing to protect the first amendment regardless of which party is in power.

I I appreciate that commitment, but the current draft doesn't do that. So, um, after a little call vote.

Mister Chairman. Uh, Senator Young. Could could I ask a question briefly? Um, I do I share some of the concerns that were just articulated uh by the ranking member. It is my intention to support your Jawbone Act, because my reading of it uh is not consistent with the ranking members. I'm encouraged that you intend to work with her uh to get her more comfortable with the language and how it reads, as someone who believes that government does has have an essential role rather than relying on on people with a financial stake uh to make the moral judgments that are associated with our our ai policy. um i wonder if if uh uh at ultimately and and you needn't uh answer uh affirmatively now but uh a colloquy just making clear on the floor in addition to any substantive changes you make to the language uh might be appropriate to reassure myself and and other colleagues on this front that our uh construction of of the language is uh appropriate. Yeah, and I I'd be happy to do that, Senator Young. Alright. Thank you, Chairman.

Roll call.

Uh, if there's no further discussion, the clerk will call the roll.

Mister Thune.

No, by proxy. Mister Waker.

Mister Waker. mrs. fisher

no

mr. moran

no

mr. sullivan

no

mrs. blackburn

no

mr. young mr. bud mr. schmidt

no

mr. curtis

no no

mr. moreno

no no

mr. sheehy

no no

mrs. capito

no

miss lemus

no

miss cantwell

aye

miss klobuchar

aye

mr. schatz

aye

mister markey

aye by proxy

mister peters aye miss baldwin

aye by proxy

miss duckworth aye miss rosen aye mister lujan aye mister hickenlooper

aye by proxy

mister frederman

aye by proxy

mister kim

aye by proxy

miss b- rochester

aye by proxy

Mister Cruz.

No.

The no's are fifteen, the yes's are thirteen.

The amendment is not agreed to. Uh, is there any further discussion?

Well, Mister Chairman, I do have several other amendments. Um, I think the best thing to do at this point in time is to uh uh finish up this mark-up and work on fixing this bill. So

Well, uh, uh, uh, if there are further amendments, I'm happy to vote on that. Um, I'd like to move the bill today, but as I said, before it, before it moves on the floor, I'll commit to work with you on this because it's not my intention to to in any way harm the ability to prevent catastrophic misuses of AI.

Yep.

OK. Uh, if there's no further

Four for a vote on the final passage.

If if there's no further discussion, the question is on the motion, the clerk will call the roll.

mister thing

aye by proxy

mister wicker

aye

mrs. fisher mister marine

aye

mister sullivan mrs. blackburn

aye

mister young

aye

mister bud mister schmidt

aye

mister curtis mister marino

aye

mister sheehy

aye

mrs. capito miss lemieux

aye

miss cantwell

no

miss klobuchar

no

mister schatz mister markey

sorry guys i'm just gonna check my stuff thank you

mister peters

no

miss baldwin

no by proxy

miss duckworth

no

mr. rosen

yes

mr. loohan

no

mr. hickenlooper

no by proxy

mr. federman

no by proxy

mr. kim

no by proxy

miss blunt rochester

no by proxy

mr. cruz

aye

yes's are eighteen the no's are ten

i'm sorry the shots and marquee are yes by proxy

Did the clerk get those?

Yes.

So what's the total?

The yeses are eighteen, the noes are ten.

Uh, the motion is agreed to and the bill is ordered to be reported favorably.

Mr. Chairman.

Senator Schmidt.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanna thank you for your work on this. Um As you know that uh I have a bill that is similar but um but also allows for individuals to sue. big tech companies and lose their section two thirty protection if they're engaged in censorship. And I want to thank you for committing to having that on the next mark-up. Thank you.

I look forward to it. Uh, I I will now recognize Senator Rosen for a motion.

Um, thank you, Mister Chairman. I move that S five one eight eight Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act of twenty twenty six as amended by the Cruz-Rosen substitute Cantwell two as modified, Cantwell three as modified Cantwell four is modified and Cantwell five be favorably reported.

Is there a second?

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Mister Chairman.

Ranking member Cantwell.

The bill would exempt new entities under the unified boxing organization UBOs from current federal law regulating industry which allows the UBOs to combine traditional roles of boxing. Um

Boxers should not be required, in my opinion, to sign long-term contracts with UBOs in order to have the opportunity to fight one of the other UBO fighters, so I wanna thank you and Senator Rosen for working with me to make improvements on this, and I wanna continue to work with you as this bill moves through the process.

Thank you. Uh, I look forward to our continuing to work together on it. Uh, is there any further discussion? If there's no further discussion, the question is on Senator Rosen's motion. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say no.

No. Um, Mister Chairman, if I could be recorded as a no, um, while I appreciate all of the work of all my colleagues in this space, there are some leaders in New Mexico that are very involved with boxing, some of them that serve in the WC and others that have concerns, and so I just certainly hope that we can continue to work together before this gets to the floor.

Uh,

I'd like to be recorded as a no.

Senator Lujan will be recorded as a no.

Mister Chairman.

Uh, ranking member Cantwell.

Senator Fetterman would be like to be recorded as a no.

Senator Fetterman will also be recorded as a no. Uh, the motion is agreed to and the bill is ordered to be reported favorably. Uh, I now recognize ranking member Cantwell for a motion. Watch this one.

If there is, let's see, uh

Forty nine.

I move Senate forty nine fifty, the ITS codification act as amended by Senators Duckworth, Blackburn substitute and Cruz one as modified be favorably reported.

Is there a second? Is there any discussion?

Mister Chairman. Mister Chairman.

Senator Fischer.

Thank you Mister Chairman, I would like to call out my amendment

This amendment addresses some concerning national security implications of codifying the Institute for Telecommunications Sciences sciences or ITS in the way that this bill currently does. DOW spectrum, research, testing, and evaluation are core national security functions that require sufficient autonomy to ensure US forces and systems can operate securely, and effectively in congested and contested spectrum environments. The bill and substitute go beyond codifying a spectrum research lab. They elevate ITS over other federal research entities, expand its spectrum authority, weaken coordination with DOW labs, and prioritize certain spectrum users at the expense of military readiness in contested spectrum environments. My amendment would address these concerns. It would ensure that codifying ITS does not give this lab authority over, or create a new approval layer for sensitive DOW spectrum research, testing, training, and operations. If we expect our military to fight and win in a contested spectrum environment, DOW must retain the ability to independently test its systems before those systems and their vulnerabilities are tested and exploited by our adversaries. While I appreciate the conversations that my staff and I have had with Senators Blackburn and Duckworth Chairman Cruz and Ranking Member Cantwell and their staffs, my concerns with the bill and the substitute were not resolved during those conversations. For that reason, I cannot support the bill today. I hope to continue working with my colleagues to protect DOD's from inadvertent impacts to X spectrum work. With that, I will offer and withdraw my amendment, Fisher one. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Senator Fisher. Uh, Senator Duckworth.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I just want to uh acknowledge my colleague's concerns and as a fellow member of both this committee and the Armed Services Committee, uh reassure her that I will do everything I can to support the Department of Defense's efforts. Uh, but this bill, the ITS codification act is written to simplify, to simply codify a research laboratory that has been in existence for decades. This straightforward bill passed the house by voice vote last year. And while I do hear the Department of Defense's concerns, nothing in this bill stops DOD from conducting its own spectrum research. In fact, I have concerns that the chairman and ranking members share as well, that this amendment would actually prevent ITS from conducting spectrum research that might benefit DOD. The amendment would fundamentally change the work that ITS is currently doing by restricting its activities and weaken its ability to deliver crucial data on spectrum sharing. And interference tolerance for both commercial and DOD use. And because of that, I cannot support this amendment. Uh, I would be happy to work with Senator Fischer moving forward to ensure that ITS can continue its work to conduct important research. But that also the D that makes sure that that research a DOD can benefit from. Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you, Senator Duckworth. Is there any further discussion? If there's no further discussion, the question is on ranking member Cantwell's motion. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say no.

No.

No.

The motion is agreed to and the bill is ordered to be reported favorably.

Mister Chairman, so I'd be recorded as a no.

Senator Fischer will be recorded as a no.

Thank you.

And Mister Chair may I be recorded as a no.

Senator Wicker will also be recorded as a no. Uh, I now recognize ranking member Cantwell for a motion.

Mister Chairman, I move that Senate Bill s- thirty-four, sixty-seven, the Virginia Grame, Baker, Pool and Safety Re- Reauthorization Act, as amended by Klobuchar substitute as modified, S- twenty-nine, I'm sorry, S- thirty-nine, twenty-nine, the Air Traffic Situation Awareness Enhancement Act as amended by Sheehy substitute as modified, S- forty-five, seventy-three, the Regional Great Lakes Partnership Act, of twenty twenty six as amended by the peter substitute the s forty nine thirty eight bycatch reduction act as amended by sullivan substitute as modified s fifty two twenty four the safety act as amended by the moran substitute as modified and hr seven two two the mystic alerts act as modified by the crew substitute be favorably reported

is there a second all those in favor say aye aye

aye

All those opposed say no. The motion is agreed to and the bills are ordered to be reported favorably.

Mister Chairman, I I just wanted to thank you and uh the ranking member for advancing this bill. This bill goes way back to a seven year old girl who died in two thousand and two in a pool suction horrific uh incident. And then a girl in Minnesota, Abby Taylor. Uh, and I just want people to know uh that sometimes, and thank you to Senator Curtis,

when you do things that are seemingly small, in this case requiring certain drain covers, that only cost like a hundred bucks in public pools, we were losing a handful of kids and many more injured every single year. And since the bill was signed into law in two thousand and eight, there have been zero pool entrapment deaths in compliant public pools. So, just to give you a sense that sometimes things that sounds small, about pool drains,

actually make a huge difference so hope it's a message to all my colleagues as we go through our work thank you

well thank you for your hard work protecting the lives of kids

mister chairman

uh ranking member cantwell

on s forty nine thirty eight the bycatch of uh myself senator Klobuchar marking shots could be recorded as a no

uh all all four will be recorded as a no uh i recognize ranking member cantwell for another motion

Chairman, I move that PN seven six nine two, PN twelve twenty eight, PN

Uh, ten ten twenty eight.

ten twenty eight, PN eleven forty eight, and 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 and the nominations are ordered to be reported favorably. I ask for unanimous consent that staff are authorized to make technical and conforming changes without objection, so ordered. Are there any members wishing to make remarks on any of the agenda?

Mr. Chairman.

Yes, Mister Chairman.

Uh, Senator Sullivan.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, uh, I want to thank the committee on that important vote that we just took on my by-catch reduction act. I know that I s- speak a lot about fish in the Commerce Committee. My colleagues uh tolerate it, they probably love it. But I wanna thank them again, cuz uh fisheries, Alaska fishermen, and our coastal communities and interior communities on these issues are very, very important to me. And I wanna thank all of my colleagues for that very strong bipartisan vote. And I wanna thank you, Mister Chairman, for uh this mark-up and including my by-catch reduction act, which is the most comprehensive by-catch bill ever to start moving through the Congress. You know, uh, this issue is a really important one to, uh, my fellow Alaskans. I hear from so many throughout our state, all throughout our state. Salmon is the lifeblood of our state in Alaska. And we've had huge variable runs of different salmon species in different parts of our state. Uh, we s- continue to have strong sockeye salmon runs in Bristol Bay, which is a blessing and certainly one of the most uh biggest salmon runs in the whole world. At the same time, other salmon runs, for example, on the Yukon River, my wife's family has had a traditional fish camp on the Yukon River for thousands of years for generations. The King Run on the Yukon is uh very, very weak and it's devastating. Communities throughout our state. So these are huge issues, Mister Chairman, that I've been working on at the behest of my fellow Alaskans for years. And one of the things we were able to do in this committee a number of years ago, actually in twenty twenty two, was to uh start to address this issue of the huge variability in salmon runs and what is causing that. So we were able to pass and this committee did it. uh with their help the alaska salmon task force act which was signed into law in twenty twenty two that brought together the best minds in alaska academic native indigenous industry state federal to identify what is happening to our salmon declines why are they happening and to put a pathway forward to start to address this, to get back to what all Alaskans want, which is strong, resilient salmon runs in all of our rivers, among all of our species. So that was an important first step. That legislation, Mister Chairman, the Salmon Task Force Act, which had again the best minds in Alaska, uh, put forward a report, working with the federal government, working with our native communities, that highlighted recommendations on areas of increased investment and policy recommendations to move forward on addressing these salmon declines and huge variabilities in our salmon runs. There were many recommendations on that, research recommendations, policy recommendations, but one was uh addressing the issue of trawl by-catch, something I've been working on for a number of years because so many Alaskans care deeply about this. So that was why last year we introduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, which does all kinds of things. It's a very comprehensive bill that improves our fisheries in the North Pacific to address these salmon run challenges to address the issue of trawl bycatch to uphold healthy marine habitats to dramatically limit bottom contact by trawler nets in the North Pacific. to provide timelines and mandates to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to provide transparency and reforms to the council process, investments in innovative gear and technology, and to strengthen and modernize moderning monitoring. So this is a very comprehensive bill. I want to thank so many Alaskans, hundreds and hundreds of Alaskans helped us write this, helped us with their input, helped us with their ideas, and now we are moving it. Um, it is a a significant uh movement on this very, very important issue. And again, I wanna thank uh Chairman Cruz and this committee for voting on this bill, uh, and we are now looking with that strong vote to bring this bill to the senate floor and move it forward. Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you, Senator Sullivan, and I will say you have been a relentless and tremendously effective advocate for the people of Alaska for the Alaska fishermen for the native peoples in Alaska and for protecting the environment and and fish population in the waters of Alaska. Congratulations on the overwhelming bipartisan vote on your bill here in the committee and I have every confidence that you will similarly get an overwhelming bipartisan support in support of it uh on

mister chairman

senator senator rosen

thank you thank you chairman cruz i wanna thank you again for your partnership on the muhammad ali american boxing revival act this bill is critical to revitalizing boxing in america it's a crucial part of nevada's history and our sports tourism economy the muhammad ali american boxing revival act would establish a framework for new league style unified boxing alongside promoters and sanctioning organizations. The bill would also update long overdue health and safety standards and establish new contract protections for all boxers. We worked closely with boxers, state regulators, and those across the boxing industry to strengthen this bill. Nico Ali Walsh, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, and a professional boxer himself, originally testified against this bill before committee in April. But after his work with us to strengthen critical protections for boxers, like extending the free agency period, adding contract limits, financial disclosure requirements, and fair and transparent rankings, he now supports this legislation. His work to improve this bill was essential to getting us where we are today. To be clear, this bill is a much stronger bill than what passed the House, and creates parity between UBOs and incumbents in the boxing industry. This legislation includes provisions to hold UBOs to the same standards on rankings, the same disclosure retire requirements at the state level and the same penalties for violating the act. This bill will enable greater competition between UBOs and the traditional boxing industry, which will allow boxers to choose the best deal and the best fight for their career. I'm proud that the bill we have before us today successfully creates opportunities for the sport of boxing to continue to grow while still protecting the core of boxing the boxers themselves um i'm so glad to see this bill passed today thank you again for your work mister chairman

well thank you senator rosen for your tremendous hard work on this bill and uh this bill it has been a pleasure to partner with you and work alongside with you on this bill i think this bill will make a real difference benefiting the sport of boxing benefiting boxers across the country it will make a real difference in in your home

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I asked to be recognized to offer brief remarks on uh Senate Bill forty nine fifty, the ITS Codification Act. I am so pleased that our committee passed this simple bipartisan bill and I thank Senator Blackburn for her partnership on this. I'd also like to thank um you, Mr. Chairman, and ranking member Cantwell for working with me and Senator Blackburn to refine and improve our bill. The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, or ITS, does important work on our nation's spectrum and communications laboratory. Its mission is to advance innovation in communications, technologies, and investigate our most pressing telecommunications challenges. ITS supports private industry by researching ways to use spectrum more efficiently and solving interference issues. Its work, ITS's work also benefits the federal government and its research findings, informed Congress and the executive branch as we work together to form policy. The ITS Codification Act will ensure our nation's premier research and engineering laboratory has the statutory authority to continue conducting valuable theoretical and applied radio science research. Our bill also tasks ITS with supporting the development of emergency communication and tracking technologies to locate people trapped in confined spaces, such as underground mines and collapsed buildings. This is important because two decades after Congress passed a minor act to require coal mine operators, to establish underground wireless communication electronic tracking systems, actually establishing such capabilities in confined and shooter environments remains a technical challenge. ITS research is vital to eventually solving this practical operational constraint. This is especially important for Illinois, which operated seven underground coal mines last year, with more than two thousand underground miners. Illinois also, unfortunately, set the record this year for the most tornadoes in a state in any