OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act

Floor Speech

Date: Dec. 19, 2019
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. WICKER. Madam President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 328, S. 1822.
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Mr. WICKER. Madam President, with regard to the so-called ``Rip and Replace Act'' that would facilitate the United States joining our allies and protecting us, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4998, which was received from the House; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
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Mr. WICKER. Madam President, the Senator, my good friend from Utah, has asked unanimous consent that we pass the version of the bill I authored. Ordinarily, I would very much appreciate that. The problem with his request is that in this Congress, it prevents us from acting today to get to this ZTE and Huawei problem. We have a solution, and we need to get started on it.

Let me also make the point that some things are worth paying for, and protecting Americans, protecting our electronic system, our broadband communications from the Chinese-owned Huawei and ZTE is worth paying for.

What my unanimous consent request would have done, had the Senator not objected, is we would have passed the bill and leave the issue of how we fund it to another day. Perhaps the appropriators would have decided to appropriate money for it. Had they done so, they would have operated within the budget caps, as the Appropriations Committee has done, and found room, found some offsets, and paid for it that way.

The proposal I made, that was objected to by my friend from Utah, would also have left open the possibility of having a pay-for by the sale of some spectrum.

I regret that the Senator is objecting based on how we will pay for this very needed expenditure down the road. So I am compelled to object to my good friend's unanimous consent request.

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