Amendment No. 1565

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on amendment No. 1565 to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, or USICA, the underlying bill.

My amendment preserves the constitutional authority of Congress over international trade. It does so by ensuring the President cannot waive or modify congressionally approved trade agreements, including the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS--the TRIPS Agreement. And the reason is that the TRIPS Agreement, like the USICA, contains provisions that facilitate the leadership of the United States in scientific and technological innovation.

China is challenging that leadership through predatory practices aimed at our highest value sectors, including our pharmaceutical sector. Plain and simple, China wants our intellectual property.

Remarkably, the administration announced, without consulting Congress, that it would support a waiver of U.S. intellectual property rights under the TRIPS Agreement with respect to vaccines. Moreover, the U.S. Trade Representative declined to confirm that she would oppose letting this waiver extend to China.

Colleagues, there are vaccines precisely because the innovative U.S. firms exist because of strong IP protections. The problem with access to vaccines is not intellectual property. The problem is the manufacturing capacity.

This amendment I am proposing allows the administration to proceed, providing it is willing to make the case, including by presenting evidence and respecting Congress's authority. The outcome is subject to congressional approval, just like the original TRIPS Agreement.

I also demand real consultation with Congress. My colleague's amendment provides only that the administration will provide relevant proposals and pertinent documents to Congress related to the final agreement. There is no reason to grant this leeway to the administration given its existing failure to consult with us.

My amendment requires the administration to provide the text of any U.S. proposal to Congress 5 business days before it is tabled in a trade negotiation, not after it has agreed to amend a congressionally approved agreement.

With respect to that agreement and the other WTO agreements, we have spoken clearly as a body that the United States can withdraw from these agreements if, and only if, Congress passes a resolution to that effect.

For example, it requires reports on issues central to whether the administration's decision makes sense and provides for consultation by the administration with the public and Congress concerning its proposal. This will facilitate transparency, identify any national security risks presented by the administration's proposal, and, importantly, will stop an action that does not further vaccine access or present a risk to our national security.

Accordingly, if the administration's proposal is determined by the administration's own Agencies not to present a risk to U.S. national security and that it positively facilitates vaccine access, the administration may continue negotiating and seeking an outcome for a waiver.

It must not be the case that once Congress approves a trade agreement, the administration can simply withdraw rights or obligations under a congressionally approved trade agreement or alter its terms however it sees fit. Yet that is exactly what the administration is seeking to do here.

If we were to accept that proposition, what is the point for Congress's approving any future trade agreement if the administration can simply alter it without again coming to Congress to make that change?

This amendment ensures that the administration's proposal will, in fact, get a vote by applying fast-track-like procedures to its conclusions. It also prohibits our IP from going to China or Russia.

I have only one redline, which I suspect all of you share: The administration may not waive U.S. IP rights under the TRIPS Agreement to China and Russia. Congress approved the entry of these two countries into the WTO precisely because we wanted to hold them accountable to WTO rules.

Russia and China are a threat to American innovation and the principle reason why the USICA is before us on the floor of the Senate today. So why would we then allow the administration to legally bless their malfeasance?

If we must stand together and waive the IP rights of Americans, the least we can do is insist that China and Russia, which tout the successes of their own vaccines, not be allowed to take hard-earned U.S. technology.

This concern is particularly valid since the Chinese Government is actively trying to steal mRNA technology, and its efforts to develop such technology is led, in fact, by an arm of the Chinese military

USICA is a sincere, bipartisan effort to promote American innovation in the face of China's predations. My amendment complements that effort and must likewise be considered.

I encourage all of my Democrat and Republican colleagues to support it.

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Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I yield back my time.

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