Endless Frontier Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, today I would like to speak on some amendments I have for this bill. I think it is important that we are all heard on this bill, that everybody gets an opportunity to understand what we are doing here. I think the people back home in Alabama would really appreciate that. I am getting a lot of emails and letters about things that are going on with this bill, and I just want the people back home to understand what we are laying out there to where we can--our people back in Alabama understand the direction that we are taking.
You know, I spoke recently about how the President's skinny budget is disappointing and dangerous and a disservice to our men and women in uniform.
China actively seeks to outpace the U.S. military, and in some cases, they are succeeding. This isn't a 5- or 10-year problem; the threat is right now. It is no secret that the Chinese Communist Party, or the CCP, wants to replace the United States as the world's top power.
The American people need to be aware of how the Chinese Communist Party is coming after us--not just with missiles and military might but with plans to subdue the American spirit.
A significant part of what has made the United States a global powerhouse is the strength and resilience of our private sector companies. Whether it is in the technology, healthcare, or energy sector, American innovation is unravelling. It is what made us the greatest economy in the history of the world.
China's leaders know this, but rather than go head-to-head in an honest competition, they have settled for stealing our intellectual property. Chinese businesses, at the instruction of their government, lure American companies in. They offer cheap--very cheap--labor. They promise an exchange of ideas, but they really want to steal our valuable intellectual property.
China's strategy is to rob, replicate, and replace. China robs American companies of their intellectual property. They replicate our technology. They will go after whatever they can to get their hands on wind turbines, airplane designs, underwater drones, chemicals, or artificial intelligence technology.
According to the Department of Justice, between 2011 and 2018, more than 90 percent of the Department's foreign economic espionage cases involved China. Their goal is to surpass the U.S. economy and gain a monopoly control over every major industry. We cannot allow them to succeed.
Even more alarming is what China is doing from within our own universities. Confucius Institutes currently operate at 55 American colleges and universities. They actually serve as a beachhead for the Chinese Government within America's research institutions. Often, just the presence of a Confucius Institute on campus will enable Chinese officials to stifle any criticism of the Chinese Government at that university.
The institutes also allow the Chinese Government to harvest valuable data from research being conducted at our country's world-class institutions. I was also glad to see Alabama A&M, a public land-grant, historically Black university, make the decision to close their Confucius Institute just last month.
The United States and the entire Western world have given China valuable concessions for decades. We gave China a seat at the table thinking they would change, but they have played their hand ruthlessly. It is past time we recognize that despite all the good intentions, this strategy has failed and failed miserably. The Chinese Communist Party has continually spied on its citizens, violently suppressed dissent, and systematically persecuted religious and ethnic minorities to the point of genocide.
I sincerely hope President Biden will continue to build on the Trump administration's momentum in pushing back against China's aggressive rise.
The TSP, or the Thrift Savings Plan, is the 401(k)-style investment plan that over 6 million Federal Government employees, both military and civilian, use for their retirement plan. The plan manages more than $700 billion in assets.
Back in 2017, the Board that governs the TSP decided to invest billions in companies with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Now, the people who put money in this are all of our military in this country, all our civilian government officials, including everybody in this room, in Congress, anybody who works for the Federal Government. This is their 401(k). Do we want to be investing in China?
We need congressional action to make President Trump's decision with the Thrift Savings Plan permanent. I bet if you ask folks who work at these buildings or who served the United States overseas if they want their retirement savings going to Chinese companies, you would hear a loud no.
I will be offering a solution on this to protect our national security and safeguard the retirements of those who have served our country with honor and distinction.
The problem with the companies that are being invested in in China-- they don't go by the same rules we go by. They commit corporate espionage. They don't go by the same standards of unity or same standards in banking. They take money from the Federal Government and from our employees to support the military in China.
In October 2019, Senators Rubio and Sheehan sent a letter to the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board regarding the fact that the Board had reversed a previous decision to keep TSP investment out of China. The Senators urged the Board to maintain the previous decision, citing human rights and forced labor violations in China, among other issues.
Senate, Washington, DC, October 22, 2019. Hon. Michael Kennedy, Chairman, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Kennedy: We write in advance of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board's upcoming October 28, 2019 meeting to urge the reversal of the Board's previous decision to track the MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Investable Market Index (ACWI ex-US IMI) fund for investments made in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)'s International Stock Fund (I Fund). As noted in previous correspondence, this decision would effectively invest the retirement savings of America's civil servants and military personnel in constituent companies of the ACWI ex-US IMI that assist in the Chinese government's military activities, espionage, and human rights abuses, as well as many other Chinese companies that lack basic financial transparency.
The constituent firms of MSCI ACWI ex-US IMI include military contractors to the People's Liberation Army, like the Aviation Industry Corporation of China and China Unicom, which supply military aircraft and telecommunications support to militarized artificial islands in the South China Sea. It also includes firms like Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, which was recently added to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Entity List and produces surveillance equipment the Chinese government currently uses to oppress and detain approximately one million Uighur Muslims and other religious minorities, as well as ZTE Corporation, which was fined last year for violating U.S. sanctions law for business activity with Iran and North Korea and which Congress has enacted a law to prohibit the U.S. federal government from procuring.
Additionally, the basic financial hazards of investment in firms listed on Chinese exchanges are well documented. A recent accounting scandal involving one of China's biggest accounting firms, Ruihua Certified Public Accountants, highlights the extent of the irregularities in the financial markets to which federal employees may soon be exposed.
It is our responsibility to these public servants to ensure that the investment of their retirement savings does not undermine the American interests for which they serve.
We look forward to the Board's reversal of this decision. Sincerely, Marco Rubio,
Senator. jeanne Shaheen,
Senator.
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Mr. TUBERVILLE. To the Honorable Michael Kennedy, Chairman, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Kennedy:
We write in advance of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board's upcoming October 28, 2019 meeting to urge the reversal of the Board's previous decision to track the MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Investable Market Index, (ACWI ex-US IMI) fund for investments made in the Thrift Savings Plan . . . International Stock Fund. . . . As noted in previous correspondence, this decision would effectively invest the retirement savings of America's civil servants and military personnel in constituent companies of the ACWI ex-US IMI that assist in the Chinese government's military activities, espionage, and human rights abuses, as well as many other Chinese companies that lack basic transparency.
The constituent firms of MSCI ACWI ex-US IMI include military contractors to the People's Liberation Army, like the Aviation Industry Corporation of China and China Unicom, which supply military aircraft and telecommunications support to militarized artificial islands in the South China Sea. It also includes firms like Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, which was recently added to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Entity List and produces surveillance equipment the Chinese government currently uses to oppress and detain approximately one million Uighur Muslims and other religious minorities, as well as ZTE Corporation, which was fined last year for violating U.S. sanctions law for business activity with Iran and North Korea and which Congress has enacted a law to prohibit the U.S. federal government from procuring.
Additionally, the basic financial hazards of investment in firms listed on Chinese exchanges are well documented. A recent accounting scandal involving one of China's biggest accounting firms . . . highlights the extent of the irregularities in the financial markets to which federal employees may soon be exposed.
It is our responsibility to these public servants to ensure that the investment of their retirement savings does not undermine the American interests for which they serve.
We look forward to the Board's reversal of this decision.
It is signed by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen; U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, and U.S. Senator Rick Scott.
I wrote an op-ed a few weeks ago about this very situation--a very unusual situation where we were uplifting the Chinese economy with Federal tax dollars. I would like to read that to you now.
The Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2021:
If I walked into Byron's Smokehouse in Auburn, Ala., and asked folks if they'd want their retirement savings invested in Chinese companies, I'd get laughed out of the restaurant. So why would we allow the federal Thrift Savings Plan, which serves approximately six million government employees and retirees, including [our] military. . . . to do just that?
The board that governs the TSP wants to invest a considerable portion of its more than $700 billion in assets in companies with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party. President Trump stopped that move from going into effect last year, but with a new president in office, the order blocking the board's decision no longer carries weight.
This amendment says that in the future, no matter who the President is, we will not invest pension money from the Federal Government and our military into Chinese businesses.
Continuing:
Congressional action is needed to provide a permanent solution, rather than relying on the whims of executive action. That's why I am introducing the Prohibiting TSP Investment in China Act. This bill would bar TSP funds from being invested in any security of an entity based in China or in a subsidiary that is owned or operated by a Chinese company.
Blocking investment of federal retirement savings in Chinese companies is good for U.S. national security and good for investors. We shouldn't be funneling capital to firms that routinely violate U.S. sanctions laws and actively enable the Chinese Communist Party's military expansion and persecution of religious minorities. Chinese companies have a long history of putting investors at serious risk by manipulating financial reporting statements and failing to comply with basic audit standards to artificially inflate their performance.
The Luckin Coffee incident is a prime example. The Securities and Exchange Commission found that Luckin, the largest coffee chain in China, defrauded U.S. investors by lying about the firm's performance and inflating retail sales by more than $300 million. Luckin settled with the SEC by agreeing to pay a $180 million fine, but Americans who invested their retirement savings in funds exposed to Luckin's deception lost [hundreds of] millions [of dollars].
China-based companies whose stock is traded on U.S. exchanges are prohibited by Beijing from complying with U.S. securities and financial-reporting standards. The Chinese government also blocks U.S. regulators at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board from conducting standard inspections of the Chinese offices of international audit firms. Congress put investor protections in place for a reason. If a company is not in compliance, investors are at risk.
China's refusal to allow its companies to comply with basic investor safeguards is cause enough to prohibit the investment of government-employee retirement funds in China firms, but there are additional reasons to take pause.
Chinese contractors are supplying Beijing's military buildup, enabling aggressive action in the South China Sea and toward land- based neighbors like Vietnam and India. These firms also supply the Chinese government with equipment used to spy on its citizens and commit genocide against religious minorities, like the Uyghurs of Xinjiang province. Not a single U.S. dollar should be contributed to the Communist Party's continuing human-rights abuses.
The American people recognize the economic and military threat China poses to the U.S. The Prohibiting TSP Investment in China Act would advance our national-security interests and restrict funds from flowing to firms beholden to China's communist regime.
I have got one more article I want to read on the TSP bill warning that U.S. investment props up the Chinese military, supports political and religious persecution. This article comes from Breitbart.
[Today in] an appearance on FBN's ``Mornings with Maria,'' Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) touted an effort to stop investment from the Thrift Savings Fund into securities linked to the Chinese economy.
The so-called Prohibiting TSP Investment in China Act would stop halt that investment, which according to the Alabama Republican lawmaker, could be used in a way to further China's aggressive tactics on the world stage.
``[I] can remember back in 2017, you talked a lot about this,'' he said. ``And President Trump, you know, there's a board of five people that control the pension fund, this pension fund is government workers, federal workers, such as Congress, myself, and all of [us on Capitol Hill, government workers, and includes] $700 billion.
So what we want to do is make sure that we don't prop up the military, of the Chinese nor their political and religious persecution. . . . We want to go with companies that are going to go by the rules, fight for democracy. And at the end of the day, this legislation pretty much says, this is a message that sends zero tolerance to the Chinese to block their aggression towards United States and the rest of the world.
On defense spending, our job as elected officials is to make sure those who have stepped up to defend our country have the resources they need to do their job. The President's recent budget proposal for the Department of Defense does not--I repeat, does not--give our men and women in uniform the tools to do their job.
It is clear that President Biden thinks we don't need further investment in our military. If it is clear, he thinks it is OK to ask our men and women to do more with less, and that is impossible.
The world has changed a lot in 50 years. When President Biden first came to Washington in 1972, there were two superpowers, the United States of America and the Soviet Union. Back then, we spent 6.5 percent of our Federal budget on national defense--6.5 percent. Today, we spend less than 3.5 percent--a huge drop.
Secretary Austin has said that China remains the top ``pacing threat'' for our military.
Simply keeping pace with China is not enough. We have got to outpace all of our adversaries, but doing that requires smart, substantial, and strategic investment in our military--much more investment than the President and many people here in Congress publicly propose.
President Biden says he wants his administration to trust the experts on things like COVID, but this defense budget shows he doesn't apply that same principle to the Pentagon.
Here is what ADM Charles Richard, Commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, who is over our nuclear capabilities, said in last week's hearing to the Senate Armed Services Committee:
I have what I need to deter today. . . . But I need it modernized. There's no remaining margin of error.
His warning is clear. We must modernize our greatest deterrent and keep peace among our adversaries with our nuclear arsenal. The free world, meaning the United States, works and sleeps under a nuclear umbrella that hasn't been updated to the digital age.
We are also in a new space race, and it is a race we have no choice that we must win. In the next 20 years, the total cost of just arming space will be $2 trillion, and we have no choice but to win in space.
The Chinese want to weaponize this new frontier of war, and we are falling behind. We are also falling behind Russia. We have got to make a change in attitude toward what we are doing in space, and it starts right here in this room.
I heard about the growing gap between us and the Chinese when I visited the Army Materiel Command at Redstone Arsenal a few weeks ago in Huntsville, AL. These folks shared with me how desperately we need to modernize our space-based systems that contribute to our missile defense. The U.S. Army is the largest consumer of space products, and our military relies on the Materiel Command to provide the resources to train our soldiers for research, development of new equipment, and defend our Nation. They should not have to beg us or the President of the United States for the money to invest in the capabilities that we need. At the end of the day, our generals' main report to us is, ``We can afford to survive.'' Think about that quote: ``We can afford to survive.''
We also need to invest in the safety of our service men and women, especially in aviation. Currently, the average age of an airplane in our military is older than the pilots flying it.
Alabama is home to Fort Rucker, to which every Army helicopter pilot comes to get their training. When I visited the folks at Fort Rucker, they told me about the very real need for increased flight training hours for pilots, which requires more investment and prioritization in the defense budget.
Alabama stands ready to continue to build our military so we can maintain our status as a preeminent fighting force in the world. We have hundreds of contractors and more than 200,000 employed in the defense sector across our State in Alabama. Those top-notch men and women support our world-class military installations, from the shipbuilders in Mobile to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, and many places in between.
Telling our forces to fight a war with outdated tools is like giving a football team some leather helmets and decades old, poorly fitted pads and expecting them to compete against modern equipment. But that is exactly what this administration's defense budget is requesting our military to do. Frankly, it is a huge disappointment coming from our Commander in Chief. We cannot let our men and women down.
In the coming weeks, I will be working with colleagues on the National Defense Authorization Act and budget that will enable our military to do the job better today and prepare for all the challenges tomorrow. I am willing to keep fighting for the United States by investing in the men and women who keep us safe. I urge my colleagues and President Biden to do the same. Empowering Law Enforcement Act
Mr. President, on supporting our law enforcement, being a law enforcement officer is, if not the toughest, one of the toughest jobs that there is. Sometimes it is taken for granted. But it is also foundational to a functioning society like the United States. We rely on these brave men and women to protect and serve our country every day. We are lucky to have many brave and honorable officers in all of our States across the country.
I think about Officer Jonathan Espino from the Decatur Police Department in Alabama. Last year, he responded to a medical call, a man trying to bring his mom back to life, trying to perform CPR. This officer took over for the man after he arrived and began CPR. Just before medical personnel arrived, the woman's heart started beating again and she was gasping for air. This officer saved her life. It could have been you, your mom, or one of your family.
And I think of Officer Wesley Harrison of the Abbeville Police Department in Alabama. Officer Harrison received a call that a woman was in a burning building. Officer Harrison arrived on the scene and, minutes later, after going into the building, came out carrying an elderly woman out of the structure, putting his life in danger, with the help of another investigator. These police officers went above and beyond the call of duty, and they saved her life.
That is what police officers do. So when you get up every day and you put that uniform on of a law enforcement officer across this country, no matter who you are, you put that badge on your chest, you put that gun on your side, it could be the last time that you walk out your front door.
Not many jobs have those things that could happen to you. Most of us have jobs where you go, you work, and you know when you are expected to go home every day. But not police officers, especially in this day and time. Every day, we are having problems across this country where police officers are even set up. They are set up by the criminals, and they are shot and some are killed. That is what has happened to these law enforcement officers every day of their career, which is why I firmly believe we need not less but more support for law enforcement.
They need more training so they can be better at handling difficult situations, and this is especially true as we see an uptick of mental health addiction across this country. It is getting worse every day. They need targeted resources so they can recruit the best and the brightest for these important roles in the community and across our country. Let's, as a group, invest in the resources that can assure all law enforcement officers are truly good for the people across every State and across our country. We owe that to them. They keep us safe.
Right now, unless State and law enforcement agencies have an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, if a rural law enforcement sheriff or city official encounters an illegal immigrant in the course of performing their normal duties in their hometowns, they cannot arrest or detain that individual for immigration purposes.
I want you to think about that. This year we are going to have between 1 million and 2 million illegal immigrants come across our border. We don't know who they are. We don't know where they have been. We don't know if they have any skills. But they are coming across our border, and it is an amazing sight.
I spent a day down there watching this, watching our Customs and Border Protection agents not be agents or law enforcement. They were doing custodial work. They were doing things that they had to do just to process these men and women across our border.
And I say ``our border.'' I say ``coming across our border.'' I need to change that because, when I was at the border just a few weeks ago, that border does not belong to us anymore. It belongs to the cartel.
It costs $3,000 to $10,000 to come across the Rio Grande, sometimes maybe more. They are coming from countries all over the world. Some people think that they are just coming from countries south of our border--Mexico and in South America. That is totally false. They are coming from China. They are coming from the Middle East. They are coming from parts unknown, and we have no clue who these people are.
Just a few years ago--I have a farm in Auburn, AL. I raise deer. I can show you how to lose money. I have a high fence. I get a call one day from the police department--the sheriff's department--saying: Coach, we need you to come down to the sheriff's department.
So I go down. There had been a sting operation going on with a group of people who were not too far from my farm. They had a compound built. Unfortunately for their group, they had gone to Atlanta, which is an hour and a half away, to purchase some AR-15s on the street. So they were looking for gun sellers.
So, as they found out that they could buy these guns, they go back to their place just off my farm there in Auburn. Unfortunately for them, the FBI was undercover, and they followed them back and they busted them.
I can't remember the number--four, five, six--but they had a compound, and what they were doing? They were teaching people how to make bombs. Now, this is in Auburn, AL. This is not in New York City or Chicago, Orlando, or Miami. And they were building bombs and teaching people how to build bombs. Obviously, they were arrested. They were all from the Middle East and had no papers. Our country had no record of why they were here, how they got here, but they were here. We have these cells all over the country. That is the reason we need a secure border.
So right now, after they come across the border, we have what we call immigration police, better known as ICE. If you come across the border, the people who have authority over the people who come who are here illegally--ICE has the authority, not the local or State law enforcement. Now, they can work directly with them, but if State and local law enforcement come up on people who are illegal, they have no jurisdiction. That is what is wrong with our immigration laws.
Last year--or this last 5 months--ICE apprehensions have gone down 70 percent because of the rules and regulations that have been put on by this administration. We can't allow that to happen. We are losing the sanctity, the security, and the sovereignty of our country, and it is a domino effect. When they come in, they are sent all over the country.
When I left McAllen, TX, a few weeks ago to fly back, half the plane was full of people that were not Americans. They were people from other places, people who were here illegally. They were here with young kids. There were young mothers. And they were here without any family.
I sat next to a young lady who was probably 19 years old. She couldn't speak English. She had probably a 4- or 5-month-old with her. She cried the entire flight from McAllen, TX, to Houston. I helped her try to find her gate. She was going from Houston to Denver. I tried to get somebody there to explain to me and to her--to communicate--who is going to pick you up when you get there, trying to help her out.
She had no clue. She was just going to Denver with a 4- or 5-month- old. She had no clue about our country, about who to meet, who was going to feed her, what kind of job she was going to have, or what roof was going to be over her head. And if that doesn't shake you up, I don't know what does.
I love people. I have been in education all my life. I love kids. And we are doing these people wrong at the border. And if we don't wake up and smell the roses, we are going to have many, many thousands of deaths on our hands.
We all live in great societies and great homes and have money in our pocket. We have food to put in our mouth, and we take care of our kids. You imagine if this country went to heck in a hand basket and we had to go to Mexico with no money, no ID, no clue about their environment or their language. How would you make it? How would you make a living? How would you get by?
I promise you, the people down there could survive a lot better than us because they have had hard times. We are spoiled. We have everything given to us because we live in the greatest country on the face of the Earth. And I know some people are in poverty, but let me tell you something, the poorest people in our country have it a hundred times better than even the middle class in some of these other countries--the middle class.
So the Federal Government will not enforce these laws, and our State law enforcement officers should be empowered in any way possible that they can. So my Empowering Law Enforcement Act is about common sense. It is about giving the right to local and State law enforcement officers across this country to help out the illegals that have come in this country--not that we are against them. We love everybody in this country.
My God, folks, we have got to help them. We have got to help them. And if we just turn them out there with no sense of security and nobody who can help them--law enforcement cannot help them, unless it is ICE-- they are on their own. I can't imagine. I cannot imagine.
The border has been dominating the headlines, but if you talk to a lot of people, even in this room, you would think that it was a fairytale. We need to wake up and smell the roses. Everybody in this room, whether you are a Democrat, Libertarian, Republican--if you are an American, we should care about this border.
I am disappointed with our media in this country. They act like it is not even happening. They will have blood on their hands if this continues to happen.
We want to help. We want legal immigration. We are for people coming. We were all, at one point in time, immigrants. My gosh, folks, we have to wake up. We have to wake up and understand that we need to help and not hurt. If they are coming in, give us an opportunity--give us an opportunity to help, not just put them on an airplane, send them somewhere, and forget about them. That is not the way the American people do it.
There is a high school in Alabama. When I was campaigning, I went into that high school, and we were talking about certain things, curriculum, and finally the superintendent said: Coach, when you get to Washington, DC, I want you to understand this. We have a great school system here. We want to help people. We have gone from 20 percent illegal immigrants in our school to almost 80 percent in a year and a half. Eighty percent. We can't help them. We don't have enough people who speak their language. If you can't communicate, you can't teach.
If we are going to do this, if we are going to have immigrants in this country, my gosh, let's put a plan together as a group of people who should care and help these people, help them get off to a life even half of what maybe we might have. That is our job. That is our responsibility. God put us on this green Earth to help people, not to help ourselves. We are all fortunate, but there are millions and millions of people who are less fortunate than us.
So as I say today, I want to help the people who are coming across the border. I want to help them. But if we don't have dialogue and we don't have media down there processing what is going on to where we can put pressure on our public officials all over this country, we will not be able to help them, and you are going to have people dying, and you are going to have people who are going to have blood on their hands.
I am one to stand up and say that I am willing to do anything in this venue to help the people coming across that border because it will make us a better country, and that is what we need. We need a better country because we are a country of immigrants. But right now, we are a country of spoiled brats is what we are. So let's help. The media needs to help. We all need to be on board with this.
I yield my time.
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