Category: US Senate

Source: United States Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen

June 08, 2021

Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) released the following statement regarding the Senate passage of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, bipartisan legislation to address the United States’ competitiveness with China and other foreign powers. Senator Van Hollen is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, both of which had jurisdiction over portions of this legislation:

“When it comes to technology, standing still means falling behind. This bipartisan bill will help boost innovation and grow jobs in Maryland and across the country while curtailing the theft of trade secrets and meeting the rising global challenge of China. I was proud to author a number of measures within this package – including provisions to prevent the theft of key U.S. technologies and identify the most important challenges in science and technology that we must tackle. I urge our House colleagues to take this critical legislation up swiftly.”

The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act includes provisions of the following proposals introduced by Senator Van Hollen:

Protecting American Intellectual Property Act

·       The Protecting American Intellectual Property Act, introduced by Senator Van Hollen and Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), mandates strong economic penalties on firms and individuals involved in stealing American intellectual property. The Senators’ bill requires sanctions on individuals and firms found to engage in, benefit from, or enable the significant and serial theft of U.S. intellectual property. The Senators’ legislation was passed unanimously by the Senate in December 2020.

National SEAL Act

·       The National SEAL Act, introduced by Senator Van Hollen and Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) will help ensure U.S. leadership in discovery and innovation and strengthen the United States’ competitive edge against China and across the global economy. The provision directs the Secretary of Commerce to enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to identify the ten most critical emerging science and technology challenges facing the United States and make recommendations for legislative or administrative action to ensure U.S. leadership in those areas.

True Reciprocity Act

·       The True Reciprocity Act, introduced by Senator Van Hollen and Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), aims to address the substantial imbalance in the relationship between the United States and China across a number of sectors, including diplomacy, trade, communications, and education. Specifically, the provision directs the Biden Administration to develop an in-depth report to Congress detailing the obstacles put in place by China to obstruct the free work of U.S. diplomats, officials, journalists, businesses, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the country and recommendations for how the U.S. can respond in pursuit of reciprocity in the bilateral relationship.

Amendment Requiring a U.S. International Development Finance Corporation Strategy on Digital Investment

·       This amendment, introduced by Senator Van Hollen in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would require the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to submit to Congress a strategy for digital investment that includes support for information-connectivity projects and prioritizes projects of strategic importance to the United States.

The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act includes provisions of the following proposals cosponsored by Senator Van Hollen: 

Supporting Early Career-Researchers Act

·       Establishes a 2-year pilot program to award grants to highly qualified early-career investigators to carry out independent research programs at IHEs, with priority given to researchers from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM and carrying out research at MSIs.

Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act

·       Authorizes Commerce (NOAA and National Institute of Standards and Technology), Agriculture, Defense, Education, Energy, Interior (U.S. Geological Survey), Health and Human Services (NIH), Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, National Science Foundation, and Transportation to provide supplemental funding to extend the duration of research awards disrupted by COVID-19; issue awards on effects of COVID-19; and provide flexibility on awards due to facility closures.

Combatting Sexual Harassment in Science Act

·       Awards grants to IHEs and nonprofit organizations, through the National Science Foundation Director, to expand research efforts to better understand the factors contributing to and consequences of sexual harassment across the STEM workforce and research enterprise and to examine best practices to reduce its frequency and impact. NSF is also required to convene a working group of Federal statistical agencies to collect national data on the prevalence, nature, and implications of sexual harassment, enter into an agreement with the Academies to update the Academies’ research conduct report to include more detailed data points, and develop policy guidelines for Federal science agencies with a coordinated effort of an interagency working group chaired by the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Source: United States Senator for Ohio Rob Portman

June 8, 2021 | Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) questioned Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the Biden administration’s decision to waive the congressionally-mandated sanctions against Nord Stream II. Portman noted that the move undermines U.S. national interests, effectively benefits Russia, and undermines the safety and security of our ally Ukraine.  Senator Portman also emphasized the importance of continued U.S. support for the NATO Membership Action Plan for Ukraine. 

A transcript of Senator Portman’s questioning can be found below and video can be found here.

Senator Portman: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here. I’ll get right down to my questions. As you know from Senator Shaheen’s comments, I was on this congressional delegation recently to Lithuania, to Ukraine, and to Georgia. We spent quite a bit of time talking about the Belarus issues in Lithuania, including meeting with the opposition leader. I want to start by just saying it won’t surprise you to hear that I strongly disagree with the administration’s position on Nord Stream 2, which is a reversal of a previous position. And waiving the congressionally mandated sanctions on Nord Stream 2 is going to have a detrimental impact on these other countries in the region, particularly Ukraine, where the pipeline goes through Ukraine, where there’s about a $3 billion fee that is badly needed in Ukraine these days. And that’s in our interests.

“But one issue that has come to my attention that I had not fully realized was the threat they’re feeling, not just from their eastern border, where Russia has recently sent 110,000 troops and left equipment there, by the way, and left most of those troops, but also on the northern border with Belarus, where Russia’s military presence is increasing. So more and more pressure on them. And again, something that perhaps isn’t fully understood is that the pipeline itself, in a way, was a way to encourage the safety of Ukraine and that Russia would be unlikely to want to destroy its own pipeline should it make a mistake and engage in further aggression towards Ukraine.

“So can you comment on why you changed your mind? I assume you have already talked about this today. I wasn’t able to listen to all the testimony. And how you answer Ukraine when they say, among other things, that no one even bothered to talk to President Zelensky about it before this decision was made.”

The Honorable Antony Blinken, Secretary of State: “Thank you very much, Senator. Yes, we did have an opportunity to talk about this a little bit before, but just to focus on it again, first, let me just say, President Biden spoke to President Zelensky today. He invited him to Washington in the coming weeks. And they had a very good conversation. Also, for the record, we did share with our Ukrainian partners our intentions when it came to the pipeline. And maybe that information didn’t get directly to President Zelensky. It certainly should have.”

Senator Portman: “Well, I think it certainly should have been communicated to him. And by the way, I do appreciate the fact that the phone call was made. Thank you. I’m sure you played a big role in that. Not as good as having Georgia and Ukraine present, at least for, you know, a 10 or 15 minute session with the NATO summit. And that’s what I think is really needed, because otherwise it just sends the wrong signal to Russia. And this is something that I know you understand well, but these signals are important and it’s the narrative and it’s the disinformation that Russia will now engage in that makes it even more difficult for Ukraine at a very difficult time.

“I won’t ask you to go into your explanation. I’ll find it from the previous questions. But I must say, I’m disappointed. And I know that you yourself had a strong view on this at one point, that Nord Stream 2 is not something that was in our interests. 

“With regard to an ambassador to Ukraine, we’ve got a good career team there, as you know. You were there recently. Thank you for making the trip. We need an ambassador. I assume you heard this from all the folks in the government in Ukraine as we did. I’ve been there with an ambassador and without an ambassador and it’s a big difference. And as you know, we came very close to getting General Dayton through the process last time. Why have you all not nominated someone? And what’s your plan on nominating an ambassador for Ukraine?”

Secretary Blinken: “Thank you, Senator. We’re trying to move forward on that as quickly as possible. And we have a process that I’m sure you’re familiar with at the State Department in terms of putting forward ambassadors. We are in the midst of that process now. And I anticipate that will happen in relatively short order. But let me just say that is a priority for us and for the president. I want to make sure that we have the strongest possible person leading the strongest possible team in Ukraine.”

Portman: “Well Mr. Secretary, when you nominate someone, I assume it will be a career person who has a good background and I’m glad you’re looking to someone who has experience because it’s a critical post. But I’ll be one of those who will be very eager to help you get that through the process as quickly as possible. I know the chair and ranking member will agree with me.  

“On the NATO MAP issue. In 2008, then-Senator Biden introduced a resolution calling for a NATO Membership Action Plan for Ukraine and for Georgia. And by the way, that was the same year as, you know, that NATO said they were going to have both Georgia and Ukraine come into NATO, it was just a question of when. That resolution passed the Senate easily. It had the support of a lot of members, including a senator named Obama, one named Clinton, one named McCain. Totally bipartisan. Does this administration still support a Membership Action Plan for Ukraine and Georgia?”

Secretary Blinken: “We support Ukraine’s membership in NATO. It currently has all of the tools it needs because since the Membership Action Plan was created, a number of other very important tools were developed to help countries prepare for possible NATO membership, including an annual program that Ukraine benefits from. In our estimation, Ukraine has all the tools that it needs to continue to move forward in that direction. And so we are working with it on a virtually a daily basis. MAP itself would have to be done in full consensus with other NATO members.

I think there are some countries that are less supportive than others of that right now. But irrespective of MAP, Ukraine has the tools it needs to move forward toward being ready for membership in the future. The other piece of this, though, is, as you know and given all the time and investment you’ve made on this, as important as its preparations militarily, strategically, is the preparation when it comes to having good governance and dealing with the aggression that’s eating at Ukraine from within, and that is corruption, and a system that works effectively to deal with it. So what we also need to see from Ukraine is continued progress on that level as well.”

Senator Portman: “Well, and of course, there’s been enormous progress made. We look back only to 2014 when that began and the electoral changes, the judicial reforms and others, some of the economic reforms have been substantial. And I agree more needs to be done and more has to be done, frankly, I think, in order for NATO membership to be completed. But I would hope as I said earlier about the narrative that we’re not backing off on the Membership Action Plan, understanding that you’ve got to convince the other NATO members to go along. The United States tends to have significant influence in NATO and we’re their champion. We are the country they look to and they are under enormous pressure right now. This buildup on the eastern border is something that mystifies everybody except that Russia must have some designs on continuing their aggression and holding onto Crimea and the Donbas, and then again, what’s happening in Belarus is an additional very serious concern. So my time is probably over. But the Global Engagement Center that we talked about, and we look forward to following up with you about the Global Engagement Center budget requests.”

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Source: United States Senator for Ohio Rob Portman

Source: United States Senator for Ohio Rob Portman

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65 years after creation of TRICARE, Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act would bring military insurance in line with private plans

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June 8, 2021 | Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced the Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act, bipartisan legislation that would allow young adults to stay on their parents’ TRICARE plan until they are 26 without a premium increase – a critical lifeline as our nation works to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation for TRICARE was laid 65 years ago this week through enactment of the Dependents Medical Care Act. Today, TRICARE is a Department of Defense health insurance program that serves 9.6 million active duty and retired servicemembers, and their families. The Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act would bring TRICARE plans in line with private insurance plans. A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in January by Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) and Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL).

“Servicemembers and their families deserve the same access to health care benefits as civilians,” said Senator Portman. “This bill would allow for people under the age of 26 to stay on their family’s TRICARE plan, just as the ACA allows for in civilian healthcare, saving some military families hundreds of dollars a month in costly premiums.”

“Servicemembers and their families have earned high-quality, affordable health care, and there is no reason that TRICARE shouldn’t offer the same benefits as private insurance. Allowing children of servicemembers to stay on their parents’ insurance until they’re 26 will help countless military families and couldn’t be more important as we come out of this pandemic and our economy recovers,” said Senator Kelly.

“Under current law, most military dependents are only allowed to remain on their parents’ insurance policy until age 21, while non-military dependents are afforded the opportunity to remain on insurance until age 26. It isn’t right that simply growing up in a military family leaves these young people on unequal ground with their civilian counterparts,” said Senator Murkowski. “The 21-26 year old population already faces high unemployment rates and now in light of COVID-19, people of all ages are facing additional financial strain. This legislation will allow military dependents to stay on their parent’s insurance plan until they are 26 without a premium increase — a critical lifeline as our nation works to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“All three of my brothers served in the military, and I understand the incredible sacrifices servicemembers and their families make every day to keep our country safe. It is our job to ensure military families have access to good, affordable health care, and that includes the children of servicemembers up to the age of 26,” said Senator Warren.

“Ensuring our nation’s servicemembers and their families have access to the same affordable health care as folks with private insurance is a no-brainer,” said Senator Tester. “The fact is that children of servicemembers feel the unique impacts of their parents’ military careers and need the same access to care as their civilian peers. Our bipartisan bill allows every military child under the age of 26 to continue receiving steady coverage under their parents’ plan, enabling these young adults to finish school or start their careers without worrying about what happens if they get sick.”

“Today, most young adults either can’t afford coverage, or their employer doesn’t provide them with coverage. This puts TRICARE beneficiaries at a bigger disadvantage as their age cut off is much earlier. I am thankful to Senator Kelly for introducing this important legislation, which will make a big difference for my family and so many others,” said Rebecca Villalpando, U.S. Navy Veteran and Commissioner of the Arizona Veterans Advisory Commission.

“While serving in the Army for 22 years, I met many military families and was always impressed by their commitment to service. It would only be fair to support all eligible family members with the extension of TRICARE healthcare benefits up to the age of 26. All servicemembers sacrifice so much in defense of this great country; it makes moral sense to fully support the Healthcare Fairness for Military Families Act of 2021,” said Dora Peralta, US Army (Retired MSG), Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 836.

Under current law, TRICARE dependents can stay on their parents’ policy until age 21, unless dependents meet specific requirements that would extend coverage only until age 23 or out of school. The 21-26 year old population has a high unemployment rate, and without this coverage military dependents are left on unequal footing compared to their civilian counterparts, who can stay on a parent’s plan until age 26. This legislation would bring equity to TRICARE beneficiaries by bringing eligibility for dependents in line with that offered by private insurance plans. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), children up to age 26 can remain on their parents’ health insurance plans at no additional out-of-pocket cost to the dependent.

The legislation is supported by the Air Force Sergeants Association; Army Aviation Association of America; Association of Military Surgeons of the United States; Blinded Veterans of America; Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service, Inc.; Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States; Fleet Reserve Association; Gold Star Wives of America; Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA); Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America; Marine Corps League; Marine Corps Reserve Association; Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America; National Military Family Association; Non Commissioned Officers Association of the USA; Reserve Organization of America; Service Women’s Action Network; Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors; United States Army Warrant Officers Association; USCG Chief Petty Officers Association; Veterans of Foreign Wars; VetsFirst United Spinal Association; and Vietnam Veterans of America.

For the full bill text, click here.

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Source: United States Senator for Ohio Rob Portman

June 8, 2021 | Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – During a Senate Finance Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) spoke about the need to modernize the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and ensure the agency has adequate staffing to provide effective and efficient taxpayer services. When IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig appeared before the committee in April they discussed the challenges the agency faces in adapting to the growing use of cryptocurrencies. Portman inquired as to whether the IRS had the necessary authority to issue appropriate regulations in relation to cryptocurrency information reporting or whether congressional authority was needed.

In their proposed budget, the IRS has requested funding to implement the administration’s 10-year plan which calls for the IRS to expand its workforce by 15 percent per year, nearly doubling the size of the IRS in a decade. Portman questioned whether the IRS has the ability to train a larger workforce and if there is a qualified labor pool big enough to fill these new positions.

A transcript of Senator Portman’s questioning can be found below and video can be found here.

Senator Portman: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner, welcome back. We had a good conversation with you only about a month and a half ago, and had the opportunity to talk about a number of these issues, but in terms of compliance, you and I had a discussion about the need for better taxpayer service. Senator Cardin and I wrote this bill called the Protecting Taxpayers Act, some of which is now being implemented and I appreciate that – it’s part of the Taxpayer First Act – but this modernization effort is never-ending and the challenges are more and more sophisticated. And I want to talk about cryptocurrency for a second. We talked about digital assets and cryptocurrency back in April when you were before us and you talked about the low visibility of these taxpayers and the importance of their compliance in closing the tax gap. I talked about how we were working on potential legislation to address that. I want to ask you a couple questions about it, I noticed in the budget that you have $41 million to expand cybercrimes efforts and $32 million for crypto-related enforcement operations. You’ve also proposed additional information reporting for businesses that receive crypto assets with a fair market value of more than $10,000. In addressing the issues related for information reporting for cryptocurrency, do you feel that the IRS has the necessary authority to issue appropriate regulations?”

The Honorable Charles P. Rettig, Commissioner, IRS: “I think we need Congressional authority. We get challenged, as you are aware, we get challenged frequently and to have a clear dictate from Congress on the authority for us to collect that information is critical and the most recent market cap in that world, in the crypto world, exceeded $2 trillion in more than 8,600 exchanges worldwide. And by design, most crypto virtual currencies are designed to stay off the radar screens, so we will be challenged. Right now what we do is we issue John Doe summonses and I think it was highly public, we recently did that. We’re very active in both the civil and the criminal enforcement world. We do need additional tools and we absolutely need additional resources.”

Portman: “Well I appreciate that answer and as you know, we want to work with you. We’ve circulated some ideas, including to some of the stakeholders, and we want to be sure that we get your input on that as it relates to cryptocurrencies and digital assets.”

Commissioner Rettig: “We would appreciate the opportunity to work with you.”

Portman: “Thank you. On the issue of staffing, I support more resources to the IRS. I have for years, since I was involved in the reform efforts a couple decades ago. And for my small business constituents back in Ohio and individuals who are having to struggle with this over-complicated tax code, you want smart, effective people at the IRS to work with. The professionalism is important, the training is important. One of my concerns is you are asking for a lot of new people and it takes a while to train them up. I see that you have asked for the hiring of at least 5,000 new personnel for enforcement alone but you say it should not exceed a manageable 15 percent per year. Over 10 years, it seems that probably would double the IRS workforce, so do you have the ability to train these people up and to make them effective? And second, do you have the workforce out there to tap into? In other words, are you having trouble hiring people?”

Commissioner Rettig: “We are actually looking at hiring and we may have indicated earlier, we started developing a plan months ago. We went a little bit at-risk if you will. So if we receive legislation, we’ll be able to implement quickly upon that receipt of legislation. Our view, and my view, is we’re looking at different categories of individuals. We’re not looking necessarily as one might think for individuals for less than 5 or 10 years of experience on the outside, we’re looking for that category certainly, but we’re also looking for the mid-career people, maybe aged 35-45. We’re also looking for people at my age category and those last two categories can come in and hit the ground running, both in terms of managing a team of, if you will, examiners if they’re on the enforcement side, as well as being instructors – and we need private sector people to come in and help us in terms of instructing, particularly in the partnerships and virtual currency world – come in and serve as instructors to the mid and lower, lesser experienced if you will, folks. So we have a variety of plans. We are also working on our outreach to different communities, not just the professional communities, but colleges, institutions, and others. We are also working on facilities, were we would place facilities with an increase in personnel and I think the committee may be aware that proudly, we recently opened a facility in Puerto Rico. For a first time in a long time we received more applicants, more qualified applicants, than we posted for positions and the benefit is the folks there, many of them were also multilingual. We’re also looking at opening facilities in certain underserved communities and we’re already on the ground in those communities looking to see what we can do in terms of opening facilities, should we receive legislation. I give you that as an indication that we are not waiting for legislation, we will be ready.”

Portman: “But you’ll need the appropriations of the additional funding to be able to follow through on those?”

Commissioner Rettig: “Absolutely, without the funding…”

Portman: “Well thank you, Mr. Chairman, the oversight responsibilities of this committee are such as that it would be good to continue to have this discussion and to be sure that were on board with regard to the plans.”

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