Category: US Senate

Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Shelley Moore Capito

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), both members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced multiple grants totaling $4,031,309 from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).

“West Virginia continues to benefit from the support ARC provides, and the funding announced today will have real-world impacts on several of our communities,” Ranking Member Capito said. “Developing sites for future business use, upgrading water systems, and improving local infrastructure are just a few of the direct benefits cities and towns will see, and I’ll continue advocating for critical resources like these as ranking member of the EPW Committee.”

“The Appalachian Regional Commission’s continued investment in revitalizing and strengthening Appalachia is great news for our state and the entire region. The funding announced today will support critical upgrades to West Virginia’s water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as a project to remove and renovate abandoned buildings across the state,” Senator Manchin said. “Investing in our local communities creates good-paying jobs and spurs economic opportunity and I look forward to seeing the positive impacts of these projects for the Mountain State.”

Individual awardees: 

• Town of Oceana – $2,000,000

• Oak Hill Sanitary Board – $1,250,000

• Marshall University Research Corporation – $569,617

• West Virginia Rural Water Association (WVRWA) – $211,692

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Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven

10.14.22

BISMARCK, N.D. – At the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC today, Senator John Hoeven held a roundtable with local business leaders and discussed his efforts to address record-high inflation and alleviate supply chain disruptions impacting the nation’s economy. To this end, the senator is working to: 

• Empower greater U.S. domestic energy production to help bring down prices at the pump and reduce the cost of goods throughout the economy.
• Provide regulatory relief, streamline the permitting process for infrastructure and reduce duplicative and burdensome federal rules.
• Support farmers and ranchers to maintain the nation’s access to an affordable, high-quality food supply. This includes:
  • Gathering feedback from North Dakota producers, commodity groups and other agri-businesses as work begins on the next farm bill. 
  • Working to ensure access to reliable transportation services for agriculture producers and other North Dakota shippers.

“Record-high inflation has brought real challenges for American consumers and businesses,” said Hoeven. “In particular, President Biden’s decision to curtail U.S. oil and gas production and increase our reliance on OPEC can be felt throughout the economy, as prices climb for everything we use. At the same time, farmers, ranchers, manufacturer’s and others struggle to get their products to market due to rail and ocean shipping backlogs. North Dakota industries need relief from these issues. We continue working to provide just that, whether it’s addressing transportation issues, pushing back on costly federal regulations or unlocking the potential of America’s abundant energy resources.”

Increasing U.S. Domestic Energy Production

Hoeven is working to pass legislation he introduced that would take immediate action to increase U.S. energy production. Among other priorities, his bill prohibits any presidential moratoria on new energy leases and requires the administration to hold oil and natural gas lease sales in each state with land available for leasing. The legislation also prohibits drawdowns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) until the Secretary of the Interior issues a plan to increase oil and gas production on federal lands and waters. 

Streamlining Permitting & Reducing the Regulatory Burden

Last month, Hoeven helped introduce legislation, sponsored by Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), to comprehensively reform federal permitting and project reviews. Importantly, the bill helps protect against federal overreach by codifying Trump-era policies like:

• Modernizing and streamlining the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review and permitting process.
• The Navigable Waters Protection Rule’s definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act, ensuring private property rights are protected.
• Rules to prevent states from unreasonably blocking energy projects and those designed to streamline permitting for critical energy projects.

Writing the Next Farm Bill

Hoeven recently hosted Senator John Boozman, Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, in North Dakota for a discussion with local producers and commodity groups to discuss the following priorities for the next farm bill: 

• Maintaining strong crop insurance, the primary risk management tool for many producers.
• Improving the farm safety net, including the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.
• Strengthening livestock disaster programs, including the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Livestock Forage Program (LFP) and the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP).
• Cutting red-tape and ensuring programs are farmer-friendly. 

Ensuring Access to Reliable Transportation Services

At the same time, Hoeven is advancing efforts to ensure North Dakota shippers, including farmers and ranchers, have access to reliable rail and ocean shipping services. The senator sponsored the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, bipartisan legislation signed into law in June to update federal regulations for the global shipping industry and help American producers export their products.

Hoeven has also been pressing both the Surface Transportation Board (STB) and rail companies to resolve ongoing rail service disruptions. Earlier this year, Hoeven held meetings with STB Vice Chairman Robert Primus, STB Member Patrick Fuchs and BNSF CEO Katie Farmer to review the public accountability requirements the STB has placed on Class I railroads and discuss progress toward restoring reliable rail service in North Dakota.

 

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Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner

WASHINGTON – As the Biden administration works to establish two crucial semiconductor initiatives authorized by CHIPS and Science Act, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) are leading eight of their colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of Commerce to take full advantage of the contributions, assets, and expertise available in states nationwide.

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the Senators advocate for a decentralized “hub-and-spoke” model for the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) and the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP). This model would establish various centers of excellence around the country, as opposed to a single centralized facility that is limited to the resources and strengths of a single state or region.

“Allowing the NSTC and NAPMP to draw upon experts, institutions, entrepreneurs, and private-sector partners spread across the country would best position these programs to fulfill their missions of driving semiconductor and advanced packaging research forward, coordinating and scaling up the ongoing workforce development efforts, promoting geographic diversity, and ensuring long-term U.S. competitiveness in this critical technology sector,” wrote the lawmakers.

They continued, “Such a model would allow them to draw upon the strengths of experts, research facilities, and private-sector partnerships and consortia from across the country. This model would consist of central research facilities with centers of excellence in various locations across the country where there is particular expertise in memory, logic, packaging, testing, or other elements of the semiconductor ecosystem.”

In their letter, the Senators also note that this approach was recommended by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in a report to President Biden. This report stated, “the Secretary of Commerce should ensure the NSTC founding charter includes establishing prototyping capabilities in a geographically distributed model encompassing up to six centers of excellence (COEs) aligned around major technical thrusts.” 

The NSTC and NAPMP – designed to accelerate U.S. semiconductor production and advance research and development – were championed by Sens. Warner, Cornyn, and Kelly, who authored the CHIPS law signed by President Biden in August. In addition to Sens. Warner, Cornyn and Kelly, the letter was signed by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rob Portman (R-OH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

A copy of the letter can be found here and below.

October 14, 2022

Dear Secretary Raimondo,

As the Department of Commerce begins implementing the CHIPS and Science Act, we respectfully urge your department to consider using a decentralized, so-called “hub-and-spoke” model as the basis for the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) and the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP). Allowing the NSTC and NAPMP to draw upon experts, institutions, entrepreneurs, and private-sector partners spread across the country would best position these programs to fulfill their missions of driving semiconductor and advanced packaging research forward, coordinating and scaling up the ongoing workforce development efforts, promoting geographic diversity, and ensuring long-term U.S. competitiveness in this critical technology sector.

When Congress passed the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act in January 2021 and funding of $11 billion in the recently-passed CHIPS and Science Act, it recognized the need for increased investment in research and development (R&D). This R&D will include prototyping of advanced semiconductor tools, technology, and packaging capabilities to advance both U.S. economic competitiveness and the security of our domestic supply chain.

The NSTC was established as a way to drive this research forward, bringing together the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the private sector in a public-private consortium. Congress created the NAPMP to “strengthen semiconductor advanced test, assembly, and packaging capability in the domestic ecosystem” in coordination with the NSTC.

Incredibly diverse knowledge and expertise will be required to ensure that the NSTC and NAPMP are successful. We believe that it would be in the best interests of the long-term success of these programs if the Department of Commerce was to embrace a “hub-and-spoke” model for these programs. In fact, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended such an approach in their report to President Biden titled, “Revitalizing the U.S. Semiconductor Ecosystem.” The report states, “The Secretary of Commerce should ensure the NSTC founding charter includes establishing prototyping capabilities in a geographically distributed model encompassing up to six centers of excellence (COEs) aligned around major technical thrusts.”  Such a model would allow them to draw upon the strengths of experts, research facilities, and private-sector partnerships and consortia from across the country. This model would consist of central research facilities with centers of excellence in various locations across the country where there is particular expertise in memory, logic, packaging, testing, or other elements of the semiconductor ecosystem. Doing so would ensure that a broader range of expertise is captured by the NSTC and NAPMP and ensure entrepreneurs and researchers across the country can take advantage of these programs to drive America’s semiconductor ecosystem forward.

Thank you for your consideration and for all of the work that you and your team are doing to implement this important legislation.

Sincerely,

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Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 20^th Party Congress, which begins this Sunday in Beijing:

“As the 20^th Party Congress begins this weekend and Xi Jinping consolidates his power and preaches ‘common development for all mankind,’ the CCP’s widespread campaign of oppression and economic instability will continue. From its predatory economic behavior to the crushing of the religious and cultural autonomy of Tibet, its campaign of genocide against the Uyghur people, its unrealistic ‘zero COVID’ policies, and the imposition and exportation of digital authoritarianism – the Communist Party today under Xi is more active and more emboldened than ever before.

“Xi also continues to crush Hong Kong. Just one example is the unjust trial of Jimmy Lai, journalist and pro-democracy advocate. Not only are Mr. Lai and his associates faced with sham charges, but their multi-million dollar company Apple Daily was completely and unexpectedly seized by the Chinese government. You can’t achieve ‘common development’ when the government can take away your freedom and private assets at the drop of a hat.

“A country truly committed to ‘addressing the world’s security challenges’ does not threaten war, as Xi is doing to Taiwan. China is also providing metals and energy to prop up Russia’s grotesque war in Ukraine. Xi securing a third term will only continue this path of repression, economic coercion, and regional instability. Despite the many global events competing for our attention, there is no question that the decisions made at this meeting will have direct implications for the interests of the United States and those of our allies.”

Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Among the various celebrations and commemorations U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the highest-ranking Latino in Congress, participated in this month, he also hosted his 12th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month event celebrating the history, culture, and contributions of Latino-Americans in the United States. This year’s event included special keynote remarks from Blanca Rosa Vilchez, an acclaimed Univision journalist.

“As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to a close, we reflect on the countless contributions that Latinos and Latinas have made and continue to make, to our economy and culture,” said Sen. Menendez. “While we’ve made significant progress, we continue to confront systemic inequities that affect our community. But I’m committed to improve representation across all sectors – from the highest level of governments to corporate boardrooms. As we celebrate our rich heritage and the undeniable contributions to the fabric of American society, let us reaffirm our commitment to making sure that all Latinos, regardless of their national origin, the color of their skin or the zip code they live in, can prosper and get ahead.”

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS

The 12th annual celebration was held at Union City High School on September 18th, just days after the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. Congressman Albio Sires (D-N.J.-08) was honored at the event for his decades of public service. State Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (LD-29) was awarded with a Women’s History Month award, which she was originally honored with back in March 2020, but the Senator’s annual event was cancelled due to the pandemic. West New York Mayor Gabriel Rodriguez was emcee of this year’s event.

Other events the Senator participated in this month include a conversation with U.S. Mortgage Insurers about Latino ownership in America and he delivered remarks at the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Hall of Champions event, a USAID Hispanic Serving Institutions conference, and a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute conference.

At the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, Sen. Menendez led a bipartisan and bicameral resolution recognizing September 15^th though October 15^th, 2022 as Hispanic Heritage Month. On the same day, he also introduced a resolution to honor the athletic career and humanitarian and civic work of Roberto Clemente.

Sen. Menendez also led a bipartisan resolution recognizing 559 HSIs across the country that play an important role in educating and providing professional development opportunities to the next generation of emerging Hispanic leaders. The resolution also designated the week of September 12th, 2022 as “National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week.”

Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven

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Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio

By issuing a series of high-profile exemptions, the Biden Administration is already undermining an important new rule to keep critical chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment away from the Chinese Communist Party. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) criticized the White House’s pattern of handing out waivers that benefit Beijing at the expense of America’s national and economic security.

• “The Biden Administration’s new export restrictions may look good on paper, but rules are only worthwhile if they are enforced. Now, just days later, the White House has already handed out exemptions to many of the biggest international chipmakers — a growing list that will allow the Chinese Communist Party to keep producing at America’s expense.  

• “With every new waiver granted, last Friday’s announcement looks more and more like a toothless, ‘get tough on China’ press release.” — Senator Rubio

 
Want more? In August, Rubio called for new export control laws to expand the number of entities on U.S. trade blacklists and limit the power of big business-friendly officials at the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security to grant exemptions.