Marsha Blackburn

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, before I begin, I really want to take a moment to thank our friend and Majority Leader McConnell for the manner in which he has worked to make this trial run so smoothly. I also thank our colleagues for their perseverance and, of course, the staff that has worked so diligently and has been so patient as we have worked through this process. The impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump was a moment in history that should have been shrouded in the gravity of its potential consequences. Instead, day by day, we endured hyperbole in its most unserious form. It is easy to forget that America's appetite for scandal fades quickly once you exit the beltway around Washington, DC, but I encourage my colleagues to recognize that the enthusiasm with which the House managers have sought President Trump's removal is completely and inarguably divorced from reality in the heartland. As it appeared to my fellow Tennesseans, the intentional mishandling of the House of Representatives' constitutional duty was nothing more than an attempt to prelitigate the 2020 election. That is correct--to prelitigate the 2020 election and to remove President Trump from office and thereby remove him from the ballot. Our partisan friends had decided on the outcome that was necessary for them. They just needed to find a path that was going to get them there. So they had their outcome. They needed a path. We saw House Democrats freeze out the President's counsel, refusing them an opportunity to fairly participate in the House Intelligence Committee's investigation. House Manager Schiff created the supposed conversations he falsely attributed to the President and waited to see if his assertions would be questioned or if they were going to be accepted as fact. Let me tell you something. I am a mom and I am a grandmother. I will tell you this. I don't think there is any mother on Earth who would stand for it if her child did such a thing to a coach or a teacher or a Scout leader or a minister. They would not stand for it, and yet the Senate was expected to indulge this unseemly behavior. This is something that is appropriate that we question. The House managers relied heavily on the assertions of a whistleblower but refused to reveal anything about the circumstances that led to the whistleblower's report. So here we are at the end of the trial. Do we know if the whistleblower is a person or if it is a group of people? Does the report represent a consensus of ideas or just biased opinion? Was it prepared by an individual or prepared by a committee? No one can answer that question except House Manager Schiff and his staff from the House Intel Committee, but that is not something they wanted to come down and talk about. When it became clear that the White House would push back on witness subpoenas seeking testimony protected by executive privilege, House Democrats chose to move on rather than fight as hard as they could for their case. They looked at those subpoenas, thought about the evidence that might come from them, and decided: not worth the trouble. Instead, they tried to rely on the pandemonium created by a historic moment to convince their colleagues and the American people that justice demanded a do-over--a do-over for the House impeachment. When that strategy failed, they blamed the Members of the U.S. Senate for our unwillingness to go in and clean up their mess. This wasn't a pressure tactic; it was a manipulation tactic aimed right at the hearts of the American people. Unfortunately for the House managers, the people see with dazzling clarity what has transpired within the four walls of this Chamber. The House managers have asked us to go on the record and rubberstamp history's first--history's first--impeachment inquiry to be filed solely on the basis of partisan politics--first one. They have asked us to ignore how quickly they moved to impeach President Trump and to not compare their timeline to the timelines from the Nixon or the Clinton impeachment. Colleagues, I did my constitutional due diligence. I have read the House managers' brief and those reports prepared by the House Republicans and the President's counsel. I saw it all in black and white, and it was my due diligence that has led me to support acquittal. Now, when I was serving in the House, there were times when I became frustrated with President Bush or, then, with President Obama. And when we, as Members of the House, at that point in time were faced with President Obama's apology tour, his senseless pursuit of government-run healthcare, and his involvement in the Fast and Furious scandal or the DACA executive memo, my colleagues and I discussed the possibilities of impeachment: What are we going to do about this? We looked at all the facts, and ultimately we chose a different path, a different path that respected the American people. We litigated our policy differences in the courts, where those battles belong. So, Madam President, I ask my colleagues that, when the time comes, they exercise the same restraint. I implore every Member of this body to recognize the supremacy of the Constitution over partisan spin. Vote to acquit. Vote to reject the two Articles of Impeachment. I yield the floor. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chief Justice.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I send to the desk a question on behalf of myself and Senators Lee and Johnson.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chief Justice, I send a question to the desk on my behalf. I am also joined by Senators Loeffler, Cramer, Lee, and McSally.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, the impeachment trial of President Trump has devolved into a parade of last-minute red herrings meant to distract this body from the issue at hand. The near-hysteria over books, boredom, and beef jerky has provided a convenient vehicle for the House managers, who are trying their best to peddle outrage as evidence. We learned nothing new from the House managers' presentations, but outside the Senate Chamber, they have been doing their best to convince us that we are one ``bombshell'' away from, at last, having all the elements needed for a speedy conviction. These efforts to keep unfounded allegations in the limelight have not gone unnoticed by those who should be commanding our attention: the American people. Outside the beltway, Americans have grown weary of trials and talking points. They have heard enough, and they have had enough. Taking that feedback into consideration, I thought it might be helpful to offer an update on what we could be focusing on instead of this farcical partisan grudge match. Behind the scenes, we are limping along as best we can, but our focus is necessarily distracted from regular business. Before our time was monopolized by impeachment, the Senate was making wonderful progress on filling the Federal bench with well-qualified, constitutionalist judges. When we weren't interviewing those nominees, members of the Judiciary Committee spent time hearing testimony on privacy, competition, and the crisis on our southern border. Before impeachment, Senators serving on the Veterans' Affairs Committee were hard at work considering a comprehensive mental health bill that would strengthen veteran mental health and suicide prevention programs. My own IMPROVE Act is part of this effort. We were also working on the IT Reform Act, which would improve information technology projects at the VA, and the Network of Support Act, which would help VA officials guide veterans through the emotional upheaval of transitioning between Active Duty and civilian life. We were doing all of this in addition to our continued oversight of the VA MISSION Act, and check-ins on struggling clinics such as the one in Murfreesboro, TN, which just reduced bed space for veterans struggling with opiate addiction and thoughts of suicide. This Thursday, we have an Armed Services Committee hearing on the U.S.' role in AFRICOM. When I visited with our troops in Djibouti and Somalia at the end of last year, I saw firsthand the importance of our advisory support on the African continent. Drawing down resources or personnel in AFRICOM would harm our position as we compete with Russia and China--but we won't have much time to discuss this potentially disastrous change. Every day, work grinds to a halt at 1:00 p.m., so that we can sit in our seats in the Senate Chamber and focus on the impeachment trial. We could be paying attention to the full-blown health crisis plaguing our rural communities. Since 2010, 118 rural hospitals have shut their doors. Fourteen of those facilities were in my home State of Tennessee. Between these hospital closures, and high drug prices, there is enough work to be done in the health care sector alone to keep us busy through Christmas. Mister President, if Tennessee is a good test group for the rest of the Nation--and it usually is--I can tell you that when asked to choose between discussing impeachment politics and real world problems, the American people are much more worried about trade, transportation, and manufacturing, and how evolving policy initiatives will affect prices at the grocery store. I would encourage my colleagues to remember the cost of indulging these proceedings and to listen to their constituents back home and not the breathless coverage that dominates the 24 hour news cycle.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, today the Senate begins in earnest our efforts to determine if our colleagues in the House of Representatives have compiled sufficient evidence to justify removing a sitting President from office. This is no small task, and it will be made more difficult by the swirl of commentary that has engulfed the impeachment inquiry since well before it was officially initiated. Much has been made of our debate over the inclusion of additional witness testimony into the prosecution's case against President Donald John Trump--so much, in fact, that many of my colleagues are inclined to allow that testimony in the name of bipartisan compromise. How misguided of them. Such a move would open the floodgates to a parade of politically-motivated testimony, a protracted legal battle, and ultimately unjustified impeachment proceedings in the U.S. Senate. The Democratic Members of the House of Representatives spent a great deal of their time and energy holding hearings, interviewing witnesses, and putting together what they have insisted is their best, ironclad case against President Trump. I encourage my colleagues to resist allowing an additional, cathartic airing of grievances and instead accept that it is now the Senate's turn to listen to the facts as they are presented, deliberate, and cast a final vote.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, over the past few months, we have spent a great deal of time in this Chamber discussing our adversarial relationships with other countries, but today I want to draw attention to a truly great economic and foreign policy victory negotiated with one of our adversaries. In fact, it was signed just a few hours ago. When it comes to trade, we have devoted most of our energy to drafting and promoting the benefits of the USMCA, but we have also gotten a great start on two other trade deals--those that were negotiated with Japan that went into effect January 1 and also with China, signed today. We are looking forward to this Chamber passing the USMCA this week and sending it to the President's desk. Back home in Tennessee, what I hear from our agriculture community is, we want trade--consistent, dependable, respectful, and fair trade. Entrepreneurs depend on consistent, productive trade relations to keep their businesses up and running and to put food on their employees' tables. These Tennesseans play a special role in the U.S. relationship with China. In 2017, we exported $2.7 billion worth of goods to China. That is from the State of Tennessee. Imports from China accounted for 7.3 percent of Tennessee's GDP in 2018. They are our third largest trading partner, after Canada and Mexico. Let me tell you, when things go south with the Chinese, Tennesseans feel the heat because of our ag trade. They are really paying attention to the ins and outs of our dealings with China, the good and the bad. They see the news stories about China's behavior in Hong Kong and Taiwan, about spying, about intellectual property theft, and about those shady apps that children have probably downloaded onto their phones and their tablets. Yes, indeed, they are rightfully concerned. They are concerned because they see all of this in the context of their day-to-day lives, and they know that diplomatic tensions have just as much potential to derail their operations as economic tensions. Make no mistake--today's signed deal with China is critical because it couples desperately needed relief with backstops that will help to keep our friends in Beijing in line. What does that look like? China agreed to increase purchases of American products and services by at least $200 billion over the next 2 years, which will reduce our trade deficit and take care of our farmers, our energy producers, and our manufacturers. They committed to reducing nontariff barriers to agriculture products and ease restrictions on the approval of new biotechnology. American producers are covered in terms of free-flowing goods and when it comes to the nuts and bolts of the business of innovation. The phase one deal includes stronger Chinese legal protections for patents, trademarks, and copyrights. We wrote in improved criminal and civil procedures to combat online infringement and the exchange of pirated and counterfeit goods. These are good signs for our creative community in Tennessee. It contains commitments by China to follow through on pledges to eliminate pressure on foreign companies to transfer technology to Chinese firms before they are given market access. I will tell you, we are going to be keeping an eagle eye on this one as we move to the phase two negotiations. It also includes new pledges by China to refrain from competitive currency devaluations and exchange rate manipulation. All of this is covered by enforcement measures U.S. officials can trigger if we discover Beijing is acting in bad faith. I will tell you, so many in our agriculture community have said of these enforcement mechanisms that this is what is going to make a difference in their ability to count on trade. Now, these protections are more than just an ace up our sleeve; it is peace of mind for every American who depends on trade to support their family. So phase one is in the books. What is next? More of the nuts and bolts that I just talked about. If you have been following the past few years of our relations with China, you know that businesses trying to deal with Beijing run the constant risk of losing control over their own inventions. Intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers have defined China's relationship with foreign businesses. This is what they complain about. They steal those inventions and sometimes actually beat them or match them moving into the marketplace. In phase two, we will be negotiating a deal that ensures participation in the Chinese market is not dependent on these unbalanced arrangements. Our efforts will be backed by previously passed legislation that enhanced our controls on the export of new technology--like advanced robotics and artificial intelligence--and strengthened reviews of foreign investment in the United States. We know it is an uphill battle. We certainly believe it can be done. I want to make it clear that no trade deal is ever going to be perfect. It is impossible. However, the first phase of this is a good, solid first step. We are taking care of our producers, taking care of our workers, and opening up the flow of goods and services. We are protecting our innovators in a way that will allow them to prospect in one of the globe's most competitive markets without risking the loss of their intellectual property. We are giving business owners and families peace of mind in the form of enforcement mechanisms that will kick in the moment officials determine our relationship with China is about to go off the rails. Today, our President signed this deal on behalf of the American people, and I encourage my colleagues to get involved now as we move forward with discussions for phase two. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, we are in the wake of another global event or happening, if you will. No matter what it is, we always have people who come in on the back side and, as I say, are a bunch of armchair quarterbacks and Monday morning quarterbacks, and they are trying to put their spin on what should have been done and what wasn't done. I think that is probably a pretty good analogy when we think about the football game that took place last night. What ought to be a serious discussion about national security or human rights inevitably devolves into a political argument about who should be allowed to score the most points off the blood and bravery of people who are fighting half a world away. Here is a suggestion for each of us: In times of conflict or unrest, instead of looking to the pundits and listening to a lot of pundits, why don't we look to the people themselves who are involved in these conflicts? After the U.S. strike that took out Qasem Soleimani, armchair quarterbacks calling plays for the left picked up on what the propaganda arm of the Iranian regime was selling. Bear in mind, I just said the propaganda arm. After Tehran downed its own jet though, shouldn't the conversation have pivoted to the outraged protests not against Americans but against the Iranian Government? After all, those protests were fueled not by the act of one man but by months of domestic turmoil and decades of brutal repression by the Iranian regime against the people of Iran. Of course, it didn't pivot. The false narrative of the mad American President prevailed, even as the people of Iran railed against the brutality of the ayatollahs and the inexplicable recklessness of their own military. They were saying one thing, and the media said something else. In a stunning display of bravery, the people of Iran risked their lives--yes, they are risking their lives. In November, 304 got shot taking to the streets. The Revolutionary Guard brought about by Soleimani were shooting this week at people who were protesting and begging--begging for a little bit of freedom. It is amazing to me that it doesn't get acknowledged. The decisive elimination of Soleimani exposed the regime's extreme vulnerability on the global stage, and I think the ayatollahs in Iran know this. This is why we saw them respond with threats against America at large. It is why they strong-armed the Iraqi Parliament into its foolish stand against American troops, why they arrested the United Kingdom's Ambassador for attending a peace vigil, and why they violently retaliated against civilian speech. They know they are losing this argument. Tehran failed at silencing dissent. Their goal is to convince the rest of the world to ignore the protests of the Iranian people. Authoritarianism is not bound to one particular region or ideology. As we saw last year, the repressive behavior of Communist China backfired on officials in Beijing. In their case, there wasn't an airstrike or an incursion. There was just a simple but disastrous piece of legislation that would have jeopardized the already-strangled human rights of every citizen in Hong Kong--not just a few but everybody, blanket coverage. Don't be caught speaking out against China and against Beijing. The fallout from that violation is now legendary. Millions took to the streets on behalf of democracy and self-determination and turned Beijing's agenda on its head. Their protests captured the attention of the entire world and inspired others struggling to survive under Communist rule to speak up. This past Saturday, the people of Taiwan poured some additional salt on Beijing's wounds by delivering a stunning electoral rebuke against the Communist Party. Taiwanese citizens cast a record number of ballots, pulling the pro-democracy ruling party out of a 2-year skid and validating President Tsai's embrace of anti-Beijing protesters in East Asia. Let me tell you, China knows exactly who is to blame for this, but in official statements they are writing off the results of the election as a mere fluke, and they are blaming--get this--foreign interference for their humiliation. They couldn't possibly be responsible for this. I have to tell you, the election may be over, but you can count on China to find other ways to coerce Taipei into submission. They will likely continue to pressure Taiwanese businessmen and workers living on the mainland to toe the party line and engage in more military drills around Taiwan, with the goal of muscling away diplomatic support. It is all part of their playbook. Threats gilded in official policy are standard operating procedure for authoritarian regimes, but overt crackdowns on dissent still loom large over the heads of their people. Last December, China threatened to sanction the non-governmental organizations that backed pro- democracy legislation in Hong Kong. On Sunday, they suddenly refused entry to activists from Human Rights Watch without even pretending to provide a plausible explanation. Imagine that. They have moved so far in repression, they wouldn't even let Human Rights Watch in the country to see what it is that they are doing to their people. Make no mistake, regimes like those in China or Iran are vicious and powerful, but right now, they are running on nothing but fear of their very own people, their own citizens. The fear is what drives them to repression, abuse, and murder, but time and again they forget that someone is always watching. The same technology that allows them to spy on and manipulate their adversaries allows freedom fighters to tweet, to live stream, and broadcast some of these crimes that are being committed by these oppressive regimes. The people of Iran and China have flung themselves onto the frontline of a global fight for individual rights and individual freedom, but don't neglect those risking life and limb in places like Lebanon, where peaceful opposition to authorities is labeled as criminal defamation-- imagine that, criminal defamation if you peacefully oppose the authorities--or in Morocco, where journalists have been jailed with impunity for unveiling corruption. You find corruption, you report it in the press, and they lock you up for telling the truth--or Burma or India or Algeria. There are dozens more examples. If you want to understand what is happening, look to the people. Listen to them and pay attention to their history as they seek to write their future. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I yield to the Senator.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, let me begin by saying that Paul Ray is a Tennesseean and that we are delighted he is being confirmed to the OIRA. He is qualified and will serve our Nation well in the future just as he has in the past.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, for 3 years now, I have been hard at work alongside an administration that prioritizes filling vacancies on the Federal bench with smart, dedicated, constitutionalist judges. When I am at home in Tennessee, that is what people tell me they want to see--constitutionalist judges, not activist judges. I know that I have sounded like a broken record in my reiterating just how important it is to keep these judicial nominations moving through the Committee on the Judiciary and moving to the floor, but I will tell you this: I think it is a message that needs to be repeated day in and day out because the American people and, as I said, Tennesseans know that this should be a priority, for this is how we continue to protect freedoms from generation to generation. Since 2017, we have confirmed over 180 nominees, and even in the face of partisan bickering, we have no plans at all to slow that pace. We were in the Committee on the Judiciary today, hearing again from the nominees whom we will move forward and bring to this floor for confirmation. I want to shine light on a court that doesn't get a whole lot of attention, but let me tell you that we would be in real trouble if we did not have this one. I have come to the floor to support President Trump's latest nominee to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims--Eleni Maria Roumel. I first met Eleni when she joined the nonpartisan Office of General Counsel for the House of Representatives. During her 6-year tenure, Eleni advised those of us who were members of the Energy and Commerce Committee as we faced some challenging and high-profile legal matters and as we looked at laws that were going to affect the American people and how they lived their lives every single day. The Energy and Commerce Committee in the House has wide jurisdiction. Of course, energy policy, commerce and trade, healthcare, manufacturing, pro sports, privacy, and the internet all come under that jurisdiction. So Eleni served us well in providing advice. I witnessed her commitment to bipartisanship as she served both sides of the aisle with the same quality of representation. She did it all while she was pregnant with her son, John, who is now 2 years old, and as someone who has been a working mom, I know the challenges that this presents. From her time as a truly excellent student at Tulane Law, to her work in the private sector and beyond, Eleni's professionalism has elevated her above the rest of the pack. She practiced intellectual property law and earned a promotion to partner as she represented both pro bono clients and publicly traded Fortune 500 companies. She taught and mentored students as an adjunct professor at Charleston Law School. She solidified her reputation as a lawyer committed to the rule of law in her work handling government oversight of Federal agencies. These cases were vital to the safeguarding of the separation of powers and emphasized the supremacy of the Constitution as what it is--the law of the land. In her 19-year career, she has appeared before 20 different Federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and just last year, she was elevated to the role of Deputy Counsel to Vice President Mike Pence. I am truly honored to have supported Eleni Roumel's nomination to the Court of Federal Claims. She will be an excellent role model on the bench, especially to young women in the legal profession. I encourage my colleagues to take a look at her resume, get to know her, and then join me in wholeheartedly supporting her confirmation. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I have come to the floor today to start this new year by really encouraging my friends on each side of the aisle to approach this coming legislative session with some optimism because there are some good things we can do. We come to the floor and we hear about Iran and we hear about Soleimani. There are differences of opinion there. I am one of those. I represent a major military post, and I know that so many of our men and women in uniform said: You know what, this should have been done long ago. This is a known terrorist who has conducted terrorist attacks on six continents, even tried it here in the United States. They felt like the President was justified. We hear about impeachment, and of course we know it has been widely reported that our friends across the aisle and over in the House started 3 years ago trying to find something they could impeach Donald Trump on--just something. It was going to be emoluments, or it was going to be collusion, or it was going to be coercion, or it was going to be Russia, or it was going to be bribery. There had to be something there because, you know what, they just don't like the guy. They don't like him. So they have been at it nonstop. They let that get in the way of some good things that people would like to get done. For the next few minutes, I would like to encourage us to think beyond subpoenas and trial and negativity and witness statements and instead focus in on three things that are right in front of us: two successfully negotiated trade deals that will benefit farmers, manufacturers, and small business owners and producers not only in my State of Tennessee but across the entire country. In the Volunteer State alone, we have 967 foreign-based businesses, and they have invested $37.3 billion in capital improvements, and currently they employ more than 147,000 Tennesseans. That is good for our State. Trade is important to us in Tennessee, insourcing these jobs. Of particular importance to us is maintaining great trade relations with Japan. Do you know what is so amazing? We have so many people who didn't even know that the Japan trade agreement went into effect on January 1. The mainstream media was so busy focused on impeachment and other things that they didn't even realize this was a deal that will do a good job for us. Our former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, who is a Tennessean, Ambassador Hagerty, had negotiated this before he left. This recently agreed-to Japan trade deal will support 40,000 jobs that are already provided by Japanese companies. The new deal will also solidify Tennessee's relationships with Japanese partners like Nissan North America, Toyota, Bridgestone, Nidec, and Denso Manufacturing--all with a presence in Tennessee and all employing Tennesseans. It is going to create greater market access to Tennessee's agriculture products, specifically pork, cheese, and wine. It will eliminate or lower tariffs on 7.2 billion dollars' worth of U.S. exports, including beef, which will put Tennessee and American farmers on a level playing field with their competitors. That is a good thing for our agricultural community. I cannot overstate how big a win this is for Tennesseans and for Americans, and there is more on the horizon.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, this past Sunday, hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Hong Kong to remind Beijing that totalitarianism will no longer go unchallenged. I was reading a New York Times article about this protest when I came across a particularly striking quote. When asked why she had taken to the streets, a 24-year-old biology researcher named Alice said: We want Hong Kong to continue being Hong Kong. We don't want to become like China. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record this article on the Hong Kong human rights protest, that appeared in the December 9 edition of the New York Times and that depicts a beautiful picture of what people will do for the cause of freedom.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, Alice's statement is loaded with historical context and correctly implies that what we are seeing now is the culmination of a slow but sure violation of the laws and norms that once defined Hong Kong's semiautonomous relationship with mainland China. These protests erupted after what Beijing argued was a simple proposed change to existing extradition laws, but the people saw it for what it was--a thinly veiled threat to Hong Kong's relative autonomy. It wasn't a takeover. It was just that foot in the door, and China is nearly unparalleled in its ability to turn a foot in the door into a permanent existing condition. Sometimes their power plays are very obvious, and sometimes they are not. On my recent trip to Djibouti, I saw firsthand the influence of China's debt-trap diplomacy. Here is what debt-trap diplomacy is. It is a fancy way of saying that China has increased its influence around the world by offering to struggling nations that they are going to hold their debt in exchange for preferential treatment on trade or maybe a physical presence such as a port or other sweetheart deals. In Djibouti City, I saw this tactic run wild. Now China would say that what they have done is to help the Djiboutians create a ``smart city'' in the Horn of Africa, but in reality they have negotiated their way into creating a full-blown surveillance state. Cameras are everywhere--on every corner and every street, with 24/7 footage--and guess where that footage lands. Beijing. They have even tried to point one of those cameras at our military base, right at the entrance to Camp Lemonnier. Debt-trap diplomacy is bold. It is obvious. If that is all you see of China, it is easy to assume that all of their tactics are that bold and obvious. As I said, they will go after you in obvious areas and also in areas that are not as obvious. Even domestically, China's surveillance state is notoriously the opposite of covert. Their domestic ``smart city'' program has outpaced that of every other country on the face of the Earth and the majority of their $70-plus billion budget for that project has been spent not on intelligent power grids or traffic management systems or on clean air or clean water, but it is being spent on surveilling their own citizens. The greatest danger China has created by engaging in brash and at times absurd surveillance and suppression is that it has created a false sense of security here in the West when we don't see the evidence of what they are doing. In the United States we are not particularly vulnerable to their debt trap, but we are vulnerable to less obvious attempts to get that foot in the door. In some form or another, most Americans have allowed Big Tech to take hold of a portion of their lives. Smartphones and cloud storage once were very novel, but now we assume that even simple transactions come predicated by an additional condition. Everything is free as long as the app or the service has access to--guess what--your data. They want to own your virtual you. Popular apps like TikTok, whose parent company is based in China, have left me with more questions than answers about the platform's business practices, privacy protections, and ideological loyalty to the Communist Party. Consider that the U.S. Army has barred soldiers from using TikTok. Everybody needs to understand this. The U.S. Army has said: You cannot use TikTok. This very body has expressed our concerns on a bipartisan basis with the platform's censorship and data handling practices. It is no wonder that TikTok's chief executive officer canceled this week's scheduled meetings here in DC with Members of this body. The fact that millions of Americans, especially our American children, continue to offer their personal data to TikTok is beyond disturbing, but we will not be able to roll back the creeping surveillance state without setting our own standards for what is acceptable from both foreign and domestic companies. When I introduced the BROWSER Act earlier this year, I did so not only to give Big Tech solid guidelines regarding data privacy and content but to set a new standard for what consumers expect from Big Tech. Our problem here in this country is pretty much one of awareness and of understanding that the exact same philosophy drives China's surveillance programs and their less obvious but much more personal individual monitoring schemes--their surveillance state scheme. China's Communist Party is after more than just ad revenue and more complete data sets. Their goal, as those Hong Kong protesters put it, is to trick other countries in becoming more like China, which is not tilting toward freedom but tilting away from freedom. My goal with the BROWSER Act and with my focus on what has become the surveillance state is to do the exact opposite--to enable freedom, to encourage freedom, not only here but around the globe--and to make certain that consumers here decide how much of their data they want to be able to share. We must make certain that we continue to support the cause of freedom wherever human beings show up to protect the freedoms they have. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, it has been so interesting today to hear my colleagues talk about the things we have done this year, the things we have to get done before the end of the year that haven't been addressed yet, and then things that need to be addressed this next year in 2020. I will tell you, 2019, for me, I look at it as, I would say, successes and stalls and then some forward motion on some really important pieces of legislation. To get there, we really have had some fairly intense debates, which have prompted our constituents and those back in Tennessee to have their own discussions about what they think is or is not happening here in Washington, DC. My hope is that their debates around the kitchen table are sometimes less heated than ours, and certainly I hope that their Thanksgiving table debates were less heated than some of these that you see taking place here. Tennesseans, like a lot of Americans, when they end up talking about what we are or are not doing here in Congress, they revert back to first principles. I cannot tell you the number of times over this past holiday that I heard people say: Look, for me, it is all about freedom. It is all about defending the freedoms that we have--protecting that life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. They are looking at that. It is fair to say they think in the long term. While many times I think the media here in DC just follows that shiny object story of the day, whatever is generating clicks and likes and headlines, that is where they are, but Tennesseans are not focused that way. What they would like to see is for our actions here in Washington to be taken in a way that are going to keep them and their neighborhoods and their friends safe and secure and healthy and free and keep them out of the reach of government overreach, if you will. As someone said to me last weekend, ``I just want the Federal Government off my back and out of my pocketbook. I want to be able to keep working and keep growing my business.'' A lot of people are there. Now, we have seen movement this week. A very good thing that has happened is the National Defense Authorization Act. I know that Madam President has worked tirelessly on this, as have I, for all of our military community members in Tennessee. We have been very pleased that we are going to see Fort Campbell and the divisions that call Fort Campbell home getting the funds and the equipment they need in order to protect themselves and to do their jobs--whether it is Chinooks or more training capacity or equipment and also an emphasis on making certain that we are keeping their homes safe so those families are safe in that military on-post housing, that privatized housing, while their loved ones are deployed. While we are looking at other components of the NDAA, Tennesseans have been very concerned and are very pleased, I will say, about what has transpired with Oak Ridge National Labs and Y-12. Oak Ridge is a treasure for our Nation, and much of the research in supercomputing and hypersonics is being done there. Also, in the Senate this year, we are paying attention to the implementation of legislation very important to our songwriters. I know you have heard me say, time and again, that Middle Tennessee, Nashville, is one of the most creative communities on the face of the Earth and home to more songwriters than anywhere else on the face of the Earth, and the Music Modernization Act is going to make certain that Nashville artists and songwriters are being paid fairly for the work they are creating. We are pleased that these are all things we have worked hard on, and we see these as priorities. When it comes to a legislative agenda that has taken much of my time, I started this term in the Senate working on some things that protect the unborn, much as I had done in my service in the House. The first bill I introduced over here was the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, and this is something Tennesseans wanted to see done to make certain that tax dollars would not be used to fund or support abortion providers, and it would not go to those clinics. What Tennesseans wanted to see was those tax dollars being put to work in rural healthcare and enable access to healthcare for women and for individuals who did not have access to basic healthcare needs. Our State has been hit hard by rural hospital closures, and thousands of Tennesseans are now forced to drive miles out of their way to seek basic care. I will tell you, this is concerning, especially for the people living in the most remote areas of the State for whom there is no such thing as a quick ride or a quick ambulance trip to the hospital. It is miles of travel sometimes, when those minutes are very precious and they feel that time is passing quickly and it is critical to get to that care. As part of my work this year, I have worked on and developed a rural health agenda, which has earned bipartisan support here. I thank Senator Durbin for his work with me on this. I will tell you, this is legislation that, yes, it has bipartisan support here, but it has a lot of support scattered around the country. What this will do is support the establishment and expansion of medical facilities in rural areas. It will help doctors and other medical practitioners set up shop outside of the more convenient and lucrative urban bubbles. It also will enable telemedicine so that you are taking healthcare out to these areas that have a difficult time getting in. Speaking of the urban bubble, a lack of access to healthcare isn't the only thing that is causing headaches right now in rural America. Here, in Washington, we don't have to worry about having a reliable phone signal or an internet connection. We are really fortunate in that regard. We know when we click on, it is just going to work, but outside of America's metropolitan areas, communities that lack these resources are falling behind. My Internet Exchange Act will ensure that rural areas are able to build and maintain the infrastructure needed to support high-speed internet connections, which will in turn support business growth and e-commerce and encourage investment from outside corporations looking to expand. You cannot have 21st century education, economic development, healthcare, or law enforcement without access to high-speed internet. Continuing to close that digital divide is a priority, and I thank my colleagues for the good progress we have made this year. Of course, that connectivity comes with a price. Opening ourselves up to the online world means opening ourselves up to the possibilities of cyber attacks. This is a problem we have to approach as a matter of national security, as well as on the corporate side and in our homes. In addition to funding for military pay raises and upgraded equipment, this year's NDAA, or the National Defense Authorization Act, includes support for the assessment and expansion of our cyber warfighting capabilities. As I said, that is only one very important part of the equation. While I was serving in the House and before I came to the Senate, I worked on legislation that will get consumers all the information they need in order to make a decision about how they want to share their private information and to whom they want to give access to that information. Once passed, my bipartisan BROWSER Act will give consumers more control over how big tech uses their personal data. You, the consumer, should be able to own your virtual you. You should be able to protect your presence online, just as you are able to protect your being yourself in the physical space. In return, tech companies will be free to innovate and use that data to build their platforms, and that is what helps make them profitable-- new innovations. They can do that as long as they respect your wishes on how you want them to use your data. As head of the Judiciary Committee's tech task force--and I do thank Senator Feinstein for her leadership in leading this group at the Judiciary Committee--I have had the privilege of bringing both sides together on this debate and to the table to have productive discussions on how to responsibly regulate big tech. I look forward to continuing that in the New Year. As we draw to a close, I remind my colleagues that in Tennessee people remind me regularly that we are a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. As we talk about things that have been done this year and things that we need to do before the end of the year--things like getting VAWA passed--we need to remember that for all of the shiny-object stories that circulate around here every single day, the people back home are saying: Your responsibility is to care for the issues that are important to me. That is where they would like to see us spending our time. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 446, submitted earlier today.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, over the past few months we have all watched as the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong turned the tables on Beijing, and, indeed, we have passed legislation in this Chamber and the President has signed that, addressing the issue. Hong Kong's recent elections really were a stunning rebuke to Beijing. Seven in 10 eligible voters risked persecution to speak out at the ballot box, and the government's allies' political control over Hong Kong collapsed. Hong Kong wants their freedom. We are proud of those freedom fighters. We continue to support them. But we also must recognize that Beijing's crimes spread far beyond the world of cellphone cameras and fearless journalism. In the far west Xinjiang region, Chinese officials are perpetrating a different and even more horrific human rights violation. Xinjiang is home to 11 million Uighurs, an indigenous Turkic Muslim ethnic minority that the Chinese Government has tormented for decades. Although the Uighurs built their lives and a booming economy in China, they feel more culturally and ethnically close to their neighbors living in Central Asian nations. Much like Tibet, Xinjiang is an autonomous region that, after the Communists subjugated the area in 1949, the central government increased its control over the lives of Uighurs by oppressing commercial, religious, and cultural activity deemed inconsistent with state doctrine. Think about that; the Chinese Communists said these activities are inconsistent with state doctrine. In the wake of 9/11, China seized on the actions of Uighur separatists to create a propaganda campaign comparing the separatists to Al Qaeda. They use these accusations to blame the Uighur population at large for unrest and crack down mercilessly on even peaceful protest. In 2016, the government further ramped up persecution of Uighurs under the guise of repressing antigovernment activity. Their current playbook really looks familiar: arbitrary detention of over a million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in concentration camps that they have labeled ``political re-education centers;'' torture for those who fail to tell the Communist Party what the Communist Party wants to hear; compulsory digital and physical surveillance and the merciless eradication of free expression, freedom of religion, and basic expectations of privacy. The camps have garnered widespread international attention, in spite of Chinese officials' uncompromising repression of foreign journalists, but the government's pervasive digital surveillance programs are putting the Communist Party in a position to racially profile and persecute those who threaten China's plans for dominance. Yesterday's New York Times featured a story detailing how Chinese Government officials are forcibly collecting blood samples from the Uighurs with the ultimate goal of using DNA to improve facial recognition capabilities. Although the government claims that these capabilities will place a new tool in law enforcement's tool box, human rights watchdogs rightfully fear that Beijing will use it to justify even more intense racial profiling and persecution. These violations are all committed by a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. These are going almost completely ignored by the international community. The EU and the European academic institutions have supported China's research and development of facial recognition technology, often without verifying that the necessary DNA samples were not forcibly obtained. Unfortunately, American technology companies have supported and profited from China's increasingly sophisticated surveillance capabilities. Tourists and corporate partners will once again flock to Beijing for the 2022 Olympic Games, even though they are fully aware-- fully aware--that the Chinese Government will track them, record them, surveil them, and analyze their every move. The Trump administration's crackdown on tech exports to Huawei and other Chinese entities, that sent a strong message to Beijing. Just last month, I joined my colleagues in a letter to Secretaries Pompeo, Mnuchin, and Ross urging them to sanction individual Chinese officials responsible for ordering and coordinating mass internment and forced labor in Xinjiang. But most leaders and executives even in the West fail to realize that China's bad behavior is an indication of their global ambitions. China thinks power and the almighty dollar--not freedom--rule the day. Everything China does, from their military activity in the South China Sea and the Horn of Africa, to the flood of Chinese-made products into the global market, is done with the goal of exporting their destructive, repressive ideology. What they are doing to the Uighurs, to the Hong Kong people, and even to their own supposedly loyal comrades, they intend to do to you. The Chinese surveillance state is an essential means to their end game of absolute control of the thought, movement, and relationships with other global powers. How far must China go before we reject the notion that their influence will stop at our border? I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to consider their answer carefully, as questions will inevitably rise about the relevance of free speech and the Constitution or the importance of a strong national defense. We are in the midst of great power competition, and we do not have a National Defense Authorization Act. It would be the first time in 58 years. I encourage my colleagues to work with us. Let's get this complete because the threats are real, and the more we compromise our own values, the easier it will become for foreign influence to take hold in our society. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Executive Calendar No. 499.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate.