Marco Rubio

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. I yield time to the Senator from Maryland.

Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, I am now halfway through my eighth year in the U.S. Senate, and in my time here, I have never once spoken against, voted against, or opposed in any way any of the National Defense Authorization Acts that have come before the Senate. The reason being, despite whatever flaws one might find on most occasions in any piece of legislation, the defense of our country is a fundamental obligation of our Federal Government. It comes before everything else. State governments run schools and build roads and do all sorts of activities at the State level. Communities do all sorts of things at the local level, but nothing is more important than the defense of our country in terms of a Federal obligation. So I never have opposed a National Defense Authorization Act, and I supported every single one of them, despite the fact that it didn't have everything I wanted and everything I liked, until today. There is a lot of good in this legislation, and it makes it difficult to be an opponent of it. For Florida, it authorizes over $200 million for military construction in the State--the littoral combat ship facilities at Naval Station Mayport, air traffic control towers at Whiting Field, F-35 facilities that are important at Eglin Air Force Base, KC-135 flight simulators at MacDill Air Force Base. It authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to build a cyber space facility at Eglin. It authorizes the conveyance of land for the Air Force Enlisted Village, which is a nonprofit corporation consisting of approximately 80 acres next to Eglin for independent living and apartments. It authorizes the continued development of the B-21 Bomber--work that is being done in Melbourne, FL. It fully supports the Joint Gulf Range Complex, a true treasure for our country, and it is the largest military range in the continental United States. As for the country, it also has all sorts of other very important things: an over 2.6-percent military pay raise. It increases the Active-Duty workforce by 15,600 personnel, bringing the total to over 1.3 million. It tries to address the pilot shortage. It authorizes $10.7 billion to buy 77 more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, $193 million in research and development funding for new software and improvements to be incorporated in future years in that program. It authorizes new missile defense, including $175 million intended to integrate the THAAD and Patriot Systems batteries in South Korea. It authorizes $23.7 billion for Navy shipbuilding, an increase of close to $2 billion over what the President requested. To go on and on, it does many important things in rebuilding our military strength in this country, but it failed on one important front, and that is what I believe to be a very significant and serious threat to the national security and the future of this country--one that we are only beginning to wake up to. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the United States is engaged in a geopolitical competition with a near-peer adversary. Since 1991, there has been no other nation on Earth that can project power anywhere close to what the United States could do--until now. Unlike our country, China is a nation with an ancient history, one that leaves them with a longstanding sense of victimhood but also one that leads them to believe they have a preordained destiny to, once again, be the most powerful nation on Earth. This is what they mean when they constantly use the phrase ``historical determinants.'' In summary, what they are saying is, they are predestined to be the world's most powerful country, and, therefore, they believe they are predestined to surpass the United States geopolitically, economically, and militarily. This is not a new ambition, by the way. For two decades, they have followed a strategy called hiding their power and biding their time, but all of that changed last year. In October, at their party congress, their President for life Xi laid out a vision for China and did it in clear, nationalistic terms. He said: Backed by the invincible force of 1.3 billion people, we have an infinitely vast stage of our era, a historical heritage of unmatched depth, and incomparable resolve . . . we have arrived at a new era, where China is now in a leading position in terms of economic and technological strength, defense capabilities, and composite national strength . . . and with a military which can fight and win. I will state that you see evidence of this belief in their impressive and massive military buildup and quantum leaps in technological advances. You see how they are working to destroy the current world order that was built by America and our allies and now seek to replace it with one they build and one that will be led by them. That is how they offer loans--not just to get their companies more business but to give them leverage and footholds in countries, and they do so with no questions asked about democracy or human rights. That is what the Asian Infrastructure Bank is all about. That is the Belt and Road Initiative. You also see what they are doing to overtake us economically. Their state-led economy runs large trade deficits with everyone while at the same time prohibiting market access to China. You see it in the widespread force technology transfers and the cyber theft, and it is working--5G, for example, will dominate most of the industries of the future, and they are on course to be the world standard on 5G. By 2020, China Mobile will be the only company in the world that can build a standalone 5G network. Huawei was the first company to gain approval to sell 5G stations in the European Union. They are moving hard to dominate pharma research and genome editing and all sorts of other leading industries for tomorrow. What is outrageous is how much of these advances are built, not just on ingenuity and hard work but on the theft of intellectual property from American companies, oftentimes through research funded by American taxpayers. They do it through cyber espionage. They do it through the forced transfer of technology, where they tell companies who do business in China, not only do you have to partner with a Chinese company, you have to give them the secrets to their trade. See how they are now buying up companies, buying off researchers in American universities and their research. Now, this is what they are moving toward--to become the most powerful country in the world. Why is that an issue, despite the fact that we seek to not be in second place to anyone? Because you can see what kind of country they will be and what kind of world we will have if they become the world's most dominant power. You see it, for example, in the conquest of the South China Sea through the military harassment of Southeast Asian nations. You see how they cut tourism to South Korea as leverage over our missile defense deployments; how they restricted exports of rare-earth minerals to Japan as leverage over the East China Sea disputes. We saw Filipino agricultural products rot on the docks during the South China Sea fights because they wouldn't let it come in. You see the threats to our businesses to deny them access to Chinese markets even further if they dare speak in support of President Trump's 301 investigations of Chinese unfair practices. You see it in a U.S. citizen living in the United States of America-- not in China, not anywhere outside our borders--a U.S. citizen living in the United States of America was fired by Marriott Hotel because of a social media post that China complained about. That happened. You see it most recently by American and United Airlines being forced to change how they describe Taiwan on their website or they would not be allowed to continue to fly to China. The tactics they use over and over again are not sweeping changes; it is typically slow but incremental yet more assertive demands, but over time these demands end up establishing a new normal. It is very much like the example of the frog in a boiling pot of water. If you throw the frog in the boiling pot of water, it jumps out right away, but if you put it in cold water and slowly boil it, it will boil to death and not even know it is boiling. That is what China is doing to the United States and to the world. There are only two things that China responds to when you confront them. The first is a committed and sustained escalation across the entire relationship between us and them, and the other is invoking the help of our foreign partners. That is why I strongly believe the U.S. should have worked with the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and Japan to confront China, not to start a trade war with them as well. I am happy to see that progress is being made on negotiations with Mexico, and there has been a pause in the challenges of Europe. Perhaps now is an opportunity to be able to do that second part of invoking the help of our foreign partners and confronting these cheating and stealing and unfair practices. What about a committed and sustained escalation across the entire relationship? I would say to you that, by and large, that has been what this administration has done, and it is having an impact. Just this morning, the New York Times reports about rare rebukes to President Xi's leadership inside of China because these disputes are beginning to have an impact on their economy. There is one glaring exception, and that is an ill-conceived deal to grant amnesty to a telephone and telecommunications Chinese company called ZTE. To have a committed and sustained escalation across the entire relationship means we can't make threats and back down, and we can't carve out one part of the relationship for a special accommodation. Sadly, that is what happened here. ZTE is a telecommunications company that was caught--not once but twice--in helping North Korea and Iran to evade U.S. sanctions. As a result, the Commerce Department imposed a penalty on them that basically was an equivalent of a business death penalty. It said that you can no longer buy American microchips. Without that, you can't function and the company was brought to its knees. I would argue that sanctions should have been imposed on them even if they didn't help evade sanctions because of the threat they pose to this country. If we allow these companies to embed themselves in the telecommunications infrastructure of the United States, it is a severe and significant national security threat to this country and one that grows every single year moving forward. Yet, inexplicably, at some point, for some reason, a deal was struck that allowed ZTE to survive. So the argument was, well, we are going to put a really big fine on ZTE, and we are going to put people on their board to make sure they are no longer violating sanctions. I will state that if this were only about sanctions relief, that penalty would be sufficient for me and should be sufficient for all. If it were Samsung, Nokia or Ericsson or some other company that had done this, I would say maybe it went too far. The problem is, those two measures will do nothing to contain the threat that ZTE poses to the United States and our national security. A fine--when they are backed by the Chinese Government, a multibillion- dollar fine is nothing. You can put all the businesspeople you want on their board. It is not the businesspeople we should be concerned about, it is the technical people in these companies, the ones who can get ZTE routers embedded in American telecommunications, create backdoor access to our universities so they can steal our research, get into our communications systems so they can intercept our communications in military affairs and economic affairs. They can conduct cyber espionage, commercial espionage, and, potentially, denial of our command and control of our military one day if left unaddressed. Think about embedding these Trojan horses inside of our telecommunications systems and networks in America. Any company that poses that threat should not be allowed to operate, much less remain in business, and ZTE is one such company. Even if ZTE tells the Chinese Government we don't want to do this, they will have no choice or they will cease to exist or their leaders will be in jail, and somebody new will replace them who will do it. This is why this is so critical and why in the bill, as passed by the Senate, we reimposed these penalties, and it was taken out in conference. The threat posed by China and by telecommunications companies are so severe and so significant that it regrettably brings me to the point where I cannot support a bill I have always supported in my time here. We need to wake up to the threat that China poses to this country because we are running out of time to do so. Madam President, may I inquire how much time is remaining?

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, one of the interesting developments in our public debate in America today is Russia and the elections of 2016. Lost in all the noise and all the debate and all the legitimate issues that arise from it is this perception that if you are taking on Russian interference, that is a Democratic position or an anti-President Trump position, and that if you think this is all much ado about nothing, then you are taking a pro-President position. Nothing could be further from the truth. Vladimir Putin is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. He is not interested in making America great; he is interested in making America weak. The reason Vladimir Putin is interested in making America weak is because while America is not at war with Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Putin is at war with America. You may say: Well, that doesn't sound right because war means bullets, rockets, missiles, aircraft, and launching attacks. This misses the broader point. For Russia, under the Russian doctrine of conflict, information is a weapon; information war is a part of war. We are not in an armed conflict, but sadly, while we Americans go on about our lives and do not spend all day obsessing about Russia--until 2016 and some of the issues that arose there-- Vladimir Putin is obsessed with America, and those in his government who surround him are as well. We Americans look at Russia and say they are an important country. They have nuclear weapons and significant conventional military capabilities. But they have a very small economy of $2 trillion--about the size of Italy's or Spain's. They are not really geopolitically relevant in many parts of the world. They still can't project power the way they used to during the Soviet Union. Yes, they are involved in Syria and other places, and they are doing more of that than ever before, and they have a veto vote on the United Nations Security Council. They are not really a relevant nation. Culturally, their people have much to be proud of and have contributed a tremendous amount to the world. On a daily basis, Russia may be a nuclear and somewhat military peer competitor of the United States but not economically, not commercially. But the Russian Government's view of America is very different. They view America as an aggressive power that seeks to destroy Russia. I know that sounds bizarre to Americans who know that we spend little, if any, time thinking about how to go to war with Russia, but in their mindset, we do. They view us as an aggressive power that wants to fight and degrade them. They hold us responsible for the end of the Soviet Union, which, to them, represented power--not so much ideology, but power--for the current leaders. They blame us for expanding NATO in a way they feel encircles them. They blame us for the color revolutions throughout Europe, and they believe we want one of those to happen in Russia as well. Most of all, they think we are seeking to take advantage of Russia and humiliate them. This is the view of Russia's leaders. This is why, while we are not at war with Russia on information, Russia, under Vladimir Putin, is at war with the United States. We keep talking about this issue as if it were espionage. I have had people come to me and say that everybody spies on everyone. This is not about espionage--trust me. Many countries in the world spy, and on each other, including our allies. This is not about espionage; this is about information warfare. Information warfare is a part of the Russian doctrine of confronting an enemy and weakening them from within. What happened in 2016 and what is happening now is nothing less than an information war against America-- not for purposes of electing Donald Trump President or having Republicans win or vice versa but for purposes of dividing us among each other so they can weaken us from within, opening a permanent front domestically in order to hurt this country. They do this all over the world. They do this in Eastern Europe. They do it all over the world where they have an interest, and it takes different forms. In many of the countries in which Russia is involved in information warfare, one of the things they do is openly and strongly financially support pro-Russian candidates, pro-Russian parties, or they may support pro-Russian separatists the way they did in parts of Ukraine. We don't have a pro-Russia party in the United States. We don't really have pro-Russian constituencies in American politics--certainly not in large numbers that yield any power or influence. Instead, the way to weaken us is to divide us from within by pitting us against each other. The weapons they use in this war are their goals. Let me start with their goals. How do they weaken us? The first is they seek to amplify political and social divisions in our country. You will see that both in 2016 and in the current efforts I am about to show that they focus largely on issues of race, immigration, and gun control. They know the issues that pit Americans against each other. They know the hot-button issues that get us to fight and call each other names and accuse one another of horrible things, and that is why they focus on those issues. Another goal they have is to undermine confidence in our democracy-- to be able to go around saying that our elections are rigged--so that we may come to doubt that a winner of an election really won. The third is that they seek to weaken our image globally--for example, making up stories about how American troops in some country are killing civilians or committing war crimes and things of that nature, doctoring photos and video, and spreading fake news through their Russian propaganda outlets. This is how they seek to weaken us. The methods they use are enlightening because they used them in 2016, and they are using them even at this very moment that I am speaking to you now. How do they amplify our political and social divisions? What do they do to get us to fight with one another? Because if they just put a bunch of segments on RT--everyone knows RT is the Kremlin's television station, but they are keen watchers of American habits. What do they know? They know a significant and growing percentage of Americans get their news and their information from social media. In the old days, if you wanted to start a rumor, you started a rumor, and people had to tell someone else. Propaganda and informational warfare is not new. What is new is the ability to spread it to millions of people instantaneously by using platforms that were not available just a short time ago. They know Americans increasingly, as I said, get information from social media. The first thing they do is they develop networks of followers for fake social media accounts. ``Fake'' meaning they are real accounts but fake in that it is not the person. It is a Russian operative who creates a social media account. Initially, the account may not even have anything to do with politics. It might have a variety of different topics in order to attract people to follow it, until you get to 10,000 15,0000, 20,000, 30,000 followers. Once they have reached a critical mass--and they have dozens of these--then, they use those platforms to inject divisive or false content or memes. They can use that, for example, to just sow instability and get us to fight with one another, but they can also use it to target specific candidates. For example, they are using these networks, potentially, to leak stolen documents from a computer they hacked; or email doctored documents, where they change a few words and make it sound like you said something you never said; or, an even greater and growing threat, potentially, one day develop deepfake videos that you will watch on your news feed. You will look at the video, and it looks like someone saying and doing something, but it was carefully doctored and only an expert can tell. By the time a campaign or candidate bats it down, the election has passed, and that video has been spread far and wide and probably even found its way into regular media. They know how the metrics work. How does the story pop up on your news feed, for example, on Facebook? It is based on how many people click and look at it. They unleash automated bots and even potentially paid advertising to drive traffic to those sites so those fake stories or that false content and that divisive content begins to rise on the news feed, meaning more people will read it. The result is, you have started a massive internet rumor that you know is going to get Americans to fight against one another. This is not a relic of 2016. This is happening now. This is happening today. We were reminded of it earlier this morning, earlier today. I want to show you two slides that Facebook revealed--two slides of content that Facebook has now removed because they have identified it as the work of Russian intelligence and their informational war against the United States. Our first slide, under a fake account named Resisters, was posted on the 1st of September of last year. It says: Millions of indigenous people died during the conquest of America. History is history. But if we want integrity and equality, we have to erase these bloody memories and start over. Congratulations, Louisiana. What it posts is a picture--a picture with a sign on it that says: Christian terrorism begins in 1492. Sorry. It says, Congratulations Los Angeles because what it was referring to was Los Angeles canceled Columbus Day. Columbus Day is no more in the Nation's second-largest city. Why do they put that on Facebook? Why would they post that? Because they know it is going to get us to fight. Some people will see that and be outraged about Christian terrorism. It will make them angry that this kind of thing is happening, and they will ascribe this as the work of the political left. Others, potentially who agree with this message, will send it to their group of followers, saying: Look, this is exactly right. This is what we have been saying all along. The point is, this is a message that would divide Americans against each other. It will get us to fight along religious lines and potentially ethnic lines. That is the purpose of this kind of stuff--a fake account they boosted with automated bots so it got on people's news feeds. By the way, they do dozens and dozens of these sorts of posts. This is just one example of it. This may reach 4,000 there, 18,000 people over there. This stuff adds up. Let me show you a second slide. This is a slide from Aztlan Warriors. As you can see, it is pictures and the names of various Native American figures from America's past giving thanks to our vets in the 500-year war against colonialism. Look at that one. Why would they post that? Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Chief Joseph, and the like. Why would they post that? Again, this is just two examples of things they were pushing to get people to fight. Maybe they are hoping some political or well-known figure will like it and then create a scandal about them in the press, but they know this will outrage people. This is an outrageous message. This is a message designed to generate outrage. This is not a pro-Trump message or pro-Democratic message; this is an outrage message. This is informational warfare. They know we have a First Amendment. This is protected speech, oftentimes. They use it against us. You can't do that in Russia. This stuff is censored in Russia, but they have figured out how to use this information to get us to fight against one another. There are dozens of other ads like this that today were removed. One of them attacks President Trump as a Nazi--a divisive message designed to get us to fight. Again, these are not ads designed to win a campaign. This ad is not going to lead you to directly go out and vote for your Congressman or against him or for your Senator or against him. This is designed to drive conflict, along lines in this country that they know drives conflict. These are conflict messages. This is informational warfare. This is what they are doing now year-round. In campaigns, they may tailor it for something else, but this is what they are doing to us year-round. This is what they did in 2016, with the primary objective of getting us to be divided, with the primary objective of ensuring that no matter who won that election--Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump--the next President of the United States was going to take office with a dark cloud over their head and a nation continually debating these issues and divided over it. This is how you weaken an adversary from within. This is 21st century information warfare, and this is what is happening to our country. The target of this campaign is not the Democratic Party. It is not the Republican Party. It is you, the American people. A foreign country, under a foreign dictator, is coming into your homes, across your computer screen and your mobile phones, and targeting you for psychological and informational warfare. That is what we have to fully accept, as well as the implications it has for our country, for its future, for our Republic, for our elections, and for our ability to do work here. They are better at this today than they were 2 years ago. Imagine when they start using that to try to influence the debates in the Senate or the House--contemporary issues. It is coming. I don't have a magic solution for how to stop it. This is a 21st century reality. We have to address it and be prepared for it. I know this. I don't like Vladimir Putin. I don't respect Vladimir Putin. I don't consider him to be a great leader or anything like that. I largely consider him to be a weak and very corrupt man whose government is largely based on corruption and the ability to provide wealth to those who surround him, as long as they give him some of their money. He is largely an organized crime figure in charge of a nuclear arsenal and a great nation of great people. He has empowered himself with that. I do know he is a calculated actor. We have every reason to believe he makes decisions by weighing the benefits and the costs. I believe, in 2016, he looked at the efforts in 2016 and said: I think weakening America from within through an informational warfare campaign will yield great benefits at a cost I am willing to pay. I believe as we get closer to 2018 and future elections, he will have to make that decision again. I believe one of the things we can do is something that the Senator from Maryland, Mr. Van Hollen, spoke about earlier and we are working on together; that is, we have to do what we can to ensure that when he makes a decision about what to do in 2018 or beyond, the price of doing it is substantially higher than the benefit he thinks he will gain from informational warfare. That is the purpose of the DETER Act, a bill we have filed together and continues to gain cosponsors. It is to make sure Vladimir Putin knows how high the price will be in comparison to the benefit before he decides what he wants to do about 2018 or beyond. The bill is pretty straightforward. It doesn't deal with 2016. It doesn't look backward. It looks forward. It says two things. The first is, after every election, the Director of National Intelligence has to issue a report, after consulting with the Attorney General, with the White House, with all the heads of the intelligence agencies, about whether Russia attempted to interfere in our elections. I am not talking about five Russian guys on Twitter. I am talking about a real campaign to interfere in our elections and conduct informational warfare for the purposes of disrupting our election, for the purposes of undermining confidence in the ballot box, for the purposes of driving divisions in America. If the answer is yes, it defines very clearly a set of specific, very hard-hitting sanctions in waiting--sanctions in waiting--that will be imposed if, but only if, there is interference. Sanctions are important as a penalty for what has been happening in the past, but deterrence happens when people know it is going to happen in the future. He has already paid the price for 2016. Those sanctions are already in place. That is already baked into the equation now. You can't reimpose the same sanctions. Vladimir Putin is well aware what will happen if he conducts a massive cyber attack on our infrastructure. He is well aware of what will happen if he launches a rocket, a missile against one of America's cities. He knows very well what will happen if he tries to shoot down one of our airplanes. Right now, he is kind of wondering what will happen if ``I did this again because they seem pretty divided about this whole thing. Maybe I can get away with it.'' We have to change that equation, and that is what this bill is about. The best way to prevent these things is to change that calculus. The best way to deal with this or any problem is to prevent it from happening in the first place. I cannot guarantee that if we pass a strong deterrence bill, he will not still wage informational warfare, but I can almost guarantee that if we don't, he will at some point in the future, and the target could be the Republicans the next time or anyone, for that matter. Vladimir Putin is not a Republican. He is anti-American, and he seeks to destroy this country from within, with driving an informational warfare campaign. We are prepared to change and tailor our bill. There are some parts of that bill that need to be altered and refined. We recognize that. We are working to do that. We are willing to take ideas from anyone. The purpose of this is not to do something reckless or irresponsible. I am not interested, and I know Senator Van Hollen is not interested, in a talking point or a messaging exercise. We want to pass a law, which means it has to have 60 votes in the Senate, a majority in the House, and something President Trump can sign. We are willing to change the bill so long as it can pass, and it will actually have strong enough deterrence. That is good public policy without unintended consequences. That is the purpose of this. I will close where I began. We make a terrible mistake if we think this somehow is an effort by Vladimir Putin to engage himself in a partisan competition in the United States. His goal is not to elect one party or any individual candidate. His ultimate goal is to divide us against each other. I ask everyone this. If a stranger came into your home--no matter what problems you may have with your family member or your children-- and actively encouraged you to fight with your spouse and fight with your kids and fight with your relatives, constantly trying to instigate, I know most people would tell this person: Listen, we are family, and we argue with one another, but you are not. You have no place to come into our home and get us to fight with one another. We need to do that with our country. We need to do that with America. That is what we are hoping we can do here; 2016 is being dealt with. The Intelligence Committee that I sit on continues to do its work. We learn more every day that I think will help us be stronger for the future. Is the independent counsel doing his work? I think the best thing that could happen is that all the truth can come out. The best thing for the President, the best thing for the country is that he be allowed to finish his work and that we know everything that happened in detail. The truth, I truly believe, is what is in the best interest of everyone, including the President of the United States. We can't change the past. We can react to it, but we can't change it. We have a chance to influence the future, and that is the point of the DETER Act and why I hope we can make progress. The election in the fall is less than 100 days away now. We are running out of time to put in place the things we need to put in place to ensure that this does not continue to happen. We already are pretty irritated about these issues in America. The last thing we need is for some foreign, malign power, which seeks to weaken us, to have a foothold in making things worse and, in cases like what I just showed, getting us fighting with one another over things that aren't even real. We are the target of a psychological and informational war. It is time we stand up for ourselves, and I hope we will pass something like the DETER Act to do so. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of Calendar Nos. 1017 through 1029 and all nominations placed on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, and Navy; that the nominations be confirmed; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Sara Lind, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Sara is a student at the University of Florida. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Sara Lind for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Marco Useche, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Marco is an incoming freshman at Loyola University. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Marco Useche for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Shawn Tullock, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Shawn is a student at the University of Florida. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Shawn Tullock for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Hannah Tipton, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Hannah is a student at Charleston School of Law, where she is pursuing her juris doctorate. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Hannah Tipton for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Sienna Ottinger, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Sienna is an incoming student at the University of Mississippi. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Sienna Ottinger for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Caitlin Moore, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Caitlin is a student at Boone High School. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Caitlin Moore for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Madeline Mills, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Madeline is a student at the University of Central Florida. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Madeline Mills for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Joseph Melendez, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Joseph is a student at the University of Central Florida. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Joseph Melendez for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Dana Mehanna, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Dana is a student at Florida State University. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Dana Mehanna for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Mark Whitten, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Mark is a graduate of Liberty University. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Mark Whitten for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Elijah Cole Batson, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Elijah is a student at Lake Wales High School. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Elijah Cole Batson for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Rebekah Kaufman, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Rebekah is a student at the University of Central Florida. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Rebekah Kaufman for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Natalie Ikerd, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Natalie is a student at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she is pursuing her juris doctorate. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Natalie Ikerd for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Whitney Herold, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Whitney is a student at Valencia College. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Whitney Herold for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Mathew Henderson, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Mathew is a student at Florida State University. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Mathew Henderson for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Lorine Desroches, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Lorine is an incoming student at the University of Florida. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Lorine Desroches for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Cesar Dager Carlesso, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Cesar is a student at the University of Florida. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Cesar Dager Carlesso for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Krunali Brahmbhatt, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Krunali is a student at Winter Springs High School. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Krunali Brahmbhatt for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Dwayne Biggham, Jr., a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Dwayne is a student at Jones High School. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Dwayne Biggham, Jr., for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Meggie Li, a 2018 summer intern in my Orlando office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Meggie is a student at Winter Springs High School. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Meggie Li for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, in my home State of Florida, we have a rich history in manufacturing hand-rolled premium cigars. For those who aren't familiar with them, a hand-rolled premium cigar is not the same thing as a cigarette. Number one, premium cigars are an expense product, and they are consumed very differently from a cigarette or some other tobacco product. I would say that they are more like wine than they would be like a cigarette, for sure. The interesting thing about the cigar industry and its history--not just in Florida but in this country--is that, almost exclusively, the manufacturers of premium hand-rolled cigars are small family-run businesses. By the way, so too are the retailers that sell them. This is not the kind of thing you go and buy at 7-Eleven. There are stores that specialize in the sale of premium cigars. They cater to a clientele that can afford to buy these things. They are significantly older than someone who would walk into a convenience store and buy a pack of cigarettes from behind the counter. The companies that are involved in this endeavor are not the big companies that we see involved, generally, in the tobacco industry. They are family-owned business, both at the retail level and also at the manufacturing level. In addition to all of this, they represent a rich part of the cultural history of the Cuban community in Florida. Ybor City in Tampa is an example of it. It was an area that was settled over 100 years ago by Cubans that came to Tampa to start a very vibrant hand-rolling cigar industry. Again, these are hand-rolled premium cigars. These are people literally sitting down and rolling the leaves, and these are high-end products. This industry is on the verge of extinction, and I will tell you why. In 2016, the previous administration finalized a rule based on a 2009 law, and, by the way, its intended target was not premium cigars. They meant to go after tobacco products that we mass marketed and mass produced. This 2009 law was interpreted in a way in the rule that would require premium cigars to regulate the manufacture, the import, the packaging, the labeling, the advertisement, the promotion, the sale, and the distribution of their products. With each new product, they would have to do it over again. From year to year, the premium cigar industry may change the blend inside the hand-rolled cigar. They come in boxes of 8 or 12, and every time that one of these things is changed, you would have to redo the labels, redo the packaging, and everything would have to be completely redone, which is simply cost prohibitive because these blends change constantly, especially as you bring new markets. I have offered an amendment to the minibus that is before us that would exempt premium hand-rolled cigars from the FDA regulations, not just so that the industry can survive but so that it can thrive and also to free up the FDA to go after what it is intended to go after-- what everybody thought this was about--which is common tobacco products, like cigarettes and some of the others things that we are aware of. Now, anytime you talk about this, it gets a little tricky because people talk about tobacco use causing cancer. I am as sensitive to that as everyone. My father was a lifelong smoker. He lost his life in his early eighties because of cigarette smoking. I think we need to do everything we can to discourage people from smoking and consuming tobacco, especially cigarettes that are consumed in mass quantity and are cheap to buy in large quantities. I would note that it is already illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone who is under the age of 18. I would also tell you that beyond that, the numbers have continued to decline in tobacco use. So we know that the laws that are in place and the programs have worked, but one of the things that we have focused on is that tobacco is a legal product and small manufacturers of premium cigars are being harmed by this, but the regulations were not intended for them. The regulations were designed to target cigarettes. They were designed for flavored fat cigarettes and other commonly used tobacco products, the kinds that could potentially be marketed to young people and that are not like a premium cigar--at $5, $8, $10 for each one, or $80, $90 a box--but the sort of flavored fat cigarettes and all the new stuff that is coming out that you can buy from behind the counter. They are very cheap to buy, and they are mass manufactured. That is what the rule was about. It was never intended to apply to premium cigars, but the way it is written and the way the rule is interpreted, that is what it is now doing. It is putting the same requirement on a completely different product, and it is a requirement they simply can't meet. The irony is that all of the things that are targeted under this new rule are going to survive. They are still going to be around. They may be a little bit more expensive, a little harder to bring to market, but they are still going to survive. All the mass-produced tobacco products will survive and continue to be more accessible to young people. They will be able to stay in business, but the premium cigar manufacturers are going to get wiped out. One more irony in all this: It is still illegal to mass-import Cuban cigars, but you can bring them in in individual quantities. Those are not impacted by these regulations at all--none whatsoever. Think about that for a moment. A product made in another country doesn't have to meet the same guidelines but has all the same attributes. I talked a moment ago about Tampa and in particular Ybor City, and today in Ybor City, after all this time, there is only one factory left, a company called J.C. Newman. It is within Ybor City, and it is known as Cigar City. They have been making premium cigars--not cigarettes, not flavored cigarettes, not JUULs so people can vape; I am talking about premium, expensive, hand-rolled cigars. They have been making them since 1895, and that is all going to come to an end in the near future if this rule goes through. They are a profitable company. They sell about $10 million worth of products annually. That sounds like a lot of money, but it is nothing compared to mass-produced products. It is going to cost them three times that amount just to comply with the FDA regulations--three times as much--upwards of $30 million to comply with this rule, the way this rule has been interpreted. The sad part about it is that everyone knows this. You go to the FDA, and they say: Look, we get it. The law wasn't supposed to go after these guys. But that is the way it is written, and that is how we are going to have to apply it. It was never meant to be about them. Everyone admits it. Yet that is the way it is going to be, and that is going put not just J.C. Newman but also other companies out of business. The retailers, the specialty cigar stores, those that sell premium cigars that are contained in a humidor--that is going to put them out of business very soon, all because of a stupid regulation that was written as a result of a law that was not properly drafted and was interpreted inappropriately. The Federal Government is going to put these guys out of business. The irony is that the people they were trying to impact with the regulation are going to survive and remain in business and be as accessible as ever, and the people no one meant to harm are going to get wiped out. This is the epitome of government overreach and abuse. Regardless of whether the business is 10 years or 100 years old, this industry represents the livelihood of hundreds of American families. There are people who work in those factories. There are people who own those retail stores. They are going to be out of work, not because the market shifted, not because Americans no longer want to smoke premium cigars, they are going to be out of business because no one can stay in business if the cost to follow the law is three times as much as what you make. You can't do it. This is a legal product made by hard-working Americans who have been doing this for a very long time. They are not the intended target of this rule. It is unjust for these small businesses to be singled out. It is unjust, unfair, and it is wrong. The worst part about this rule is that it is written retroactively. So not only will they have to start complying moving forward--because you could argue, well, just change your blend in the future--it goes all the way back to 2007. They are going to have to go back and relabel and repackage everything they have been making for the last 11 years. That explains a little bit about the $30 million cost for just this one business. By the way, they have broken no laws. Yet they have been singled out, and this threatens their livelihood. This is a bipartisan, bicameral issue. A number of Members in the Senate from across the aisle agree with this. I have been working with Senator Nelson on this for a long time. This is not a partisan issue, not a Big Tobacco issue; this is a premium cigar issue. These are consumed differently than cigarettes by different groups of people in different ways. You don't smoke 10 cigars a day. We just know this. It is common sense. But this is what is going to happen. We are going to wipe these guys out because of a government rule and the way it was interpreted even though it was never meant to be about them. We have an amendment. We have a law that fixes all this. I am not going to offer it on this bill because it is already part of the House package that lines up with the appropriations bills that are before us, but I wanted to point this out because I know that people in Ybor City and people around the country who care about this issue are watching, and I want them to know that when this issue gets conferenced with the House, we are going to be fighting for this. This needs to get fixed. This is the last chance. That is the other point. This rule is about to kick in. The comment period is about to end, and the rule is going to kick in. This is our last chance. If we don't get it right here when we work this out, this is going to happen. You are going to be reading about it. Maybe it doesn't matter in some places. It matters a lot to Florida, and it matters a lot to this company in Ybor City in Tampa. It matters a lot to hundreds of thousands of people across the country who work in the retail shops that sell them and who work in the places hand-rolling and making them. This is wrong, and we should do everything we can to stop it from happening. I hope we will deal with this issue in conference. I am glad it is in the House version. I wish we could get it in the Senate version. We are going to fight to include it in the final version. We are not going to watch as J.C. Newman and small businesses like it are put out of business by a rule that was never supposed to apply to them. Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.