Chuck Schumer

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 246 and S. Res. 269, and the Senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions: S. Res. 246, S. Res. 269, S. Res. 300, and S. Res. 301.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, later today, the Senate will take the first procedural step to begin consideration of our annual Defense bill. For more than six decades, Democrats and Republicans have worked in good faith to pass the NDAA. This year's Defense authorization bill is a prime example of how Senate D's and R's can work constructively to provide our Nation's defense, take care of our servicemembers and DOD civilians, and make the investments necessary to innovate and build up our military intelligence capabilities. I hope we can have an open and constructive amendment process for the NDAA, without needless delay or dilatory tactics. I certainly hope we do not see the kind of controversy that severely hindered the NDAA process over in the House. Both sides should defeat potentially toxic amendments and refrain from delaying the NDAA's passage. So far, we have thankfully avoided all of that. Over the weekend, nearly all the committees across the Senate worked around the clock on a substitute, with a managers' package that has 51 amendments--21 from Republicans, 21 from Democrats, and 9 bipartisan. We have had many great amendments. This is a good start, and we are working toward a second managers' package with even more priorities for Democrats and Republicans. I want to thank Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Wicker, all the other chairs and rankers, and all of my colleagues and the staff who worked long and hard over the weekend for their good work on this bill. There are a few items that are in the bill that deserve some attention, and, in the largeness of the bill, I would like to highlight them. I want to highlight a few items added to the managers' package that are very important and bode well for our country's future, particularly on AI, on outcompeting the Chinese Government, and on tackling our Nation's fentanyl crisis. First, I am pleased that the managers' package includes an amendment I worked on with Senators Rounds, Young, and Heinrich that takes some early initial steps on AI legislation, the first steps this body is taking in a while. The Senate has already done important preliminary work to bring ourselves up to speed on this issue, but the NDAA will be the Senate's first opportunity this year to pass real AI legislation. My AI amendment includes provisions that will boost AI oversight within the national security space, including an increase in data sharing within the DOD, new risk studies to examine explainability and similar issues, and it provides for ``bug bounty programs'' that will help sniff out vulnerability in AI systems used by the DOD. This year, our first managers' package also makes a critical down payment on the Senate's efforts to outcompete the Chinese Government. We have over a dozen amendments related to our ongoing competition with the Chinese Government, including measures that make progress on the AUKUS defense cooperation agreement between the United States, the UK, and Australia. Senator Menendez and I wanted more, but we have a good compromise in the bill, and I hope we can add more in the amendment process. We have provisions to strengthen our partnership with Taiwan, boost the development of quantum information technologies, and strengthen the United States' position in the Indo-Pacific region, to name a few. As you know, we are working on a bipartisan China competition package that will deal with the excesses and wrongs of the Chinese Government. But this, in the DOD bill, is a good first start. And I also want to praise my colleagues Tim Scott and Sherrod Brown for their work to combat our Nation's fentanyl crisis. This is one of the most devastating health crises happening in our country. In 2021, the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Agency, seized enough fentanyl to give every single American a lethal dose--every single American. A lot of blame for this crisis lies at the feet of the chemical suppliers located in China that operate with little or no accountability, which represent the bedrock of the international fentanyl supply chain. I felt this is very important that we do more to stop the scourge of fentanyl from coming into our country. So I pushed very hard to get this amendment in the managers' package, and I am glad it was-- championed, as I said, and passed in the Banking Committee, by Chairman Brown and Ranking Member Scott. It declares the international trafficking of fentanyl a national emergency and adds teeth and potential sanctions to the administration's ability to hold wrongdoers accountable. The ability to declare this a national emergency gives the President broader powers and allows him to do more to stop the flow of these precursor chemicals coming from China and other countries. The bill was passed unanimously, I am proud to say, by the Banking Committee--another great example of regular order here in the Senate. Finally, I am pleased the NDAA will include my amendment on increasing transparency on UAPs, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. UAPs generate a lot of curiosity from many Americans, and with that curiosity, sometimes comes misinformation. My amendment will require the National Archives and Records Administration to create a collection of records from across government Agencies that can be declassified for the public's use, similar to the approach used in 1992 with the J.F.K. Assassination Records Collection Act. These records will carry a presumption of immediate disclosure, which means they can only be made classified with good reason. I thank my colleagues who worked with me on this legislation-- Senators Rounds, Rubio, Heinrich, Gillibrand, and Young--for their partnership on this amendment. And as many know, my mentor and dear friend whom I miss so much, Harry Reid, was passionate about this issue, and so were Senators Stevens and Inouye. So I am glad we could get this into the managers' amendment. For these and many other reasons, I look forward to beginning floor consideration of the NDAA bill today. The four things I mentioned-- dealing with fentanyl, dealing with competition with China, dealing with AI, and making public the UAP phenomena and what we know about them in an unclassified way--are all important additions to the Defense bill. I am glad we added them in. I thank both sides for their good work, and I hope we can pass this important bill without needless delay or controversy.

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 79, S. 70.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 90, S. 1308.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the Cornyn amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 67, S. 794.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the President of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort His Excellency Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel, into the House Chamber for the joint meeting on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 423, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. 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.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 80, S. 460.

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

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Finally, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, July 19; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon conclusion of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 119, S. 2226, postcloture; further, that all time during adjournment, recess, morning business, and leader remarks count postcloture on the motion to proceed; finally, that the Senate recess from 1 to 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, yesterday, I moved to proceed to the National Defense Authorization Act. We will have our first vote on Tuesday. This bill was reported out of the Armed Services Committee on a huge, 25-to-1 bipartisan vote. We are encouraging filing amendments for the managers' package before the close of business today. Senator McConnell, the committees, and I will have our teams working over the weekend to see what we can include in the package of amendments. Undoubtedly, hundreds of amendments will be filed to this important piece of legislation. I am hopeful that all committee chairs and committee members will work together in good faith. Obviously, both sides will want to have amendment votes. Just like we have in recent efforts, I am willing to ensure we consider and vote a reasonable number of amendments. No Senator wants a dilatory process. I know Senators Reed and Wicker, who have done such a fine job putting together a bipartisan bill, will work with Senator McConnell and me, and we will develop a list of amendment votes and hopefully can proceed from there. There are important issues that I believe we must address while we are on the floor. We must consider a Chinese Government competition package. We must consider the Australia, United Kingdom, and United States submarine deal. I know there will be more to do here next week, and I look forward to the debate on the floor.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 119, S. 2226.

Mr. SCHUMER. I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, July 13, be waived.

Mr. SCHUMER. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. First, Madam President, I want to reiterate a point I made yesterday about Senator Tuberville's military holds. The bottom line is very, very simple: Republican leaders and many of Senator Tuberville's Republican colleagues oppose what Senator Tuberville is doing because it puts at serious risk our military preparedness, our military security, our national security. Very simply, the onus is on Republican Senators to prevail on Senator Tuberville and get him to back off his reckless pursuit. That is the crux of the matter. It is on the backs of his Republican colleagues to get Senator Tuberville to back off. It is hurting our military security. It is dangerous, unprecedented, and they have the power and the ability to stop him from doing it.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on inflation, let me begin with some welcome news for the American people. This morning, reports came out with new signs that inflation came down last month. The price of gas has come down over 25 percent since last year, and wages are now up also. Wage growth is significantly above inflation for the first time since the spring of 2021, right after President Biden took office. This news means one thing: more money in people's pockets, greater financial security, and affirmation that Democrats' agenda is working. We made a promise to lower costs, and today we have proof that we are making progress towards keeping that promise.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on the AI briefing, yesterday, the Senate held its first-ever--its first-ever--classified briefing on the national security implications of artificial intelligence. It was an eye-opening presentation. Many of us spent a lot of time educating ourselves on AI, talking to experts, and holding hearings, but yesterday's briefing was a candid wake-up call on how truly complicated AI is and how much work, hard work, we have before us. This will be an ongoing effort. We want to move quickly but not too quickly. We need to move quickly so bad countries--authoritarian countries and bad actors, not countries themselves--don't get ahead of us, but we can't move too quickly because we have to get this right, and it is very complicated. Action on AI will not be a matter of weeks, nor of years but, rather, of months. I want to thank my colleagues who attended yesterday's briefing. We had a terrific turnout of roughly 70 Members--even better than the first. I want to thank the briefers by name: Dr. Arati Prabhakar, Director of the White House Office of Science and Tech; Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence; Kath Hicks, Deputy Secretary of Defense; VADM Trey Whitworth, Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; and Dr. Craig Martell, Chief Digital and AI Officer at DOD. Each briefer was clear, concise, and informative. I was gratified my Republican colleagues came out of the briefing and said: Yes, this was a real back-and-forth, not just people reading a piece of paper and not just people answering questions. For sure, we are not done. Very soon, I will announce the timing for our third all-Senate briefing and again urge my colleagues to attend, especially those who couldn't make the first two briefings. Learning as much as we can about AI as quickly as possible is essential. AI is unlike anything Congress has dealt with before. It moves and changes so quickly. It is going to affect our world so dramatically. It is so much deeper in its complexity and lies so far outside our expertise. Coming up with legislative solutions will be one of the most difficult things Congress has ever, ever faced, so these briefings are an important initial step. I don't kid myself on how difficult this is going to be. Some people asked why did I decide to take this on. Well, just because an issue is difficult or unfamiliar to Congress is no excuse to turn away, especially when it is so important and is going to have such a huge effect on every American and every person in the world's life. We can't throw our hands in the air and hope someone else figures it out. Of the many things yesterday's briefing made clear, one of them was that government must play a role in making sure AI works for society's benefit. The private sector has made stunning progress innovating on AI, and Congress needs to be careful not to curb or hinder that innovation. But we are going to need guardrails, and the only agent that can do that is government. Yes, some companies may put guardrails on on their own, but when another company refuses to put on those guardrails, that company, the original company, will feel the pressure--political or, more importantly, economic--and say: Look, we can't have those guardrails either. Even if many developers have good intentions, there are always going to be rogue actors, unscrupulous companies, and foreign adversaries that seek to harm us and discard any guardrails at all. We can't expect companies to adopt guardrails, as I said, if their competitors won't be forced to do so as well. So it is only a task that government can do with help and input from the experts. That was made clear at the hearings yesterday. Even those AI companies that are way out front on this now admit that they need some government action, we need some kinds of guardrails. Later this year, Congress will host the first-ever AI Insight Forums to bring the best developers, experts, and legislators in one room to identify the areas where we can take action and to make sure we are asking the right questions to begin with. Ensuring our national security and safety will be one of the most important issues we discuss. I want to thank everyone who attended yesterday. It was bipartisan, and we must keep this issue bipartisan. How to deal with AI is not a Republican issue; it is not a Democratic issue; it is a national issue. I really want to thank our little group of Senators--Heinrich, Rounds, and Young--for helping organize these briefings. I look forward to the third briefing soon.