John Thune

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue).

Mr. THUNE

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 Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday afternoon, the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet held our final hearing of the 116th Congress. The title of yesterday's hearing was ``Betting on the Rest: Expanding American Entrepreneurship Outside Traditional Hubs,'' and it focused on examining where venture capital is being invested in this country and where it is not, with an eye to exploring ways to expand investment to other parts of the country. Over the past 50 years, venture capital has come to play an essential role in advancing American entrepreneurism. Venture capitalists have provided key funding for startups that have gone on to become some of America's most profitable companies. Many of the technologies and services we rely on today would not be around if venture capitalists hadn't been willing to take a risk on innovation However, venture capital investment in the United States has traditionally been highly concentrated in certain areas of the country. In 2019, California-based companies received 50 percent of all venture- backed investment in the United States. Just three States--California, New York, and Massachusetts--accounted for almost 75 percent of all venture-backed investment in the country. There are a lot of valid reasons for this investment concentration. However, this geographic imbalance also means that a majority of regions within the United States are often shut out from the kind of investment that creates jobs, revitalizes communities, and enables the pursuit of the American dream. Without greater access to capital in underserved regions, the flow of talent, wealth, and opportunity will continue to move to only a handful of coastal cities, and the full reach and diversity of American ingenuity will go unrealized. Fortunately, there are a lot of individuals in the private sector who are already working to address this issue and expand venture-backed investment to other areas of the United States, and we had the opportunity to hear from some of them yesterday. I was very grateful for their input. We were very pleased to have a South Dakota entrepreneur among our panelists. I am committed to making sure that the Federal Government serves as a help, not a hindrance, to the expansion of venture capital investment. I took the reins of the Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet at the start of the 116th Congress, and I am very proud of the work we have done over the past 2 years. We have had a very active Congress, holding eight hearings in Washington, DC, as well as a hearing in my home State of South Dakota. These hearings have explored everything from broadband investment in rural America to the way the social media companies filter information on their platforms. I have introduced several bills over the past 2 years that have been informed by our work at the committee, including the PACT Act, the TRACED Act, the Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, and the STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act. A priority of mine over the past several years has been ensuring that America stays at the head of the next wave of internet technology, which is 5G. In addition to the tremendous technological benefits that will result from 5G, staying at the forefront of the 5G revolution will bring tremendous economic investment and create a lot of great American jobs. I spent a lot of time working on this issue when I was chairman of the Commerce Committee, and heading up the Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet Subcommittee in this Congress has allowed me to continue to focus on 5G. Last year, I introduced the STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act along with the ranking member of the subcommittee, Senator Schatz. Our legislation would help expedite the deployment of the small cells that are a key part of 5G infrastructure. This year, I introduced the Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act to address another part of the 5G equation, and that is ensuring that we have the workforce in place to handle the demands of installing and maintaining 5G technology. As a resident of a rural State, ensuring access to broadband internet in rural communities has long been a priority of mine. I introduced legislation this year to direct funds from radio spectrum auctions to expand rural broadband access. I am continuing my work to ensure that rural communities get access to 5G technology. Now, 5G has the potential to offer tremendous benefits to rural communities, from expanded access to telehealth services to precision agriculture technologies, and I am committed to ensuring that rural communities are not left behind in the 5G revolution. Pretty much every American has been forced to deal with annoying and illegal robocalls. These calls are a major nuisance, and too often, they are more than a nuisance. Every day, vulnerable Americans fall prey to even more sophisticated scammers and have money or their identities stolen. I have worked on this issue for years, and in 2019 I introduced the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, or the TRACED Act, along with Senator Markey. While this legislation won't stop every robocall, the TRACED Act provides tools to discourage illegal robocalls, protect consumers, and crack down on offenders. I am very proud that last December, the President signed our legislation into law. More and more, Americans get news and information from social media sites, and particularly during this past election cycle, a lot of questions have arisen about the ways that social media platforms are filtering the information that we see. Internet platforms have actively cultivated the notion that they are merely providing the technology for people to communicate and to share their thoughts and ideas, but the reality is somewhat different. Sites like Facebook and Twitter make use of sophisticated content-moderation tools, algorithms, and recommendation engines to shape the content that we see on these platforms. Now, content moderation can certainly improve the user experience. Most of us would prefer that YouTube recommend videos that match our interest. The problem is, the content moderation has been and largely continues to be a black box, with consumers having little or no idea how the information they see has been shaped by the sites they are visiting. Last year, I chaired a subcommittee hearing on this issue, and the information we gathered helped inform two pieces of bipartisan legislation that I introduced this Congress--the Filter Bubble Transparency Act and the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency Act, or the PACT Act. Both of these bills would increase transparency around the content-moderation process so that users have a better sense of how the information presented to them is being filtered. The Filter Bubble Transparency Act and the PACT Act go a long way toward making social media and other sites more accountable to consumers, and I will continue to work to advance these legislative efforts here in the Senate. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to chair this subcommittee over the past Congress and for the opportunity it has given me to work on the important issues and the legislation that I have mentioned. I want to thank the subcommittee's ranking member, Senator Schatz, for all the work he has done to make our committee so effective. I look forward to continuing to work with all my subcommittee colleagues to advance the 5G revolution, address the challenges presented by the internet age, and to make life better for the American people. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue).

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, it was a hopeful day yesterday as the first COVID vaccines in the United States were distributed to healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID battle, and later this week, the FDA will hold a meeting on an emergency use authorization for Moderna's COVID vaccine, meaning that we could have a second coronavirus vaccine authorized before Christmas. If all goes well, we expect to have 100 million Americans vaccinated by March. That is a pretty amazing statistic when you consider that just a year ago, we didn't even know about the virus, and it is a tribute to the innovative power of the private sector and the efforts of Congress and the Trump administration to expedite vaccine development. It has been a long, hard year, but the light at the end of the tunnel is coming. But, while yesterday was an encouraging day, we have more work to do on the COVID front. First, we all need to keep following the CDC's recommendations. The rollout of Pfizer's vaccine is wonderful news, but cases in the United States are still surging. Until we can get a lot more people vaccinated, we need to do everything we can to slow the spread of the virus and avoid overwhelming our hospitals. Second, we need to pass another COVID bill here in Congress to provide additional funding for vaccines and deliver other urgently needed relief to our fellow Americans. Republicans, of course, have been trying to pass additional COVID legislation literally for months, and I am encouraged that, in the past few weeks, a number of Democrats have stepped forward to work with the Republicans to develop bipartisan legislation. Just yesterday, a bipartisan group of Senators released legislation along the lines of what the majority leader has advocated-- targeted relief that focuses on our most critical needs in the areas where Republicans and Democrats agree. This includes important COVID priorities like vaccine funding, money for schools, and help for the hardest hit small businesses. The Republicans and Democrats' ideal COVID bills might look very different, but there are a number of things that all of us agree need to be addressed, and we should--in fact, we must--pass legislation to take care of those priorities. I am thinking about vaccine distribution especially. We have been blessed with not one but two viable vaccines, with more on the horizon. We can't afford to undermine this success by failing to provide the resources that are necessary for widespread distribution. The ball is in the Senate Democratic leader and Speaker Pelosi's court. We have bipartisan support for targeted relief to address our most critical priorities. In fact, the Democratic leader in the House noted on Sunday: I think we need to get an agreement, and we need to get this bill passed. . . . Nobody ever gets everything they want. And . . . it's critically important that we deal with these very, very important objectives even if we don't get on either side everything we want. That was from the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the Democratic whip on the Senate side was part of the bipartisan group who suggested dropping the most controversial aspects and focusing on those things on which we agree. So the answer really lies with Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leader here in the Senate. Are they going to heed the bipartisan calls to deliver critical coronavirus funding, or are they going to continue to block relief for Americans? Around our country, Americans are struggling under the worst wave of the virus to date. They need more help. Above all, they need the vaccinations that will help bring this pandemic to an end. We can pass additional coronavirus relief legislation this week. To quote the majority leader, let's ``get it done.'' I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue), and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue), and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Sasse). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham) and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I first met Pat Roberts when I was running for the U.S. House of Representatives for the very first time. I had a friend who worked for Pat, and he got me a meeting with him, which, at the time, was a pretty big deal because he was the chairman of the House Ag Committee, and I was in a Republican primary, where I was over 50 points behind. So the prospects weren't really bright that I was ever going to be somebody who would make it through and end up serving there, but nobody could have been more encouraging or kind. I had a great meeting with him. We talked about agriculture. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to get to know him pretty well here during my time in the Senate. One of the reasons we have so much common ground is we both come from States where agriculture is incredibly important. It is the No. 1 industry in South Dakota. I have had the privilege of serving on the Ag Committee with Pat now for more than a decade. I call him ``my chairman'' since he has been my chairman on the Ag Committee for so long. He calls me ``Coop''--a moniker he gave me very early in our acquaintance because he says I look like Gary Cooper. Now, I have to admit that the first time he called me that I had to look up some pictures to see if that were a compliment or not, but I know that he meant it that way. Whenever he introduced me at the Ag Committee, it was always, ``Coop, it's high noon. You're up.'' ``High Noon'' was a famous movie in which Gary Cooper starred with Grace Kelly. Of course, Pat is, I would say, somebody who is very accomplished in talking about movies from that era and stars from that era. He knows a little bit about everything and a lot about a few things. I call him ``my chairman,'' as I said, because he has been there for an awfully long time, and he never minds the stories and nicknames. They are quintessentially Pat. It is just the way that he conducts himself. Somebody talked about his sense of humor here this morning. I think Senator Moran talked about Pat's being a funny guy in the Senate and of Pat's saying he was not a funny guy but a humorous guy. I would say he is a funny person. He is a comedian by nature, and he keeps all of us entertained with his repertoire of country music lyrics, his old movie quotes, and just a storytelling flair. You can be sure that, if you are going to be around Pat for very long, you are going to have a few belly laughs. I always tell him--and I think it is true, and I think you have kind of heard it today--when he gets up on the floor and speaks or when he speaks at a committee hearing, that when you close your eyes, you kind of hear Paul Harvey. Senator Moran said he sounded like Jack Benny once in a while, and maybe that is true, too. What I always knew when I was growing up was that Paul Harvey was a voice that was on the radio pretty much every day in our house, and I hear that same sort of Midwestern, resonant, and commonsensical voice whenever I hear Pat get up and talk. But I will tell you that Pat may have a great sense of humor--he does keep us constantly smiling around here, which is something we don't do near often enough, particularly these days--but he is also very, very serious when it comes to getting things done for the people of Kansas, and they couldn't have a better advocate. As I said, both Pat and I come from States whose lifeblood is agriculture, and Pat Roberts' heart has always beat with the farmers of this country. His advocacy for American agriculture resulted in his serving as chairman of both the House and the Senate Agriculture Committees during his career, and, as already been noted, he is the first Member of Congress in history--first in history--to have served as the chairman of both the House Agriculture and the Senate Agriculture Committee. He is also the first Member of Congress to have written and passed a farm bill in both Chambers. I think he has worked, as was said earlier, on eight farm bills in all, which is an incredible number. And I am proud to have worked with him on three farm bills in the Senate, including the 2018 farm bill, which passed the Senate with the greatest number of votes of any farm bill in Senate history--a tribute to the hard work that Pat and his staff put into building consensus and reaching out to Members from all across this country who represent different areas, different commodities, different crops, and bringing them together to write a farm bill. I have been around here long enough and been associated with enough farm bills to know that they tend to be kind of controversial because some people represent cities and maybe don't have agricultural constituencies. So the fact that Pat was successful in getting a farm bill across the finish line here in the Senate with a record 87 votes is a remarkable accomplishment in and of itself. Of course, Pat's leadership, as has already been pointed out, hasn't been limited to agriculture. Among other things, he has served as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he led a sweeping review of the U.S. intelligence apparatus and advanced a number of reforms to shore up our intelligence and our national security. Then there is his work on biosciences, military issues, education, healthcare, and the list goes on and on and on. Pat has proudly represented the people of Kansas in Congress for 40 years--16 in the House of Representatives and now 24 in the U.S. Senate--but, as has already been mentioned as well, his public service began long before that with his time as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Once a marine, always a marine. Pat has proudly represented the marines here in Congress. He is currently the most senior marine serving here on Capitol Hill. The motto of the Marine Corps is ``Semper Fidelis''--always faithful. Pat has lived out that motto over his long career of service to our country, and I hate to think of a Senate without Pat Roberts. He will be sorely missed, but he has more than earned his retirement and a chance to spend more time with his wife Franki and his children and grandchildren. I know how much they have contributed to his success here. There aren't any of us who are here who don't have a supportive family, supportive spouse. We are truly grateful for the many contributions that Franki and the family have made to Pat's accomplishments here, his success in the Senate, and I know he is looking forward to spending more time with them in the future. Pat, thank you for your leadership, for your friendship. May God bless you in your retirement. I will miss you. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue), and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. I ask unanimous consent that the Scott of South Carolina substitute amendment at the desk be 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. THUNE. Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 3451 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I am hoping that we will be able to pass a COVID relief bill before Christmas. As the leader has said earlier, we don't need to resolve all of our differences to pass a bill. We can pass targeted legislation that focuses on the priorities that we all agree need to be addressed. As the leader pointed out earlier this morning on the floor, Republicans here in the Senate have tried repeatedly, going back to last summer, to move legislation that is targeted, that is fiscally responsible, and that addresses the key needs that are being experienced and the challenges that are being felt by the American people during the pandemic. In fact, as recently as October, we had a majority of U.S. Senators here on the floor that attempted to get on a bill--a targeted, fiscally responsible bill--that addressed the needs that our small businesses have, with additional funding for the PPP program; that provided an extension for unemployment insurance for people who were unemployed; that provided funding for vaccine distribution; that also provided funding for frontline workers and, I should add, funding for schools and universities. It was a very targeted, fiscally responsible bill. It was voted on here in the Senate not only once but twice. Both in September and October, we brought a bill to the floor and couldn't even get on it because the Democratic leadership decided to block that bill. So we didn't even have a debate. Not only could we not get a vote on something that represented a good-faith effort at addressing the key needs that are being felt by the American people as a result of the pandemic, but we couldn't even get on the bill to debate it. So we are trying yet one more time, and I hope this time we will meet with success because I do believe that we need to pass COVID relief before the end of the year, and I hope Members of the Democratic leadership will decide that they are willing to move forward to meet our country's most critical COVID priorities

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue), and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue), and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mrs. Loeffler), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue), and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).