This Week in the Office of Senator Marco Rubio
On Tuesday, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I spoke on the Senate floor about the success of the Paycheck Protection Program and the need to conduct oversight. Watch the full speech here.
On Tuesday, I published a foreword for American Compass stressing the need to build a more resilient American economy and explaining that America’s ability to meet the challenges of tomorrow rests on our conviction to turn a new economic page today. Read the full foreword here.
On Thursday, I issued a statement after the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) unanimously approved the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 (AWIA 2020). At the urging of Senator Rick Scott and me, the bill would authorize and support critical water projects in Florida and make important reforms that will strengthen Florida’s water quality, coastal resilience, and ecological health. Read more here.
On Monday, I led a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers in demanding that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs immediately review the current Veterans Pensions and Survivors Pension claims processing system after Floridians experienced significant delays in obtaining timely benefits decisions since January 2019. The letter also requests that the VA respond to concerns about insufficient communications the VA has had with the lawmakers’ offices. Read more here.
On Wednesday, I joined Fox and Friends to discuss America’s food supply, state bailouts, and Representative John Ratcliffe’s (R-TX) nomination to be Director of National Intelligence. Watch the full interview here.
On Thursday, I issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced $23.6 million in fisheries assistance funding provided by Sec. 12005 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to Florida fisheries negatively affected by COVID-19. Read more here.
On Tuesday, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I joined Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR) in releasing a statement after federal aid to small businesses in Puerto Rico increased 700 percent in the second round of funding of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Read more here.
On Tuesday, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I issued the following statement after the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and U.S. Department of the Treasury provided additional guidance related to loan forgiveness reductions if Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) borrowers are unable to successfully rehire their workers. Last month, I called for clarity from the administration on the re-hire exemption. Read more here.
On Tuesday, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I issued a statement after the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the opening of the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) portal to eligible agricultural businesses as authorized by the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act. Last month, I led a letter with Chairwoman Velazquez and Ranking Member Chabot clarifying intent that agriculture small businesses should be eligible for EIDLs. Read more here.
On Tuesday, as a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I released a statement following the nomination hearing of Representative John Ratcliffe (R-TX) to be the next Director of National Intelligence. Read more here.
On Wednesday, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and I sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressing our growing concern about the Cuban dictatorship’s coercive forced labor scheme impacting doctors and other medical personnel. Read more here.
On Monday, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and I issued the following statement after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published the findings of an investigation they requested into the Trump Administration’s civil nuclear cooperation negotiations with Saudi Arabia, as well as any negotiation by the executive branch since December 2009. Originally requested on March 15, 2019, we asked the GAO, a non-partisan agency that conducts studies on behalf of Congress, to investigate reports that some of the negotiations under the Trump Administration have been carried out without proper oversight and in an opaque manner inconsistent with previous nuclear agreement negotiations. Read more here.
On Monday, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and I, as Ranking Member and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, sent a letter to Russell Vought, Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), regarding the implementation of Section 889(a)(1)(B) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (FY2019 NDAA). Section 889 prohibits the use of certain Chinese telecommunication equipment by both the federal government and federal contractors. Regulatory implementation language has already been drafted and sent to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for approval. The Chairman and Ranking Member urged OMB to provide special consideration to small businesses and provide these firms with both a clear path toward compliance and a reasonable compliance time frame. Read more here.
On Monday, I joined Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Martha McSally (R-AZ) in a legislative effort to prohibit universities from receiving Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds from the CARES Act if they have an endowment larger than $10 billion, unless they first spend some of their own money on coronavirus-related financial assistance for students with the greatest need. Read more here.
Last Friday, as Co-Chair of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), I joined U.S. Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA), Chair of the CECC, in sending a letter to President Donald Trump expressing our concern about the Chinese government’s “increasingly draconian” restrictions on press freedoms and freedom of expression and asking him to “advocate for the release” of unjustly imprisoned journalists, bloggers, and free speech advocates. Read more here.
In Case You Missed It...
“Marco Rubio: On Resilience” (American Compass, 05/04/20)
“‘I don’t think we’re going to have a choice as a country not to confront this,’ Mr. Rubio said in an interview. Too often, he said, conservatives automatically oppose policies that impose new rules for American businesses, ‘and somehow you’re Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders’ for supporting them.” (Coronavirus Exposes a G.O.P. Divide: Is the Market Always Supreme?, New York Times, 05/05/20)
“Rubio and Scott target invasive species that threaten Florida” (The Floridian, 05/05/20)
“U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida’s senior senator, said he will focus on sustaining federal funding. ‘We’re finally on a path to completion within our lifetime, and I will not let us slide back into complacency,’ Rubio said. ‘The restoration of our Everglades is too important to leave unfinished.”” (As work on $1.8B Everglades project begins, low water level on Lake Okeechobee raises concern, Center Square Florida, 05/04/20)
“Marco Rubio, Florida Delegation Want VA Immediately Review Veterans Pension Claims After Major Delays” (Florida Daily, 05/05/20)
“Rubio: Federal Gov’t Coronavirus Response ‘Not an Opportunity’ for Local Governments to Get Bailed Out” (Breitbart, 05/06/20)
“Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez Declare Cuba’s Medical Diplomacy Form of Modern Slavery” (National Interest, 05/07/20)
“Rubio’s request for investigation into Trump’s nuclear dealings pays off” (The Floridian, 05/05/20)
“Marco Rubio (R-FL) and a group of bipartisan senators (including Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)) is promoting a bill which would limit US reliance on drugs and drug ingredients coming from China.” (Congress Takes Action To Reduce U.S. Reliance On Chinese Drugs, National Interest, 05/03/20)
Legislation Introduced…
- I joined Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) in introducing the Suppressing Looming Invasive Threats Harming Everglades Restoration (SLITHER) Act, which authorizes and directs the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force to develop innovative technologies and approaches to identify, target, and eliminate invasive animal and plant species that threaten Everglades restoration. The bill is a positive step forward in combating harmful invasive species that pose risks to the ecological communities, native species, and habitats within the South Florida ecosystem, which can make it difficult to measure progress in Everglades restoration. Read more here.
- I joined Senators Jim Risch (R-ID), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Todd Young (R-IN), David Perdue (R-GA), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) in introducing the Multilateral Aid Review Act of 2020 (MAR Act) to review and improve the accountability and effectiveness of U.S. participation in international organizations. The MAR Act would establish an interagency task force, with peer review, to conduct an evaluation of how well multilateral institutions are able to carry out their missions and serve American interests and taxpayers. Read more here.
- As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I joined Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Tom Carper (D-DE) in introducing the Small Business Expense Protection Act, which would clarify the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) so small businesses can deduct expenses paid with a forgiven PPP loan from their taxes. Read more here.
- I joined Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) in introducing a bill to rename the street outside the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. “Li Wenliang Plaza.” The bill honors the late Dr. Li Wenliang, the Wuhan-based doctor who warned the world about the coronavirus before the Chinese Communist Party silenced him. Read more here.
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment