|
|
This Week in the Office of Senator Marco Rubio
On Wednesday, I joined Mornings with Maria on Fox Business to discuss China’s new National Security law in Hong Kong, the continued aggression of the Chinese Communist Party, the FCC’s designation of Huawei and ZTE as national security threats, my bipartisan bill to give safe harbor to Hong Kongers, targeted aid for small businesses, and more. Watch the full interview here.
On Monday, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) and I urged U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to designate waters near Florida as one of the first aquaculture opportunity areas, as detailed in President Trump’s May 7, 2020 Executive Order, “Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth.” Read more here.
On Tuesday, I welcomed a new Florida law, the Keep Our Graduates Working Act, that closely mirrors my bipartisan Protecting Job Opportunities for Borrowers (Protecting JOBs) Act , which would help to ensure financial borrowers are not inhibited from working in their trained field solely because they fell behind on their federal student loan payments. Specifically, my bill would prevent states from suspending, revoking or denying state professional, teaching, or driver’s licenses solely because a borrower falls behind on their federal student loan payments. Read more here.
On Tuesday, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and I were joined by Senators Todd Young (R-IN), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in introducing the Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act . This bipartisan legislation would provide those Hong Kongers who peacefully protested Beijing’s corrupt justice system, and have a well-founded fear of persecution, to be eligible for Priority 2 Refugee status. The bill is also in response to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) actions to implement its Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Read more here.
On Tuesday, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I released the following statement after the Senate unanimously passed a short-term extension of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) through August 8, 2020. This is the third PPP bill that received unanimous support in the Senate. Read more here.
On Friday, I sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar requesting the administration shift its approach to measuring hospital bed capacity and expand testing strategies. Read more here.
On Friday, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and I, along with Representatives James P. McGovern (D-MA) Christopher Smith (R-NJ),were joined by 74 members of the Senate and the House in sending a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin regarding the ongoing atrocities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. The letter urges the administration to issue a formal determination of the atrocity crimes, including crimes against humanity and genocide, and presses them to impose sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for these heinous policies. Read more here.
On Wednesday, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME), and I sent a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), Michael Pack, after Pack abruptly terminated the heads of three private grantee networks. Read more here.
On Wednesday, I applauded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) action to protect U.S. communications networks from security risks by designating Huawei and ZTE as national security threats. Read more here.
On Wednesday, Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), John Cornyn (R-TX), Jim Risch (R-ID), and I urged Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Department of Defense Secretary Mark Esper to bring the most advanced digital semiconductor manufacturing capabilities to the United States. While the United States is a leader in semiconductor development and design, our nation needs to retain the ability to manufacture the most advanced semiconductors, especially as countries such as China offer state support to national champion companies in a bid to undercut American leadership. Read more here.
On Monday, I released a statement after the Supreme Court issued a decision in June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee. The case was a challenge to a Louisiana abortion law, the Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, that requires physicians performing abortions to have admitting privileges, which is the ability to directly admit a patient into the hospital when emergencies arise, within thirty miles of the facility where the abortion is performed. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Louisiana’s law. Read more here.
On Wednesday, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I named AMWAT Moving Warehousing Storage of Tallahassee, FL as the U.S. Senate Small Business of the Week. Read more here.
Legislation Introduced
- On Monday, I joined Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) in introducing an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would limit the use of funds to reduce the number of members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty in Germany. Read more here.
- On Tuesday, I introduced legislation to direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Secretary of the Treasury — acting through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) — to conduct a study on the United States’ overreliance on foreign countries and the impact of foreign direct investment on the U.S. pharmaceutical industry and DNA analysis industries. Read more here.
- On Tuesday, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I joined Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) in introducing the Loan Interest Forgiveness for Taxpayers Under a Pandemic (LIFT UP) Act , legislation that would expand the eligibility for debt forgiveness provided in the CARES Act to small businesses that received Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loans. Read more here.
- On Wednesday, Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Rick Scott (R-FL), and I joined Congresswomen Jennifer González-Colón (R-PR) and Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) in introducing a resolution honoring the 65th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army, known as the Borinqueneers, and designating April 13, 2020 as the National Borinqueneers Day. Read more here.
In Case You Missed It...
“Marco Rubio: Provisions for Florida Included in the National Defense Authorization Act” (Florida Daily, 06/29/20)
“Florida Senator Marco Rubio Says We Have A New Top Priority As Coronavirus Case Numbers Rise” (CBS 4 Miami, 06/30/20)
“Marco Rubio acknowledges hospitals are strained by virus pressures” (Florida Politics, 07/01/20)
“Marco Rubio habla sobre un nuevo plan de ayuda económica en medio de la pandemia del coronavirus” (Univision 23, 07/01/20)
“[Senator Rubio] is preparing a bill to ban Chinese companies from U.S. capital markets if they engage in spying, human rights abuse or support China’s military, threatening a financial blow as tensions mount over COVID-19 and Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong.” (U.S. lawmaker seeks to ban Chinese firms from U.S. capital markets, Reuters, 07/01/20)
“A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators anticipated this yesterday, led by Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ). The new Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act is designed to give Hong Kongers who peacefully protested Beijing’s new legal change and have a well-founded fear of persecution Priority 2 Refugee status.” (Hong Kong Activists Arrested Under New China Security Law; Washington Prepares For Refugees, Forbes, 07/01/20)
“Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce the U.S. Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Review Act on Tuesday. The bill would require the government to study the effects of relying on foreign companies and foreign investment for the production of pharmaceuticals for the U.S. market, and provide a report within one year, according to a copy of the legislation seen by Reuters.” (Exclusive: After pandemic, U.S. senators want review of drug supply chain, Reuters, 06/30/20)
“Marco Rubio hails Florida law protecting workers from ‘modern day debtors’ prison’” (Florida Politics, 06/30/20)
“Rubio Voices Disapproval of Supreme Court’s Abortion Decision” (The Floridian, 06/29/20)
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment