Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, let me start by thanking Chairman Grassley for his leadership on this. This has been a bipartisan endeavor, and we look forward to working with Senator Menendez, the Senator from New Jersey, who says that he supports the spirit of what we are trying to do. I will let him speak for himself in describing it, but let me just tell you what brings me to this issue.

It is an experience we had in 2016 when we tried to pass the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. This provided a carve-out in the doctrine of sovereign immunity that would allow Americans to sue foreign governments for financing terrorist attacks on American soil. If that sounds familiar, it is exactly what they believe happened on 9/ 11--that a foreign government financed a terrorist attack, taking the lives of their loved ones on 9/11.

When we tried to pass the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, I got called by a former colleague here in the Senate who happened to be representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They were doing everything they could to prevent the passage of the bill. I know they were working the phones, trying to get anybody else they could get to object to the ultimate unanimous passage of the bill and the overriding of President Obama's veto.

Next, we were met with not only lobbying but veterans who were enticed to come to Washington, DC, and stay at a local, pricey hotel to try to lobby Congress to make the argument that somehow this was hurtful to our veterans who had served in the military. It didn't make any sense to me then, and it doesn't make any sense to me now.

What I am suggesting is that our rivals around the world will use a number of creative ways to try to influence us by lobbying. That is why the Foreign Agents Registration Act that we are talking about here is so important.

We have even seen a recent report of a Chinese intelligence officer trying to influence a Member of the U.S. Congress. Fortunately, according to public reports, he got a defensive briefing, as you should under those circumstances, and was able to break off that relationship, according to published reports.

We know that the Communist Party of China is investing in things like the Confucius Institutes around our institutions of higher learning to try to influence the education of our next generation of leaders.

In other words, the Communist Party of China and other countries will stop at nothing to try to influence the policies that come out of this body and out of Congress and out of Washington, DC, and bend them in their favor.

So I am an enthusiastic supporter of what the Senator from Iowa is trying to do. I look forward to working for maybe even something better than what we are proposing right now, and I understand the Senator from New Jersey is committed to doing that.

This is a serious problem, and I will bet you there are a number of ways that foreign governments--not just China but other countries around the world--try to influence policies here in America, and we don't even know they are doing it. Reforming the Foreign Agents Registration Act and the Lobbying Disclosure Act is so important to make sure that people have to file for full transparency when representing a foreign government.

I appreciate the leadership of my friend, the Senator from Iowa, and I look forward to working with our colleagues across the aisle to try to get this done.

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I look forward to working with the Senator from New Jersey and the Senator from Iowa. As I said, this is a very serious problem for the U.S. Government, and, thus, for the American people.

One of our greatest assets is also one of our greatest vulnerabilities. We are an open society. Our adversaries are not, and, thus, they use things like the internet for information warfare, whereas we see it as a valuable tool to do business, to stay in touch with our families, and to communicate with one another. Our adversaries are determined, and they are relentless, so I hope that just this little colloquy today will help alert more of our colleagues about the importance of our working together to address this. I look forward to being part of that process.

Nothing happens very quickly around this place. Sometimes you have to work on things for years to get them done.

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