United States--Mexico Economic Partnership Act--Continue

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. That is correct. COVID-19 has shuttered small businesses across the Country. This is especially true in Oregon, where small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Ensuring businesses can access relief from both the Paycheck Protection Program and the Employee Retention Tax Credit is critical. The legislation before us today would allow businesses who took out a PPP loan to access the retention credit in two instances. First, those businesses that have had or will have their loan forgiven can claim the credit for any wages that were not paid for with PPP loan proceeds. Second, a business that does not have its PPP loan forgiven can claim the credit for any wages. As this change will be retroactive, does the Chairman agree that it is equally as critical that these small businesses are able to quickly and easily claim these past credits they will now be eligible for?

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Virginia, the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, for his work on the Intelligence Authorization Act, which is now part of the omnibus appropriations bill. I wish to address a few provisions that have been removed or modified.

First, the IAA, as reported by the Senate Intelligence Committee in June, included a provision requiring the DNI to submit a report to the congressional intelligence committees on the implementation of Presidential Policy Directive 28. That report covers the classified annex referenced in section 3 of PPD-28.

This report is extremely important. It will allow the committees to conduct oversight of signals intelligence collection conducted pursuant to Executive Order 12333. It will also provide the committee the ability to understand how the government interprets and implements PPD- 28, which has broad legal, policy, and diplomatic implications. In response to the outrage from our European allies regarding U.S. signals intelligence operations revealed by Edward Snowden, President Obama issued PPD-28 in January 2014. PPD-28 covers topics that are directly relevant to both Americans and foreigners, such as bulk collection. The directive, and its classified annex in particular, is designed to evaluate the benefits and risks of signals intelligence operations. It was intended to reassure our allies about the scope of U.S. signals intelligence collection and to serve as a cornerstone for data-sharing agreements, which are still ongoing. Unlike FISA collection, however, there is no judicial oversight of collection conducted pursuant to EO 12333 and governed by PPD-28. For all these reasons, therefore, it is absolutely critical that there be serious congressional oversight of PPD-28.

The PPD-28 reporting requirement was not merely part of the IAA reported by the committee. It was in the version of the IAA that was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act that passed the full Senate in July. That version was never passed into law, however, because the IAA fell off the NDAA, which is why the IAA is now part of the omnibus appropriations bill.

Unfortunately, during the negotiations leading up to this bill, the House Intelligence Committee minority insisted that this bipartisan, Senate-passed provision be modified so that the portion of the report on the classified annex of PPD-28 is submitted to the chairmen and ranking minority members of the congressional intelligence committee. To the extent this language could be misinterpreted to limit access by the full committees, it is unacceptable and unprecedented. Congress should not be in the position of passing legislation that could be seen as limiting its ability to fulfill its own oversight responsibilities.

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Mr. WYDEN. I thank the Senator from Virginia. On another topic, the vice chairman and I worked together to include in the IAA a number of critically important provisions protecting whistleblowers. Again, at the insistence of the House Intelligence Committee minority, those provisions were taken out. The latest was the removal of a provision that would help whistleblowers whose security clearances have been revoked as a form of reprisal. Those provisions need to be passed into law.

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Mr. WYDEN. Yes. That language was not intended to limit retroactive compensation for individuals who were previously advised by a State, that they were ineligible for PUA, nor was it intended to limit retroactive compensation for individuals who have a regular unemployment insurance claim in adjudication and later find out they need to apply for PUA.

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