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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Tennessee for yielding, and in a few minutes, I intend to take the first procedural step to begin consideration of the annual Defense policy bill. With cooperation, the Senate can and should move through this important legislation that we attend to each year.
This year, we will amend the Defense bill to include the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, the historic manufacturing and innovation bill that the Senate passed earlier this year on a strong bipartisan basis and which will help tackle our Nation's supply chain crisis. Our supply chain crisis needs attending to, and we cannot wait. Members from both sides of the aisle have expressed interest in getting this done.
Passing USICA would be an essential far-reaching step that Congress could take to help fight inflation, help increase American workers' wages, and relieve strained supply chains, particularly with regard to the current devastating chip shortage that is hurting the auto industry, the tech industry, and so many other industries. We cannot allow us to become dependent on foreign chips, especially when we do-- we do the groundbreaking technology.
We are also working with the Speaker and our colleagues in the House and Republican colleagues in the Senate to find a path forward to get this important legislation over the finish line before the end of the year.
It is also my intention to have an amendment vote on the bipartisan legislation, repealing the 2002 Iraq war AUMF. This measure was reported on a bipartisan basis out of the Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year, and the NDAA is the logical place to have that vote on the Senate floor.
The Iraq war has been over for nearly a decade. An authorization passed in 2002 is no longer necessary in 2021. In no way will repealing this measure impact our ability to keep Americans safe nor impact our relationship with Iraq.
We will have other votes on amendments on the Defense bill as well. I look forward to working with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to move this important process forward.
So now I am going to move cloture on the NDAA.
I have some words to say about my dear colleague, Senator Leahy, and some words to say on Build Back Better, but I will come at a later moment because I know my friend from Tennessee is waiting to do those things tonight.
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