Category: US Senate

WASHINGTON – Today U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) joined Fox News’ Fox & Friends to express concern over the Biden administration’s reckless inflationary spending and dangerous open border policy, while highlighting his legislation – including the Alan T. Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act, which will protect Americans from the increasing chaos and devastation coming in the wake of Title 42’s expiration.
 

                                                                                                              Click here to watch the full interview.

On President Biden’s incoherent and devastating border policy… “70,000 Americans have lost their lives to fentanyl – , much of that preventable if we closed our southern border, extended [the powers of] Title 42, and had a President who would do his job. He’s left our border insecure, unsafe, and wide open. We deserve better as Americans… In South Carolina, [at] the College of Charleston… the former Business School dean lost his son this year because of fentanyl. This is impacting lives across our nation. Every county in the nation is a border county.” 

On his solutions to securing the border… “We have a President who is abdicating his responsibility. If he does his job, we close our border. I have legislation that extends the healthcare crisis on our border.  I have legislation that provides 10 billion for a border wall. I have legislation that provides 5 billion dollars for technology so we can surveil our entire border to stop fentanyl.”

On the Biden administration’s rampant spending … “This president has led to a 1.2 trillion-dollar deficit last year,  2 trillion this year, and 24 consecutive months of inflation outpacing wage growth because Americans are losing their spending power…He wants to find someone to blame.  President Biden, look in the mirror and blame yourself. The truth is, that the President is failing us on the economy.”

Related Issues: 

Senator Met with Border Patrol Officials in Brownsville to Draw Attention to Surge in Illegal Immigration

BROWNSVILLE, TX – Senator John Hoeven traveled to Brownsville, Texas to meet with Border Patrol agents and see firsthand the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border as Title 42 expired.

In fiscal year (FY) 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered almost 2.4 million individuals attempting to illegally cross the southern border. In the first six months of FY 2023, CBP has encountered more than 1.5 million individuals, a pace that will surpass last year’s record numbers. On Monday and Tuesday this week, Border Patrol reported 10,000 encounters each day leading up to the expiration of Title 42.

“Over the last several years, I’ve traveled repeatedly to the southern border and each time I go I see more and more people coming here illegally. We are not just seeing an increase in illegal immigration, but also human and drug trafficking at the border. This could change immediately if the Biden administration truly enforced the Remain in Mexico and the Third Safe Country protocols, and enforced them as we did under the prior administration. We could stop this. Every American needs to tell the Biden administration to enforce the law. That message needs to be heard across this country. We could stop this if the Biden administration enforced these policies and people knew they had to follow the law.”

Last night’s trip to Brownsville is part of the senator’s ongoing efforts to support Border Patrol and draw attention to the southern border crisis. Over the last several years, Hoeven has met with North Dakota National Guard members in Del Rio and Eagle Pass, Texas to highlight their mission in support of Customs and Border Protection operations. The senator has also reviewed border operations in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, and traveled with a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Guatemala to outline the need to work with these nations to stop illegal immigration and prevent human and drug trafficking. 

Hoeven has been pressuring the Biden administration to secure the border and enforce the law in order to. The senator has been pressing President Biden to:

• Reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or Remain in Mexico Policy, which required people seeking asylum at the southern border to wait in Mexico while their case was adjudicated.
• Strictly Enforce the Safe Third Country Agreements requiring that those coming from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala seek asylum there first, otherwise be returned to await the outcome of their claims.

-###-

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) sent a bipartisan letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Department of State to hold the People’s Republic of China (PRC) accountable for its role in the illegal trafficking of synthetic opioid drugs. China is the primary source of the precursor chemicals, which are then processed and manufactured into synthetic opioids by Mexican drug cartels to bring into the United States.

“As the PRC continues to assert its role in global governance, often signaling its potential to lead and challenge existing institutions and norms, we urge the Department of State to hold the PRC accountable for its role in the illegal trafficking of synthetic opioid drugs,” wrote the senators. “Insisting to be recognized as a great power on the world stage also means accepting the responsibility that comes with such a title. Thus, we must do more to demand that the PRC assume greater responsibility in the global counternarcotic campaign.”

In their letter, Rounds and Manchin requested the Department of State take multiple steps to curb the death of U.S. citizens, including:

• Strengthening partnerships with our allies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific who face illicit trafficking of methamphetamine production and trafficking of meth precursors from China.
• Breaking illicit fentanyl-related financial flows linked to the PRC.
• Sanctioning Chinese pharmaceutical and chemical companies who are shipping dangerous precursors to producing synthetic opioids.

A drug overdose occurs in the United States every five minutes. Drug overdoses, which are largely driven by fentanyl, have been the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45 since 2019, surpassing suicide, car accidents, COVID-19 and cancer. Since President Biden took office, 35,375 pounds of fentanyl have been seized or smuggled across the southern border.  

The full letter can be read HERE or below.

+++

Dear Secretary Blinken:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl-related substances) resulted in over 74,000 overdose deaths between November 2021 and November 2022. Further, while Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) are reportedly a major source of illegally manufactured synthetic opioids, suppliers in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) provide most of the necessary precursor chemicals used by these TCOs.

As the PRC continues to assert its role in global governance, often signaling its potential to lead and challenge existing institutions and norms, we urge the Department of State to hold the PRC accountable for its role in the illegal trafficking of synthetic opioid drugs. Insisting to be recognized as a great power on the world stage also means accepting the responsibility that comes with such a title. Thus, we must do more to demand that the PRC assume greater responsibility in the global counternarcotic campaign.

Moreover, we urge the Department to actively pursue robust multi-lateral efforts with our allied partners in Southeast Asia and the Pacific who are also facing illicit trafficking of methamphetamine production and trafficking of meth precursors from China. The PRC’s refusal to regulate its pharmaceutical and chemical sectors significantly contributes to this ongoing crisis. Given that the PRC has prioritized biopharmaceuticals as a key sector in its economy, it has a vested interest in allowing these industries to operate with little-to-no oversight or enforcement regulations. However, in order to be recognized for its purported contributions to the global counternarcotic campaign, the PRC must commit to dedicating the necessary resources and personnel to conduct serious oversight of industries that are contributing to this global crisis.

Should the PRC remain disengaged from this worldwide problem, we urge you to consider sanctioning Chinese pharmaceutical and chemical companies who are shipping dangerous precursors all over the world, especially to Mexican TCOs who continue to manufacture and smuggle fentanyl and other illicit synthetic drugs into the United States.

Congress is fully aware that disruption of the supply chain is only one of the necessary steps we must take to combat this crisis. We must also continue to disrupt illicit fentanyl-related financial flows linked to the PRC if we want to see progress in saving lives. Currently, profits are funneled through PRC-based money-laundering organizations and Mexican TCOs, making it difficult to investigate and disrupt criminal actors. We are concerned, but not surprised, by the lack of PRC engagement in addressing the numerous money laundering and illicit finance facilitators with ties to Chinese criminal organizations that enable drug trafficking.

If the PRC insists on self-identifying as a responsible global power, then we must also insist that it be held to the same standards as any responsible developed nation committed to cracking down on the burgeoning global synthetic opioid crisis. We fully support your Department’s effort to work through multilateral fora and encourage the PRC to expand its anti-money laundering efforts in order to see robust progress in improved cooperation and accountability to save the lives of American citizens affected by this blight. More importantly, we must continue to utilize every international platform to call out the PRC’s bad behaviors and hold them accountable for their role in this global crisis.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

###

WASHINGTON – At this week’s Senate Committee on Finance hearing on international tax policy,  Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) underscored the power of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in spurring economic growth and competition. The senator expressed support for continuing tax policies that promote American competitiveness on the world stage, put money back into taxpayers’ pockets, and spur investment into the American economy. 

The witness panel included South Carolina native Daniel Bunn, who is the President & CEO of the Tax Foundation.

.     

Click here to watch Senator Scott’s questions. 

                                                                                   Click here to watch South Carolina Witness Daniel Bunn answer questions.

Senator Scott’s questions as delivered:

I remember a warm day in South Carolina. After the passage of the TCJA, South Carolinians were celebrating the opportunity to see 4,000 plus dollars coming back in the average family’s pocketbooks. As a result of the TCJA, we not only saw the resources coming back to the household by letting people keep their own cash, we also saw a 3% increase to the treasury with lower taxes. Mr. Bunn, we all know that the TCJA ended inversions and made the US competitive as a location for investment as well as a location for multinational groups to be headquartered. Since the passage of the Republican tax bill, there hasn’t been a single inversion, and the dominance of foreign acquirers in cross-border mergers and acquisition transactions has ended. In effect, Republicans helped to flip the script. The question for you is if we moved the taxes back up to 28%, GILTI to 21% – talk to me about the impact. 

Witness Bunn: Thank you for the question sir, and I was able to be in South Carolina this past weekend visiting family. Still a great state sir. The question that you have is connected to competitiveness. What does it mean to be a US headquartered company, and be able to invest and earn profits around the world, and be able to serve markets here at home, and hire and invest here as well? When the US tax code is out of line with our foreign competitors, it creates a disadvantage to be a US headquartered company and that’s what we saw leading up to the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. Since then, as you’ve said, we’ve seen a reversal. We’ve seen US acquisition of foreign companies grow while foreign acquisition of US companies shrink. Now, there’s all sorts of different reasons for cross-border mergers and acquisitions, but being able to see those trends reverse, as you say, speaks to the competitiveness of the US tax code that is fundamentally different than it was before the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. There’s still room for improvement—especially in the context of the challenges of the mismatches between our rules and these global minimum taxes rules—but as you say, we have become more competitive.

Related Issues: 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) penned an op-ed in the Post and Courier discussing his landmark Employee Rights Act which prioritizes worker freedom over big labor unions and gives them the tools they need to climb the economic ladder and take part in the 21st century American economy.

Employee Rights Act would modernize outdated labor laws

The Post and Courier

By Sen. Tim Scott

“Tipping the scales in favor of big labor unions instead of hardworking families only serves to wreak havoc on innovation and devastate the backbone of our economy; the last two years under President Joe Biden have proved it. My Employee Rights Act breaks away from the failed policies of the past, modernizes our country’s outdated labor laws and puts employees and families first.”

[…]

“Under this administration, top-down policies have concentrated bargaining power in the hands of the big labor unions. They have subjected American workers and small businesses to a barrage of union harassment and disrupted opportunities for our families. Employees should be free to negotiate their own salaries and benefits directly with employers for contracts that meet their own needs, and have the freedom to work without being held back by the political interests of a select few.”

[…]

“The Employee Rights Act would give them just that by modernizing our economy to protect contractors, franchisees, entrepreneurs and anyone seeking flexible work options. My bill makes it easier, not harder, for workers to become small business owners. It protects employee privacy and gives workers more control over their personal information. It requires unions to get explicit permission from members before spending their dues for political purposes. And it reinforces commonsense, democratic ideals by enshrining the right to a private vote on who represents workers on the job.”

Click here to read the op-ed in full in the Post and Courier.      

Related Issues: