Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act--Motion to Proceed--

Floor Speech

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Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I am going to come down to the Senate floor right now and build on my Senate colleague from Alaska, Senator Murkowski's, remarks that she just made dealing with national security, the challenges we are facing as a country, the authoritarian dictatorships on the march, and what the Biden administration is actually going to do to my State--our State, Senator Murkowski's and my State--tomorrow. What we have been told by the Biden administration: Hey, Alaska Senators, here it comes. More crushing of the State of Alaska.

And why this should matter, not just to my constituents--which it really does; they are going to be really upset about it--but this should matter to every American who cares about our country's national security and energy security and jobs and the environment.

So we all know the United States is facing very serious global national security challenges. In fact, we are living in one of the most dangerous times since World War II. I think anyone who is watching recognizes that. We had the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense testify in front of the Armed Services Committee just last week. They said that.

Dictators in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, and North Korea are on the march. They are working together to undermine America's national security interest and those of our allies across the globe. That is happening. I think pretty much everybody here recognizes that.

At other times of dangerous global challenges and peril, the normal policy approach of Democrat administrations, Republican administrations--doesn't matter--has been to maximize our country's strengths while undermining the strengths of our adversaries. That is how you beat them. And here in Congress, over decades, we have supported such policies.

But the Biden administration is not normal. Indeed, this administration deliberately is undertaking policies to punish Americans, undermine our core strengths, while continuing to empower our adversaries.

Now, OK, I know some of you who are watching say: Wow. That is a pretty big charge, Dan. What are you talking about? Well, let's get into that. What am I talking about?

I have this chart right up here. The President is making a choice tomorrow. Is he helping out with our dictatorship adversaries or is he going to help out working men and women in Alaska and our country's national security?

Let's take the example of Iran. Due to the successful comprehensive approach to sanctioning Iran's energy sector by the Trump administration, by the end of the administration--3 years ago--Iranian exports were down to about 200,000 barrels a day, leaving Iran--the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, the country that swears to wipe Israel off the map--by the end of the Trump administration's massive sanctions policy against Iran, they had about $4 billion in foreign reserves. For a country that size, that is not a lot--$4 billion.

So what do we have with the Biden administration? They started their appeasement policy of Iran from day one, and one element of that was to stop enforcing these oil and gas sanctions. I don't know why, you know, appeasement. Maybe we are going to get back into the JCPOA they thought.

But they did that. There is no one who doubts that. Jake Sullivan and the President of the United States, they will all admit it because here is the result: As a result, the amount of oil that Iran has started to export over the last 3 years has been up every year, and it is about over 3 million barrels a day--200,000 barrels a day at the end of Trump, 3 million barrels a day now.

Foreign reserves that the Iranians have are about $75 billion. Four billion at the end of Trump, 75 billion right now during the Biden administration.

And, of course, the terrorist leadership of Iran is using this windfall, as everybody knew they would, to fund their terrorist proxies: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis. Remember, you don't have those proxy terrorist groups at all if you don't have Iran. Iran funds them; they train them; they resupply them with missiles.

So these groups are not only vowing to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth but aggressively targeting the U.S. Navy and American sailors and marines in the Red Sea. So that is happening.

China is buying about 80 percent of that Iran oil. So they are being helped by this policy that the Biden administration has to lift sanctions on the Iranian oil and gas sector. And, of course, China is also dominating rare earth and critical minerals throughout the world.

Hardly a day goes by without a story being published in the American media about the danger to America's economic strength, transition to cleaner energy, and national security that is posed by China's domination of critical minerals around the world: mining them, processing them.

So those are two important trends that are happening: Iran's dominance on exporting oil and gas, the funding they get from that. The Chinese benefit; they get oil at a discounted price, and China continues to dominate critical mineral around the world.

So what is the Biden administration doing to reverse these very troubling national security trends? They are undertaking policies that will make them much worse. Tomorrow, the Biden administration has let the media know--they started leaking this at the beginning of the week. By the way, they let the Alaska delegation know much later. They wanted the liberals in the media to know. But here is what they are going to do. They are going to announce that they are shutting down from further development two of the most important areas of energy and critical mineral development in America, the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, what we call NPR-A, and the Ambler Mining District in Alaska.

So, tomorrow, the Biden administration is going to announce that it is sanctioning Alaska. They are not going to sanction Iran. They let China produce all the critical minerals. Tomorrow, they are going to sanction Alaska, Americans, my constituents.

I mean, you can't make this stuff up. They are coming after the people I represent, and the terrorists in Iran: Hey, drill, baby, drill. It is nuts. It is an insult.

Let me give you a little more detail on what this means. I talked about the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska. This is a part of the North Slope of Alaska, about the size of Indiana. It was set aside by President Warren Harding in 1923 for oil for the country, particularly the U.S. Navy. They actually called it the Navy Petroleum Reserve, and then in the 1970s Congress called it the National Petroleum Reserve. This isn't ANWR. This isn't a wilderness area. This is an area designated by this body for American oil and gas development because we need it.

This is one of the most prolific oil basins on the planet Earth. Estimates close to 20 billion barrels of conventional oil, 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, as I mentioned, one of the most prolific areas in the world for oil production.

It is right next to existing infrastructure. And, oh, by the way, it is developed with the highest environmental standards in the world.

Do you think the Iranians have high standards?

Do you think the Chinese do, when they mine their critical minerals?

Do you think the Russians do?

Do you think the Saudis do?

They don't.

The place that has the highest environmental standards in the world on resource development, by far, is my State, hands down. Everybody knows it.

So what does the Biden administration do? Drill, baby, drill for the ayatollahs who don't give a damn about the environment. Alaska, with the highest standards in the world--we are going to shut you down.

So tomorrow the Biden administration is going to announce it is going to take 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve off the table for development.

Wow, that is a good idea, Joe. That is a really good idea for the national security and energy security of our country. Let the terrorists here drill and let Putin drill, and you are going to shut down Alaska--13 million acres.

Let's go to the Ambler Mining District. It is considered one of the most extensive sources of undeveloped zinc, copper, lead, gold, silver, cobalt anywhere in the world. Senator Murkowski did a good job just a couple of minutes ago explaining what we have in the Ambler Mining District in Alaska in America. Again, when we mine in Alaska--highest standards in the world, by far. Not even a close call.

Do you think the Chinese have high environmental standards when they mine?

Yeah, they don't.

So this part of Alaska, part of America, is critical for the minerals we need for our renewable energy sector; for our economy, of course, to compete against China; and for our national security--F-35s have all kinds of critical minerals that we need and rare Earth elements.

But, tomorrow, the Biden administration is going to announce that they are going to reverse a previously permitted road--by the way, with a 7-year EIS that cost 10 million bucks which we paid for in Alaska that was permitted. Tomorrow, the Biden administration is going to announce that they are going to reverse that permitted road and say: Ah, Ambler Mining District, America--sorry, off limits.

Our adversaries will certainly be celebrating these national security suicide measures of the Biden administration. It is only going to strengthen them. Putin, Xi Jinping, the terrorists in Iran, North Korea--they are going to be like: Holy cow, these Americans have all this stuff in Alaska and Joe Biden and his radical allies are going to shut it down.

Xi Jinping is going to be like: Damn, the Americans are going to be more reliant on us for critical minerals. I guarantee you they were worried about the Ambler Mining District. But don't worry, Xi Jinping. Joe Biden is sanctioning my State. Don't worry. He is sanctioning Alaskans. He won't sanction the Iranians; drill, baby, drill with them. But you are going to sanction Alaskans.

So this is just insanely stupid policy. Everybody knows it.

But I want to mention something else. These policies are also lawless. Even my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who don't always get it when it comes to American energy, Alaskan energy--you should get it when we pass laws that say: You got to do X, Y, and Z, and when we pass laws that say things like ``shall.''

The Biden administration doesn't get it, especially when it comes to Alaska. We passed, in 2017, the requirement to do two lease sales for ANWR. My State had been working on that for 40 years. The leases, the first one was done during the Trump administration. The Biden administration came along and said: Oh, we are going to cancel those leases. No reason--lawless.

But let me just give you an example. So they are going to take half of the NPR-A off the table tomorrow for development--13 million acres-- even though Congress, in 1980, directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an expeditious program of competitive leasing for oil and gas in the NPR-A. So we are telling any executive branch official: Hey, you got to develop the NPR-A. It is for America. It is for the oil and gas that we need. Tomorrow, Joe Biden is going to say: Congress, we don't need to listen to you.

That is lawless action No. 1 as it relates to NPR-A.

But lawless action No. 2 that they are going to announce tomorrow on the Ambler Mining District is a real shocker. I mean, even Joe Biden and his lawless administration have to be blushing on this one.

By the way, there were some emails. There was a FOIA request when they said: We are going to cancel those ANWR leases even though Congress said we had to do it. This is the Biden administration canceling the leases. OMB--in emails back and forth between the Interior and OMB and the Biden administration--OMB was like: Hey, wait a minute, where do you get the legal authority to do that?

This is the Biden administration's OMB. This is in emails with the Interior, Deb Haaland. They are like: Yeah, whatever. We don't care. We are just going to cancel them.

So then, they are going to take NPR-A off the table, and now with the Ambler Mining District, the law is very, very clear. I will read it to you. This is on the Department of the Interior's website right now as we speak. Their website says ANILCA--a really important law, Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which was passed in 1980-- mandates a right-of-way to the Ambler Mining District. Senator Stevens put that in there. Congress agreed.

Here is a poster of Secretary Haaland's Department of the Interior website right now. It says:

(ANILCA) requires that a right-of-way access be permitted across NPS lands for this project.

The Ambler mining project, OK? That is what the Department of the Interior website says right now.

And here is actually the language from the law:

Congress finds that there is a need for access for surface transportation purposes across the Western (Kobuk River) unit of the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve (from the Ambler Mining District to the Alaska Pipeline Haul Road) and the Secretary shall permit such access . . .

201

SEC 201 (4)(a) Gates of the Arctic National Park, containing approximately seven million fifty-two thousand acres of public lands, Gates of the Arctic National Preserve, containing approximately nine hundred thousand acres of Federal lands, as generally depicted on map numbered GAAR- 90,011, and dated July 1980. The park and preserve shall be managed for the following purposes, among others: To maintain the wild and undeveloped character of the area, including opportunities for visitors to experience solitude, and the natural environmental integrity and scenic beauty of the mountains, forelands, rivers, lakes, and other natural features; to provide continued opportunities, including reasonable access, for mountain climbing, mountaineering, and other wilderness recreational activities; and to protect habitat for and the populations of, fish and wildlife, including, but not limited to, caribou, grizzly bears, Dall sheep, moose, wolves, and raptorial birds. Subsistence uses by local residents shall be permitted in the park, where such uses are traditional, in accordance with the provisions of title VIII.

(b) Congress finds that there is a need for access for surface transportation purposes across the Western (Kobuk River) unit of the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve (from the Ambler Mining District to the Alaska Pipeline Haul Road) and the Secretary shall permit such access in accordance with the provisions of this subsection.

(c) Upon the filing of an application pursuant to section 1104(b), and of this Act for a right-of-way across the Western (Kobuk River) unit of the preserve, including the Kobuk Wild and Scenic River, the Secretary shall give notice in the Federal Register of a thirty-day period for other applicants to apply for access.

(d) The Secretary and the Secretary of Transportation shall jointly prepare an environmental and economic analysis solely for the purpose of determining the most desirable route for the right-of-way and terms and conditions which may be required for the issuance of that right-of-way. This analysis shall be completed within one year and the draft thereof within nine months of the receipt of the application and shall be prepared in lieu of an environmental impact statement which would otherwise be required under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act. Such analysis shall be deemed to satisfy all requirements of that Act and shall not be subject to judicial review. Such environmental and economic analysis shall be prepared in accordance with the procedural requirements of section 1104(e). The Secretaries in preparing the analysis shall consider the following--

(i) Alternative routes including the consideration of economically feasible and prudent alternative routes across the preserve which would result in fewer or less severe adverse impacts upon the preserve.

(ii) The environmental and social and economic impact of the right-of-way including impact upon wildlife, fish, and their habitat, and rural and traditional lifestyles including subsistence activities, and measures which should be instituted to avoid or minimize negative impacts and enhance positive impacts.

(e) Within 60 days of the completion of the environmental and economic analysis, the Secretaries shall jointly agree upon a route for issuance of the right-of-way across the preserve. Such right-of-way shall be issued in accordance with the provisions of section 1107 of this Act.

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Mr. SULLIVAN. The Biden administration, tomorrow, is going to say: We don't care about the law. We are going to take that off the table and reverse the EIS and the road that you guys have, tomorrow--for good. Again, who is going to benefit?

Who is going to benefit?

Well, I think these dictators are going to benefit--the Ayatollah, Xi Jinping. Certainly, the Alaska workers aren't going to benefit. That is a big issue.

The Presiding Officer is my friend, but I am going to say something I said on the floor many times. When it comes to national Democratic policy, when they have a choice between that guy or that woman building a pipeline--the great men and women who built this country--their interests--because everybody wants to develop resources in my State; that is the Trans-Alaska Pipeline--or the interests of the radical far left who is driving these policies to shut down my State, every time, the national Democratic leaders go with the radical far left, and they tell that young woman who is building that pipeline: Good luck. Sorry for your job that you just lost.

So the working men and women of Alaska, of America, because these are big projects, they are going to lose.

But I will tell you who else is going to get hurt really badly by this--and this is a fact--by these decisions tomorrow: These great people. These great people.

This is a picture of some of the Inupiat Native Alaskan leaders from my State. They live on the North Slope of Alaska. They have been living there for thousands of years--thousands of years. They are fully, unequivocally against this rule that Secretary Haaland and the White House are putting out tomorrow--100 percent against it--the tribal leaders, the borough leaders--that is our new borough mayor, the North Slope borough, Josiah Patkotak--the Alaska Native Corporation leaders. They are fully against this. Every Alaskan Native leader who lives up there--this is where they are going to do this. This is their homeland. And the Biden administration tomorrow is going to look at them and go: We don't care what you think. We don't care what your interests are. The lower 48 eco-colonialists are telling us what to do, so you Alaska Natives, tough luck.

Now let me tell you a story that is really infuriating. We held a press conference a couple months ago in Alaska, led by these great Alaskan Native leaders. They are wonderful, incredible people. They have been living in Alaska for tens of thousands of years. They don't like this rule, so they come to DC. They came to DC eight times--eight different times--traveling over 4,000 miles. The leaders of the North Slope, where the Biden administration is going to issue this rule tomorrow, eight times they came to DC, flew here, and asked for a meeting with Secretary Haaland to advocate: Madam Secretary, this is bad for us. Bad for our future. Bad for our economy. Bad for jobs. We do not want this rule. Hear us.

Eight times they have come here.

Do you know how many times Secretary Haaland met with them, the leaders of the North Slope, the Inupiaq Native leaders of the North Slope? Eight times they came to this city flying 4,000 miles. Guess how many times Deb Haaland, who has an Indian trust relationship with these great Americans, guess how many times she met with them?

You know the answer: Zero. Zero.

They came here. They came here eight times.

So we held a press conference with that banner: ``Secretary Haaland, Hear Our Voices.''

She doesn't want to hear their voices.

She doesn't want to hear their voices.

She won't hear their voices.

You want to talk about cancel culture?

This administration talks a big game about, oh, we are going to take care of the indigenous people of America, the people of color. But, guess what. There is a giant asterisk when it comes to that policy on the Biden administration: Not if you are an Alaskan Native. Not if you are an Alaskan Native. If you want to develop your resources, we are not going to listen to you at all.

Eight times they came to this city. Eight times Deb Haaland said: Sorry, I am not listening to you. I am not going to listen to you. I am not going to meet with you.

So what is going to happen tomorrow? The Biden administration is going to issue a rule that every single one of these leaders is adamantly opposed to, and not one official in this administration gives a damn.

Let me give you a couple of quotes from these great Alaskan Native leaders. This is Charles Lampe, President of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation. This is about the Department of the Interior's actions locking up their lands. These are their lands. This is not Interior's lands, not Deb Haaland's lands.

We will not succumb to eco-colonialism and become conservation refugees on our own lands.

That they have lived in for 10,000 years.

The [Inupiat] people have every right to pursue economic, social and cultural self-determination.

My community unapologetically supports the leasing program.

ANWR--that is what he is talking about.

Many people try to steer the debate to caribou. For Kaktovik, it's about our people and having an economy to survive.

Here is Nagruk Harcharek. He is the president of the Voice of the Arctic Inupiat, this great guy right here. He is talking about the NPR- A rule that Secretary Haaland won't meet with him on. In this press conference, here is what he said:

[This NPR-A rule from the Department of the Interior] is yet another blow to our right to self-determination in our ancestral homelands, which we have stewarded for over 10,000 years.

That is Nagruk Harcharek right there, talking:

Not a single organization or elected leader on the North Slope [of Alaska] which fully encompasses the [National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska] supports this proposed rule.

None of them do.

Joe Biden, Secretary Haaland, are you listening? None of these great Alaskan Native people want this rule. And you don't give a damn.

He continues:

In fact, everyone has asked the [Department of Interior and Secretary Haaland] to rescind the rule . . . [These] actions will also foreclose on future development opportunities and long-term economic security for North Slope Inupiat communities . . .

The Native communities.

You can tell I am a little mad because these great Alaskans are being canceled. Secretary Haaland will not hear their voices. We are going to see that tomorrow. They are going to issue a rule that locks up a huge chunk of their homeland.

Here is the bottom line: The Biden administration sanctions Alaskans--sanctions them--while the terrorists in Iran and the communists in China get strengthened by their policies. No wonder authoritarians are on the march.

You are sanctioning us. You are sanctioning them. The goal is to sanction the terrorists, not these great Americans whom you won't listen to.

When I say ``sanctioning Alaskans,'' I am not just talking about what we are going to see tomorrow--which, by the way, again, every American should be worried. They are going to shut down one of the biggest oil basins in America and one of the biggest critical mineral basins in America. For what? Well, I think we all know for what. Joe Biden is kowtowing to the far-left radicals because that is the way he thinks he is going to get reelected.

But how bad is it when I talk about sanctioning Alaska? Here is how bad it is: My State, since the Biden administration came into office, has had 60 Executive orders and Executive actions exclusively focused on Alaska--60. Tomorrow, it will be 61 and 62. It hits every part of our State--every resource development project, every access to Federal lands, every infrastructure project.

We got a lot done during the Trump administration, a historic amount of things done for Natives, for non-Natives--things we had been trying to get done for Alaska for decades. During the Trump administration, working with a Republican Congress, we got a ton done. The Biden administration comes in, and on day one--day one--they start their war on Alaska.

This is a tough chart to read. These are the specific 60 Executive orders and actions targeting Alaska by the Biden administration on day one.

By the way, that is the President's first day in office, January 20, 2021. He issued 10 Executive orders and Executive actions exclusively focused on Alaska--10.

So this administration loves to sanction us. It loves to sanction Alaskans. When that happens, you are hurting the country. We need Alaska's resources--our oil, our gas, our renewables. We are proud of all of it, and we have the highest standards in the world on the environment. So this is really bad for my State.

By the way, I was in the Oval Office last year, trying to convince the President not to keep crushing Alaska, and I handed him this chart. At the time, it was 46 Executive orders. Now it is 60--62 tomorrow. I handed him that.

I was respectful--I am in the Oval Office--but I said: Mr. President, do you know what you are doing to my State? Do you have any idea what you guys are doing?

At the time, it was 44 Executive orders and Executive actions singularly focused, exclusively focused on Alaska.

I handed him this. I said: Sir, this is wrong. You know it. I know it. It is wrong. If a Republican administration came in and issued 44 Executive orders and actions targeting little Delaware--sorry; it is little--and you were still a U.S. Senator, sir, you would be on the Senate floor, raising hell every day, because it is wrong. You know it, and I know it, and it is wrong.

But let me end by saying this: It is not just wrong for Alaska. It is not just wrong for Alaska. It is wrong for America. The President is making a choice not just whether to stiff the working men and women of our great Nation, which he is doing with these orders tomorrow, not just whether he is going to hurt my constituents, which he is going to do tomorrow, particularly the Native people, but whether or not to damage our national security even greater. When you shut down the great State of Alaska's potential and ability to produce natural resources for America, you are hurting the country--it doesn't matter where you live. He is making a choice to favor these terrorists over these workers, to favor these terrorists over these great Native people in my State.

Here is the message they are going to be sending--the Biden administration is going to be sending to the world tomorrow. They are going to be sending this message to the dictators in Iran, in China, in Venezuela, in Russia. President Biden is essentially going to be saying this: We won't use our resources to strengthen our country. Sorry, Alaska. You are off the table. But we are going to let you dictators develop your resources--Iran--to strengthen your country.

I will end with this: I will never forget a meeting I had many years ago with the late Senator John McCain and a very brave Russian dissident named Vladimir Kara-Murza. A lot of my colleagues know who Vladimir Kara-Murza is. As a matter of fact, a bunch of us wrote a letter on his behalf. Putin has poisoned him twice. He survived those, but now he is in jail in Moscow, and I worry about his life--a brave man, a wise man.

Senator McCain, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and I were having a meeting, and at the very end of the meeting, I said: Vladimir, one more question. What can the United States do to further undermine the Putin regime and other authoritarians around the world? What can we do?

He looked at me without even hesitating, and he said: Senator, it is easy. The No. 1 thing the United States can do to undermine Putin and other authoritarian regimes is produce more American energy. Produce more American energy.

We are not doing that tomorrow. The Biden administration is going to tell the world that we are going to shut down Alaska in terms of critical minerals and any more oil and gas development. Joe Biden is fine with our adversaries producing more energy themselves and dominating the world's critical mineral supply while shutting down our own as long as the far-left radicals he feels are key to his reelection are satisfied. So they are probably going to be satisfied tomorrow, and so are our adversaries. They are going to be gleeful. But certainly the people I represent and I would say the vast majority of Americans who understand these issues are going to be once again dismayed that this administration is selling out strong American national security interests and American strength for far-left radicals whom he listens to more than the Native people of my State or commonsense Americans.

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