Click here to watch Ranking Member Barrasso’s remarks.  

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) delivered the following remarks at the conference on the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) committee meeting.

Barrasso is ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR).

Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

“The gulf between the Senate and House is wider than the Grand Canyon.

“The Senate’s version is bipartisan.

“The House’s version is partisan to the bone.

“The Senate authorizes $210 billion in spending.

“The House authorizes close to $400 billion – almost twice as much.

“The House purports to improve competition with China.

“They claim that it reigns-in China’s theft of our nation’s intellectual property and research.

“But the vast majority of the House’s version has nothing to do with these priorities.

“One provision provides cannabis businesses that legally operate in a state access to the banking system.

“What on earth does that have to do with China?

“The House even provides China with a competitive advantage over the United States.

“Unlike the Senate, the House does not ban federal funding for colleges and universities that host Beijing’s Confucius Institutes.

“The House supports the United States’ implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement.

“It prioritizes climate change throughout our nation’s diplomatic and military missions.

“The House also spends billions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars on climate change programs around the world.

“None of which will help us counter China.

“With inflation at 40-year highs, energy prices at an all-time high, and a war in Ukraine, Americans simply cannot afford another barrage of Democrat policies.

“They already have weakened our economy and undermined our standing in the world.”

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