Ben Cardin

We are making progress. The Biden administration has been pretty strong on this.

Our Committee needs to be the advocate for where small businesses have a disadvantage over large companies.

That is quite a record and I just really wanted to acknowledge that, and I am glad to see that you have been able to keep up with the demand that is out there.

I would think this is an area that is going to be of interest to every member of this Committee, obviously.

What the Administration does, I think, is the right thing, is tell the processors, 'Check to make sure they qualify under our rules.'

The Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will come to order.

The Biden administration released a hold. They looked at the records that were submitted.

I thought Secretary Yellen should testify before this Committee, and I so told you that.

I think the confusion is that the determinations were made by the Trump administration.

I just note that we have extended this program, with bipartisan co-sponsorship, both in the House and the Senate.

We just got back from the memorial service funeral for Secretary Albright, which was a fitting tribute to her incredible service to our country.

That is fine with me, if we have the Chairman and Ranking Member willing to do that.

I am a little bit perplexed as to this amendment having been even controversial.

It is a totally voluntary program. So it has to be initiated by the owner, whether it is public or private.

I appreciate that my Republican friends are here to listen to it. I am sorry my Democratic friends are not.

I support this bill, and I compliment the Chair and Ranking Member for working out the issues so we can move this bill forward.

I agree completely with Senator Whitehouse on this issue.

I regret we haven't had a hearing on it. I think we should have had a hearing.

We all want to work in a cooperative way. But I haven't heard one reason why we shouldn't move this bill forward.

It is very challenging to use these funds for coastal habitat restoration.

I would hope that we would have a more definitive response, considering where we are at this moment in history with Mr. Putin violating every international norm in his campaign in Ukraine, and China on Mr. Putin's side.

When we saw the image of President Xi with President Putin at the Olympics, that should have had a powerful message about China's priorities, where Mr. Putin at that time had already planned the invasion into Ukraine.

Since the invasion in Ukraine, China has been on the wrong side of history.

It seems to me all of us have to recognize that this is a moment in history to decide on what side you are going to stand on, on good or evil, and China has made that decision and we should capitalize on that.

It would seem to me we need a much more aggressive policy wrapped in our values to make it clear it is time to make decisions on what side of values you are going to stand on.