Senator Cramer’s Weekly Update April 22-28

Senate Passes Stronger National Security Supplemental Package

On Tuesday, the United States Senate passed the national security supplemental funding by a vote of 79-18, providing approximately $95 billion in assistance to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan as they counter aggression from Russia, Iran, and China. I voted in favor of the package.

I spoke with President Trump the day before we voted on the previous bill and urged the House to take up his plan. This legislation reflects his idea to transition economic aid for Ukraine to loans and includes additional sanctions and authorizations to push against our adversaries in a more aggressive way, while protecting our national security interests.

This package represents Peace Through Strength, but only if President Biden does not dither in its implementation. Leadership abhors a vacuum. The world is watching and needs to see America’s resolve and determination.

The Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians (REPO) Act:

• Prohibits the release or mobilization of Russian sovereign assets blocked or immobilized by U.S. sanctions until the President certifies hostilities between Russia and Ukraine have ceased and Russia compensates Ukraine for the harms from the invasion.
• Authorizes the President to “seize, confiscate, transfer, or vest” Russian state sovereign assets “for the purpose of transferring those funds to the Ukraine Support Fund.” Senator Cramer cosponsored similar legislation.

The Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act:

• Authorizes mandatory sanctions on foreign ports, vessels, and refineries involved in the trade of sanctioned Iranian petroleum products, which produces hundreds of millions of profits for the Iranian regime.
• Includes sanctions on entities involved in ship-to-ship transfers of oil, entities which own refineries that process Iranian oil, as well as entities included on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals list. Senator Cramer is a cosponsor of the SHIP Act.

The FEND Off Fentanyl Act:

• Requires the President to impose sanctions on foreign persons engaged in trafficking of fentanyl, fentanyl precursors, or other related opioids to target the illegal fentanyl supply chain and stop chemical suppliers in China from transferring drugs to cartels.
• Declares the international trafficking of fentanyl is a national emergency and requires the President to sanction transnational criminal organizations and drug cartels’ key members engaged in international fentanyl trafficking. Senator Cramer is a cosponsor of the FEND Off Fentanyl Act.

The Hamas and Other Palestinian Terrorist Groups International Financing Prevention Act:

• Imposes sanctions targeting Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Lion's Den, and any affiliate or successor groups.
• Requires the President to periodically report to Congress a list of foreign persons who knowingly provide support to a senior member of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian Terrorist Organizations.

The Iran-China Energy Sanctions Act:

• Requires the President to periodically determine whether any Chinese financial institution has engaged in the purchase of petroleum or petroleum products, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, from Iran.
• Prohibits U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining certain accounts with Chinese financial institutions.

The Fight and Combat Iranian Missile Exports (Fight CRIME) Act:

• Imposes visa and property-blocking sanctions on foreign persons knowingly involved with Iran in missile-related activities.

The Mahsa Amini Human Rights and Security Accountability Act:

• Instructs the President to impose visa and property-blocking sanctions on certain foreign persons affiliated with Iran.
• Imposes sanctions with respect to the Supreme Leader of Iran and the President of Iran and their respective offices for human rights abuses and support for terrorism.

The Holding Iranian Leaders Accountable Act:

• Requires the President to report on the estimated total funds held in domestic and international financial institutions by Iranian leaders such as the Supreme Leader of Iran, the President of Iran, members of the Council of Guardians, the Minster of Intelligence and Security, and others.

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act:

• Mandates TikTok's independence from foreign influences, requiring TikTok to separate from ByteDance within 270 days to ensure the protection of American users' privacy and data while mitigating risks of espionage and propaganda dissemination.
• Empowers the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure compliance with divestiture mandates, while granting exemptions for non-threatening platforms, and strengthens legal measures to safeguard against foreign influence, particularly from the Chinese Communist Party.

EPA Finalizes Impractical and Discriminatory Power Generation Rules, Jeopardizing U.S. Power Grid

On Thursday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced four final rulemakings regarding fossil fuel electric generation. These rules, first announced individually in 2023, will dramatically tighten emissions regulations for fossil fuel generation and dangerously degrade the state of America’s electrical power grid. The Biden administration has specifically targeted coal power plants in these regulations and created unrealistic and unworkable emission reduction goals with the intention of driving coal-fired power plants off the nation’s electrical grid, which is at its most fragile state in decades.

The Biden administration has been infiltrated by radical environmentalists and has outsourced its policy making decisions to them versus the engineers running the grid.

These rules are fundamentally impractical, unworkable, and discriminatory against the very fossil fuels which power the country. Our grid cannot operate off of solar and wind alone, as it relies on the coal, natural gas, and fossil fuels liberals love to demonize.

The intended goal of these rules is obvious: to regulate North Dakota’s coal industry out of existence at the expense of American consumers and reliable power generation.

Clean Power Plan 2.0

Existing coal generation assets would be required to install carbon capture equipment that is not yet commercially available or shutdown. The regulation also sets arbitrary operating limits on new natural gas generation before imposing carbon capture requirements on those facilities too. President Biden learned nothing from the Supreme Court’s landmark West Virginia vs. EPA decision and is again trying to circumvent the law by mandating unrealistic standards in the hopes of shutting down coal generation. This rule would seriously endanger America’s electrical grid at a time it can least afford it. An additional rulemaking for existing natural gas generating facilities is forthcoming.

Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS)

The new, stricter MATS rule mandates coal power plants to adopt expensive and yet unproven technology to meet unrealistic limits, including elimination of lignite coals subcategory supported under past administrations. Coal power plants have already made significant progress in limiting pollutants when the MATS rulemaking was updated in 2020 under the Trump administration. Coal plants, which have already made significant capital investments to outfit their facilities with technologies to reduce pollutants, are now being told they have to comply with new regulations not based in sound science but rather radical policy preferences that are set on the elimination of electricity sourced from coal power plants.

Coal Combustion Residual (CCR) Rule

Coal plants with legacy CCR impoundments regulated by states will need to comply with new regulatory requirements on an expedited compliance timeline and will incur added compliance costs. This rule ignores cooperative federalism at the basis of environmental law and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

Coal Plant Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards (ELGs)

While coal power plant owners spent millions of dollars complying with 2015 and 2020 ELGs, this rulemaking forces coal power plants to change plans and install costly and unproven technologies to meet unrealistic limits.

The Biden administration has made it clear affordable, reliable, and dispatchable power that coal plants provide is no longer needed. These rulemakings will result in a more fragile electrical grid at a time America can least afford it. The North American Electric Reliability Council has warned policy makers repeatedly that baseload generation assets such as coal, are being retired at an alarming pace with no plan to find suitable replacement for the firm power that coal and natural gas plants provide.

U.S. Air Force Awards General Atomics and Anduril Contracts Through CCA Program

The United States Air Force announced on Wednesday it has narrowed down the number of companies in the service’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone program, naming General Atomics and Anduril as the two remaining vendors in the next phase of this initiative.

Congratulations to General Atomics for the incredible ingenuity that went into this cutting-edge aircraft and for its continued leadership in unmanned systems. This announcement solidifies their essential role in aviation modernization, and North Dakota looks forward to playing a critical role in their advancement of these technologies.

The Air Force was right to recognize General Atomics’ expertise in delivering the best products to meet our national security objectives.

The CCA program is an innovative, futuristic solution that makes sense for the taxpayer and the warfighter. It should bring fear to the despots and communist dictators around the world that have been given too much encouragement in recent years. Congratulations to Palmer Luckey and Anduril for making it to the next round, and I look forward to working with both companies as they compete for the final contract.

North Dakota Files Lawsuit Challenging BLM’s Onerous, Duplicative Methane Rule

On Thursday, North Dakota was joined by Montana, Texas, and Wyoming in filing a lawsuit in North Dakota Federal District Court challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) newly finalized Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation Rule.

This rule establishes a new royalty on flared gas, institutes monthly limits on allowable flaring, and adds new application requirements for operators regarding their ability to capture natural gas before they can obtain a drilling permit.

North Dakota, like other western states, must contend with added, unnecessary bureaucratic red tape in developing federal minerals.

The Biden administration has released rule after rule to make it more expensive and difficult to produce energy domestically, and this BLM regulation is another example. This mandate flies in the face of reality, and I applaud North Dakota for leading the suit to strike this rule. I look forward to its success in court.

Bicameral, Bipartisan Legislation Recognizes April 2024 as Second Chance Month

Every year, more than 600,000 individuals are released from prisons across the United States after serving their sentences. Even though individuals reentering society have paid their debt for the crimes committed, they still face significant collateral consequences such as struggling to find employment, securing a place to live, and being barred from receiving financial aid.

To serve as reminder of the challenges those reentering society may face, I joined U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in introducing a bipartisan, bicameral resolution in the Senate to designate April 2024 as “Second Chance Month.”

Forgiveness and dignity are fundamental parts of our faith, and Second Chance month is an affirmation of our commitment to redemption and the inherent dignity of every individual. Reentry into society has its challenges, but our resolution not only acknowledges the significant barriers faced by those who have been incarcerated but also champions the support they need to reduce recidivism.

Every person has worth, and we should do everything we can to help them meet their full potential as productive members of society.

By recognizing April 2024 as “Second Chance Month,” our resolution honors the work of communities and organizations who seek to remove unnecessary legal and societal barriers preventing individuals with criminal records from becoming productive members of society. Additionally, it calls upon entities to observe “Second Chance Month” through actions which promote awareness of these unnecessary barriers and provide closure for individuals with criminal records who have served their time.

UND’s Energy and Environment Research Center Receives More Than $11 Million for Enhanced Oil Recovery

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management announced the University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center will receive $11,600,000 to investigate how CO2 injected into an unconventional reservoir in the Bakken Formation will result in increased oil and gas production while additionally increasing the lifespans of the wells which will eventually benefit from this research. These funds will help assess the feasibility for permanent storage of CO2 in unconventional shale oil and gas reservoirs and repurpose existing infrastructure.

FAA Awards More Than $4 Million to Airports Across North Dakota

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the award of $4,093,055 to three airports in North Dakota for the following projects and initiatives:

• $2,918,323 to the Grand Forks Regional Airport Authority for the reconstruction of 4,206 feet of runway to maintain structural integrity of the pavement and minimize foreign object debris.
• $1,014,732 to the Dickinson Municipal Airport Authority for the reconstruction of the existing 10,200 square foot terminal building to allow for the efficient movement of passengers and luggage.
• $160,000 to the Cavalier Municipal Airport Authority to fund the design phase of a project rehabilitating 3,300 feet of the existing runway pavement.

These funds will be distributed through the FAA’s Airport Infrastructure Grant (AIG) Program, which was established by the fully paid-for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to provide airports with funding for modernization and safety projects.

HHS Awards Nearly $3 Million to North Dakota

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced an award of $2,979,825 to the following projects and initiatives:

• $1,924,581 to Spectra Health, awarded through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Health Center Cluster grant program, which provides funding to community health centers across the United States.
• $1,055,244 to the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to support the state’s tobacco prevention and control program.

DOE Selects Microbeam Technologies Inc. to Receive More Than $2.4 Million

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Microbeam Technologies Incorporated, located in Grand Forks has been selected to receive $2,499,978. This funding will allow the company to use a bench-scale system to demonstrate the ability to extract and produce high purity gallium and germanium from a lignite-derived, mixed rare earth element concentrate obtained from selected gallium and germanium-rich lignite carbon ore.

This funding, provided by the fully-paid-for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will reduce the United States’ reliance on foreign supply chains by satisfying the increasing demand for critical minerals in the country.

NASSCO Shipyard Tour

We face ship building challenges as our adversaries heavily subsidize their defense industries. Thank you to ⁦General Dynamics for an excellent brief and tour at the NASSCO Shipyard last weekend. The ⁦U.S. Navy is up to the challenge and so are our ship builders.⁩

EarthX Dinner

The U.S. leads the world in the production of clean energy and goods, and North Dakota is at the forefront! If the goal is to reduce emissions, American innovation is the solution. Thank you to EarthX for the invitation and the thoughtful discussion.

Farm Credit Services Meeting

Good to catch up with the Farm Credit Services folks in Mandan. We had a wide-ranging discussion about the Farm Bill, the FARMER Act, and the valuable service they provide to North Dakota’s agricultural producers.