ICYMI: Sen. Coons op-ed on FoxNews.com: ‘Don’t fill Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ginsburg until 2021 – protect our institutions’

WILMINGTON, Del. – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, published an op-ed on FoxNews.com urging his Republican colleagues to delay consideration of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to protect our institutions and to allow the Senate to focus on delivering COVID-19 relief to the American people.

FoxNews.com: Don’t fill Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ginsburg until 2021 – protect our institutions

By Chris Coons

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a towering figure in America’s long march toward greater justice. The impact of her lifelong fight for gender equality will be felt for generations, and I continue to pray for her loved ones and mourn her loss.

Justice Ginsburg’s passing has come at a particularly difficult moment for our nation. More than 200,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19, and more than seven million have been infected. Small businesses across the country are fighting to keep their doors open, and individuals from coast to coast are struggling to pay rent and keep food on the table for their families. Americans in every state are in desperate need of relief, and in Congress it’s a critical part of our job to help our constituents navigate this crisis.

We’ve had months to negotiate a relief bill, but the Senate has failed to act. Instead of debating how to provide assistance to those who are suffering the consequences of this pandemic, the Senate appears set to focus on filling Justice Ginsburg’s seat in what may be a deeply damaging and partisan fight.

Just before she died, Justice Ginsburg made clear that her most fervent wish was that her successor be chosen after the next presidential inauguration, when President Trump will be sworn in for a second term or former Vice President Biden will be sworn in as our next president. This wish wasn’t personal or partisan – it was principled – and every American, Republican and Democrat, should consider why Justice Ginsburg made this her dying wish: to protect the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and the rule of law in this country for all of us.

To read the full column, click here.

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[VIDEO] Sen. Coons joins CNBC to discuss further COVID-19 relief, Judge Amy Coney Barrett

WILMINGTON, Del. – This morning, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined Joe Kernen on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the need for another COVID-19 relief bill and the upcoming Senate confirmation hearings for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. 

On the failure of Congress to pass another round of stimulus bills, Senator Coons said, “There are a lot of different things we could and should do together. I take encouragement from the fact that the CARES Act, six months ago, passed unanimously.  I am discouraged by how hard it’s been. I’m on the Small Business Committee. Senator Rubio, Senator Cardin, a whole group of us agree on another round of PPP for small businesses. We should be getting this done.” 

“Frankly, my hope is that we can do this now because the cost to the American people is just going to get greater the longer we put it off. Yes, it’s a huge amount of spending, but it’s only because of that CARES Act that we passed six months ago that we are not in the second great depression,” continued Senator Coons.

On the upcoming hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Senator Coons said, “I will participate in the hearings because I think it’s important that the American people hear questions of Judge Barrett about her publicly stated views on repealing the Affordable Care Act.” 

“[A] hundred million Americans have pre-existing conditions, 7 million more with this pandemic, and those preexisting condition protections in the ACA are on the docket of the Supreme Court the week after the election. Judge Barrett has spoken publicly about how she doesn’t think this is constitutional and President Trump has said he will put someone on the Court who will help repeal the Affordable Care Act.  There’s no replacement plan. To me, to strip away health care and health protections from a majority of Americans in the middle of a pandemic is grossly irresponsible,” Senator Coons continued. 

Full video of the interview is available here.

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[VIDEO] Sen. Coons: ‘President Trump is making it clear a vote for Judge Barrett to be on the Supreme Court is a vote to repeal the ACA’

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation to discuss President Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

“I’ll press her on her previous statements about the Affordable Care Act. President Trump said he would only choose a nominee he was confident would overturn the Affordable Care Act [ACA], and as you know, Margaret, that is on the Supreme Court’s docket just one week after the election. It defies comprehension why President Trump would continue in his efforts to strip away from the American people pre-existing discrimination protection. There are more than 100 million Americans who have a pre-existing condition. Seven million more because they’ve been infected in this pandemic,” said Senator Coons. 

Senator Coons continued, “Justice Ginsburg’s life’s work was protecting us against gender discrimination, and before the ACA, insurance companies could and did discriminate against women just for being women by treating pregnancy as a preexisting condition, charging women more for access to health insurance. It is amazing to me that Judge Barrett has publicly criticized the decision by Chief Justice Roberts that upheld the constitutionality of the ACA, and that President Trump is making it clear a vote for Judge Barrett to be on the Supreme Court is a vote to repeal the ACA and take away health care protection from a majority of Americans during a pandemic.”

Full audio and video available here. A transcript is provided below.

Q: We want to go to Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons. He’s in Wilmington. Good morning to you, Senator.

Sen. Coons: Good morning, Margaret. Great to be on with you again.

Q: You heard Mark Meadows’ confidence and the timeline in the confirmation of Judge Barrett – you’re laughing. It doesn’t seem though that Democrats can do much to stop it. Will Democrats do anything to slow it down? Will they boycott hearings? How serious are you about trying to throw sand in the gears?

Sen. Coons: Margaret, what I was shaking my head about was having just heard Mark Meadows breathlessly trying to support President Trump’s desperate efforts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of this election. We should not be barreling forward with this partisan nomination. There is only 37 days until the election. There is no precedent in American history for a president filling a vacancy this close to an election where I’ll remind you more than half of the American states are already voting. We should be waiting until after the election. We should honor Justice Ginsburg’s dying wish that the people should choose the next president; the next president choose her successor.

Q: Well Eisenhower recess appointed Brennan 22 days before the election, but I understand that was without Senate consent, so I hear your point. But the question was, are Democrats going to do anything to slow this down? Some of your colleagues are saying they won’t even meet with the nominee. What will you ask her when you meet with her?

Sen. Coons: Well I’m either going to meet with her in person or by phone – just another way this pandemic has upended the lives of millions of Americans. I’ll press her on her previous statements about the Affordable Care Act. President Trump said he would only choose a nominee he was confident would overturn the Affordable Care Act, and as you know, Margaret, that is on the Supreme Court’s docket just one week after the election. It defies comprehension why President Trump would continue in his efforts to strip away from the American people pre-existing discrimination protection. There are more than 100 million Americans who have a pre-existing condition. Seven million more because they’ve been infected in this pandemic. And I’ll remind you, Margaret, Justice Ginsburg’s life’s work was protecting us against gender discrimination, and before the ACA, insurance companies could and did discriminate against women just for being women by treating pregnancy as a preexisting condition, charging women more for access to health insurance. It is amazing to me that Judge Barrett has publicly criticized the decision by Chief Justice Roberts that upheld the constitutionality of the ACA, and that President Trump is making it clear a vote for Judge Barrett to be on the Supreme Court is a vote to repeal the ACA and take away health care protection from a majority of Americans during a pandemic.

Q: I understand that. Judge Barrett introduced herself to the American public as a mother of seven, as sort of a class mom, a very warm presentation in the public space. How do you fight that?

Sen. Coons: Well, we don’t need to fight that. I can respect the fact that she has a beautiful family. That her clerks and students say she is a very talented professor and judge. That’s not what is at issue here. What is at issue is both this rushed and partisan confirmation in which President Trump has told us he is choosing someone who will overturn Roe v. Wade, he is choosing someone who will overturn the ACA, and he is choosing someone who President Trump himself says he will need to put their thumb on the scale so that he can win the next election. He’s not confident he’ll win it fair and square at the ballot box. He says we have to rush through this nominee, so that there [are] nine justices and one he handpicks to – according to President Trump – support him in his re-election effort.

Q: Well, he says he believes it will go to the Court and be decided. I understand your points. As you know with individual cases, judges sometimes are hard to predict, even though you can kind of guess where they stand ideologically. But on the question for her confirmation hearing, Judge Barrett has been before your committee before because she was confirmed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and at the time, Senator Feinstein said to her, and you know what I’m going to say to you because it has gone viral, “The dogma lives loudly in you, and that is of concern.” To many people, that sounded like anti-Catholic bigotry. You are a man of faith. How did that comment land with you?

Sen. Coons: Well, Margaret, as you know, millions of Americans rely on our faith to guide us, to give us a framework in which we raise our children and live our lives, a community of meaning and of depth. Religious faith should not be at issue here. There isn’t a religious test for service in the government, whether it is in the Senate or on the Supreme Court. If Judge Barrett is confirmed I know that–

Q: Is that a legitimate question? Should that be raised as a factor?

Sen. Coons: What should be raised is her opinions, her speeches, her public statements as a professor and a judge, and whether or not she will uphold precedent. As you well know, Margaret, Roe v. Wade, Griswold v. Connecticut, these are settled cases that for decades have allowed Americans to have confidence about the role of the state in terms of their private decisions about health care, and the Affordable Care Act is settled law. The Supreme Court has upheld it as being constitutional. That’s on the docket a week after this election. And that’s something Judge Barrett has spoken directly about. It is appropriate for us to question her statements, her opinions, her actions as a professor and judge, but not to go into questions of doctrine or faith personally. That’s where I’ll be focusing my questions, on the Affordable Care Act and on what she has said publicly about her views on its constitutionality.

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Senator Coons’ statement on President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court

WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement after President Trump announced his nominee to the Supreme Court. 

“With voting already underway in half the states in our presidential election and in the midst of a global pandemic that has infected 7 million Americans, we should not be proceeding with a nomination to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat. I’m deeply concerned that my Republican colleagues’ decision to move forward, against the precedent that they set in 2016, will do lasting damage to the Supreme Court, the Senate, and our country as a whole.

“We need to be clear-eyed about what’s at stake. President Trump pledged that his nominee will strike down the Affordable Care Act, and just one week after the election, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that seeks to do just that. This means that more than 20 million Americans could lose their health care and more than 100 million Americans could lose their pre-existing condition protections in the middle of a pandemic that has already taken the lives of more than 200,000 Americans. The ACA also protects against gender discrimination – against women being charged more for insurance just because they’re women.  Justice Ginsburg fought for these protections and so many more. Her legacy of fighting for stronger labor rights, LGBTQ and gender rights, and critical environmental protections all hang in the balance.

“The confirmation process that is starting soon in the Senate may be the most divisive and damaging we’ve been through. As senators, we were elected by our constituents to serve them and our nation, not to engage in partisan battles that distract us from addressing the many urgent challenges before us. Instead of throwing the country into another bitter fight, I call on my Republican colleagues to defer consideration of Judge Barrett’s nomination and focus on the critical work of providing another round of pandemic relief to the millions of Americans in need.”

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Coons, delegation announce $1.5M federal grant to Delaware Innovation Space, launching Hard Science Startup Accelerator

WILMINGTON, Del. – This week, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined the state governor and delegation members to announce a $1.5 million grant award from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to Delaware Innovation Space to create a Hard Science Startup Accelerator. The grant was awarded through the national Build to Scale (B2S) competition run by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) at EDA. 

Delaware Innovation Space is a nonprofit incubator and accelerator at the Experimental Station where scientists, business leaders, community members, investors, and service providers in the industrial biotech, advanced materials, chemical ingredients, renewable energy, nutrition and healthcare fields can build business concepts together and accelerate the path to commercialization. It is the result of a public-private partnership between the State of Delaware, DuPont and the University of Delaware. This grant award will provide mentorship and training to entrepreneurs to help them develop and grow their business. 

Delaware Innovation Space was awarded the top amount of $1.5 million in the competition placing it in the top 10 percent of more than 600 applications that were submitted from across the United States. 

“The lack of physical lab space with expert business mentorship and training is a road block to the ultimate success of emerging entrepreneurs in the hard sciences,” said Bill Provine, Delaware Innovation Space President & CEO. “The Hard Science Startup Accelerator will provide science entrepreneurs with access to structured programs and a customized learning experience that will improve their business concepts and plans, making them more attractive to investors. This combined with the physical assets of the Delaware Innovation Space which includes a more than 130,000-square-foot physical and virtual collaboration ecosystem will assist and equip scalable startups with the tools and expert insights that they need to transform the markets in which they operate.” 

“We want innovators and entrepreneurs to start in Delaware, stay in Delaware, and grow in Delaware,” said Governor John Carney. “The accelerator program funded by this grant will assist emerging science-based startups to grow and thrive right here in Delaware. The world has changed. We have to continue being nimble and supporting our entrepreneurial ecosystem. We’ve already seen success out of the Delaware Innovation Space from companies like Prelude Therapeutics, and I look forward to seeing the Delaware companies that this program will launch and grow.”

“The Delaware Innovation Space was born out of Delaware’s long history of scientific innovation. As we push through this pandemic, the Innovation Space will continue to be an important part of research and discovery – and economy recovery,” said Senator Carper, ranking member on the Environment and Public Works committee in the U.S. Senate, which has jurisdiction over EDA. “The Delaware Innovation Space will leverage this federal investment and use the resources of the University of Delaware and DuPont to mentor entrepreneurs through its Hard Science Startup Accelerator. We must continue to find ways to grow our economy for the long-term, and this grant will help foster that innovation.” 

“The Hard Science Startup Accelerator program aims to help startup companies and science entrepreneurs be competitive in today’s global economy,” said Senator Coons. “The Delaware Innovation Space has helped companies like Yushan Yan’s W7 Energy to spin out of the University of Delaware their fuel cell technology, and this $1.5-million grant will continue advancing innovation and economic development with other startups in the First State. This federal funding, combined with investments from other partners, helps make sure that Delaware – the birthplace of Nylon, Kevlar, Teflon, and Oliver Evans’ Automated Flour Mill – can provide capital-intensive wet lab space and world-class mentorship well into the future to many more promising technologies.”

“In the midst of our national period of economic hardship, we must continue to help our emerging entrepreneurs innovate and succeed,” said Rep. Blunt Rochester. “The Delaware Innovation Space represents the best kind of partnership that we must continue to utilize and leverage. I’m excited to see how this federal investment will help catalyze some truly exciting results.”

The Hard Science Startup Accelerator will be offered at no-charge to startup companies and the application window for the first cohort class along with other supporting programs will open in late 2020; with the first cohort class beginning work in 2021.

[VIDEO] Sen. Coons details reasons not to proceed with Supreme Court nominee hearings

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) spoke at the Senate Judiciary Committee urging colleagues not to proceed with a Supreme Court nominee in fear that a rushed decision will put health care on the line.

“There are so many other things stressing our society, stressing our constituents, stressing our families and communities between the pandemic, health care, injustice, and inequality. Why add this to the plate? My Republican colleagues insist on racing forward with a partisan confirmation process that I am convinced will further tear this country apart,” said Senator Coons. “We should not be proceeding with a nominee, consistent with the precedent my Republican colleagues themselves set just four years ago.”

Senator Coons continued, “The [Supreme Court] case that will be heard a week after the election is a case in which, with the president’s urging, the Court may well remove gender discrimination protection from half of all Americans, may well remove pre-existing condition discrimination protection from over a hundred million Americans where six million recently infected by this pandemic have new pre-existing conditions, and may will deny access to healthcare for twenty million more. Why should we proceed? Why not step back? Why not avoid this needless partisan exercise that will further divide us?”

Full video is available here. A transcript is provided below. 

Sen. Coons: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Each member of this committee understands the immense weight of our responsibilities. But I have to say that as I came to this historic Kennedy Caucus Room in which such landmark moments in the history of our modern republic have taken place, I have a sense of dread. We’re in the midst of a global pandemic, a pandemic that has sickened more than 6 million Americans, taken more than 200,000 American lives, and we’re in the midst of a terrible recession – the worst since the Great Depression, one made worse than it ever needed to be by the bungled response of the Trump administration to that pandemic. And it has been renewed just in recent hours, we continue to be in the midst of a reckoning around racial injustice. 

There are so many other things stressing our society, stressing our constituents, stressing our families and communities between the pandemic, health care, injustice, and inequality. Why add this to the plate? My Republican colleagues insist on racing forward with a partisan confirmation process that I am convinced will further mire this committee in a weeks-long partisan battle that will further tear this country apart. We should not be proceeding with a nominee, consistent with the precedent my Republican colleagues themselves set just four years ago. And Mr. Chairman, you repeated 2 years ago, as our colleague, my friend from Alaska has recently said, ‘fair is fair.’ If that’s the standard by which you lived four years ago, it’s the standard by which we should live today. I know each of us in this room cares deeply about our nation and our institutions, and so I urge you to consider how a rushed confirmation process will further divide this divided country, how a rushed confirmation process will distract us from our duty to come together again and provide needed relief from this pandemic and recession to our constituents, how a rushed confirmation process in the midst of a partisan election season may well do lasting harm to this institution and the Supreme Court. 

Mr. Chairman, I know how deeply you care about these institutions. We work together with others on this committee to protect the special counsel. It’s my sincere plea that you consider the commitments you made in the past, to our people, to this body, to our future, and step back from this process. Not only is the primary process over – voting has already started in twenty-five states –  we are just thirty-nine days and twelve hours from an election. There is no precedent for filling a Supreme Court vacancy this close to a general election. 

And so I plead with all of you – we should not be proceeding. We should do this promptly following the next inauguration. Last night, I went to pay my respects to Justice Ginsburg who lies in repose on the steps of the Supreme Court and will soon move to the Capitol where she’ll be the first woman in American history to lie in state. She passed on Rosh Hashanah, marking her as someone known as a righteous person, of great gifts of leadership, and her record certainly shows that. But she dictated her dying wish to her granddaughter that the voters should choose the next president, the next president – her successor. Why does that matter? Because she was someone, as the chairman remarked in the opening, who had a historic friendship with Justice Scalia – probably the farthest apart from her in ideology on the Court. But Justice Ginsburg lived her life by an important reminder. She once said, ‘fight hard for the things you believe in, but do so in a way that will bring others to your side.’ She spent her life in service to improving the justice, the equity of our nation by participating in the system, by legislating, litigating, fighting, advocating, supporting all of that on behalf of equality. 

Justice Ginsburg’s legacy was a relentless fight for equality. The case that will be heard a week after the election is a case in which, with the president’s urging, the Court may well remove gender discrimination protection from half of all Americans, may well remove pre-existing condition discrimination protection from over a hundred million Americans where six million recently infected by this pandemic have new pre-existing conditions, and may will deny access to healthcare for twenty million more. Why should we proceed? Why not step back? Why not avoid this needless partisan exercise that will further divide us? 

Justice Ginsburg gave her life in service to this nation because she knew the fragility of our institutions like the Court, the Congress, even our elections themselves. In days when our president is saying concerning, even alarming things about our long tradition of peaceful transitions of power, I will close by calling on my friends on this committee. Please think deeply about the consequences of the course on which we seem set. Thank you.

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Senator Coons’ statement on reinstallation of USPS letter-handling machinery at New Castle-based facility

WILMINGTON, Del. – Yesterday, Sept. 23, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Postal Service, released the following statement on reports that letter-handling machinery is being reinstalled at the New Castle USPS Mail Processing and Distribution Center.

“While I’m glad to hear that changes are being made at this facility, all of us should be concerned about whether the same types of issues are occurring at hundreds or even thousands of USPS locations across the country,” Sen. Coons said. “It shouldn’t take a United States senator applying pressure to make sure that our postal service prepares for the biggest vote-by-mail turnout we’ve ever seen. Postmaster General DeJoy and the Trump Administration should be working day and night to ensure that every American can safely, securely, and reliably cast their ballot by mail this fall – not to mention the timely delivery of newspapers, medications, mortgage statements, and other critical correspondence.”

Yesterday’s statement comes after an Aug. 19 surprise visit to the USPS facility in New Castle amid reports that the postmaster general was sabotaging his own agency, causing delays with the delivery of mail throughout the country.

On Sunday, Aug. 16, Coons was alerted by USPS frontline workers exercising “the right of government employees to petition or furnish information to Congress or a Member.” The employees there reported on a late-night operation to dismantle and remove various types of letter-handling machinery at Quigley Boulevard. The employees asked Coons to come see firsthand the destruction of government property there.

“We would like to invite you to visit our facility to see for yourself what is happening here in Delaware,” said a USPS employee who asked to remain anonymous. “By coming to visit, you will see how the Postal Service is being destroyed from the inside out. The major problem is the amount of working mail processing machines that are being dismantled and set out in the rain as trash.”

The employee further wrote that “there have also been delays in the mail since Postmaster General DeJoy has given the order of ‘no late trucks.’ If the mail is not processed in enough time for dispatch, then the mail is held until the next delivery day. This is causing delays in the mail being delivered to our customers.”

On Monday, Aug. 17, Sen. Coons, through members of his staff, contacted leadership with the USPS Southern New Jersey District to alert them about the invite and request a quick tour of the New Castle distribution center. After stating they would check with the district manager, a district liaison said that a next-day visit would not be possible.

“Thank you for sharing the invitation,” the liaison’s email stated. “Unfortunately, this invitation is outside of the official process. The district would be happy to work with the Senator’s office to schedule a visit at a later date. The request will have to go through our official process.”

“I am sure your request was shot down because of the amount of mail delayed in the building,” texted a postal employee to a member of the senator’s staff. “They don’t have time to prepare and clean it up with such short notice.”

After these emails and text messages, a Senate staffer asked the district liaison – since a full visit wasn’t possible – whether it was feasible for the senator “just to quickly peek on the sorting room floor.”

“The Senator’s office is not on the schedule of visitors today and will be unable to tour the facility,” replied the district liaison on Tuesday, Aug. 18. “If you provide some dates and times that work for the Senator, I will share with the district leadership and get back to you.” The liaison clarified that USPS employees “cannot extend an invitation to the senator’s office to visit a postal facility. This has to be arranged by management.”

In a message received immediately after the email exchange, a USPS employee told Senate staffers about an abrupt shift in activity at the New Castle location.

“Management is attempting to clean up the building,” the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, wrote. “They have told our maintenance people to rush to remove the remaining machines that they are taking apart. Telling them to tape up the floor where the broken tiles are exposing possible asbestos.”

In the afternoon of Aug. 18, Coons joined Sen. Tom Carper, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Attorney General Kathy Jennings for a nationwide “Day of Action,” speaking outside of a post office in Wilmington to underscore the Postal Service as an essential service to the people of the United States.

Citing widespread delays in mail deliveries, President Trump’s intent to use the Postal Service to suppress the vote, and reports of deliberate disruptions in daily postal operations amid a global pandemic, Jennings announced that Delaware and other states are suing USPS to stop the practices.

During the Aug. 18 press event, Blunt Rochester reported that the House of Representatives would return to Washington to vote on Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Maloney’s Delivering for America Act, which would prohibit USPS from implementing any changes to operations or level of service it had in place on Jan. 1, 2020.

All of the these events came after Coons and Carper requested that USPS fix delays and avoid cost increases for election mail. The two senators joined another letter that broadens the call for oversight on the issue of interruptions amid changes made by the recently appointed postmaster general.

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Sens. Coons, Cassidy introduce bipartisan, bicameral bill to support commercialization of clean energy research

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced the Energizing Technology Transfer Act, legislation that will help deploy American clean energy innovations based at the Department of Energy (DOE). Companion legislation introduced by Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) is expected to pass the House of Representatives today as part of the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act. 

The United States is a world leader in energy research, with 17 DOE-led laboratories investigating every aspect of the energy ecosystem to help provide clean, reliable access to energy for the future. Despite the advances made through our federal laboratory system, it remains difficult to transition these innovative ideas to the marketplace. This legislation helps address many of these hurdles.

To help bridge the gap between research and demonstration efforts at DOE, the Energizing Technology Transfer Act establishes and expands multiple clean energy technology transfer programs, supports commercialization opportunities at national labs, and modernizes the DOE for a new era of clean energy commercialization.

“Clean energy innovation is essential if we are going to address the climate crisis,” said Senator Coons. “Barriers to bringing technology out of the research phase are hurting our ability to deploy clean energy research in our national labs. The Energizing Technology Transfer Act brings together a number of bipartisan proposals that will unleash the potential of our federal research institutions and support American competitiveness.”

“In a highly competitive world that is looking to technology and innovation to lower emissions, it is becoming increasingly important that we look for ways to speed scientific discovery and support our national labs in those efforts,” said Senator Cassidy. “Through technological breakthroughs, we have the opportunity to show the world that through innovation, we can lower emissions and maintain a modern economy.” 

“Clean energy technologies face unique barriers to successful commercialization, including high up-front capital costs, long development times, and the need to displace incumbent technologies,” said Congresswoman Johnson, Chairwoman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. “For these reasons, we need dedicated federal support for programs that help accelerate the commercialization of clean energy technologies. That is why I introduced the Energizing Technology Transfer Act with Rep. Fleischmann, which authorizes a series of programs that will support this important mission at the Department of Energy and our national labs. I look forward to supporting these programs as we continue to fight the climate crisis.” 

“Our national laboratories continue to lead in innovation for energy research, including Tennessee’s own Oak Ridge National Laboratory,” Congressman Fleischmann said. “I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing the bipartisan and bicameral Energizing Technology Transfer Act. This legislation will better enable the national labs to bring clean energy technology to the marketplace through entrepreneurship programs, and access to business and commercialization resources. Introducing this flexibility for national labs is a crucial step to ensure that America remains competitive amongst our global peers.”

The Energizing Technology Transfer Act supports the commercialization of clean energy research by: 

·         Bringing together clean energy researchers: Supports the coordination of technology transfer activities at DOE and authorizes DOE’s Energy I-Corps program to provide entrepreneurial training to national lab employees. 

·         Expanding the impact of national labs and their researchers: Creates opportunities for researchers, including an entrepreneurial leave program and authority to perform consulting while at a national lab, opens up access to laboratory facilities and equipment to small businesses, and supports activities that promote education in entrepreneurship.

·         Modernizing DOE’s approach to transitioning research to market: Assists DOE efforts for technology transition by establishing programs to oversee demonstration project management and to streamline prize competitions, authorizes a new milestone-based, pay-for-success model for energy demonstration projects, and facilitates additional flexibility in contracting between DOE and the private sector.

More information about the bill can be found here.

The Energizing Technology Transfer Act is endorsed by the American Chemical Society, American Council for Capital Formation, BPC Action, Associated Universities Inc., ClearPath Action, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc (IEEE-USA), Third Way, FedTech, and The Optical Society.

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Senators target Russian officials involved in Navalny poisoning

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) introduced the bipartisan Holding Russia Accountable for Malign Activities Act of 2020, a targeted bill that would impose sanctions on Russian officials complicit in brazen violations of international law including the recent poisoning of opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny. The bill directs the administration to determine if the Kremlin has violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons. The bill also requires a report on the personal wealth amassed by the corrupt practices of Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.

Senator Coons said of the draft legislation, “Putin’s government has a long and sordid history of using murder and attempted murder to silence Russian citizens at home and abroad who have called attention to the regime’s corrupt and abusive practices.  As Russia continues to meddle in our elections and take other malign actions in countries like Belarus, Ukraine, and Syria that make the world more dangerous, this bipartisan bill seeks to hold Putin and his inner circle accountable.”

“Vladimir Putin has proven he will stop at nothing to silence or intimidate Russian citizens who speak out against his abuses and rampant corruption, including by poisoning them,”  Senator Rubio said. “I’m proud to join Senator Coons in introducing this bipartisan bill to impose a cost on Putin and his cronies involved in the attempts to murder opposition figures or dissidents as well as those helping the regime cover-up these attacks. This legislation will also require the Administration to make public Putin’s wealth and level of corruption.”

“The U.S. cannot stand idly by while Russia attempts to murder its critics abroad,” said Senator Cardin, author of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. “One of the ways Putin has maintained his ironclad grip on Russia is through corruption, which is why the United States must stand up for anti-corruption activists in their pursuit of justice and rule of law. I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this legislation that would hold Russia accountable for his violations of international law.”

“The attack on Alexei Navalny puts a spotlight on the corruption and lawlessness of the Putin regime,” said Senator Romney. “We must hold the perpetrators accountable for this cowardly attack, which was an attempt to silence dissent and suppress the people’s fight for freedom and democracy.”

“Putin cannot continue to act with impunity while the United States government turns a blind eye. From Russia’s repeated violations of international law – including the recent poisoning of Alexei Navalny – to their efforts to interfere in our elections and undermine our national security, we must hold them accountable. I urge my colleagues to act immediately on this bipartisan bill – and the many other bills we’ve put forward – to make clear the United States will not tolerate Russia’s malfeasance,” said Senator Van Hollen.

The bill text is available here.

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Coons, Cardin, Delgado push to relieve small business debt

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business Committee, and U.S. Representative Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.), all members of the Senate and House committees on small business, introduced the Small Business Debt Relief Extension Act. At the end of September, hundreds of thousands of businesses will reach the end of emergency debt relief for SBA-backed loans. The bill would extend debt relief for small businesses through at least February 2021 for all borrowers and further for those particularly hard-hit by the pandemic.

The Small Business Debt Relief program has committed $8 billion in relief to some of America’s smallest, most at-risk employers during the recession. With no application required for businesses and minimal administrative burden, the program has delivered relief to 320,000 credit-challenged small business concentrated most heavily in the service industries hardest hit by the pandemic—by providing six months of principal, interest, and fee payments on all preexisting, deferred, and new 7(a) loans, 504 loans and microloans. Coons, Cardin, and Delgado authored the program in the CARES Act. Today, they reiterated their calls to extend the program, at no new cost to the federal government, and introduced legislation to do just that.

“Small businesses across America are still fighting for their survival. Just as Congress ought to enact a second round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for hard-hit businesses, it should also extend the SBA debt relief program, which has seamlessly provided support to Main Street businesses,” said Senator Coons, also the Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the SBA. “I continue to urge President Trump and Congressional leaders to negotiate a new relief package, and when they do, the Small Business Debt Relief Extension Act should be in it.”

“The pandemic is much longer than we anticipated in March when Congress created the debt relief and other small business programs. There is still a great need for the support provided by the debt relief program; there is no reason why it should end now,” Senator Cardin said. “I am proud to join Senator Coons and Congressman Delgado to introduce this commonsense bill to continue providing relief for struggling small businesses that have SBA loans, and provide additional support to those that have been hardest-hit by COVID-19, especially underserved small businesses.”

“We are eight months into a devastating global health crisis which has had an inordinate impact on our small business community. So far, hundreds of thousands of organizations have taken advantage of the Small Business Debt Relief Program established in my Small Business Repayment Relief Act and signed into law through the bipartisan CARES Act. Still, it is clear from my conversations with owners and employees across NY-19 that folks need more support,” said Representative Delgado, member of the House Committee on Small Business. “Today, I am introducing the Small Business Debt Relief Extension Act, which builds on my repayment relief law to provide additional resources. Specifically, this legislation will strengthen the SBA Debt Relief Program, allowing more entrepreneurs to access relief and further extending qualified loan payments for businesses hardest-hit. I will keep pushing to get this bill included in future coronavirus stimulus packages to ensure firms across upstate have the resources they need to stay operational.”

“Small businesses continue to face incredible stress and we must do everything we can to help them weather the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic,” Senator Amy Klobuchar said. “The Small Business Debt Relief Extension Act will provide continued financial relief for many small businesses in Minnesota and across the country. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and I will continue to fight for the support they deserve during this time of crisis.”

“Small businesses across the country are struggling to keep their heads above water as the economic crisis from the pandemic bears down. The provisions we worked to include in the CARES Act have served as lifelines to many businesses fighting to make ends meet, but time is running out. Congress needs to act now,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen. “This bill is a common-sense measure that will extend authorization of emergency debt relief for SBA-backed loans, including Paycheck Protection Program loans, to give small business owners a little extra breathing room. We worked on a bipartisan basis to craft this provision – and the other small business assistance programs in the CARES Act – and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to meet that same standard in this effort. Ultimately, Republicans need to meet us at the negotiating table so together we can deliver relief for small business owners and all those impacted by this crisis.”

The Small Business Debt Relief Extension Act will:

• Extend debt relief payments for all small business with an SBA-backed loan for five months, through February 2021. That includes 7(a) loans, 504 loans, and microloans.
• Provide an additional seven months of debt relief for highly vulnerable businesses, including all those with a Community Advantage or microloan and those with a regular 7(a) or 504 loan that operate in the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic: educational services; arts, entertainment, and recreation; accommodation and food services; and charter buses.
• Extend the availability of debt relief on new SBA-loans for a full year, to include those approved through September 2021. This will provide an ongoing incentive for small business growth and job creation in all sectors.
• Ensure debt relief benefit is associated with no tax liability for any participating business.
• Improve program integrity and transparency, by increasing required SBA reporting to Congress and communication with borrowers.
• Require no new spending by Congress, as it will draw upon funds already appropriated under the CARES Act.

Original co-sponsors include Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Angus King (I-Maine.)

The Small Business Debt Relief Extension Act is endorsed by the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL), Opportunity Finance Network, Mission Lenders Working Group, Friends of the SBA Micro Loan Program, National Association of Development Companies (NADCO), the International Franchise Association, and the CDFI Coalition.

Bill text is available here. 

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