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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) filed more than 20 amendments to the Senate Budget Resolution.
 
“Senate Democrats are treating COVID relief efforts like a partisan political campaign,” Rubio said. “They will soon have an opportunity to show they are actually committed to working with Republicans by agreeing to commonsense amendments that protect our small businesses from destructive tax hikes, ensure schools reopen for in-person learning, rebuild our pharmaceutical industry, help families by further expanding the Child Tax Credit, and keep our nation safe by combating China and ending the destructive practice of catch-and-release.
 
“Over the last two weeks, Democratic leaders have focused on everything but the challenges facing the American people,” Rubio continued. “And next week, they will once again focus on something other than helping our nation get vaccinated and recover from the pandemic. The time for partisan games is over. We need to focus on coming together to defeat the coronavirus.”
 
A summary of Rubio’s amendments is below.
 
Protecting small businesses from tax increases. An amendment to prohibit legislation that would increase taxes on small businesses during a period in which a national emergency has been declared with respect to the pandemic.
 
Funding for school re-opening. An amendment, based on Rubio’s Put Students First Act, to prohibit legislation that provides COVID reopening dollars to any school that chooses not to reopen by April 30, 2021. 
 
Expansion of Child Tax Credit. An amendment to further expand the Child Tax Credit, which Rubio and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) successfully increased as part of the 2017 tax reform.
 
Keeping Huawei on Entity List. An amendment to bar the removal of Huawei or other Chinese military companies from the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
 
Preventing catch-and-release. An amendment to prohibit codifying or otherwise authorizing catch-and-release immigration policies that incentivize illegal immigration into the United States.
 
Rebuilding medical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. An amendment, based on Rubio’s Medical Manufacturing, Economic Development, and Sustainability (MMEDS) Act introduced in 2020, to encourage companies currently producing medical and pharmaceutical equipment abroad to relocate to the U.S., including Puerto Rico.
 
Prevent packing the Supreme Court. An amendment with Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK), based on Rubio’s constitutional amendment first introduced in 2019, against increasing the number of justices serving on the U.S. Supreme Court. 
 
Combating BDS. An amendment, based on Rubio’s Combating BDS Act first introduced with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) in 2017, to allow for State or local governments to fight back against the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement’s economic warfare against the Jewish state of Israel.
 
Reforming the World Health Organization. An amendment to prohibit funding of the World Health Organization until key reforms are made with the goals of greater transparency, including restoration of Taiwan’s observer status consistent with past practice.
 
Blocking Chinese genomic companies. An amendment to prohibit any funding from going to entities that provide payments to genomic companies connected to the Chinese government.
 
Blocking investment in Chinese military companies. An amendment to prohibit United States persons to invest in publicly traded securities or securities that are derivative of, or designed to provide investment exposure to such securities of, any Communist Chinese military companies identified by the Department of Defense pursuant to Section 1237 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999.
 
Blocking sales from Xinjiang. An amendment, based on Rubio’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act first introduced in 2018 with Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), to prohibit American companies from selling their products or services to PRC companies involved in mass surveillance, camp contractor, or security contracting in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region or minority areas under PRC control.
 
Blocking funds for CCP Military-Civil Fusion Strategy. An amendment to prohibit federal funding for any public health, academic, technological, or scientific initiative or program that promotes joint research or professional exchange with the People’s Republic of China pertaining to any subject matter that is a known priority of the Chinese Communist Party’s military-civil fusion strategy.
 
Rebuilding America’s rare-earth mineral supply chain. An amendment, based on Rubio’s RE-Coop 21st Century Manufacturing Act first introduced in 2019, to establish the issuance of Federal charters for the establishment of privately funded, operated, and managed entities for the purposes of developing a domestic value chain capable of procuring, refining, and storing rare-earth elements and products composed of rare-earth elements.
 
Extending Eastern Gulf drilling moratorium. An amendment, based on Rubio’s Florida Shores Protection and Fairness Act first introduced in 2017, to extend the moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area.
 
Establishment paid parental leave. An amendment, based on Rubio’s New Parents Act first introduced in 2018, to establish paid parental leave policy that does not raise taxes on working Americans.
 
Recognizing Air America. An amendment, based on Rubio’s Air America Act first introduced in 2020 with Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), to formally recognize Air America and its related entities as being wholly owned and controlled by the U.S. government, and its employees as federal employees, and for providing such employees and their survivors with retirement credit under the Civil Service Retirement System.
 
Expanding veterans’ opportunities. An amendment to establish an Economic Opportunity and Transition Administration within the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Expanding space commerce. An amendment, based on Rubio’s bipartisan Space Commerce Act first introduced in 2020, to provide for the extension of the additional allowance of depreciation deduction for space transportation vehicle or payload that is launched from the United States, or other property or equipment placed in service for the purpose of facilitating a space launch from the United States.
Expanding access to bonds for spaceports. An amendment, based on the Spaceport Equality Act, to add spaceports as a qualifying category for exempt facility bonds.
 
Reforming student loans. An amendment, based on Rubio’s Leveraging Opportunities for Americans Now (LOAN) Act first introduced in 2019, to reform the federal direct student loan system by eliminating interest and replacing it with a one-time, non-compounding financing fee that borrowers will pay over the life of the loan. It would also place borrowers in an income-based repayment (IBR) plan, ensuring working-class Americans are not further burdened with monthly repayments they are unable to afford.
 
Blocking mass migration. An amendment to deter the attempted migration of “caravans” or other large movements of unauthorized persons across the southern border.
 
Protecting workers with student loans. An amendment, based on Rubio’s Protecting JOBS (Job Opportunities for Borrowers) Act, first introduced in 2019 with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), to ensure borrowers are not inhibited from working in their trained field solely because they fell behind on their federal student loan payments. Specifically, the legislation would prevent states from suspending, revoking or denying state professional, teaching, or driver’s licenses solely because a borrower falls behind on his or her federal student loan payments.