Romney Leads Senate Hearing Regarding U.S. Policy on Taiwan
China is rapidly building out its military capabilities while carrying out intense economic coercion against Taiwan—an advanced democracy, the global leader in semiconductors, and our close partner. It is in the U.S.’ interest to help Taiwan combat the Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive behavior and deter future actions aimed at bringing Taiwan under China’s control. Failure to do this would be a blow to free societies around the world and cause immense economic calamity.
Romney Discusses Likelihood of Chinese Military Invasion of Taiwan, Urges Linking Arms with Allies
At a Foreign Relations Committee hearing today on alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) engaged in an exchange with the witnesses about the likelihood of a Chinese military invasion of Taiwan—a trusted partner of the United States in advancing peace, prosperity, and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. He also emphasized the importance of the U.S. linking arms with its allies to push back against China’s aggression.
Romney Leads Senate Hearing on Strengthening Export Controls Enforcement
U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Subcommittee, today led a bipartisan hearing with Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Subcommittee Chair, focused on strengthening the enforcement of export controls, which protect national security and prevent our adversaries from acquiring and misusing American-developed technology.
Senators Romney and Hassan have made strengthening the enforcement of export controls a top priority of the ETSO Subcommittee.
Yesterday, they introduced the Export Controls Enforcement Improvement Act, bipartisan legislation to bolster the Export Enforcement Coordination Center—an interagency hub for information sharing and coordination among the key agencies responsible for export control enforcement. In January, Senators Romney and Hassan sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting an assessment of the Department of Commerce’s export controls restricting advanced semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and related technologies from going to China and other adversaries.
Senator Mitt Romney on Need to Prioritize USAID Foreign Aid Funds
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) discusses how USAID prioritizes funds with USAID Administrator Samantha Power during a Senate Foreign Relations Hearing titled "FY2025 United States Agency for International Development Budget Request."
Romney: Fentanyl-Related Deaths are a Human Tragedy
U.S. Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Ranking Member and Chair of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Subcommittee respectively, today led a bipartisan hearing to discuss how the U.S. government can stop the flow of fentanyl, and the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, into the United States. The Subcommittee heard from experts on ways to strengthen international law enforcement cooperation and encourage China and Mexico to increase efforts to stop fentanyl trafficking stemming from their countries.
Opening Statement:
Thank you, Chair Hassan, for holding this hearing. Appreciate those of you who are here today to educate us and inform us as to what steps might be taken to reduce the tragedy of fentanyl in our country and, frankly, globally. I don't have to recount to you the statistics—even in my state of Utah—the numbers between 2019 and 2020 showed fentanyl-linked deaths increased by 128%.
It continues to be a human tragedy across our country and across the world. And the question is, what can we do? Is there any one place, any choke points we can we can focus on and say, if we can just get this group here or this country here to take the following steps, why then we're going to be able to dramatically reduce the tragedy of fentanyl?
China has made commitments, as the Chair indicated, and I don't believe they have fully lived up to those commitments. Had there been the same kind of concern about fentanyl in China as there is here in the U.S., my expectation is that there had been a much tougher approach taken there. That hasn't happened. And I'm interested in your perspective on whether there's prospect for that occurring in the future.
Likewise, with regards to Mexico, we have not had as much support in fighting organized crime and the cartels in Mexico as we might have hoped. A new administration suggests that we'll have a better relationship and perhaps more ability to make a difference there. But I guess where we're all recognizing what the problem is, we just don't know how to solve it.
And you have experience in this regard that we would consider highly valuable. That's why we decided to hold this hearing. We want to hear your perspectives and potentially see what you think as well about the legislation, which Senator Lankford and Senator Hassan have proposed. And see if there are other steps that you think we might take to make it more likely that we will be able to restrict the scourge of fentanyl. With that, Madam Chair.
Romney Chides Administration: Three Words Do Not Make an Effective China Strategy
At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) chided the Administration on its failure to deliver to Congress a comprehensive strategy to counter the China threat, which was required by law to be provided by June 2023—almost one year ago. Senator Romney has repeatedly urged the Administration to complete this strategy amidst the increasing threat posed by the rise of China. Romney’s legislation requiring the development of this strategy was originally enacted as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022.
Romney: Mitigating Wildfires is a “National Priority”
U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today helped lead a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) hearing focused on preventing, managing, and responding to wildfires in the United States. At the hearing, Senator Romney stated that mitigating wildfires is a national priority and announced forthcoming legislation which he is working on with Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) that will implement recommendations from the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission—a commission of federal and non-federal stakeholders that was formed to study and recommend fire prevention, mitigation, management, and rehabilitation policies for forests and grasslands.
The Commission, first introduced by Senators Romney and Kelly, along with Representative John Curtis (R-UT), in 2021 was enacted after Senator Romney secured its inclusion in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. In February 2023, the Commission submitted its first report to Congress which outlines a strategy to meet aerial firefighting equipment needs through 2030. Last September, the Commission released its second and final report which outlines the urgent need for increased coordination between federal and local wildfire agencies, the importance of beneficial fires—like prescribed burning, and the need for increased investment in proactive pre-fire and post-fire planning and mitigation.
Senator Romney’s opening statement and exchange with the witnesses—including Utah’s Director of Forestry, Fire and State Lands Jamie Barnes—can be found below and video is available here.
Opening Statement:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for holding this hearing. This is a national priority. It is tragic that we continue to have wildfires of the nature we have. Some have become conflagrations. There's been massive loss of life. And this is a problem from Hawaii to Canada to the southern border—across the country. And more and more states are being affected by wildfires.
It's not just a few states of the American West as we sometimes think is the case. It is a national concern. I particularly want to thank Utah's Director of Forestry, Jamie Barnes, for being here and being willing to share her expertise with this Committee. We have some 800 to 1,000 wildfires per year just in Utah. And when you think about the impact of these fires, I go back to 2018, we had one called the Dollar Ridge Fire. And what was most unusual about that is that it dramatically impacted the watershed going into rivers and streams and lakes, killed wildlife fish, threatened the drinking supply of people in Panguitch, Utah. So, the challenge is not just that we're putting CO2 and smoke in the air and threatening structures and life, but we're also affecting our drinking water and the life of wildlife.
In 2021, the Parleys Canyon Fire forced the evacuation of 8,000 residents along the Wasatch Front for an extended period of time. And I went and met with people there and they were angry, asking why couldn't we do a better job preventing these things from happening? And I didn't have a lot of answers, and we were actually even considering closing down Interstate 80 as a result of that fire.
So back in 2021, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and I introduced the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission Act. It put together, as you know, some 50 individuals—federal, state, local, private sector, public sector, FEMA. This group came together. They have put together a report as of September of last year with some 148 different recommendations. And Senator Kelly and I are working on legislation to take these recommendations and turn them into law.
That's one of the reasons we wanted to have this hearing today, to get your perspectives on what things we might want to turn into law. I appreciate very much the work that you're doing. It is a national priority. I recognize that we can't keep on doing the way we have in the past. We're going to have to have some changes.
It's going to require additional funding. We may need additional fixed wing aircraft, different monitoring systems, different remediation, different forestry management, different prescribed burns processes. There are a lot of things that we are going to have to do differently than we have in the past. So, I look forward to the testimony today, particularly from Director Barnes and the rest of you, and appreciate the willingness of members of our Committee to come together and to focus on this important issue.
Romney: The Budget Committee Must Stop its Theater and Start Acting to Restore Fiscal Responsibility
At a Budget Committee hearing today to discuss the President’s budget proposal, U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) railed against the unserious nature of the Committee in the midst of our country’s debt crisis. Out of the 29 Budget Committee hearings this Congress, only three have dealt with the topic of the budget—while 14 of them have been on climate change. He urged the Committee to address the topics actually under its jurisdiction and get serious about addressing the budget and debt.
In an exchange with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young, Senator Romney argued that the Administration has put out a budget proposal it knows has no chance of becoming law, and that in order to get legislation passed, Republicans and Democrats have to actually work together. Romney also offered his bipartisan, bicameral Fiscal Stability Act as a viable solution to getting a handle on our debt.