Senator Romney served as Ranking Member at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee nominations hearing for ambassadorships to Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Palau, and Djibouti, and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation.
Utah has a significant demand for passport services, yet there is no passport agency closer than eight hours away for most Utahns. This has resulted in an inexcusable passport processing backlog and caused immense stress for Utah families. This week, Senator Romney continued to urge the Biden Administration to address these challenges by standing up a passport agency in Salt Lake City and modernizing the passport renewal process.
Senator Romney joined Senators Peters (D-MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Lankford (R-OK) in introducing bipartisan legislation to reduce the United States’ reliance on China and other adversarial nations for critical minerals. Critical minerals and rare earth metals are used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries, military equipment, and other technology that is vital to American economic competitiveness and homeland security.
“Like all Americans, Mr. Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence. The government has the burden of proving its charges beyond a reasonable doubt and securing a unanimous verdict by a South Florida jury. By all appearances, the Justice Department and special counsel have exercised due care, affording Mr. Trump the time and opportunity to avoid charges that would not generally have been afforded to others. Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself by not only taking classified documents, but by refusing to simply return them when given numerous opportunities to do so. These allegations are serious and if proven, would be consistent with his other actions offensive to the national interest, such as withholding defensive weapons from Ukraine for political reasons and failing to defend the Capitol from violent attack and insurrection.”
Senator Romney, along with Senators Coons (D-DE), Dr. Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Cornyn (R-TX), and Blumenthal (D-CT), introduced the bipartisan Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA), a bill that would require social media companies to share more data with the public and researchers.
Senators Romney, Van Hollen (D-MD), Sullivan (R-AK), Cornyn (R-TX) and Scott (R-SC), applaud today’s unanimous committee passage of the Ending China’s Developing Nation Status Act. This bipartisan legislation establishes U.S. policy to oppose the granting of “developing nation” status to China in future treaties and international organizations.
Senator Romney, joined by Senators King (I-ME) and Cotton (R-AR), introduced the Military Service Promotion Act of 2023, legislation aimed at addressing the current military recruitment crisis by enhancing military recruiter access to high schools and colleges.
At a Foreign Relations Committee hearing today to examine the State Department’s Consular Affairs services and programs, Senator Romney criticized the inability for State to handle passport renewal requests and urged the Administration to open a passport agency in Salt Lake City to accommodate the needs of Utahns. As a rapidly expanding center for global commerce and with thousands of missionaries traveling abroad every year from Salt Lake City, Utahns are in desperate need of expanded consular services. However, Utah is essentially a passport service desert with no feasible options for same-day, in-person services.
Senator Romney joined his colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of State to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and address mother-to-child HIV transmission in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Health Diplomacy Ambassador Dr. John N. Nkengasong.
Senators Romney, Van Hollen, Rubio, and Markey introduced a resolution to recognize the 34th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square Massacre, during which thousands of peaceful protesters were injured and killed at the direction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership. The resolution also condemns the Chinese government’s ongoing and increasing repression of human rights and civic freedoms in mainland China as well as in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang.
As Congress worked to pass legislation that avoided a default on our debt, Senator Romney expressed his support for the bipartisan compromise negotiated by Speaker McCarthy and the White House—highlighting how the bill avoids what could have been an economic disaster while putting government spending on a more sustainable path.
Senator Romney joined Senators Manchin, Sullivan, and King in introducing the China Defense Spending Transparency Act, bipartisan legislation requiring the Defense Intelligence Agency to publish a comprehensive report exposing the true extent of China’s defense-industrial build up.