Pete Ricketts
Senator for Nebraska · Republican · United States
“This is supposed to be a public service, and we need to take steps to restore the credibility with the American people. The Stop Insider Trading Act is the solution to be able to help restore that credibility, to let the American people know that we are not financially benefiting from inside information.”
“Those in the room described him as dismissive. They said that speaking with Mr. Blanche was like ``beating your head against the wall.'' The impression that the victims had upon leaving the meeting was that Mr. Blanche was only there to check the box for his promotion; nothing was going to change.”
“But if you wanted to sell those, you would have to give 7 to 14 days' notice so that the public would be able to see what you intended to do and be able to take [[Page S4170]] appropriate action well ahead of what you would be able to do. So you would not be able to take advantage of any inside information ahead of what the public had.”
“So, for example, if you went and sold a stock after getting elected, without giving the proper notice, and say it was a million-dollar transaction, you would have to pay a $100,000 fine. In addition, you would have to forfeit all of the profits. The Stop Insider Trading Act has real teeth in it to back up the policy.”
“A group of about a dozen Epstein survivors and their loved ones sat behind Dani when she testified. They were urging that the predators responsible for these horrific crimes be held accountable. Their stories are heartbreaking.”
“Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 119 (Tuesday, July 21, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 21, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S4169-S4170] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] Stop Insider Trading Act Mr. RICKETTS. Mr.”
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“(B) Deferral for anticipated alignment.--If, on or before the deadline described in subparagraph (A), the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security and the Secretary of State jointly submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report certifying that the allied supplier country subject to subparagraph (A) has committed to adopt, or is otherwise expected to adopt, controls that have the same practical effect as those described in subsection (b)(1), the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security may issue a one-time deferral of the effective date of the regulations described in subsection (A) for a period of not longer than 30 days from the date described in subparagraph (A).”
“(2) Extension of controls to allied supplier countries.-- (A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B), for any allied supplier country for which a certification is submitted under subsection (b)(3)(B), the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security shall issue regulations, not later than the date of the submission of such certification, that-- (i) establish United States jurisdiction over covered semiconductor manufacturing equipment and applicable items exported, reexported, or in-country transferred from, or produced in, such country; and (ii) apply-- (I) countrywide controls to all covered semiconductor manufacturing equipment produced in such country; (II) a license requirement, subject to a presumption of denial, for the servicing of any applicable item located in a covered facility; and (III) end-user and end-use controls prohibiting the export, reexport, or in-country transfer of an applicable item to any covered facility.”
“(c) Controls on United States Equipment and Extension of Controls.-- (1) Application of controls on united states equipment.-- Not later than 150 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security shall issue regulations that-- (A) update United States countrywide controls to covered semiconductor manufacturing equipment produced in the United States; and (B) update comprehensive United States end-user or end-use restrictions to all covered facilities located in a country of concern.”
“(3) Certification on allied supplier countries.--Except as provided in subsection (c)(3), for each allied supplier country, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security and the Secretary of State shall jointly certify, not later than 150 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, to the appropriate congressional committees that either-- (A) the country has implemented the controls described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1); or (B)(i) the country has not adopted the controls described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1); (ii) the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security and the Secretary of State have prioritized and exhausted available diplomatic channels; and (iii) continued delay would materially undermine the national security of the United States.”
“(2) Briefing on diplomatic efforts.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security and the Secretary of State shall jointly provide to members of the appropriate congressional committees a briefing to describe the status of diplomatic efforts to align the controls on covered semiconductor manufacturing equipment imposed by allied supplier countries with the controls imposed by the United States.”
“(b) Diplomatic Engagement.-- (1) In general.--The Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security and the Secretary of State should continue to prioritize and encourage the governments of allied supplier countries to adopt-- (A) countrywide controls, or other policies that have the same practical effect as countrywide controls, on covered semiconductor manufacturing equipment that are subject to the jurisdiction of such allied supplier country; and (B) license requirements, with a policy of presumption of denial, for the export, reexport, or in-country transfer of all applicable items to any covered facility and for the servicing of all applicable items at any covered facility.”
“MULTILATERAL ALIGNMENT OF CONTROLS ON SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENT. (a) Identifying Chokepoints.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, in coordination with the Secretary of State, shall-- (1) conduct a review to identify all covered semiconductor manufacturing equipment and all covered facilities; (2) submit to the appropriate congressional committees a list of all such equipment and facilities; and (3) notify the public in the Federal Register when this submission has occurred.”
“Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 113 (Monday, July 13, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 113 (Monday, July 13, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S3782-S3783] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] SA 6585. Mr. RICKETTS (for himself and Mr. Kim) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following: SEC. 1094.”
“Why on Earth are we doing it with the Chinese Communist Party? It is absolutely ludicrous. We need to keep the pressure on. We need to make sure that TikTok is sold. I echo my colleague's comments with regard to any sort of future Chinese ownership that would allow them to be able to continue to do this. We need to make sure this is no longer going to threaten our young people. Therefore, Mr. President, I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard. The Senator from Massachusetts.”
“They avoided getting a deal done. President Trump came into office. They are still avoiding getting a deal done. The people who are taking on the liability here are the companies that are the facilitators. I urge those companies to reconsider. You should think carefully about what you are doing. The law is very clear. TikTok needs to be sold to an American owner to continue operation, not some half-baked plan, as my colleague from Arkansas was describing, where the Chinese Communist Party would still have influence on the TikTok algorithm, still have the ability to push their propaganda to the American people. That cannot happen. We need to make sure that the Chinese Communist Party cannot do that in our country. Again, we won't allow other TV or radio stations to have that much access.”
“Now, let's also bear in mind that we would not allow any American TV, news station--even newspaper--to be able to own as much of the American marketplace as TikTok has today--170 million people. Current law says that you can only own 39 percent, for example, of the TV marketplace across the country. That would roughly equate to about 50 million households in the United States--far above what we are seeing here with what TikTok has access to. So if we are not going to allow Americans to be able to have such broad access to our population, why on Earth would we allow the Chinese Communist Party to do it? And by the way, the Chinese Communist Party has no First Amendment rights in this country. ByteDance was given 270 days to make a deal. The Communist dictator Xi Jinping clearly did not want it. They tried to lobby us.”
“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I echo my colleague from Arkansas' comments with regard to TikTok. Let's recall that in communist China, there really isn't such a thing as a private company, as much as ByteDance might want to say it is. The Chinese communist law is very clear that companies in China have to do what they are told to do by the Chinese Communist Party, and that is one of the reasons TikTok is so dangerous. TikTok, as has been covered by my colleague from Massachusetts, reaches 170 million people; 52 percent of those people say that they regularly get their news from TikTok. As I have risen on this floor in the past, I have discussed specific cases where the Chinese communists have been pushing their propaganda through TikTok.”
“We have to have secure borders. The stakes are too high. Too many lives have already been lost. President Trump is leading the fight to secure our borders and stop the flow of this horrible drug into our country, and I am proud to support him in doing that. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.”
“That is enough to kill 15 million Americans, and he was doing it every month--and that was one smuggler. Now he also said that, lately, it had been quiet. They hadn't been moving as much fentanyl. And, again, that gets back to President Trump taking a stand to get our neighboring countries to start enforcing their border, to put more resources there, and to start blocking this fentanyl before it gets into our country. These policies are having an impact. They are working. We need Canada and Mexico to continue to do more. President Trump is using his powers to be able to help stop that flow of fentanyl. We are here standing up for secure borders, standing up for American families, standing up for those families who have lost loved ones already to this terrible scourge. We cannot afford to return to an open borders policy.”
“That is enough to kill 300 million Americans. President Trump is using his powers to bring that to an end. Now, some people have said: Well, that is fine. We get it, Mexico. But what about Canada? Canada is not the problem here. But our northern border is also exposed. When Canada released or eased up on some of its visa restrictions, the cartels saw their advantage and started moving operations to Canada to transport both people illegally across the border and fentanyl. In fact, 60 Minutes just did a story where they talked to one of these cartel drug smugglers about what he was doing, and he said that-- this one smuggler--he was responsible for moving 30 kilograms of fentanyl across the border from Canada into the United States every month.”
“And President Trump got elected to stop it, to make a difference, to end this catastrophe. One of the ways he is doing that is by putting tariffs on the countries that are allowing this to ship through their countries, across their borders. I already mentioned how communist China and Mexico are linked to this. There was a daily podcast from the New York Times that talked about how President Trumps' policies are really having an impact on Mexico. Some people have said: Wait. Using tariffs, that is creating a trade war. That is absolutely not the case. The case is this is a drug war, and the President is using the tool of tariffs to get a handle on it, to shut off the flow of fentanyl. In just 1 month under Joe Biden, law enforcement intercepted 1,400 pounds of fentanyl coming into our country--1 month.”
“But after Joe Biden got elected, in just the first 6 months of 2021, that number jumped to 151,000 pills. And it wasn't just the numbers; it was the human cost. Taryn Lee Griffith is a young mom with two children. She took a pill she thought was Percocet, but it was laced with fentanyl. She died that night. Now her children are going to have to learn about their mom from stories, from pictures because they don't have their mom anymore. Sadly, that story is being told all across this country because of the fentanyl crisis that we have. President Trump was elected to stop this crisis. I mean, think about it. If we had had 70,000 Americans killed in a terrorist attack, we would be up in arms. It is more than are dying from car accidents or heart disease in that age bracket, and yet Joe Biden did nothing.”
“Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues in talking about the fentanyl crisis that Joe Biden created in our country. Joe Biden had 4 years of open border policies. Millions of people crossed illegally into our country. But on top of that, we saw a surge of fentanyl coming into our country--fentanyl that is killing our young people. My colleague from Florida just referenced 70,000 people dying from fentanyl. Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among our young people age 18 to 45. That fentanyl starts in communist China, where the precursors are made. It then gets shipped to Mexico. The cartels turn it into that final product and bring it across the border. [[Page S2117]] And we saw the impact in Nebraska. In 2019, law enforcement in Nebraska took 46 pills--just 46 pills--laced with fentanyl off of our streets.”