Ahead of the anniversary of the Mercury-Redstone 4, I paid tribute on the Senate floor to Hoosier astronaut Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom. A native of Mitchell, Indiana, Grissom was one of the seven Mercury astronauts and America’s second man in space.

Grissom once said, “The conquest of space is worth the risk of human life.” The race to the stars ended in America’s favor because he gave his. 

Click here to watch the full speech.

I joined with a group of colleagues to introduce the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Disclosure Act of 2023, an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would increase transparency around UAPs (also referred to as Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs) and further open scientific research.

This legislation would direct the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to create a collection of records to be known as the UAP Records Collection and direct every government office to identify which records would fall into the collection. The UAP Records Collection would carry the presumption of immediate disclosure, which means that a review board would have to provide a reasoning for the documents to stay classified.

The American people deserve transparency on all issues related to UAPs. Our bipartisan effort will protect and better organize government materials related to UAPs and promote disclosure of this information.

The NDAA is currently being debated in the Senate, and I am hopeful that this amendment will be included. Click here to learn more about the legislation.

Last week, I joined Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.), the Ranking Member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, at an event in West Lafayette with Hoosier ag producers.

The message from these Hoosier farmers was clear: We must pass a Farm Bill this year that supports our farmers and rural Indiana. Read more about our meeting here.  

I recently introduced the Global Investment in American Jobs Act to increase America’s global competitiveness and ensure our nation continues to be the most attractive destination for international companies to invest. 

For decades, foreign direct investment in America has strengthened our nation’s economy by bringing more good paying jobs to our communities, boosting domestic research and development, and exporting more American-made goods. However, in the face of heightened competition from other countries, America must remain intentional about attracting international investment. The Global Investment in American Jobs Act would support this effort by directing the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a government-wide review of and report to Congress on ways to increase America’s global competitiveness in attracting foreign direct investment. 

This bill will reinforce America’s commitment to global leadership, enhance investment in our workforce, bolster U.S. innovation, and help out-compete the Chinese Communist Party.

Representative Greg Pence (IN-06) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it recently passed the House by a vote of 386-22.

Read more about this legislation here.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bipartisan Cooper Davis Act (S.1080), and the legislation now heads to the Senate floor. 

The bill is in honor of Cooper Davis, a 16-year-old Kansas teen who tragically lost his life to a counterfeit prescription drug laced with fentanyl in August 2021. It was later discovered that a drug dealer solicited Mr. Davis through a popular social media platform, Snapchat. 

I introduced this bill along with a bipartisan group of senators, and it would require social media companies to take a more proactive role in working with federal agencies to combat the illegal sale and distribution of drugs on their platforms.

Fentanyl is devastating communities in Indiana and across our nation, and we need to do more to address the flow of these drugs that are poisoning young Americans, including addressing distribution via social media. Our bill will give law enforcement officials more tools to combat the illegal sale and distribution of drugs.

I am encouraged by the vote on this bill, and it is now time to bring this legislation to the Senate floor. Read more here.

Punchbowl: Conversation with Senator Young on the Quantum Revolution

Northwest Indiana Times: Indiana Senator Wants to Know What the Government Knows About UFOs

WLFI: Indiana Senators Talk About the 2023 Farm Bill with Local Farmers

WTHR: Indiana Senator Todd Young Part of the Push to Declassify Secret UFO Records

The Times of Noblesville: Young, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Help Small Businesses Adopt Digital Tools

WOWO: Senator Young Talks AI

Thank you for the continued privilege to serve you in the U.S. Senate. My mission is to fight on behalf of Hoosiers and the interests that are unique to our state. I look forward to working with you, and sharing our progress, in the days ahead. 

In Service,

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