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[Page S6050]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CORONAVIRUS
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, this week the Senate will vote on
more coronavirus relief that Congress could deliver to American
families right now.
Month after month, Speaker Pelosi has held up urgent assistance for
workers, families, schools, and our healthcare system. Month after
month, she has refused to set aside non-COVID-related demands and far-
left policy riders that she knows are sabotaging any shot at a deal.
Why? Well, because--and these are her own words--she thinks agreeing to
a bipartisan compromise might make the Democrats seem like ``a cheap
date''--her words. The Speaker said over and over again that she does
not believe it is better for workers to get something rather than
nothing.
Thus far, Senate Democrats have gone along with it. We could have
passed hundreds of billions of dollars in relief more than a month ago,
but our Democratic colleagues voted in lockstep to filibuster relief
and kill the bill. Unless Democrats got every single non-COVID-related
wish-list item they were after, American families would get nothing.
Every single Senate Democrat voted to filibuster hundreds of billions
of dollars of noncontroversial assistance, except our colleague who is
running for Vice President. So she wasn't here at all.
This has been the position for months: all-or-nothing obstruction. It
has to stop. The Speaker's Marie Antoinette act needs to end. Zero
dollars for working families but a whole lot of television time for the
Speaker of the House is not a good trade for the American people.
Speaker Pelosi's supposed leverage is not putting food on the table
in households where one or both parents have lost their jobs. Speaker
Pelosi's so-called leverage is not helping schools reopen safely or
struggling small business to avoid layoffs. The Democrats' talking
points are not doing a single thing to fund more testing, more tracing,
or double down on Project Warp Speed so we can produce and distribute a
vaccine.
Tomorrow and Wednesday, the Senate is going to vote. We will see
whether our Democratic colleagues in this Chamber agree that families
deserve nothing rather than something, or whether they are ready to let
the Senate make law across the huge areas where we do not even
disagree.
Tomorrow, we will have a stand-alone vote on creating a second round
of the historic Paycheck Protection Program for the hardest hit small
businesses. The PPP has saved tens of millions of American jobs and
kept main streets across America from turning into permanent COVID-19
ghost towns.
The program is as bipartisan as it gets. Not only did it pass
unanimously in the first place, but we also added funding and made
tweaks several times without a single objection in either Chamber.
So tomorrow, Tuesday, every Senator will cast an up-or-down vote on
establishing a whole second draw of these emergency loans for the small
businesses that need it the most--no more all or nothing, no more
endless posturing, just one clear vote on one clear good thing that
nobody even says they oppose. It would make a huge difference for
workers who may otherwise be laid off.
Then, on Wednesday, the Senate will vote again on a larger bill. It
will pour hundreds of billions of dollars into the PPP expansion, plus
more Federal unemployment insurance, more money for safe schools, more
money for testing, more money for vaccines, and many other important
priorities.
Nobody thinks this proposal would resolve every problem forever. What
it does contain is half a trillion dollars of good that Congress can do
right now through programs that Democrats do not even say they oppose.
American families deserve for us to agree where we can, make law, and
push huge amounts of money out the door while Washington continues
arguing over the rest. It is common sense. It is what the country
needs. I hope our Democratic colleagues will finally let it happen.
Madam President, what is the pending business?
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