October 19, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 178 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages S6318-S6319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PROTECT ACT--Motion to Proceed

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 554, 
S. 4675.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 554, S. 4675, a bill to 
     amend the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability 
     Act.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to explain to the 
American people what is happening here on the floor of the Senate. 
After putting the Senate on pause for over 5 long months, while 
businesses closed, millions lost their jobs, and hundreds of thousands 
of Americans died, Leader McConnell is now using this week to hold show 
votes on coronavirus relief. The vote we just had was not even a real 
vote. Leader McConnell moved to table the bill, then voted against 
tabling it. It was a stunt, plain and simple. It goes to show how 
unserious the Republican process is here on the floor of the Senate. 
Democrats, by their vote, called it for what it is.
  The truth is Leader McConnell is doing these stunts on the floor 
because there is a hard-right faction in the Republican caucus that 
doesn't want to pass any bill--any other round of relief. The 
Republican leader admitted that as many as 20 Republican Senators don't 
want to vote for anything. One Republican Senator voted not to vote

[[Page S6319]]

for ``another dime.'' Every time the Republican White House asks the 
Republican Senators about a larger and needed COVID relief package, the 
Republican Senators say: Don't do anything. We are too divided.
  As if we needed any more proof this week that the votes this week are 
not serious, it was just reported in the Washington Post that Leader 
McConnell warned the White House against making a deal on a COVID 
relief bill before the election. Let me repeat that. According to a 
report in the Washington Post, the Republican leader warned the White 
House against making a deal on another stimulus bill before the 
election.
  Maybe it is because he knows his caucus wouldn't support it. Maybe it 
is because he doesn't want anything to interfere with his true 
priority--rushing a Supreme Court Justice onto the bench mere days 
before a Presidential election. Maybe it is both. Whatever the reason, 
it is abundantly clear that what the Republican leader is offering this 
week is a stunt--designed to look real but designed to fail.
  He told the White House he doesn't actually want a deal before the 
election. Now, if my Republican colleagues--those of the mind to help 
the American people, not those who believe we have spent too much 
already--want to do something real, we are going to give them a chance 
on the floor right now. I will be making a motion to move the Senate 
into a posture by which we could all vote on the Heroes Act that passed 
the House. If the Senate were to pass it, it would head right to the 
President's desk. The Democrats have already modified the bill to make 
it more palatable to our Republican colleagues by coming down over $1 
trillion.
  So, if you are a Republican who wants to adequately fund our schools, 
our hospitals, and our medical centers, vote with the Democrats on the 
next motion. If you are a Republican who wants to adequately fund 
testing and tracing and devote the resources our country needs to 
prevent a second wave of the virus, you should vote with the Democrats 
on the next motion. If you are a Republican who wants to assist all 
small businesses, including our hardest hit industries and underserved 
communities, newspapers, restaurants, minority-owned businesses, and 
independent music venues and theaters, you can vote with us on the next 
motion. If you are a Republican who wants to employ a lifeline to the 
unemployed, to feed the hungry, to assist renters and homeowners, and 
to stave off drastic cuts to State and local services, you should vote 
with us--with the Democrats--on the next motion.
  The country is crying out for real, substantial, comprehensive 
relief. The Heroes Act provides it. It includes all of the urgent and 
necessary measures that the Republicans have left out of their 
proposals. If my Republican colleagues are serious--really serious--
about providing relief to the American people, then, vote to allow the 
Senate to consider the Heroes Act.


                        Vote on Motion to Table

  Mr. President, I move to table the McConnell motion to proceed to 
Calendar No. 554, S. 4675, and I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Kentucky (Mr. Paul).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Ms. Harris) 
and the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 45, nays 52, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 204 Leg.]

                                YEAS--45

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Jones
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--52

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Loeffler
     McConnell
     McSally
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Harris
     Paul
     Sinema
  The motion was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

                          ____________________