September 8, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 154 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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Coronavirus (Executive Session); Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 154
(Senate - September 08, 2020)
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[Pages S5434-S5435] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] Coronavirus Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, in the 3 weeks since the Senate last met, America eclipsed 6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. Nearly 190,000 Americans have died, and those totals climb by tragic amounts each day. Too many businesses remain closed, schools begin the year under a dark cloud of uncertainty, and our economy faces the greatest crisis since the Great Depression. The United States is 11.5 million jobs short of where we were at the start of February, and the number of jobs that have been permanently lost is rising at an alarming rate. All of this reflects a tragic reality: President Trump has led the worst response to COVID-19 of any nation on Earth. It is what it is. The economic pain of the pandemic was mitigated by our action in March when Democrats insisted on a robust stimulus bill that became the CARES Act. One of our policies included in that bill, enhanced unemployment benefits, has kept nearly 12 million Americans from poverty. Those benefits have [[Page S5435]] now mostly expired, and the stimulus provided by the CARES Act has been exhausted. The pandemic and economic hardship for millions of American workers and families, however, is ongoing and painful. Speaker Pelosi and I have been trying to negotiate with the White House in another round of relief. It has been arduous. Democrats offered to meet our Republican colleagues in the middle, but the White House has refused to make any significant compromise. Here in the Senate, the Republican majority leader has kept the Senate on ``pause'' while the Nation suffered. When they tried to draft a relief package in July, Senate Republicans flailed for 2 weeks before announcing a series of separate, incoherent proposals that lacked the support of--surprise--Senate Republicans. It was so unpopular within the Republican conference that Leader McConnell never even brought it up for a vote. Now, after more than 4 months of long inaction--after sitting on the sidelines while we tried to negotiate with a recalcitrant White House-- Senate Republicans are finally realizing the damage their pause--the McConnell pause--has done to the American economy and our Nation's health. As they scramble to make up for this historic mistake, Senate Republicans appear dead set on another bill that doesn't come close to addressing the problems in our country. The Republicans are going to cut their original, inadequate $1 trillion ``skinny'' bill in half--maybe more--and put it up for a vote this week. Of course, it had no input--zero input--from the Democrats-- completely partisan. In this Chamber, you need bipartisanship to get anything done. The Republicans call this a ``skinny''--or ``targeted''--proposal, but it would be more appropriate to call it ``emaciated.'' Shockingly, as the pain from this pandemic gets bigger and bigger, the Republicans think smaller and smaller. They are moving backward. Their proposal is completely inadequate and, by every measure, fails to meet the needs of the American people--with no money for rental assistance, nutrition assistance, the census, safe elections, and so many other things. The bill, amazingly, will do almost nothing to help State and local governments that have already been forced to cut a million jobs since the pandemic began. This bill actually goes backward from the last Republican proposal. It does not even allow States to use existing relief funds to cover lost revenues. Even worse, this latest and sorriest Republican proposal is laden with poison pills that our colleagues know the Democrats would never support. The bill doesn't provide enough funding to help our schools reopen safely--not close to what school superintendents say they need-- but it includes funding for a partisan school choice program that has been long pushed by hard-right conservatives and Secretary DeVos. It provides immunity to corporations that put their workers in harm's way, which, sadly, seems to be the only thing that the Republicans can consistently agree on. It even includes a provision that could fast- track coal mining operations because, God forbid, our Republican friends miss an opportunity to reward corporate polluters in their coronavirus relief bill. The Republicans call their bill ``targeted.'' Maybe they mean it is targeted to corporate donors. The presence of these poison pills should remove every shred of doubt that the true intent of this bill is anything but political. If Leader McConnell and the Republican majority were trying to achieve a result, they wouldn't draft such a lame, partisan bill, loaded with poison pills, and rush it to the floor. May we have order, please? The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). Yes, sir. Mr. Leader, be careful not to impugn the motives of another. The leader suggested corporate donors. I issue that warning. Mr. SCHUMER. The truth is, if you wanted to draft a bill that was certain to fail, this is it. This is one of the most cynical moves I have ever seen. We all know what is going on here. Leader McConnell had to create the most paltry, partisan, cynical bill because he has 20 Members of his caucus who don't want to support anything. By his own admission, they want zero dollars, so Leader McConnell keeps whittling down the Republican proposal until he can find something--anything-- that he can claim his party supports. He had to throw in the right wing's favorite goodies to sweeten the pot to even approach the number of votes in his caucus to make it look like a Republican bill that had broad support. Leader McConnell knows this bill won't pass, and he knows that most of his Members don't want it to pass. Amazingly, he seems happy with that situation. This is one of the most cynical moves I have ever seen in the middle of a pandemic--when Americans are crying out for relief. This political exercise on the Republican side bears no relationship to the needs of our country. It has nothing to do with our States, our workers, our families, with opening up schools safely, or with what healthcare workers really need. It has everything to do with finding the bare minimum that Senate Republicans can support. While facing the greatest economic crisis in 75 years and the greatest health crisis in a century, Leader McConnell isn't searching for bipartisan progress; he is looking for political cover. As we begin the final work period before the November elections, the Democrats will keep pushing for a bipartisan, bicameral agreement that actually meets the urgent needs of the American people. For the good of the country, I hope--I pray--my Republican colleagues will join us in that effort.
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