[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 4, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1450-S1452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

   ADVANCED GEOTHERMAL INNOVATION LEADERSHIP ACT OF 2019--MOTION TO 
                            PROCEED--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 2657, which the 
clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to S. 2657, a bill to support innovation 
     in advanced geothermal research and development, and for 
     other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, today we vote to begin the 
consideration of S. 2657, which will serve as the vehicle for the 
American Energy Innovation Act. This is truly bipartisan energy policy. 
This innovative package will be the first comprehensive policy update 
in 13 years. It brings together the strong bipartisan work of the 
Energy Committee over the last year.
  I would like to thank my friend and chairman of the committee, Lisa 
Murkowski, Republican from Alaska, for her leadership and partnership 
with me over the last 14 months to process these bills and form the 
basis of the energy package we will be turning to today.
  Thanks to the members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee 
for their contributions to the development of this legislation.
  The American Energy Innovation Act draws from 53 bills from Members 
from both sides of the aisle, and 39 of those were truly a bipartisan 
effort. And 63 Members of the Senate have either sponsored or 
cosponsored a piece of this package.
  It truly is a bipartisan product and one that I believe will benefit 
this country greatly. So far, we have had over 150 amendments filed, 
several of which are bipartisan, and there is no controversial issue 
that I know of. I am hoping that we can work together to incorporate 
some of those amendments from both sides of the aisle.
  As it stands, the American Energy Innovation Act will advance the 
abilities of Department of Energy and the National Laboratories to 
deliver the much needed technology that American workers can then 
produce and export across the global marketplace. Not only will it 
further our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy, 
transportation, industry, and buildings, but it will also enhance our 
cyber and grid security and maintain our competitive edge and role as a 
global leader.
  We talk a lot--all of us do--about global climate, and when you think 
about global climate, then you think about our responsibility and what 
we emit into the air. For some reason, most people have been led to 
believe that power generation--whether it be coal-fired powerplants, 
natural gas-fired powerplants, or anything that has to do with fossil--
is contributing all of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United 
States. That is just not true.
  Let me give you the breakdown. Power generation contributes 27.5 
percent of the greenhouse gas emissions.

[[Page S1451]]

Power generation is how you get your electricity--if it comes from a 
coal-fired powerplant, gas, or any other type of fossil.
  Transportation is how we come and go back and forth to work and how 
we receive our goods. Whether it is going to be by car, by train, by 
plane, or by trucks, 29 percent of the responsibility for greenhouse 
gases goes to transportation.
  The industry is where people work, where they make their living, 
provide for their family, whether it be in a small factory, a large 
factory, a small business, or a high-tech business. Industry 
contributes 22 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
  Commercial and residential, which is the building we are in today, 
which is the beautiful Capitol, and where we live--just the commercial 
and residential--are 11.5 percent responsible for greenhouse gases.
  So you have to have an ``all in'' policy. One thing doesn't fit, and 
we don't have a silver bullet to fix everything. What we have done is 
this. You take all of those--power generation, transportation, 
industry, commercial and residential--and that represents 90 percent of 
all the greenhouse gas emissions. We are approaching--and, basically, 
this piece of legislation approaches--every one of those to reduce the 
greenhouse gas emissions.
  If we all work together and pass this truly bipartisan, far-reaching, 
all-inclusive bill, it will make a world of difference in how we lead 
the rest of the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That is 
what we are trying to do.
  We do it through innovation. We don't do it through elimination. 
Elimination is not practical, responsible, or reasonable. The rest of 
the world will not follow, and, basically, we have to have baseload 
fuel. It has to be dependable, reliable, and affordable, but it has to 
be the cleanest in the world. That is what this bill does.
  There is the other 9 percent. You say: Well, that is 90 percent; 
where is the other 10 percent? That is in agriculture. That is not in 
our jurisdiction, but they are working very hard in the Agriculture 
Committee to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and their footprint. 
Everybody is doing their job.
  I believe this package is well balanced, and many of my colleagues' 
priorities on both sides of the aisle have been met. This bill 
represents a critical step in the right direction. I encourage--I 
truly, sincerely encourage--all of my fellow Members, Democrats and 
Republicans, to vote yes today on the motion to proceed. Your children 
will thank us, and your grandchildren and generations after them will 
definitely thank all of us for doing our job today.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.


                              Coronavirus

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, as the number of confirmed cases of 
coronavirus in the United States continues to grow, Congress is taking 
swift action this week to provide our health experts, hospitals, 
healthcare providers, and State and local governments the funding they 
need. A bipartisan negotiation between appropriators in the House and 
Senate is very close to producing an emergency funding bill that will 
provide between $7 and $8 billion to respond to the coronavirus.
  This is very close to the amount that I thought was appropriate when 
I requested it last week--$8.5 billion--and it is more than four or 
five times what the administration originally requested. I believe that 
if we had not pushed them, they would have been totally inadequate to 
the crisis, as they have been in preparation and planning.
  The administration requested $2.5 billion, which was half, and only 
half of that was new funding. The rest came from pulling it out of 
other things, like Ebola, which is very much needed as well. The bill 
we put together here in Congress is far more appropriate and will 
actually address our country's short-term and medium-term needs. This 
is very, very good news.
  I would like to compliment Democrats and Republicans, in the House 
and the Senate, for making efforts to come together and for being the 
adults in the room, while President Trump childishly exaggerates, 
underplays, points fingers of blame, latches on to conspiracy theories, 
and, most of all, doesn't lead. This is an example of where America 
needs leadership, and President Trump's lack of leadership is glaringly 
apparent to Americans.
  Crucial legislation provides funding for very specific and timely 
needs. There will be $350 million for ``hot spots''--areas affected by 
the outbreak. There will be $500 million to procure pharmaceuticals, 
masks, protective equipment, and other medical supplies to distribute 
to States, local governments, and hospitals. There will be $100 million 
for community health centers and funding for training and beds. We are 
replenishing the CDC's Infectious Disease Rapid Response Reserve Fund 
so that it can respond quickly to local areas that experience an 
outbreak.
  In total, there is over $950 million in funding for State and local 
governments to undertake the many activities they need to respond to 
the spread of the virus, surveillance for the coronavirus, laboratory 
testing, contact tracing to identify anyone who may have been infected 
by a person known to have the virus, infection control at the local 
level, and more.
  This is only one piece of the bill. The rest of the bill will give 
desperately needed funds to CDC, HHS, USAID, FDA, and others to do 
vaccine research and development and much more. The funding level in 
this bill and the specific use very much reflects the needs of the 
country as healthcare professionals across America work to confront the 
spread of the virus.
  I want to thank our appropriators on the frontlines: Ranking Member 
Leahy and Chairman Shelby in the Senate and Chair Lowey and Ranking 
Member Granger in the House. While the Trump administration's response 
has been slow and halting, Congress has taken action. While President 
Trump is playing fast and loose with facts and blaming everyone not 
named Donald Trump, Congress is taking responsibility in acting like 
the adult in the room.
  Democrats would like to see this emergency funding package passed 
through the Senate by the end of the week, and we will work with the 
majority to make sure that that happens. I urge all of my colleagues, 
in the interest of time, understanding the urgency of the matter, to 
help us achieve this goal.
  Now, yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence and his team from CDC, FDA, 
and HHS met with the Democratic caucus to answer questions about the 
administration's response to the coronavirus. We appreciated their 
willingness to come to our caucus. They stayed. Unlike at some of the 
previous briefings, they stayed and addressed a lot of our questions. 
The only problem is they didn't have as many answers as we needed--
answers the American people would have expected at this stage of the 
epidemic.
  One of our top priorities at the moment is testing. We need to know 
who is infected in order to contain the spread of the virus and treat 
any American infected by the disease. We asked the administration about 
the availability of testing kits, but they could not answer how soon 
hospitals, medical labs, and public health centers would receive the 
tests and if they would have enough of them to do the amount of testing 
required fast enough. The best way to deal with testing is to let 
people do it onsite. Let them go to their local doctor, their local 
CHC, and get the test and get an answer quickly. Unfortunately, the 
Vice President and his team had no answers to that. It is a real 
problem. Our questions at the meeting yesterday should give the 
administration an urgency to figure this out as soon as possible.

  I would also plead with President Trump to begin showing some 
leadership on the coronavirus. So far, the President's main concern has 
been to tamp down concern about the virus. He gives broad assurances 
that ``everything is under control.''
  When you show up at your doctor's office because you think you might 
have the coronavirus and there is no test, he doesn't know what to do. 
He just says: Go home and don't go to work.

[[Page S1452]]

  That is not ``everything under control,'' Mr. President.
  If any member of his administration tells the President something 
optimistic, he repeats it and usually exaggerates it. The disease will 
magically disappear when the weather gets warm; a vaccine will be ready 
soon--all misstatements from President Trump.
  In a televised meeting with government health experts and 
pharmaceutical experts, the President repeatedly failed to comprehend 
that a vaccine would take over a year to develop and test. This is the 
President of the United States during a crisis. He doesn't even 
understand the basic rudiments of what is going on. He suggested 
blithely that we could just use the influenza vaccine for the 
coronavirus, and he was quickly corrected by Dr. Fauci, one of our 
health experts. Twenty-four hours later, the President was claiming 
that pharma executives would speed up the production of a vaccine as a 
``favor'' to him.
  President Trump, people are sick. People are dying. This virus is 
wreaking havoc on the economy, and you look at it as a favor to you? It 
is not about you, Mr. President; it is about America and the crisis and 
what our Federal Government is doing to help.
  The President saying it was a favor to him, stating such blatant 
mistruths, was a shocking demonstration of just how little the 
President listens, how little the President learns, and how little 
leadership he shows at a time when we desperately need leadership.
  During a public health crisis of this magnitude, we need steady and 
confident leadership from President Trump. So far, it has been totaling 
lacking--unfortunately for America.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, all postcloture time 
is expired.
  The question occurs on agreeing to the motion to proceed.
  Mr. SCHUMER. 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 Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) and the Senator from Texas (Mr. 
Cornyn).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Jones), the 
Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. 
Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 90, nays 4, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 64 Leg.]

                                YEAS--90

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Braun
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Harris
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Loeffler
     Manchin
     Markey
     McConnell
     McSally
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schumer
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--4

     Lee
     Paul
     Schatz
     Scott (FL)

                             NOT VOTING--6

     Blackburn
     Cornyn
     Jones
     Klobuchar
     Sanders
     Warren
  The motion was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill.

                          ____________________