[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 50 (Monday, March 16, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1748-S1753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

       USA FREEDOM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2020--MOTION TO PROCEED

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 6172, which 
the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 440, H.R. 6172, a bill to 
     amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to 
     prohibit the production of certain business records, and for 
     other purposes.

  Mr. McCONNELL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                              Coronavirus

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first let me thank the staff who are here 
today under these difficult circumstances--here at the desk, the 
Sergeant at Arms, the doorkeepers, the police officers, and the many 
others who are here today. We thank them, as always. They are the 
unsung heroes of the Senate.
  Now, as the Senate returns this week in a time of extraordinary 
challenge for our country, COVID-19, known as the coronavirus, 
continues to spread rapidly. In less than a week, the number of 
confirmed cases in the United States has grown from around 1,000 to 
well over 4,000. The actual number of cases is probably higher.
  Here in the Capitol, public tours are suspended, and much of our 
staff is working from home. In a further effort to limit interactions, 
Senate Democrats will not be holding our regular caucus lunch, which 
will instead be conducted by conference call.
  In my home State of New York alone, there are nearly 1,000 confirmed 
cases. The State is doing everything in its power to treat those 
afflicted, to prepare for future cases, and to limit the spread of the 
virus. Residents in the tristate area--New York, New Jersey, and 
Connecticut--are now under new restrictions on gatherings at bars, 
restaurants, and other public places.
  I urge everyone to stay safe and to listen to the advice of public 
health experts. Practice good hygiene, follow the recommendations 
issued by State and Federal governments about public gatherings, and 
please--please--stay home if you feel sick.
  As these important safeguards go into effect, there will be economic 
consequences. Businesses will face shortfalls. Employees will not be 
able to work. Families will bear the responsibility of childcare as 
school closures mount. For millions of families who live paycheck to 
paycheck, for parents who have to choose between keeping their jobs or 
taking care of their kids, and for so many others--the small business 
owner who has no liquidity even though it was a healthy business a few 
weeks ago--these are all very, very difficult times. The Congress and 
the Federal Government as a whole must take steps immediately to 
provide relief to those American workers, families, and businesses.
  Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed legislation to 
provide for free coronavirus testing, extensions of paid sick leave, 
food assistance for schoolkids and the elderly, and assistance to 
States overburdened by Medicaid costs and expanded unemployment 
insurance. The Senate should take up this bill and pass it immediately 
by consent--today. We cannot wait.
  It was my preference to keep the Senate in session over the weekend 
so that we could have passed this bill already, but Leader McConnell--
regrettably and almost inexplicably--decided to send everyone home and 
then call them back today. Many Members on my side of the aisle were 
extremely upset by Leader McConnell's decision. There should be no 
further delay in passage of this legislation because, surely, we must 
move on to other necessary measures to address the coronavirus and its 
widening impact on the medical, economic, and social fabric of this 
country.

[[Page S1749]]

  Testing capacity and public health infrastructure like hospital beds, 
masks, ventilators, and more remain a very urgent priority. Economic 
assistance for working families and small businesses must continue to 
be a focus of our efforts, as well as broader macroeconomic policies. 
Families will be without salaries, small businesses without liquidity, 
and they will need help immediately.
  As early as tomorrow, I will present a series of proposals to 
congressional appropriators that Senate Democrats believe should be 
part of the next bill to address the coronavirus. In consultation with 
the ranking members of the committees of jurisdiction, we are proposing 
an immediate and initial infusion of at least $750 billion to wage war 
against COVID-19 and the economic crisis it is now causing. The 
proposal will get money directly into the hands of the American people 
and, among other priorities, include Federal funding to address 
hospital and treatment capacity issues; expand unemployment insurance 
and increase Medicaid funding; ensure that everyone can afford 
treatment for coronavirus; provide immediate loan payment forbearance 
for all Federal loans--student loans, mortgages, small business loans, 
and others--and moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures; deliver 
immediate help to small businesses; fund emergency childcare, 
especially for healthcare workers and first responders; help schools 
with remote learning; provide assistance to keep public transportation 
running; address public health and economic needs in Indian Country; 
and utilize the Defense Department to provide personnel, equipment, 
supplies, and critical response capabilities to support the nationwide 
response.
  There will be other proposals that will be needed, and we will talk 
about these as well, but, in sum, we need big, bold, immediate Federal 
action to deal with the crisis. The kinds of targeted measures we are 
putting together will mainline money into the economy and directly into 
the hands of families who need it most.
  Importantly, this proposal will ensure that our medical professionals 
have the resources--including physical space and equipment--they need 
to provide treatment and keep Americans safe. Our proposal does not 
include every possible measure, nor must it. There will be multiple 
legislative vehicles to respond to the coronavirus. But in the near 
term, our proposal takes a comprehensive approach to dealing with the 
issues that workers, families, and the health of America face today.
  I strongly urge my House and Senate colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle to review our proposal and incorporate our ideas into the next 
bill we will consider here in Congress. Now, the road ahead will be 
difficult. The disease will continue to spread and test our capacity--
as a Congress and as a country--to respond with the necessary urgency, 
foresight, and cooperation.
  Leaders in public office, from the President of the United States on 
down, must communicate clearly and honestly and set aside politics on 
behalf of the public good. Leaders in Congress must work together and 
with uncommon speed to respond to a set of national challenges unlike 
any we have faced in the recent past. Public health officials and 
researchers and doctors on the frontlines must continue to do the 
difficult and noble work they are now engaged in. We are all in their 
debt for their courage, their dedication, their duty.
  The American people must hunker down and follow the guidance of 
experts until the cloud of this disease has passed. And it will pass. 
But until skies clear, we must all pull in the same direction and do 
what is necessary to ensure the health, safety, and security of the 
American people--today and in the weeks and months to come.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, right now, across New York State, the 
country, and the world, we are facing a crisis not seen in a century. 
It risks the health of our families and the health of our fellow 
Americans as well as our economic present and future. We are at the 
edge of a precipice, and lives are on the line. It poses a deep 
challenge to our collective psyche. How do we defend against such an 
overwhelming danger? How do we overcome our fear?
  If you are a person who looks to history, you may turn to great 
leaders of the past. If you are a veteran or serving in our military 
today, you might look to your training. We are at war with this 
invisible threat. How do we create the right strategy, tactics, and 
assault plans?
  If you are a person of faith, you might turn to scripture. The book 
of Ephesians tells us how to fight against such fears: ``Put on the 
full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able 
to stand your ground.'' It calls us to take up our ``shield of faith,'' 
to wear our ``belt of truth,'' and to stand firmly with our feet 
``fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.''
  Regardless of where your inspiration comes from, in times like these, 
we are afraid, and we need to be brave. We need to be selfless, and we 
need to be courageous. We have to look inward to find our inner 
strength, our resilience. We have to use our God-given common sense, 
and we need to fight--fight far harder than we could ever imagine.
  Our enemy is clear--a novel coronavirus that is at our doorstep and 
taking lives. Our mission is to stop the spread, protect the 
vulnerable, and ultimately prevent future outbreaks. Every blocked 
transmission is a victory.
  Our frontline defenders are our doctors, our nurses, our first 
responders. Our National Guard is rightfully being called in to support 
these actions. To defeat this enemy, though, we need far more support. 
Mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, and all caregivers are going 
to be essential in limiting the spread of this virus. We need them 
added to the frontlines today--all of them.
  The House passed a bill last week that takes a first step in 
beginning to address these needs. It provides mandatory emergency sick 
days and up to 3 months of coronavirus-related paid leave for some 
workers. This puts us closer to helping those on the frontlines of this 
crisis so they no longer have to face the impossible choice of whether 
to stay home to care for themselves, for a child who is home from 
school, for a loved one who is sick, or to risk public health to put 
food on the table for their families.
  Unfortunately, the bill falls short. First, over half of the private 
sector workforce was left out of the paid sick and family leave 
provisions. Let me say that again. Of the over 100 million private 
sector workers in this country, over half will not be helped by this 
bill. Companies with more than 500 workers are not required to provide 
any paid sick leave, and the administration can give exemptions to 
companies with fewer than 50 employees. Taken together, this could 
amount to exemptions for about 75 percent of workers. Worse, it fails 
to take care of many of those who are most at risk--low-wage workers. 
These are the workers who are the least able to afford to take a day 
off, let alone weeks to self-quarantine.
  In order to fight this crisis, we must slow the spread of this virus 
and ultimately stop its transmission. We must provide paid sick days 
and paid family and medical leave to every American worker now. There 
can be no exceptions or carve-outs, especially not for the wealthiest 
companies in the world.
  For those who say this can't be done, they could not be more wrong. 
We should never send Armed Forces into battle without a plan, the right 
equipment, and the resources they need to win. If we don't equip all of 
our frontline defenders, including our parents and caregivers, we will 
fail to limit this spread.
  Second, it is clear that, in a matter of days, most public school 
children in America will be out of school. The stress this puts on 
working parents is truly hard to articulate with or without there being 
guaranteed paid leave. Many low-income children rely on school meals 
for the best meal of the day. A school lunch can often make the 
difference between being healthy and being malnourished. Therefore, we 
need

[[Page S1750]]

a surge in food stamps, food distribution, and emergency meal delivery 
programs.
  Third, we need a surge of testing. Without this critical information, 
we cannot reopen schools or businesses. To ensure universal free 
testing, we must authorize testing by all labs and hospitals and remove 
burdensome restrictions.
  From the start of this crisis, public health officials have uniformly 
highlighted the importance of there being widely available testing and 
have decried our lack of it. As we have more fully grasped the 
magnitude of this crisis, States have developed their own tests, and 
their labs and hospitals are ready to conduct them. However, the 
approval process is still lagging. We are testing below our capacity 
because the FDA and CDC have yet to approve testing methods.
  This is not the time to let redtape stand in our way. The 
administration must authorize States to utilize their own testing 
methods in their own facilities in order to try to keep up with the 
spread of this virus. Again, fighting a war without facts on the 
ground, without critical intelligence, cannot prevail. We need this 
information--yesterday.
  Fourth, I support Governor Cuomo's call to deploy the Army Corps of 
Engineers to build temporary medical facilities so that when hospitals 
are overwhelmed, we can move people into those temporary facilities. 
The Federal Government must work aggressively to help our States 
increase hospital capacity.
  Finally--and I can't emphasize this enough--every future policy that 
we debate here must put families and workers first--no half measures. 
These are the people on the frontlines of this crisis. They deserve our 
unwavering support. Just like we give the troops the resources they 
need, we have to have the same war footing today.
  The very next piece of legislation before this Chamber must extend 
full-paid sick and family leave to every American worker. It must deal 
with the strain caused by the shuttering of our public schools, and it 
must increase our testing capacity and build more capacity for urgently 
needed care. We must pass it without further delay. Anything less will 
be a failure of government in this time of need. Anything less is 
defeat before the battle has even begun. This is how we fight. Every 
person we protect is a victory. This is our shared duty.
  God bless America.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Ernst). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, I sat at this very desk 2 months ago 
during the impeachment trial, where I read news, oftentimes from East 
Asian sources, about a viral pneumonia from an unknown virus emerging 
from central China. From those earliest days, I began calling for 
drastic measures to prevent this virus from reaching our shores and to 
prepare for its potential arrival. I cannot claim any special 
expertise. I am not a doctor. I am not a scientist. I am not an 
epidemiologist. But I could tell from the very beginning that the 
Chinese Communist Party was lying about everything related to this 
virus, and that we had to be prepared for the worst.
  That is why in January I called for a travel ban from mainland China. 
That is why in February I began to call for crash approvals of 
laboratory-developed testing kits or the use of the kind of testing 
kits the World Health Organization approved or that South Korea has 
been using. That is why I urged a Manhattan Project level of investment 
in rapid testing and approval for therapeutic products and vaccines.
  That travel ban and some other measures taken has bought us some 
time, but our hour of great national testing has arrived. The moment of 
decision is upon us. The time has come for extraordinary measures.
  Look at what has happened to Italy just over the last 2 weeks. Two 
weeks ago, Italians were enjoying early spring weather, sipping coffee 
and wine in restaurants and bars--just 2 weeks ago. Today, elderly 
Italians are being denied care and instead administered last rites 
because their healthcare system is totally overloaded. It is time to 
take extraordinary measures to avoid that fate. What seems extreme 
today will seem obvious tomorrow.
  Here are a few of the measures whose time has come, regrettably. 
First, we need to stop all nonessential business activity in this 
country. You can call it a shutdown. You can call it quarantine. You 
can call it curfew. You can call it whatever you want, but no one 
should be going to work in this country unless they are involved in 
essential activities--groceries, pharmacies, delivering goods to those 
places, electricity, water, sanitation, public safety. Anything else 
poses too great a risk to public health.
  Second, it is time for nonessential government services to shut down, 
as well, at the Federal, State, and local levels. Anyone who is 
involved in trying to arrest the spread of this virus or to mitigate 
its economic impact or provide other essential services, like food aid 
to the needy or care for other kinds of patients in a VA hospital, must 
come to work, and we must be prepared to work extremely long hours. But 
anyone else in government at any level should be telecommuting, if they 
can, and staying home, in any case.
  Third, it is time for our military to prepare to provide advanced 
support of civilian authorities. This is a mission the military long 
plans for. They are rarely called upon to do so, but an urgent hour is 
approaching, especially at our hospitals and our nursing homes and 
other healthcare facilities, when our young men and women in uniform 
could be called upon to support our great doctors and our nurses to 
provide additional capacity to treat patients, not just with this 
coronavirus but with other urgent needs as well. That planning is in 
its infancy. It needs to accelerate immediately.
  Again, I know these are extraordinary measures, and they will impose 
hardship and pain and dislocation, but the faster we arrest the spread 
of this virus, the faster things can get back to normal and our economy 
will heal. We will protect ourselves, and we will protect our well-
being.
  In the meantime, this Congress will be called upon for some pretty 
drastic measures, as well, to ensure that all those persons affected by 
steps taken on this day and the steps I am calling for can make ends 
meet, can put food on the table, and keep a roof over their head and 
pay their bills.
  The House, over the weekend, passed a bill that has many important 
provisions that I support and I suspect will pass unanimously from this 
Chamber: free virus testing; provisions for school lunches for those 
whose schools have closed, like the children all across Arkansas; 
liability protection for the manufacturers of respirator masks, which 
need it so we can get millions of more masks out to doctors and nurses.
  But the House bill doesn't go far enough, and it doesn't go fast 
enough. The centerpiece of the House bill providing aid to affected 
workers is a new kind of tax credit for paid sick leave. Unfortunately, 
that is wrongheaded on both counts. First, a tax credit--even a 
refundable one, even one on which you can get an advance from the IRS--
will not do much good if a business has no revenue whatsoever. Imagine 
all those restaurants, all those bars, all those gyms that are going to 
come to a screeching halt today or tomorrow. They will have no cash to 
pay their dislocated workers. They will not be sending anything to the 
Treasury every 3 days in the form of payroll taxes, from which they can 
get an advance. They will have nothing. They will go bankrupt if we 
force them to advance sick leave with no revenue whatsoever.
  But, also, it doesn't go far enough on the sick leave front. That is 
a misguided category error. Yes, we should take care of those who are 
sick with this virus. But there are so many others, as well--those who 
are quarantined but are not sick, as some of those in the Senate have 
done; those whose businesses are shuttered but are perfectly healthy, 
if they work in a bar or restaurant or theater or gym; those who have 
children whose schools have closed and have no means to provide for 
childcare so they can get to work. They all have bills to pay as well. 
They all have mouths to feed. So the House approach simply doesn't go 
far enough or fast enough to create a complicated

[[Page S1751]]

new system that doesn't cover enough of America's workers and families.
  So I would suggest a better approach. We simply need to use existing 
systems to get cash in the hands of workers and their families as 
quickly as possible. One approach is instant tax refunds or rebates--
call them what you will--to anyone who filed taxes last year, 
especially those in the lower tax brackets, who are most likely to 
struggle to make ends meet if they are not bringing home a paycheck. 
That can be done almost instantly.
  A second approach is to use existing social welfare agency programs 
to get cash out the door and into the hands of displaced workers and 
their families. Take unemployment insurance, for instance. The whole 
point of unemployment insurance is to get checks quickly in the hands 
of those who need it.
  I consulted this weekend with our State officials. I consulted today 
with Federal officials. We don't have to redesign the unemployment 
system. We don't have to set new parameters and criteria in 50 
different information technology systems in our States. All we simply 
do is treat someone who is sick with this virus or quarantined because 
of potential exposure or who is furloughed from a job or who is caring 
for a child as if they were unemployed.
  The cash stipend may not be their full wage, but it will be enough, 
and it will be in their hands immediately so they can feed their kids 
and so they can pay their bills. That can be done right now--
immediately. We don't have to use employers and tax credits as a 
middleman or a conduit.
  Third, we have to think about all those businesses that are 
essentially going into a self-protective shutdown--all those 
restaurants and bars and gyms and theaters and I suspect many more in 
the days ahead. They are not making payroll. They are probably cutting 
supplies. They still have other debts to pay, though. We should help 
them get through this short period of testing, whether with loans or 
loan guarantees or grants--what have you.
  We have to remember, though, that when small businesses and medium-
sized businesses run out of cash, they go into chapter 7 bankruptcy. 
They liquidate. Those jobs don't come back. When giant businesses have 
a cash crunch, they go into chapter 11. Sure, the owners may change, 
but they come back into business.
  Those are just a few of the steps we have to take to mitigate the 
economic harm this virus is inflicting on our people and to ensure that 
no one, not a single person in this country, has any financial 
incentive to go to work when they are sick or when they even may be 
feeling sick or to go out to try to find another job because their 
workplace is shut down and they can't get any support from the 
government.
  Again, I know these are extraordinary measures, but these are also 
extraordinary times, and the faster we act, the more aggressively we 
act, the shorter these times will last. We will stop the spread of this 
virus; we will get our people back to work; our markets will come back; 
and we will be stronger on the back end of this crisis than we were 
coming into it.
  Nothing I have said here is a Republican idea or Democratic idea. I 
don't have partisan objections to what the House has proposed. I simply 
want to make sure that the action we take will work and will get relief 
to all of those displaced workers and their families in a timely 
fashion, when they need it, to put food on the table and keep a roof 
over their kids' heads and pay for medicine and make car payments. That 
is why the Senate is here today. That should be our focus in the days 
ahead, and that is something we can accomplish together this week.
  I yield the floor.
  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. LEAHY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, families across the country are facing an 
unprecedented challenge, and we must act, and act now, on solutions 
that put families and the American people first. The Families First 
Coronavirus Response Act takes a substantial step toward providing the 
relief and assurance communities need as we face this public health 
crisis.
  Families should not be forced to choose between a paycheck and their 
own health and safety, or the health and safety of their community. A 
restaurant worker in Vermont cannot afford to stay home from work for 
several days or several weeks and still afford to pay her rent or feed 
her family, but staying home is exactly what we are asking waitresses, 
store clerks, gas station attendants, hourly workers, and many other 
employees to do. To contain this virus, we must address this reality.
  Today, I am strongly urging Republicans and Democrats to drop their 
labels and support this emergency relief package, and pass it now. The 
American people need leadership, not political battles. The Families 
First Coronavirus Response Act creates two weeks of emergency paid sick 
leave so that people who work for small businesses are able to stay 
home from work if they are sick or must quarantine due to coronavirus. 
It creates up to 12 weeks of job protection under the Family and 
Medical Leave Act, and allows an employee to stay home for a longer 
period of time to recover from illness, or take care of a sick family 
member, or care for a child who must be at home because of school and 
daycare closures. These are commonsense solutions. Not only is it the 
right thing to do, it is a critical step if we want to contain and 
defeat this public health crisis. It means employees won't have to 
choose between going to work when they are sick and potentially 
spreading the virus and missing a paycheck. This bill also makes 
important changes to the unemployment insurance program to help those 
that lose their job during this crisis. I hope, as Congress considers 
further steps to help address this crisis, we further support the small 
businesses that are supporting these employees and are the backbone of 
our local economies.
  The Families First Coronavirus Response Act would inject $500 million 
into the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and 
Children (WIC) and contains legislative changes to free up funding to 
help children who would go without breakfast or lunch if their schools 
closed. It would provide $400 million for the Emergency Food Assistance 
Program to ensure that food banks have the resources they need to serve 
their communities and provide $250 million for senior nutrition 
programs. These are common sense proposals to help families where they 
are in their communities.
  Importantly, this bill will provide $1 billion to help cover the cost 
of testing for people who are uninsured. This virus does not 
discriminate between the rich or the poor, or between those who have 
insurance and those who do not. Our approach to address this crisis 
cannot discriminate either. Nothing can help our country make up the 
ground we have lost because of the failed policies and poor execution 
of this administration of testing for the coronavirus. Because of the 
delays in getting the tests to State and local governments where they 
are needed, we do not fully understand the scope or spread of this 
disease in our country. We cannot compound these mistakes by denying 
the coronavirus test to those who can least afford it. Cost cannot be a 
barrier to seeking medical treatment during a public health crisis.
  This bill is not perfect. As currently drafted, the paid sick leave 
benefits and Family Medical Leave Act polices extend only to companies 
with 500 employees or fewer. That leaves many workers in this country 
without these important protections. I understand this was the price of 
securing White House support for this bill. I would like the White 
House to explain why it thinks hourly workers at Target, Walmart, or 
McDonald's are less deserving of these protections. If we had the 
luxury of time, I would join other Senate Democrats in offering an 
amendment to close this gap, but we do not have that luxury. This bill 
was a product of compromise, and any change risks a threat of delay at 
a time when delay is our greatest enemy.
  To my friends across the aisle who also want changes in this bill, I 
urge you to stand down. We need to pass this bill today, without delay. 
We do not have time for a lengthy debate.

[[Page S1752]]

The American people are looking to us for leadership and swift action; 
let's provide it.
  This bill is the first step toward meeting American families where 
they are as they confront this crisis. In my more than 40 years in the 
United States Senate, few moments have demanded our bipartisan 
leadership more than this crisis. We must provide the protections in 
this bill--paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, nutrition 
assistance, and affordable testing for the American people--and we must 
do it now.
  I this time of uncertainty, concern, and fear, I want to remind my 
fellow Vermonters and all Americans: We are all in this together. We 
can be smart about how we conduct our lives, while being good 
neighbors. We can support our communities, our first responders, 
healthcare workers, store clerks, and shelf stockers, and all those 
providing essential services. I am confident that our country will 
emerge from this crisis stronger than we were before, as we always 
have. I strongly encourage Republicans and Democrats to support this 
bill.
  I see nobody else seeking recognition. I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Boozman). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                               H.R. 6172

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I entered the Senate in the wake of 
Watergate in 1975. The very first vote I cast was in favor of creating 
the Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to 
Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans--that is, the 
Church Committee. Through that Committee's work, the American public 
soon learned of years of abuses that had occurred at the hands of the 
executive branch's intelligence agencies. In response, the Senate 
passed sweeping reforms to rein in this overreach.
  Since then, more flaws and occasional abuses have been documented 
within our surveillance authorities, but the Senate rarely has had an 
opportunity to debate and improve them. We did so in 2015, when Senator 
Lee and I led the effort in the Senate to pass the USA FREEDOM Act. 
Senator Lee and I strongly believe the Senate should do the same now. 
We should strengthen the amicus program, ensure that all exculpatory 
information is provided to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, 
and make other basic changes to better protect the civil liberties of 
all Americans.
  I am thankful that Majority Leader McConnell today has agreed to what 
Senator Lee and I requested last week--that we pass a short extension 
of the expiring FISA authorities to give us an opportunity to both 
review and improve the House bill with a limited number of amendments. 
Critically, this will give us time to take up this issue after the 
Senate responds to the coronavirus.
  I am particularly thankful to Senator Lee, who has tirelessly worked 
to reform surveillance authorities since he came to the Senate. With 
today's agreement, we will have the next 2 months to build consensus 
around important reforms, and I hope all of you will join us in this 
effort. That is what the Senate did when confronted with abuses 
documented by the Church Committee, and that is what the Senate must do 
now.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to receive permission 
to complete my remarks before any vote is conducted.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I came to the floor several days ago in 
connection with the expiring national security provisions. We have 
three provisions of our national security system of laws that are set 
to expire and have been set to expire for a long time. In fact, they 
expired yesterday, the 15th of March.
  We have known that this was going to happen for a long time. When the 
USA FREEDOM Act was passed in 2015--a bill that I authored, along with 
my distinguished friend and colleague Senator Leahy from Vermont--we 
knew those three provisions known as lone wolf, 215, and roving wire 
taps would expire at the end of 2019.
  We got to the end of 2019, and we found ourselves up against a 
spending cliff, and the Senate decided, with the concurrence of the 
House of Representatives and the President, that we should postpone 
until March 15 the expiration of those three provisions that I just 
mentioned.
  I came to the floor on Thursday to raise concerns that we needed to 
be able to amend and reform these provisions of the Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, for a number of reasons. Among 
other reasons, I noted that the President of the United States found 
that his own rights as an American citizen were abused, as this law was 
manipulated, was abused in an unholy alliance of partisan political 
interests against him.
  For that reason, the President of the United States has, quite 
thankfully, made this point clear to the American people. Even though 
the abuses that we know of that occurred with respect to the President 
of the United States were not themselves one of these expiring 
provisions, we note the law itself as a whole is subject to abuse and 
that at moments like these, when these provisions are expiring, it is 
appropriate for us to take a broader look at the overall legal 
framework in which FISA operates and to bring about reforms.
  I came to the floor on Thursday, and I asked that we simply 
reauthorize these three expiring provisions for a period of a few 
weeks--that we reauthorize them cleanly and without any modification to 
give us a few weeks to deal with the immediate crisis surrounding the 
coronavirus. I asked that, at the end of that period, we proceed with 
the understanding that the Senate be allowed to vote on a small handful 
of amendments--proposed reforms--to FISA.
  This, unfortunately, drew an objection, resulting in the expiration 
of these three provisions over the weekend. This was unnecessary. As I 
pointed out at the time, I and my bipartisan group of colleagues, who 
have been concerned about these and other foreign intelligence 
surveillance provisions, didn't necessarily want it to expire. In fact, 
we believed that this was an unnecessary step. It was unnecessary to 
allow the law to go through the uncertainty of an expiration without 
having something to put in its place.
  We could have and would have and should have done it differently. 
Fortunately, we were able to reach a deal--a deal that is still 
unfolding but a deal that is about to be announced on the Senate floor, 
whereby we will be extending for a few weeks these three expiring 
provisions, and, at the end of that time, we will be able to vote on a 
small handful of provisions, amendments to the Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Act framework.
  This is necessary. We ought not wait until the President of the 
United States himself becomes a victim of this. When he has been a 
victim, we should assume that there are other victims--people whose 
rights have been invaded, violated as the law has been abused. We know 
that to be the case.
  For that reason, we have negotiated this agreement, whereby we will 
be able to receive votes on amendments to improve and reform the 
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
  I want to thank President Trump for bringing this issue to the 
attention of the American people and for reminding them of the 
importance of reforming this law. I want to thank the lead cosponsor of 
the legislation that I have filed in connection with this and of the 
amendments that we will be considering.
  Pat Leahy from Vermont and I have worked on FISA-related issues for 
basically the entirety of the 9 years I have spent in the U.S. Senate. 
I am grateful to him for working with me on this.
  I also want to point out that it shouldn't have to come to this. We

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shouldn't have to wait until the moment when we are on the eve of the 
expiration of some important legislation and where we have to wait for 
the President of the United States to weigh in and lean in and exercise 
as much leadership as he has to tell us that we ought to reconsider 
laws that we ourselves have enacted. From time to time, laws require 
revision, review, and reform. That always, necessarily, requires 
amendments, and we ought to be ready, able, and willing to vote on 
amendments as necessary.
  Finally, this has become all too symptomatic of a Senate in which 
amendment votes, while once the norm, have now become the exception. 
This is unacceptable. It is not a partisan issue. It is neither 
Republican nor Democratic. It is neither liberal nor conservative. It 
is simply an American issue. The American people, including each of our 
constituents from each of the 50 States that we represent, deserve and 
expect for us to be more than a rubberstamp.
  We can't justify our pattern of waiting for legislation to come over 
from the House of Representatives and then accepting the highly flawed 
proposition that the House must have gotten it right and we, therefore, 
must accept as a binary choice the entirety of what they have done, 
without considering or voting on amendments. This isn't acceptable. We 
can do better. I am encouraged that in this instance we have chosen to 
do better. I hope and expect and will continue to demand that we vote 
on more amendments and that this become the norm once again rather than 
the exception.
  Finally, I am grateful that Senate leadership--Republican and 
Democratic alike--has chosen to allow us to consider amendments here. 
We are doing the right thing, and I look forward to more of precisely 
this kind of activity, not just voting on amendments pivotal to FISA 
but also broader issues. This isn't just about FISA. This is about 
everything we do. The minute any of us ever hears an argument 
suggesting that we have to accept whatever a handful of Senators or a 
committee or the other House of Congress has proposed and we ought to 
accept it or deny it--lock, stock, and barrel--without amendments, that 
is almost always an injurious and a dangerous argument, one that runs 
contrary to the very purpose for which this body exists.
  I am grateful for this opportunity we will have to vote on these 
amendments.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
cloture motion with respect to the motion to proceed to H.R. 6172 be 
withdrawn.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The cloture motion was withdrawn.

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