[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 93 (Monday, May 18, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2471-S2473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               HEROES Act

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to discuss the 
House Democrats' $3 trillion spending spree.
  The American people are at a point where they need a life preserver. 
Instead, Speaker Pelosi has just thrown them an anvil.
  It is absurd. Her COVID-19 proposal is pricey, partisan, and it is a 
pipe dream. It is a bloated bonanza of all of

[[Page S2472]]

her leftwing socialist projects. It weighs in at over 1,800 pages, but 
there is one glaring omission: House Democrats forgot to help fight the 
coronavirus.
  This bill is Nancy Pelosi's socialist Democratic dream, but it is a 
nightmare for the American people. Nancy Pelosi needs a very serious 
reality check. The far-left fantasy will never become law. It cannot 
pass the Senate.
  The country is trying to recover from the coronavirus. People are 
stressed. They are struggling. They are sacrificing. They are 
suffering. They need help to survive the crisis.
  People have been living through 2 months of lockdowns to slow the 
spread of the disease. While the infection rate has finally started to 
flatten, tragically, tens of thousands of Americans have already died. 
More than 36 million people have lost their jobs.
  People back home in my State of Wyoming and people who, I am sure, 
are back home in the Presiding Officer's home State of Missouri--people 
all across the country know what we need to do. We need to get back to 
business safely. We need this disease behind us. We need our 
communities back, and we need it as soon as possible.
  Yet, as States reopen, incredibly, the Democrats are exploiting and 
prolonging the Nation's pain. Why? It seems to me they are trying to do 
it for political gain.
  Joe Biden has called this deadly disease ``an incredible opportunity 
. . . to fundamentally transform the country.'' Nancy Pelosi agrees. 
The global outbreak, she said, is a ``wonderful opportunity'' according 
to the Speaker of the House. She cannot let a crisis go to waste. I 
have seen the video of Hillary Clinton saying that you do not want a 
crisis to go to waste. So what is Nancy Pelosi doing? She is wasting 
the public's time on a proposal that does not have a single chance in 
the world of becoming law.
  This bill really is a political payoff to Nancy Pelosi's constituency 
and her allies. Look at the wish list. Topping the House Democrats' $3 
trillion liberal wish list is the great blue State bailout. It has $1 
trillion to bail out very badly mismanaged Democrat-run States and 
local governments, sanctuary cities, one after another. The bill 
rescues underwater blue State pension plans. It includes a tax cut to 
the wealthiest 1 percent who live in those specific States--Illinois, 
New York, and California. It is a windfall for wealthy taxpayers in 
Democrat-run States.
  That is not all. The bill provides direct payments to illegal 
immigrants. Apparently they forgot about that in the last bill, so they 
put it in this one--direct payments to illegal immigrants. 
Astonishingly, there is not an additional dime for paycheck protection 
funds, not for the small businesses that we need to keep on the 
payroll, even though the paycheck protection plan has saved 50 million 
jobs already in America.
  The bill does want to seek to release prisoners from ICE detention 
centers, so Nancy Pelosi is focusing on that. But there is no liability 
protection for the small businesses that we need to get to reopen the 
country. That is not included in her bill.
  These mom-and-pop businesses in my State of Wyoming are facing an 
avalanche of abusive lawsuits as they try to reopen. The Wyoming 
legislature actually addressed it in a special session on Friday. We 
need to address it as a nation.
  The proposal that Pelosi has put out abolishes State voter ID 
requirements and overrides State voting laws. It is all a part of her 
master plan for Federal control of State election laws. As a former 
attorney general, the Presiding Officer understands clearly the 
importance of States having the preeminent role in the election 
process, not the Federal Government.
  The Pelosi bill bales out the U.S. Postal Service, and it funds 
something that she calls environmental justice and does it to the tune 
of $50 million. How does that help in the fight of coronavirus?

  The proposal takes good care of the marijuana industry--absolutely--
even though selling pot is still a felony in most States. I don't know 
how that helps in the fight against the coronavirus.
  No matter. The Pelosi plan gives the cannabis business special access 
to cut-rate finance. In fact, her bill reads more like a marijuana 
measure than a pandemic package. That is because it includes the word 
``cannabis'' 68 times--more often than she mentions jobs, hiring--the 
important thing about getting our country open and getting our 
communities back.
  This Democratic socialist Christmas list just goes on and on--and the 
astronomical price: $3 trillion.
  If enacted, this Pelosi package would be the largest waste of 
taxpayer dollars in U.S. history. It is the largest bill, financially, 
ever passed in Congress. Fortunately, it will never become law.
  Now, Nancy Pelosi must not realize that families all across America 
are having a hard time paying their bills, feeding their kids, paying 
the rent. She must not recognize that; otherwise, why would she put all 
of this money in all of these things--these priorities: payouts to 
sanctuary cities--how does that help us fight the coronavirus?--
favorable financing to the marijuana industry, tens of millions of 
dollars for environmental justice.
  Keep in mind, much of the money from the bipartisan CARES relief 
package that Congress already passed, money that has been appropriated, 
has not yet been spent. In March, Congress approved nearly $3 trillion 
in combined coronavirus aid.
  Lots of it has gone to States. My home State of Wyoming just had a 
special session of the legislature this past Friday-Saturday to see how 
we are going to go ahead spending the billions--$1.25 billion--that 
have come to so many States. And Wyoming--while there are a number of 
other States smaller in size--got the lowest amount of money. They 
haven't spent it. They are having a special session to decide how to 
spend it. Some States may need more flexibility in spending it. But 
Nancy Pelosi is trying to send out another trillion dollars to States 
and to cities.
  As a Republican, I would say, from the start, our focus has been on 
helping people through the health and economic crisis that is upon us. 
We want to help the American people weather the storm.
  Now, when House Democrats say that Nancy Pelosi lays down a marker--
as she says--for future bipartisan talks, in reality, Democrats are 
only weakening their position by betting big against the American 
economic recovery. That is what they are doing in the bill that they 
put together because the Pelosi bill includes specific what I believe 
are job-killing proposals--not things to help more Americans work but 
things making it harder for Americans to get back to work.
  This bill would slow the recovery by keeping millions of Americans on 
the government payroll all the way into 2021. The Presiding Officer has 
been a leader in this fight about perverse incentives that we see in 
some of the legislation that has already passed.
  This bill, this fantasy island that Nancy Pelosi is on, extends 
increased unemployment benefits so people could make more money by not 
working than by going back to work. Now, that means as much as half of 
the workforce could earn more by not working than by returning to work 
all the way into 2021.
  So the Democratic socialists want the businesses that are trying to 
reopen and to rehire workers to compete with unemployment benefits 
until 2021, until April of next year. The Democrats are proposing that 
these American businesses--instead of hiring 36 million Americans who 
are out of work, they want to make it easier for them to hire illegal 
immigrants than the Americans who are currently out of work. That is 
what she has set up in her scheme.
  The bill also raises taxes on struggling small businesses. It 
mandates paid family leave through the end of 2021 and removes a small 
business tax exemption.
  It is as if Democrats don't want the economy to reopen and don't want 
people to return to work. That is what I see when I read through the 
1,800 pages.
  Before the pandemic hit, we had record job growth, record low 
unemployment, and record-high consumer confidence. Now, unemployment is 
approaching the level of the Great Depression.
  The best way to help the 36 million people who are out of work is to 
reopen our communities and reopen our country. It is telling that House 
Democrats'

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$3 trillion bill includes no measures to help Americans get back to 
work, no added support for hard-hit small businesses, and no 
protections for American jobs.
  Congress will be considering providing more virus aid in coming 
months and weeks. Any recovery legislation will have to be targeted, 
temporary, and tailored to address the coronavirus emergency.
  COVID-19 legislation must include reasonable, responsible liability 
protections for healthcare providers and for employers, for the small 
businesses in our States, and it needs to promote economic jobs and 
growth.
  Now, Senate Republicans are focused on reopening America. The 
American taxpayer can't be asked to pay for items on Speaker Pelosi's 
$3 trillion socialist Christmas list. The American people need us to 
throw them a life preserver, not the anvil that Nancy Pelosi has thrown 
their way.
  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. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Ernst). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.