[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 130 (Thursday, July 23, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S4434]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CORONAVIRUS
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, faced with the greatest economic
challenge in 75 years and the greatest public health threat in a
century, we Senate Democrats have been waiting for months for our
Republican colleagues in the Senate to get serious about another round
of emergency relief for the American people.
Now that Senate Republicans have finally woken up to the calamity in
our country, they have given up wishing it would go away, following the
President's wishing everything would go away, to the detriment of this
country. Our Republican colleagues have been so divided, so
disorganized, and so unprepared that they have to struggle to draft
even a partisan proposal within their own conference. This is before
they talk to a single Democrat. This is before they even consider what
the House has done.
It does seem that sometime soon, Republicans may finally unveil a
legislative proposal, but because they are so disorganized and divided,
they can't agree on a series of smaller bills that don't even amount to
one coherent proposal. Even after all this time, it appears the
Republican legislative response to COVID is ununified, unserious,
unsatisfactory. Let me repeat that. Despite hitting the ``pause''
button on the Senate for 3 months, despite waiting more than 60 days
after the House Democrats passed their plan to start work on their own,
the Senate Republican response to COVID is ununified, unsatisfactory,
and, fundamentally, unserious.
From what we know, their proposal or series of proposals will not
include food assistance for hungry kids. Families where the parent has
lost a job through no fault of her or his own can't feed their kids in
this proposal, as we hear about it.
From what we know, it will not include rental assistance or extend
the moratorium on evictions that is keeping tens of millions of
Americans with a roof over their heads. Millions of Americans have lost
their jobs through no fault of their own. They can't pay the rent or
the mortgage, and our Republican friends say: Evict them.
It will not provide hazard pay to our essential workers, who have
been risking their lives and their families' lives ever since this
crisis began. It will not make the necessary investments in communities
of color that have been ravaged by this virus disproportionately so. It
will not provide the new funding that State and local governments need
to keep the busdrivers and sanitation workers, teachers, and so many
others on the job. From what we know, it will not even include funding
to ensure that our elections are safe this fall during this COVID
crisis.
Remarkably, the likely centerpiece of the Republican legislative
response to COVID is not an aid package for the 20 to 30 million
unemployed Americans or a massive influx of resources to test and trace
and finally stop the spread of this evil disease. The centerpiece of
the Republican proposal is a liability shield to protect big
corporations from lawsuits if they put their workers at risk--
seriously. As COVID continues to surge throughout our country and
unemployment numbers rose again for the first time in weeks, Leader
McConnell has made corporate immunity the centerpiece of this
Republican response. Once again, the Republican Senate is far more
comfortable providing relief to big corporations than relief to
American workers and American families.
How about instead of shielding corporations from liability, we shield
renters from eviction? How about instead of shielding corporations from
liability, we shield the unemployed from poverty?
Even in those areas where the Senate Republicans seem to be moving a
bit in our direction, it looks like they are coming up way short.
Republicans aren't talking about providing enough resources for our
schools to reopen safely. According to reports, the White House and
Senate Republicans want to extend the enhanced unemployment benefits
the Democrats secured in the CARES Act but only provide a percentage of
a worker's former wage.
That is right, America. If you have lost your job through no fault of
your own and can't go back to work because this administration has
mismanaged the crisis, Republicans want you to take a 30-percent pay
cut in the middle of this crisis.
Worse still, because Republicans dithered and delayed for so long,
there will be an interruption in unemployment benefits. Eviction
protections will expire no matter what we do because they waited until
the last minute and, even at this last minute, can't seem to get their
act together.
Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans dismissed the House-passed
Heroes Act because it included a few items that Republicans didn't
think were absolutely necessary.
Senate Republicans can't even get their act together to provide the
basics--food for kids, keeping Americans in their homes, preventing the
unemployed from going into poverty, and giving the economy the needed
help so we can overcome this recession.
You can't say you support essential workers and then refuse to give
them hazard pay. You can't say you want to fix racial issues and then
throw millions of Americans of color out of housing and off
unemployment benefits during a pandemic. You can't say you want to
honor John Lewis and then refuse to provide funding for safe elections.
Congress needs to act quickly, but the developing Republican
proposals are not going to get the job done. We need to immediately
enter bipartisan, bicameral negotiations to develop a proposal that
actually meets the moment and matches the scale of the crisis.
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. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hyde-Smith). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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