[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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