[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 135 (Thursday, July 30, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4599-S4600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on Monday, Senate Republicans 
released a starting proposal for another major pandemic rescue package.
  This is what we want to do: Continue a Federal supplement to 
unemployment benefits that is otherwise about to expire; send thousands 
of dollars more in cash to American families; keep funding the Payroll 
Protection Program to prevent more layoffs; subsidize rehiring to get 
laid-off workers their jobs back and create new incentives for 
workplace safety; give K-12 schools, colleges, and universities funding 
to reopen safely--more money than the House Democrats have proposed; 
support healthcare providers in the latest hotspots and keep supporting 
the race for vaccines; provide commonsense legal protection so that 
schools, hospitals, and other employers can reopen without being buried 
in lawsuits.
  That is what we put forward--a trillion dollars for kids, jobs, and 
healthcare. It is a framework that is more generous in key areas than 
House Democrats' totally unserious proposal--a framework that could 
have kept the additional Federal payments to unemployed workers flowing 
instead of expiring this week.
  There is a fact of life here in the Senate. It takes 60 votes to 
legislate, so the American people cannot get any of the additional 
relief that Republicans want to give them unless Democrats at least 
come to the table. Either our Democratic colleagues come to the table 
or the American people will not get the help they need. That is why I 
said this week we have come down to one key question: Will the country 
get the Democrats who showed up back in March to pass the bipartisan 
CARES Act or will the country get the Democrats who showed up in June 
to block police reform and keep that issue alive through November?
  Unfortunately, 3 days in, it hasn't been a close call. The Speaker of 
the House and the Democratic leader refuse to let anyone else speak on 
their side. I understand the Democratic leader has actually forbidden--
forbidden his own Democratic ranking members from talking and 
negotiating with their Republican counterparts who are spearheading the 
different components. You see, bipartisan, Member-level discussions 
might actually generate some progress, and progress does not appear

[[Page S4600]]

to be something the leaders on the other side want.
  On Monday, the Speaker of the House claimed she could not wait to 
start negotiations, but then on Tuesday, she said her discussion with 
the administration ``isn't a negotiation.'' And then the Speaker said: 
``The appropriate thing for the Senate to do is pass a bill and then we 
can negotiate with them.'' Meanwhile, the Democratic leader is over 
here making sure that cannot happen. This is quite the partnership: the 
House Speaker moves the goalposts while the Democratic leader hides the 
football. They will not engage when the Trump administration tries to 
discuss our comprehensive plan. They will not engage when the 
Administration floats a narrower proposal. They, basically, will not 
engage, period.
  The Speaker and the Democratic leader are playing rope-a-dope with 
the health, welfare, and livelihoods of American families. With 
benefits expiring, with the Paycheck Protection Program winding down, 
and millions unemployed, the Democrats are saying ``my way or the 
highway'' with a Socialist wish list that was laughed off by everyone 
from journalists to economists the instant they introduced it.
  This is what reporters had to say about Speaker Pelosi's proposal in 
May:
  ``The more than 1,800-page bill makes a long wish list for 
Democrats.''
  ``Neither this bill nor anything reassembling it will ever become 
law.''
  Even the Speaker's own Democratic Members knew it was a joke. 
``Privately, several House Democrats concede the bill feels more like 
an effort to appease the most liberal members of the caucus.''
  Yet this is what they are holding out for. Let's recall some of the 
specific items. These are the things over which Democrats are blowing 
up negotiations and forcing a lapse in extra unemployment benefits: tax 
increase on small businesses; taxpayer-funded checks for illegal 
immigrants; taxpayer-funded diversity studies of the legal pot 
industry; and their ongoing obsession with something called the State 
and local tax, or SALT, which would be a massive giveaway for high 
earners in blue States. In other words, a tax cut for high earners in 
blue States. Let me say that again. Democrats are holding up help for 
struggling people over special tax breaks for rich people in blue 
States, an idea that has been criticized by economists from all sides.
  Republicans want to get more help to families right now, but Speaker 
Pelosi says: Let them eat SALT.
  They also want to spend another trillion dollars bailing out State 
and local governments that only spent--listen to this--25 percent of 
the money we sent them back in March. Some State and local governments 
have only spent 25 percent of the money we sent them back in March, and 
the Speaker and Democratic leader want to send them another trillion 
dollars.
  This is silly stuff. None of it should be stopping negotiations and 
none of it would be if our Democratic colleagues actually wanted to get 
an outcome.
  Let's talk about unemployment insurance. Both Republicans and 
Democrats agree in these extraordinary times it makes sense for the 
Federal Government to provide the stark additional help on top of 
normal unemployment. Republicans don't want this aid to expire. Our 
plan continues it, but the Speaker and the Democratic leader say they 
will not agree to anything unless the program pays people more to stay 
home than to work.
  Prominent Democrats have publicly said they agree with our position. 
The Democratic Governor of Connecticut says he wants to continue the 
benefit at a more targeted level. Multiple Members of the Senate and 
Speaker Pelosi's own House Democratic Majority Leader have all said in 
the last few days that they are open to negotiating this, but the 
Speaker and the Democratic leader have cut all their colleagues out. 
They are standing alone, saying: ``Our way or the highway.'' And so 
people are going to suffer.
  I understand the Democratic leader said he felt offended when I noted 
that some people are suggesting the Democrats' strange behavior is 
explained by politics; that some people think Democrats are behaving 
like national suffering would only hurt President Trump. Now, the 
Democratic leader, himself, pointed that exact accusation at various 
Republicans during the Obama Presidency on multiple occasions. I know 
memories can be short around here when it is convenient.
  More broadly, actions speak louder than words. Democrats spent weeks 
shouting that the Senate should act on police reform, but when Senator 
Tim Scott gave them the chance, they blocked action. They blocked the 
Senate from even taking up the subject. And now, so far, this is the 
sequel.
  Democrats talked a big game about wanting to provide more assistance, 
but now that it is ``go time,'' they show zero appetite for any 
bipartisan outcome at all.
  This is personal for me. Kentucky has not finished fighting with the 
coronavirus, and the Federal Government must not be finished helping 
Kentucky. Laid-off Kentuckians need more help. Kentucky schools need 
more help. Under our proposal, Kentucky alone would receive $193 
million for testing and contact tracing to fight the spread of the 
disease. This should be just as personal for every single Senator.
  None of our States deserve the Democrats' rope-a-dope. No American 
family deserves it. Don't my distinguished ranking member colleagues 
wish they could be involved in robust bipartisan discussions with our 
chairman, like back in March, and not watching from the sidelines as 
their leader shuts down talks on TV? Do they really think the 
Democratic leader's tactics are serving the common good of their 
States?
  Republicans have put forward a framework that would do huge amounts 
of good for huge numbers of American families. If Democrats ever come 
to the table, we will be able to bridge our differences and make a law.

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