[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 137 (Monday, August 3, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S4655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I just heard the Republican leader speak 
out on the floor. Leader McConnell is busy giving partisan speeches 
while for the last 2\1/2\ hours Speaker Pelosi, myself, Secretary of 
Treasury Mnuchin, and Chief of Staff Meadows were sitting in a room 
working hard, trying to narrow our differences and come to an 
agreement. We all want to come to an agreement. We know the gravity of 
the situation demands it. We will continue to work and work at it.
  We had a productive meeting. We narrowed some differences. Frankly, 
there are many that remain, but we must not give up. We must not resort 
to stark partisanship. We must come together and find a solution.
  If I had to characterize the major difference between our side and 
the Republican side, we believe the gravity of the situation--the 
economic problems, the health problems--demands a bold, strong, 
vigorous solution by the Federal Government. We believe we must meet 
those needs. And it will cost money, but mark my words--if we spend 
less money now, it will cost us more money later.
  We hear from our schools. They very much want to reopen. We hear from 
the parents of children. They very much want their kids to go back to 
school, but they want to do it safely. It costs a lot of dollars to 
make a school safe in this COVID crisis--not only the money for masks 
and PPE, but you can't sit two kids next to each other on a bus, so 
there have to be many more bus routes. Because some of the learning 
will be distant, you need hotspots, and a lot of the kids don't have 
them in their homes. You may need new ventilating systems because COVID 
demands it for a healthy classroom. You may need to convert gymnasiums 
and cafeterias into new classrooms. Teachers may have to teach longer, 
and we may even need more teachers. These are very important things we 
need to do to open schools safely, but they demand more dollars. As we 
sat in a room today, we discussed our views as to how many dollars are 
needed.
  The same thing with food safety--we Democrats believe that during 
this crisis, children and adults should not go hungry, and we proposed 
money to ensure that there are SNAP benefit increases to help people to 
feed themselves, that there is enough money to feed the kids who used 
to get school breakfasts and lunches, and that there is enough money at 
food banks and other places so they can feed their families. That costs 
money. The Senate Republican proposal here proposed a tax break for a 
three-martini lunch and a $20 billion slush fund for big agribusiness 
but no money for these kids who need to be fed. That is a significant 
difference. There are many. There are many.
  We Democrats believe strongly that we have to have free and fair 
elections and that the mail must be delivered in a timely way because 
so many more people are going to vote by mail. So many polling places 
need to be set up because, with COVID, you can't be close together.
  There is a long list of things that are needed. The good news is, our 
Republican colleagues agree with a few of them, but some they don't 
agree with, and we are discussing why we think they need them, and they 
will counter with us in the room--Mnuchin and Meadows. But the 
discussion is necessary, the discussion is productive, and we will 
continue it.
  Again, the anomaly of the Republican leader making a partisan speech 
on the floor while we--Speaker Pelosi, myself, Mnuchin, and Meadows--
are trying to negotiate and move forward is really a contrast that I 
think most people see.
  So let's keep moving forward. There is a real crisis here. There are 
people who are unemployed, and they don't deserve a pay cut as they go 
forward. There are small businesses that need help desperately. There 
are schools that have to open. There are State and local governments 
that must have funding. This is not an abstract concept; these are 
firefighters, our teachers, our healthcare workers, our busdrivers and 
sanitation men and women. If the State and local governments don't get 
money, they are going to be laid off, and services will be much worse.
  Again, we have a wide disparity on what kind of dollars and how to 
deal with treatment. It is our belief that this administration's 
program on treatment has been a failure, that we don't have enough 
treatment, and that we have to redouble our efforts to put more money 
into treatment.
  These discussions are continuing because we hope we can reach an 
agreement. We will keep at it and at it and at it because the Nation 
demands a solution--a bold, comprehensive solution that will slay this 
awful virus and its consequences once and for all.
  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. 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.