[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 140 (Thursday, August 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5230-S5231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, over the past week and a half, Speaker

[[Page S5231]]

Pelosi and I have been engaged in serious discussions and negotiations 
with the White House over another round of emergency relief for the 
American people. Our motivation is simple: Americans are crying out for 
relief.
  Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to climb. The snowball 
of economic impacts continue to roll downhill. This morning, we learned 
that another 1.2 million Americans filed for unemployment--far more 
than at any time during the great recession that began in 2008.
  Our two parties don't agree on many things. That is no secret. The 
Trump administration has bungled this crisis from the very beginning 
and even now is careening from one self-inflicted crisis to the next. 
Democrats believe that Congress has a moral obligation to step into the 
breach to help Americans put food on the table and keep a roof over 
their heads, to save our economy from a deeper recession and longer 
recovery, and to fight this disease with all the resources and 
wherewithal a great nation can bring to bear.
  After the Senate Republican majority failed in spectacular fashion to 
put together a bill even its own Members could support, Democrats have 
engaged in arduous negotiations with the White House trying to impress 
upon them the gravity of the situation. We have made some progress this 
week but not enough. The biggest reason is that Trump and his aides and 
his party in Congress are not truly awake to what is happening in this 
country.
  The Trump administration and Senate Republicans have badly mauled the 
body politic, the American economy, and American healthcare. We 
Democrats believe the patient needs a major operation, while 
Republicans want to apply a bandaid. And we will not let them just pass 
the bandaid, go home, and still leave America bleeding. That is the 
difference right now on so many issues.
  Our Republican counterparts refuse to acknowledge that Americans who 
have lost their jobs through no fault of their own might need some 
assistance with rent. The Republican leader warns of an epidemic of 
lawsuits that hasn't materialized. What will materialize soon is an 
epidemic of evictions unless we extend the moratorium and pass rental 
assistance. Between 19 and 23 million households--one in five rental 
households--will be at risk of eviction by the end of September unless 
we do something, unless our Republican colleagues wake up.
  Our Republican counterparts refuse to acknowledge that State, local, 
and Tribal governments, which the Trump administration abandoned in the 
early days of this crisis, might need Federal support to prevent 
teachers, firefighters, busdrivers from being laid off and public 
services from being slashed at the worst possible time. Leader 
McConnell just states that States should go bankrupt. That is not 
acceptable.
  Our Republican counterparts refuse to acknowledge that running an 
election in the middle of a pandemic is going to be difficult; that 
State election systems are going to need more resources; and our post 
office must be well-staffed and prepared to manage an election that 
will see more voting by mail than any before.
  Yesterday, the Republican leader scoffed at the idea of extended 
enhanced unemployment benefits because it would mean that some 
Americans without work would be paid more than our essential workers. 
Conveniently, the Republican leader did not mention that Democrats have 
proposed for months that we give our essential workers additional 
hazard pay and that he and his party continue to block it.
  If our friends on the other side are finally worried about how little 
many of our essential workers are making as we are, I would hope they 
will put their money where their mouth is and support our proposal to 
give them hazard pay.
  When it comes to elections and education, food assistance for hungry 
children, and, mind-bogglingly, when it comes to healthcare, testing, 
tracing, and Medicaid, our Republican friends continue to pinch pennies 
during a national emergency.
  Again, this is the reason our negotiations with the White House have 
been so difficult. The President and his aides and his party in 
Congress are not even awake to the crisis in our country. President 
Trump doesn't have a plan, doesn't engage in negotiations, and still 
manages to undercut the negotiations at every turn.
  There is no leadership from the White House at a time of great 
crisis. Historians will look back and say this is one of the greatest 
crises America has felt, and the White House is nowhere to be found. It 
has never happened before.
  Way back in March, after we passed the CARES Act, the Senate 
Republican majority made a dangerous gamble. Leader McConnell said he 
was putting the Senate on ``pause'' to see what would happen. Senate 
Republicans swallowed the President's ridiculous fantasy that the 
disease would just disappear. Hoping they wouldn't have to do anything, 
the Republican majority put the Senate on ice for 4 long months--4 
months. Only yesterday, Leader McConnell admitted that his delay 
``allowed us to learn the coronavirus didn't mysteriously disappear.''
  Look, at this late stage, after months of Republican delay, as the 
country got worse and worse, after Republicans in the Senate failed to 
generate a proposal that even their own caucus or President could 
support, Democrats are now in the room--we are the ones in the room 
trying to negotiate a bill that will meet the country's needs.
  While some of my friends on the other side of the aisle are just 
looking for an outcome, any outcome, so they can vote on something and 
go home, we are not going to agree to an inadequate bill that doesn't 
address the challenges in our country.
  We are not going to give up. We are going to keep fighting until we 
achieve the caliber of legislation the American people, during this 
time of great crisis, need and deserve. We are going to keep working 
until we get it done.
  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. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.