[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 142 (Monday, August 10, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5359-S5360]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I had hoped that this week the Senate 
would be busy providing more coronavirus aid and that the chairmen and 
ranking members would be working overtime across the aisle to finalize 
another major pandemic relief package for the American people. After 
all, there are so many important ways in which American families need 
help and which Democrats say they see as big priorities, just like 
Republicans do--priorities like continuing a Federal add-on to 
unemployment insurance, more tools for schools to safely reopen, more 
access to testing and diagnostics, more resources to develop vaccines 
and treatments, a new round of checks to put cash in families' hands 
ASAP, and another round of the hugely successful Paycheck Protection 
Program that small businesses have relied on, which was left out of the 
Democrats' proposal.
  All of these things and many more were in Senate Republicans' 
trillion-dollar proposal for another coronavirus rescue package focused 
on kids, jobs, healthcare, and legal protections to help our country 
reopen.
  So I had hoped the Senate would be spending this week turning a major 
agreement into law, but sadly for the country, sadly for struggling 
Americans, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Democratic leader 
decided we would not deliver any of that--none of it.
  For weeks, Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leader in the Senate 
stalled and stalled in backroom negotiations with the administration's 
team. For weeks--weeks--they held up important aid over non-COVID-
related demands. They stayed true to their

[[Page S5360]]

comments from very early on in this pandemic.
  This is the way they looked at it: They saw this pandemic as ``a 
tremendous opportunity to structure things to fit our vision.'' That 
was the House Democratic whip. Speaker Pelosi herself put it this way: 
``This is an opportunity. Every crisis is.'' Working families call this 
pandemic a crisis. They call it a nightmare. But leading Democrats call 
it ``an opportunity.''
  Just listen to some of their demands. These are the Democrats' 
demands that stood between all of this help and the Americans who need 
it.
  Here is one: Democrats say nobody gets another dime of relief unless 
State and local governments get about $1 trillion in extra money. Let 
me say that again. Democrats are saying nobody gets another dime of 
relief unless State and local governments get $1 trillion in extra 
money.
  Let's put a few facts on the table.
  No. 1, State and local governments have spent only about one-fourth 
of the huge sums we sent them back in the springtime--$150 billion.
  No. 2, the economists who have calculated the likely COVID-related 
shortfalls for State and local governments have mostly produced 
estimates that are entire multiples less--entire multiples less--than 
what Democrats are demanding.
  No. 3, in our HEALS Act, Republicans tried to give States and 
localities extra flexibility around the unspent funds they already 
had--extra flexibility around the unspent funds they already had. In my 
State, for example, 94 percent of the money we sent them has not been 
spent.
  We wanted to send huge sums to help with schools, which are one of 
the States' biggest expenses. Typically, in a State budget, the two 
biggest items are education and Medicaid.
  But forget all that. Democrats are demanding that we send State and 
local governments a colossal amount of money, with no relationship to 
actual need, while they have only spent a quarter--25 percent--of the 
money they have already gotten.
  Clearly, this isn't about COVID. Democrats think they smell an 
opening they have wanted for years--to make Uncle Sam bail out decades 
of mismanagement and broken policies in places like New York, New 
Jersey, and California. So they have decided that no working family 
anywhere in America can get another cent--not one cent--unless they get 
to create a trillion-dollar slush fund for mismanaged States, 
completely and totally out of proportion to pandemic needs.
  Here is another one of those far-left demands: Nobody gets another 
dime unless we indefinitely pay people more to stay home than to go 
back to work.
  Republicans agree we ought to continue additional Federal jobless 
benefits during this extraordinary time. Senate Republicans tried 
several times to stop them from expiring. The Democratic leader blocked 
us.
  Our view, which a majority of Americans share, is simply that it 
disincentivizes rehiring and reopening to pay people more to stay home. 
It is a statement of the obvious. It disincentivizes rehiring and 
reopening to pay people more to stay home.
  Plenty of Democrats said they saw the point and were happy to 
negotiate on this. Speaker Pelosi's own No. 2, the House majority 
leader, said: ``It is not $600 or bust.'' That was the No. 2 Democrat 
in the House. The senior Senator from Maryland said: ``We certainly 
understand. We don't want to have a higher benefit than what someone 
can make working.'' Oh, no. But the Speaker and the Democratic leader 
overruled them. No deal. No deal unless we pay people more to stay 
home.
  That is not about COVID. It is not about a real reopening. It is 
about far-left ideology. They preferred for the jobless benefits to go 
down to zero--zero--unless they could pay people more to stay home.
  Does anyone in this country really believe that relief for Americans 
should be totally contingent on bailing out States for mismanagement 
that predated the pandemic by decades? Does anyone really think it was 
better for jobless benefits to completely expire unless we pay people 
more not to work? And does anyone really think that Congress should 
walk away from countless subjects where a bipartisan agreement should 
be possible over these fringe positions? Do Americans think Democrats 
should walk away from school funding, testing, cash to households, 
preventing a spike in seniors' Medicare premiums, legal reform, and 
more, over this?
  I think almost every family in America would answer these questions 
the same way, but unfortunately Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic 
leader have answered them the opposite way. They think they have 
political leverage over the President of the United States, and so they 
are willing to personally increase the pain for vulnerable families 
unless they get their way on matters not related to COVID.
  Republicans wanted to agree on the things we could agree to. 
Democrats said: Our way or the highway.
  Republicans wanted to send cash now--right now--for schools, testing, 
and unemployment benefits and argue over State bailouts later. 
Democrats said nobody gets a penny unless Texas and Florida bail out 
New Jersey. That is their position. Nobody gets a penny unless Texas 
and Florida bail out New Jersey.
  So this is where we are. The previous UI benefits expired. The PPP 
closed its doors.
  Over the weekend, President Trump took steps to soften the blow of 
the Democrats' hostage tactics on American families who need help most. 
His decisions will help spare some Americans some of the pain from the 
Democrats' hostage-taking.
  From the beginning--from the very beginning--our side has tried 
everything possible to find common ground and deliver more help, but 
the Democrats have said no. At least the American people know the 
score. At least they know the score.

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