[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 29, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S5889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on another matter, COVID-19, yesterday, 
the House of Representatives unveiled legislation to provide $2.2 
trillion in emergency funding to help the American people in the fight 
against COVID-19.
  The proposal includes a number of crucial provisions that families, 
businesses, local leaders, and hospitals desperately need, including 
$600 in weekly emergency unemployment insurance, funding for our 
schools, support for State and local governments, assistance for 
renters and homeowners, additional resources for testing and contact 
tracing, and measures to strengthen the post office and complete the 
census.
  It includes important aid for transit systems, by the way, vital to 
our Nation's economy. It includes crucial support for economic drivers 
like restaurants, music venues, independent theaters, and more that we 
have named in our Save Our Stages Act, and it includes critical 
workplace standards and protections for our workers.
  Is this new bill everything that Democrats want? No, but it is an 
honest attempt to provide the relief our country needs and reach an 
agreement by moving closer to our Republican colleagues who want to 
provide much less relief, if they want to provide any at all.
  Once again, the bill demonstrates the willingness on the part of 
Democrats to compromise. COVID-19 remains the No. 1 issue in America. 
Weekly unemployment claims are still through the roof. Schools are 
struggling to adapt. Over 200,000 Americans have died. We are a long 
way from putting this crisis in the rearview mirror.
  But none of this seems to concern the Republican majority in the 
Senate. As countless businesses are going under, as thousands continue 
to get sick, as millions of Americans are waiting for the Senate to do 
its job, Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans are moving at a 
lightning pace to jam through a Supreme Court nominee--a nominee who 
could rip healthcare away from tens of millions of Americans in the 
middle of a pandemic.
  Leader McConnell chose to put the Senate on pause for 4 months while 
COVID devastated our country. Now Leader McConnell has the Senate on 
fast-forward to rush through a partisan nomination to the Supreme 
Court. It goes to show you the priorities on the other side of the 
aisle.

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