[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 178 (Monday, October 19, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S6050]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, this week the Senate will vote on 
more coronavirus relief that Congress could deliver to American 
families right now.
  Month after month, Speaker Pelosi has held up urgent assistance for 
workers, families, schools, and our healthcare system. Month after 
month, she has refused to set aside non-COVID-related demands and far-
left policy riders that she knows are sabotaging any shot at a deal. 
Why? Well, because--and these are her own words--she thinks agreeing to 
a bipartisan compromise might make the Democrats seem like ``a cheap 
date''--her words. The Speaker said over and over again that she does 
not believe it is better for workers to get something rather than 
nothing.
  Thus far, Senate Democrats have gone along with it. We could have 
passed hundreds of billions of dollars in relief more than a month ago, 
but our Democratic colleagues voted in lockstep to filibuster relief 
and kill the bill. Unless Democrats got every single non-COVID-related 
wish-list item they were after, American families would get nothing. 
Every single Senate Democrat voted to filibuster hundreds of billions 
of dollars of noncontroversial assistance, except our colleague who is 
running for Vice President. So she wasn't here at all.
  This has been the position for months: all-or-nothing obstruction. It 
has to stop. The Speaker's Marie Antoinette act needs to end. Zero 
dollars for working families but a whole lot of television time for the 
Speaker of the House is not a good trade for the American people.
  Speaker Pelosi's supposed leverage is not putting food on the table 
in households where one or both parents have lost their jobs. Speaker 
Pelosi's so-called leverage is not helping schools reopen safely or 
struggling small business to avoid layoffs. The Democrats' talking 
points are not doing a single thing to fund more testing, more tracing, 
or double down on Project Warp Speed so we can produce and distribute a 
vaccine.
  Tomorrow and Wednesday, the Senate is going to vote. We will see 
whether our Democratic colleagues in this Chamber agree that families 
deserve nothing rather than something, or whether they are ready to let 
the Senate make law across the huge areas where we do not even 
disagree.
  Tomorrow, we will have a stand-alone vote on creating a second round 
of the historic Paycheck Protection Program for the hardest hit small 
businesses. The PPP has saved tens of millions of American jobs and 
kept main streets across America from turning into permanent COVID-19 
ghost towns.
  The program is as bipartisan as it gets. Not only did it pass 
unanimously in the first place, but we also added funding and made 
tweaks several times without a single objection in either Chamber.
  So tomorrow, Tuesday, every Senator will cast an up-or-down vote on 
establishing a whole second draw of these emergency loans for the small 
businesses that need it the most--no more all or nothing, no more 
endless posturing, just one clear vote on one clear good thing that 
nobody even says they oppose. It would make a huge difference for 
workers who may otherwise be laid off.
  Then, on Wednesday, the Senate will vote again on a larger bill. It 
will pour hundreds of billions of dollars into the PPP expansion, plus 
more Federal unemployment insurance, more money for safe schools, more 
money for testing, more money for vaccines, and many other important 
priorities.
  Nobody thinks this proposal would resolve every problem forever. What 
it does contain is half a trillion dollars of good that Congress can do 
right now through programs that Democrats do not even say they oppose. 
American families deserve for us to agree where we can, make law, and 
push huge amounts of money out the door while Washington continues 
arguing over the rest. It is common sense. It is what the country 
needs. I hope our Democratic colleagues will finally let it happen.
  Madam President, what is the pending business?

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