[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 178 (Monday, October 19, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6306-S6307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. DURBIN. ``Idiots.'' ``Idiots.'' That is what the President called 
Dr. Anthony Fauci and the public health experts in the Federal 
Government.
  The President said:

       People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies I've 
     ever had. And we have COVID. People are saying: ``Whatever. 
     Just leave us alone.'' They're tired of it.

  Then he added:

       People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all 
     these idiots who got it wrong.

  Those are the words of the President of the United States, Donald 
Trump, in the midst of the worst pandemic America has seen in over a 
century--220,000 dead and counting.
  What lies ahead with this COVID epidemic, which the President is so 
tired of hearing about? What have the so-called ``idiots'' told us 
about the future of COVID-19? Here is what they have told us: More than 
70,450 new coronavirus cases were reported in the United States on 
Friday, the highest figure since July 24, according to the New York 
Times database. More than 900 new deaths were recorded, and over the 
past week, there have been an average of 56,615 cases per day--an 
increase of 30 percent from the average 2 weeks earlier.
  Is this a political commentary, these facts? No. These are the 
numbers and statistics of reality--a reality which President Trump 
refuses to acknowledge.
  How are we doing when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 
the world? Well, we have five times the infection rate of the nation of 
Germany. What is going on here? The great United States of America has 
five times the infection rate of Germany?
  Well, let's get across the ocean. Let's bring it to this side of the 
Atlantic. How are we doing in comparison to the nations here? Well, 
let's compare the United States to Canada. The COVID death rate in the 
United States is 2\1/2\ times the death rate in Canada.
  What does Justin Trudeau know about this epidemic that Donald Trump 
did not? He knew that it took leadership to deal with it. He knew that 
we had to step up as a nation and gather together all the people of 
this country in common purpose to beat back this virus, and he failed 
to do it--President Trump failed to do that. He said to the Governors 
``You are on your own. Go out and find protective equipment. Find 
ventilators. See what you can do on the open market'' instead of using 
the power of the Presidency and the leadership of the Presidency to 
help make certain that every American had access to what they needed to 
stay safe.
  How did he do in setting standards for dealing with this deadly 
virus?
  First, he denied it was deadly. He argued it was going to go away. 
When it gets warm outside, it will go away. It is a hoax. You remember 
those statements. And do you remember that incredible press conference 
where the President went off on some tangent about disinfectant and 
Lysol? It was sickening to think that the leader of the free world 
would do that.
  How about the example set by the President. To this day, to get this 
President to wear a mask is a rare occurrence. And there he was, just 
days after being helicoptered out to Walter Reed Hospital, returning to 
the White House, making his triumphant balcony scene, standing before 
the American people and ripping off his mask just to tell them how 
tough he was, how lucky he was. He was really telling the American 
people: Don't take this mask business seriously. He can say the words, 
but he just mouths them. The fact that you can see his mouth is an 
indication that he doesn't believe it. And here we are.
  Fortunately, in the early stages of this pandemic, this Congress rose 
to the occasion. It was March 26. We called it the CARES Act. It was 
indeed a comprehensive effort to deal with the coronavirus, a 
comprehensive approach. We imagined all the possibilities, we saw the 
economy sinking under our feet, and we came together with a vote of 96 
to nothing here in the U.S. Senate--a bipartisan vote of 96 to 
nothing--for a bill that we wrote together, Democrats and Republicans 
sitting together.
  It was an amazing day, and I am glad we did it, but there was one 
clear shortcoming. We assumed when we passed the CARES Act that, come 
the end of July and first part of August, this crisis would be behind 
us. It isn't. At the end of July, for example, the Federal supplement 
of unemployment insurance ran out for millions of Americans. In the 
first part of August, the loans to small businesses dried up as well.
  What has happened since? Well, on the other side of the Rotunda, in 
the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 5 months ago--5 
months ago--passed her Heroes Act. It was $3 trillion--comparable to 
the first effort. She sent it to the Republican leader of the Senate, 
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, for him to do his part. It is a 
bicameral legislature. His part would require coming up with an 
alternative and taking that to conference.
  Did he do that? No. He refused to acknowledge it and mocked day after 
day after day the efforts of Speaker Pelosi, questioning whether they 
were enough or sincere or too political, on and on and on. Did he pass 
his own measure? No.
  Then negotiations started between the President, his White House 
representatives, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Schumer. They invited 
Senator McConnell, head of the Republicans in the Senate, and Kevin 
McCarthy, head of the Republicans in the House, to join in this 
bipartisan negotiation. McConnell and McCarthy declined. They would not 
even sit in the chairs during negotiations. In Senator McConnell's 
case, he simply came to the floor on a daily basis to mock every effort 
to respond to this COVID-19.
  Well, this is not a news bulletin, but we are 2 weeks away from the 
election, and guess what we are going to do on the floor of the Senate 
today. We are going to entertain a new idea by Senator McConnell of how 
to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. It turns out that it is a scant 
list of his priorities. Not surprisingly, the first priority is an 
issue he has called his redline on the floor over and over again--to 
give immunity from liability to businesses that fail to take the 
necessary steps to protect their employees and their customers from the 
spread of this deadly virus. That is his first priority. He has said 
that. Even before the first issue was raised as to what would be 
included in this, the first thing that Senator McConnell insisted on 
was protecting these businesses.
  How do the American people feel about that? Well, they are pretty 
clear. They believe if you put that immunity in place, that many 
businesses won't do what they need to do to protect their employees and 
customers. They worry that this gets them off the hook instead of 
putting the responsibility clearly on their shoulders.
  The good news is the overwhelming majority of businesses that I know 
are really trying to do the right thing. The bad news is they are not 
sure what that is. They hear about CDC guidelines that are ignored and 
mocked by the President, and they hear about the possibility of other 
standards that will be used.
  We have had hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee when a 
Texas businessman with a string of convenience stores, I think, came to 
us and in good faith said: I don't know where to turn for a standard of 
care. What am I supposed to do if I want to protect everyone coming 
into my store--employees and customers alike?
  I thought his statement was genuine. I really believed him, and I 
still do. But it is no excuse for what we have failed to do here. We 
have failed to come up with a national standard to protect people from 
the spread of this virus.
  Instead, Senator McConnell comes to the floor and says: If you can 
find any standard by any level of government, it is good enough. You 
are off the hook. That is no way to lead in the midst of a deadly 
pandemic.
  It is not the only issue. There are many others. Take a look at what 
is missing in Senator McConnell's proposal. There is no new funding 
when it comes to State and local governments. Remember the phrase 
``defund the police''? You heard it from the rightwing about the 
leftwing of American politics wanting to defund the police. Well, 
Senator McConnell's action will

[[Page S6307]]

defund police at State and local levels because these units of 
government won't have the resources to hire the policemen they need, 
the law enforcement officials they need, nor the firefighters, nor the 
teachers, nor the healthcare workers. But that is priority one for 
Senator McConnell: no help--no help for State and local governments for 
fear that you might actually send money to a Democratic mayor or a 
Democratic Governor. Spare me. That fire is not looking for party 
registration; it is looking for kindling to light the fire of 
infection.
  Now, on housing, well, how does the McConnell proposal deal with 
housing? No funding--no funding for housing or rental assistance.
  Now, on the stimulus checks--$1,200 stimulus checks. I listened to 
talk radio back in Chicago, and people are wondering: Is it possible we 
are going to see a $1,200 check? Well, you won't see it in Senator 
McConnell's proposal. There are no direct stimulus payments.
  How about unemployment benefits? The Federal unemployment benefits 
that expired on July 31 were $600 a week over the State amount, 
whatever it might be. Some people may have made more in the process 
than they did at work, but most were struggling to get by. If Members 
of the Senate had not been in touch with real America in a while, they 
may think that folks with these checks were binging on Netflix and 
eating chocolate-covered cherries night and day. That is not the case 
that I saw back in Illinois. People who had lost their jobs, even at 
the time they received these unemployment checks, were still struggling 
to pay for the mortgage, pay for the rent, pay for the car, keep up 
with the credit card bills, and put food on the table.
  So what does Senator McConnell propose that we do? He proposes we cut 
in half that amount--to $300 a week. I guess back in Kentucky it is a 
little bit different world, at least the way he sees it, but where I 
live, that means a pretty dramatic cut in survival pay--survival pay--
for people who have lost their jobs.
  On the healthcare side, this is the one that troubles me the most. 
Couldn't we all agree that we don't test enough for the COVID-19 virus 
in America? There are about 1 million people tested a day. Public 
health officials say: Well, you need at least 4 million. Others say: 
But if you truly want to reopen the economy and reopen the schools, you 
need 14 million a day. So you would guess that anything we pass would 
really zero in on testing to find out those who are positive, to do the 
contact tracing to warn those who may have been exposed, and to try to 
contain the virus.
  So let's take a look at what Senator McConnell thinks about the 
priority of testing. There is $16 billion for testing. How much did the 
Democrats--Nancy Pelosi--propose? She proposed $75 billion. And let me 
add that the McConnell bill provides no funding for hospitals or 
healthcare clinics and no dedicated funding for nursing homes, where we 
know the populations are so vulnerable. When it comes to the reality of 
what we are facing in this COVID-19 pandemic, the McConnell bill, which 
is coming before us this afternoon, is deficient in testing at a time 
when we are facing so many infections.
  On nutrition, the McConnell bill says that there will be no SNAP 
benefit increases or funding for food banks and, on education, provides 
$105 billion for education stabilization funds. Two-thirds of the K-12 
funds will be held until schools provide a reopening plan and, of 
course, the voucher program.
  On postal assistance, the McConnell proposal alters the language in 
the original legislation to change the borrowing authority. The Postal 
Service is doing its best, and I thank the men and women who are 
engaged in it. We should do more than thank them. We ought to fund them 
and give them a helping hand.
  So what it boils down to is this: If this is a real pandemic, if we 
want to believe the public health experts--whom the President has 
called ``idiots,'' like Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been my friend for 
20 years--if we want to believe the public health experts, we need to 
address this in a serious manner as we did last March in passing the 
CARES Act. This is not a time for people to cover their backsides 
politically. It is a time to remember that the American people need our 
help more than ever. A halfhearted and half-inspired effort to do this 
will not answer the call.
  We need to stand as a nation on a bipartisan basis. How does it 
start? It starts when Democrats and Republicans sit at the same table, 
which has not happened. It starts when we agree--both parties agree--on 
what the priorities must be, and it starts when we stop the speeches 
and start with real action to pass legislation like the CARES Act, 
which passed 96 to nothing on this floor. It is time to take this 
deadly virus and epidemic seriously.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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