[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 178 (Monday, October 19, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6318-S6319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROTECT ACT--Motion to Proceed
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 554,
S. 4675.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 554, S. 4675, a bill to
amend the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to explain to the
American people what is happening here on the floor of the Senate.
After putting the Senate on pause for over 5 long months, while
businesses closed, millions lost their jobs, and hundreds of thousands
of Americans died, Leader McConnell is now using this week to hold show
votes on coronavirus relief. The vote we just had was not even a real
vote. Leader McConnell moved to table the bill, then voted against
tabling it. It was a stunt, plain and simple. It goes to show how
unserious the Republican process is here on the floor of the Senate.
Democrats, by their vote, called it for what it is.
The truth is Leader McConnell is doing these stunts on the floor
because there is a hard-right faction in the Republican caucus that
doesn't want to pass any bill--any other round of relief. The
Republican leader admitted that as many as 20 Republican Senators don't
want to vote for anything. One Republican Senator voted not to vote
[[Page S6319]]
for ``another dime.'' Every time the Republican White House asks the
Republican Senators about a larger and needed COVID relief package, the
Republican Senators say: Don't do anything. We are too divided.
As if we needed any more proof this week that the votes this week are
not serious, it was just reported in the Washington Post that Leader
McConnell warned the White House against making a deal on a COVID
relief bill before the election. Let me repeat that. According to a
report in the Washington Post, the Republican leader warned the White
House against making a deal on another stimulus bill before the
election.
Maybe it is because he knows his caucus wouldn't support it. Maybe it
is because he doesn't want anything to interfere with his true
priority--rushing a Supreme Court Justice onto the bench mere days
before a Presidential election. Maybe it is both. Whatever the reason,
it is abundantly clear that what the Republican leader is offering this
week is a stunt--designed to look real but designed to fail.
He told the White House he doesn't actually want a deal before the
election. Now, if my Republican colleagues--those of the mind to help
the American people, not those who believe we have spent too much
already--want to do something real, we are going to give them a chance
on the floor right now. I will be making a motion to move the Senate
into a posture by which we could all vote on the Heroes Act that passed
the House. If the Senate were to pass it, it would head right to the
President's desk. The Democrats have already modified the bill to make
it more palatable to our Republican colleagues by coming down over $1
trillion.
So, if you are a Republican who wants to adequately fund our schools,
our hospitals, and our medical centers, vote with the Democrats on the
next motion. If you are a Republican who wants to adequately fund
testing and tracing and devote the resources our country needs to
prevent a second wave of the virus, you should vote with the Democrats
on the next motion. If you are a Republican who wants to assist all
small businesses, including our hardest hit industries and underserved
communities, newspapers, restaurants, minority-owned businesses, and
independent music venues and theaters, you can vote with us on the next
motion. If you are a Republican who wants to employ a lifeline to the
unemployed, to feed the hungry, to assist renters and homeowners, and
to stave off drastic cuts to State and local services, you should vote
with us--with the Democrats--on the next motion.
The country is crying out for real, substantial, comprehensive
relief. The Heroes Act provides it. It includes all of the urgent and
necessary measures that the Republicans have left out of their
proposals. If my Republican colleagues are serious--really serious--
about providing relief to the American people, then, vote to allow the
Senate to consider the Heroes Act.
Vote on Motion to Table
Mr. President, I move to table the McConnell motion to proceed to
Calendar No. 554, S. 4675, and I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Kentucky (Mr. Paul).
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Ms. Harris)
and the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 45, nays 52, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 204 Leg.]
YEAS--45
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hirono
Jones
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Manchin
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Udall
Van Hollen
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--52
Alexander
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Enzi
Ernst
Fischer
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Loeffler
McConnell
McSally
Moran
Murkowski
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shelby
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Wicker
Young
NOT VOTING--3
Harris
Paul
Sinema
The motion was rejected.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
____________________