[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 180 (Wednesday, October 21, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6338-S6339]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, the closer we get to an election, the 
sillier it gets here in Leader McConnell's Senate. All week, the 
Republican majority has scheduled stunt votes on supposed COVID relief 
bills that are all, in reality, designed to fail.
  Yesterday, the leader moved to table his own bill so the Republicans 
could vote against tabling it. Let me repeat that because that is what 
is happening here. It is hard to believe that this is supposedly the 
greatest debate Chamber in the country or in the world. Leader 
McConnell moved to table his own bill so the Republicans could then 
vote against tabling it. That is what

[[Page S6339]]

the Republican majority thinks passes for a serious attempt at a COVID 
relief bill in this Republican Senate when people are suffering so 
badly--games, games when people are suffering.
  The truth is the Republican leader needed that vote to fail because, 
if the Senate actually proceeded to a real bill, it might mess up the 
timing of the Republican plan to confirm Judge Barrett to the Supreme 
Court. Now, think of that for a moment. The Republican majority sets up 
a fake vote on COVID relief because if, God forbid, the Senate actually 
considered a real bill to do something real about this overwhelming 
COVID crisis, it might delay their Supreme Court nominee they are 
rushing through in a process that can only be declared as abusive to 
the Senate.
  That is all the American people need to know about priorities on the 
other side of the aisle--rush through a nominee whose views are way to 
the right of the American people's and ignore, avoid, and play games 
with getting COVID relief, which is the No. 1 thing the American people 
want, not a Supreme Court nominee who is so far away from their views.
  While the country is hurting, while millions of Americans are sick 
and dying, while workers lose their jobs, and while businesses close 
their doors, Republican Senators are playing political stunts with 
vitally needed economic relief, and the games continue today. Once 
again, the Republican majority will bring up a bill that is designed to 
fail--its partisan, emaciated so-called COVID relief bill. The bill we 
are voting on today has already failed in the Senate. It didn't get a 
Democratic vote.
  We already know it lacks the votes, and why? Because it leaves so 
many Americans behind. Renters and homeowners are left behind. There is 
no relief for them. Americans who have lost jobs through no fault of 
their own are left behind. Americans who rely on critical public 
services by their State and local governments are left behind. Small 
businesses, communities of color, and some of the hardest hit 
industries--our restaurants, our concert venues, theaters, nonprofits, 
and local news--receive no dedicated assistance. The Republican 
proposal on COVID doesn't even devote enough resources to testing and 
tracing despite a spike in cases and the harrowing prospect of a second 
wave of the virus sweeping across America. It is laden with poison 
pills that our Republican colleagues know Democrats would never 
support. That is not an attempt to legislate and get something done.
  What is in there? There is a giant corporate immunity provision to 
shield corporations from liability if they put their workers in 
dangerous COVID-related situations, and there is a tax provision to 
benefit wealthy families who send their kids to private schools while 
shortchanging middle-class families and public schools.
  There is no reason for our Republican colleagues to insist on a 
corporate liability shield and a provision to injure public schools in 
a COVID relief bill--no reason. They know it is objectionable. They 
know it is partisan. They know it is an anchor around the minimal bill 
they have--enough to sink it. There is no reason to include these 
poison pills in legislation that they know needs bipartisan support to 
pass. Twenty Republicans have said they don't want to vote for any 
money, so they know they need the Democrats, but they have put things 
in the bill that they know the Democrats will oppose and will lead to 
the bill's demise, this minimal bill.
  So what is the logic here?
  Well, there is a perverse logic if the Republican leader wants to 
make sure that the bill fails, and that is sure what it looks like. It 
is clear why Leader McConnell is forced to do these stunts--a good 
portion of his caucus opposes more relief for the American people.
  Yesterday, the Republican whip, the member in charge of counting 
Republican votes, said: ``I think we're going to have a hard time 
finding 13 [Republican] votes for anything''--13 out of 52, 53.
  One Republican Member proudly vowed not to vote for ``another dime.'' 
People are being kicked out of their homes. Children are starving. 
There is no testing and tracing that meets the needs. Schools can't 
open--and not another dime. Let America suffer so our rightwing 
ideology--saying that we shouldn't make well-to-do people pay taxes, 
which is what their last tax cut bill did--can prevail over the needs 
of America and the American people.
  So it is not the Democrats who are blocking a real relief bill. We 
know that. Everyone knows that. Speaker Pelosi is still trying her best 
with the White House to get a deal. We have already offered to meet the 
Republicans halfway. The biggest obstacles to another relief bill from 
the very beginning have been Senate Republicans and Leader McConnell.
  Then, as if we needed any more proof--it was pretty obvious before--
it was reported in multiple news outlets and confirmed by four Senators 
who were at the meeting that Leader McConnell warned the White House 
against making another deal on another stimulus bill before the 
election. Let me repeat that. Leader McConnell, while he was coming to 
the floor and railing against Democratic obstruction, was behind the 
scenes, warning the White House against striking a bipartisan deal on 
COVID relief.
  Who does he think he can fool? Not the American people. Ask them. 
They know who is to blame. They know Democrats, up and down the line, 
are for relief and Republicans oppose it. I will tell you one thing: 
The American people are sick and tired of these political stunts. They 
are sick and tired of politicians who would rather have it appear they 
are working than doing actual work.
  This shouldn't be so hard. We all know how to pass bills in the 
Senate--with bipartisan buy-in and bipartisan support. We did it in the 
CARES bill back in March. Yet, ever since that bill passed this Senate, 
the Republican majority has gone totally partisan every step of the 
way, even on an issue as important to the country as relief from this 
evil pandemic.