[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 191 (Monday, November 9, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S6617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized


                             2020 Elections

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, last Tuesday, our country conducted the 
most sacred process in our democratic system of government, a national 
election.
  It was an election unlike any other in modern history. Much of the 
voting was done before election day itself, as the global pandemic 
forced States to adjust their balloting and voting procedures. The 
counting of the vote took a little longer than most Americans might 
have expected or hoped. Indeed, some of the final tabulations are not 
yet complete. It is still to be determined which party will hold the 
majority in this Chamber.
  But we do know a few things. First and most importantly, former Vice 
President Joseph Robinette Biden will become the 46th President of the 
United States. Our dear colleague, the distinguished Senator from 
California, Kamala Harris, will be the next Vice President of the 
United States. And on January 20, the country will finally--finally--
turn the page on one of the most divisive and chaotic chapters in our 
history.
  President-Elect Joe Biden has told the country that it is time to 
come together and heal, to unify once again to fight not our political 
opponents but our common enemies: disease and poverty and injustice. 
There is no person better suited to the task than the former Vice 
President. He will be a great President for all Americans.
  Vice President-Elect Harris, meanwhile, has just made history four 
times over. She will be the first African-American woman, the first 
Asian-American woman, the first biracial woman, and the first woman, 
period, to ever serve as Vice President of the United States.
  I congratulate the former Vice President, his wife Jill, our 
colleague Senator Harris, and her husband Doug on their hard-fought 
victory.
  More Americans voted for President-Elect Biden and Vice President-
Elect Harris than any ticket in our Nation's history. They have given 
them an enormous burden and a decisive mandate to take the reins of the 
executive branch and marshal this government into action--for they will 
assume the high offices of the Presidency and the Vice Presidency at a 
time of unprecedented challenge.
  Our great Nation faces the greatest economic crisis in 75 years and 
the greatest public health crisis in a century. Extraordinary 
inequalities of wealth and income strike at the heart of the idea of 
America as a land of equal opportunity. Racial disparities in our 
society strike at the heart of the idea of America as a place of equal 
justice. Climate change threatens the very future of our planet.
  The American people have placed their faith in President-Elect Biden 
to confront those challenges head-on: to relieve their suffering, to 
repair our democracy, to recover our economy, and rebuild the country 
and a planet for this generation and for the next. I have no doubt 
their faith will be rewarded, but I also have no doubt that the task 
ahead is daunting.