[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 195 (Tuesday, November 17, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7019-S7020]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, there is significant outstanding 
business that Congress needs to complete before the end of the year.
  My Republican colleagues and I have stated over and over that we 
still want to pass more coronavirus relief for the American people. 
Senate Republicans have voted multiple times to send hundreds of 
billions of dollars to schools, small businesses, healthcare, and laid-
off workers.
  If Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer had not made the calculation to 
block it, that money could have been out the door many weeks ago.
  Instead, our Democratic colleagues have spent months--literally 
months--holding all of that urgent help hostage over unrelated, 
leftwing wish list items.
  Their so-called ``Heroes'' proposal is so unrealistic and poorly 
targeted that Speaker Pelosi's own moderate Democrats ridiculed the 
bill the instant she put it out and said it will never become law.
  It includes things like a massive tax cut for wealthy people in blue 
States and huge sums of money for State and city governments with no 
linkage to demonstrated COVID needs.
  Some blue States, including New York and California, have actually 
seen higher State income tax revenues this autumn than they saw during 
the same months last year, in part, because they are taxing a chunk out 
of vulnerable people's unemployment benefits. They are receiving more 
tax revenue now than they did in 2019. Some of these blue States are 
receiving more revenue now than they did in 2019.
  But, alas, Democrats still want coronavirus relief for the entire 
country held hostage over a massive slush fund for their own use.
  Well, even if our Democratic colleagues continue to block any 
bipartisan pandemic relief from becoming law, there are other 
responsibilities we still need to tackle together.
  The Federal Government is currently funded through December 11. The 
next few days will tell us a lot about whether Congress can pull off 
the bipartisan, bicameral appropriations process that I believe both 
sides would like to deliver.
  Last week, our colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee 
released all 12 bills for fiscal year 2021. The bills would fully fund 
all kinds of crucial priorities, from securing our border to caring for 
our veterans, to supporting public health at this particularly critical 
time.
  What needs to happen now is quite simple. Our colleagues on the 
committee and their counterparts in the House need to continue their 
bicameral discussions and settle on topline dollar amounts for each 
separate bill.
  I hope they will be able to reach this broad agreement by the end of 
this very week. That would help keep us on course to deliver full-year 
funding legislation, which helps our Armed Forces and all Federal 
agencies plan and get ahead of the curve by the December deadline.
  For nearly 2 years now, we have avoided the drama that has become a

[[Page S7020]]

Washington routine and funded our government on a bipartisan basis. 
Last August, we passed a 2-year bipartisan funding agreement that let 
our committees do their work even amid this divided government.
  When both sides have honored the agreement and kept bills clean of 
poison pills, Chairman Shelby has been able to deliver full-year bills 
without drama. I hope we can replicate that successful pattern this 
year.
  Congress should also reach a bipartisan, bicameral compromise on the 
National Defense Authorization Act and pass a conference report before 
the end of the year.
  Our men and women in uniform need every tool and resource to confront 
the great-power competitors, rogue states, and terrorists who wish us 
harm. Congress should be an asset to our own servicemembers, not a 
liability
  This year would make the 60th consecutive year Congress will have 
passed an NDAA. This is no time to break that streak and leave our 
forces in the lurch. Let's get this done and pass a conference report 
through both Chambers this year.

                          ____________________