[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 202 (Tuesday, December 1, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7118-S7119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Business Before the Senate

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, yesterday, I mentioned the several big-
ticket items left on the congressional agenda before the end of the 
year. Over the next few weeks, the Senate must pass an appropriations 
bill to keep the government funded. We must pass the annual Defense 
bill, a piece of legislation that Congress has passed every year for 
nearly 60 years in a row. And a top priority as well is a major COVID 
relief bill.
  We are in a moment of genuine national catastrophe. The rate of new 
cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are at the highest, or near the 
highest, of

[[Page S7119]]

any point during this awful pandemic. The economic fallout of the 
pandemic spreads and spreads. November saw the largest single 2-week 
jump in unemployment benefit applications since early April, and 
enhanced job benefits are only a few weeks from expiration.
  The time has come for Congress to pass a bipartisan COVID relief bill 
that meets the needs of our workers, our families, our schools, and our 
businesses. The Republican leader of this Chamber knows very well that 
the only way to pass legislation in the Senate is with a measure of 
bipartisanship. But time and time again, the Republican leader's idea 
of action on COVID has been to bring partisan legislation to the floor 
and then demand everyone accept it.
  Every single iteration has included poison pills designed to ensure 
that the bill is bad--not consensus proposals. That is not what these 
poison pills are at all, and he knows darn well the Democrats don't 
agree to them. Well, that is no way to do business around here.
  The leader's view seems to be that the only things that should be 
considered in the next COVID relief bill are items that Republicans 
approve of, even if the needs of the country go way beyond what is on 
their narrow list. So I would plead again to the Republican leader and 
to my colleagues on the other side, we need to come together. Both 
sides--both sides--must be willing to compromise.
  While the Republicans in this Chamber enjoy a majority, they must 
grapple with the fact that Democrats hold a majority in the House. We 
cannot make a law without Democrats in the House, and, frankly, 
Democratic votes in the Senate because there are a good number of 
Republicans who won't vote for any proposal.
  So we need a true bipartisan bill, not another round of partisan 
Republican proposals put forward by the leader and then he makes take-
it-or-leave-it demands, and that is it. We need to come together and 
come to agreement that will not satisfy any one of us completely but 
gets the job done. I hope that as we get closer to the end of the year, 
partisan posturing on the Republican side will give way to some genuine 
compromises.