[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 206 (Monday, December 7, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7229-S7230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I came to the floor to talk about some 
other things, but I just want to say in response to our friend, the 
Democratic leader, it sounds to me that he has got a case of ``do as I 
say, not as I do'' when it comes to COVID-19 relief bills.
  If my memory serves me correctly, he has led the effort to block the 
Senate's consideration of five different COVID-19 relief bills.
  Speaker Pelosi has made the incredible statement that ``nothing is 
better than something'' when it comes to COVID-19 relief. That is easy 
to say when you are still getting a paycheck, when you have a job you 
can go do, and you can provide for your family, and you have access to 
healthcare.
  But for the millions of Americans who have suffered through this 
pandemic, those are words that sound a lot like Marie Antoinette: ``Let 
them eat cake.''
  I mention this because I have been around this place long enough to 
know that, unless you tell people the whole story, too often they 
believe the talking points and the half story or the incomplete story, 
like we heard from the Democratic leader.

[[Page S7230]]

  It is shameful that, after passing four separate COVID-19 relief 
bills, including the CARES Act, through the end of March on a virtually 
unanimous basis, that Speaker Pelosi chose to pass a partisan bill out 
of the House, the Heroes bill, for another $3 trillion, including 
things like tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires in New York 
and San Francisco, unrelated to the COVID-19 relief bill that we 
needed.
  So I applaud the group of bipartisan Senators who have been working 
now, after the election, to try to come up with the relief rather than 
kicking this can down the road and leaving people in the lurch during 
the Christmas holiday season.
  And then when it comes to a vaccine, I have no doubt that the 
incoming administration is going to claim complete credit for producing 
a vaccine and getting this virus in the rearview mirror.
  I understand why they would be tempted to do so, but it is because of 
the bipartisan action that Congress has taken with this administration 
through Operation Warp Speed that we have seen our world-class 
scientists come up with safe and effective, I hope, soon-to-be-
certified vaccines by the Food and Drug Administration, and people can 
begin to start getting vaccinated by the middle of this month. That is 
a modern-day miracle. We should all be proud of it, but it should not 
be part of a partisan campaign now after we have had an election on 
November 3.
  I wish our friends would get out of the campaign mode and get into 
the governing mode. We have got important work we need to do here.