[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 214 (Thursday, December 17, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7566-S7567]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we continue to move closer to a final

[[Page S7567]]

agreement on an omnibus appropriations bill and a package of emergency 
Federal aid to provide the country relief from the continuing impact 
from the COVID-19 pandemic.
  Yesterday, House and Senate leadership worked well into the night. We 
resumed first thing this morning. While many, if not all, of the 
difficult topics are behind us, a few final issues must be hammered 
out. We are very close to an agreement, but the details really matter. 
When it comes to unemployment benefits, stimulus checks, aid to small 
businesses, and so much else, we have a responsibility to get this 
right. People's lives depend upon it.
  I would note that had the Republican majority joined in negotiations 
anytime in the last 6 months, as we had requested, we would not be in 
the unfortunate position of negotiating against the government funding 
deadline. Leader McConnell kept calling for a pause, and here we are. I 
also note that we would have a much larger bill that met crucial needs 
of so many Americans if Republicans had not been so intransigent.
  But we are all eager to conclude our work and deliver the relief that 
the American people have been waiting for. Everyone wants to see this 
get done, and soon. It is not an easy feat or process. We are talking 
about providing relief to a country that is hurting from coast to 
coast; a country with tens of millions of unemployed workers and more 
slipping into poverty every day; a country with businesses of all sizes 
and varieties struggling in different ways and more in danger of 
closing for good every week; a country that just yesterday suffered the 
worst day of the entire pandemic--the most cases, the most 
hospitalizations, the most deaths, more than 3,600 American lives.
  Already, we know that the size of this emergency relief bill would be 
the largest stimulus in the history of our country if not for the other 
COVID relief bill, the CARES bill, which I negotiated with Secretary 
Mnuchin and we passed earlier this year.
  Let me say that again. We are putting the final touches on what would 
be the largest stimulus in the history of the country with the 
exception of the CARES Act--larger even than ARRA, the stimulus bill 
Congress passed in the wake of the financial crisis in 2009.
  None of the remaining hurdles cannot be overcome. Everyone is 
committed to achieving a result, and we will not leave until we get the 
job done.
  I yield the floor.