[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 217 (Sunday, December 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7855-S7856]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, our bipartisan, bicameral discussions 
on another major pandemic rescue package continued all night and this 
morning. We are winnowing down the remaining differences. I believe I 
can speak for all sides when I say I hope and expect to have a final 
agreement nailed down in a matter of hours.
  Yesterday evening, our Democratic colleagues agreed to important 
language authored by Senator Toomey. Back in March, in the CARES Act, 
Congress funded several new emergency lending facilities to be operated 
by the Federal Reserve. Their purpose was simple: to backstop the basic 
foundations of our economy and prevent any kind of sweeping financial 
paralysis.
  Our actions worked. The other historic relief that Congress passed, 
combined with the existence of these lending facilities staved off 
systemic collapse. American workers and families still need much more 
help, but a total financial meltdown never materialized.
  These new emergency lending facilities were always intended to sunset 
at the end of this year. Senator Toomey and our Democratic colleagues 
have landed on compromise language that ensures this will, in fact, 
happen.
  It also redirects the dormant money in these accounts toward the 
urgent needs of working Americans and ensures that these expired 
programs cannot be simply restarted or cloned without another 
authorization from Congress, all while preserving both the independence 
of the Federal Reserve and the proper authority of Congress. It is yet 
another example of good-faith bipartisan collaboration that has defined 
our discussions all week.
  At this point, we are down to the last few differences that stand 
between struggling Americans and the major rescue package they need and 
deserve.
  These days and nights of negotiations have been encouraging, but our 
citizens need this waiting game to be over. Yesterday alone, another 
3,388 of my fellow Kentuckians tested positive for the coronavirus. The 
virus continues to spread throughout our country. Thousands of 
Americans are being robbed of their lives on a daily basis.
  And while the resilience of the American people have brought along 
our economic recovery faster than expected, it will remain both 
insufficient

[[Page S7856]]

and tenuous until the vaccines that will end this fight have been 
distributed all across the Nation.
  For months--literally months--Senate Republicans have been calling 
for another targeted package to reopen the job-saving Paycheck 
Protection Program, extend Federal unemployment benefits, fund K-12 
schools, fund vaccine distribution, and get a lot more help onto the 
frontlines as fast as possible. I am relieved that we appear to be just 
hours away from legislation that will finally do that.
  When we get this done, Congress will not deserve any special praise, 
not with this relief having waited until late December and not with 
some of our Democratic colleagues openly saying the reason they finally 
changed their tuned was that they finally got a President-elect of 
their own party. When we finalize this measure and pass it, Congress 
will only have done our job. We will have finally done our duty in 
getting more relief to those who need it most.
  Let's make today the day we join together, put differences aside, and 
finally get it done.

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