[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 19 (Tuesday, February 2, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S215-S216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on COVID-19, even as we continue to 
confirm President Biden's nominees, the Senate will turn this week to 
the historic task of preparing a rescue package to lift our country out 
of the depths of the awful COVID-19 pandemic and set our country back 
on the path to normalcy. Despite the best efforts of Congress over the 
past year, the needs in our country are still great and still urgent.
  The disease has been with us for nearly a year, and yet this January 
was officially the worst month to date. Nearly 100,000 Americans died 
just in the last month. Unemployment insurance claims remain at nearly 
1 million a week. Schools remain closed, businesses unvisited, and all 
the familiar fixtures of daily life still remain on hold.
  All of us in this Chamber are tired of seeing our constituents, our 
friends, our family, our country suffer. It is time to meet the 
challenges of the moment with boldness, with courage, and with urgency.
  When Congress came together to pass an interim emergency relief bill 
in December, we all knew the job was not complete. Economic experts and 
the

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President-elect at the time called it an important downpayment because 
that is what it was--a downpayment, not the final act. No one should be 
surprised that the first legislative act of the new Democratic majority 
is to build on that foundation and help the country defeat COVID-19 
once and for all. So the Senate is going to move forward this week with 
the process for producing the next bold rescue package.
  Yesterday, Speaker Pelosi and I filed a joint budget resolution for 
the 2021 fiscal year, totaling $1.9 trillion, which will give us 
another legislative tool to pass a COVID relief bill quickly and 
decisively. The Senate will vote to proceed on the budget resolution 
this afternoon. Time is a luxury our country does not have.
  Let me be very clear. We are not going to dilute, to dither, to 
delay. We are not going to dilute, dither, or delay. The needs of the 
American people are so demanding, we need to think big, and we need to 
act quickly. The Senate must move forward today with the vote to begin 
debate on the budget resolution, and I am optimistic that the motion to 
proceed will pass.
  I would say to my Republican colleagues that we want this important 
work to be bipartisan. We welcome your ideas, your input, and your 
revisions. We welcome cooperation. There is nothing about the process--
or a budget resolution or reconciliation, for that matter--that 
forecloses the possibility of bipartisanship.
  I would remind this Chamber that since 1980, the budget process has 
been used 17 times--17 times--to pass serious bipartisan legislation. 
This process is open to bipartisanship.
  So let me be clear to my colleagues this morning. There will be a 
bipartisan, open amendment process on the budget resolution this week. 
Democrats eagerly encourage participation from both sides of the aisle 
on this proposal. Again, there is nothing about the process itself that 
prevents bipartisanship. What has made recent reconciliation efforts by 
Senate Republicans so partisan was not the process but the legislation 
they sought to pass.
  The former Senate majority--I heard the Senator from Texas crying 
crocodile tears about using reconciliation, but just a few years ago, 
he was an active participant in using it twice to pursue expressly 
partisan and deeply unpopular legislation--first, to repeal our 
Nation's healthcare law and kick millions of Americans off of their 
healthcare coverage, and second, to slash taxes for big corporations 
and the wealthy to the tune of a $1.7 trillion bill and hole in our 
deficit. Of course, Democrats opposed those efforts on the merits.
  At the moment, however, we are talking about using the budget process 
to help small business--something we all support. We are talking about 
using the budget process to speed the production and distribution of a 
vaccine that everyone champions and everyone knows is the key to ending 
the crisis. We are talking about getting our country back on its feet 
and our economy back on track.
  We want this entire effort to be bipartisan. We do. But helping the 
American people with the big, bold relief they need--that is job No. 1. 
That is job No. 1, which is so, so important. So, again, we are not 
going to dilute, dither, or delay because the demands of the American 
people are so real and so large. We need to think big and think 
quickly.
  Helping millions of Americans who are still without work by extending 
the enhanced unemployment benefits that are now slated to expire in 
March. Helping parents waiting for the day their kids can finally go 
back to school safely. Helping teachers, firefighters, busdrivers, and 
other essential public employees at the State and local levels, 
preventing them from the risk of layoffs. Helping restaurants and bars 
and theaters, which were the first to close and may be the last to 
open. Helping every American struggling to make ends meet, to pay the 
rent, pay the mortgage, pay for groceries, keep up with that utility 
bill, by sending them direct assistance in the form of a check. That is 
job No. 1--helping the American people survive the toughest months of 
this crisis while hastening the end of the crisis itself.
  In the months to come, millions of Americans will be vaccinated, and 
slowly but surely, life will return to normal once again. The rescue 
plan proposed by President Biden--the rescue plan that we begin to work 
on this week--will lay the foundation for our country's long-awaited 
comeback, while giving Americans a helping hand to stay safe and stay 
financially secure in the meantime.
  I look forward to proceeding with this budget resolution and on the 
work of making this historic and vital rescue package a reality so it 
works for the American people
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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