[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S793-S794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. President, on COVID, while the Senate will be busy fulfilling its 
constitutional duty to advise and consent on Presidential nominees, 
Democrats remain hard at work preparing the desperately needed COVID 
relief bill.
  Our country is still in the throes of a crisis. Yesterday, we passed 
that grim milestone of 500,000 deaths, a towering and incomprehensible 
figure. Millions of Americans have reported being thousands of dollars 
behind on rent, on utilities. Small businesses are hanging on for dear 
life. Vaccinating 330 million Americans as efficiently as possible is 
one of the most crucial and complex undertakings of our times.
  What we need to do now is put our foot on the gas to end the pandemic 
as quickly as possible, get our economy back to normal, and repair the 
damage that has been done. That is what the American Rescue Plan is all 
about. It will deliver the resources to keep small businesses afloat; 
Americans in their homes; and teachers, firefighters, and other 
essential employees in the public sector on the job.

[[Page S794]]

  It will send a direct check to Americans struggling with a once-in-a-
lifetime financial burden. It will boost vaccine distribution. And it 
will provide funding and guidance for schools to reopen as quickly and 
safely as possible.
  That last point, in particular, should appeal to my Republican 
friends who have been raising concern about school closures. We all 
want the schools to reopen safely. We are all worried about the cost of 
virtual learning on children and parents.
  The solution is simple. It is not giving a speech here on the Senate 
floor. It is not criticizing teachers or school administrators. It is 
giving school districts the funding they need to reopen safely. It is 
expensive--expensive--to reopen safely during the COVID crisis. We want 
to do it as quickly as possible, and it is hard to understand that our 
Republican friends are saying: ``Open up the schools'' and ``I won't 
vote for any money for the schools'' to do just that. It is a complete 
contradiction.
  The Republican position seems to be that these difficult challenges 
will fix themselves, that we don't need any more aid; we did enough 
already. Anyone who knows anything about schools knows, in the vast 
majority of schools in this country, that is just not the case.
  So let our Republican friends put their votes where their speeches 
are, in helping the schools, in getting the money, in opening the 
schools safely--not in simply trying to make a political point and then 
trashing the schools without giving them the money they need. It makes 
no sense whatsoever. It is a total contradiction.
  Also, if we don't act, enhanced unemployment benefits will expire for 
millions of Americans in need. If we don't act, millions of struggling 
families will miss out on direct payments and an expansion of the child 
tax credit and the earned income tax credit. If we don't act, we risk 
the same long, slow, and painful recovery we experienced after the 
financial crisis of 2008, when Congress did too little to get our 
country back on track.
  The worst thing we could do would be to slow down now before the race 
is won. We will not do that. Later this week, the House--and, soon 
thereafter, the Senate--will start working on President Biden's 
American Rescue Plan.
  Mayors, Governors, and economists from across the political spectrum 
agree that it should be a sizable effort. Treasury Secretary Yellen 
told us that ``the smartest thing we can do is act big.'' Federal 
Chairman Powell warned that we are ``a long way off from full 
recovery'' and that the greater risk lies in doing too little rather 
than doing too much.
  Most importantly, the American people in poll after poll 
overwhelmingly approve of President Biden's American Rescue Plan. One 
of the last polls I saw showed a majority of Republicans--voters, 
citizens, Americans, Republican citizens, Republican Americans--agree 
with this plan. The Nation understands that we are not out of the woods 
yet and that Congress should do what is necessary to finish the job. 
Where are our Republican friends?
  As I have said from the start, Democrats remain committed to working 
with our colleagues from the other side of the aisle to improve the 
bill, but at the end of the day, the American people sent us here with 
a job to do, and the clock is ticking. Democrats will not wait to move 
forward with the American Rescue Plan and taking the next important 
step in getting our country back to normal.