[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 41 (Thursday, March 4, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1037-S1038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2021

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, as the Senate prepares to take up the 
American Rescue Plan today, I want to remind everyone why we are here. 
This country is in the midst of a once-in-a-century crisis--not once in 
a decade, not once in every 50 years--once in a century.
  It is a crisis that is still very much with us, and it is deadly--
deadly--serious. It has claimed more than 515,000 precious lives across 
every part of the Nation.
  For the better part of the calendar year, businesses have had to 
close their doors and entire industries teetered on the brink of 
collapse. The economy has lost 10 million jobs since this time last 
year. Millions of Americans are thousands of dollars behind on the rent 
and

[[Page S1038]]

on the utilities. Folks are facing eviction. American families have had 
their water shut off, their heat shut off in the depth of winter, and 
the power cut during their kids' first days of virtual kindergarten.
  Even as the vaccine is quickly making its way into Americans' arms 
now that President Biden has taken the helm, tens of thousands of 
Americans continue to get sick every week, and we are racing against 
the clock to defeat the pandemic and to save American lives.
  Now, Congress has come together on several occasions to pass 
emergency relief in this time of extraordinary crisis. In each case, we 
saw our economy recover, briefly, before worrying trends took hold 
again, showing the depth of the economic crisis. It is not going to be 
quick and easy to get out of.
  After the CARES bill passed, our economy stabilized before dipping 
deeply again in the summer. After we passed another emergency bill in 
December, the January numbers looked positive before once again 
slipping in recent weeks. Trusted economists--Treasury Secretary Yellen 
and Federal Chair Powell, both cautious, careful people--are telling 
us, plain as day, that the economy is not yet ready to stand on its 
own; that our recovery is deeply uncertain; that the risk of doing 
little is far greater than doing too much.
  We have also arrived at this moment, about to take up the American 
Rescue Plan, because we remember what happened the last time our 
country faced a significant economic downturn. Congress was too limited 
and constrained in its response to the financial crisis in 2008 and 
2009, and, as a result, the country suffered a long, slow, painful 
recovery--a lost decade for many American families, creating anger, 
pessimism, a sourness in the land that discombobulated our politics.
  We are not going to make those same mistakes again. We are not going 
to condemn millions of working Americans to another lost decade of 
tepid recovery. We are not going to abdicate our responsibility to help 
the American people just because we have started to see the first hint 
that things aren't as bad as during the very worst days of the 
pandemic.
  Our mission--our mission--is to crush the virus now, get our country 
back to normal, lay the foundation for our economy to come roaring 
back--roaring back.
  That is what the American Rescue Plan is designed to do, and the 
entire country has gotten behind it. Hundreds of the Nation's top 
business leaders support the plan. More than 400 mayors and local 
leaders from both parties--Democrat and Republican--support the plan. 
The American people support the plan, including a clear majority of 
Democrats, Independents, Republicans.
  It seems the only group that opposes the bill are Republicans here in 
Washington, and it is confounding. When Donald Trump was President, 
they were willing to vote for a total of over $3 trillion in aid. Now 
that President Biden is President and the economy is in the same 
pickle, generally speaking, they don't want to vote for a nickel. I 
wonder why. I wonder why.
  And I have to say, a few of my Republican colleagues are going to 
some pretty ridiculous lengths to showcase their opposition to a bill 
The Economist has called ``one of the most popular bills in decades,'' 
a bill supported by a majority--a majority--of Republican voters, not 
Republican Senators, but voters.
  Yesterday, the Republican Senator from Wisconsin--the same Senator 
who last summer proudly declared he would oppose even a dime more in 
COVID relief, the same Senator who spent a Senate hearing on Capitol 
security reading conspiracy theories into the Record and saying that 
January 6 wasn't an armed insurrection--decided to make himself the 
face of the Republican opposition to the bill by vowing to force the 
reading of the Senate amendment to the American Rescue Plan, in full, 
before we can proceed with the bill.
  We all know this will merely delay the inevitable. It will accomplish 
little more than a few sore throats for the Senate clerks who work very 
hard, day in and day out, to help the Senate function. And I want to 
thank our clerks profoundly for the work they do every day, including 
the arduous task ahead of them.
  Still, we are delighted that the Senator from Wisconsin wants to give 
the American people another opportunity to hear what is in the American 
Rescue Plan. We Democrats want America to hear what is in the plan. And 
if the Senator from Wisconsin wants the clerks to read it, let 
everybody listen because it has overwhelming support. We want them to 
hear about the direct checks they will get, as promised, to help them 
keep up with the cost of groceries, medicine, and the rent; about 
funding to expand testing and support the vaccine; about the resources 
for schools to reopen quickly and as safely as possible; about the 
money to keep firefighters, teachers, busdrivers, and first responders 
on the job; about the dollars to provide rental assistance to keep 
Americans in their homes; about the help for the hardest hit small 
businesses to hang on until brighter days return.
  Oh, yes, when the clerks read, the American people will get another 
chance to hear about the tax breaks for low-income workers and 
assistance for American families struggling with childcare--two 
measures that help make the American Rescue Plan one of the single 
largest anti-poverty bills in recent history.
  And then, once the American people have heard all over again about 
the provisions that make this bill so popular, about the support that 
is going to lift the country out of the crisis, provide millions of 
vaccines in people's arms, and set it on a path to strong recovery, the 
Senate is going to move forward with the bill.
  No matter how long it takes, the Senate is going to stay in session 
to finish the bill this week. The American people deserve nothing less.
  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 ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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