[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 9, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1414-S1416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Marcia Louise Fudge

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, today, I urge my colleagues to join me in 
supporting another dedicated and talented public servant and a great 
Ohioan--my Congresswoman for the last 12 years--Marsha Fudge, to be our 
next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
  Congresswoman Fudge is a proud daughter of Ohio. She was born in 
Cleveland, grew up in Ohio, and graduated from the Ohio State 
University and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Congresswoman Fudge 
has a long and distinguished career serving our State in the Cleveland 
and Cuyahoga County courts and Cuyahoga County prosecutors' office, as 
chief of staff to the trailblazing Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and as mayor 
of Warrensville Heights, OH.
  At HUD, Congresswoman Fudge will work to help protect our kids from 
lead poisoning, to restore the promise of fair housing, and to give 
communities the help and the resources that they need. It is a tall 
order. It is one she is poised to meet.
  She brings to the job the unique and critical experience of serving 
as mayor for the kind of community that is either overlooked or 
outright preyed upon by Wall Street and by big investors. She 
understands we can't write off entire swaths of the country--whether it 
is a coal town in southeast Ohio or a historic industrial city like the 
one I grew up in, in Mansfield, or whether it is farm country around 
Lexington, OH, or whether it is an urban neighborhood on the East Side 
of Cleveland.
  This champion of Cleveland understands that. She saw up close how 
lenders preyed on families and the foreclosure crisis that followed. My 
colleagues have heard me talk about ZIP code 44105, where Connie and I 
live, which had more foreclosures in the first half of 2007 than any 
ZIP code in the United States
  At the time, Congresswoman Fudge was serving as mayor of a city fewer 
than 20 miles away. Today, she represents this ZIP code in the United 
States Congress. Those families are more than just a statistic to her. 
They are her constituents. They are her neighbors. They are her 
friends. She knows their story. She knows how, for decades, communities 
have watched as factories closed, investment dried up, and storefronts 
were boarded over. She knows how many neighborhoods and towns have 
never had the investment they should--from Black codes to Jim Crow, to 
red lining, to the discrimination that President Trump's regulators 
locked into place. She understands how decades of policy funneled 
resources and jobs away from Black and Brown communities.
  A few years ago, I was talking with local health department officials 
in Cleveland. I asked them what percentage of the older homes that make 
up the bulk of Cleveland housing have dangerous levels of lead, those 
homes built right after World War II or before that. They said 99 
percent of those homes have high levels of lead--dangerously high 
levels of lead.
  The families in those homes are Congresswoman Fudge's constituents. 
She knows what lead poison does to kids. She knows the local efforts 
that Ohioans are leading in Cleveland to take this on. She lifts up 
their voices, which have been drowned out or silenced for too long. She 
will be a champion for families all over the country who want to be 
able to afford a home without crippling stress every single month and 
to be able to build wealth through home ownership to pass on to their 
children and grandchildren.
  Congresswoman Fudge has dedicated her career to fighting for Ohioans. 
I am excited she is now going to use all that talent and all that 
passion and all that empathy to fight for her whole country. I ask my 
colleagues to support her confirmation to be Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development.


                    American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

  Mr. President, this weekend, on Saturday, we passed the American 
Rescue Plan that will put shots in people's arms, kids back in school, 
money in people's pockets, and workers in jobs. Tens of millions 
Americans, including more than 5 million Ohioans, are going to see 
money in their pockets from stimulus checks and the dramatic expansion 
of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit.
  This comes back to, as it always does in politics--the Presiding 
Officer knows--as it does in government, and it comes down to ``whose 
side are you on?'' as this illustrates pretty well. The American Rescue 
Plan. We all remember--most of us remember--4 years ago, the Trump tax 
cut for the rich, and the blue here is the American Rescue Plan, which 
we just passed on Saturday, which the House will probably pass 
tomorrow, and President Biden will probably sign it this weekend. The 
lowest numbers--the lowest 20 percent--saw their income go up by 20 
percent under our plan. It is barely perceptible how much it went up 
under the Trump tax plan. But if you go to the top of 1 percent, you 
can see how much their income went up, and this is to the tune of 
millions and millions of dollars, and the lowest earners essentially 
got nothing from the Trump tax plan.
  So you can see here in the blue is how our tax bill will put money in 
the pockets of middle-income people, all the way up--middle-income 
people, working-class people, the lowest income people--while the Trump 
tax plan, of course, was helping the richest people in the country.
  We see that middle-class and working-class and low-income families 
are all going to benefit from the American Rescue Plan. This is a broad 
investment in a whole country--in the vast majority of people, who get 
their income not from a stock portfolio but from a paycheck. Contrast 
that with those who benefitted from the McConnell-Trump tax scam. The 
vast majority of benefits, as we all know, went to those at the top. 
Again, look at the top 1 percent. They got more from the Washington 
Republican tax giveaway than anyone else.
  At the time, I remember--the Presiding Officer, I think, remembers 
this; he opposed that bill vigorously, too--Republicans claimed it just 
wasn't possible--to do their tax bill, it wasn't possible--to avoid 
giving tax cuts to the richest 1 percent. They just had to. We knew 
they were wrong then. This has proved they are wrong.
  Again, look at the blue and the purple--the benefits that go to the 
lowest, to middle-class families, working families, and low-income 
families. Our rescue plan gave literally zero to the top 1 percent. 
They are doing just fine. The value of their stock portfolio has soared 
during the pandemic. We invested in everyone else, in the people who 
were promised more money in their paychecks from the Republican tax 
scam but never got those raises.
  As I said, 4 million Ohioans will get a stimulus check. That is out 
of 12 million people in the State. Two million Ohio families will get 
at least a $3,000 child tax credit. They will get a check--$250 every 
month year round. More than half a million Ohio workers will get an 
expanded earned income tax credit. Those childless families--single 
people, childless people, some old, a

[[Page S1415]]

number of older Ohioans not yet quite 65--will get their enhanced 
earned income tax credit. Over a million delivery drivers and more than 
a million cashiers will get an income boost, and 800,000 home health 
aides get more money back in their pockets.
  These are the workers on the frontlines of the pandemic. These are 
the people who go to work every day and expose themselves to people 
whom they don't know, in the course of their job. They go home at night 
anxious that they might be infecting their families. This is what 
making hard work pay off looks like. This is what investing in the 
country looks like. This is what a government on the side of workers 
and their families look like. It is about the dignity of work. It is 
about rewarding people that work hard. It is what we did on Saturday. 
It is what I said, as I was walking out of this building on the way 
home on Saturday, was the best day of my Senate career because we 
helped tens of millions of Americans. We helped millions of people in 
my State. We will make a difference in their lives. That is what we did 
on Saturday. That is what we will continue to do.
  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.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, this past Saturday, Senate Democrats 
signed off on the largest and most partisan transfer of wealth in the 
history of the U.S. Congress.
  In the weeks leading up to that vote, they insisted that their $1.9 
trillion giveaway would bring the relief the American people were 
seeking. They quoted suspect polling and anecdotes to support their 
ridiculous claims that the bill was bipartisan, even though they never 
even tried to secure bipartisan support. In fact, I would argue that 
Democrats threw away the idea of bipartisanship the moment they chose 
to use the reconciliation process to force their hand. After almost 30 
hours of debate, they did just that on a party-line vote. Then the 
cracks in their claims of bipartisanship and necessity began to show.
  Almost immediately after the final vote, the majority leader called 
it--and I am quoting--``one of the most progressive pieces of 
legislation--if not the most progressive--in decades.'' But we all know 
that his definition of ``progressive'' isn't compatible with the kind 
of targeted relief everyone here would probably agree that this country 
needs, had my colleagues on the other side of the aisle not seen an 
opportunity to fulfill the radical campaign promises that had put them 
into power. They chose--they chose--that power over dealing with the 
needs that people have.
  They did what they set out to do. A fraction of the American Rescue 
Plan's $2 trillion pricetag would go toward that--and I am quoting 
again--``big, bold, urgent'' relief that Democrats spent all weekend 
long bragging about. I am sure you heard them as you turned on the TV. 
Here is the truth: Only 9 percent--9 percent--will go toward vaccines, 
testing, healthcare jobs; 9 percent of a nearly $2 trillion bill goes 
for COVID relief.
  But if we want to talk about big, bold spending plans, let's talk 
about all those special earmarks and sweetheart deals that Democrats 
used to take advantage of the situation and seize even more power--
again, after the power, using people as pawns to get their liberal wish 
list, get the money in the pipeline. Of course, you can forget that we 
had $1 trillion already in the pipeline that had not been spent, also 
putting their desired power ahead of our children and grandchildren who 
are going to have to pay that debt. Immoral.
  In my office, we call this bill the blue State bailout. We do it for 
a reason. You can look at this chart. Along with that laughable 9 
percent of actual COVID relief, the American people took on $350 
billion in debt to cover a bailout for some of the highest spending and 
most poorly managed State and local governments in the country. The 
number is astronomically higher than even the most extreme estimates of 
need conjured up by leftwing think tanks. It is more than the $31 
billion loss in expected tax revenue that experts forecasted. And it 
doesn't even take into consideration that many States don't need a 
bailout. Many States had success putting those five previous bipartisan 
COVID relief packages to work. They caught up on their tax revenue with 
time to spare.
  But, still, that $350 billion, it served a purpose. You can see it 
right here. The blue States, they are getting more money. The red 
States, they are losing money. It created yet another expectation of 
dependency that mismanaged States and local governments can lean on 
when their out-of-control spending policies come back to bite them.
  And we have learned today that the majority leader had a staff member 
who tweeted out that the money from this bill, it would tend to New 
York State's deficit--pretty much the same thing we are hearing from 
California and from some of the big blue cities. If you can't control 
your spending habits, crank up the printing presses.
  The payday continued with an $85 billion no-strings-attached pension 
bailout that everyone from the Committee for a Responsible Federal 
Budget to the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, to the 
editorial board of the Washington Post agree had nothing to do with 
COVID relief--nothing. It was a gift to an embattled constituency and 
another pernicious assertion that when the going gets tough and the 
money in those mismanaged funds evaporates, just call on the Federal 
Government and crank up the printing presses one more time. Why? Oh, we 
need the money. We cannot manage our budgets. We are running low on 
fulfilling our obligation to the pension fund. Oh, my goodness, we have 
so many needs.
  Everybody has needs. Our children and our grandchildren have needs. 
They need freedom. They need Members of the Senate, Members of the 
House to act like adults and address the problems that are right in 
front of us.
  When President Biden asked, back in February, what would they have me 
cut from this spending bill, I would have told him, let's start with 
this money. Let's start with the money that is going to the States to 
bail them out because yes, indeed, this is now the Biden blue State 
bailout.

  Democrats' desire for a lawless and open border shone through in 
their unanimous refusal to accept an amendment that would have kept 
billions of dollars in direct payments out of the hands of illegal 
immigrants. This was more than just a handout; it was a signal to every 
person who is trying to jump the line and break the rules that we will 
not only tolerate it, but now we are encouraging it. Think about that. 
Think about that.
  The rule of law is out the window. We are willing to chip away at our 
own security--the Democrats are--and ignore the growing crisis at our 
southern border--the Democrats are. And if it means we can slap a 
bandaid on what has become a gaping wound and call it a win in the war 
against poverty, the Democrats are OK with doing that. It is called 
spin. But it does not address the underlying issues. It doesn't address 
the fact that they are doing this at the expense of schools, small 
businesses, and families.
  Democrats certainly followed through on their campaign promise to 
empower teachers unions. In fact, they went so far as to approve a 
provision that would pay schools to stay closed. All 50 Democrats voted 
against an amendment that would have sent new funding only to schools 
that have followed the science and have reopened safely.
  You know, you would have thought that the Democrats would have at 
least done that for the children. But, no. In addition to saddling them 
with debt--another $2 trillion worth of debt--they encouraged the 
teachers unions to not go back to school. That vote put the power right 
where the Democrats want it--in the hands of the unions. And millions 
of students and teachers out there will continue to pay the mental and 
emotional price for this action.
  This bill took so much from people who have absolutely nothing to 
give. Think of all those billions of dollars wasted on unnecessary 
State bailouts, pension rescues, and union appeasement. We had the 
opportunity to spend that money on vaccine distribution and

[[Page S1416]]

small business relief and a light at the end of the tunnel for rural 
healthcare systems that are hanging on by a thread.
  So why did Democrats throw so much money at their pet projects? Do 
they really owe that many favors and paybacks? They certainly didn't 
pour their time and energy into those 600 pages to provide relief but 
to shamelessly advance their own agenda and throw aside struggling 
families and workers. Struggling families and workers were simply the 
price for getting the power that the Democrats wanted.
  When I talk to Tennesseans about what happened in this Chamber last 
week, I tell them: You are right about what you were seeing as you 
watched the proceedings. You are right. Democrats took advantage of 
you, of your desperation and your exhaustion. They used slick messaging 
and wordy phrases to sell a bill of goods that treats every pet project 
they have and every liberal wish list agenda item as essential.
  They like changing the rules. They change the meaning of words like 
``essential'' because they knew that if they could make everything that 
they wanted essential, they could take all the power away from local, 
responsible governments. They could take it away from school districts 
and small businesses. And do you know what they are doing with it? They 
are going to centralize it.
  See, here is the thing: You were essential to their greedy power 
grab. They had to have you.

  They had to give their bill a nice-sounding name. They had to say 
certain things were essential, but you--small businesses, families, 
people who are playing by the rules, you were not essential to them.
  See, that is what ``progressive'' means to Senate Democrats, and if 
we continue along this road, you are right; it will be an absolute 
unmitigated disaster for every single person that my colleagues across 
the aisle have used as leverage against responsible policy that will 
actually bring us out of this pandemic.
  No, it is not about getting out of the pandemic. It is about power, 
the power that they want.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.