[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1698-S1699]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 928

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, in a moment, I am going to propound a 
unanimous consent request. But before I do so, I want to make some 
brief observations.
  Earlier this month, Democrats passed their extreme partisan 
reconciliation bill--a bill that President Biden signed into law. When 
the Senate was considering the bill, I introduced an amendment to 
ensure that illegal aliens would not receive the $1,400 taxpayer 
payments provided in the bill. Every single Democrat in this body voted 
against that amendment. It failed by a single vote. If even one Senate 
Democrat had voted for that amendment, it would have passed.
  At the time, Senator Durbin incorrectly told this Chamber that no 
illegal aliens would receive stimulus checks under this bill. It was 
clear then, and it is even more clear now, that that statement was very 
much in error, as even Senator Durbin has admitted.
  Last Thursday, I gave my Democratic colleagues a chance for a do-
over, once it became clear that there was a very substantial number of 
illegal aliens who would be receiving these checks. Unfortunately, the 
Democrats objected again and put themselves on record that they are 
just fine with millions of illegal immigrants getting taxpayer stimulus 
checks.
  There has been some debate as to the exact number, but, just this 
week, the Center for Immigration Studies released an economic report 
that catalogued that we are indeed talking about millions of illegal 
immigrants who are receiving these checks.
  At the same time we were debating this partisan reconciliation bill, 
the Senate considered another amendment, which I had introduced and 
Senator Cassidy had introduced, to prevent the payments from going to 
criminals currently incarcerated in prison. Again, unfortunately and 
astonishingly, every single Democrat in this Chamber voted against it. 
It failed by a single vote. If even one Democrat had demonstrated the 
common sense to say violent criminals who are currently in prison right 
now, today, shouldn't be getting $1,400 taxpayer stimulus checks, that 
amendment would have passed. But every Democrat lined up in a party-
line partisan vote to say no.
  Today, I am going to give Democrats another chance at a do-over to 
recognize that that extreme position is a position, frankly, none of us 
could go home and explain to our constituents without being laughed at, 
even in the bluest of States. And I am going to give an opportunity in 
this instance for Democrats to vote on stopping the funds going to 
criminals currently incarcerated and sending those funds instead to the 
Crime Victims Fund, a program that is run by the Department of Justice 
to compensate victims of crime.
  So this is a choice the Democrats have: Do you want $1,400 checks 
going to criminals in prison, or do you want instead to direct those 
funds to the victims of crime that have suffered at the hands of those 
criminals?
  Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 928, 
introduced earlier today. I further ask that the bill be considered 
read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. WYDEN. Reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, just two quick points. First, this is not 
really about prisoners. This is about disrupting payments to families 
all across the country who need the money to make rent and pay for 
groceries.
  Here is why. The IRS administers the tax system for millions and 
millions of Americans. The Cruz amendment has the practical effect of 
keeping these folks who are hurting from getting that check that they 
are going to use to pay for essentials. That is because their check 
would be on hold while the IRS sets up the system envisioned by this 
amendment.
  Now, I guess that is what my colleague from Texas wants. After all, 
he opposed the bill. He opposed these payments from the get-go. So if 
he passes this amendment, he gets what he wants, but for all those 
folks who are hurting, their checks are on hold.
  The last point I want to make is that it wasn't always this way for 
Republicans and our colleague from Texas. Republicans were for these 
payments before they were against them. They voted for two rounds of 
relief checks going out to all the people who are being discussed here 
when they controlled the White House and the Senate.
  Senator Cruz voted for the CARES Act. It passed unanimously. There 
were 44 Republicans for the December relief bill, with no exception 
like the Senator from Texas wants.
  Donald Trump was so happy with the checks going to prisoners that he 
put his name on them. The only difference between the CARES Act relief 
checks that Republicans unanimously supported and America Rescue Plan 
relief checks is the party in the White House.
  Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.

[[Page S1699]]

  The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, the Senator from Oregon, I guess, 
demonstrates the principle that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays 
to virtue, because the Senator from Oregon suggests that somehow 
payments to people who are not criminals will be delayed if we don't 
pay criminals in prison. That claim, on the face of it, is absurd.
  The Federal prisons are administered by the Bureau of Prisons. 
Government may not be good at everything, but I feel quite confident 
that the Federal Government can produce a list of currently 
incarcerated prisoners. I know the States can
  The IRS, likewise, is perfectly capable of recognizing whether it is 
mailing checks to prisoners in prison. This is not whether you have 
ever been convicted of a crime. It is, Are you sending the checks to 
Sing Sing? If so, don't send it.
  The claim that somehow Joe Six-Pack at home is not getting his check 
because we don't want to send checks to prisoners is demonstrably 
untrue.
  The Senator from Oregon also claims Republicans oppose stimulus 
checks, when he knows that is simply not the case. As he noted, this 
body overwhelmingly passed bipartisan COVID relief five times last 
year. It is only when Senate Democrats took the majority that 
bipartisan legislation ended because the Democrats decided to push a 
hard partisan bill instead.
  A clean bill providing relief checks would have passed with an 
overwhelming bipartisan majority in this body, and the Senator from 
Oregon knows that.
  We have now discovered, though, that given a straight-up choice 
between sending checks to criminals in prison versus sending checks to 
the victims of crime, Senate Democrats stand with the criminals.