[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 62 (Monday, April 12, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1860-S1861]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Filibuster

  Madam President, on January 8, I think most Americans--most of the 
world, really--were still deeply shaken by what happened in this 
building on January 6, when the mob broke in.
  January 6 was an assault on American democracy. It was an armed 
insurrection not just against this building but against the 
Constitution and the Government of the United States of America
  The violent mob was sent to this Capitol by a defeated President who 
tried to cancel an American election. That mob overran and ransacked 
this Capitol, smashing windows and doors. They built a gallows on the 
Capitol grounds and called for the Vice President to be hanged for 
following his duties under the Constitution, for refusing to join in 
the coup attempt.
  People died that day in this building and on these grounds. Capitol 
Police Officer Brian Sicknick, whom I mentioned earlier, suffered fatal 
injuries trying to hold back the insurrectionist mob sent by the 
President. Two more officers who fought to save the Capitol died by 
suicide in the days that followed. More than 140 police officers 
suffered serious injuries. Many of them are still recovering.
  But the insurrection at the Capitol, the attack on American 
democracy, wasn't what alarmed the dark-money special interests that 
came together for an all-hands-on-deck conference call just 2 days 
later, on January 8.
  The conference call was organized by a group with the innocuous name 
``Stand Together''--the group that is run by the Koch brothers' 
organization, well known to anyone who follows American politics. Among 
the participants on this private conference call was an adviser to the 
minority leader, Senator McConnell.
  We know these things because a recording of the conference call found 
its way to Jane Mayer, an investigative reporter for The New Yorker 
magazine, who has written a book on the Koch brothers and dark money in 
politics.
  What alarmed the dark-money special interests on that conference call 
was not the violent insurrection in this building 2 days earlier. 
According to Ms. Mayer's reporting, the reason the special interests 
were frightened was because they could not find a way to turn the 
American people against a piece of legislation, S. 1, a bill known as 
the For the People Act.
  The For the People Act is a democracy defense bill. It would limit 
the influence of dark money and special interests on our politics, and 
it would improve access to the ballot box for American voters.
  We know that access is under attack today. In Georgia and 30 other 
States, efforts are being made to suppress the American vote.
  The Koch brothers' group spends its money freely to insert political 
control. They sent the pollsters out before this conference call to 
test every attack they could think of against this bill. Nothing 
worked.
  Let me read you a passage from Ms. Mayer's article. It is a bit long. 
So bear with me. This is based on a recording of the call.
  ``Kyle McKenzie, the research director for the Koch-run advocacy 
group Stand Together, told fellow conservatives and Republican 
congressional staffers on the call that he had a `spoiler.' When 
presented with a very neutral description of the bill, people were 
generally supportive,'' McKenzie said, adding, ``The most worrisome 
part is conservatives were actually as supportive as the general public 
when they heard the neutral description. In fact, he warned, there is a 
large, very large, chunk of conservatives who are supportive of these 
efforts.''
  As a result, Mayer wrote, ``McKenzie conceded the legislation's 
opponents would likely have to rely on Republican Senators, where the 
bill is now under debate, to use what they called `under the dome' 
strategies''--legislative maneuvers such as the filibuster--to stop the 
bill, because turning public opinion against it would be incredibly 
difficult.
  S. 1, the For the People Act, is a bill to stop billionaires from 
buying elections. You can see why Charles Koch, who has grown 
accustomed to using his wealth to influence elections and dominate the 
national agenda, wouldn't like that kind of a bill. And you can see why 
he and others, members of the dark-money power elite, would be alarmed 
that all the spin-doctoring that money can buy can't turn people 
against the bill. It can't even turn conservatives against the bill.
  What is a poor billionaire to do? Well, they said it right there on 
the conference call. They can't debate the bill because they don't have 
a winning argument. Senator McConnell is just going to have to kill it 
``under the dome.'' Senator McConnell is going to have to filibuster 
it.
  One of the myths that defenders of the filibuster like to use is that 
it encourages debate and compromise. In reality, today's phone-it-in, 
remote control filibuster is used to make sure debate never even 
starts.
  There is another myth the defenders of the filibuster would like us 
to believe. They say, and Senator McConnell has repeated it, the 
filibuster has nothing to do with race. History tells us the opposite 
is true. The filibuster has always been more a creation of James Crow 
than James Madison. Segregationists used filibusters to block anti-
lynching bills in 1922, 1923, 1924, 1935, and 1938. Segregationist 
Senators filibustered bills to outlaw poll taxes in 1942, 1944, and 
1946. Segregationist Senators filibustered bills outlawing 
discrimination in employment, housing, and voting in 1957, 1960, and 
1964. Every time segregationists used the filibuster to block civil 
rights measures, they spoke of the tactic as nearly a sacred principle 
passed down by our Founding Fathers.
  Now, with voting rights under the broadest attack in more than 50 
years, with hundreds of bills being introduced in State legislatures to 
make it harder for many Americans--especially people of color--to vote, 
we are once again facing a threat of a filibuster in a voting rights 
protection bill in the Senate. History repeats itself.
  Largely under Senator McConnell's leadership, today's filibuster has 
been transformed into a weapon of mass obstruction. In 2009, during the 
Great Recession, America was in a financial free fall, our economy 
teetering on the edge of another depression, millions out of work, and 
homes and life savings at risk.

  Senator McConnell said: ``My No. 1 priority is to make sure President 
Obama is a one-term President.'' And the No. 1 weapon he used to make 
good on his threat: the filibuster.
  Now America has a new President. Senator McConnell wasn't able to 
filibuster President Biden's American Rescue Plan because we used 
reconciliation. All 50 Democratic Senators, plus the Vice President, 
were prepared to vote and break the tie. Not one single Republican 
Senator would vote for President Biden's rescue plan.
  Today, America is getting shots in the arm, and people are getting 
checks in their pockets because we passed that bill despite the 
intransigence of the other side of the aisle. We are beginning--just 
beginning--to break the back of this pandemic. There are still hotspots 
and worrisome reports, but we are beginning to break its back, and we 
are helping the millions of Americans who are hurting financially 
because of the pandemic shutdown.
  Now the Senate is ready to start work on the next chapter of our 
national economic recovery. President Biden's American Jobs Plan is a 
bold plan to invest in climate change, job creation, and create the 
good jobs and the industries of the future here in America--not 
overseas, not in China, but here in America. That is President Biden's 
goal.
  It would rebuild our roads, bridges, rails, ports, airports, and 
water systems. I learned during the break that,

[[Page S1861]]

until 1986, the city of Chicago mandated in its plumbing code that the 
service line from the water main to the home be made of lead--lead. We 
know lead is dangerous to everyone, certainly to children, and yet we 
have 23 percent of the lead service lines in America in Chicago and the 
surrounding area. That is a public health hazard. Some may not think 
that is infrastructure, but if you can't deliver safe drinking water to 
America, what else is important?
  We need to rebuild our 5G broadband internet and expand it, renewable 
energy, and advanced research and technology. We need to create 
millions of jobs and to lay the foundation for American economic 
prosperity for decades to come.
  Last night, on 60 Minutes, Chairman Jerome Powell spoke and was 
interviewed. It was a most encouraging report. He really believes we 
are right on the cusp of moving this Nation forward--dramatic increase 
in economic growth in this country. Isn't it about time? Don't we want 
a President who will invest in America to make that happen?
  Senator McConnell has already said he opposes President Biden's 
American Jobs Plan. Will our colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
really filibuster this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for America to 
lead the global economy of the 21st century? Will they really 
filibuster America's ability to compete and win against China in the 
competition for jobs and industries of the future? I hope not.
  We are all sent to the Senate with a job, to fix the problems, not 
paralyze Congress. Despite what the dark money special interests might 
want, we should aim higher than killing good solutions with the 
filibuster. Let's talk, let's meet, and let's reason things out. Let's 
negotiate, and let's pass laws that protect America's democracy and our 
economic prosperity.
  On January 6, hundreds of police officers risked their lives to 
protect democracy. Don't we owe them, for their courage and sacrifice, 
the respect of doing the work of democracy?
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.