[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 71 (Monday, April 26, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2194-S2195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Teacher Appreciation Week

  Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam President, I rise today to recognize the 
extraordinary work of the teachers in Arkansas and across the country.
  As we prepare to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, it is clear 
that educators are in a class by themselves when it comes to 
resilience. Over the last 12 months, they have shown us what it means 
to be selfless and brave at a time when both were critically necessary.
  I am especially proud of teachers in Arkansas who rose to the 
challenge of leading classes 100 percent virtually for the first time 
and then embraced reopening our schools in August 2020. The sudden 
transition to virtual learning was an extraordinary hurdle, as 
educators had to learn new technology and new teaching techniques 
overnight.
  For all of us who have learned to use Zoom, it is worth taking a 
moment to imagine an online classroom with 30 wiggling first graders 
who want to show you their pets, or that you are teaching calculus to 
high school students who are preparing for an AP exam while attending 
class from their car at a Wi-Fi hotspot. Somehow, with great creativity 
and dedication, teachers embraced this mission and continued to do 
everything they could to reach each child.
  When Arkansas schools reopened in the fall, they were faced with a 
tremendous new challenge, from masks and social distancing to teaching 
classes, where some students were at their desks and others were on the 
screen. Arkansas teachers, once again, did the impossible for their 
students.
  Over the last year, I have heard from educators who worried for their 
own health and safety but said their dedication to their students was 
stronger than fear. They learned new skills literally overnight, 
overhauled the curriculum, and reimagined every aspect of their 
classroom to comply with COVID-19 guidelines. Somehow, they also made 
our kids feel safe--safe enough to learn, set an example with their 
positive attitudes, and let students know how important they were, 
whether in the classroom or on a computer screen.
  As they worked to maintain the academic progress of each child, they 
also provided a lifeline in an otherwise chaotic time. It is amazing to 
see the smiles on faces of the kids when they see their teachers. Even 
though nothing was normal, they gave students an escape back to 
normalcy by being there and continuing to do what they do best--teach.
  When we look back at the heroes of this tumultuous time, it is clear 
that teachers will be among those we honor as society's most valuable 
players.
  On behalf of the people of Arkansas, I want to thank our teachers for 
the great work that they have done this year and every year to bring 
out the best in each child and pave the way to a brighter future.
  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. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                       For the People Act of 2021

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, we are less than 100 days into the 
Biden administration, and already we can identify a pattern in how they 
are building their policy initiatives, interacting with Congress, and 
marketing their ideas to the American people. In every example, the 
governing rule can be boiled down to ``what you see isn't what you are 
going to get.''
  So far, in this 117th Congress, every single major policy proposal 
that DC Democrats have forced into the spotlight has been based on a 
false premise. They have intentionally misled the American people and 
are now catering to the increasingly radical leftwing that gets further 
out of step with the rest of this country each and every passing day.
  Consider last month's absurd $1.9 trillion spending package. The 
Democrats billed this as ``the American Rescue Plan'' and ``COVID 
relief,'' but only 9 percent--9 percent--of the total package pricetag 
went for testing, vaccinations, and healthcare jobs. The rest

[[Page S2195]]

they used on a massive blue State bailout and blatant redistribution of 
wealth.
  It is the same story with this month's $2.25 trillion spending 
package. They have done their best to pass this off as an 
``infrastructure plan,'' but even if you add up every single line item 
that is dedicated to roads, bridges, highways, interstates, ports, 
waterways, airports, broadband, and the power grid, only a little over 
one-third of that plan will pay for actual infrastructure projects. The 
rest--the rest--of that $2.25 trillion is just another slush fund for 
union activism, climate change auditors, and Green New Deal fantasies.
  S. 1, the so-called ``voting rights'' bill that my colleagues across 
the aisle have spoken so passionately about, completes the trifecta of 
bait-and-switch bills, advertised as one thing but that would 
accomplish something completely different.
  Now, S. 1 isn't as much a taxpayer-dollar grab as it is a nearly 
unprecedented policy power grab that offers solutions in search of 
problems. It ignores the promises of federalism. It disregards the 
constitutional directive affording States--affording the States--power 
over their own elections.
  It requires the use of ballot casting technology and voter 
registration systems that don't even exist yet, but I think you can bet 
that some politically connected companies will make a whole bunch of 
money coming to the market with this technology.
  It would dismantle voter ID laws and prevent local, meaningful 
cleanup of voter rolls. Your local election commission wouldn't be able 
to purge their rolls of individuals who have died or moved away. We 
know that this leads you to a recipe for fraud.

  Speaking of fraud, it would force States to allow ballot harvesting. 
That is right; it would mandate that they allow ballot harvesting. 
Everyone has heard of the perils that exist with ballot harvesting. It 
would mandate donor disclosure, opening private citizens up to 
harassment and violent attacks. It would upend the mechanics of local 
elections for officials and voters alike and cause chaos and confusion 
in every precinct in this country.
  So why in the world would Democrats even try to pitch this mess as 
something that would protect voting rights? By all accounts, it would 
increase the likelihood for fraud and confusion. Well, I think that 
they are doing it for the same reason they slapped a ``COVID'' label on 
a $1.9 trillion wish list and an ``infrastructure'' label on a $2.25 
trillion wish list. They know that if the American people caught on to 
all that they are doing, they would never win another election.
  Now, think about that--if you know your policies are so unpopular 
with the American people that you have to cloak them behind different 
words, different phrases, words that the meaning of the word is 
evolving because they don't stand up to scrutiny in the light of day. 
And that is what is happening.
  You know, it isn't just false advertising. It is not a falsehood. It 
is not misrepresentation. It is not an inaccuracy. It is not an 
accidental lie. This is an intentional lie. They are perpetrating this 
lie on behalf of a radical leftist minority of Americans whose ideas 
are so destructive that they wouldn't withstand 10 minutes of good, 
solid, robust, respectful bipartisan debate on this Senate floor.
  Nothing about S. 1 will serve the best interests of the American 
people, and my Republican colleagues and I aren't the only ones who see 
the problems with it. Tennesseeans are worried about this, too, 
because, in Tennessee, we did the work to clean up our voter rolls and 
implement fair voter ID laws. We cut down on fraud and increased faith 
in the electoral process.
  This is how it is supposed to work. We do not need Federal 
intervention to protect the vote. So no wonder my Democratic colleagues 
chose to use the full weight of the Senate Judiciary Committee to scare 
the American people into believing they live in ``Jim Crow America.'' 
Throughout the course of last week's hearing, which they called ``Jim 
Crow 2021: The Latest Assault on the Right to Vote,'' they weaponized 
the pernicious lens of critical race theory against Georgia legislators 
and the thousands of election officials and volunteers who work year-
round to bring as many eligible voters to the polls as possible.
  Everyone should exercise their right to vote. We should protect one 
person, one vote. We should encourage people in our local communities 
to cast their ballot. But my friends across the aisle, they are 
desperate, and they are desperate to distract from what S. 1 would 
actually do, so desperate to distract from what it would actually do 
that they are willing to project the evil hatred behind slavery, 
segregation, and race-based violence, projecting that onto people whose 
only goal is to protect the vote from criminals who would seek to 
defraud it and make certain that individuals are registered to vote, 
that they vote, and that legal votes are counted and those improperly 
cast are not.
  Now, my friends across the aisle have an invalid premise, and they 
should all pause and question their motives. The American people should 
be worried about what is happening in this Chamber when no one is 
looking. They should feel outrage at an administration that 
deliberately tries to manipulate them into supporting destructive, 
wasteful, and dangerous legislation.
  I think these bait-and-switch tactics are going to backfire. I think 
the scare tactics are going to backfire because instead of being scared 
into submission, which is the agenda of the left, the American people 
are going to be scared into action.
  Based on the contents of H.R. 1 and S. 1, I guess that they are more 
familiar with the ins and outs of their neighborhood polling places 
than DC Democrats could ever expect to be. And that doesn't bode well 
for the administration or the current congressional majority
  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. PETERS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. PETERS. Madam President, I also ask unanimous consent to deliver 
my complete remarks prior to the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.