[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 94 (Friday, May 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3928-S3929]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT--Motion to Proceed

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar 46, H.R. 7.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 7) to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
     1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of 
     discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, 
     and for other purposes.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     proceed to Calendar No. 46, H.R. 7, a bill to amend the Fair 
     Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective 
     remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages 
     on the basis of sex, and for other purposes.
         Charles E. Schumer, Patty Murray, Tammy Duckworth, Angus 
           S. King, Jr., Elizabeth Warren, Jack Reed, Richard J. 
           Durbin, Maria Cantwell, Bernard Sanders, John 
           Hickenlooper, Benjamin L. Cardin, Tina Smith, Amy 
           Klobuchar, Thomas R. Carper, Mazie K. Hirono, Richard 
           Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse.


                      Unanimous Consent Agreement

  Mr. SCHUMER. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture 
motions with respect to Executive Calendar Nos. 130 and 127 ripen at 
5:30 p.m., Monday, June 7; that the cloture with respect to the motion 
to proceed to H.R. 7 ripen upon disposition of S. 1260 and the 
mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, May 28, be 
waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

[[Page S3929]]

  



                          January 6 Commission

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I have a brief statement on the vote on 
the January 6 Commission.
  My colleagues, this was a case of good news and bad news about the 
Republican Party in the Senate.
  The good news: Republicans worked with Democrats on comprehensive 
legislation to strengthen our commitment to scientific research, which 
will pass the Senate when the Senate resumes session.
  The bad news: The Republican minority just mounted a partisan 
filibuster against an independent Commission to report on January 6. 
Both efforts should have moved forward solidly in a bipartisan way, but 
out of fear or fealty to Donald Trump, the Republican minority just 
prevented the American people from getting the full truth about January 
6. The Republican minority just prevented the Senate from even debating 
the bill--no opportunity for amendments, no opportunity for debate.
  There was an attempt by the Republican minority to shunt this vote 
into the dark of night, but because of today's Senate time agreement, 
it was done in broad daylight. The American people will see how each 
Republican Senator voted.
  This should have been simple. The Commission was bipartisan, 
independent, straight down the middle. House Democrats accepted every 
change that House leadership requested. Speaker Pelosi and I supported 
and still do support the changes Senator Collins proposed, and we told 
that to other Senators.
  Senate Republicans, for months, publicly supported the idea of a 
Commission, but now, all of a sudden, the Senate minority and the 
Senate minority leader waged a partisan filibuster against the bill.
  This vote has made it official: Donald Trump's Big Lie has now fully 
enveloped the Republican Party. Trump's Big Lie is now the defining 
principle of what was once the party of Lincoln.
  House Republicans canned Congresswoman Cheney for the crime of 
telling the truth that Joe Biden is President. Republican State 
legislatures seizing on the Big Lie are conducting the greatest assault 
on voting rights since the beginning of Jim Crow. Republicans in both 
Chambers are trying to rewrite history and claim that January 6 was 
just a peaceful protest that got a little out of hand. And now this--a 
partisan blockade of a simple, independent, bipartisan Commission.
  I have heard all the excuses why Republicans are opposing this bill: 
It is too early. It goes on too long. It is not needed. Almost all of 
these excuses are meritless and were invented in the past 2 weeks.
  We all know what is going on here. Senate Republicans chose to defend 
the Big Lie because they believe anything that might upset Donald Trump 
could hurt them politically.
  We all lived through the horrors of January 6. I was no farther than 
30 feet from those White Supremacist hooligans. Do my Republican 
colleagues remember that day? Do my Republican colleagues remember the 
savage mob calling for the execution of Mike Pence, the makeshift 
gallows outside the Capitol, men with bulletproof vests and zip ties 
breaking into the Senate Gallery and rifling through your desks, and 
police officers crushed between doorways? Shame on the Republican Party 
for trying to sweep the horrors of that day under the rug because they 
are afraid of Donald Trump.
  Our democracy has long endured because leaders of good faith, even if 
they disagreed, even at political costs, shared a fidelity to the 
truth. That is not so today.
  I hope this is not the beginning of an effort by Senate Republicans 
to prevent this Chamber from debating reasonable, commonsense 
legislation. We will soon see.
  After the State work period, I will bring forward legislation that 
would help provide equal pay for women. Will our Republican colleagues 
let the Senate debate the bill, or will they engage in another partisan 
filibuster of urgent legislation? We will soon see.
  Madam President, I have a lot of pages here, a lot of business to 
conduct.

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