[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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