[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 122 (Tuesday, July 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4838-S4840]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. President, the second issue the Republican leader raised this 
morning is worthy of note. When we passed emergency supplemental bills 
in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic crisis, and the Trump 
administration was in charge, they were bipartisan in nature. I was 
happy to support them. We were facing an American national public 
health crisis. Our economy was suffering gravely, families and workers 
the same.
  Democrats joined with Republicans during the Trump years to provide 
resources to businesses and individuals across America to get through 
that terrible time. I am glad we did it. That is the kind of 
bipartisanship people expect.
  So now what happens when President Biden arrives on the scene and 
comes up with an American Rescue Plan? Not one Republican Senator, not 
one Republican Congressman would vote for the American Rescue Plan. And 
Senator McConnell this morning explained why: Because it was filled 
with what he called ``socialist ideas.''
  Let's take a look at the Biden American Rescue Plan, just rife with 
socialism. Let me tell you what Senator McConnell is including: 
billions of dollars for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines across 
the United States. No, President Trump didn't leave office with a plan 
for that to happen. President Biden had to create it in the American 
Rescue Plan. Is that socialism--to provide vaccines for millions of 
Americans to protect them against COVID-19? Apparently Senator 
McConnell thinks it was.
  And here is another one of his condemned socialist ideas: providing 
money to businesses to reopen and hire employees back. That is 
socialism? I don't think so. That is part of restoring a market economy 
that was badly damaged by COVID-19.
  The list goes on--money that was given through the American Rescue 
Plan, without a single Republican vote, to help units of government 
that had lost so much revenue because of COVID-19 restore essential 
services.
  President Biden has said that among those services is protection on 
the street, funding law enforcement--responsible law enforcement--to 
stop the killing. Well, I want to tell you that I am glad that he said 
that. It is not socialism in the city of Chicago, where on the Fourth 
of July weekend 104 people were shot--104 people were shot in Chicago, 
19 killed, including 2 police officers who were shot, I might add. And 
the President said we should take the resources from the American 
Rescue Plan and dedicate them to restoring order in neighborhoods 
across America.
  My city of Chicago is not an exception, sadly. It is a pattern that 
is showing up in cities across America, large and small. So these 
American rescue funds for that purpose, far from socialism, are really 
basic to what we expect in this country.
  I know that the Senator from Kentucky returned to the Commonwealth 
over the break. He did an interesting dance, saying that he was glad 
that money was coming into Kentucky, but he didn't vote for it. We have 
heard that from Republicans across the Nation
  I wish they would have voted for it. Wouldn't it have been nice if 
Biden--President Biden--had enjoyed the same level of bipartisan 
support that we gave to President Trump on the Democratic side in the 
midst of this pandemic crisis? Maybe it is too much to ask from the 
minority leader, who has publicly announced that he is 100 percent 
opposed to the Biden agenda--not a very constructive approach.

[[Page S4839]]

  



                     Capitol Fencing and January 6

  Mr. President, I want to speak on a different topic at this point, 
Mr. President. As I walked into the Capitol, I took a look around and 
saw something that I have been waiting for. Families were walking 
across the parking lot right in front of the Capitol, enjoying 
themselves. Children were out in the grass running around. People were 
crowding together to snap selfies. That used to be so routine around 
here, but since January 6, it has not been the case.
  Behind all of these families visiting their Nation's Capitol Building 
was this beautiful dome of the Capitol--majestic, unobstructed for the 
first time in 6 months.
  Over the weekend, Capitol workers removed the remaining metal fencing 
and concrete barriers that have surrounded this building since the mob 
attack on January 6. My special thanks to those workers.
  That security fencing stood as a reminder of what happened on January 
6 when former President Donald Trump summoned and agitated a mob to 
Washington and then sent them on a mission to storm the heart of 
democracy.
  Well, Trump is gone. But our democracy is still here. And the smiling 
faces outside the Capitol this week are a testament to the resilience 
that many Americans share today.
  I want to thank President Biden for helping to unite this Nation. He 
brought us together by appealing to our shared values and our shared 
identity. His steady, nonconfrontational approach has been a breath of 
fresh air after the stifling storm of hateful, divisive tweets of the 
Trump years.
  His leadership--President Biden's leadership--has allowed us to 
reopen this Capitol. So every American, and every visitor to the 
people's house, can experience this historic value.
  But even as we celebrate the walls around our Capitol coming down, it 
is important to recognize that there are still many unanswered 
questions about January 6. Our Nation suffered a deadly, shameful, 
infamous--infamous--security breach on January 6. You would think that 
every Member of the Senate would be demanding to know what was behind 
it, what caused it, and to find a way to make certain it never happens 
again, especially since it left 140 Capitol Police officers and other 
law enforcement officers injured and 1 dead.
  Sadly, most Republican lawmakers actively oppose investigating what 
happened on January 6. Even worse, some of them are whitewashing the 
events. Republican lawmakers in the House have called the 
insurrectionists patriots. Patriots? Have you seen the video? Those 
were patriots marching through these halls with Confederate flags, 
Trump flags?
  One House Member, who helped barricade the House doors to protect 
himself from this mob, now calls the insurrectionists ``a normal 
tourist visit.'' Get out of here.
  Appallingly, the former President, Donald Trump, last week 
threatened--now, listen to this--he is going to share sensitive, 
personal information about the officers who defended Members of 
Congress from an insurrectionist who attempted to storm the Speaker's 
Lobby.
  These despicable efforts to rewrite the events of January 6, to 
somehow lionize the terrorists who participated in it and denigrate 
those who defended us, are nothing short of disgusting--and a second 
assault on our democracy.
  It is a slap in the face of every officer who protected this building 
from a murderous mob. Our officers deserve answers for what happened 
that day, and they deserve to know who is responsible for it.
  More than 535 people have already been arrested for their involvement 
in that insurrection--and many of them have ties to White supremacists 
and domestic terrorist organizations. How did these far-right, fringe 
groups plan their attack on our democracy? Who helped them? Who funded 
their effort? Who planted pipe bombs outside the headquarters of both 
political parties? What contacts, if any, did Members of Congress have 
with these insurrectionists in the days leading up to the attack?
  We don't have a full accounting. Yet, last month, Republican Senators 
filibustered the creation of an independent, bipartisan commission to 
investigate the January 6 insurrection. Senator McConnell pleaded with 
his caucus to block this commission.
  Well, Congressional Democrats are determined to give the officers who 
defended this Capitol and the American people the truth about January 
6. We are not going to tolerate whitewashing this attack for political 
purposes.

  I strongly support Speaker Pelosi's decision to form a bipartisan 
select committee to investigate it, and I look forward to its findings. 
And as the House moves forward with its own investigation, we need to 
ask ourselves why the Republican Senate leader and all but six 
Republican Senators voted to prevent the Senate from doing its part to 
uncover the truth about this assault on our Capitol.
  Not only does the Republican leader oppose efforts to investigate 
what happened on January 6, he is leading the effort against the 
funding needed to ensure it doesn't happen again. House and Senate 
Democrats have put forward good-faith proposals to provide emergency 
funding to deal with the ongoing security issues at the Capitol and 
give the Capitol Police and staff here the resources they need to do 
their job.
  If this Senate fails to approve that supplemental funding package, 
the Capitol Police department may have to start furloughing dozens--
maybe hundreds--of officers at the end of this month.
  Let me be clear. No one--no one--has paid a heavier price for the 
insurrection than our Capitol Police Force. They will carry the trauma 
of January 6 with them for the rest of their lives.
  These officers work day and night to keep us safe and to secure the 
Capitol Complex for the American people who visit. The least we can do 
is to make sure they receive their paychecks.
  Yesterday, Senator Patrick Leahy introduced an updated version of the 
supplemental package for security. It would fully pay our Capitol 
Police officers' salaries and provide additional funding to secure the 
Capitol Complex. It would also provide much-needed funding to deal with 
the impacts of the pandemic on the Capitol.
  Over the last year, both the pandemic and insurrection put a huge 
financial strain on this institution. Keeping the Capitol and the 
people who work here in a safe situation is a new environment that will 
cost money.
  So far, Republican colleagues have been unwilling to face the reality 
that we find ourselves in today and to spend the money needed to 
respond to the real threats we are facing. Their proposal falls short 
of the needs of the moment. Senator Leahy's proposal will address the 
issues facing the Capitol Complex.
  And don't we owe it to the men and women who protect us and our staff 
and our visitors to support their important work and pass this bill?
  When a filibuster prevents the Senate from even investigating an 
attack on the Senate itself and another filibuster may be used to 
threaten paying our police officers who protect us, we have to ask a 
basic question: Who really benefits from the misuse of a filibuster? 
Does the current overuse and misuse of this filibuster benefit our 
democracy? Absolutely not.
  The Republican leader has used the filibuster in a way never seen in 
the history of the Senate to prevent us from even starting debate on 
legislation that would make it easier for Americans to vote.
  You know that, Mr. President, better than anyone because your State 
of Georgia is going through that debate at this very moment.
  Does the filibuster in its current form actually benefit America? How 
could it? Last month, Senator McConnell used the filibuster to block 
this body from taking up equal pay legislation, preventing employers 
from discriminating against women in the workplace. It is one of the 
many policies supported by a broad majority of American people of both 
political parties. Unfortunately, those ideas--as good as they are, as 
popular as they are, as needed as they are--are dead on arrival in the 
Senate thanks to Senator McConnell and his filibuster.
  So again, I ask: What benefits do we derive from grinding our 
government to a halt? It is a small club that benefits. You know who is 
in it? The wealthiest individuals and the richest corporations. The 
elites are the only people who benefit from our broken political 
system. It stops progress altogether.

[[Page S4840]]

  The Framers of the Constitution never intended for one-half of one 
branch of government to be equipped with a kill switch that any Senator 
can push to avoid honest debate. The filibuster as it is used today 
doesn't promote bipartisanship. It is preventing bipartisan progress.
  As I said, the proposal to form an independent commission to 
investigate the January 6 insurrection had broad, bipartisan support in 
the Senate. Six Republican colleagues had the courage to stand up and 
join all of the Democrats in calling for this January 6 commission. But 
a minority of Senators--all Republican--refused. This is not how our 
legislative process is supposed to function.
  Our Nation's Founders wanted to give each Senator a voice, not a veto 
over every piece of legislation. That is how the filibuster is being 
misused today.
  So as we celebrate the reopening of the Capitol grounds, let's take a 
moment to appreciate the fact our democracy has survived, but it cannot 
protect itself from future attacks. That responsibility falls on our 
shoulders. No wasting time on delay tactics; it is time to do the work 
that we were sent to Washington to do.
  I yield the floor.
  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.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Padilla). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Republican whip.