[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 134 (Friday, July 30, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5206-S5207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          American Rescue Plan

  Mr. President, I would like to say a word in response to the speech 
just given by the Senator from Florida, the junior Senator from 
Florida.

[[Page S5207]]

  There is something called the American Rescue Plan that President Joe 
Biden brought before Congress. The American Rescue Plan was his first 
offering. We had done things before in light of the pandemic. I 
remember them well. It was March of 2020. We had the American CARES 
Act.
  The American CARES Act--there was virtually unanimous, bipartisan 
support for a policy that was written by President Trump as well as 
Members of Congress. We stood together, and I am glad we did, because 
we were going into a pandemic, the likes of which America has not seen 
for 100 years. It was a dramatic investment in people, in resources, 
and in businesses to keep America safe through that pandemic, and it 
worked.
  At the end of the year of 2020, we had another bill--this bill was 
about $900 billion--to once again help deal with unemployment 
compensation, loans for businesses, help for families, ways to help 
schools reopen. We voted again unanimously--virtually unanimously--on a 
bipartisan basis.
  So in the Trump administration, when it came to coming together as a 
nation, Democrats stood with Republicans. Democrats even stood with a 
Republican President for the good of the Nation. I was proud of what we 
did. I can't imagine what America would have been like without it.
  Then came the election. All bets were off. Everything changed. After 
the election and the Big Lie, where President Trump raced around the 
country--still does--claiming that he truly won the election and having 
no proof or evidence to that fact, we noticed a souring of this 
bipartisanship when it came to dealing with the pandemic.
  Then came the American Rescue Plan by President Biden, the new 
President, who wanted to address issues that still were troubling 
America in light of the pandemic. What happened then when we called the 
American Rescue Plan? Where was the bipartisanship that we had seen 
during the Trump years? Completely gone. Not one single Republican 
Senator, including the Senator from Florida, was willing to stand up 
and vote for Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan; not one Member of the 
Republican Party in the House of Representatives.
  So what was it that was in the American Rescue Plan that was so 
objectionable that not a single Republican would vote for it? Well, 
there were some ideas that turned out to be vital.
  One of them was to put enough money into the Biden administration so 
that these lifesaving vaccines could be distributed around the United 
States of America and people could finally get a shot in the arm and 
save their lives by it. That was one of the things the Republicans 
weren't willing to vote for, but it wasn't the only one. We proceeded 
to give loans to businesses again so that they could open up and rehire 
their employees. Not a single Republican would vote to support that. We 
have $1,400 being sent to each and every family in America--a promise 
made by President Trump, kept by President Biden--and not a single 
Republican would vote to support that as well.
  When you go through the list of things that we did in the American 
Rescue Plan, they were valuable.
  One of them was a tax cut for families, families with children--a tax 
cut which started just a couple of weeks ago. Tax cuts used to be the 
war cry of the Republican Party, but when it came to tax cuts for 
children, not a single Republican Senator would vote for it--not one. 
And now they come and they argue: This Joe Biden's plan just isn't 
working.
  Well, I will tell you what is working. We have about 50 or 60 percent 
of Americans vaccinated with at least one shot at this point. I hope we 
have more so we can put this pandemic behind us. We have done it 
because we had a plan to distribute this vaccine across America and 
still do. That was something America needed, and not a single 
Republican Senator would vote for it--not one.
  I can't understand their thinking on this. They have lots of 
criticism about President Biden, but when it came to the parts of his 
program that really made a difference when America needed it, not a 
single one of them would join us.
  Wouldn't it be good to get back to bipartisanship, such as the bill 
that we are going to be debating on the floor, the bipartisan 
infrastructure bill, which the Senator from Florida does not support, 
he said?
  This notion of bipartisanship appears to be very troubling and 
difficult for many of my Republican colleagues, but we have a chance 
here because 16 Republicans, the night before last, cast a vote in 
favor of moving forward to really have an opportunity to do something 
significant for this country and its economy.
  An investment in infrastructure is an investment in the future of 
this country. I hope that the Republicans will join us to see this 
completed in the next few days so we can move on to other 
considerations of elements that might be good in this recovery. But we 
need their help.
  To have Republican Senators come to the floor, refuse to vote for the 
American Rescue Plan, and criticize even this bipartisan effort, is a 
suggestion that they didn't get the message: America is looking for us 
to cooperate, to come together to solve problems, not just to create 
political headlines.
  We will have a chance, and I hope we do soon, to vote for this bill. 
I think it is an important bill that is going to revitalize this 
country and keep the economy on the move.