[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 140 (Thursday, August 5, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5891-S5892]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       BUSINESS BEFORE THE SENATE

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, all week, as we all know, Senators have 
worked together to move forward on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. 
Since the text of the bipartisan proposal was finalized on Sunday, both 
sides have had extensive opportunities to offer amendments. Senators 
have certainly taken advantage.
  So far, the Senate has considered 22 amendments on this bipartisan 
piece of legislation. We considered 14 amendments yesterday alone. Of 
the 22 total amendments, more than half have been offered by our 
Republican colleagues. Clearly, the Democratic majority has given 
Members who were not part of the bipartisan group a chance to make 
their mark on this important bill.
  Taking a step back, this Senate has operated much differently under 
Democratic leadership this year than it did under Republican leadership 
over the past 6. We have had bipartisan bills on the floor, open for 
amendment, and all 100 Senators are participating in the legislative 
process. The anti-Asian hate crimes bill and the USICA bill were both 
major bills that worked in a bipartisan way with amendments, as is this 
bill.
  We have taken more amendment votes this year than nearly any year in 
recent memory. In fact, we have had more rollcall votes on amendments 
this year, only halfway through, than during the past 2 years, where 
the Republicans were in charge, combined. In other words, in one-half 
of the year in 2021, where Democrats got in charge, we have had more 
amendments than in all of 2019 and 2020. So any talk that we

[[Page S5892]]

are not working the Senate, whenever we can, in a fair, bipartisan way 
is just wrong--just wrong.
  Consider this: At this point in the calendar year in 2017, the first 
year of a Republican President and a Republican Senate majority--a one-
to-one comparison to our current political configuration--the Senate 
held rollcall votes on 10 amendments--10--at this point in the first 
year of the Trump Presidency. On this bipartisan infrastructure bill 
alone, the Senate has held rollcall votes on 17 amendments. In 7 
months, the 2017 Republican majority allowed rollcall votes on only 10 
amendments, and we have done almost double that number in the past 7 
days alone.
  This is how I promised the Chamber would function under a Democratic 
majority. I promised it while we were fighting to get that majority, 
and we are fulfilling that promise now that we have it Legislators 
should actually have a chance to legislate. No one can deny that we 
kept our word here in the Democratic majority.

  Today, we will consider even more amendments, and then, hopefully, we 
can bring this bill to a close very shortly. Our goal is to pass both a 
bipartisan infrastructure bill and a budget resolution during this work 
period, and we will stay here to get both done.

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