[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 45 (Monday, March 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S1137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          American Rescue Plan

  Madam President, on another topic, 2 years ago--March 13, 2020--
President Trump officially declared COVID a national emergency in 
America. We all remember the dark and uncertain days in the early 
spring of 2020. Overnight, schools, offices, and businesses closed 
their doors and opened their Zooms.
  Today is also an important anniversary in America's recovery. One 
year ago today--1 year ago--Democrats in Congress passed the American 
Rescue Plan, our comprehensive plan to help American families, 
hospitals, and small businesses weather the economic hardship of the 
pandemic and to distribute vaccines and medical equipment so that we 
could get the pandemic behind us and return to normal life in America.
  The pandemic has affected everybody: Republicans, Democrats, and 
people who don't care at all about politics. Sadly, however, the 
American Rescue Plan only passed with Democratic votes. Not a single 
Republican would vote for it, in the House or in the Senate.
  And it worked. We were right. It was needed. The U.S. economy has 
recovered faster and stronger from this pandemic than any other G-7 
nation in the world. America's economy added more than 6 million new 
jobs in the year since we passed the American Rescue Plan. That is a 
record.
  Part of the reason our economy is strong today is because that plan 
made wise decisions that helped families, helped businesses, and helped 
communities through the worst time when the pandemic forced businesses 
and schools to close. The American Rescue Plan provided a critical 
lifeline to low-income families, stabilized middle-class families by 
providing enhanced child tax credits, and expanded unemployment 
insurance and housing relief. That plan also closed the holes to 
provide help for families with children, expanding the earned income 
tax credit and child tax credit.

  In particular, the enhanced child tax credit gave working families a 
chance to breathe. They used it to buy the basics--groceries, diapers--
pay the utility bills, pay the rent, pay the mortgage. Some of us just 
take that all for granted. For many people, it is a paycheck-to-
paycheck challenge. Some families actually finally paid down their 
debts. Others put a few dollars away for the next emergency.
  Now, they are feeling squeezed again, those same families. That 
doesn't mean we were mistaken when we passed the American Rescue Plan. 
It means we have more to do to lower the cost of living for families 
across the United States. This should be done on a bipartisan basis.
  Inflation is a global problem, not simply an American problem. It is 
a reflection of the world labor market and a global supply chain 
basically disrupted by a pandemic and still in the process of recovery.
  Now, we have made a decision as a nation to ban imports of Russian 
oil. Seventy-nine percent of the American people support that decision, 
even though they understand that it will drive up the price of 
gasoline. They don't want their hard-earned American dollars paying for 
Vladimir Putin's war, killing the innocent people of Ukraine. I salute 
them for their courage in joining our Nation together in that effort to 
stop it.
  Yes, it will add more to the price of oil. It already has over the 
last week or two because of Putin's invasion, but we have got to face a 
reality. To stop the killing and death in Ukraine, we have to be 
prepared to make some sacrifice.
  Inflation is a real problem. We need real solutions, not just 
complaints.