E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 116 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 No. 165 Senate The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was According to the Pension Benefit dares to play by the rules and behave called to order by the President pro Guaranty Corporation’s annual projec- like a majority, it would mean ‘‘the tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). tions—and those reports were released end of this supposedly great delibera- f last week—there is a very big need for tive body’’—‘‘the end of this supposedly reform. That is as important as ever great deliberative body.’’ PRAYER and getting more important every day. Yesterday, we learned what he The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- The report estimates that the Multi- meant. We saw important Senate busi- fered the following prayer: employer Insurance Program will be- ness hurt by what amounted to a tem- Let us pray. come insolvent in 2026. That is a year per tantrum. For some reason, the Gracious God, empower our law- later than predicted last year, so peo- Democratic leader decided to vent his makers to grow in grace. Make them ple might feel a little more comfort, frustration by blocking the Intel- gentle yet brave, confident yet humble, but that is only because we gave relief ligence Committee—listen to this— wise yet dependent on Your guidance. last year to the mineworkers’ plan. from holding a bipartisan counterintel- Lord, give them the wisdom to cul- What is worse is that insolvency will ligence hearing—by blocking the Intel- tivate a faith that perseveres, keeping come at the same time that the Cen- ligence Committee from holding a bi- them from growing weary in doing tral States Pension Fund will become partisan counterintelligence hearing. what is right. Strengthen their ability insolvent, then creating an even bigger The committee was set to hear from to see among their colleagues Your di- strain on the PBGC’s insurance fund. Bill Evanina, the Director of the Na- vine image. May our Senators increase Reaching a bipartisan reform agree- tional Counterintelligence and Secu- in favor with You and humanity. Fill ment continues to be critically impor- rity Center. This is the Nation’s top them with a passion to live for Your tant. I am very encouraged by recent counterintelligence official. Among glory. indications from my Democratic col- other things, he works directly on pro- We praise You for being our helper, leagues that they are interested in tecting our elections and our politics and we desire to magnify Your Holy working with us to find a solution—a from foreign interference. That is his Name. Amen. solution that will strengthen this im- job. They were going to hear from him. f portant part of our retirement system This is the same Democratic leader PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE while ensuring that taxpayers aren’t who declared a few weeks ago that if The President pro tempore led the left holding the bag again in the fu- the Intelligence Committee did not Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: ture. stay close to Congress on election secu- rity, it would be ‘‘an abdication of I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the I yield the floor. United States of America, and to the Repub- I suggest the absence of a quorum. [their] duty . . . to protect our democ- lic for which it stands, one nation under God, The PRESIDING OFFICER. The racy.’’ Just last week, he wrote me a indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. clerk will call the roll. letter saying election security had to The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. The senior assistant legislative clerk be ‘‘above partisan politics.’’ But now LOEFFLER). The Senator from Iowa. proceeded to call the roll. the Democratic leader’s temper is more Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, important. He denied Chairman RUBIO ask unanimous consent to speak for 1 I ask unanimous consent that the order routine permission for the bipartisan minute in morning business. for the quorum call be rescinded. committee to meet. He said: ‘‘[W]e The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without won’t have business as usual here in objection, it is so ordered. objection, it is so ordered. the Senate.’’ f f Today, both the Intelligence Com- mittee and the Armed Services Com- MULTIEMPLOYER PENSION RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY mittee are scheduled to meet. They are SYSTEM LEADER set to speak with top intelligence and Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- military officials about election secu- quite often in our newspapers, you can jority leader is recognized. rity. I guess we will find out whether read about a lot of city and State pen- f the Democratic leader’s embarrassing sion funds that are in trouble. There is theatrics were just a 1-day matinee or one at the national level we have to JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS whether he means to make this a se- deal with, so today I speak about the Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, ries. multiemployer pension system prob- 2 days ago, the Democratic leader Our bipartisan committees have a lems and the need for reform. threatened that if the Senate majority great deal of work to do to safeguard

∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.

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VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.000 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5796 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 our Nation and, in particular, to pro- personal brand out of filibustering judi- Americans took care to ensure Sen- tect our elections, so I hope our col- cial nominees. Talented, hard-working ate Democrats could not stand in the league from New York gets out of the people’s careers were destroyed, like way of a fair process. So that is exactly way. the brilliant lawyer Miguel Estrada, a what the Senate will provide. But the Democratic leader didn’t close friend of now-Justice Elena f stop there. A few minutes later, he de- Kagan, who says he is ‘‘extraordinary’’ GOVERNMENT FUNDING cided to cheapen a solemn and unifying and ‘‘thoughtful’’ and would have made moment and turned a draft unanimous ‘‘an excellent addition to any Federal Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, resolution honoring Justice Ginsburg court.’’ People like that, literally, were now on another matter, yesterday the into one more depressing stunt for the destroyed by Democratic tactics. House passed a government funding TV cameras. This version of the now-Democratic resolution on a bipartisan basis. It will Over the weekend, I wrote a resolu- leader said filibustering judges was an now make its way through the Senate. A few days ago, when House Demo- tion honoring the late Justice’s amaz- essential part—an essential part—of crats released their first draft, Repub- ing life. Normally, such measures are the Senate. He said that if Republicans licans immediately spoke out about a adopted with unanimous, bipartisan ever used the nuclear option to huge omission. It intentionally ne- support. That is exactly what we did ‘‘change the rules in midstream’’ be- cause ‘‘they can’t get their way on glected the needs of farm country and after Justice Scalia passed. Every Sen- rural America. They tried to use our ator recognized that our collective eu- every judge . . . it’ll be a doomsday for democracy.’’ Nation’s farmers and ranchers as a bar- logy was no place to debate political gaining chip. questions—oh, but not this time. This But of course, in the very next Presi- dential administration, the Democratic Fortunately, thanks to the leader- time, the Democratic leader copy- ship of our colleague Senator ERNST, pasted the tribute I had written, put leader leapt at the chance to press that doomsday button himself. Democrats along with Senators HOEVEN, BOOZMAN, his name on top, and added two divi- and many other Republican colleagues, sive references to our debate over what could not abide by President Obama’s being constrained by the same rules we made it clear right away that we to do next. He didn’t devote any time would not let Democrats leave farmers or attention to the language praising they had imposed on President Bush. They had no patience to taste their behind. Justice Ginsburg’s life and career. He The Commodity Credit Corporation own medicine. So the Democratic lead- did not suggest a single change to any is an essential source of funding for our er suddenly decided that ‘‘the old rules of that. His sole focus was on turning a farmers. For years it has been rou- need to be modified.’’ He voted to use solemn routine and unanimous mo- tinely refilled with bipartisan support, the nuclear option to lower the bar. but this year Speaker PELOSI tried to ment for Justice Ginsburg into a plat- So there actually has been one con- take Middle America hostage for unre- form for himself. sistent principle all this time. For the lated political brinksmanship. Justice Ginsburg could not be more Democratic leader, two things qualify I am grateful to Senator ERNST and deserving of the honor of a formal Sen- as a crisis when it comes to the courts. ate tribute. I hope our colleague from everyone who fought hard to fix the The sky is falling when a Democratic Democrats’ bill. Republicans kept the New York will let us pass one some- President does not get to confirm every time soon. Speaker of the House from adding in- last judge he or she wants, and the sky sult to injury in such a challenging f is falling when a Republican President year for rural America. SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS gets to confirm any judge. I know all Members will carefully re- Six months ago, our colleague view the continuing resolution sent Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, walked across the street to the Su- over by the House. I am optimistic on another matter, I have already preme Court steps, stood in front of a that, with bipartisan cooperation, we talked a lot about history this week, crowd, and yelled: will be able to make law well before but before we shift focus to President I want to tell you, Gorsuch! I want to tell the government funding deadline at the Trump’s nominee, we need to review you, Kavanaugh! . . . You will pay the price! end of this month. Senate history one more time. You won’t know what hit you if you go for- As we await the hurricane of mis- ward with these awful decisions! f representations and bad-faith attacks That is the Democratic leader in MEASURES PLACED ON THE that seem almost guaranteed to pour front of the Supreme Court of the CALENDAR—S. 4653 AND H.R. 8337 out, we need to understand, in very United States. Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, clear terms, why our colleague from Just last night he said this: I understand there are two bills at the New York is a uniquely non-credible I tell the American people, everything you desk due a second reading en bloc. messenger when it comes to the Sen- need and want, just about everything, will be The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ate’s role in judicial confirmations. taken away inexorably, month after month, clerk will read the bills by title for the It was Senate Democrats who began year after year, decision by decision, by this second time. new court. our modern challenges with their The senior assistant legislative clerk treatment of Robert Bork in 1987, but That is the argument. That is, appar- read as follows: the acrimony really got going in the ently, the argument. ‘‘Everything you A bill (S. 4653) to protect the healthcare of early 2000s when a group of Senate need and want will be taken away.’’ Is hundreds of millions of people of the United Democrats took the almost-never-used this a discussion among Senators or an States and prevent efforts of the Department of Justice to advocate courts to strike down tactic of filibustering nominations and overdramatic line from a bad movie? The American people do not need any the Patient Protection and Affordable Care turned it into a constant routine for more revisionist history lectures, any Act. the first time ever. A bill (H.R. 8337) making continuing appro- more threats, or any more performance So who was the main driving force priations for fiscal year 2021, and for other outrage from the side that launched behind these tactics? Let’s consult purposes. this unfortunate fight and escalated it some New York newspapers from the Mr. MCCONNELL. In order to place time after time after time. the bills on the calendar under the pro- year 2003: There is one right path before us. It Schumer decided [to] put ideology on the visions of rule XIV, I would object to does right by the judiciary, the Senate, further proceedings, en bloc. front burner in the confirmation process. the yet-unnamed nominee, and the . . . ‘‘I am the leader (of the filibuster move- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- ment), and you know, I’m proud of it,’’ said American people. It is a fair hearing, a tion having been heard, the bills will be the senator from Brooklyn. fair process, and a fair vote. That is placed on the calendar. what the American people ensured in Mr. Schumer urged Democratic colleagues f . . . to use a tactic that some were initially 2018 after the Democratic leader explic- reluctant to pursue, and that has since roiled itly asked for a referendum on this ap- RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME the Senate. proach to the judiciary. He got that The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under Throughout President Bush 43’s two referendum in 2018. The people decided. the previous order, the leadership time terms, our colleague built an entire They shrunk his minority even further. is reserved.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.001 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5797 RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY are of the same party, a different rule Unable to thrust comically unpopu- LEADER applies? I didn’t hear that right after lar positions on the American people The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Scalia died when Leader MCCONNELL through Congress, they have to try Democratic leader is recognized. explained why he was holding it up. through the courts—a cynical strategy So this idea that when it is one that dates back to the 1950s. f party, one rule applies and another Republicans are sick and tired, for SUPREME COURT NOMINATION party, a different rule applies, we have instance, of this annoying law, the Af- a term for that. It is called a double fordable Care Act, and that it keeps Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, standard. providing healthcare to millions of first, let me thank all of my colleagues If the leader really wants to discuss Americans. They tried to repeal it in who were here until late last night and precedent—real precedent, not fic- the House just about a million times, made such persuasive arguments as to tion—we can dispatch with that con- and they tried here, too, in the Senate why the new Supreme Court Justice versation in about 30 seconds. but failed by one vote. So now they matters so much to the American peo- Madam President, I have a par- have taken it to the courts. ple, to their healthcare, the working liamentary inquiry for the Chair: Is President Trump and Republican at- people’s rights, to women’s rights, to there a Senate precedent for con- torneys general are suing right now to preserving the right to choose, to mak- firming a Supreme Court nominee be- eliminate the entire law, including pro- ing sure we have a good green planet, tween July and election day in a Presi- tections for up to 130 million Ameri- to LGBTQ rights. They did an eloquent dential year? cans with preexisting conditions. In job. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Mate- fact, President Trump is meeting with I hope America was listening because rials from the offices of the Secretary those Republican attorneys general at this nomination matters; it matters to of the Senate do not show such a prece- the White House today, this afternoon. the average daily lives of average dent. Less than a week after Justice Gins- Americans. And last night, by holding Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you, Madam burg’s passing, the President is meet- the floor until the late hours, Demo- President. ing with the leaders of the Republican crats made really strong arguments. July is long gone. August is over. We lawsuit against our healthcare law. Os- I thank my colleagues for doing that. are now at the end of September. As tensibly, it is about how social media Madam President, for the third day you just heard—not from the Demo- companies are biased against conserv- in a row, Leader MCCONNELL has come cratic leader but from the records in atives, but who wants to bet that the to the floor and completely ignored the the Senate, as spoken by the Chair, healthcare lawsuit doesn’t come up? I ‘‘principle’’ he established in 2016, there is no, no, no precedent for con- would like for someone to ask them when, mere hours after Justice Scalia firming a Supreme Court Justice be- that. tween July and election day. The Re- passed away, Leader MCCONNELL said If he cared about healthcare and the that ‘‘the American people should have publican leader can come up with argu- American people, President Trump a voice in the selection of their next ments that twist things, that jump himself would ask the AGs to withdraw Supreme Court Justice’’—his words: through hoops, but it doesn’t gainsay their lawsuit. I am calling on him to do ‘‘The American people should have a no, no, no precedent for any Supreme it right now. I doubt he will, given his voice in the selection of their next Su- Court nominee being confirmed be- record, given his lack of concern for tween July and election day. As you preme Court Justice,’’ referring to the the American people’s healthcare, but know, July is gone. August is over. We upcoming election. he should. But, unfortunately, let’s re- are now at the end of September. It is That election was more than 8 member, President Trump already told 6 weeks before an election in which months away. We are now only 42 days the American people his goal. He said: some people have already begun to away. But the so-called McConnell ‘‘My judicial appointments will do the vote. right thing, unlike Bush’s appointee rule—the supposed principle that the Simply, my Republican friends have American people deserve a voice in the John Roberts, on ObamaCare.’’ no ground on which to stand—none. He is about to make a Supreme Court selection of a Supreme Court Justice— There is no logic to excuse flipping pick while there is an ongoing lawsuit hasn’t come up. The Republican leader their position 4 years apart, under the that seeks to eliminate the Affordable can’t mention it. No wonder he never same circumstances. There is no jus- Care Act. Hear that, America? The mentions it. And he sticks to just di- tification for the Senators who said on healthcare law you want, the versionary, irrelevant remarks in his the record that they would ‘‘say the healthcare law you need, the speeches on the floor instead of ad- same thing if a Republican president healthcare law that protects you dressing the main issue—why he said were in office’’—‘‘say the same thing if against overreaching insurance compa- one thing in 2016 and a different thing a Republican president were in office’’ nies that will not give you insurance now. they said then, but it doesn’t apply when you have a preexisting condi- Instead, the Senate is forced to suffer now that we have a Republican Presi- tion—President Trump has said he will these tortured explanations and mis- dent in office. There is no defense for appoint a nominee who will undo it, leading precedents. At a press con- the Senator who said: ‘‘Precedent set. and we know he said it because of what ference yesterday, here is how the Re- Precedent set. I’m sure come 2020, he said about Justice Roberts when publican leader described the Senate you’ll remind me of that.’’ There is no Justice Roberts opposed his view on role in confirming the Supreme Court place to hide for the Senator who said: healthcare. Justices. He actually said: ‘‘[W]e have ‘‘You can say that I said, let the next Guess when the case is being heard in an obligation under the Constitution president decide. Hold this tape. I want the Supreme Court, America. Novem- [to consider a Supreme Court Justice] you to use my words against me.’’ ber 10, a week after the election. Is . . . should we choose to take advan- Why are Senate Republicans going to that why Senate Republicans are in tage of it.’’ such extreme lengths to ram through a such a rush to get a new rightwing Jus- Did you catch that? Did you catch Justice weeks before an election, mak- tice confirmed before the election—so that? It is an obligation, but only if the ing a complete mockery of their pre- that the Supreme Court can do what Republican leader chooses to take ad- vious ‘‘principle’’? Why are they com- they failed to do here in the Senate— vantage of it. I see. So, when there is a mitting a power grab so egregious that repeal this healthcare law, which pro- Democratic President, it is one of it risks shredding the last vestiges of tects so many Americans? those obligations you don’t have to trust that remain between our two par- Leader MCCONNELL slammed on the take advantage of, but when there is a ties? For what? Because this is the brakes while tens of thousands of Republican President, it is a solemn only way for Republicans to achieve Americans died from COVID, and now constitutional duty. their radical, rightwing agenda—an he is slamming his foot on the gas to Are we really supposed to swallow agenda so far away from where average approve a Supreme Court Justice who the argument that, when the Senate Americans think, even average Repub- could rip away Americans’ healthcare and the President are of the opposite licans, that they wouldn’t dare bring in the middle of a pandemic. Shame. party, one rule applies, but when they such things on the floor of the Senate. Shame.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:52 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.003 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5798 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 For 4 months, the Republican major- They are fighting to reverse Justice nate a third Supreme Court Justice. ity delayed a COVID-relief package Ginsburg’s legacy, not honor it. All of After all, overreacting to Republican while the Nation suffered, but 1 hour— their speeches of praise run totally hol- nominees is pretty much the Demo- 1 hour—after the news of Justice Gins- low and are belied by their actions. crats’ stock-in-trade. It doesn’t matter burg’s passing broke, Leader MCCON- America, you can’t trust them at who the nominee is. To hear the Demo- NELL said ‘‘batten down hatches, we’re their word. You can’t trust them to crats tell it, any Republican nominee is full steam ahead’’ on confirming an- protect your healthcare, and you defi- likely to bring about Armageddon. other rightwing Justice—a Justice who nitely can’t trust this Senate Repub- The fact that some Republican nomi- could undo Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s leg- lican majority to protect you. nees in past years, and as recently as acy; who could rip away healthcare f this past June, have sided with the lib- from millions of American families; eral wing of the Court more often than who could decide there is no more right JOHNSON REPORT I would like has not in any way re- to choose for millions of American Mr. SCHUMER. While the rest of the strained Democrats’ hysteria each time women—Roe v. Wade hangs in the bal- country was busy fighting COVID, Sen- a new Republican nominee is intro- ance here; who could crush unions for ate Republicans have been abusing the duced. millions of American workers; who power of the Senate to conduct opposi- I thought we had reached a low point could make it harder to vote for mil- tion research for President Trump’s 2 years ago with the nomination of lions of African Americans; who could campaign. Justice Kavanaugh, who suffered end marriage equality for millions of This morning, the chairman of the months of character assassination at LGBTQ Americans, like my daughter Homeland Security Committee re- the hands of Democrats, but it turns and her wife, who looked at each other leased his report, which reads as if out that was not the low point because this weekend and wondered, is our mar- Putin wrote it, not U.S. Senators. The we have reached a new low. riage on the line? bogus narrative of this report, peddled As I said, it is no surprise the Demo- Average Americans are thinking, by a Russian disinformation campaign, crats have reacted with hysteria at the what are they going to lose with this was disproved by every witness who prospect of President Trump nomi- new, hard-right, special interest-domi- testified. Despite their zeal to smear nating another Supreme Court Justice. nated Supreme Court if—if—our Repub- Vice President Biden and his family, It was disappointing—but hardly sur- lican friends have their wish, which we Senate Republicans found no evi- prising—that yesterday the Demo- are going to fight every step of the cratic leader blocked a key Intel- way? The stakes of this election, the dence—no evidence—to support the conspiracy theories pushed by Putin’s ligence Committee hearing on election stakes of this vacancy concern no less security, a topic he has repeatedly in- than the future fundamental rights of intelligence agencies. Senators GRASSLEY and JOHNSON sisted is of overwhelming importance, the American people. to protest the thought of the Senate My friends on the other side will tell should reimburse taxpayers for the money they wasted. This entire dis- fulfilling its advice and consent role you that we are being hysterical, that and confirming a principled, conserv- they actually support protections for graceful affair and the Johnson report should be relegated to the dustbin of ative woman. Even Speaker PELOSI’s Americans with preexisting conditions. overwrought statement that Repub- That is hysterical? Ask the mother history. I yield the floor. licans are ‘‘coming after your chil- whose son or daughter has cancer and dren,’’ seemed pretty much par for the can’t get insurance and watches their I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The course. child suffer. That is not being Democrats have not limited them- hysterical; that is doing what we are clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk selves to temper tantrums. No, Demo- supposed to do, not what the folks on crats have moved on to threats. Dare the other side are doing—rushing proceeded to call the roll. Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask to confirm the President’s duly nomi- through a Justice who, in a very strong nated nominee, Democrats are now likelihood if that Justice gets ap- unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. saying, and if we win back the major- proved, would rip healthcare away ity in November, we will eliminate the from the American people. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without legislative filibuster and pack the Su- America, you have to ask yourselves, objection, it is so ordered. preme Court. if Republicans will completely reverse f In other words, if Republicans dare to themselves on a major principle when- fulfill the Senate’s role of advising and ever it suits them, what can you trust CONCLUSION OF MORNING consenting to the President’s nominee, them on? How can you take their word BUSINESS Democrats will upend our democratic seriously? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning institutions. They will eliminate the Republicans have praised the legacy business is closed. of Justice Ginsburg with flowery words legislative filibuster, which is the Sen- about her impact, but in the resolution f ate rule that helps ensure legislation I offered yesterday, they even didn’t EXECUTIVE SESSION that passes the Senate has to be at want to acknowledge her dying wish least somewhat bipartisan. that she not be replaced until the next And they will pack the Supreme President is installed. EXECUTIVE CALENDAR Court. For those who need a brief re- President Trump had the gall, the te- fresher on the concept of court pack- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under ing, which had been largely consigned merity, the baseness to suggest her the previous order, the Senate will pro- dying words were not issued by her. to the dustbin of history nearly a cen- ceed to executive session to resume How low can the President go? tury ago, the theory is as follows: If consideration of the following nomina- Senate Republicans are working with the Supreme Court is not deciding every fiber of their being to confirm a tion, which the clerk will report. cases to your liking, add more Justices Justice—despite her last wish, in con- The senior assistant legislative clerk to the Court until you start getting the tradiction to her dying, most fervent read the nomination of John Charles decisions that you want. In other wish—who will reverse her legacy. This Hinderaker, of Arizona, to be United words, let Republicans dare to fill the is not speculation. This is not hyper- States District Judge for the District vacant slot on the Supreme Court, and bole. President Trump has said again of Arizona. Democrats will keep adding Justices to and again and again that he wants the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- the Court until they can be assured Supreme Court to ‘‘terminate’’ the jority whip. they will get the outcome they want in healthcare law. He made it clear he has SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS every case. a litmus test: Any Trump nominee Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I Yesterday, I referred to those Demo- must want to strike down Roe v. Wade. don’t think anyone is surprised that crats as undemocratic. Why did I say For once, Republicans should be Democrats have not reacted well to the that? They are inconsistent with demo- straight with the American people. idea that President Trump will nomi- cratic government. In our system of

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.004 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5799 government, you win some and you suggest that government is legitimate American every single day because our lose some. While it is no fun when you only when your party is in charge. farmers and ranchers produce the high- lose, that is how things sometimes go If Democrats continue along this est quality, lowest cost food supply in in a democracy. Have Republicans been dangerous trajectory, if they continue the history of the world that benefits enthusiastic when Democrat Presi- to try to delegitimize the actions of a every single American every single dents have had nominees confirmed to duly elected Senate majority and a day. That is just how important it is. the Supreme Court? No, but have Re- duly elected President, they are the How could we be reminded even more publicans suggested that Democrat Su- ones who will put our entire system at so right now than during this COVID preme Court Justices are illegitimate? risk. pandemic of that abundant, safe, won- Have we suggested that the proper re- If anyone wonders for a moment derful food supply that we have every sponse to a Democrat Supreme Court whether Democrats are advocating a day thanks to our farmers and ranch- nominee is to pack the Supreme Court principled position—if perhaps Demo- ers, and there is so much that goes into with additional Republican Justices to crats really think it would be best for it. get a rubberstamp for Republican pri- our country to eliminate the legisla- As the Presiding Officer well knows, orities? No, of course not. tive filibuster Democrats have used so with Nebraska as his State and its While we may not like it when Demo- often or to expand the Supreme being a big part of the incredible ag crats are in charge, we know that Dem- Court—one can simply ask whether production in this country—as a mat- ocrat-run government is legitimate, Democrats will continue to advocate ter of fact, there could be a little ri- just as Republican-run government is for these positions if President Trump valry here with his contiguous State to legitimate. It has become clear over is reelected and Republicans retain the north in terms of cattle production the past few years—especially over the control of the Senate. Think about or something like that—this is some- past few days—that Democrats think that one. I think everyone here knows thing that touches everybody every government is legitimate only when what the answer to that question is, day and is so important. they are in charge. So Democrats are and the answer is no. It is not just those farmers and accusing Republicans of undermining As I suggested, Democrats’ threats ranchers who produce that food every our institutions by fulfilling our con- are not going to stop Republicans from day; it is the whole supply chain that stitutional role because that is exactly carrying out our constitutional role in has to work. Remember, that food sup- what we are doing: fulfilling our con- considering the President’s nominee. ply has to be safe every day, not only stitutional role. One of the principle reasons that many tasty and affordable and abundant, and Let’s be very clear about that. Re- GOP Senators, myself included, ran for that is what we are talking about. This publicans are suggesting that we take office in the first place was to confirm has become a big, big issue in the con- up a Supreme Court nominee duly principled judges to our courts—judges tinuing resolution that we are working nominated by a duly elected President who understand that their role is to in- on right now in that the way we are and confirm that nominee in accord terpret the law, not make the law. funding the coronavirus food assistance with our constitutional advice and con- While many of my Democrat col- programs, in part, is with the direct sent role. leagues would like the courts to impose funding that we secured in the CARES Democrats are free to think that Re- their policies when they can’t push Act and also from what they call the publicans should not consider this them through Congress, Republicans CCC, the Commodity Credit Corpora- nominee, but it is absolutely indis- know that legislation should come tion. With regard to the farm bill—the putable that Republicans and the from Congress and not from the courts. bipartisan farm bill that has incredibly President are doing nothing more than The job of judges is to interpret the strong support on both sides of the carrying out a legitimate constitu- law as it is written, not to oppose Dem- aisle in this body and the House—many tional prerogative. ocrat or Republican policies from the of its very key programs are funded by What Democrats are doing, on the bench. the Commodity Credit Corporation. We other hand, is trying to ensure that My colleagues and I were elected and put about $30 billion a year into that only one party has a say in our govern- reelected, in part, because of our com- fund every year to make sure that ment—what some might call tyranny— mitment to confirming judges who those programs are funded to support and threatening retribution for the ex- would uphold the Constitution and the our farmers and ranchers. ercise of legitimate constitutional pre- rule of law. We have followed through That was not in the original House rogatives. That does pose a danger to on that commitment over the past 4 version that was going to be filed, so a our institutions. years, and we are going to keep fol- group of Senators from ag States came Take the Supreme Court. A year ago, lowing through by voting on the Presi- together last week and had a colloquy several Democrats warned that the dent’s nominee. in this body. They immediately went Court’s nonpartisan reputation was in Democrats can bluster. They can to work with our friends in the House jeopardy. Their argument was that the threaten. They can throw temper tan- who are also strong supporters of agri- Court would look partisan if it did con- trums. But we will keep doing what we culture and now the continuing resolu- tinue with a case the Democrats didn’t were sent here to do. tion that has passed the House over- like. What on Earth do Democrats I yield the floor. whelmingly, which we will be taking think will happen to the Court’s rep- I suggest the absence of a quorum. up, has that key funding in it. utation if they pack the Court with ad- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The So we are really here to, once again, ditional Democrats to rubberstamp clerk will call the roll. emphasize the importance of making their policies? Do they really think The senior assistant legislative clerk sure we fund these farm programs, to Americans are going to see the Su- proceeded to call the roll. make sure that we fund them in a preme Court as legitimate once it has Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I ask timely way, and, again, to point out been hijacked for partisan Democratic unanimous consent that the order for very clearly that this is funding that is purposes? the quorum call be rescinded. being used expressly the way it was au- If you believe in our system of gov- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. thorized to be used both in the over- ernment, you have to believe that all SASSE). Without objection, it is so or- whelmingly bipartisan farm bill we Americans—not just those who agree dered. passed—the 5-year farm bill—but also with you—have a right to have a voice AGRICULTURE in the CARES Act, in which we secured in the government. You are free to ve- Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, we are additional funding. Now the funding hemently disagree with 50 percent of here to talk about agriculture. We are that is included in the continuing reso- your fellow Americans. You are free to here to talk about those great farmers lution is exactly that funding that we dislike it when your party is not in and ranchers who feed this country and put out there every year to make sure charge. You are free to fight fiercely feed the world. this farm bill is provided on time. for the policies and candidates you be- You know, when we talk about good It could not be more important than lieve in. But what you cannot do with- farm policy, we are talking about this year, when not only are our farm- out undermining our entire system is something that benefits every single ers and ranchers fighting COVID but

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.006 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5800 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 when they are fighting low commodity was in 2018, and we were all involved culture. They are not just here, advo- prices, challenges in the world of trade with that. It would keep all of those cating for it—they live it. It is a great in their being targeted by China, fight- programs funded, and that is critically group. ing challenges of tough weather, and important. It has never been more im- They have also reached out to so on top of that, COVID. So, again, we portant than it is right now in our many in the House, to the farm groups, have to be there for them. coming out of the pandemic. Food se- to the commodity groups, and to the ag I thank the Members of the Senate curity is an absolutely essential pri- groups, which I will talk a little bit and the House who worked very hard ority. It should be for our country, and more about later. on this and the farm group, and I am it certainly should be for the Members going to kind of run through this whole of Congress in both the House and the Let me turn to our Ag chairman, roster here in a minute. Senate. who, though still a relatively young Before I do that, I turn to the senior I thank my colleague Senator man, has been in the House and the Senator from South Dakota—our whip HOEVEN. As I said, he is a strong, Senate for many years and has always here in the Senate and somebody who strong voice for our agricultural pro- been a tireless advocate for agri- has worked on behalf of agriculture his ducers. When he and I and those from culture. He is a marine—once a marine whole life—and ask him for a few of his Arkansas and Kansas and Nebraska— always a marine. Semper Fi. He brings comments. those of us from farm country—work that attitude—that marine, you know, Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I say to together and put together coalitions at ‘‘never turn back and never let up’’ at- my colleague from North Dakota how times like this, it is only due to that titude—and makes sure that he does much we appreciate his leadership. He advocacy we have heard from Senator everything he can on behalf of our is a relentless advocate for the farmers HOEVEN and others that has enabled us farmers and ranchers. and ranchers of North Dakota and to be successful. across this country. We share a border, I am glad that we have gotten the I yield to the chairman. but we also have a lot of commonality right outcome here, and it is some- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- in the people whom we represent. They thing to celebrate. Obviously, our ator from Kansas. are hard-working people who work farmers and ranchers across the coun- Mr. ROBERTS. I thank the distin- from dawn to dusk to feed not only this try are going to be, I think, enor- guished Senator for his comments. I country but the world. mously grateful that we have been able appreciate the shout-out for the U.S. It has been no easy task being in ag- to get this problem resolved. riculture during these last few years I thank the Senator for his leader- Marine Corps and to all of us who are for lots of reasons, as my colleague ship, and I look forward to continuing marines. from North Dakota has pointed out, to work with my colleagues on those The Marine Corps taught me one whether it be from, of course, most re- issues that are important in farm coun- thing, and that was that I could always cently, COVID, but also from chron- try that will help our farmers and do more than I thought I could. This is ically low and depressed commodity ranchers not only survive but, hope- a good example of what happens when prices, coupled with bad weather, cou- fully, prosper into the future. we work together as a team—when we pled with trade disputes, and difficul- Mr. HOEVEN. I thank the Senate’s work with our colleagues across the ties with markets here and around the majority whip for all of the work he aisle—when we see a real problem that world. Farmers and ranchers have had has done. has come up. a tough and difficult road these past Again, he works for farmers day in few years, so it is critically important and day out. He comes from South Da- This was a situation for which I that we continue to be there for them. kota, which is a strong farming and big wanted to express my gratitude to all As my colleague from North Dakota ranching State. He was instrumental in of the Members who joined together to pointed out, there was a concern be- this effort, not only by his joining us provide certainty and predictability. cause what we had heard initially last week in the colloquy but then by This is what we sold the farm bill on— would be in the continuing resolution engaging in the negotiations as part of certainty and predictability. We had a that was coming over from the House— our leadership time, along with our situation that we faced, and it was that will fund the government and that majority leader, who held fast on this. really difficult to understand how this we will pass, hopefully, later this week I have to tell you that, as we nego- came about, but that is not the news in the Senate—was not going to in- tiated back and forth with the House, today. The news today is good news in clude funding for agriculture and for our leadership—Senator MCCONNELL, that we reached a compromise and all of those programs that keep ag run- Senator THUNE, and others—held found agreement to replenish the CCC, ning that we authorized in the farm strong in saying: No, this is something the Commodity Credit Corporation, in bill. that must be in the continuing resolu- the continuing resolution, absent some A key Member of the House Agri- tion. Also, the administration—the of the barbed wire that was in there. culture Committee, Senator BOOZMAN, President and the White House—was of Arkansas, who is also a key member involved in this negotiation and held I especially want to thank more than of that committee—in fact, he is some- fast on this as well. 40 agriculture organizations, and I have body we hope to be the next chairman This is one of the last pieces of the the letter right here. I know both Sen- of that committee—and the current puzzle to come into place, but it is so ators who are in attendance here, as chairman of our authorizing com- very important that we have gotten it. well as Senator THUNE and everybody mittee, Senator ROBERTS, of Kansas, As I say, we had seven Senators down concerned, are aware of it. It is to Ma- who, I think, will be down here in just on the floor last week who were talk- jority Leader MCCONNELL, Speaker a few minutes, all played an important ing about it, and those seven Senators PELOSI, Leader SCHUMER, and Leader role, along with the ag community. All were led by our Ag chairman, and I will MCCARTHY. It is from 47 different farm of the organizations that Senator I ask him to make a few comments as organizations and commodity groups HOEVEN is going to talk about engaged well. that speak for, I think, virtually every right away when they realized what Again, let me thank those other Sen- farmer, rancher, and grower in the was happening, and we were able to ators who have joined and will join country. So I give thanks to the 47. us—Senator THUNE, from whom you work together to solve that. I ask unanimous consent to have Now we will consider on the floor of just heard; Senator BOOZMAN, from printed at this point in the RECORD this the Senate the continuing resolution whom you will hear in just a minute; letter, dated September 15, 2020, from to fund the government that does in- Senator ERNST, of Iowa; Senator FISCH- 47 farm organizations and commodity clude funding for the Commodity Cred- ER, of Nebraska; and Senator HYDE- groups. it Corporation, which provides the SMITH, of Mississippi. All have strong funds that keep all of those agricul- ag backgrounds. I mean, they are peo- There being no objection, the mate- tural programs that we authorize when ple who not only work on behalf of ag- rial was ordered to be printed in the we do a farm bill. The last farm bill riculture but who are involved in agri- RECORD, as follows:

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.008 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5801 SEPTEMBER 15, 2020. Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, if we I ask unanimous consent to have Hon. MITCH MCCONNELL, had not done this, it would have re- printed at this point in the RECORD a U.S. Senate, sulted in delays in the 2018 farm bill list of these programs that were in dan- Washington, DC. programs—the one that we passed here ger. Hon. NANCY PELOSI, House of Representatives, with 87 votes—and the ability farmers There being no objection, the mate- Washington, DC. would have with the risk management rial was ordered to be printed in the Hon. CHARLES SCHUMER, tools. RECORD, as follows: U.S. Senate, I would just simply point out that no PROGRAMS FUNDED THROUGH CCC Washington, DC. matter what they grow or where they Price Loss Coverage; Agriculture Risk Cov- Hon. KEVIN MCCARTHY, live, farmers, ranchers, and growers erage–County; Agriculture Risk Coverage–In- House of Representatives, have done their part to ensure that our dividual; Marketing Assistance Loans; Eco- Washington, DC. Nation’s food, fiber, and fuel supplies nomic Adjustment Assistance for Upland DEAR MAJORITY LEADER MCCONNELL, Cotton; ELS Cotton; Payment Limitations SPEAKER PELOSI, LEADER SCHUMER AND continue without disruption during and Actively Engaged (commodity certs, sep- LEADER MCCARTHY: As Congress assembles a these unprecedented times. They are arate peanut payment limit, marketing loan; continuing resolution to extend government counting on the Department of Agri- Sugar Loans; Electronic Warehouse Re- funding, we respectfully ask that you pro- culture—and, for that matter, the Con- ceipts; Dairy Margin Coverage. vide the U.S. Department of Agriculture gress—to deliver a range of agriculture, Dairy Indemnity Payment Programs; Milk (USDA) with the resources necessary to con- nutrition, conservation, and forestry tinue assisting American farmers and ranch- Donation Program; Noninsured Crop Dis- ers. To that end, reimbursement for the programs. aster Assistance Program; Feedstock Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) must More than 50 of these programs—here Flexibililty Program; Biofuels Infrastructure be included in any measure to keep govern- is the list—were in danger because of Program; Biobased Market Program; Bio- ment operating past the current fiscal year. the uncertainty in replenishing the refinery Assistance Program; Bioenergy Pro- For decades, CCC has been regularly re- CCC funding and then due to some of gram for Advanced Biofuels; Rural Energy plenished to fund programs integral to the the add-ons with regard to policy being for America Program; Export Credit Guar- antee Program. farm safety net that Congress has worked difficult to understand. Well, they are tirelessly to craft. Producers count on pro- Agriculture Trade Promotion Program grams like Agriculture Risk Coverage, Price easy to understand, but it is bad pol- (Market Access; Program, Foreign Market Loss Coverage, Dairy Margin Coverage, Mar- icy, bad precedent. Development Program, Emerging Markets keting Assistance Loans, conservation pro- We have put the Secretary of Agri- Program, Technical Assistance for Conserva- grams, and many others as they provide culture in a very bad position in that tion Reserve Program; Agricultural Con- food, fuel and fiber for our nation. Without he has announced the specifics of this servation Easement Program; Conservation immediate CCC reimbursement, payments program. I would urge all of my col- Stewardship Program; Voluntary Public Ac- and programs would be significantly delayed, leagues—more especially my col- cess and Habitat Incentive Program; Envi- jeopardizing operations across the country. ronmental Quality Incentives Program; Re- More than ever, farmers and ranchers need leagues across the aisle who have ex- gional Conservation Partnership Program; the certainty and support provided by farm pressed great concern as to what is in Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey programs. Low commodity prices, unjusti- this latest program and what isn’t—to Bees, and Livestock Forage Disaster Pro- fied retaliatory tariffs, natural disasters, and get on the phone, and I will get on the gram; Livestock Indemnity Program; Tree a global pandemic have placed a tremendous phone with the Secretary. I know that Assistance Program. burden on farm country. USDA’s most recent Senator BOOZMAN and Senator HOEVEN Facility Guarantee Program; Food for farm income projections forecast that cash will do the same. We all have concerns Progress Program; Quality Samples Pro- receipts will be at their lowest level in more as to how this is going to work, and gram; The Bill Emerson Humanitarian than a decade. Coupled with rising farm debt Trust; Wool Apparel Manufacturers Trust and a decrease in working capital, producers that has been true with all of the pro- Fund; Pima Cotton Trust Fund; Citrus Trust face challenges not experienced in decades. grams prior to this one. That is the Fund; APHIS efforts for emergency plant As the industry continues to endure hard- way to express our concern with regard and animal disease; Local Agriculture Mar- ships during this unprecedented time, we to getting something done. ket Program; Organic Production and Mar- urge you to include CCC reimbursement in a I do want to point out that my col- ket Data Initiatives. continuing resolution. Thank you for your leagues across the aisle, under the ban- Organic Agriculture Research and Exten- consideration and continued efforts on behalf ner of nutrition programs—the SNAP sion; Small Watershed Rehabilitation; Feral of American agriculture. Swine Eradication and Control Pilot; The Sincerely, program in particular, school lunches, et cetera—did point out that we had Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Pro- Agricultural Retailers Association, Amcot, gram; Specialty Crop Block Grant Program; American Agri-Women, American Cotton some real deficiencies with regard to Animal Disease Prevention and Management Producers, American Cotton Shippers Asso- keeping our commitment to these pro- Program; Wool Research and Promotion; ciation, American Dairy Coalition, American grams, more especially with COVID–19. Farming Opportunities Training and Out- Farm Bureau Federation, American Pulse I understand that, so that was in- reach; Beginning; Farmer and Rancher De- Association, American Sheep Industry Asso- cluded. That is really what we are all velopment Grant Program; Emergency Food ciation, American Soybean Association. Assistance Program; Food for Peace Pro- American Sugar Alliance, Association of about here—working in a bipartisan gram. Equipment Manufacturers, Cotton Growers fashion on behalf of farmers, ranchers, Warehouse Association, Cotton Warehouse and growers in agriculture. That is Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, find- Association of America, Crop Insurance Pro- what we have always done on the com- ing a bipartisan solution to replenish fessionals Association, National Association mittee. the CCC and to provide much needed of Wheat Growers, National Barley Growers I thank my distinguished ranking certainty and predictability for all rea- Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Asso- member, and I thank everybody who sons, all crops, all farmers, and all ciation, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council. brought this thing together. ranchers, I, again, appreciate the ef- National Cotton Ginners Association, Na- As the chairman of this committee, forts of my colleagues and those who tional Council of Farmer Cooperatives, Na- we were successful. As I indicated, in a represent them—the Nation’s farmers, tional Farmers Union, National Milk Pro- bipartisan manner, we—87 Members of ranchers, growers, rural stakeholders, ducers Federation, National Sorghum Pro- this Chamber—voted in favor of this everybody in rural and small-town ducers, National Sunflower Association, legislation. These were some of the America, and their lenders, who could Panhandle Peanut Growers Association, programs that were threatened: price not believe what we were about to face Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., Produce Mar- keting Association, Rural & Agriculture loss coverage, agriculture risk cov- with pulling out the CCC funds with re- Council of America. erage, and marketing assistance loans. gards to the CR, or the continuing res- Society of American Florists, South- If you just go down the list of every- olution, to keep our government run- eastern Cotton Ginners Association, South- thing farmers were depending on, all of ning and avoid a government shut- ern Cotton Growers, Southwest Council of a sudden, it was up in the air. Why that down. Agribusiness, U.S. Canola Association, U.S. was true I am not quite sure, but this So this agreement, the continuing Cattlemen’s Association, United Egg Pro- ducers, United States Peanut Federation, US shows the extent of the damage that resolution, represents a good step, a Rice Producers Association, USA Dry Pea & could have been done with the original good bipartisan step. I really appre- Lentil Council, USA Rice, Western Peanut request in the CR without the CCC ciate that, although I must say we Growers Association. funding. didn’t have to go down this road.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.002 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5802 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 There is a saying we have in Kansas These important programs—like Ag not just for the farm bill but for that that there are a lot cactus in the Risk Coverage, Price Loss Coverage, disaster assistance, the coronavirus world. We don’t have to sit on every Market Assistance Loans, the Environ- food assistance funding that we are doggone one of them. And, boy, we sat mental Quality Incentive Program, and providing, as well, which our farmers on this one, and we sat on it too long. others—were authorized in the 2018 and ranchers need so very much as we I want thank the staff, especially the farm bill that was supported with an go through this COVID fight. Agriculture Committee staff, rep- overwhelmingly bipartisan record So let me just wrap up. This is some- resenting all of our Members on the Ag number of votes in the Senate. thing that the Ag chairman brought Committee. They did tremendous So I want to really just thank all of up. I thought, as usual, right on. He work, making sure the right policy was those involved in this effort. They said we wouldn’t have been able to get there, making sure that at least the worked so, so very hard. A special this done without the farm groups and CCC was operating with the funds that thanks to Senator MCCONNELL and his the ranch groups stepping up and call- they need to operate during the middle staff and Chairman ROBERTS, whom we ing their Member, whether it was their of COVID–19, and, again, on behalf of have with us now, who is certainly the Senator or their House Member. all of agriculture. voice of ag in the Senate and in Con- Our chairman also already intro- So I want to again thank Senator gress. We are going to miss him great- duced this into the RECORD—the let- HOEVEN for holding this discussion. ly, as he decides to step aside. And also ter—which was so important. But I am I yield the floor. to Senator HOEVEN and the great work going to take just a minute and read The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. that he did through the ag appropria- through those ag groups, if I could, as HOEVEN). The Senator from Nebraska. our way of finishing up with a thank Mr. SASSE. Mr. President, before tions part of this. Then, as Senator ROBERTS men- you. Chairman ROBERTS leaves, I just want- tioned, there are the staffs that worked I am just going to read through those ed to come down and lend my voice to so, so very hard, and also the members 47 groups: Agriculture Retailers Asso- him and Senators BOOZMAN, THUNE, of the Ag Committee who stepped up ciation, Amcot, American Agri- and HOEVEN, and to Chairman ROBERTS and really shouldered the burden and Women, American Cotton Producers, and his staff for his work, and the Pre- American Cotton Shippers Association, siding Officer. Thank you for spelling just did a tremendous job in really ex- plaining to Congress and explaining to the American Dairy Coalition, Amer- me in the Chair momentarily. Senator ican Farm Bureau Federation. the public how important this issue HOEVEN and his team have done great I have got to say that the American was and that we simply could not go work as well. Farm Bureau Federation took a real As Chairman ROBERTS just said, forward without getting it included. leadership role, so a special thanks Then we are here, and we fight. We there was no reason to have gone down there. this path and injected all of this par- are kind of the tip of the stick and the But thanks to all of these groups: tisan uncertainty, holding farmers and spear in the ag community and worked American Pulse Association, American ranchers and their communities and really hard in that regard. We simply Sheep Industry Association, American their lenders and their welders and couldn’t get it done without the agri- Soybean Association, American Sugar their truckers hostage over the last 48 culture groups that worked so, so very Alliance, Association of Equipment hours. It served no policy purpose, and hard, again, in educating the farmers. Manufacturers, Cotton Growers Ware- it continues to diminish public trust in They understand how important this house Association; Cotton Warehouse this institution and our ability to serve is, but, again, mobilizing them, mobi- Association of America, Crop Insurance our people. lizing the public so that we could have Professionals Association, National As- So I just want to commend you and the great result that we did. sociation of Wheat Growers, National Senator HOEVEN and your teams for the I yield the floor. Barley Growers Association, National work that you have done. Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I would Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- like to thank the Senator from Arkan- Corn Growers Association, National ator from Arkansas. sas again for his diligence and hard Cotton Council, National Cotton Gin- Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, we are work, and our Ag chairman. ners Association, National Council of here today to commend our Republican I just want to wrap up with some Farmer Cooperatives, National Farm- leadership for forging a bipartisan thank-yous, as well, and it starts with ers Union, National Milk Producers compromise on a continuing resolution our Ag chairman, not only for his lead- Federation, National Sorghum Pro- to avoid a government shutdown. ership on the farm bill but then on ducers, National Sunflower Associa- In particular, I am so pleased that we making sure we fund these farm pro- tion, Panhandle Peanut Growers Asso- reached an agreement that included grams. ciation, Plains Cotton Growers, full reimbursement to the Commodity I tell you, it has been something that Produce Marketing Association, Rural Credit Corporation, which we have all I know Senator BOOZMAN agrees with & Agriculture Council of America, So- been talking about—not only agree- me on. We have learned a lot from him, ciety of American Florists, Southeast ment, but to take away the potential and we appreciate it. It has made a real Cotton Ginners Association, Southern of unnecessary delays in farm and con- difference for farmers and ranchers Cotton Growers, Southwest Council of servation payments, which are so im- across this country. Agribusiness, U.S. Canola Association, portant to our farmers. I want to thank, of course, all of the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, United For decades, the CCC has been rou- Senators that worked with us on this Egg Producers, United States Peanut tinely reimbursed without fanfare, but, project—I named them earlier—but our Federation, US Rice Producers Asso- unfortunately, not so this year. Our House Members too. We reached out to ciation, USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, farmers and ranchers have faced more Members of the House, whether it was USA Rice, and Western Peanut Grow- than enough challenges this year—ex- the ranking member on the Ag Com- ers Association—all representing farm- treme weather events, low commodity mittee, Representative CONAWAY, or ers and ranchers. prices, market volatility, a global pan- whether it was Representative FORTEN- They produce the highest quality, demic, and the list just goes on and on BERRY. There are many others that lowest cost food supply in the world and on. They don’t need Washington to reached out and helped as well. that benefits every single American, make things even more difficult. I agree. I want to thank our staff, led every single day. With passage of this bill, with the by Tony Eberhard, my chief, and on With pleasure I yield, for the final full CCC reimbursement, farm and con- the Agriculture side, by Morgan Ulmer words, to our esteemed chairman. servation program payments will go and her whole crew, Shannon Hines, Mr. ROBERTS. I am not sure this is out as planned and will offer farmers and, of course, RICHARD SHELBY, our the final word. In the Senate of the and ranchers a little more certainty leader on the Approps side, and some- United States there is no final word, I and a little bit more predictability to body whom you worked with for many, would assume. continue growing the food and fiber for many years, Mr. Chairman. But this points out something that is this Nation—not only for this Nation It takes all of these people working just absolutely understandable—com- but for the world. together. This was really important, mon sense. When people ask me how on

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.011 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5803 Earth we got 87 votes together for a no question that it will be adequately My heart goes out to the families af- farm bill, with the tremendous help of funded. That is a positive thing. fected. I listened as spokespeople for the ranking member, Senator STABE- I also am happy to report that the the administration talked about the NOW, it was pretty easy. early press reports that we saw sug- wonderful job that they have done in We were holding hearings, as both of gesting CCC funds were actually going defending America from the the Senators know. And people asked to be diverted to oil companies—oil coronavirus. The numbers don’t back me: How do you get something like companies—was expressly prohibited as them up at all. this done? part of this negotiation. The United States of America has 4.5 It is just a huge undertaking. You Understand what is behind this. percent of the global population, and have to listen to farmers. You have to These oil companies have benefited yet as of this morning, we have 20 per- sit on the wagon tongue and listen. from a decision by the Trump adminis- cent of the COVID–19 deaths in the Well, this time we didn’t have to sit tration to give small refineries waivers world—4.5 percent of the population, 20 on the wagon tongue and listen. when it came to the blending of eth- percent of the COVID–19 deaths. This United, they said: What on Earth is anol with their product. The net result great and powerful Nation, with the going on? How did this proposal get of that decision by the Trump adminis- best doctors and hospitals and re- loose? In other words, keeping us out of tration was that a large number of searchers and pharmaceutical compa- the continuing resolution, given the these small refineries were given waiv- nies in the world, has one of the worst problems that we are having, what on ers for blending, and, as a result, the records in fighting this virus in the Earth is going on? actual production of ethanol declined world. It is sad to think that you are dramatically. It is one of the major And so it wasn’t much of a surprise five times more likely to be infected by reasons that corn is grown and sold. It to any of us when farmers—every one COVID–19 in the United States than if is for that use, and it was diminished of them represented by the groups that you were living in Germany; twice as the distinguished Senator has just list- dramatically. It was one of major reasons why, as likely to be infected by COVID–19 in ed—said: Whoa. Wait a minute. We are the ethanol industry cratered, that the United States than if you were liv- getting left out. farm income in many States was cut in ing in Canada. Canada, just across the I think the leader in a conference half from what it normally has been. border, has an infection rate half of said something about, well, other than In just the last few days, there has what the United States has. What is it the fact that we are treating agri- been an attempt to rectify the situa- that they did that we didn’t do? culture and farmers like bums—I mean, tion, which should have been changed Well, they came together as a nation it was pretty clear what was going on, years ago, and rectifying it to say that, with a national policy, and it worked. and it was terribly counterproductive. once again, there will be blending of We didn’t. This President basically said I don’t know how people come up with ethanol with gasoline in the United to the Governors: You are on your own. these things. It is what it is. States, which I support. And then As a consequence, there was a mad But we listened to farmers. We got someone suggested, well, let’s give an scramble to get protective equipment. the job done. We cooperated. It was bi- additional subsidy to the oil companies There was a mad scramble for ventila- partisan. from the Commodity Credit Corpora- tors. It was a free-for-all when it Some of the nutrition programs were tion—a terrible idea from the start. I should have been a coordinated na- addressed. It was a good news story. We am glad it is not included in this final tional policy. couldn’t have done it, however, with- product. Then, when the public health experts out the 47 groups that sounded the Let me mention one other part of told us the obvious, that we ought to alarm. And so we have been able to do this that is included that I think bears use these masks, and we should prac- it over a period of about 3 or 4 or 5 notice, and that is the fact that there tice social distancing, washing our days. is an extension of the school feeding hands, and avoiding crowds, the Presi- I thank everybody concerned. I think program for the next school year. dent of the United States said just the it is a good news story in the end re- We have an extraordinary situation opposite. One day he wore a mask—I sult. with the COVID–19 pandemic where saw on television—when he visited a Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. Chairman, I also many schools are not bringing kids veterans hospital. I don’t know if he want to add Terry Van Doren to that into the classroom. Many of these kids has ever worn one before or since. list, who is here this morning on the are being taught online across Amer- When the message from the public floor. He worked tirelessly and stood ica. I know it because I know my health experts who insisted that it was firm in the negotiations. So, Terry, grandkids are going through this. For the best way to break the back of this thank you to you as well. those who are in lower income-quali- pandemic, this President mocked them And, again, the final word, though, fying categories, we have now extended by holding rallies across the United has to go—I think Senator BOOZMAN in this continuing resolution the acces- States with all of his loyal fans point- would agree with me—to our Ag chair- sibility of these school feeding pro- edly not wearing masks to show they man. Thanks so much. grams for the next school year. That is really didn’t care—didn’t care about The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. important. Kids, if they are going to any of the public health advice, and we SASSE). The Senator from Illinois. learn, have to have nutrition. We don’t are paying the price for it. Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me want them suffering from hunger in More people are infected in this at the outset join in with my Repub- the process in any way, shape, or form country than Canada. We have double lican colleagues. Coming from a farm in this great Nation. the rate here over Canada, five times State, I am glad that we have a bipar- I want to salute not just the CCC, the rate over Germany. So many more tisan continuing resolution until De- which has been lauded over and over have died in this country who should cember 11. again in this last half hour, but this de- be living today. The President, at var- I am saddened that we don’t have the cision that my side of the aisle was ious times, has said, when asked about Appropriations Committee working pushing for to extend school lunch and the deaths: ‘‘It is what it is.’’ That is through its normal process, nor the school feeding programs into the next an off-the-cuff dismissal of the issue, Budget Committee. This is the world school year. I think it will give some which is beneath the dignity of any we live in now—continuing resolutions. peace of mind to administrators who leader of either political party. And this continuing resolution does in- are trying to cope with the current sit- Despite the urgent needs of families, clude money for the Commodity Credit uation. businesses, workers, and unemployed Corporation, which is the usual source CORONAVIRUS Americans across the country, we of payments for agriculture programs Mr. President, on a completely dif- haven’t followed through on the origi- agreed to in the farm bill. ferent subject—but related—we have nal CARES Act, which passed in this There was some question as to lost 200,000 Americans to coronavirus. Chamber on March 26. It was that date, whether or not there was enough The predictions are that by election by a vote of 96 to 0, that Republicans money in the CCC account to take care day there could be 300,000 deaths and by and Democrats said: We take this seri- for the months to come. Now there is the first of next year, 400,000 deaths. ously, March 26, and we are going to

VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:52 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.012 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5804 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 dedicate $3 trillion to make sure that those programs? It raises a question as dred dollars a week sounds like a lot of we fight this virus and that we do ev- to whether they are going to be hurt by money—times 4 weeks, $2,400. But if erything in our power to cushion the this temporary measure. It is a very $1,700 a month is going just to main- shock of the economic impact of this confusing proposal by the President, tain your health insurance from where virus on America. but he has put it on the table, and we you worked, you can see there is vir- I went home after that, and people are now trying to sort out the impact tually no benefit. It is estimated that said: I can’t believe 96 to nothing. it is going to have. 23 million workers can lose health cov- Democrats and Republicans agreed? We need to do more. We shouldn’t go erage during the course of this pan- Well, we did. There were some pro- home for this election empty handed demic. That happens to just about mir- posals in there that were brandnew, when it comes to helping the families ror the number who were given health such as the Paycheck Protection Pro- and businesses across America, and we insurance under the Affordable Care gram that Senators RUBIO and CARDIN need to start to help State and local Act. Now they stand to lose—at least constructed. I think I have been told governments. the same number stand to lose their they spent perhaps 2 weeks in writing My State of Illinois has problems— health insurance because of the pan- this important program. Was it per- plenty of them. When it comes to pen- demic. Are we going to sit still for this fect? By no means. We realized, after a sions, for example, just like Kentucky, or are we going to help these families? few weeks, it needed to be changed, and we have problems funding our pensions My bill, which I will be introducing we changed it several times, but the in Illinois. But we have a second set of with Senator CORTEZ MASTO and oth- concept was sound to give money to problems created by the pandemic—the ers, will fully cover the cost of COBRA, small businesses so they could keep downturn in revenue which is going to enabling newly unemployed Americans people on the payroll, pay the mort- have a dramatic impact on State budg- to keep their healthcare coverage dur- gage, pay the rent, pay the utilities. ets in Illinois and other States. If we ing this difficult time. The legislation These are the fundamentals that a don’t help these State and local gov- mirrors what passed in the Heroes Act business needed so that it might reopen ernments get through this problem, in the House in May—in May, 4 months and put people back to work. It was a they have no choice but to layoff im- ago—and it is vital to help those whose great program. It should be extended portant, vital employees—law enforce- jobs have been taken away by the pan- even further. I think there should be a ment, firefighters, healthcare—just to demic. We have waited 4 months to do second round. name a few. something here in the Senate, and we I also think there should be a second When people talk about defunding have done nothing. round when it comes to unemployment the police, I am afraid that if we don’t So MCCONNELL brought a bill up 2 benefits. The $600 a week, which we give a helping hand to State and local weeks ago that is so thin and so want- provided—which is incidentally subject governments, we are actually going to ing that it really didn’t address the to taxation, people should remember— see the defunding of some law enforce- problems that this Nation faces. but the $600 a week which we provided ment across this country. That is why There is a new report from the Rob- ert Wood Johnson Foundation that half over and above State benefits made a those on this side of the aisle have been of Chicago households report having dramatic difference in the lives of pushing for State and local assistance lost their jobs. Some of those who lost Americans. Critics from the outset as part of any package of relief that we their job are head of household, have said: It is going to make people lazy. pass. Folks will just sit at home watching The majority leader knows this needs been furloughed or are seeing reduc- Netflix and eating bonbons. to be done. The playbook was right in tions in wages or hours since the start of the pandemic. Half—half—of Chi- I don’t believe that. In fact, when front of him for another relief bill. We cago’s households reported facing seri- you look at the reality of the situa- did it back in March with the CARES ous financial problems during the pan- tion, 70 percent of the people who have Act. To negotiate a real package with demic and have trouble caring for their gone back to work in America—70 per- real solutions for the American people, children. Thirty-five percent reported cent of them—were earning less money the majority leader needs to show up that they used up all or most of their at work then they did with unemploy- at the negotiating table. It is impos- savings. This is a terrible situation—a ment benefits, and yet they went back sible to explain why Senator MCCON- challenging situation. We owe it to this to work. Why would they do that if it NELL boycotted the negotiation ses- country and the people we represent were just about whether you are going sions between the White House and the not to ignore it. to be lazy or thrifty? It is because they Democratic leaders in Congress. There As we know, the pandemic has dis- want to be back to work for the bene- was an empty chair waiting for him, proportionately affected our minority fits, to do the work that they do and but he never filled it. communities, with nearly 70 percent of enjoy doing, and they knew that unem- I am introducing legislation this Black families and 63 percent of Latinx ployment was a temporary thing, as it week to help workers who have been families in Chicago reporting they are should be, as people had an opportunity furloughed or laid off through the pan- having serious financial problems—70 to return. demic from losing their health insur- percent of Black families, 63 percent of So that expired July 31. The Presi- ance. I can’t imagine a worse situation Latinx families. dent has tried to extend it by Execu- than in the midst of a public health While those statistics reflect the re- tive order. There is question as to crisis to lose your health insurance ality of many in Chicago, there is no whether he has the authority to do coverage. doubt that this is also the story in that. The President is also trying to do If you have been laid off, your op- many other cities across this Nation. something which I still don’t under- tions are a few—but only a few. You That is why we need a Federal re- stand how to explain to anyone when it may qualify for Medicaid. It is pos- sponse. We need to do what is nec- comes to payroll tax. He is allowing sible. You might go to the Affordable essary to help these families, busi- employers to decide whether to sus- Care Act and go on the exchange and nesses, cities, and States get back on pend collection of the payroll tax to a find an insurance policy that works for their feet. But instead, the Senate Re- later date. If that tax on your income you and your family. There is also an publicans proposed an inadequate, par- of 6 percent or 7 percent is suspended, option called COBRA, where you would tisan bill, with no negotiations with but yet you have to pay it all back at take the health insurance offered in the other side of the aisle. They failed the beginning of the year, are Ameri- your workplace and decide to keep it to prioritize the needs of struggling cans prepared to have a double tax- but pay the employer’s share as well as families. ation from their payroll check after the employee’s share on premiums. The The bill has failed to provide another the first of the year? In the meantime, problem, of course, is that it is very ex- round of economic impact pay for fami- that payroll tax is supposed to be used pensive. lies or hazard pay for essential work- to fund Social Security and Medicare. On average, COBRA costs $600 a ers. They fail to provide relief to If the President is not funding Social month to keep the health insurance States and local governments to help Security and Medicare, what does that you had at work for an individual, teachers, EMTs, firefighters, and po- do to the solvency and longevity of $1,700 a month for a family. Six hun- lice.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:52 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.014 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5805 A week from Thursday is October 1, Toomey Warner Wicker this vacancy on the Court and why Udall Warren Wyden which means another month’s rent will Van Hollen Whitehouse whoever is elected President in Novem- be due, and many families know they ber should be the one who decides to will not be able to pay it. We need help NAYS—26 fill this seat. on a bipartisan basis. I agree with Fed- Barrasso Gardner Rounds Justice Ginsburg was, simply put, a eral Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Blackburn Hawley Sasse phenomenal lawyer and jurist. She was Blumenthal Heinrich Schumer if we don’t move and move quickly to Boozman Hirono Scott (FL) small, and she was mighty. As a civil address this issue, the economy can Braun Hoeven Scott (SC) rights lawyer, she won key cases that sink even deeper, and recovery would Cotton Kennedy Sullivan established a woman’s constitutional Cruz Lankford be further in the distance. In the mean- Thune right to equal treatment and confirmed Daines Lee Young time, the death numbers in the United Enzi Moran the principle of equal rights for all. As States would be even worse. NOT VOTING—3 a jurist, she further cemented these key principles into law. She brought I yield the floor. Capito Harris Johnson CLOTURE MOTION them up, and she made them exist for- The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this ever. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant vote, the yeas are 71, the nays are 26. to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the As a person, she brought smiles to The motion is agreed to. our faces, and now she really does Senate the pending cloture motion, The Senator from Idaho. which the clerk will state. bring tears. NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK Although small in stature, Ruth The legislative clerk read as follows: Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, fellow Bader Ginsburg was a formidable advo- CLOTURE MOTION Senators, I rise today in honor of and cate, strategist, and champion. I be- We, the undersigned Senators, in accord- to speak about the importance of small lieve she will continue to serve as a ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the businesses—in particular, in relation to major role model for generations of Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby National Small Business Week. women, both young and old, for whom move to bring to a close debate on the nomi- Idaho’s small businesses are the en- she paved the way, and I am one of nation of John Charles Hinderaker, of Ari- gine that powers our State’s economy. zona, to be United States District Judge for those. We are in her debt today, and the District of Arizona. They provide us with not only goods generations to come will be in her debt Mitch McConnell, Martha McSally, Tom and services, local jobs, and growth op- as well. Cotton, Roger F. Wicker, John Cornyn, portunities, but also immeasurable Justice Ginsburg is also important to Lamar Alexander, John Barrasso, Roy community value. me personally. Her confirmation hear- Blunt, Marco Rubio, Richard Burr, With the onset and spread of COVID– ing was the first I participated in as a Mike Crapo, Rob Portman, Kevin 19, this year has presented Idaho’s busi- newly elected Senator and as the first Cramer, John Thune, Steve Daines, ness owners with challenges not seen in John Boozman, James Lankford. woman to sit on the Judiciary Com- our lifetime. Even under normal cir- mittee in 1993. It was a long time ago. The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unan- cumstances, business ownership takes As I said before the committee in imous consent, the mandatory quorum remarkable courage and commitment. 1993, it was not until I began preparing call has been waived. With the pandemic, the challenges as- for Justice Ginsburg’s confirmation The question is, Is it the sense of the sociated with entrepreneurship have that I learned how she built the foun- Senate that debate on the nomination increased dramatically. Throughout dation for women’s rights. Simply put, of John Charles Hinderaker, of Ari- 2020, Idaho’s small businesses have it was this: Before becoming a judge on zona, to be United States District shown tremendous determination as the DC Circuit, Justice Ginsburg was Judge for the District of Arizona, shall they have strived to serve their cus- the director of the ACLU’s Women’s be brought to a close? tomers and keep their doors open to Rights Project, where she won five The yeas and nays are mandatory people in their communities. cases before the Supreme Court. Amaz- under the rule. During this year’s National Small ing—five cases before people believed The clerk will call the roll. Business Week, I want to take this op- women had these rights. In one of these The bill clerk called the roll. portunity to recognize the resilience cases, Craig v. Boren, the Supreme Mr. THUNE. The following Senators and courage of small businesses Court held for the first time that the are necessarily absent: the Senator throughout the Gem State and encour- equal protection clause of the 14th from West Virginia (Mrs. CAPITO), the age Idahoans to continue to support Amendment applied to women. Can you Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. JOHNSON). the local shops, restaurants, and busi- believe it—actually applied to women. Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the nesses that make our communities vi- This is a very big addition because this Senator from California (Ms. HARRIS) is brant. really canceled out inequality. necessarily absent. I firmly believe that small business In other words, it is because of Jus- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. relief is a shared, bipartisan priority. tice Ginsburg’s advocacy as a lawyer LANKFORD). Are there any other Sen- Here in the Senate, we will continue to that the government cannot discrimi- ators in the Chamber desiring to vote? work to deliver relief to Idaho’s small nate against women on the basis of sex. The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 71, businesses so that we can get back on For the female side of this room, this nays 26, as follows: the path to recapturing the unprece- was really a major person whose works [Rollcall Vote No. 190 Ex.] dented prosperity our economy pro- enabled us to run for this esteemed YEAS—71 vided before this crisis began. body and be part of it. Idahoans are set apart by their grit, Alexander Feinstein Murphy It is no surprise, then, that Justice Baldwin Fischer Murray self-reliance, and their deep commit- Ginsburg remained a fierce defender of Bennet Gillibrand Paul ment to community. I am constantly women from the bench. Blunt Graham Perdue reminded of this and proud of it when She consistently reaffirmed a wom- Booker Grassley Peters I see Idaho’s small businesses enduring Brown Hassan Portman an’s right to choose and upheld Roe v. Burr Hyde-Smith Reed and supporting one another through Wade against dozens of attacks. Cantwell Inhofe Risch these uncertain times. She invalidated the men’s-only pol- Cardin Jones Roberts The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- icy at the Virginia Military Institute. Carper Kaine Romney Casey King Rosen ator from California. Explaining that decision at a visit to Cassidy Klobuchar Rubio SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS VMI, Justice Ginsburg told cadets that Collins Leahy Sanders Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I she knew it ‘‘would make V.M.I. a bet- Coons Loeffler Schatz Cornyn Manchin Shaheen rise today in honor of Justice Ruth ter place.’’ Cortez Masto Markey Shelby Bader Ginsburg. Justice Ginsburg was In 2007, she vehemently dissented in a Cramer McConnell Sinema a role model for many and a champion case where the Court’s majority held Crapo McSally Smith for all, and I was one of those. that a woman—namely, one Lilly Duckworth Menendez Stabenow Durbin Merkley Tester I would like to speak about what is Ledbetter, with whom we have become Ernst Murkowski Tillis at stake for the American public with familiar—was time-barred from suing

VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.016 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5806 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 her employer for discrimination when think of those rights that need contin- bill. I will remind you again, it passed she finally learned that her male col- ued protection when the replacement is unanimously through committee. leagues had been paid more than her made by the President. While there is a heck of a lot of polit- for several years. Justice Ginsburg’s We cannot allow the Senate and the ical posturing that goes on in the Sen- dissent in this case became the basis President to jam through a nominee ate, we have had moments when we for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, who will undo this legacy, which is so have come together to rein in the tick- which we passed in 2009, making it pos- important to every American because er tape parade of Washington’s ex- sible to bring lawsuits when gender- every American has that legacy today, cesses. For instance, we passed my based pay discrimination is actually firm, and uses it virtually every day of SQUEAL Act, which was signed into uncovered. their life. law as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs As a testament to the legal giant she We are ready to fight, and we will do Act of 2017. I am proud of that effort was, Justice Ginsburg’s accomplish- everything in our power to safeguard because there is no reason Members of ments on behalf of women are just one these hard-won rights and protections. Congress should enjoy tax perks that part of her legacy, and that legacy I It is really important. Of all the nomi- don’t get enjoyed by everyone else. strongly believe is going to be honored nations I have sat as a fairly long-term My bipartisan Program Management more and more in the years to come. member—since 1993—of the Judiciary Improvement and Accountability Act She died last Friday, just 46 days be- Committee, these protections and was signed into law, creating more effi- fore the 2020 Presidential election. rights are really all important and ciency and oversight in the Federal Importantly, under a Republican must be protected. They will be what Government. standard adopted in 2016, the Senate we are looking at when the nominee I certainly have not stopped fighting should not consider a Supreme Court comes to the Senate. to rein in Presidential perks. nomination until after the inaugura- I yield the floor. I have also worked with colleagues tion of the next President, whoever The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- who couldn’t be more different from that may be. Until recently, Repub- ator from Iowa. me politically, and we have actually licans have been intent on their own BILLION DOLLAR BOONDOGGLE ACT accomplished really important things standard, which they used to block Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I grew up for the American people. I will name a consideration of Merrick Garland, on a family farm with modest means. few of those. We have fought against President Obama’s nominee, to fill Jus- As a young girl, I saw Washington, DC, abuse in the Olympics. We have worked tice Scalia’s seat on the Court. Now, as a place for men in big fancy suits to stop prison rape. We have expanded can we have one set of rules for Demo- and big fancy houses. While a lot has telehealth and mental health services cratic Presidents and another for Re- changed since that time—for one, there for our veterans. We have fought publican ones? I think not. To allow are a lot more women like me serving against opioids in our communities, otherwise undermines not only our in the Senate—so much here is still the and so much more. faith in Congress but also the faith of same. Working across the aisle really does You see, too many folks in Wash- people that we are going to stick by take humility. It takes honesty, and it ington get their paychecks from Amer- what we do and be impartial in the ju- takes a firm belief in America and her ican taxpayers but don’t honor the people. But we can do this. I would dicial system. Now, just 41 days before folks who pay their salary. Instead of urge all of my colleagues to support the election, Senate Republicans must holding bad actors accountable, wheth- my bill and move it through the Sen- abide by their own standard. er it is reckless spending or raunchy What is at stake? There is a great ate. behavior on taxpayers’ time, it gets deal of attention this week as to whom Living in Iowa, I am so blessed to be swept under the rug. the President might select. The simple Let me give you an example. I have a around the best people America has to truth, however, is this: No matter bill right now. It is called the Billion offer. I am lucky not just to call these whom President Trump nominates, Dollar Boondoggle Act. It passed com- people farmers but also friends and fundamental rights and protections mittee unanimously. It is actually one neighbors. Iowans are strong. Iowans must be considered because they be- of the simplest bills I have ever intro- are resilient. And Iowans are brave. I come at risk if the nominee doesn’t re- duced. It literally requires the govern- have long said we need more of Iowa in spond positively and effectively to ment to report on projects that are, Washington. I will keep fighting to these. No. 1, behind schedule and, No. 2, over- make sure that happens. For example, in November, the Court budget. It is a simple reporting require- I yield the floor. will hear a renewed legal challenge— ment. Again, it passed through the I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The brought by the Trump administra- committee unanimously. tion—to the Affordable Care Act. Given The bill has the support of my Re- clerk will call the roll. President Trump’s promise to appoint publican colleagues, but I am being The senior assistant legislative clerk a Justice who would strike down the stonewalled by my friends across the proceeded to call the roll. Affordable Care Act, healthcare access aisle. Folks, I cannot fathom why some Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I and protections for the nearly 130 mil- Senate Democrats would oppose a re- ask unanimous consent that the order lion nonelderly Americans with pre- porting requirement to identify waste- for the quorum call be rescinded. existing conditions are really in cer- ful spending. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. ROM- tain peril, and we have every reason for You might ask: If this bill is so sim- NEY). Without objection, it is so or- serious consideration and opposition if ple, why does it mean so much to you? dered. this protection is not continued. Because it matters to my fellow Iowa REMEMBERING JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG It is unbelievable that during a pan- taxpayers. They expect Washington to Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, a demic that has already killed more use their tax dollars wisely, not throw 5-foot-1-inch giant, Ruth Bader Gins- than 200,000 Americans, this President them down bottomless sinkholes that burg changed this Nation—and the po- and his allies are rushing a nomination go unnoticed. Ask any small business tential of my own life—time and again, that could leave up to 30 million Amer- owner in Iowa whether the bottom line seeing no challenge too big and finding icans without healthcare. I hope that allows them to be over-budget or be- no cause too small to fight for. A doesn’t happen. hind schedule. They would be out of woman with the softest voice, yet the The next Justice will also decide business. They would be out of business most powerful words one could ever cases concerning women’s reproductive in a heartbeat. Yet we can’t even pass imagine, she made it her life’s work to rights, voting rights, access to justice, a bill to report on these cost overruns, lift up the voices of others who all too environmental protections, the rights much less address them. I guess it is often had been silenced or ignored. of LGBT Americans, and the rights of perfectly fine for Washington to take With every case she argued, with American workers. Justice Ruth Bader more and more from working families every ruling she issued, with every dis- Ginsburg was a champion for all these and small businesses. sent she penned, Justice Ginsburg rights and protections. She is very Folks, I think it is downright shame- helped push our country toward that hard to replace, and it is important to ful that we just can’t pass this simple more perfect Union our Founders once

VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.020 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5807 wrote of in the Constitution she be- whose talent and capacity place them HOUSING REPORT lieved in so fiercely. outside the average description.’’ Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, the Our democracy may have been found- I can’t begin to imagine the number coronavirus has been the great revealer ed in the 18th century, but it wasn’t of women generals and flag officers and in our country. This crisis, of course, fully built when the ink dried on the servicemembers she paved the way for isn’t happening in a vacuum. It is lay- Declaration of Independence. It was with those rulings, but I do know the ered atop a system that already was shaped and strengthened, forged and story of one, not a flag officer—just not working for a whole lot of people formed, not just by those whose faces me, myself. and that had centuries of racism built loom large on Mount Rushmore but by As I was a couple years into the into it. someone who was often the smallest, Army when she wrote that decision, Few places is that more true than in quietest person in nearly every room Ruth Bader Ginsburg helped make my our housing system. When it comes to she ever walked into. It is because of career in the military possible. She housing, like so many problems in this Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s brilliance and helped make my hope of one day serv- country, we have a President who resilience that so many of us have the ing in a combat role regardless of my makes things worse, not better. For 4 rights we too often take for granted, gender, of one day commanding a years now, President Trump and his and it is because of her that who I am unit—despite most of my crew being administration have systematically today is possible. men—achievable. It was because of her undermined fair housing. Long before she was a Supreme Court that my dreams had the opportunity to I would add, since the Senator from Justice, she was a relatively unknown become a reality. Utah is in the Presiding Officer’s chair, law school professor who altered the You know, yesterday, I told my 5- that I would do a shout-out for his fa- course of history when she argued that year-old, Abigail—named for Abigail ther and what he did as Secretary of the equal protection promised under Adams, another feminist—that we were HUD in the late sixties, early seventies the 14th Amendment didn’t just mean taking a field trip instead of our usual in trying to move this country forward. equal protection for men. Her legal ge- homeschooling routine, and I took her That was obviously not in my pre- nius was captured in her first land- and her younger sister, Maile, to the pared remarks. I didn’t know that you mark victory and reflected in her steps of the highest Court in the land. would be presiding, but thank you. choice of a male plaintiff to dem- I didn’t expect to get emotional, and I The Trump agenda—very different onstrate that discrimination on the didn’t expect to tear up, but with Maile from the agenda in the Romney HUD basis of sex harms every American, in my lap and Abigail by my side, I administration—turned back the clock male and female alike. started to cry. I was crying because it on civil rights protections that leave Suddenly, thanks to this idealistic, was not just my military career Ruth communities of color, people with dis- young lawyer who spent her own law Bader Ginsburg helped to make pos- abilities, and LGBTQ people behind. school years having her place ques- sible but my family too. This week I released a comprehensive tioned because of her sex, it became il- I may never have been able to be- report from the Banking, Housing, and legal to discriminate against women come a mom if it were not for Justice Urban Affairs Committee, detailing the because they happened to be women. Ginsburg. Without her, without what ways that President Trump has made That same tenacity, that same trail- she did to safeguard healthcare and re- inequality and segregation in housing blazing intellect, that same woman productive freedoms, I might never worse and the work we have to do to also helped pave the way for me to suc- have been able to get pregnant through undo the damage. ceed in my career as a woman in the IVF. I might never have been able to More than 50 years after Congress military. have my two little girls; never would passed the Fair Housing Act, access to In 1973, she made sure that the equal have been able to watch Abigail place a housing remains not just unequal but rights for women she had helped to se- bouquet of white roses on the steps of separate and unequal. cure extended to the women who were the Supreme Court if Ruth Bader Gins- The contours of our country are too seeking to defend our Nation, arguing burg hadn’t spent decades in that very often still defined by Black, Latino, and winning her first case in front of same building, defending my rights. Asian or White neighborhoods, all with the Supreme Court—getting the Jus- She changed—no, she gave me the op- very different levels of access to re- tices to rule in an 8-to-1 fashion that portunity to achieve my life as it is sources—schools, grocery stores, the military could not give a female today. healthcare, clean air and water, public servicemember fewer benefits than her Her passing isn’t just heartbreaking safety. male counterparts. for me and for countless other women This is not an accident; it has been Her life, her position, and her title across this country; it is a loss for our done by design. For decades, the Fed- changed over the next couple of dec- entire Nation. It is a loss for justice, a eral Government not only condoned ades, as we all well know, but her con- loss for equality. housing segregation and discrimina- While today I will continue to mourn victions did not. It was 23 years after tion—perhaps unbelievably, perhaps everything we lost when she passed standing in front of the bench of the not—it actively promoted it. last Friday, I promise that tomorrow I highest Court in the land to argue that We all know about Black codes. We am going to roll up my sleeves and our Armed Forces could not discrimi- know about Jim Crow, even if too honor her in the way I believe to be nate against a woman in their ranks many want to deny we are still living most true to how she lived her life—by that Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself sat with this Jim Crow legacy today. It fighting like hell for what is right and on that very same bench and issued a wasn’t just the most blatant racist for all of our rights. ruling that changed everything for laws; discrimination was woven into My daughters might be too young to countless women who dreamed of serv- the creation of our modern housing remember going to the Supreme Court ing their country in uniform. She system from the beginning. to pay our respects to RBG, but they struck down the State-funded Virginia After the Great Depression, Presi- will know her legacy, and already, Military Institute’s male-only accept- dent Roosevelt created the govern- every day, they are living proof of its ance policy, granting women the abil- ment-sponsored Home Owners’ Loan power. ity to learn and train alongside men at I yield the floor. Corporation, the HOLC, and the Fed- one of the top military academies in I suggest the absence of a quorum. eral Housing Administration, the FHA. the Nation. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The These could have been tools for ex- In a ruling I plan to read out loud to clerk will call the roll. panding opportunity for everyone. my little girls some nights instead of The senior assistant legislative clerk They did that for White Americans, but their usual bedtime stories, she wrote proceeded to call the roll. for Black Americans they did the oppo- of potential female VMI students, argu- Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask site. HOLC partnered with local real ing: ‘‘Generalizations about ‘the way unanimous consent that the order for estate agents and appraisers to make women are,’ estimates of what is ap- the quorum call be rescinded. what they called residential security propriate for most women, no longer The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without maps. These maps used color coding to justify denying opportunity to women objection, it is so ordered. differentiate between supposedly high-

VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.022 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5808 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 risk and low-risk neighborhoods, with We know—and many of us have re- providing the tools to help commu- green signifying the best neighbor- peated many times—that one-quarter nities create more inclusive housing hoods and red indicating a so-called of renters in this country pay at least markets, to end home lending discrimi- hazardous area. half their income in rent and utilities, nation, to strengthen fair housing Neighborhoods that were home to meaning if one thing happens in their oversight. people of color—even a small percent- life—their car breaks down, their child We must break down barriers to age—were marked ‘‘declining’’ or ‘‘haz- gets sick, or they have a minor work- home ownership and redesign our hous- ardous.’’ That is what we know as red- place injury that keeps them out of ing finance system so that it better lining. work 4 or 5 days—everything in their serves Black and Brown communities. It was despicable racism, woven into lives can turn upside down. They can We have to protect the basic premise the fabric of our housing system. We be evicted and all that happens with that LGBTQ people seeking shelter still live with the results. Capital, in that. That is the legacy of redlining should be treated with the same dig- the form of low-cost, stable mortgages, and racial exclusion at work. nity and respect as every other person. flowed to White neighborhoods—like During the last administration, I think some of these are just so obvi- the neighborhood in which I grew up in President Obama made significant ous, so important in a society like Mansfield, OH—and dried up in Black strides in enforcing civil rights laws ours. I will say that one again—the neighborhoods or neighborhoods that that have been on the book for decades. basic premise that LGBTQ people seek- were home to immigrants. But instead of continuing that ing shelter should be treated with the White borrowers were able to build progress, President Trump has simply same dignity and respect as every wealth through home ownership that choked that progress. He has turned other American. could be passed down through families. back the clock. He has undone the We must provide long-overdue invest- Our government systematically denied progress that so many of us fought for. ments in housing and community de- Black families the same wealth-build- Over the past 4 years, the Trump ad- velopment in communities of color. ing opportunity. ministration has done several affirma- Black families and other communities From 1934 through 1962, 98 percent— tive—if you will—affirmative things to of color have endured too many dec- 98 percent—of all FHA mortgages went discriminate—not just that it didn’t ades of our country’s housing policies to White homeowners—98 percent. failing them. It wasn’t until Dr. King’s assassina- get around to enforcing, but it has done things that, by themselves, have The same year we passed the Fair tion in 1968 that Congress finally Housing Act, Dr. King gave a speech we passed the Fair Housing Act to outlaw caused damage to the progress we have made. call ‘‘The Other America.’’ In that discrimination and promote integrated speech, here is what he said: communities. The Fair Housing Act He appointed an OCC Director who undermined the Community Reinvest- Our nation has constantly taken a positive was followed by the Home Mortgage step forward on the question of racial justice Disclosure Act and Equal Credit Oppor- ment Act by making it less likely that banks will provide the loans, invest- and racial equality. But over and over again tunity Act and the Community Rein- at the same time, it made certain backward vestment Act. These laws all provided ments, and services that these commu- steps. nities need. powerful tools to root out discrimina- The Trump administration is that The Trump administration cut back tion and to invest in underserved com- backward step. Fundamentally, we all on housing data collection, allowing munities. pretty much want the same thing—a lending discrimination to go un- But for too long, those laws simply home that is safe in a community we checked. weren’t implemented. care about, where we can get to work The administration tried to make Administrations of both parties ig- and our kids have a good school, with mortgages more expensive and harder nored the Fair Housing Act’s require- room for our family, whether that is to get, particularly for people of color. ment that the Federal Government— three kids or an aging parent or simply this is a legal term—affirmatively fur- The administration denied opportuni- ties for home ownership to hundreds of a beloved pet. ther fair housing. Minority commu- You should get to define what home thousands of young adults. nities, though, remained under- looks like for you. You should be able The Trump administration forced invested. It took decades for all courts to find it. You should be able to afford families to choose between access to to say that if a housing policy has a it. You should be able to do it without affordable housing and food and discriminatory effect, it is, in fact, dis- the crippling stress of ‘‘Can I meet my healthcare and a path to citizenship. criminatory. That is pretty simple. If a rent payment or my mortgage every The administration gutted the so- housing policy has a discriminatory ef- month?’’ called disparate impact standard that fect, it is, in fact, discriminatory. For too many Black and Brown fami- helps root out policies that have hid- The government also didn’t collect lies, that has been out of reach—to find den discriminatory effects. enough housing data to root out dis- it, to afford it, to live in it without The Trump administration disman- criminatory housing that fed the crippling stress. subprime mortgage crisis. We know the tled the affirmatively furthering fair Congress cannot ignore these chal- 2008 crisis stripped away much of the housing rule, essentially telling com- lenges. We can’t keep allowing the housing wealth that families of color munities around the country: Don’t Trump administration to gut the tools had fought for. even bother trying to create a better, we have to make people’s lives better. Today, access to housing and all the more equal housing system, and we If we want to make the economy opportunity and stability that comes will not help you if you want to. work better for everyone—including with it remains unequal. The African- On and on and on it goes. communities of color that have been American home ownership rate is near- I invite everyone to read our report systematically excluded from oppor- ly 30 percentage points below the White and join us to take action. We have our tunity—we cannot shrink from these home ownership rate—30 percent work cut out for us to undo the damage challenges. That is the purpose of the below. Analysts have tried to explain President Trump has done and to get report we are issuing today. When the diversity with income and edu- to work to actually erase the legacy of work has dignity, everyone can find cation as factors, but it never tells the redlining and the legacy of Jim Crow and afford a place to call home. whole story. With all else equal, simi- and build a housing system that works I suggest the absence of a quorum. larly situated African Americans are for everyone. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The markedly less likely to own a home Housing is the foundation of so much clerk will call the roll. than their White counterparts. in life, and when people start behind The legislative clerk proceeded to Black and Latino renters are also because they can’t get access to clean, call the roll. more likely to pay a larger share of accessible, fair—fair and safe housing, Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask their income toward housing than they, in many cases, simply can’t catch unanimous consent that the order for White renters, making it even harder up. the quorum call be rescinded. to get by, even harder to save to buy a We have to restore the Fair Housing The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without home. Act to its full strength. This means objection, it is so ordered.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.023 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5809 PROTECT AND SERVE ACT cape from justice for dangerous crimi- cases, in city hall; in many cases, the Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, across nals who intentionally assault or kill a Governor’s mansion; and in almost all the country, Americans watched in law enforcement officer. cases, the general assembly; and in all horror as news stations reported the Today, I call on every single Demo- cases, the U.S. House of Representa- shooting of two sheriff’s deputies in crat to support this commonsense leg- tives. Los Angeles, who were brutally tar- islation. The question is simple: Do Confidence in the voting process is geted by a murderous, violent criminal. you support the men and women in the thread that holds the fabric of de- In North Carolina, just 2 days earlier, blue who fight every day to keep our mocracy together. Every time we need- sheriff’s deputy Ryan Hendrix, a father communities safe or do you support lessly get into a discussion about of two young children, a man planning lawless, reckless, liberal mobs who whether this process is fair or safe, I to get married, was murdered in cold want to defund the police? think it is harmful. Every time we blood while responding to a family It is a yes-or-no question. You either need to have that discussion about under siege by an evil criminal. back the blue or you back anarchy. whether it is fair or safe, it is, of So far in 2020 alone, 37 law enforce- As long as I am a U.S. Senator I will course, not only helpful but totally ap- ment officers have been murdered by do everything I can to protect our men propriate. violent criminals and hundreds have and women who protect our commu- This is the time when we need to be been wounded while protecting our nities every single day. I expect and sure that our work has brought us to a communities. they deserve no less. good conclusion, rather than talking Despite these senseless deaths and I hope my Democratic colleagues can about the fact that the system is not the gruesome violence against police, stand up to AOC, the Squad, and their going to work. The system is going to there are those who support radical radical liberal base and do the same. It work. As the chairman of the Rules ideas like defunding or abolishing the is time to back the blue. It is time to Committee, where we have the prin- police. These dangerous policies would restore safety in our communities. It is cipal election jurisdiction, or as a allow criminals to roam free through- time to end the killing of law enforce- member of the Intelligence Committee, out our communities, unchallenged and ment officers and people just trying to I spent a lot of time looking at this. I unafraid. protect us every single day. think we have been very serious in the The agitators pushing to abolish the I yield the floor. Senate, particularly, in considering police have sown the seeds of discord in Mr. TILLIS. Madam President, I sug- these issues and at looking at the our country by disrespecting law en- gest the absence of a quorum. threats to our election system itself. forcement and disregarding their brave The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. I am not going to talk much in the service to our Nation. Just look at LOEFFLER). The clerk will call the roll. next few minutes about false informa- Asheville, NC. Since June 1, over 30 po- The legislative clerk proceeded to tion and other things. In my view, all lice officers have left the law enforce- call the roll. you have to do is turn on the television ment profession. These brave men and Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, I ask to find some false information and women are tired of being attacked unanimous consent that the order for watch the campaign commercials. physically, emotionally, and person- the quorum call be rescinded. There is a nugget of truth, perhaps, but ally, simply for trying to keep their The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without most of them—many of them have lit- communities safe, every single damn objection, it is so ordered. tle more than a nugget of truth in day. ELECTION SECURITY them. They put on a uniform to go protect Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, I Sure, I am concerned about false in- their community, not sure if they are want to talk for a few minutes about formation. I am particularly concerned going to come back safe, and they do it securing our election process. about it if it comes from foreign gov- anyway, and we owe them a debt of At various times, in the last 4 years, ernments, from those who wish our gratitude. But they are sick of the op- there have been different levels of rea- country ill. But there is a lot of infor- portunistic politicians like the Demo- sons why the Federal Government mation out there—a lot more informa- cratic leader and AOC attacking them needed to take over the election proc- tion than there has ever been before— for just doing their jobs. ess. For a while, it was that the process and people should be very thoughtful Worst of all is the specter of targeted was too easily infiltrated by outside in- about the information they take in. attacks like those against the deputies fluences, and then it was COVID–19, I am not going to talk a lot about in Los Angeles. The harmful rhetoric and it was important that everybody that. I want to talk about the election being used by the radical, anti-police vote in different ways than they have system itself because, in my view, the leftists encourages an environment of ever voted before, and somehow only election-day system is as secure as it hostility, which emboldens criminals the Federal Government could manage has ever been. The registration system and murderers. The result is brazen at- that. is as secure as it has ever been. tacks against law enforcement officers I would say that, in that, just as we Four years ago, the Obama adminis- in broad daylight. look toward the 2020 elections, we have tration—a little later than this—said: In light of the toxic environment spent over $1 billion. I think it is $1.2 There is a big problem, and we are being created in this country, which billion in funding from the Congress. going to declare the election structure devalues police, I believe the Senate We have had dozens of hearings in the a structure of national significance, must act to protect law enforcement Rules Committee, the Judiciary Com- and we are going to play a different officers and show them our support. mittee, and the Homeland Security role than we have ever played before. That is why I have introduced the Pro- Committee. There was a 31⁄2-year bipar- There was no anticipation that this tect and Serve Act with 16 of my Re- tisan investigation that I was part of was going to happen and not much dis- publican colleagues. as part of the Intelligence Committee, cussion. The Protect and Serve Act would and we have looked at this about every Election officials all over the coun- punish criminals who target law en- way we can. try immediately said: Oh, no, you are forcement officers and harm them. Right now, people across the country not. You are not going to just decide in These criminals will receive up to 10 are beginning the process of casting October of an election year that you years in prison, and if they murder or their votes. This year, more than any are going to take over the election sys- kidnap a law enforcement officer, they other year up until now, we will have tem and declare it a system of national will get a life sentence. election day, but, really, we will have significance, a system of critical sig- It is sad that Congress even needs to more like ‘‘election month,’’ and, in nificance to the future of the Nation. consider a bill to protect police offi- some States, it is going to be ‘‘election Of course it is, but it didn’t become cers, but let me be clear: Attacks 6 weeks’’ or ‘‘election 7 weeks.’’ that in October of 2016. against any law enforcement officers So this process is starting right now. But the message was clear that we are no laughing matter. Congress must It is a process where people will decide needed to build those stronger ties pass the Protect and Serve Act imme- who represents them in the White with local and State election authori- diately and boldly say there is no es- House and the Congress; or, in some ties. We needed to do everything we

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.024 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5810 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 could, as we saw the efforts by some that, putting people on the Federal the numbers of votes involved.’’ I think foreign actors and some people in their Election Commission to fill vacancies he is exactly right. The diversity of the basements trying to see if they could that had been there for a long time. system is the strength of the system. get into the voter registration system The Judiciary Committee has looked I personally think the best place to and do something with it. We have into things like the social media com- vote is at a polling place on election done more of that—well, we have done panies that are trying to stop day. I don’t always get to vote that all we can think of, in my view. We did disinformation. way. But if you want to have all the in- a lot of it before 2018, and that never Homeland Security has drawn out a formation that happens between the stopped. roadmap and has put the kinds of pro- start of the campaign and the day you For 20 years, Congress has done all tections into the system that you want vote, the only way you get that is vot- we can think of to help make the sys- to have in the system for equipment ing on election day. If you want to see tem work better. We have spent over $1 that counts votes, the registration sys- your ballot go into a ballot box or into billion in the past 4 years. We have en- tem that is available on election day. the counting system and know that couraged them to update, and we have The Intelligence Committee, as I said happened, you better get that on elec- seen updates of antiquated systems. before, conducted a 31⁄2-year investiga- tion day. Systems that didn’t have a ballot trail tion on foreign meddling in the last But many people will vote in other and other things have all been gen- election, and the administration is ways, particularly this year. Usually, erally replaced, and where they haven’t holding those perpetrators account- the other ways are a little more com- been, I think they are on even higher able. plicated, but they are still protected by alert. We have helped them increase The Justice Department has secured comparison of signatures in most their cyber security. We have re- indictments against three Russian States. Usually, there is still going to sponded to COVID–19 with help to local companies. Twenty-six people involved be included an indication on the voter governments, which in some cases was with Russia’s influence campaign in roll that goes to the polling place that used for establishing polling places and 2016 have been impacted by that. The somebody has already received another even maybe paying extra to election Justice Department has sanctioned 46 ballot. There are safeguards there. judges. other people and 18 businesses. For reasons we all understand, more While we provided those resources, it One of the things we didn’t have in people are going to vote earlier in this has been for a long time and still is up 2016 was a cyber offense. We had a election than ever before. I know our to local and State officials, who are the cyber defense and I think the best in election officials in our State and I sus- closest to the people they work for, to the world at that moment—I hope it pect all over the country are planning do everything they can to secure those still is—but we didn’t have a cyber of- for what they can do to still have the elections. I spent about 20 years doing fense. most information available possible on that, part of it as a local election offi- I remember being in an Intel hearing election night, but it is unlikely that cial in Missouri, a county official, and in 2017—this was early 2017—when the we are going to know everything we part of it as the Missouri secretary of question was put to our intel commu- want to know on election night. state, the chief election official. nity: Have you ever been told by the If you don’t want to vote at a polling Earlier this month, I had a chance to President of the United States that place on election day or can’t vote at a be in Kansas City when the county you should have offensive action taken polling place on election day, you clerks and election authorities were all against these bad actors? The answer should still vote. Confidence in every- meeting. Most of them were there at a by all of them was no. But it was thing you hear or read should not be distanced meeting to talk about elec- March or April of 2017. The President of complete, but I think confidence that tion responsibility. Others were vir- the United States who hadn’t given the election system itself is going to tually there to talk again about the ab- that direction for the previous years tabulate the results that came in and solute commitment they have made to was not the current President, who, the votes that were cast is a pretty the people they work for to conduct not too long after that, did give that safe bet. elections in a way that is both free and direction. Politics can become heated and noisy fair. I think that is what is going to By 2018, when we sought cyber of- during an election season, but at the happen. fense, we had our own cyber offense. end of the day, the American people Clearly, again, there are efforts by They know who they are, and they need to understand that we are doing foreign adversaries—Russia, China, know the price they paid and the price all we can to give them the ability to Iran, North Korea, and others—to they would pay again. Thousands of cast their ballots with minimal obsta- interfere with our elections, but we members of the intelligence commu- cles and maximum confidence that want to be sure and I believe have been nity have been working to keep an eye what happens on election day is what sure that Federal agencies have been on that part of keeping our elections the voters voted to do on election day. providing the resources they needed to secure. With that, I yield the floor. investigate bad actors, to punish bad Providing Federal support to State The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. actors, and to do everything they could and local officials is the right ap- PERDUE). The Senator from Rhode Is- to protect the American election sys- proach. Frankly, I have been in favor land. tem. of providing a little more yet this year, Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I We are in a much different place than but that appears to be part of a bill ask unanimous consent to speak as in we were 4 years ago. Election authori- that we just can’t seem to agree to morning business for up to 20 minutes. ties—State and, in many cases, local— even though somewhere between the The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without know the name of the person at Home- targeted Senate bill and the Problem objection, it is so ordered. land Security with whom they have Solvers’ bipartisan bill in the House f had now a 4-year relationship or a 2- that was released a week or so ago, year relationship or a 1-year relation- there is clearly a settlement there that CLIMATE CHANGE ship, and when they get a call the day would likely include a little more elec- Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, before the election, they are going to tion security assistance. But we are this is a ‘‘Time to Wake Up’’ good know that is a call from somebody who getting pretty late to add much to the news-bad news speech. not only is there to help them that day system; we need to now be sure that The good news from last week is on but has been there to help them up what is in the system really works. We business community support for carbon until now. don’t need a Federal takeover. pricing. What is carbon pricing? Well, The Rules Committee has held four Many of you heard me say before remember that IMF—the International hearings since the 2018 election—one on that late in 2016, President Obama said: Monetary Fund—pegs the fossil fuel election security, one on how we are ‘‘There is no serious person out there subsidy in the United States at more preparing for the 2020 election, one on who would suggest somehow that you than $600 billion per year, so the en- oversight of the U.S. Election Assist- could even rig America’s elections, in ergy market is dramatically tilted to ance Commission, and in addition to part because they’re so decentralized in favor fossil fuels. Carbon pricing helps

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.027 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5811 set that right, helps make an even to work on ObamaCare and there was U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which re- playing field. It is economics 101. And an idea that the companies that sold lentlessly opposes all serious climate carbon pricing makes a lot of sense. sugary beverages that created health action and, specifically, a carbon price. What happened last week? The Busi- issues should help pay the cost of the Look at them all. Look at them all. ness Roundtable, made up of all of health issues that their sweetened bev- I don’t know if the camera can pan in these giant American corporations and erages created. So off to battle went on that, but these are some of Amer- more—these are the top 50 that I could the American Beverage Association ica’s biggest corporations. I would bet fit on this chart, but there are 200 of with millions and millions of dollars in you that, if this group said, ‘‘Hey, we them—came out in support of carbon spending. have just made a new decision over in pricing. Their report warned that the This, by the way, is just the number the Business Roundtable, wearing our consequences of climate change for of lobbyists. This is their spending. So Business Roundtable hat,’’ and went to global prosperity and socioeconomic if they cared about climate change and the Chamber and said, ‘‘We are not well-being are significant. The world wanted to put a little bit of lobby pres- going to do your opposition any longer; simply cannot afford the costs of inac- sure on, this is what they are capable we are not going to support your oppo- tion. of doing. This is what they are doing. sition to climate action; we are actu- The Business Roundtable’s report Here is a pitch, in my hands right ally serious about being for climate ac- went on to urge companies to ‘‘align here, entitled ‘‘TechNet: Remaining tion and a carbon price’’—if all of those policy goals and [greenhouse gas] emis- Legislative Priorities for 2020.’’ This is companies actually said that to the sions reduction targets with scientific 13 pages of advocacy for all the things U.S. Chamber of Commerce and threat- evidence.’’ Listen to the scientists. We the tech sector wants from Congress ened to quit if they didn’t clean up could do more of that. through their trade association, their act at the U.S. Chamber of Com- The BRT said that a key component TechNet—13 pages. The list goes on and merce, that would make a very big dif- of science-based climate policy should on. ‘‘Top priorities,’’ and then page ference. be a price on carbon. Here is what they after page, in small print, of all the pri- And around here that would make a said: orities, of all the things that they want very big difference because the Cham- A price on carbon would provide an effec- Congress to do for them—and there is ber is the biggest kahuna of lobbying. tive incentive to reduce [greenhouse gas] not a single mention of climate It is electioneering all the time, usu- emissions and mitigate climate change, in- cluding through the development and deploy- change, not a single mention of carbon ally against Democrats, almost inevi- ment of breakthrough technologies. . . . Es- price. tably for the worst candidate on cli- tablishing a clear price signal is the most What do you think Congress will re- mate, and they are over in courts and important— spond to—general noise made to the in regulatory agencies opposing cli- The most important— world or your specific asks to Con- mate action all the time. So why sup- consideration for encouraging innovation, gress? port that if what you really support is driving efficiency, and ensuring sustained Here is the list of companies whose doing something on climate, including environmental and economic effectiveness. CEOs signed that Business Roundtable a carbon price? So this is big news—these are big report and came out for action on cli- So the National Association of Manu- companies—and this is good news. mate and a carbon price and who are facturers was the other group in a tie These companies at the Business also in TechNet, which, the week be- with the Chamber for America’s worst Roundtable employ more than 15 mil- fore, came here with 13 pages of legisla- climate obstructer. These are all the lion people. They have more than $7.5 tive priorities that didn’t include ei- companies whose CEOs signed the Busi- trillion in revenues. Their unified voice ther climate change or carbon price. ness Roundtable statement supporting is a good thing and a big deal. You have to line things up, you guys. climate action and supporting carbon With all of that good news from all of These are big players. Look at them: pricing and are members of one of the these big American corporations, what Honeywell, Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco, two worst climate obstructers in Amer- is the bad news? The bad news is that Dell, Visa, GM, Apple, Comcast, Oracle, ica, at the same time. So that creates corporate America often shows one Accenture, Hewlett-Packard, and a little bit of a problem. face to the world and a very different PayPal—all on both sides of the issue Now, I should go back to the Cham- face to Congress, and the face they within the same week here in Congress. ber one just briefly and put a caveat in show to Congress is not at all aligned So those are the trade associations here. We don’t know who all the Cham- with this policy they just announced to that do nothing on this issue. ber members are. It is a very secretive the world. This discrepancy, this mis- It gets worse because there are trade organization. Many of its members re- alignment, is a persistent problem, and associations that are our worst en- port that they are members of the or- it needs to be fixed. emies on climate action. In fact, ganization, and that is how we can as- The problem has three dimensions. InfluenceMap has done some research semble a list like this. But if the com- One, even these companies don’t pay and tracked which groups and which pany doesn’t report that they are mem- much attention to climate change in corporations are the most climate bers, we don’t know. their lobbying and election activities. friendly and which are the most cli- So this is not necessarily complete, For most, it is zero attention. mate hostile. If you look all the way but this is all that we can know out of By the way, that silence is deafening over, right next to Marathon Petro- this secretive, very oppositional, worst around here, and that silence by these leum in hostility is the U.S. Chamber climate obstructer organization—the companies is compounded by the trade of Commerce. There was actually a tie. Chamber of Commerce. associations through which they con- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and There are some other odd solidate their lobbying work. Most the National Association of Manufac- discordances among these Business trade associations do nothing on cli- turers were statistically tied as the Roundtable leaders. We go back to mate. two worst climate obstructers in Amer- Business Roundtable membership who Here is Coke and Pepsi’s trade asso- ica. signed on this; that is, companies like ciation. By the way, here are Pepsi and So they are out here, having worked Google, Amazon, AT&T, and Verizon, Coke on the list of companies that hammer and tongs to stop climate leg- which are on the BRT list. There is joined the Business Roundtable pro-cli- islation and prevent a carbon price, Verizon right there. They are donors to mate, pro-carbon-price statement. But and you have the Business Roundtable something called the Competitive En- when they lobby, here is their Amer- statement supporting action on cli- terprise Institute. ican Beverage Association, the trade mate change and supporting a carbon The Competitive Enterprise Institute association. As you can see, they price. is the group that put that flagrant, haven’t been spending much money So here are the companies that are some would say almost nutty, climate lately, and they haven’t been spending members of the Business Roundtable denier Myron Ebell onto the EPA tran- anything on climate. and came out last week for action on sition team. The Competitive Enter- In 2009 and in 2010, they spent a lot of climate change and supported a carbon prise Institute is a dramatic antagonist money. Why? Because we were starting price and that are also members of the to either anything serious on climate

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.028 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5812 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 or a price on carbon. Yet companies son that the U.S. Chamber of Com- wake up to your own political indiffer- that signed this Business Roundtable merce and the National Association of ence and presumably unknowing com- statement support the Competitive En- Manufacturers became the two worst plicity in the political logjam on cli- terprise Institute. climate obstructers in America is be- mate action that the fossil fuel indus- Many people will remember when we cause they were paid to. If you, CEOs try has deliberately created here in came to the floor in groups of Senators on the Business Roundtable, had Congress. to talk about the web of denial and the known that, this might not have hap- With that, I yield the floor. web of front groups that the fossil fuel pened. We might not have been here by The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- industry set up to hide their hands and now. ator from Maryland. do their dirty work and stop climate It is very likely that the Chamber Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I want action in Congress. That is the Com- and the NAM leaders snuck up on you, to thank Senator WHITEHOUSE for his petitive Enterprise Institute right taking floods of fossil fuel money that longstanding leadership in the U.S. there—right there, right smack in the they didn’t tell you about and selling Senate on addressing the concerns of middle of the web of fossil-fuel-funded out their organizations to the fossil climate change. He has been there climate denial, and Google, Amazon, fuel industry, leaving you high and every week, every day, leading us to AT&T, and Verizon were all supporting dry, having to explain why you are sup- take action to prevent the horrors of that group while supporting the Busi- porting the two worst climate climate change. ness Roundtable. obstructers in America. We have made some progress but not Now, none of this would matter much So do your audit, and then give those enough under his leadership. We have if Congress was just a sideshow and it trade associations a deadline to align to do more, as he points out, and what was really up to corporations to do with your policy or you will quit—you he just told our colleagues. But I just their own thing, but that is not the will quit on the deadline if they really want to thank the Senator—as I case. Action in Congress is actually the haven’t. Don’t let them slow-walk you look at the wildfires in the West, I look main event in succeeding on climate. through endless discussion and process at the frequency of the hurricanes, That is why the fossil fuel industry has while they are still loading up on fossil when I look at the receding shorelines worked so hard to set up this web to fuel money and running fossil fuel er- in Maryland, as I look at our efforts on deny climate science and to obstruct rands in your names. Don’t let them do the Chesapeake Bay—and recognize climate action here in Congress. that. that if we don’t do what we need to do, So when these Business Roundtable Finally—finally—recommendation what science tells us we could do on companies come to Congress through five, ask your lawyers. Ask your law- carbon emissions, we are doing this at their other groups and say, ‘‘Don’t yers, particularly if you are on the our own peril. bother on climate’’ or ‘‘Don’t do a car- board of climate obstructer groups: If It is not just America. It is the global bon price,’’ it matters. And it makes it these groups were trafficking in fraud- communities. It is our leadership glob- a little hard to really take action in ulent information, what is the board’s ally. Senator WHITEHOUSE and I trav- Congress based on their statement that responsibility? That is a lawyer ques- eled with other Members of the Senate they support climate action and a car- tion. to the climate meetings, and we made bon price when, through other groups, If they loaded up with fossil fuel progress. We have to get back to it. I they are funding the opposition to the money, how was your due diligence on just want to thank Senator WHITE- position that they claim to support. the board of that organization in de- HOUSE for his leadership. So, to the BRT, thank you for what tecting that warning signal that your CORONAVIRUS you did. I don’t want to under appre- trade association had loaded up with Mr. President, on Sunday, the Wash- ciate that. It is a big deal. It is a good, fossil fuel money and was arguing ington National Cathedral marked the good thing. But now you have to make against your position when it came to 200,000 American lives lost to COVID–19 it real. You have to make it real in Congress, carrying the water for the by tolling the Bourdon Bell 200 times— Congress. No more zero effort from fossil fuel industry? Your lawyers may once for every 1,000 lives lost. Nearly you. No more zero effort from your have some advice about whether you 113,000 people have died since May 15, trade associations. No more support for have met due diligence. when the House of Representatives our biggest climate obstructers from Final point, climate is not really a passed a comprehensive COVID–19 re- you. partisan issue. It wasn’t in 2007 to 2009, lief package known as the Heroes Act. If you want the results of what you when Senator CARDIN and I got here As of September 20, the 7-day moving asked for, you have to align your ac- and the Senate had multiple bipartisan average for new infections was over tions in Congress with your values. climate bills. 41,000. The 7-day moving average for Align what you say in that statement It wasn’t in 2008, when Republican new deaths was almost 800. Put another with what you do through your groups John McCain had climate on his party way, from a fatality standpoint, we here in Congress. That ought not to be platform as the Republican nominee. It have the equivalent of the 9/11 terrorist much to ask—to align what you do in all started with Citizens United in 2010, attack every 4 days. The United States, Congress with what you say you want when the fossil fuel industry was al- which has 4.3 percent of the world’s to do to the outside world. lowed to trade up its political weap- population, accounts for 21.1 percent of I have a few suggestions, if you are onry from muskets, corporate PACs, to the COVID–19 deaths worldwide. interested. One, think about commis- tactical nukes, unlimited spending, se- When President Trump delivered his sioning a lobbying and electioneering cret super PACs, phony front groups— Inaugural Address in January 2017, he audit of your own company. If you are the whole apparatus of climate ob- stated: the CEO, commission an audit of your struction. This American carnage stops right here own company’s lobbying and election- Today, as a result of that, the Repub- and stops right now. We are one nation. . . . eering so you actually know what your lican Party has been so captured that We share one heart, one home, and one glo- company is doing on climate. on climate it is little more than the po- rious destiny. . . . So to all Americans in I suspect a lot of the CEOs signed litical wing of the fossil fuel industry. every city near and far, small and large, this in good faith. They don’t know. So It doesn’t have to be that way. from mountain to mountain, from ocean to commission an audit. Learn what your To these big companies who signed ocean, hear these words—you will never be company is really doing on climate. this wonderful pledge: Fix your poli- ignored again. Do an audit of your trade associa- tics, push back on the fossil fuel ob- Fast forward to last week when tions. If you are a member of a trade struction, clean up your obstructor President Trump—referring to the association, get in there and see what trade associations, wake up your sleep- total U.S. fatalities—said: they are up to. I bet that you will find ers, and make climate a real priority in If you take the blue states out, we’re at a that what I say is true. Congress, and you will see what looks level that I don’t think anybody in the world Three, demand that your trade asso- like magic begin to happen. would be at. We’re really at a very low level. ciations declare where they get their For you all, it is less time to wake up Of course, talking about COVID in- money. It seems obvious that the rea- to climate change than it is time to fection.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.030 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5813 President Trump has said many ap- Medicaid for access to affordable I have authored two bills focused on palling things. Dividing America dur- healthcare amid the pandemic. In my addressing health disparities: One, the ing a pandemic into so-called blue and State, more than 45,000 Marylanders REACH Act, with Senator SCOTT of red States and devaluing the lives of are newly enrolled in Medicaid. At the South Carolina; and, two, the COVID– Americans from blue States may be same time, State revenues are plum- 19 Health Disparities Action Act with one of the most appalling things so far. meting, leaving States facing budget Senator MENENDEZ. Both bills create As former Secretary of Homeland Se- deficits that could amount to $555 bil- targeted grant programs that would curity and Republican Governor of lion through 2022. help community-based organizations Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge, remarked, If unaddressed, these budget short- and local health departments provide ‘‘It’s so unworthy of a president. It’s falls will lead States to making dra- culturally appropriate outreach, edu- beyond despicable. It’s soulless. It’s al- matic cuts to Medicaid, just as they cation, and health services to Black, most unspeakable in the middle of the did during the past economic down- Latino, indigenous, and our commu- pandemic to try to divide the country turns, at a time when those newly and nities of color. Both bills are important on a political basis when COVID–19 is previously enrolled need healthcare the steps to rectifying the ills of systemic really bipartisan.’’ most. The National Governors Associa- racism from going forward. Not only was President Trump’s tion has called on Congress to further Communities of color have long- statement appalling, beyond des- raise the FMAP and maintain access to standing and tragically appropriate picable, and soulless, it belies the fact essential Medicaid benefits. mistrust with the medical community, that COVID–19 does not care about Another important policy that will for good reason, sadly. Our government State boundaries or any other bound- increase access to healthcare services deliberately misled Black patients and aries. The States that President Trump during the COVID–19 pandemic is per- research participants during the lost in the 2016 election currently ac- manently extending telehealth permis- Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Today, phy- count for about 12,000 more COVID sions and privileges implemented under sicians still undertreat or under- deaths than the States that he won. the CARES Act. Specifically, Congress diagnose pain in patients of color. The But the 11 States with the highest should permanently remove regulatory REACH Act and the COVID–19 Health number of COVID–19 cases per million barriers so that patients in rural, un- Disparities Action Act should be in- residents are all States that he won, derserved, and urban areas can use cluded in the next COVID–19 supple- and 14 of the 19 States with caseloads telehealth to see their primary care mental to help promote trust within above the national average are States providers, mental health counselors, the communities of color for future and chronic disease management that he won. So the grim gap is clos- COVID–19 responses, as we look beyond teams. Reimbursement for these serv- ing, but it really should not matter be- the pandemic. cause we are the United States of ices should adequately reflect the care Since the start of the COVID–19 pan- America. I wish President Trump could delivered and allow patients to use demic, our State and local govern- understand that. their homes to receive these services. ments have faced significant financial Speaker PELOSI has stated that she Telehealth increases access to care in challenges to meet declining revenues, intends to keep the House in session areas with workforce shortages and for as well as emergency costs related to until Congress passes another com- individuals who live far away from COVID–19. It is well beyond time we prehensive COVID–19 relief package. healthcare facilities, have limited mo- listen to those on the ground dealing And I agree with the Speaker. bility or transportation, or have other with the COVID–19 pandemic and pro- The Senate may adjourn as soon as it barriers to accessing care. passes the fiscal year 2020 continuing This is a bipartisan proposal to ex- vide them the resources they need. What does this mean for commu- resolution to keep the Federal Govern- pand telehealth. It makes abundant nities back home? For our municipali- ment open. I fear this would be a grave sense. We have done it. Now let’s make ties, it is funding for first responders mistake and an abdication of our duty. it permanent. That helps rural Amer- The Senate should take up the Heroes ica; that helps people who have a hard and community services. For our coun- Act. The so-called skinny amendments time with transportation to get to ties, it is funding for schools. For our States, it is funding for public health. Senators JOHNSON and MCCONNELL where they need to be; it is more effi- The revenue losses our State, county, brought to the floor over the past few cient; and it is safer. Let’s make sure and local governments face are dra- weeks were so woefully inadequate that is done before we leave. they failed the fundamental test of At a time when many are unable to matic, and they threaten to cause deep, serving as the beginning block for a bi- visit their health provider in person, lasting cuts to public safety, edu- partisan compromise. Even President we must depend on telehealth to de- cation, public health, and other critical Trump indicated the Senate Repub- liver high-quality healthcare to mil- essential services that will adversely licans need to do more. lions of Americans around the country. affect far beyond the public health bat- I would like to take the next few We have seen how COVID–19 has dis- tle against COVID–19. minutes to outline some of the things proportionately affected communities Our Governors have issued a bipar- we need do to respond appropriately to of color, highlighting how the United tisan plea. Governor Cuomo of New the twin health and economic crises States fails to extend critical re- York, a Democrat, and Governor Hogan our Nation faces. sources, support, and healthcare access of Maryland, a Republican, who are the Remember when President Trump to these communities. According to the chair and previous chair of the Na- promised that the novel coronavirus data from the CDC, communities of tional Governors Association, respec- would magically disappear as the color experience higher rates of hos- tively, joined with all of our Nation’s weather got warmer? Well, that did not pitalization and death from COVID–19 Governors—all—in April to say they happen, and now summer has turned to than White people do. Black Ameri- need help from the Federal Govern- autumn; the weather is starting to get cans, Native Americans, Alaskan Na- ment. cold again; and the flu season is ap- tives are five times more likely to be They need help to maintain critical proaching. hospitalized than White people are. missions of public safety, public The next COVID–19 supplemental African-American Marylanders ac- health, and public education with at package should include provisions that count for 30 percent of our State’s pop- least $500 billion for our States and ad- increase the Federal Matching Assist- ulation but 41 percent of its COVID fa- ditional funding for local governments ance Payment, FMAP, and maintain talities. Marylanders of Latin Amer- beyond what we already provided under Medicaid payments and permanently ican descent account for 17 percent of the CARES Act. expand telehealth flexibilities that the State’s population but 21 percent of The Heroes Act, which has passed the have increased healthcare access to pa- its cases. House, provides $875 billion for our tients around the country and address This is why the next supplemental State and local governments. Of that health disparities that COVID–19 pan- package must focus on and contain amount, $500 billion goes to meet the demic has worsened. policies that address health disparities State’s needs, and $375 billion goes to The Urban Institute estimates 12 mil- that have been worsened by the meet local government needs, with lion additional Americans will turn to COVID–19 pandemic. one-half to the counties and one-half to

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.032 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5814 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 municipalities. This funding goes di- States to support their public institu- lesson is that there is no one-size-fits- rectly to counties and local govern- tions of education. In Maryland, this all solution to rescue the economy dur- ments of all sizes to support their ur- would provide nearly $900 million for ing a crisis. To help the most employ- gent needs. The funding is meant to ad- our local school districts for meeting ers we can, Congress must preserve the dress urgent COVID–19 response activi- the needs of growing numbers of low- multiple support tools in the toolkit. ties, and State and local governments income students and our children with There is already bipartisan consensus may also use it to replace lost revenue special needs; retaining educators vital that we must provide small businesses to avoid making draconian cuts to es- to the education of our children; and with a second Paycheck Protection sential services. ensuring that schools have resources to Program loan. More than 3 months That would go a long way to meeting improve the virtual learning environ- ago, Senators COONS, SHAHEEN, and I the needs of our local first responders, ment that frustrated so many students, introduced legislation to create the our police, our firefighters, our sanita- parents, and educators last spring. Prioritized Paycheck Protection Pro- tion workers, and our educators. This funding would rightly support gram, which would provide vulnerable The Senate Republicans’ HEALS Act, the decisions of local school and public small businesses experiencing signifi- in its most recent iteration, provides health officials on how schools may re- cant losses due to COVID–19 with a sec- no new funding to help State and local open in the fall, whether virtual or in- ond capital infusion. Our proposal— governments; rather, they merely ex- person or hybrid. It does not attempt P4—would allow small businesses that tend the deadline for use using CARES to coerce school districts into reopen- have 100 or fewer employees to receive moneys. That is not adequate. We must ing their classroom doors in an unsafe a second PPP loan if they can dem- do more. manner as the only way to receive onstrate a loss of revenue of 50 percent This is too little, too late. Our State critically necessary Federal funds. or more due to the pandemic. The bill and local communities in Maryland The Federal Government should pro- would also reserve $25 billion for small have already allocated funding for pro- vide local leaders with adequate re- businesses with 10 or fewer employees grams that support renters, small busi- sources to support well-informed and and extend the deadline to apply for an nesses, and support frontline workers reasoned public health decisions rather initial PPP loan through the end of who face increased risk of exposure to than dangerously mandating school re- this year. COVID–19. Those dollars are spoken openings. In addition, the Federal Gov- There is also bipartisan agreement for. ernment needs to take the leadership on the need to improve the Economic I urge my colleagues to recognize the in eliminating the digital divide. Ac- Injury Disaster Loan Program, EIDL. I lasting harm the failure to support our cess to reliable internet service should support Senator ROSEN’s and Senator State and local governments will cause be available to every household in WARREN’s efforts to shore up the EIDL and support the NGA’s bipartisan re- America. Program so that more small businesses quest to provide additional funding to The best action Congress can take to have access to the long-term, low-in- State and local governments. help small businesses is to provide terest rate loans the program makes If we learned anything when the State and local governments, health available. With their maximum loan school year ended so abruptly this past providers, and first responders with the amount of $2 million and repayment spring, it is a greater appreciation for resources they need to protect our terms as long as 30 years, EIDLs pro- our educators and the work they pro- communities from COVID–19, as I men- vide small businesses with flexibility, vide for our students in the classroom. tioned a moment ago. I am proud to be capital that they can use to retool It is so difficult to duplicate the inter- the ranking Democrat on the Small their businesses to respond to COVID– action between educators and students, Business and Entrepreneurship Com- 19. yet our colleagues across the aisle ap- mittee. I have worked very closely There is also bipartisan agreement pear to be unwilling to provide our with Senator RUBIO on proposals. First, on the need to expand the employee re- local school systems with the resources we have to get this COVID–19 under tention tax credit, which is a provision they need to allow school systems to control. Only after it is safe for small from legislation I introduced with Sen- educate students safely this fall. businesses to resume full operations ator WYDEN that was included in the Our local school leaders are making and safe for parents to send their chil- CARES Act. The House acted on this incredibly difficult decisions while fac- dren to school will our economy truly bipartisan agreement. The Heroes Act ing political pressures from the Trump begin to recover. makes substantial enhancements to administration to ignore public health Getting the virus under control is es- this program so that it could benefit recommendations from Federal, State, pecially important for small businesses close to 60 million workers and over 6 and local officials; legitimate concerns in the food services, hospitality, live million businesses. from educators on the safety of return- events, travel and tourism sectors. If the Senate fails to act now—before ing to the classroom; and questions Businesses in those sectors are espe- adjourning—to support small busi- from parents who need answers on how cially reliant on large gatherings in nesses by getting this pandemic under to continue their child’s education order to make a profit. control and providing capital to our while meeting their own work respon- Restaurants, for example, have been small businesses, our communities will sibilities. able to make up for lost indoor dining pay a heavy price for that inaction, as With dwindling State and local gov- capacity by increasing their outdoor many more small businesses will close ernment revenues because of COVID–19, dining capacity, which will become in- their doors, and I am afraid they will the school leaders have already started creasingly difficult in many parts of do it permanently. to face budget crunches even as the country as the weather gets colder Studies have shown that maintaining schools’ financial needs have increased and more inclement. the employer-employee relationship is things like cleaning supplies now nec- Similarly, communities that rely on key to a swift, robust recovery. With essary to meet CDC public health guid- tourism revenues generated during the tens of millions of Americans relying ance, educational technology, and winter months, such as Deep Creek on unemployment benefits and perma- trainings for educators to meet the Lake in my home State of Maryland, nent job losses on the rise, it is critical new demands of online education. are likely to experience decreased that we do all we can to keep workers Without additional Federal re- cashflow this year due to the pan- connected to their jobs and prevent sources, we fail to provide our local demic. Employers on the Eastern Shore further layoffs. I am disappointed that, school leaders with the tools necessary missed their prime summer months. despite bipartisan agreement on sev- to strike the balance between main- Congress cannot leave small businesses eral of the measures needed to support taining the highest quality level of and the communities that rely on them American small businesses struggling education for our children while pro- out in the cold. to survive COVID–19, the response to tecting student and educator health. In addition to getting the pandemic the pandemic has turned into a par- The Heroes Act provides $100 billion under control, Congress must build on tisan fight. for a State-level Fiscal Stabilization the lessons learned during past eco- For the sake of our communities and Fund for education, with $90 billion for nomic downturns. The most important small businesses, I urge my Republican

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.033 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5815 colleagues and President Trump to ac- first looked at it in January this year, We have continued to ask how we can cept Speaker PELOSI and Senator SCHU- September already existed on the cal- address the issue of small businesses MER’s offer to meet Democrats in the endar. here. How can we extend the Paycheck middle so we can pass a bipartisan bill It is not as if we didn’t know what all Protection Program and give a second that helps our communities get COVID the deadlines were. Everyone knew full round to the hardest hit businesses? We under control and begin the recovery well what all the deadlines were. don’t think it is that unreasonable. As process. We can say it is the pandemic that we are nearing the end, we need to help The Heroes Act also extends the slowed everything down, except for the them bridge the gap at this point, but weekly $600 emergency Federal unem- fact that all of the appropriations work for whatever reason, it is not included ployment payment. This special ben- could have already been done, and either as we work our way through this efit lapsed in July. President Trump’s much of the committee work could process. program to provide $300 a week in have been done. Some was done by the Now, I don’t know what will happen emergency benefits through FEMA is a House but not completed. It can be in the next few hours as we deal with weak half measure, and Congress must done by the Senate, but it was not. the continuing resolution that will do more. These extra 6 weeks will ex- So here we are again, watching the come from the House, but there is no pire very shortly, and it comes out of countdown clock toward a government reason we should be talking about a the FEMA funds, which are desperately shutdown as we discuss what happens government shutdown again. needed as we know how many emer- next. A year ago, I and Senator HASSAN, Things have been tied up this week gencies are occurring throughout our the Democratic Senator from New with what is called a continuing reso- country with the wildfires and the hur- Hampshire, sat down to talk through lution. This body knows—others may ricanes. how we could end government shut- The full benefits the Heroes Act pro- not—that a continuing resolution is downs forever so that government literally taking last year’s appropria- vides would strengthen the critical workers across the DC region and tions bills, changing the dates, and safety net for the record number of across the country would not be living moving them over to the new one. This Americans who are unemployed as in fear of being furloughed and so that particular continuing resolution America faces its most serious eco- Americans who would want to be able stretches until December 11, when we nomic challenge since the Great De- to connect with different agencies would have to pick it up and pass more pression. would be able to do that at all times, appropriations for another continuing By way of example in Maryland, we but we would still be able to have the resolution at that time. are seeing first-time claims for unem- The fight this week has been over arguments that are needed to be able ployment benefits at a rate of about whether we are going to support rural to resolve budget issues. 13,000 a week, peaking in early May, America and agriculture. The House It may be surprising to some people with nearly 110,000 new weekly claims originally drafted a continuing resolu- across the country that Republicans filed. We have seen the total number of tion that left out all of the agriculture and Democrats don’t agree on every- filings since March exceed 1.5 million. projects that were in it. The Senate, thing in the budget. Shocking, I know. These are numbers that cry out for us obviously, threw a fit over that and We should be able to have that fight, to extend the unemployment benefits. asked: Why are we supporting every- though, on the budget, but it should We really need to do that, and we need thing, including benefits to Sri Lanka not lead to a government shutdown in to do that before we leave. to get added to the House’s proposal for the process. Government shutdowns These are some, but not all, of the the continuing resolution, but you cost us money every time it happens. issues we must address immediately won’t do so for America’s farmers? So my and Senator HASSAN’s simple and for a sustained period. Former So, in the back-and-forth conversa- resolution resolves the issue by just President Harry Truman had a sign on tion this week, the House had to ex- asking one question: Who needs pres- his desk in the Oval Office that said: tend. Then it went another day. Then sure applied to them to deal with the ‘‘The buck stops here.’’ ‘‘Passing the the House finally put the agriculture issue, and what is the pressure that buck’’ means something entirely dif- projects back in—and still left in, by needs to be applied? ferent to President Trump. On March the way, benefit for Sri Lanka. Our straightforward answer is this: 13, 2020, as we began to grasp the mag- Our ongoing conversations continue, Members of Congress and our staffs and nitude and impacts of the coronavirus, though, about airlines. On October 1, the Office of Management and Budget President Trump said: ‘‘I don’t take re- airlines across the country are going to and the White House should have the sponsibility at all.’’ That may be the lay off 100,000 people—100,000. We have pressure applied to us to get it done. most honest and accurate thing he has asked for some engagement on the The easiest way to apply pressure to said since he has become President. We issue of these airlines. In the CARES all of us is to take away our time. It is have ample evidence to take him seri- Act, back in March, we gave an exten- pretty straightforward. ously. Therefore, it is up to Congress to sion to those airline workers so that Here is our proposal: If you get to the provide the leadership and relief Amer- the airline workers and the airlines end of the budget year and the appro- icans desperately need. could still stay connected to each other priations work is not done, we will The House has done its part in pass- even when we were in this downtime. have mandatory quorum calls in this ing the Heroes Act. It is now time for We are getting very close to a vaccine. body at 12 noon every single day, 7 days the Senate to act. It is like we can see the light on the a week, until we get all of the appro- I suggest the absence of a quorum. other end of the tunnel, but it is not a priations work done. None of us could The PRESIDING OFFICER. The train this time; it is actually light. We travel. We would all stay here in DC. clerk will call the roll. are going to get through this pan- I will tell you that I really want to The senior assistant legislative clerk demic, but for whatever reason, the see my family on the weekends. I also proceeded to call the roll. House refuses to deal with the issue of have people back in my State with Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I ask how to help airline workers at all, not whom I have appointments whom I unanimous consent that the order for even to do half of what was done in the need to be able to see, and I have re- the quorum call be rescinded. past, not even to do a portion of what sponsibilities there. I want to get back The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without was done in the CARES Act. It has to my State of Oklahoma and be with objection, it is so ordered. been exceptionally frustrating. those folks. GOVERNMENT FUNDING It has been the same issue with the I am sure all of you would love to get Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, here House in its not wanting to do any- back to Oklahoma, but you would prob- we are again. It is late September, and thing on the Paycheck Protection Pro- ably head back to your States instead. the budget work has not been com- gram. For the smallest businesses in We want to be home. We want to be pleted yet. It seems terribly familiar to America and for nonprofits, the House able to meet with our constituents. We this body, and it is frustrating. It is has put out a multitrillion-dollar pro- want to take care of the practical not as if no one knew September was posal, and it doesn’t even include any- needs that are there. The way to do coming; it was on the calendar. When I thing for small businesses. that is to get our work done here.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.035 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5816 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 I have had folks say: Well, just take REMEMBERING JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG until the age of 26, to stay on their par- away everyone’s money. Say, ‘‘No Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, I stand ents’ insurance. budget, no pay.’’ It makes a great here to honor the life and legacy of Su- This next Justice will decide if we see bumper sticker. The problem is, as preme Court Justice Ruth Bader Gins- an end to expanded Medicaid benefits, many people in this body know, there burg. which have helped over 200,000 Nevad- are a lot of folks in this body who are In everything Justice Ginsburg did— ans get coverage. multimillionaires, and if they were from her pivotal role in the fight for This next Justice is going to decide honest, they would say their congres- gender equality, to her storied legal ca- who has healthcare during an unprece- sional salaries are rounding errors to reer, to her serving on the DC Court of dented and deadly pandemic that has their investments every month. Appeals and, ultimately, as a member already, tragically, taken the lives of Good for you, but it is not a pressure of the U.S. Supreme Court—throughout over 200,000 Americans. point. Taking away your congressional her life’s journey, she used every ounce This next Justice will also decide if salary is not an emphasis to actually of her ability to give voice to the the nearly 7 million Americans who get the work done. voiceless and build a more just and eq- have already tested positive for COVID Taking away time is a way to be able uitable world. can be denied healthcare coverage be- Justice Ginsburg was a lion on the to press people to actually get their cause they contracted a disease that bench. She ruled on monumental and work done. this administration initially ignored historic cases, and the decisions she and has been unable or unwilling to Senator HASSAN and I have worked it made—and even the dissents she through the committee process; have combat with a national plan. wrote—have shaped this country and So much hangs in the balance for the passed it through the Homeland Secu- set us on a better path. rity Committee; and have set it up. It American people. Millions could lose This remarkable woman inspired healthcare because of this Supreme has already been rule XIV’d, and it is countless Americans to fight for the on our Calendar now. At any moment, Court pick. We could go back to a best of us even when it was hard, even world in which people with preexisting we in this body could determine to end when it was inconvenient. I know I conditions could not afford to pay for government shutdowns. We will never wouldn’t be here without Ruth Bader lifesaving medicine or treatment. have one again. If we get to the end of Ginsburg’s leading the way. We have a Using the courts to take away the the fiscal year, a continuing resolution responsibility to honor her legacy, her American people’s healthcare, espe- will kick in automatically, and we will work, and the ethos of Justice Gins- cially at this moment in our Nation’s all stay until we finish the negotia- burg. Part of her legacy was her deci- history, is not only cruel—it is dan- tions for the appropriations work. sion to uphold the constitutionality of gerous. However heated, however long that the Affordable Care Act, and we have Amid a global pandemic and the may take, we will stay and finish it seen too many attempts to dismantle worst economy in generations, our top until it is done. this key cornerstone of her legacy. It is the right thing for us to do, and In my time as Senator, I have met priority right now should be the needs it is the right way to handle it. It is countless Nevadans, and I have had the of the American people—the relief and not pressure on the Federal workers. chance to speak with Americans from care that matches the urgency of this The Federal workers don’t have the all across the country. I can say with crisis. We cannot afford to play polit- ability to make the decision here. certainty that there is no issue that ical games or to threaten the American Some people say: Well, those folks in matters more to the American people people’s health coverage when they DC can just tough it out anyway. than their health, especially now. need it the most. The American people deserve better. They deserve the sta- Well, it is not just those folks in DC, This administration has worked since bility and security of healthcare cov- though there are a lot of folks in DC day one to take healthcare coverage erage for themselves and their loved who are working very hard for Ameri- and critical protections away from mil- ones. cans all over the country. Just in my lions of Americans. It has failed time I ask that my colleagues truly listen State of Oklahoma, there are 4,300 Fed- and again to dismantle the ACA to the American people, who need us eral employees who work in agri- through legislation, and it has also at- tempted to destroy and dismantle the now more than ever. culture, who work for Housing and I had hoped that my Republican col- Urban Development, who work for the ACA through the courts. In one of my first actions as a Sen- leagues would have honored their own FAA—who work for all kinds of enti- precedent in this process—the McCon- ties that take care of families in Okla- ator, I co-led and helped to introduce a resolution to defend the Affordable nell rule—and ensured that the Amer- homa. They also deserve the privilege ican people would have their say at the of continuing their service to their Care Act’s constitutionality against this administration’s assault. In my ballot box before filling any vacancy. neighbors, just as always, while we are Instead of political gamesmanship, I resolving our differences here. first speech on the Senate floor, I called on the Senate to take it up and ask that my colleagues honor the dig- So my request is the same as it was pass it. I cannot even begin to count nity of our democratic institutions and last year: Why are we talking about the number of Nevadans who have the health of the American people. the possibility of there being a govern- shared how they would be affected by In 2015, when asked how she would ment shutdown again when we could the ACA’s demise. Everything is at like to be remembered, Justice Gins- take that off the table forever with a stake if these individuals and these burg responded: ‘‘As someone who . . . straightforward, bipartisan proposal families are denied access to care. [helped] repair tears in her society, to that says we will never again have a Justice Ginsburg’s replacement will make things a little better through the government shutdown? help to decide whether individuals with use of whatever ability she has.’’ We will work out our differences be- preexisting conditions can be denied That is how she wanted to be remem- cause we do have differences, but we coverage and, thus, be left behind. Let bered. will not hold Federal workers hostage me be clear: What this potentially We, too, have the ability to repair in the process. We will just stay and means is that any of us with a pre- tears in our democracy, and we, too, work out our differences. existing condition could no longer ob- have the ability to make sure things I look forward to seeing the vote on tain health insurance. are better for all Americans by ensur- the continuing resolution and avoiding This next Justice will decide if we see ing that their health remains pro- a shutdown again, but I look much an end to the tax credits that make tected. more forward to never having shut- healthcare coverage affordable for mid- I urge my colleagues to follow Jus- downs again when Senator HASSAN’s dle-income families. tice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s example and my bill is finally voted on and This next Justice will decide if we see and honor her life and her life’s work. passed. an end to preventive care without I yield the floor. I yield the floor. copays. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. COT- This next Justice will decide if we see The PRESIDING OFFICER. The TON). The Senator from Nevada. an end to the ability of young adults, clerk will call the roll.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.036 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5817 The legislative clerk proceeded to tough because that is what he does for So it is fair that Congress wanted to call the roll. a living. take another look at that original un- Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I ask So his question to me was this: You employment insurance supplement, unanimous consent that the order for know, look, I really appreciate the 300 which was set to expire at the begin- the quorum call be rescinded. bucks. I need it to get by. And I got my ning of August, and it did expire, and The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without rent, I got my car payment, and what we wanted to look at it to see what the objection, it is so ordered. are you guys going to do about that? new supplement ought to be given the CORONAVIRUS Well, the truth is, nothing at this changing economy and given some of Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I am point, and that is too bad because that the improvements that we saw and also on the floor today to talk about what $300 supplement has now ended. In ef- given the need for more workers as the Senate and the House ought to be fect, what the President did to con- more businesses were reopening. doing before we leave town for the elec- tinue some help at the Federal level Now, $600 per week was a relatively tion, and that is helping people who are had limits because he did it under the generous benefit—to the point that the in need because of the impact of the only choice he had, really, which was Congressional Budget Office, the non- coronavirus. the Disaster Relief Fund, and that has partisan group around here that gives I know this is the week when we are now run out. So that is where we are. us advice, said: If you kept that $600 focused on the passing of Justice Ruth Early on in the pandemic, both Re- until next year—which is what the Bader Ginsburg, and that is appro- publicans and Democrats recognized Democrats proposed in their Heroes priate. There is a lot of discussion also the need to bolster the State-run un- Act—8 out of 10 people getting 600 about filling her seat. employment insurance programs to bucks a week would be paid more on We should, of course, all take time to help offset the massive job losses we unemployment insurance than they mourn our Nation’s loss, but we are saw in March and April. The initial would be at their jobs. also in the middle of an unprecedented amount was $600 per week, and it was In other words, you would be making healthcare and economic crisis. I think provided by the CARES Act. It came at more money unemployed than you we have a responsibility to continue a big cost to taxpayers. It also provided would if you were working. That is not working on COVID–19 legislation to re- an income source that made the dif- the way unemployment insurance is spond to those challenges. ference for a lot of folks in the State of supposed to work. That is not good for Since this crisis began, Congress has Ohio and around the country. an economy that is trying to reopen. actually come together repeatedly, as During those early months, you re- I have been all over my State and Republicans and Democrats, House and member the government was actually talked to employers—small, mid, large- Senate, and working with the White shutting down a lot of businesses, and size employers. I have talked to the House, to pass five coronavirus relief workers were losing their jobs through nonprofits. I have talked to people who bills—legislation to address both the no fault of their own, like this indi- are working hard to try to provide care healthcare crisis and the economic free vidual last night—through no fault of to people in the healthcare sector. fall that was caused by the virus and his own not having a job. They all tell me the same thing: That the shutdowns. The biggest of these As the year has gone on, we have $600 is a problem because some people bills was the one you hear about the made progress. We slowed the spread of were not coming back to work because, most—the roughly $2 trillion CARES the coronavirus in most States. We again, for most of those people, they Act that was passed by a vote of 96 to have added more testing and personal could make more on unemployment 0. protective gear. More and more parts than they could working. So we needed Again, these have been bipartisan ef- of our economy have been able to re- to adjust it. Yet Democrats insisted 600 forts up until now. Unfortunately, open in a safe and sustainable manner, or nothing—or nothing—and so we got since May, when the last of these five and that is great. With the reopening, nothing. bills was enacted, partisanship has pre- hiring has picked back up, and we now Some of us had proposed $300. In that vailed over good policy, and Wash- have far fewer people on unemploy- case, some people would be getting ington has been paralyzed, unable to ment insurance than we did at the be- paid more on unemployment, but most come together for the public good. ginning of this pandemic. would not. In fact, most of them would Last week I came to the floor to Unemployment is now about 8.4 per- be getting less than some percentage of highlight how this dynamic has played cent. That was the number for Au- their salaries. But, again, if you lose out with regard to a single issue that gust—down from over 15 percent back your job through no fault of your own, has become strictly important for so in the spring. That is a big change. particularly because of a government many people in my home State of Ohio Over 4 million jobs have been added. At decision to shut down your sector—say and around the country. That is the ex- the same time, 8.4 percent is still a movie theater or a bowling alley or a panded Federal unemployment insur- high—very high. Remember, we were at bar—it seems to me that we ought to ance supplement included in the about 3.5 percent in February of this be helping. CARES Act back in March. year. So the $300 that we proposed was to I had a tele-townhall last night. I am By the way, February was the 19th go until toward the end of the year, but trying to do a tele-townhall or a straight month of wage increases of Democrats said no—kind of a ‘‘my way Facebook Live townhall every week over 3 percent. We had record-low un- or the highway’’ approach, like it is during the pandemic, in part just to employment for many sectors of our going to be $600 or we are going to give stay in touch with people because it is economy, and here we are at 8.4 per- these people nothing. We gave people so hard back home now to visit with cent. So we are not out of the woods nothing. To me, that was a big mis- people in person. Again last night, I yet. We still have a way to go. Ohio’s take. had two callers call in, both of whom unemployment number just came out A number of us came to the floor and are taking advantage of the current the day before yesterday. For August, actually said: Let’s continue $600 for a $300-per-week Federal supplement pro- it was 8.9 percent. So 10 percent unem- week so we can negotiate something. vided really by the Trump administra- ployment is something we are now Democrats said: No. We want to end tion, and they talked to me about how under. In fact, we are under 9 percent, it. We don’t even want to have it tem- they are going to plan for the future. which is way, way faster than the pro- porarily at $600 to be able to negotiate These are individuals who don’t have jections. But still, 8.9 percent unem- something between Republicans and a job to go back to. One, by the way, is ployment in Ohio is something that we Democrats. a musician who makes his living play- need to focus on. That is too bad. ing music—the piano and singing and I will say that overall, we are going When Congress failed to act, Presi- so on—at long-term care facilities, in the right direction and that unem- dent Trump and his administration nursing homes, and each one of his pre- ployment claims, I think, are now ei- stepped in, and they said: $300 is about vious clients has said that he is not ther steadily dropping or holding level the right number. We will provide the welcome to come back now, for good in almost every State. That is cer- States a $300 supplement through what reason. But that makes his life pretty tainly true in Ohio. is called the Disaster Relief Fund.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.038 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5818 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 Now, in the CARES legislation we South with hurricanes. So that funding replenish the Disaster Relief Fund, talked about earlier, which was the $2 left in the Disaster Relief Fund ought first to give FEMA the resources it trillion legislation that passed 96 to 0 to be supplemented for that purpose as needs to fully and effectively respond around here, a lot of money went out well. to the natural disasters that are hit- for various causes—for our hospitals, This is a temporary program meant ting parts of our country hard right for our schools, and for our families to provide a bridge while Congress acts. now and those that are yet to come. through unemployment insurance. But And it would be great if Congress were The money won’t be wasted; it will be it also provided some funding for what to act, but, frankly, I am getting kind spent for appropriate things. is called the Disaster Relief Fund for of discouraged about Congress’s ability Second, it would allow the $300 per COVID–19 purposes. So the President to come together again on a bipartisan week for the Lost Wages Assistance took some of that money for COVID–19 basis, as much as I wish we would. Program to continue through Novem- purposes out of the Disaster Relief I have spoken on the floor about ber 21, giving Congress what I hope Fund and said: We are going to, for 6 what I think I can see as the points of would be more than enough time to weeks, allow the States to use this $300 compromise and the overlap between come up with a broader solution to the supplement if they choose to do so. our two approaches because there is a COVID–19 issue. But at least through They also encouraged the States to lot of it. Every single Republican save the period of time between now and provide their own match. What hap- 1, 52 Members—a majority of the Sen- just before Thanksgiving, people would pened was, every State but two took ate—voted for a proposal a couple be able to know they will continue to the government up on that. So the vast weeks ago that was viewed as a tar- get this $300-per-week supplement to be majority of States said: Yes, we will do geted proposal that did provide help for able to put food on the table, pay the it. COVID–19 for families, for small busi- rent, or pay the car payment or the They didn’t add their match, by the nesses, and for healthcare. mortgage, and we as a Congress will be way, but they did take the 300 bucks, Democrats had their own idea, which able to say to the people we represent: and a lot of people have been helped by is the $3.5 trillion that they wanted. We haven’t forgotten about you. You that because over the past 6 weeks, Ours was about $500 billion. There is lost your jobs through no fault of your that funding has been available. Unfor- something in between there. We could own. We ought to be able to continue tunately, sometimes it got paid as a come together with something that is providing some help through this in- lump sum because by the time the sensible, but it looks like that is un- terim period. This isn’t about political wins and State systems figured out how to ad- likely. So at a minimum, let’s move forward losses; this is about lives and liveli- minister it, you know, we were close to with these unemployment insurance hoods that are at stake. I hope my col- the end of the 6 weeks. But people supplements that we have been doing. leagues will join me in a bipartisan ef- knew that was coming. They knew Let’s give the administration the abil- fort to support this important, com- they had 300 bucks for paying their ity to do it again through the Disaster monsense legislation so we can bolster rent, paying their car payment, paying Relief Fund. This funding shortage our response to the COVID–19 unem- their mortgage, and that was helpful. would be easy for us to put into the ployment crisis and to the natural dis- That was helpful. legislation that is likely to come be- asters that are currently facing our Now we are at a point where Presi- fore this Chamber in the next 24 hours, country. dent Trump’s emergency Lost Wages which is the continuing resolution. I yield back my time. Assistance Program, which is what That is the funding that is going to pay The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- that was called—the Lost Wages As- for government to continue operating. ator from Michigan. sistance Program under the Disaster You know, Congress is supposed to REMEMBERING JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG Relief Fund—has tapped out. Forty- pass individual appropriations bills. Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I four billion dollars was made available There are 12 of them. We didn’t do rise today to pay tribute to one of my to the States, leaving $25 billion in them this year because of the partisan personal heroes, Justice Ruth Bader that Disaster Relief Fund because that gridlock around here, so once again we Ginsburg. She spent her life in service $25 billion was what was projected to are turning to a continuing resolution to the American people, quite literally. be necessary to deal with the natural to provide the funding going forward. Whether the Supreme Court was hear- disasters. The House is acting this week, and ing arguments about civil rights, re- So that is where we are today. Forty- we are going to act this week or early productive rights for women, pro- four billion has been depleted. People next week, as I understand it. It would tecting our environment, our precious who have had unemployment insurance be the perfect place to put more fund- water and air, or standing up for our since this disaster began are not going ing into this Disaster Relief Fund for workers, Justice Ginsburg could be to have it now. It is going to end. For us to be able to provide that $300 ben- counted on to put the needs of the many people, it ended this week; for efit that the administration has been American people first every time. some, next week; for some, the week providing to all States but two and to She may not have looked like much before. also provide for more help for the nat- of a fighter, but this tiny Jewish The point is, we as a Congress need ural disasters that are upon us. grandmother in the lace collar punched to act. My view is, let’s provide some Senator THOM TILLIS and I have pro- far above her weight. The American more funding for the Disaster Relief posed legislation to do just that. We people were so fortunate to have her on Fund, at least. If we can’t come to- have a bill out there that we hope Con- their side of the ring. I feel fortunate gether with a big COVID–19 package gress will be willing to pass, and we are as a woman in America. My daughter that helps the schools, that helps small also interested in adding it as an and my granddaughters, too, have businesses with the Paycheck Protec- amendment to the continuing resolu- known she was there over and over tion Program, which I support extend- tion, to the appropriations bill that is again, fighting for us. ing, that helps with regard to getting on its way through here. That certainly was the case on more money for testing and getting our With Congress deadlocked on how to healthcare. I have said over and over vaccine more quickly and getting the come up with a broader solution for again on the floor of the Senate that therapies up, let’s at least provide the COVID–19, let’s at least do this. Let’s healthcare isn’t political; it is personal administration with some funding in say to the administration: We want for each one of us. It is personal. Jus- the Disaster Relief Fund so they can you to continue this program that is tice Ginsburg understood that in her continue to respond to need. now in place. The States know how it bones. As a person who had experienced Let’s also provide them that funding operates. The States have been imple- her own health challenges and health because they need it for natural disas- menting it. challenges in her family, she knew that ters. What do I mean by that? Well, the My home State of Ohio has provided when a beloved spouse is diagnosed other thing that has happened in the funding to people through this. We are with cancer or a child with a fever last 6 weeks, as you probably noticed, appreciative of it. needs to go to the emergency room, is that we have had a lot of natural dis- Our proposal is very straightforward. politics is the last thing on their asters in the West with fires and in the It simply appropriates $86.6 billion to minds.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.040 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5819 When people tell me their healthcare moms and dads, grandmas and made their voices known and were ac- stories, they don’t start by telling me grandpas, brothers and sisters, children tively engaged in saying what was im- whether they are a Democrat or a Re- and friends. Even though some have portant to them and their families. publican. That is because when it survived COVID–19, they may be left It is easy to throw up our hands and comes to healthcare and the health of with long-term health issues, from give in and let the sadness and feelings our families, it simply doesn’t matter. heart damage to breathing difficulties, of loss for Justice Ginsburg and all of People in Michigan just want to to neurological problems, which, as I the frustrations and chaos and the suf- know that if they or their loved ones said before, creates preexisting condi- fering take over all of us, but RBG get sick or are hurt, they are going to tions. would never let that happen. If she be able to take them to the doctor and This is not the time to be ripping were here right now, she would say: No, get the healthcare they need. Unfortu- healthcare away from American fami- no, no. This is the moment to focus and nately, with the loss of Justice Gins- lies. There is never a good time but engage and to fight even harder. burg, Michigan families and families certainly not now. Yet that is exactly When, as a Harvard Law student, she all across the country have an extra the scenario we could be facing. was asked by the dean why she felt en- reason to be very concerned right now. As Justice Ginsburg said, ‘‘Health titled to take a slot that otherwise One week after the election—just 1 care is not like a vegetable or other would have gone to a man, she didn’t week after the election—the Supreme items one is at liberty to buy or not to let that faze her. When she struggled to Court will hear arguments in the case buy.’’ When a Michigan single mom land a job after graduation, she took to that could overturn the Affordable discovers a lump and finds out that she teaching at Rutgers School of Law and Care Act, overturn everything, all of has breast cancer, she can’t just hope hid her second pregnancy under baggy the protections—including, of course, it will go away. When a Michigan sen- clothes until her contract was renewed. the preexisting conditions coverage— ior with diabetes needs insulin, he She later challenged the New Jersey all of it. By the way, the President of can’t just wait for a big sale and stock law that forced pregnant teachers to the United States, Donald Trump, has up when the price is right. When a quit their jobs. When she was diag- weighed in and is in favor of having child spikes a high fever in the middle nosed with cancer for the first time in that happen. of the night, her parents can’t just tell 1999, she fought back and kept on fight- Everything is at stake, including her: Well, you know, the money is ing for more than 20 years. coverage for 17 million people through tight right now, so you are going to It is time now for all of us to fight, the expansion of Medicaid, where min- have to wait to see a doctor. That is all of us who care about our freedoms imum-wage workers right now in the horror for all of us as parents, that and our very way of life in this coun- States like Michigan that have ex- our child will get sick and we won’t be try. It is time to fight like our beloved panded Medicaid no longer have to pick able to take them to the doctor. RBG, like she did everyday of her life between minimum-wage jobs and not Healthcare isn’t political; it is per- for us. working and having healthcare. It is so sonal. It isn’t about policy; it is about Justice Ginsburg once said this: important. people—people. It is about the people ‘‘Fight for the things that you care Also at stake is the ability for chil- in our States who sent us here to fight about, but do it in a way that will lead dren to remain on their parents’ health on their behalf. others to join you.’’ I am asking the plans until age 26, which has trans- I sincerely hope that by the time the American people right now to join us formed so many families’ opportunities Senate votes on the next Supreme in this fight. This is not a done deal. It and young people’s opportunities, and Court Justice—if, unfortunately, it is not over, and we all as Senators will coverage for preventive services like comes before the people have their say be held accountable for what we do. cancer screening and maternity care. about who should be making that nom- Call your Senators, write emails and Prior to the Affordable Care Act, you ination and confirming that appoint- letters, talk to your friends and neigh- had to get extra coverage for mater- ment—if that is going to be rushed bors, and let them know what is at nity care. It wasn’t viewed as basic. It through, jammed through by this Sen- stake—from healthcare and reproduc- was basic for me when I was having my ate, I hope there will be four U.S. Sen- tive rights for women to protecting our children, and for women across the ators on the other side of the aisle who air and clean water, to the capacity to country, it is pretty basic. It wasn’t will have the courage to stand up for be able to collectively bargain for viewed as basic, essential care. It now the people who need healthcare—and, wages and safety and benefits, to vot- is under the Affordable Care Act. frankly, that is all of us. ing rights and civil rights. We can go Also at risk are mental health care One thing I do know for sure is that on and on. It is all on the line right and treatment for substance use dis- the American people are courageous. now. We need to step up and fight and orders, lower prescription drug prices Time and again, they have called us not assume anything is a done deal. We for seniors, and protections for people and written letters and have even come need to hold our Republican colleagues with preexisting conditions. to DC to make their voices heard. accountable. It is estimated that about half of From the amazing Little Lobbyists to Don’t let them get away with taking Michigan families include someone ALS warrior Ady Barkan, to my friend healthcare away from millions of peo- with a preexisting condition, every- Lauren Kovach, who fights so hard to ple. We did it before when we stopped thing from heart disease to asthma, to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. I high blood pressure, to cancer. Nation- other dementias, these folks would think we have to fight now to do the wide, we are talking about 130 million probably rather be spending their time same thing and vote like your life and people. How many more people now, doing something else, but they under- the lives of your family depend on it, after COVID–19, will have a preexisting stand that healthcare isn’t a luxury; it because they actually do. condition? is a necessity. Justice Ginsburg dedicated her life to In other words, what happens in the This should not be political. It is per- making our country more fair, more next few months—what happens in sonal to each and every one of us. free, and more just. Now is the time to terms of filling another Supreme Court Again and again, people across the continue her fight for our future, for vacancy, as well as what happens in country have stepped up. They have our children, and for our grand- the election—could have life-or-death gotten engaged. They have put their children. consequences for Michigan families and passion to work protecting our I yield the floor. families across the country. healthcare. Their voices and the voices The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- In case anyone has forgotten, we are of millions of Americans have made ator from Texas. in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime the difference in this Chamber to the SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS pandemic. More than 200,000 Americans majority in this Chamber—saying no Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as we have already lost their lives, and unfor- to repealing the Affordable Care Act all know, President Trump will an- tunately that number is going up every and ripping healthcare away from mil- nounce his nominee to fill the seat va- single day. In my own State, nearly lions of Americans. That only hap- cated by the death of Justice Ruth 7,000 people have lost their lives—7,000 pened because people stood up and Bader Ginsburg. The Senate is prepared

VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.042 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5820 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 to examine the qualifications of that The Senator from New York, the mi- Within the first 2 years of these nominee and hold a vote here on a nority leader himself, reportedly told changes, we experienced record gains in timely basis. his Members on a call this weekend, employment and increases in house- This, of course, is set in line with the which was reported in social media: hold income for families across the precedent set by Presidents and Sen- ‘‘Nothing is off the table.’’ country, including Hispanic and Afri- ates that were elected long before we Now, mistreatment of conservative can-American households. New census became Members of this body or were nominees to the courts is nothing new, data paints a clear picture of just how even born, and we are prepared to fol- including 2 years ago, when Democrats strong the economy was in 2019. The low suit. There were 29 times when waged an all-out smear campaign median household income reached an there was a vacancy during the elec- against Justice Kavanaugh. But now, all-time high of $68,700. That is a 6.8- tion year where the party occupying even before the nominee is announced, percent increase over the previous the White House and the majority of our Democratic colleagues are taking year. Not only that, if you look at the the Senate were the same, and 29 times aim at the institution itself. dollar amount alone, it is almost dou- there were confirmation processes, and We know this isn’t the first time that ble the next highest dollar amount in our colleagues have floated institu- it will be the same again this year with annual growth. the 30th. tional changes to shift the political As I said, Black and Hispanic Ameri- As always, we will be thorough. As a tide in their favor. When they lost the cans each experienced a higher than member of the Judiciary Committee, I Senate majority, they decided they average growth rate and historically wanted to add new States. They are un- have had the privilege of participating low unemployment rates. Median earn- interested in bipartisanship. So they in a number of confirmation hearings ings increased 7.8 percent for women, want to end the legislative filibuster. for Supreme Court Justices. I know compared to 2.5 percent for men, rep- And now they threaten to pack the every member of the committee takes resenting progress in the fight to close court with liberal Justices to give this job very seriously—our role of ad- the pay gap. them a political outcome. They are vice and consent under the Constitu- The benefits of our booming market, taking the saying, ‘‘if you can’t win tion. We will not rush the process. though, didn’t stop there. The new jobs the game, change the rules,’’ to a Every Member of this body will have and opportunities created during this whole new level. an opportunity to vote for or against This isn’t just political gamesman- boom drew more workers who had been the nominee once the nominee is voted ship anymore. It is an assault on the on the sidelines into the labor market, out of the Judiciary Committee. Constitution itself, along with the in- and the result was spectacular. The But it seems that for our friends on tegrity of our article III courts and our poverty rate dropped to 10.5 percent, the other side of the aisle, precedent is system of checks and balances. This which is the lowest since 1959. Every not enough. The prospect of another court-packing threat isn’t new. It pre- population group made gains. Regard- Trump-appointed Supreme Court Jus- ceded the death of Justice Ginsburg in less of race, gender, age, disability sta- tice has mobilized our Democratic col- the creation of the vacancy that we tus, or marital status, each group expe- leagues to launch an attack that has will soon consider, but they are now rienced a decline in the poverty rate. been months in the making on our very trying to rebrand the reasoning behind Make no mistake about it. We still independent judiciary. it. have a long way to go to ensure that no One of the hallmarks of our Constitu- Since the idea was previously viewed family in America lives in poverty, but tion and our democracy is an inde- as too radical by members of their own we also ought to be willing to assess pendent judiciary—an umpire, if you party, with even Justice Ginsburg op- progress when progress is made. There will—that will mediate the fight be- posing it, they are trying to shift the is no doubt that our economic engine tween the executive and legislative blame to Republicans. By following the was humming and the American people branches and rule on the very constitu- precedent of 29 judicial confirmation were seeing and feeling the benefits of tionality of the laws that are passed. hearings occurring during an election our strong economy every single day. Long before this vacancy even existed, year and undermining or challenging And then, of course, the pandemic hit. though, our Democratic colleagues the Senate’s constitutional duty to Suddenly, after years of adding new were sounding the alarm, suggesting provide advice and consent, our Demo- jobs and creating economic opportuni- they would expand or pack the Su- cratic colleagues claim that it is we ties for millions of Americans, it felt preme Court with liberal Justices that who are responsible for an attack on like the gains we made were erased in will rubberstamp the political results democracy. They, in effect, are holding the blink of an eye. they could not achieve through legisla- the Supreme Court hostage in saying: Through no fault of their own, busi- tion. Don’t make me kill the hostage. nesses were forced to close their doors During the Presidential primary this Democrats aren’t just trying to pre- to help slow the spread of the virus, year, candidates were especially eager vent a single conservative Justice from and with no tables to wait on, cus- to share their vision for a larger and joining the Court. They are trying to tomers to serve, or travelers to accom- solidly liberal Supreme Court. A num- dismantle the very institution itself. modate, millions of workers were left ber of our Senate colleagues were The Supreme Court has had nine Jus- without a way to earn a living. Well- among those open to the idea, includ- tices for more than 150 years. As the meaning employers, sadly, handed ing the current Democratic candidate balance has shifted in many different their workers pink slips and said they for Vice President, the Senator from directions over the years, Members of hoped to have jobs for them to come California. Congress have respectfully refrained back to once the pandemic was in the Over the last several months, Demo- from engaging in such dangerous rearview mirror. crats in both the House and the Senate, threats. Until that could happen, millions of including House Judiciary Committee This isn’t just about a conservative Americans relied on enhanced unem- Chairman JERRY NADLER, have ex- Justice or a liberal Justice. It is about ployment benefits, which ended at the pressed an interest in upending the in- preserving one of our most basic insti- end of July, including an extra $600 a tegrity of the Supreme Court and its tutions—a free and independent judici- week in Federal benefits. But there are role in leading the independent judicial ary. still families across Texas struggling branch. Once the Supreme Court va- ECONOMIC GROWTH to make ends meet, and there are cancy went from a possibility to a re- Mr. President, now on another mat- workers waiting to return to their jobs ality, these comments have now turned ter, by virtually any measure our econ- with no end in sight. into threats. omy was booming at the start of this While we have made progress against Over the weekend, the junior Senator year. Successful reforms under the Tax the virus, we have to make progress, from Massachusetts tweeted that Cuts and Jobs Act allowed workers to too, in recovering our economy. In the ‘‘when Democrats control the Senate keep more of what they earned and beginning, restaurants and retailers in the next Congress, we must abolish gave job creators the freedom to create began adding curbside service and de- the filibuster and expand the Supreme new economic opportunities for the livery to regain some income, and Court.’’ American people. throughout most of Texas now, these

VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.044 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5821 businesses are able to open to 75 per- As we work to support our country The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without cent of capacity. Gladly, we are seeing through the recovery process, we need objection, it is so ordered. more and more workers returning to to emulate the reforms that made our WASHINGTON STATE WILDFIRES work and our children returning to booming economy a reality in the first Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I school. place. As I said, I don’t expect the road rise to speak about three critical mat- In Texas, unemployment has steadily to recovery to be quick, but there are ters impacting families in Washington declined from a peak of 13.5 percent to steps that we can take to make it easi- State and across this country today. 6.8 percent in August. I think a lot of er. First of all, I would like to say that that progress is due to the success of First, we could do our job by sup- even though the wildfires in my State the CARES Act and, especially, the porting the individuals and businesses are being contained, thanks to the Paycheck Protection Program, which hit hardest by the pandemic. Time and skilled work of brave and dedicated sent more than $41 billion in more than again, our Democratic colleagues have firefighters, wildfires and health im- 417,000 different loans to small busi- objected to us even considering legisla- pacts of smoke are still creating haz- nesses in Texas alone. tion to continue those important provi- ardous conditions throughout the Pa- I am still hoping that we can come to sions of the CARES Act. We can take cific Northwest. Until we begin ad- an agreement on another coronavirus the government’s boot off of job cre- dressing the drivers of those natural relief bill that would extend the Pay- ator’s necks, and we can fight to bring disasters, like climate change, we check Protection Program and provide jobs back that were shipped overseas know these crises and the suffering some enhanced level of Federal em- because we learned a lot about vulner- they bring will only continue getting ployment benefits, but those measures able supply chains and manufacturing worse. alone will not support our economic re- that needs to be returned to the United JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS covery. We know that regaining lost States. Secondly, I want to talk about three ground will not happen overnight. It is Following tax reform, millions of nominees under consideration for the going to take time for our country to new jobs were created, and Americans Equal Employment Opportunity Com- return to the pre-pandemic economy brought home more of their hard- mission, or the EEOC. that the President and Republican Sen- earned money. As a result, we reached One of these nominees is Jocelyn ate fought so hard to achieve. 3.5 percent unemployment—the lowest Samuels. She is exactly who workers As we consider the most effective unemployment rate in a half a century. need right now. As the coronavirus ways to tune up our economic engine, That progress was possible because of continues to impact workplaces across our guiding principle should be that of the right policies that increased take- the country, workers are facing un- the doctor-patient oath—the Hippo- home pay for workers and unleashed precedented challenges, and they need cratic oath: First, do no harm. the power of the private sector. So I a champion at the EEOC who will work Raising trillions of dollars in new have no doubt, as we rebuild our econ- tirelessly to defend their rights. taxes, as a number of leading Demo- omy, that we will do so if we continue Jocelyn Samuels is that champion. crats have suggested, would be coun- to embrace the policies that made 2019 With almost 20 years of experience in terproductive. It wouldn’t grow the a banner year. the Federal Government, including at economy. It would kill the economy. In Let me just conclude by saying that the EEOC itself, she has spent her ca- 2009, as the Nation was fighting to re- we must pass another COVID–19 relief reer working to address discrimination cover from the 2008 recession, Presi- bill. Time and again, Speaker PELOSI and making sure no one is treated un- dent Obama was asked about the possi- has refused to negotiate in good faith fairly because of their age, their race, bility of raising taxes, and he didn’t to come up with a compromise. In the or their disability. mince words. He said: The last thing meantime, airlines that employ tens of I am confident she will be an excel- you want to do is raise taxes in the thousands of people in my State and lent Commissioner. I am proud to vote middle of a recession. across the country will begin laying off to confirm her nomination and strong- That is exactly right, but that is ex- their employees beginning October 1. ly urge my Senate colleagues to join actly the opposite of what the leading Businesses that were sustained by the me in supporting her nomination. Democratic candidates, including the PPP program have now run out of Unfortunately, the other two nomi- Democratic nominee for President, are those funds, and they need to be re- nees already approved by the Senate— advocating. They are advocating for a plenished. Andrea Lucas and Keith Sonderling— huge tax increase, even as we are hope- I get questions time and again about will likely have disastrous con- fully closer to the end of the pandemic the lapsing of the enhanced unemploy- sequences for workers’ rights. These than we are the beginning. It is just ment benefit that was part of the are two people who have spent their ca- the wrong medicine for what ails our CARES Act. We tried to extend that at reers working to protect corporations, economy, as President Obama noted. some reasonable level, but our Demo- not workers. Families, we know, are still strug- cratic colleagues objected, blocked it, As a lawyer, Andrea Lucas has never gling, workers are still hurting, and and stopped it. defended workers. Her only legal expe- the American people need more money What I fear, as Chairman Powell of rience is defending corporations when in their paychecks, not less. We need to the Federal Reserve and Secretary workers tried to fight back against sex- look at what made the 2019 economy Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, have ual harassment or age discrimination such a success and try to ensure that suggested, is that the massive stimulus and disability discrimination. That is those changes prop us up for a strong that we provided, roughly $3 trillion exactly the opposite type of experience comeback, and I think the best place to through four bills that were passed on and values we need at the EEOC, which start is with the success of the Tax a bipartisan basis—that has sustained is why I voted against her nomination. Cuts and Jobs Act. our economy and brought us to where Keith Sonderling’s record is no bet- After it passed almost 3 years ago, I we are today, even in the darkest of ter. During his time at the Trump ad- traveled across my State and met with times through this pandemic, but if we ministration’s Department of Labor, business owners and employees who leave here with our Democratic col- Keith Sonderling worked to churn out were reaping the immediate benefits. leagues having prevented us from pro- policies that hurt workers. Those were in the form of new hires, viding another COVID–19 relief bill, I From his joint employer rule that bonuses, raises, and 401(k) match in- think it guarantees nothing but pain lets massive corporations off the hook creases. Employees at every business of for the economy, American workers, for minimum wage, overtime, and every size were seeing the benefits of and American families. We should not equal pay violations to his initiative the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While some go down that path or tolerate it. that gives companies a ‘‘get out of jail of the provisions of that law are perma- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. free’’ card for wage theft, Keith nent, others are set to expire in 2025, BLACKBURN). The Senator from Wash- Sonderling’s legacy at the DOL has and, without action, things like the ington. made it harder for workers to fight for lower income tax rate for individuals Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I their rights and easier for companies to and the increased child tax credit will ask unanimous consent to be allowed abuse them. For those reasons, I op- expire. to finish my remarks. posed his nomination.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.045 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5822 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 Finally, right now, our Nation is fac- part of Justice Ginsburg’s legacy and The senior assistant legislative clerk ing truly trying times. Two hundred vote for the nomination of Jocelyn read as follows: thousand lives have been lost to Samuels. Then let’s keep fighting for CLOTURE MOTION COVID, millions are unemployed, and people’s healthcare, for protections for We, the undersigned Senators, in accord- we just lost a treasured American hero, preexisting conditions, for workers’ ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. rights, and voters’ rights, and Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby So much hangs in the balance now, LGBTQIA+ rights, and for the vision of move to bring to a close debate on the nomi- and people are already voting and orga- nation of Roderick C. Young, of Virginia, to a just and equal country—a just and be United States District Judge for the East- nizing to make sure their healthcare, equal country Justice Ginsburg fought ern District of Virginia. their rights, and their futures are pro- so hard to advance. Mitch McConnell, Mike Braun, Mike tected in this election. Thank you. Rounds, Marsha Blackburn, Todd For those nationwide who have al- I yield the floor. Young, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Lindsey ready cast their ballots and who will VOTE ON HINDERAKER NOMINATION Graham, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, vote in the coming weeks for the future The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under Chuck Grassley, Kevin Cramer, Lamar of our country and to help ensure the previous order, the question is, Will Alexander, Pat Roberts, John Booz- trust—trust in our democracy—the man, John Cornyn, Mike Crapo, James the Senate advise and consent to the E. Risch. people must have a vote in this nomi- Hinderaker nomination? nation. Mr. ALEXANDER. I ask for the yeas The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unan- imous consent, the mandatory quorum The next President should choose and nays. Justice Ginsburg’s replacement as she The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a call has been waived. The question is, Is it the sense of the wished to spare our democracy the sufficient second? Senate that debate on the nomination painful chaos of making such a deci- There appears to be a sufficient sec- of Roderick C. Young, of Virginia, to be sion so close to an election. ond. United States District Judge for the People are speaking out, and the Sen- The clerk will call the roll. Eastern District of Virginia, shall be ate must listen, as Majority Leader The bill clerk called the roll. brought to a close? MCCONNELL insisted only a few years Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator The yeas and nays are mandatory ago. But, unfortunately, it seems like under the rule. from West Virginia (Mrs. CAPITO) and my colleagues on the other side are The clerk will call the roll. content to ignore these cries, just like the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. JOHN- The senior assistant legislative clerk they have neglected the cries of our SON). called the roll. constituents for a COVID–19 relief Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Mr. THUNE. The following Senators package that meets this moment in- Senator from California (Ms. HARRIS) is are necessarily absent: the Senator stead of shortchanging our commu- necessarily absent. from West Virginia (Mrs. CAPITO), the nities because nothing—nothing is The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. JOHNSON), more important than pushing through any other Senators in the Chamber de- and the Senator from Arizona (Ms. their ideological agenda to jam as siring to vote? MCSALLY). many partisan judges on the bench as The result was announced—yeas 70, Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the possible, especially on the Supreme nays 27, as follows: Senator from California (Ms. HARRIS) is Court, and tip the balance of our Fed- [Rollcall Vote No. 191 Ex.] necessarily absent. eral judiciary even further against ev- YEAS—70 The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there eryday people, packing our courts to Alexander Grassley Risch any other Senators in the Chamber de- ensure we can’t make progress to de- Baldwin Hassan Roberts siring to vote? Bennet Hirono fend affordable healthcare and pre- Romney The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 93, Blunt Hyde-Smith Rosen nays 3, as follows: existing conditions protections or ad- Booker Inhofe Rubio [Rollcall Vote No. 192 Ex.] dressing the climate crisis or strength- Brown Jones Sanders ening protections for workers or doing Burr Kaine Schatz YEAS—93 Cantwell King Shaheen anything on the critical issues that Cardin Klobuchar Alexander Gardner Portman Shelby Carper Leahy Baldwin Gillibrand Reed people in my home State of Wash- Sinema Barrasso Graham Risch ington and around the Nation care so Casey Loeffler Cassidy Manchin Smith Bennet Grassley Roberts deeply about and that have been Collins Markey Stabenow Blackburn Hassan Romney blocked time and again by the Repub- Coons McConnell Tester Blunt Hawley Rosen Booker Heinrich Rounds lican Party. Cornyn McSally Tillis Cortez Masto Menendez Toomey Boozman Hoeven Rubio I will be doing absolutely everything Crapo Merkley Udall Braun Hyde-Smith Sanders I can to make sure everyone from Duckworth Murkowski Van Hollen Brown Inhofe Sasse Washington State to Washington, DC, Durbin Murphy Warner Burr Jones Schatz Ernst Murray Warren Cantwell Kaine Scott (FL) and my Republican colleagues here in Cardin Kennedy Scott (SC) Feinstein Perdue Whitehouse Carper King Shaheen Congress know just how much is at Fischer Peters Wicker Casey Klobuchar Shelby risk if President Trump gets to appoint Gillibrand Portman Wyden Graham Reed Cassidy Lankford Sinema another hard-right nominee an unprec- Collins Leahy Smith edented 41 days before a Presidential NAYS—27 Coons Lee Stabenow Cornyn Loeffler Sullivan election. Barrasso Enzi Paul Cortez Masto Manchin Tester It is truly impossible to understate Blackburn Gardner Rounds Cotton Markey Thune Blumenthal Hawley Sasse the consequences for families and com- Cramer McConnell Tillis Boozman Heinrich Schumer Crapo Menendez Toomey munities across the country now and Braun Hoeven Scott (FL) Cruz Merkley Udall for generations to come. President Cotton Kennedy Scott (SC) Daines Moran Van Hollen Cramer Lankford Sullivan Trump has made it clear he wants a Duckworth Murkowski Warner Cruz Lee Thune nominee who will gut protections for Durbin Murphy Warren Daines Moran Young preexisting conditions, who will take Enzi Murray Whitehouse healthcare away from millions of peo- NOT VOTING—3 Ernst Paul Wicker Feinstein Perdue Wyden Capito Harris Johnson ple nationwide, and do everything they Fischer Peters Young can to undermine basic rights and free- The nomination was confirmed. NAYS—3 doms and protections through the f Court, including crucial worker protec- Blumenthal Hirono Schumer tions that Justice Ginsburg, herself, CLOTURE MOTION NOT VOTING—4 helped secure and the EEOC is tasked The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant Capito Johnson with enforcing. to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Harris McSally I urge all of my colleagues to join me Senate the pending cloture motion, The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this in voting today to honor an important which the clerk will state. vote, the yeas are 93, the nays are 3.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.047 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5823 The motion is agreed to. Sasse Shelby Toomey tive learning—which is what we just Scott (FL) Sullivan Wicker heard about for just the students af- f Scott (SC) Thune Young fected by the closures—that organiza- EXECUTIVE CALENDAR NOT VOTING—4 tion estimates it would lower a coun- Capito Johnson The PRESIDING OFFICER. The try’s gross domestic product by an av- Harris Moran erage of 1.5 percent for the remainder clerk will report the nomination. The nomination was confirmed. The senior assistant bill clerk read of the century. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- I don’t know whether those numbers the nomination of Roderick C. Young, ator from Tennessee. are exactly accurate, but the message of Virginia, to be United States Dis- CORONAVIRUS is clear. Children, especially young trict Judge for the Eastern District of Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, children and especially young children Virginia. I come to the floor to talk about who are further behind already, need to f COVID in two ways. The Senator from be in school so that they can be taught Tennessee, who is presiding today, will in person or their learning loss is dra- EXECUTIVE CALENDAR appreciate this. She and I have a reg- matic. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ular call with Governor Lee, our Gov- I ask unanimous consent to include clerk will report the nomination. ernor, and we just finished part of it. in the RECORD the press release that The senior assistant bill clerk read Her staff was on part of that. Governor Lee of Tennessee released de- the nomination of Jocelyn Samuels, of He gave some very interesting infor- tailing this dramatic learning loss. Maryland, to be a Member of the Equal mation that I think would be impor- There being no objection, the mate- Employment Opportunity Commission tant to all Senators and to our coun- rial was ordered to be printed in the for a term expiring July 1, 2021. try, and that is the significant learning RECORD, as follows: The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under loss that occurs when children aren’t TENNESSEE RELEASES DATA SHOWING SIGNIFI- the previous order, all postcloture time in school. In Tennessee, Governor Lee CANT LEARNING LOSS AMONG K–12 STUDENTS has expired. and some national researchers have PROJECTED LOSSES TIED TO PROLONGED SCHOOL The question is, Will the Senate ad- completed a study of the learning loss CLOSURES AND TIME AWAY FROM CLASSROOM vise and consent to the Samuels nomi- in the third grade for reading and math NASHVILLE, TN—Tennessee Governor Bill nation? proficiency for children who were not Lee and the Tennessee Department of Edu- Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, I in school from March through the sum- cation today released estimated data regard- ask for the yeas and nays. mer. ing learning loss for Tennessee students re- Now, you always have a learning loss sulting from COVID–19 school closures The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a through the summer months. Preliminary sufficient second? in the summer, but for March through data projects an estimated 50% decrease in There appears to be a sufficient sec- summer, this is what they found. Pre- proficiency rates in 3rd grade reading and a ond. liminary data shows an estimated 50- projected 65% decrease in proficiency in The clerk will call the roll. percent decrease in proficiency rates in math. The senior assistant legislative clerk third grade reading and a projected 65- ‘‘This data highlights the immense chal- called the roll. percent decrease in proficiency in lenges that the COVID–19 pandemic has cre- Mr. THUNE. The following Senators math. That, in the Governor’s words, is ated for our students and educators,’’ said Gov. Lee. ‘‘The vast majority of students are necessarily absent: the Senator a dramatic decrease. It shows that the learn best in-person with their teacher, and from West Virginia (Mrs. CAPITO), the vast majority of students learn in per- we’ll continue to help provide a safe environ- Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. JOHNSON), son, the Governor said, with their ment for Tennessee students to get their and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. teacher, and he is working to get a safe educational journeys back on track.’’ MORAN). environment so that they can get back While many students traditionally experi- Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the to school. ence learning loss over the summer, projec- tions show that learning loss from March Senator from California (Ms. HARRIS) is The good news on that is, according to the Governor, 1,800 schools in Ten- school closures through the summer is ex- necessarily absent. pected to be 2.5 times that of a normal sum- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there nessee are open, in person, and only 7 mer rate. Projections were developed in part- any other Senators in the Chamber de- of those schools have any sort of clo- nership with national researchers using his- siring to vote? sure incident today—in other words, torical, Tennessee-specific data to provide The result was announced—yeas 54, one class or one school closed because additional learning loss estimates based on nays 42, as follows: of COVID. So, this problem we are just the extended school closures. ‘‘We know that increased time away from [Rollcall Vote No. 193 Ex.] discussing, hopefully, will not be as pronounced this semester in Tennessee school has negative implications for stu- YEAS—54 dents, which is compounded during extended because, except in Memphis and except Alexander Gillibrand Peters building closures,’’ said Tennessee Commis- Baldwin Graham Reed in Nashville, almost all of our schools sioner of Education Penny Schwinn. ‘‘The Bennet Grassley Rosen are open in person to some degree. department is focused on ensuring we pro- Blumenthal Hassan Sanders The Governor went on to say that the vide essential services and resources to miti- Booker Heinrich Schatz March through the summer school gate learning loss and keep students on a Brown Hirono Schumer Cantwell Jones Shaheen closings produced a learning deficiency path to success this new school year.’’ Cardin Kaine Sinema that is expected to be 2.5 times that of The learning loss impacts early grades Carper King Smith a normal summer rate. He also said the greater than later grades, placing these stu- Casey Klobuchar Stabenow dents further behind in the learning trajec- Cassidy Leahy Tester learning loss impacts early grades tory as they progress through school. Stu- Collins Manchin Tillis greater than later grades, placing those dents with lower proficiency rates are also Coons Markey Udall students further behind in the learning disproportionately impacted by learning Cornyn Menendez Van Hollen trajectory. Students with lower pro- Cortez Masto Merkley Warner loss, further exacerbating existing achieve- Duckworth Murkowski Warren ficiency rates are also disproportion- ment gaps. Durbin Murphy Whitehouse ately impacted by learning loss. In Research from the Organisation for Eco- Feinstein Murray Wyden other words, students who are already nomic Co-operation and Development on the economics of education shows that each ad- NAYS—42 behind fell behind even further as a re- ditional year of schooling increases life in- Barrasso Enzi Loeffler sult of leaving school in March. come by an average of 7.5–10%. Further, a Blackburn Ernst McConnell Then it shows that the research from loss of one-third of a year in effective learn- Blunt Fischer McSally the Organisation for Economic Co-op- ing for just the students affected by the clo- Boozman Gardner Paul Braun Hawley Perdue eration and Development, which sures of early 2020 will, by historical data, Burr Hoeven Portman worked with the Governor on these, lower a country’s GDP by an average of 1.5% Cotton Hyde-Smith Risch shows that each additional year of over the remainder of the century. Cramer Inhofe Roberts schooling increases life income by an Mr. ALEXANDER. Today, our com- Crapo Kennedy Romney Cruz Lankford Rounds average of 7.5 to 10 percent. And with mittee—the Health, Education, Labor, Daines Lee Rubio the loss of one-third of a year in effec- and Pensions Committee—had its last

VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.051 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5824 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 hearing of the year, and it was my last Here is my question: Is this adminis- cocktails that were developed and used hearing as chairman of the committee. tration cutting corners on safety and during the Ebola crisis to help prevent While we are on the theme of edu- efficiency? and cure it. cation, one of the interesting—and I Dr. Fauci said: Absolutely not. If these work—and, again, they only am here today to give a little report on I asked all four of the witnesses: If can be approved based on data from the what I consider to be an unprecedented the vaccine is approved by the FDA, FDA. They are not approved yet. They sprint toward success in three areas: would you take it, and would you rec- are in clinical trials, but late clinical vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic ommend your family take it? trials. If they are approved in the next testing. They said yes, that they had great few weeks, then, if you come down with I asked Dr. Fauci, who was one of the confidence in the FDA. COVID, you will have an antibody witnesses, this question: Dr. Fauci, Here is a summary of what they told cocktail that, in the case of the Ebola, there are a lot of outbreaks on college us today. Let’s start with vaccines: proved to prevent and help cure it. campuses around the country as mil- According to the administration, it is Knowing that these vaccines are lions of students go back to thousands already manufacturing tens of millions being manufactured and are likely to of colleges. Is the right thing to do to of doses of six vaccines, and by the end be approved by the end of the year and send the students home? of the year, there will be tens of mil- that treatments will be broadly avail- He said: Absolutely not. That is the lions of doses of these vaccines already able by the end of the year, in addition wrong thing to do. Segregate the stu- manufactured, ready to distribute— to the five that now exist, should help dents from the other students in the first, of course, to the priority individ- give Americans more confidence in college until they are well—and the uals, those who are most vulnerable, going back to school, back to college, people they have exposed until they are healthcare workers, and others. back to childcare, back to work, and well—and then go on. Don’t send them Then, according to the administra- out to eat. home to infect their parents and their tion, they expect to be able to produce Then, there is a third success story, grandparents and the community from 300 to 700 million doses of vaccines by and that is diagnostic testing. The which they came. March or April of next year. That is United States got off to a bumpy start I think that is important advice for unprecedented. with diagnostic testing. The first CDC the college administrators all over When I was a kid, we were terrified test flopped, and we lost some time. America who are dealing with this by polio. I had classmates who were in But since then there has been an explo- issue very bravely. I know at the Uni- an iron lung and parents who were wor- sion of diagnostic testing. versity of Tennessee they had a big ried their children might be just as Today, we have a capacity to deal outbreak. It was some poor judgment well. It took 10 years to get a polio vac- with 90 million tests a month. Abbott on behalf of a number of students who cine, and polio is now eradicated. Laboratories has announced that in Oc- had just gone back to school. You can For most of the vaccines that our tober, it will produce 50 million rapid just imagine 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds, children take before they go to tests. You can get a result in 15 min- they all want to get together. Well, school—like mumps, measles, and utes with a higher degree of speci- they got together, and they infected chickenpox—you have to take these ficity—that means accuracy—and it one another, and they had a big out- vaccines in all 50 States and the Dis- costs $5. The administration has break—maybe 750, the Governor said, trict of Columbia before you go to bought 150 million—the whole output— but it is now down to 150. school. Most of them took 10 years to for the first 3 months of Abbott Lab- So Dr. Fauci’s advice to the school develop. oratories’ fast tests and is in the proc- administrators is this: Isolate them, If the optimism of the administra- ess of distributing them to nursing segregate them, track them, and don’t tion—they call it Operation Warp homes, schools, colleges, childcare cen- send them home. Speed—is accurate, vaccines will have ters, and States. The hearing today included Dr. Fauci been manufactured, and they are opti- I was able to say to the Governor and Dr. Redfield from the Centers for mistic that at least one of them will be that if Tennessee gets its rough share Disease Control. It included Admiral approved before the end of the year. of 2 percent of 150 million tests, that is Giroir, who is in charge of testing, and They know they will be manufactured a lot of tests for the State of Tennessee it included Dr. Hahn, who is the head because they are already doing that. to be receiving over the next few of the Food and Drug Administration. They don’t know for sure, and they weeks. Here was the first question I asked say: There is no guarantee of success, Again, the importance of that is, be- Dr. Hahn, who is the only person who but we are optimistic that we will tween now and the time a vaccine is knows when the vaccines that are reach a goal that once was considered administered and treatments are wide- being developed will be distributed. He impossible and now seems likely. ly available, the surest path back to doesn’t really know because he doesn’t In other words, instead of waiting 10 school, back to work, and out to eat is know the date, nor do any of the career years for a vaccine to save lives, this an oversupply of diagnostic testing so scientists at the FDA know the date vaccine for COVID–19 will be developed you could have it whenever you want. when the data will show that the vac- in less than a year if it is approved be- Just as Governor Lee was saying, we cine is safe and effective, and it will fore the end of the year. have 1,800 schools open in person, Nash- not be distributed until it is. That is an unprecedented success ville and Memphis worrying about So I said to Dr. Hahn: Who makes the story, and it is only possible for a vari- whether they should open. I think if decisions at FDA? Do you make the de- ety of reasons, which I will go into in the teachers knew they had more cisions? Do the career scientists make a minute. treatments and if they could test the decisions? Or does the White House The same is true with treatments. whenever a class needs to test—a whole make the decisions about safety and ef- There are five treatments—medicines— class—and do surveillance testing, that fectiveness of a vaccine? for those who have contracted COVID– people would be safer and feel better He said: The career scientists make 19. That is especially interesting to about going back to school. the decisions. The White House does teachers and faculty members at The same would be true with the col- not, and I will not make a decision schools and colleges. The children leges and universities. If there is a about the safety and effectiveness of don’t seem to get as sick, but the older breakout of 750 cases at the University vaccines unless the career scientists teachers could, and they do get sicker. of Tennessee and you can quickly do and I agree that it is safe and effective So it helps to know that there is a random surveillance testing of an en- according to independent and trans- treatment for COVID if you get sick. tire dorm or a dorm floor or a class of parent data. What we are told by Dr. Fauci, Dr. students, then you can feel better I asked Dr. Fauci this question. I Redfield, Dr. Hahn, and others is that about keeping the place safe. said: Dr. Fauci, you have been around a they are cautiously optimistic that The hearing was a good hearing. Dur- while. You came on in the Reagan new treatments will be available in the ing the hearing, I thanked Senator days. You have been in your job as next few weeks—specifically, the MURRAY, my partner over the last 6 head of infectious diseases since 1984. monoclonal antibodies, the antibody years, the ranking Democrat. She is a

VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.054 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5825 member of the Democratic leadership. I think most of us would be glad to we wouldn’t have a problem or an She is pretty tough when she wants to lose that money if the result was that issue. be. Because she is, I like working with one or more of those vaccines turned I thanked those four witnesses, Sen- her, and we have been able to do a lot out to be the one that produces 300 to ator MURRAY, and my Republican and with our committee. 700 million doses of vaccines that are Democratic colleagues for monitoring We have 23 members on our com- safe and effective as we move into the this COVID–19. I am glad the hearing mittee. I thanked them today. I said, new year. was broadly carried for 2 hours on Senator Ted Kennedy used to say that There is a lesson from all of this, and many television networks. we have the broadest jurisdiction of that is that the earlier Congresses and I hope it gave the American people any committee in the Senate. I think Presidents were visionary in this re- some relief and sense that our chances we have the broadest range of views in spect: They built those standby manu- of going back to school, back to col- the Senate of any committee. We have facturing plants. They created BARDA. lege, back to childcare, back to work, some very able advocates of those di- Senator BURR from North Carolina was and out to eat are increasingly good. It verse points of view, and still, we have one of the leaders of that, for example. is very simple: Wear the mask, wash a very impressive record from fixing Without that, we wouldn’t have this your hands, stay apart, and keep this No Child Left Behind to 21st Century explosion of vaccines, treatments, and unprecedented sprint toward vaccines, Cures, to the opioids bill, to passing tests on the way. We need to do that treatments, and diagnostic tests going. important bipartisan legislation that is again. I yield the floor. good for the country Senator Bill Frist, the former major- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- President Obama called the Every ity leader, testified before our com- ator from Connecticut. Student Succeeds Act a Christmas mir- mittee with some others. He said we go f acle. Senator MCCONNELL said the 21st from panic to neglect to panic, and we Century Cures Act was the most impor- don’t do the hard things we need to do CORRECTING THE ENROLLMENT tant law of that Congress. after the epidemic is over. OF S. 2330 I thanked Senator MURRAY and all The hardest thing to do is sustained the Democrats and Republicans on the Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam Presi- funding. So we need sustained funding dent, as if in legislative session, I ask committee for creating an environ- for manufacturing plants so they don’t ment where we can have our dif- unanimous consent that the Senate go cold while we wait for the next pan- proceed to the immediate consider- ferences of opinion but still get impor- demic. We need sustained funding for tant results. ation of S. Con. Res. 46, which was sub- our stockpile so they are not depleted mitted earlier today. There was one other thing we dis- by budget problems. We need sustained cussed that I would like to mention. I The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without funding for the strategic stockpile, and objection, it is so ordered. see my friend from Connecticut on the we need sustained funding for our floor. I know he wants to speak, and I The clerk will report the concurrent State and local public health agencies, will get out of the way so he can do it. resolution by title. which are about 50 percent supported But there were actually two things I The bill clerk read as follows: by Federal dollars. wanted to briefly summarize, and then Sustained funding is something we A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 46) to correct the enrollment of S. 2330. I will ask to put my statement into the don’t do very well—that means manda- RECORD. tory funding that needs advanced ap- There being no objection, the Senate One was that the New York Times propriations. We like to do it year by proceeded to consider the resolution. said on March 1, that the United States year. But if we don’t do it, you can see Mr. BLUMENTHAL. I further ask was as well prepared as any country for what it costs us: 200,000 lives we lost al- that the concurrent resolution be COVID. To the extent that was true, it agreed to and the motion to reconsider was because of several Presidents and ready and $3 trillion we have already spent. So a little sustained funding to be considered made and laid upon the several Congresses doing such things table with no intervening action or de- as, in 2012, authorizing three standby prevent the next pandemic would be a very wise investment, and we ought to bate. manufacturing plants for vaccines. Of The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Operation Warp Speed, Dr. Slaoui, who do it now while we have our eye on the ball. objection, it is so ordered. is their principle adviser, said that The concurrent resolution (S. Con. they could not be producing four of Jared Diamond, who wrote ‘‘Guns, Germs, and Steel,’’ pointed out in a re- Res. 46) was agreed to. those vaccines if those plants had not (The concurrent resolution is printed been put in place back then. cent article in the Wall Street Journal that, in his opinion, what is different in today’s RECORD under ‘‘Submitted In addition, earlier Congresses cre- Resolutions.’’) ated more authority for the FDA, for about this vaccine is the jet plane— that people can fly from Wuhan to San The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- example, to do emergency-use author- ator from Rhode Island. izations, which Dr. Hahn has used Francisco or from San Francisco to expertly. They have given the NIH Nashville, and pretty soon, suddenly, REMEMBERING JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG record funding for 5 years in a row and this is spreading all over the world. Mr. REED. Madam President, I rise new authority. All of this authority Jared Diamond said that the next pan- today to honor the life of Justice Ruth has been put to work by this adminis- demic could be next year. We hope it is Bader Ginsburg and to express my tration to do what I would call an un- not, but it could be, and we should be grave concerns at rushing to fill this precedented sprint toward success on ready for it. Supreme Court vacancy rather than vaccines, treatments, and tests with- So I wanted to report to the Amer- focus on the pandemic and its health out cutting corners on efficacy and ican people and to my colleagues in the and economic devastation. safety. There is a risk, but the risk is Senate that we hear a lot about prob- The passing of Justice Ginsburg is a to the taxpayers. lems, but I think it is important to monumental loss for our country, but The reason things are going so fast is know that vaccines are being manufac- she will leave an indelible mark as a because they are doing everything in tured, that the decisions are going to historic and brilliant jurist, civil rights parallel. They are manufacturing while be made by scientists about when they trailblazer, and personal hero to count- they are developing the vaccine and are ready to distribute, that the States less people. We can all take inspiration while they are reviewing whether it is have been asked to get ready, that from her stalwart and lifelong crusade safe and effective. there are more treatments coming, for equality, shaped by her own strug- Then, at the end of that process—say, likely, and that there has been an ex- gles facing gender discrimination as a at the end of this year—if it is effec- plosion of diagnostic tests. So, really, young lawyer, despite her outstanding tive, we are ready to distribute it. The there should be plenty of diagnostic education and obvious talent. States have been asked to get ready. If tests for anyone who wants to use them Notably, one of her first and most it is not safe, if it is not effective, then, before very long in the United States. important rulings as a Supreme Court we lose the money. The taxpayers lose My theory has been for a long time Justice was when she wrote the major- the money. that as soon as we had an oversupply, ity opinion that struck down the male-

VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:52 Sep 25, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD20\SEPTEMBER\S23SE0.REC S23SE0 abonner on DSK9F5VC42PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE S5826 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 only admissions policy at the Virginia Due to the Trump administration’s tunity to add another anti-healthcare Military Institute. In this and many mismanagement and Republicans’ in- Justice to the Supreme Court, just other cases, Justice Ginsburg opened action, much of what these experts pre- days before the Court will begin argu- the door for generations to come and dicted is already happening, and we ments on the Trump administration’s heralded a new era of equality so that continue to pass grim milestones sig- lawsuit to repeal the ACA. those who were traditionally excluded naling that we have failed to contain What is worse is that they are not and oppressed could truly partake in the virus and to adequately mitigate going to wait until the election to pur- the American dream. the economic fallout. sue this because they know the Amer- Congress should honor Justice Gins- More than 200,000 people have now ican people do not agree with them and burg’s legacy by grieving her loss with died, and the Department of Labor re- they can’t take the chance that they her family, her friends, and the rest of ports that nearly 30 million people are will lose the election and, along with the Nation. More importantly, we on unemployment. Despite the over- it, their opportunity to take should listen to the Justice’s wish that whelming need, Republicans seem healthcare coverage away from mil- the Court she loved and served so hon- eager to move on and shift all of their lions of Americans. orably should not be part of the elec- attention to filling a Supreme Court Republicans’ fervor to fill a Supreme tion season. My sense is Justice Gins- seat in as little time as possible. Court vacancy goes beyond disman- burg recognized that, while the Court They want to do it in a way that has tling affordable healthcare and denying has become more political over time, never been done before. While other va- healthcare to those with preexisting filling her seat a month or so before an cancies have arisen in an election year, conditions. They are counting on a election would do incredible harm. the history is clear: The Senate has conservative supermajority on the Su- Some say we need nine Justices. never confirmed a nomination to the preme Court to accomplish many of They certainly didn’t feel that way Supreme Court this close to a Presi- their extreme conservative goals, about Justice Scalia’s open seat. Rush- dential election. Yet it is looking more which they know the majority of the ing here seems unnecessary, shows a like Republicans want to barrel ahead American people do not share. disregard for history, and shows a lack and deny the American people a chance This will endanger so many of the of faith in the American people’s to weigh in. rights that Americans have fought for choice in November, but it appears We have to ask ourselves: Why? One decades to win. It could mean making they will not be thoughtful and wait. answer is easy: healthcare. My col- our country less democratic by gutting Instead, it is full steam ahead. leagues on the other side of the aisle, what is left of the Voting Rights Act. I am angered and saddened that my along with President Trump, had com- It could mean overturning the right of colleagues on the other side of the aisle plete control of Congress and the White women to make their own reproductive are choosing to ram through a nominee House for 2 years, and after spending 7 healthcare decisions, in consultation who they know will not get broad sup- years saying that they would repeal with their doctors, and the rights of port. While this is no different than the Affordable Care Act, they tried LGBT individuals to live free of dis- their agenda over the last 4 years, the with all of their might to do just that. crimination. It could include stripping timing and circumstances could be not What they didn’t anticipate was that away environmental protections, which more startling or revealing as to their the American people would turn will become all the more important as against that effort. true priorities of power and stacking climate change wreaks havoc in our In 2017, I heard from countless con- the deck. communities. stituents, writing and emailing me, My colleagues have been rushing to How these and many other issues are calling my office, approaching me at issue statements pledging their support decided by the Supreme Court for the the grocery store and around Rhode Is- for a Supreme Court nominee that next several decades is hanging in the land, telling me about how the ACA President Trump has not even nomi- balance. That Republicans want to had benefited them and their families nated. However, in the 4 months since speed through their nominee shows not and urging me to do everything in my the Heroes Act passed the House, they only their disdain for the will of the power to stop the Republican effort to have not been able to muster any ur- repeal the law. I was not alone in this. American people but, also, their lack of gency to help the millions affected by I know my colleagues on both sides of confidence that voters support these the COVID pandemic. Indeed, my col- the aisle were hearing similar concerns policy goals and those who wrongly leagues on the other side of the aisle from their constituents. espouse them. keep bidding down the amount of as- President Trump and congressional The only good that may come of this sistance they want to provide. Republicans did not expect that they is that the American people will gain Public health experts and economists wouldn’t be able to convince everyone an even clearer understanding of what alike have been sounding the alarm for in their party to go along with this is at stake. The American public now weeks about what will happen if Con- scheme. As we all remember, late one has a clear choice, and I have no doubt gress does not provide further assist- night in July 2017, while voting on the that it will make the right one. They ance. They warned that, without re- Republican TrumpCare bill, my friend can see and understand what Majority sources for testing, contact tracing, and my chairman, Senator John Leader MCCONNELL is doing. and other critical public health inter- McCain, shortly before his death, cou- At the very time the majority leader ventions, the case counts and deaths rageously stood up and gave their pro- should be joining with us to protect the will only increase. They warned that, posal a thumbs-down, saying enough health of the American people in the without rental, unemployment, and was enough. midst of so much suffering and needless food assistance, evictions would sky- The following year, the American death during this pandemic, they are, rocket and households with children people swiftly voted many Republicans instead, undertaking a misguided and will go hungry. They warned that out of office, handing control of the unjustifiable effort to ram through a States would have to resort to deep House of Representatives to Demo- Supreme Court nomination. While I budget cuts and layoffs without addi- crats, largely because of healthcare. have little belief that Majority Leader tional aid. Democrats won by vowing to protect MCCONNELL will change his plans, I My Republican colleagues dis- the ACA for the American people. would hope that my colleagues would regarded these warnings even as So, now, President Trump and con- take a moment and look at where we COVID–19 numbers continued to climb gressional Republicans are counting on are. We can debate how we got here, and even after the pandemic unemploy- the courts to overturn the ACA for but right now the matters before us are ment assistance and Paycheck Protec- them. They have spent the last 3 years profound. I hope a few in the majority tion Program expired. They looked for stacking the courts with judicial nomi- decide to reconsider and take a step excuses not to act, only pausing to nees who they think will rule against back from their maximalist power the- bring up their so-called skinny bills, the ACA, regardless of the facts or ory and leave this issue to the next ses- which fell woefully short of providing merits of the case. sion. the help that is needed for families, With the passing of Justice Ruth Until then, I will do everything I can businesses, and the States. Bader Ginsburg, they have their oppor- to honor Justice Ginsburg and her

VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 26, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD20\SEPTEMBER\S23SE0.REC S23SE0 abonner on DSK9F5VC42PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5827 life’s work for what is right and what is local employers’ demands and enter the most sacred—charge. He helped pre- fair. We will demand justice for the workforce prepared to fill good-paying serve the birthplace of our most fa- American people to make sure that jobs. mous Kentuckian, Abraham Lincoln. their voices are heard. His many achievements have brought Tommy took seriously his role in hon- I yield the floor. national acclaim for both Jay and oring Lincoln, and Kentucky will con- I suggest the absence of a quorum. KCTCS. U.S. Secretary of Commerce tinue to benefit from his enthusiasm The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Wilbur Ross and Advisor to the Presi- for our Nation’s 16th President. clerk will call the roll. dent Ivanka Trump appointed him to Along with a group of motivated citi- The bill clerk proceeded to call the be the voice for community colleges on zens, Tommy helped establish the Lin- roll. the American Workforce Policy Advi- coln Museum in Hodgenville. In a typ- Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, sory Board. Jay collaborates with lead- ical year, thousands of tourists will I ask unanimous consent that the order ers from educational institutions, gov- visit the museum and the nearby Abra- for the quorum call be rescinded. ernments, and some of the country’s ham Lincoln National Historical Park. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without largest employers to increase prepared- Tommy championed an effort to ex- objection, it is so ordered. ness in the workforce. Jay is also a pand the National Park by coordi- nating a donation to include Lincoln’s f member of the national board for Re- building America’s Middle Class and Boyhood Home on Knob Creek. This LEGISLATIVE SESSION the Bill and Melinda Gates Founda- year, Kentucky Living Magazine tion’s National Advisory Group. named the Lincoln Museum as the Commonwealth’s Best Museum, a well- MORNING BUSINESS I have had the privilege to work di- rectly with Jay to serve Kentucky’s deserved distinction for their efforts to Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, students. I am particularly grateful for safeguard the Great Emancipator’s leg- I ask unanimous consent that the Sen- his leadership to save Southeast Ken- acy. ate proceed to legislative session for a tucky Community and Technical Col- In 2000, Congress created the Abra- period of morning business, with Sen- lege, SKCTC, from losing its ability to ham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission ators permitted to speak for up to 10 offer Federal student aid. Working to prepare national celebrations for the minutes each. closely with Jay, I inserted a legisla- President’s 200th birthday. Rec- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without tive provision to give the school a rea- ommended by Kentucky’s Governor at objection, it is so ordered. sonable opportunity to make its case the time and appointed by the Presi- f to the U.S. Department of Education. dent, Tommy was a fine choice to serve as a commissioner. Hodgenville would TRIBUTE TO DR. JAY BOX Jay and his team did just that, showing SKCTC’s many contributions to its later host the celebration’s National Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, students and community. I am proud Opening Ceremony and lead the coun- more than 100,000 Kentuckians choose to say the school continues to thrive try in honoring President Lincoln. Over the years, I have worked with every year to pursue a degree or de- and help prepare Kentucky students to Tommy to preserve Lincoln’s heritage velop their skills through the Ken- excel in the workforce. in LaRue County and to deliver for the tucky Community and Technical Col- Jay announced he would begin his community’s bright future. It has also lege System, KCTCS. Composed of 16 well-deserved retirement in July. How- been a privilege to join Tommy’s radio colleges within a short drive of vir- ever, when the coronavirus crisis show to speak directly with local fami- tually every Kentucky household, struck, he once again showed true lead- lies about their priorities and my work KCTCS has helped over 1 million Ken- ership. Jay delayed his retirement to tucky students receive an affordable for Kentucky in the Senate. continue serving Kentucky’s students Tommy spent half of his life as and quality education. Today, I would and ensure KCTCS received the steady like to recognize my friend, Dr. Jay LaRue County’s judge-executive. The leadership transition it deserves. results of his leadership can be seen Box, who has served as KCTCS’ second Over the years, Jay has helped edu- president for the last 5 years and is a across the county in its growth and op- cate students, encourage industry, and portunity. I would like to encourage leading architect of its success. As Jay drive growth in nearly every corner of retires at the end of this month, my my Senate colleagues to join me in Kentucky. It is a remarkable legacy, thanking Tommy for his service and home State will send him off with our and I hope he and Gayle are proud of sincere gratitude. for preserving the memory of one of their accomplishments. I ask my Sen- our country’s greatest leaders. In Nearly two decades ago, Jay and his ate colleagues to join me in congratu- wife Gayle left Texas to join KCTCS. I whatever comes next for Tommy, I lating Dr. Jay Box on his retirement wish him the best. I look forward to his am so glad they did. Jay brought with and to wish him many wonderful years continued contributions to our great him a personal belief in the importance to come. Commonwealth. of lifelong learning to adapt to a f changing workforce. That vision has f served Jay and KCTCS’ students well TRIBUTE TO TOMMY TURNER SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS while preparing them for 21st century Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, Mrs. LOEFFLER. Madam President, careers. when my friend Tommy Turner was Mrs. Kelly Loeffler, of Georgia, rejects Jay was quickly recognized for his first elected to lead LaRue County in the assertion by Mr. CHUCK SCHUMER, transformative leadership at Hazard 1985, he was the youngest Kentuckian of New York, that there is no precedent Community and Technical College. to ever serve as a county judge-execu- for a Supreme Court justice being con- Tapping into his talent, he was given tive. Now, 35 years later, Tommy re- firmed after July 1 in a Presidential statewide responsibilities as KCTCS cently announced he would leave office election year. vice president, chancellor, then finally as our Commonwealth’s longest cur- In fact on three separate occasions, a its president. In each role, Jay has con- rently serving county leader. Records duly-elected President appointed and stantly delivered for Kentucky stu- bookend his service, and more accom- the Senate confirmed a Supreme Court dents. plishments fill the years between. I justice in a Presidential election year: As president, Jay placed a renewed would like to take a moment to con- John Hessin Clarke: confirmed by the emphasis on helping students complete gratulate Tommy on his decades of Senate on July 24, 1916; George Shiras, their degrees with a record number of leadership for LaRue County and to Jr.: confirmed by the Senate on July graduates and credentials. He also en- thank him for his many contributions 26, 1892; and Melville Fuller: confirmed couraged schools to remove barriers, to to Kentucky. by the Senate on July 20, 1888. support students pursuing GEDs and Every county judge-executive is re- The Constitution does not limit the college credit at the same time, and to sponsible for local services such as the President’s nomination powers during form partnerships with job creators to county’s budget and road maintenance. the fourth year of his term. close the skills gap. As a result, grad- As LaRue County’s leader, however, I support President Donald J. uates are gaining the skills to meet Tommy was given an additional—al- Trump’s decision to nominate a justice

VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.061 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5828 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 to the Supreme Court who will uphold small businesses and entrepreneurs Rhonda attended Casper College, earn- the rule of law and the Constitution as play in our communities. In addition to ing an associate’s degree in criminal written. I look forward to performing the more than 100 jobs created by the justice and social work and later my constitutional duty to advise and Bizzell Group, Dr. Bizzell serves on the earned her bachelor’s degree in social consent on his nominee before Novem- Maryland Board for the March of work from the University of Wyoming ber 3, 2020. Dimes, and he is president of the Delta at Casper College. f Lambda Chapter of the Alpha Phi Rhonda’s passion for her community Alpha Fraternity. and the well-being of her neighbors has NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS I congratulate Dr. Bizzell for being shown time and again through her WEEK named Maryland’s Small Business Per- work as a counselor at the Youth Crisis Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, son of the Year, and I thank him and Center, the Wyoming Behavioral Insti- today I thank the 30 million small his colleagues at the Bizzell Group for tute, and Central Wyoming Counseling businesses in America for their con- their efforts to keep our communities Center. In 2011, Rhonda cofounded Cas- tributions to our economy during this informed about COVID–19 during this per Family Connections. Their mission year’s National Small Business Week, unprecedented public health crisis. I is to provide children who are unable which began on Sunday, September 20 am proud to represent them in the U.S. to live with one or both parents a safe and ends on Saturday, September 26. Senate. and conflict-free environment. They National Small Business Week is the Now more than ever, these contribu- provide also for healthy contact with time of year when we come together to tions to our economy and communities the noncustodial family. They offer celebrate our Nation’s small businesses deserve to be recognized. Dr. Bizzel and parenting classes as well as mental for their role in moving our economy the many small business owners like health services on top of their impor- forward by boosting local economies, him in communities across the nation tant mission, giving children and fami- improving industries through innova- are why I will continue to fight for lies a strong foundation on which to tion, and employing nearly half of our Congress to pass another economic re- build. country’s workforce. lief bill that meets the needs of our Family holds a particularly special Taking time to recognize our Na- communities and small businesses. So place in Rhonda’s life. She raised two tion’s small businesses is especially many of our Nation’s small businesses children, Greg and Kendra. Together, important this year due to the many have stepped up for us, and Congress Greg and Rhonda own and operate E&F ways—big and small—that our small must once again do the same for them. Towing and Transport in Casper. She also serves on the Boys and Girls Clubs businesses have stepped up to help our f communities get through the pan- of Central Wyoming board of directors demic. TRIBUTE TO RHONDA ZIMMERMAN along with her brother Mitch. In my home State of Maryland, I Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I Rhonda sets an example everyone can have seen distilleries use their facili- rise today in celebration of Rhonda follow. She is the first to offer a help- ties to make hand sanitizer when sup- Zimmerman, the Boys and Girls Club ing hand and shows a passion for im- plies were low; I have seen lacrosse of Central Wyoming’s 2020 honoree. proving the lives of others. The Code of equipment manufacturers produce face Since 1978, the Boys and Girls Clubs the West charges us to live each day shields and masks for doctors and first of Central Wyoming has worked to with courage. Not only does Rhonda responders; and I have heard stories make a positive difference in the lives embody this principle, but she gives ev- about the many small government con- of children. Their mission is to inspire eryone around her the tools they need tractors that are helping Federal agen- all youth, especially those who need to live the same. Wyoming, Casper, and cies address COVID–19. Today I am them the most. They strive to help the Boys and Girls Club of Central Wy- proud to recognize the founder of one young people reach their full potential oming are fortunate to have her. It is with great honor that I recog- of those small government contractors, as productive, responsible, and caring nize this outstanding member of our Dr. Anton Bizzell, who has been named citizens. The programs, leagues, and Wyoming community. My wife, Bobbi, Maryland Small Business Person of the activities serve the children in our joins me in extending our congratula- Year by the Small Business Adminis- community by cultivating academic tions to Rhonda Zimmerman upon her tration. success, healthy lifestyles, and good selection for this special award. Dr. Bizzell’s company, the Bizzell character and citizenship. Group, is an 8(a) certified small busi- On October 21, 2020, the Boys and f ness that specializes in strategy and Girls Club of Central Wyoming will ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS technology and works at the forefront host the 22nd Annual Awards and Rec- of public health issues. Most recently, ognition Breakfast. Every year at this the Bizzell Group has been helping the event, the Boys and Girls Club honors a HISTORIC ASHE HOSPITAL Centers for Disease Control and Pre- member of the community who has ∑ Mr. TILLIS. Madam President, I rise vention keep our communities aware of made outstanding contributions to today to honor the achievements of the the latest information regarding the their organization, Wyoming youth, organizations and people who led the COVID–19 pandemic. and the city of Casper. It is an inspir- successful redevelopment of Historic After more than 25 years of experi- ing celebration. Ashe Hospital in Jefferson, NC. This ence in health services, policy, and This year’s honoree is Rhonda Zim- once abandoned property on the Na- management, Dr. Bizzell founded the merman. She is an ideal choice to re- tional Register of Historic Places Bizzell Group in 2010 to provide data- ceive this honor because of her lifelong today provides 46 affordable homes for driven and innovative solutions to cli- dedication to our children and families. seniors, people with disabilities, and ents in an effort to build healthy, se- With this award, the Boys and Girls homeless individuals at a time when cure, and connected communities. In Club of Central Wyoming shows their affordable housing is needed more than the years since, the company has gratitude for Rhonda’s work, which ever. grown to include nearly 100 employees mirrors the Club’s important mission. This incredible property was devel- with four offices in Lanham, Rockville, Rhonda has given of her time and tal- oped through the use of the Low-In- Atlanta, GA, and the Democratic Re- ents to the youth of our community for come Housing Tax Credit, known as public of the Congo. her entire life. Being raised in the Zim- the Housing Credit. In North Carolina Dr. Bizzell has said, ‘‘Business is merman family, she was taught the and across the country, it is one of our most successful when done with integ- value of hard work and giving back to most important tools in the fight to rity, excellence, and heart, and success others. She grew up in Casper, the old- provide affordable housing for at-risk is when your end result makes the est of her siblings, Mitch, Michael, and families in our communities. More world a better place.’’ His philosophy is Renee, and with her loving parents, than 87,000 North Carolina homes have clearly at work at the Bizzell Group. Gail, Lois, and later Anne. Their char- been developed using the Housing Cred- Dr. Bizzell and the Bizzell Group are acter contributed greatly to Rhonda’s it, and more than 3 million homes na- a shining example of the vital role Christian values and giving nature. tionwide. They serve our low-income

VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.012 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5829 seniors, veterans, disabled individuals, (The message received today is print- Congress a plan to address the material and working families. ed at the end of the Senate pro- weakness of the Department of Veterans Af- That is why I am pleased to an- ceedings.) fairs, and for other purposes. nounce that this important site has H.R. 7795. An act to amend title 38, United f States Code, to improve the ability of vet- been recognized by the Affordable MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE erans to access and submit disability benefit Housing Tax Credit Coalition as a 2020 questionnaire forms of the Department of recipient of the Charles L. Edson Tax At 11:35 a.m., a message from the Veterans Affairs. Credit Award, which recognizes excel- House of Representatives, delivered by H.R. 8276. An act to authorize the Presi- lence in the affordable housing indus- Mrs. Cole, one of its reading clerks, an- dent to posthumously award the Medal of try and organizations that have dem- nounced that the House has passed the Honor to Alwyn C. Cashe for acts of valor onstrated the most impactful use of following bill, without amendment: during Operation Iraqi Freedom. the Housing Credit. S. 743. An act to award a Congressional f Historic Ashe Hospital in Jefferson is Gold Medal to the soldiers of the 5307th Com- MEASURES REFERRED no exception. The historic building in- posite Unit (Provisional), commonly known The following bills were read the first cludes a community room for residents as ‘‘Merrill’s Marauders’’, in recognition of and the second times by unanimous to gather, office space for those now their bravery and outstanding service in the consent, and referred as indicated: working from home, a library for resi- jungles of Burma during World War II. The message also announced that the H.R. 991. An act to extend certain provi- dents of all ages, and a memory room sions of the Caribbean Basin Economic Re- with artifacts from the original hos- House has passed the following bills, in covery Act until September 30, 2030, and for pital. Wide hallways, tall ceilings, and which it requests the concurrence of other purposes; to the Committee on Fi- large windows remind residents of the the Senate: nance. great public spaces of the past and H.R. 991. An act to extend certain provi- H.R. 1923. An act to amend title 31, United beautiful views of the Blue Ridge sions of the Caribbean Basin Economic Re- States Code, to require the Secretary of the Mountains. covery Act until September 30, 2030, and for Treasury to mint and issue certain circu- Historic Ashe is also located across other purposes. lating collectible coins, and for other pur- the street from the Appalachian Dis- H.R. 1923. An act to amend title 31, United poses; to the Committee on Banking, Hous- States Code, to require the Secretary of the ing, and Urban Affairs. trict Health Department, which deliv- H.R. 2166. An act to authorize a com- ers services including case manage- Treasury to mint and issue certain circu- lating collectible coins, and for other pur- prehensive, strategic approach for United ment, skilled nursing, physical and oc- poses. States foreign assistance to developing coun- cupational therapy, and respite care. H.R. 2166. An act to authorize a com- tries to strengthen global health security, Vaya Health of western North Carolina prehensive, strategic approach for United and for other purposes; to the Committee on provides a variety of mental health States foreign assistance to developing coun- Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. services on-site, and other community tries to strengthen global health security, H.R. 3010. An act to amend title 38, United and for other purposes. States Code, to establish a mission state- partners provide GED classes to those ment of the Department of Veterans Affairs; interested, transportation to the local H.R. 3010. An act to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a mission state- to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. senior center, volunteer opportunities, H.R. 4864. An act to develop and implement ment of the Department of Veterans Affairs. policies to advance early childhood develop- and a variety of other education and H.R. 3228. An act to amend title 38, United ment, to provide assistance for orphans and support services. States Code, to authorize health professional other vulnerable children in developing It is truly a monumental achieve- trainees to provide treatment via telemedi- countries, and for other purposes; to the ment in terms of creative property de- cine, and for other purposes. velopment and the judicious use of pub- Committee on Foreign Relations. H.R. 4104. An act to require the Secretary H.R. 4908. An act to amend title 38, United lic and private funding to benefit the of the Treasury to mint a coin in commemo- States Code, to prohibit the collection of a residents of Jefferson, while contrib- ration of the 100th anniversary of the estab- health care copayment by the Secretary of uting to the Nation’s vital supply of af- lishment of the Negro Leagues baseball. Veterans Affairs from a veteran who is a fordable housing. H.R. 4864. An act to develop and implement member of an Indian tribe; to the Committee Several groups and individuals were policies to advance early childhood develop- on Veterans’ Affairs. instrumental in bringing the project to ment, to provide assistance for orphans and H.R. 5664. An act to amend the Trafficking other vulnerable children in developing Victims Protection Act of 2000 to ensure ade- fruition, including Northwestern Hous- countries, and for other purposes. ing Enterprises, Incorporated, Red- quate time for the preparation of the annual H.R. 4908. An act to amend title 38, United Trafficking in Persons Report, require the stone Equity Partners, Foss & Com- States Code, to prohibit the collection of a timely provision of information to the Office pany, Bank of Tennessee, Federal health care copayment by the Secretary of to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Per- Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, Tise- Veterans Affairs from a veteran who is a sons and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security Kiester Architects of Chapel Hill, and member of an Indian tribe. of the Department of State regarding the notably E. G. ‘‘Ned’’ Fowler, President H.R. 5664. An act to amend the Trafficking number and location of visa denials based, in Victims Protection Act of 2000 to ensure ade- of Northwestern Housing Enterprises. whole or in part, on grounds related to quate time for the preparation of the annual human trafficking, and for other purposes; to To everyone involved in the develop- Trafficking in Persons Report, require the ment of Historic Ashe Hospital for af- the Committee on Foreign Relations. timely provision of information to the Office H.R. 6092. An act to direct the Secretary of fordable housing in Jefferson, I offer to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Per- Veterans Affairs to establish a national clin- my congratulations and gratitude on sons and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security ical pathway for prostate cancer, access to behalf of the people of North Carolina. of the Department of State regarding the life-saving extending precision clinical trials Thank you.∑ number and location of visa denials based, in and research, and for other purposes; to the whole or in part, on grounds related to f Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. human trafficking, and for other purposes. H.R. 6192. An act to require the Secretary MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT H.R. 6092. An act to direct the Secretary of of the Treasury to honor the 100th anniver- A message from the President of the Veterans Affairs to establish a national clin- sary of completion of coinage of the ‘‘Morgan ical pathway for prostate cancer, access to United States was communicated to Dollar’’ and the 100th anniversary of com- life-saving extending precision clinical trials mencement of coinage of the ‘‘Peace Dollar’’, the Senate by Ms. Ridgway, one of his and research, and for other purposes. and for other purposes; to the Committee on secretaries. H.R. 6192. An act to require the Secretary Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. f of the Treasury to honor the 100th anniver- H.R. 6210. An act ensuring that goods made sary of completion of coinage of the ‘‘Morgan with forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Au- EXECUTIVE MESSAGE REFERRED Dollar’’ and the 100th anniversary of com- tonomous Region of the People’s Republic of In executive session the Presiding Of- mencement of coinage of the ‘‘Peace Dollar’’, China do not enter the United States mar- ficer laid before the Senate a message and for other purposes. ket, and for other purposes; to the Com- from the President of the United H.R. 6210. An act ensuring that goods made mittee on Foreign Relations. States submitting a nomination which with forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Au- H.R. 6589. An act to direct the Secretary of tonomous Region of the People’s Republic of Veterans Affairs to develop and submit to was referred to the Committee on In- China do not enter the United States mar- Congress a plan to address the material telligence to be sequentially referred ket, and for other purposes. weakness of the Department of Veterans Af- to the Committee on Homeland Secu- H.R. 6589. An act to direct the Secretary of fairs, and for other purposes; to the Com- rity and Governmental Affairs. Veterans Affairs to develop and submit to mittee on Veterans’ Affairs.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.008 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5830 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 H.R. 7795. An act to amend title 38, United Environmental Protection Agency, transmit- pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled States Code, to improve the ability of vet- ting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule en- ‘‘Medicare Program; Specialty Care Models erans to access and submit disability benefit titled ‘‘Air Plan Approval; Texas; Construc- to Improve Quality of Care and Reduce Ex- questionnaire forms of the Department of tion Prior to Permit Amendment’’ (FRL No. penditures’’ (RIN0938–AT89) received in the Veterans Affairs; to the Committee on Vet- 10014–57–Region 6) received in the Office of Office of the President of the Senate on Sep- erans’ Affairs. the President of the Senate on September 21, tember 22, 2020; to the Committee on Fi- f 2020; to the Committee on Environment and nance. Public Works. EC–5525. A communication from the Chief MEASURES PLACED ON THE EC–5516. A communication from the Direc- of the Publications and Regulations Branch, CALENDAR tor of the Regulatory Management Division, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Environmental Protection Agency, transmit- Treasury, transmitting, pursuant to law, the The following bills were read the sec- ting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule en- report of a rule entitled ‘‘Limitation on De- ond time, and placed on the calendar: titled ‘‘Wyoming Underground Injection duction for Business Interest Expense’’ S. 4653. A bill to protect the healthcare of Control Program; Class VI Primacy’’ (FRL ((RIN1545–BO73) (TD 9905)) received in the Of- hundreds of millions of people of the United No. 10013–68–OW) received in the Office of the fice of the President of the Senate on Sep- States and prevent efforts of the Department President of the Senate on September 21, tember 21, 2020; to the Committee on Fi- of Justice to advocate courts to strike down 2020; to the Committee on Environment and nance. the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Public Works. EC–5526. A communication from the Acting Act. EC–5517. A communication from the Direc- Assistant Secretary of State, Legislative Af- H.R. 8337. An act making continuing appro- tor of the Regulatory Management Division, fairs, Department of State, transmitting, priations for fiscal year 2021, and for other Environmental Protection Agency, transmit- pursuant to law, a report relative to the sta- purposes. ting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule en- tus of deconfliction channels with Iran; to titled ‘‘Significant New Use Rules on Certain the Committee on Foreign Relations. The following bill was read the first Chemical Substances (19–5.B)’’ (FRL No. EC–5527. A communication from the Ad- and second times by unanimous con- 10013–95–OCSPP) received in the Office of the ministrator, Federal Emergency Manage- sent, and placed on the calendar: President of the Senate on September 21, ment Agency, Department of Homeland Se- H.R. 3228. An act to amend title 38, United 2020; to the Committee on Environment and curity, transmitting, pursuant to law, a re- States Code, to authorize health professional Public Works. port relative to the cost of response and re- trainees to provide treatment via telemedi- EC–5518. A communication from the Direc- covery efforts for FEMA–3538-EM in the cine, and for other purposes. tor of the Legal Processing Division, Inter- State of Louisiana having exceeded the nal Revenue Service, Department of the $5,000,000 limit for a single emergency dec- f Treasury, transmitting, pursuant to law, the laration; to the Committee on Homeland Se- MEASURES READ THE FIRST TIME report of a rule entitled ‘‘Miscellaneous curity and Governmental Affairs. Changes Under the Setting Every Commu- EC–5528. A communication from the Ad- The following bill was read the first nity Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of ministrator, Federal Emergency Manage- time: 2019 and the Bipartisan American Miners Act ment Agency, Department of Homeland Se- S. 4675. A bill to amend the Health Insur- of 2019’’ (Notice 2020–68) received in the Office curity, transmitting, pursuant to law, a re- ance Portability and Accountability Act. of the President of the Senate on September port relative to the cost of response and re- 21, 2020; to the Committee on Finance. covery efforts for FEMA–3540-EM in the f EC–5519. A communication from the Direc- State of Texas having exceeded the $5,000,000 EXECUTIVE AND OTHER tor of the Legal Processing Division, Inter- limit for a single emergency declaration; to COMMUNICATIONS nal Revenue Service, Department of the the Committee on Homeland Security and Treasury, transmitting, pursuant to law, the Governmental Affairs. The following communications were report of a rule entitled ‘‘Notice Regarding EC–5529. A communication from the Ad- laid before the Senate, together with the Special Per Diem Rates for 2020–2021’’ ministrator, Federal Emergency Manage- accompanying papers, reports, and doc- (Notice 2020–71) received in the Office of the ment Agency, Department of Homeland Se- uments, and were referred as indicated: President of the Senate on September 21, curity, transmitting, pursuant to law, a re- 2020; to the Committee on Finance. port relative to the cost of response and re- EC–5511. A communication from the Direc- EC–5520. A communication from the Chief covery efforts for FEMA–3529-EM in the tor of the Regulatory Management Division, of the Publications and Regulations Branch, State of Hawaii having exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency, transmit- Internal Revenue Service, Department of the $5,000,000 limit for a single emergency dec- ting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule en- Treasury, transmitting, pursuant to law, the laration; to the Committee on Homeland Se- titled ‘‘Trichoderma asperellum, strain T34; report of a rule entitled ‘‘Modifications to curity and Governmental Affairs. Exemption from the Requirement of a Toler- Rev. Proc. 2016–37 and Rev. Proc. 2019–39’’ EC–5530. A communication from the Direc- ance’’ (FRL No. 10013–33–OCSPP) received in (Rev. Proc. 2020–40) received in the Office of tor, Office of Acquisition Policy, General the Office of the President of the Senate on the President of the Senate on September 21, Services Administration, transmitting, pur- September 21, 2020; to the Committee on Ag- 2020; to the Committee on Finance. suant to law, the report of a rule entitled riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. EC–5521. A communication from the Chief ‘‘Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal EC–5512. A communication from the Direc- of the Publications and Regulations Branch, Acquisition Circular 2020–09, Small Entity tor of the Regulatory Management Division, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Compliance Guide’’ (FAC 2020–09) received in Environmental Protection Agency, transmit- Treasury, transmitting, pursuant to law, the the Office of the President of the Senate on ting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule en- report of a rule entitled ‘‘Update to Rev. Rul. September 17, 2020; to the Committee on titled ‘‘Pseudomonas fluorescens strain 94–74’’ (Rev. Rul. 2020–19) received in the Of- Homeland Security and Governmental Af- ACK55; Exemption from the Requirement of fice of the President of the Senate on Sep- fairs. a Tolerance’’ (FRL No. 10013–27–OCSPP) re- tember 21, 2020; to the Committee on Fi- EC–5531. A communication from the Direc- ceived in the Office of the President of the nance. tor, Office of Acquisition Policy, General Senate on September 21, 2020; to the Com- EC–5522. A communication from the Acting Services Administration, transmitting, pur- mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For- Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs, De- suant to law, the report of a rule entitled estry. partment of State, transmitting, pursuant to ‘‘Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal EC–5513. A communication from the Fed- the Convention on Cultural Property Imple- Acquisition Circular 2020–09, Introduction’’ eral Register Liaison Officer, Office of the mentation Act, a report relative to actions (FAC 2020–09) received in the Office of the Secretary, Department of Defense, transmit- taken in fiscal year 2019 to conclude cultural President of the Senate on September 17, ting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule en- property agreements with Bulgaria, China, 2020; to the Committee on Homeland Secu- titled ‘‘User Fees’’ (RIN0790–AK45) received Honduras, and Algeria; to the Committee on rity and Governmental Affairs. in the Office of the President of the Senate Finance. EC–5532. A communication from the Execu- on September 17, 2020; to the Committee on EC–5523. A communication from the Acting tive Director, Office of General Counsel, Fed- Armed Services. Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs, De- eral Retirement Thrift Investment Board, EC–5514. A communication from the Presi- partment of State, transmitting, pursuant to transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of dent of the United States, transmitting, pur- the Convention on Cultural Property Imple- a rule entitled ‘‘Temporary Waiver of Nota- suant to law, a report on the continuation of mentation Act, three (3) reports of the Cul- rization Requirement for Spousal Consent; the national emergency with respect to per- tural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) Withdrawal of Interim Rule’’ (5 CFR Part sons who commit, threaten to commit, or from 2019 relative to memoranda of under- 1650) received in the Office of the President support terrorism that was established in standing and cultural property agreements; of the Senate on September 21, 2020; to the Executive Order 13224 on September 23, 2001, to the Committee on Finance. Committee on Homeland Security and Gov- as amended; to the Committee on Banking, EC–5524. A communication from the Regu- ernmental Affairs. Housing, and Urban Affairs. lations Coordinator, Centers for Medicare EC–5533. A communication from the Execu- EC–5515. A communication from the Direc- and Medicaid Services, Department of tive Director, Office of General Counsel, Fed- tor of the Regulatory Management Division, Health and Human Services, transmitting, eral Retirement Thrift Investment Board,

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.014 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5831 transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of and Human Services, transmitting, pursuant EC–5550. A communication from the Legal a rule entitled ‘‘Financial hardship with- to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Control Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of drawals’’ (5 CFR Part 1650) received in the of Communicable Diseases; Foreign Quar- Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant Office of the President of the Senate on Sep- antine: Suspension of the Right to Introduce to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Draw- tember 21, 2020; to the Committee on Home- and Prohibition of Introduction of Persons bridge Operation Regulation; Trent River, land Security and Governmental Affairs. into United States from Designated Foreign New Bern, North Carolina’’ ((RIN1625–AA09) EC–5534. A communication from the Acting Countries or Places for Public Health Pur- (Docket No. USCG–2020–0027)) received in the Director, Office of Personnel Management, poses’’ (RIN0920–AA76) received in the Office Office of the President of the Senate on Sep- transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of of the President of the Senate on September tember 21, 2020; to the Committee on Com- a rule entitled ‘‘Federal Employees’ Retire- 22, 2020; to the Committee on Health, Edu- merce, Science, and Transportation. ment System; Present Value Conversion cation, Labor, and Pensions. EC–5551. A communication from the Legal Factors for Spouses of Deceased Separated EC–5542. A communication from the Dep- Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Employees’’ (RIN3206–AO03) received in the uty Assistant Attorney General, Office of Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant Office of the President of the Senate on Sep- Legislative Affairs, Department of Justice, to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety tember 22, 2020; to the Committee on Home- transmitting, pursuant to law, a report enti- Zone; Northern Atlantic Ocean, Nahant, land Security and Governmental Affairs. tled ‘‘Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Civil Debt Col- Massachusetts’’ ((RIN1625–AA008) (Docket EC–5535. A communication from the Acting lection Activity Report to Congress’’; to the No. USCG–2020–0446)) received in the Office of Director, Office of Personnel Management, Committee on the Judiciary. the President of the Senate on September 21, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of EC–5543. A communication from the Prin- 2020; to the Committee on Commerce, a rule entitled ‘‘Federal Employees’ Retire- cipal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Of- Science, and Transportation. ment System; Normal Cost Percentage for fice of Legislative Affairs, Department of EC–5552. A communication from the Legal Certain Members of the Capitol Police’’ Justice, transmitting, pursuant to law, a re- Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of (RIN3206–AO02) received in the Office of the port relative to the Victims Compensation Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant President of the Senate on September 22, Fund established by the Witness Security to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety 2020; to the Committee on Homeland Secu- Reform Act of 1984; to the Committee on the Zone; Lake Pontchartrain’’ ((RIN1625–AA00) rity and Governmental Affairs. Judiciary. (Docket No. USCG–2020–0510)) received in the EC–5536. A communication from the Dep- EC–5544. A communication from the Asso- Office of the President of the Senate on Sep- uty Assistant General Counsel, Office of ciate Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau, tember 21, 2020; to the Committee on Com- Postsecondary Education, Department of Federal Communications Commission, trans- merce, Science, and Transportation. Education, transmitting, pursuant to law, mitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule EC–5553. A communication from the Legal the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Final Prior- entitled ‘‘Schools and Libraries Universal Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of ities, Requirements, and Definitions-Fund Service Support Mechanism’’ ((RIN3060– Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant for the Improvement of Postsecondary Edu- AK57) (CC Docket No. 02–6)) received in the to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety cation-Open Textbooks Pilot Program’’ (34 Office of the President of the Senate on Sep- Zone; Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Horry CRF Chapter VI) received in the Office of the tember 22, 2020; to the Committee on Com- County, Safety Zone; St Johns River and At- President of the Senate on September 22, merce, Science, and Transportation. lantic Ocean, Jacksonville, Florida’’ 2020; to the Committee on Health, Education, EC–5545. A communication from the Pro- ((RIN1625–AA00) (Docket No. USCG–2020– Labor, and Pensions. gram Analyst, Office of Managing Director, 0382)) received in the Office of the President EC–5537. A communication from the Dep- Federal Communications Commission, trans- of the Senate on September 21, 2020; to the uty Assistant General Counsel, Office of mitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule Committee on Commerce, Science, and Postsecondary Education, Department of entitled ‘‘Assessment and Collection of Reg- Transportation. Education, transmitting, pursuant to law, ulatory Fees for fiscal year 2020, Report and EC–5554. A communication from the Legal the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Distance Edu- Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rule- Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of cation and Innovation’’ (RIN1840–AD38) re- making’’ ((FCC 20–120) (MD Docket No. 20– Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant ceived in the Office of the President of the 105)) received in the Office of the President to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety Senate on September 22, 2020; to the Com- of the Senate on September 22, 2020; to the Zone; September Fairport Parade; Lake mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Committee on Commerce, Science, and Erie, Fairport, Ohio’’ ((RIN1625–AA00) (Dock- Pensions. Transportation. et No. USCG–2020–0539)) received in the Office EC–5538. A communication from the Acting EC–5546. A communication from the Legal of the President of the Senate on September Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Se- Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of 21, 2020; to the Committee on Commerce, curity Administration, Department of Labor, Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant Science, and Transportation. transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Special EC–5555. A communication from the Legal a rule entitled ‘‘Pension Benefit Statements Local Regulations; Low Country Splash, Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of - Lifetime Income Illustrations’’ (RIN1210– Charleston, South Carolina’’ ((RIN1625–AA08) Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant AB20) received in the Office of the President (Docket No. USCG–2020–0290)) received in the to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety of the Senate on September 21, 2020; to the Office of the President of the Senate on Sep- Zones; Delaware River Dredging, Marcus Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and tember 21, 2020; to the Committee on Com- Hook, Pennsylvania’’ ((RIN1625–AA00) (Dock- Pensions. merce, Science, and Transportation. et No. USCG–2020–0545)) received in the Office EC–5539. A communication from the Direc- EC–5547. A communication from the Legal of the President of the Senate on September tor of Regulations and Policy Management Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of 21, 2020; to the Committee on Commerce, Staff, Food and Drug Administration, De- Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant Science, and Transportation. partment of Health and Human Services, to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Emer- EC–5556. A communication from the Legal transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of gency Safety Zone; Lower Mississippi River, Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of a rule entitled ‘‘Revocation of the Test for Knowlton Revetment, Arkansas’’ ((RIN1625– Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant Mycoplasma’’ (RIN0910–AH95) received in the AA00) (Docket No. USCG–2020–0520)) received to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Emer- Office of the President of the Senate on Sep- in the Office of the President of the Senate gency Safety Zone; Red River; Avoyelles tember 17, 2020; to the Committee on Health, on September 21, 2020; to the Committee on Parish, Louisiana’’ ((RIN1625–AA00) (Docket Education, Labor, and Pensions. Commerce, Science, and Transportation. No. USCG–2020–0503)) received in the Office of EC–5540. A communication from the Sec- EC–5548. A communication from the Legal the President of the Senate on September 21, retary of Education, transmitting, pursuant Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of 2020; to the Committee on Commerce, to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Direct Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant Science, and Transportation. Grant Programs, State-Administered For- to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety EC–5557. A communication from the Legal mula Grant Programs, Non Discrimination Zone; Victoria Barge Canal, Victoria, Texas’’ Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs ((RIN1625–AA00) (Docket No. USCG–2020– Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant or Activities Receiving Federal Financial 0525)) received in the Office of the President to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety Assistance, Developing Hispanic-Serving In- of the Senate on September 21, 2020; to the Zone; Erie Yacht Club 125th Anniversary stitutions Program, Strengthening Institu- Committee on Commerce, Science, and Summer Event, Presque Island Bay, Erie, tions Program, Strengthening Historically Transportation. Pennsylvania’’ ((RIN1625–AA00) (Docket No. Black Colleges and Universities Program, EC–5549. A communication from the Legal USCG–2020–0394)) received in the Office of the and Strengthening Historically Black Grad- Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of President of the Senate on September 21, uate Institutions Program’’ (RIN1840–AD45) Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant 2020; to the Committee on Commerce, received in the Office of the President of the to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety Science, and Transportation. Senate on September 21, 2020; to the Com- Zone, Corpus Christi Ship Channel, Corpus EC–5558. A communication from the Legal mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Christi, Texas’’ ((RIN1625–AA00) (Docket No. Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Pensions. USCG–2020–0543)) received in the Office of the Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant EC–5541. A communication from the Regu- President of the Senate on September 21, to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Naviga- lations Coordinator, Centers for Disease Con- 2020; to the Committee on Commerce, tion and Navigable Waters, and Shipping; trol and Prevention, Department of Health Science, and Transportation. Technical, Organizational, and Conforming

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.022 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5832 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 Amendments’’ (Docket No. USCG–2020–0304) fact dictate how communities should meet cessing emergency medical services; to the received in the Office of the President of the their fair housing obligations, and the rule Committee on the Judiciary. Senate on September 21, 2020; to the Com- has produced concrete improvements in fair By Ms. HASSAN (for herself and Mr. mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor- housing, such as the commitment of Chester ENZI): tation. County, Pennsylvania to reduce the number S. 4663. A bill to amend title 31, United EC–5559. A communication from the Legal of Section 8 recipients living in high-poverty States Code, to save Federal funds by au- Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of census tracts by five percentage points; and thorizing changes to the composition of cir- Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant Whereas, It is altogether fitting, proper, culating coins, and for other purposes; to the to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety and in the public interest, for this House to Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Zone; Atlantic Ocean, Cape Canaveral, Flor- express opposition to HUD’s proposed rule- Affairs. ida’’ ((RIN1625–AA00) (Docket No. USCG– making that would upend the AFFH rule and By Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself and 2020–0536)) received in the Office of the Presi- exacerbate housing inequities in both this Mr. SCHUMER): dent of the Senate on September 21, 2020; to State and across the United States; now, S. 4664. A bill to amend the Internal Rev- the Committee on Commerce, Science, and therefore, enue Code of 1986 to provide an exclusion Transportation. Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the from gross income for certain waste water EC–5560. A communication from the Legal State of New Jersey: management subsidies; to the Committee on Yeoman, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of 1. This House expresses its opposition to Finance. Homeland Security, transmitting, pursuant and disapproval of the United States Depart- By Mrs. GILLIBRAND: to law, the report of a rule entitled ‘‘Safety ment of Housing and Urban Development’s S. 4665. A bill to require senior officials to Zone; Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Horry proposed rulemaking revising its Affirma- report payments received from the Federal County, South Carolina’’ ((RIN1625–AA00) tively Furthering Fair Housing rule adopted Government and to improve the filing and (Docket No. USCG–2020–0498)) received in the in 2015. disclosure of financial disclosures by Mem- Office of the President of the Senate on Sep- 2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with bers of Congress, congressional staff, and tember 21, 2020; to the Committee on Com- the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted very senior employees; to the Committee on merce, Science, and Transportation. by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the Homeland Security and Governmental Af- fairs. f President and Vice President of the United States, the United States Secretary of Hous- By Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS ing and Urban Development, and each mem- Ms. COLLINS): ber of Congress elected from this State. S. 4666. A bill to establish the Commission The following petition or memorial on the Coronavirus Pandemic in the United was laid before the Senate and was re- f States; to the Committee on Health, Edu- ferred or ordered to lie on the table as INTRODUCTION OF BILLS AND cation, Labor, and Pensions. indicated: JOINT RESOLUTIONS By Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and POM–242. A resolution adopted by the Gen- Mr. BURR): eral Assembly of the State of New Jersey ex- The following bills and joint resolu- S. 4667. A bill to direct the Federal Com- pressing its opposition to and disapproval of tions were introduced, read the first munications Commission to issue reports the United States Department of Housing and second times by unanimous con- after activation of the Disaster Information and Urban Development’s proposed rule- sent, and referred as indicated: Reporting System and to make improve- making revising its Affirmatively Fur- ments to network outage reporting; to the By Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. JONES, thering Fair Housing rule adopted in 2015; to Committee on Commerce, Science, and and Ms. HASSAN): the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Transportation. S. 4657. A bill to direct the Secretary of By Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. Urban Affairs. Veterans Affairs to designate one week each MERKLEY, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND): ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION NO. 112 year as ‘‘Buddy Check Week’’ for the purpose S. 4668. A bill to amend the Help America Whereas, In 2015, the United States Depart- of outreach and education concerning peer Vote Act of 2002 to ensure that voters in ment of Housing and Urban Development wellness checks for veterans, and for other elections for Federal office do not wait in (‘‘HUD’’) adopted an Affirmatively Fur- purposes; to the Committee on Veterans’ Af- long lines in order to vote; to the Committee thering Fair Housing (‘‘AFFH’’) rule that es- fairs. on Rules and Administration. tablished a new framework for HUD funding By Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Mr. By Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself recipients to meet their longstanding legal BRAUN, Mr. CRAMER, Mrs. LOEFFLER, and Ms. CORTEZ MASTO): obligation under the federal Fair Housing Mr. INHOFE, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. RISCH, S. 4669. A bill to require sellers of internet Act to reduce barriers to fair housing and Mr. CORNYN, Mr. MORAN, Mr. CRAPO, applications to disclose country-of-origin in- equal opportunity; and Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. HAWLEY, formation, and for other purposes; to the Whereas, The AFFH rule was promulgated Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. THUNE, Mr. LEE, Committee on Commerce, Science, and in response to the recommendations of the and Mr. ROUNDS): Transportation. United States Government Accountability S. 4658. A bill to amend title XIX of the So- By Mr. MORAN (for himself, Mrs. SHA- Office and affected stakeholders centered on cial Security Act to allow for greater State HEEN, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. BLUNT, and the need for HUD to bolster its fair housing flexibility with respect to excluding pro- Mr. TILLIS): planning obligations by providing greater viders who are involved in abortions; to the S. 4670. A bill to amend the CARES Act to clarity and support to HUD funding recipi- Committee on Finance. permit the Secretary of the Treasury to pur- ents and facilitating local decision-making By Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. chase, or to enable the purchase of, preferred on fair housing priorities and goals; and MERKLEY, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. DUR- equity positions in commercial real estate Whereas, The AFFH rule achieves these BIN): entities, and for other purposes; to the Com- ends by providing clearer standards for meet- S. 4659. A bill to require a determination as mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af- ing fair housing obligations, greater trans- to whether crimes committed against the fairs. parency, increased access to data concerning Rohingya in Burma amount to genocide; to By Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. fair housing conditions and access to oppor- the Committee on Foreign Relations. WYDEN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. MERKLEY, and tunity, and new mapping and customizable By Mr. JONES: Mr. BOOKER): assessment tools, as well as by encouraging S. 4660. A bill to amend titles 10 and 14, S. 4671. A bill to prohibit Federal law en- collaboration between jurisdictions and com- United States Code, to include certain diver- forcement officers from wearing camouflage munity input and participation; and sity-related requirements for the Armed uniforms in the United States; to the Com- Whereas, The AFFH rule ultimately serves Forces and the Coast Guard, and for other mittee on the Judiciary. to help HUD funding recipients take mean- purposes; to the Committee on Armed Serv- By Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. BURR, ingful actions to overcome historic patterns ices. Ms. SMITH, and Mr. SCOTT of South of segregation, promote fair housing choice, By Mr. COTTON (for himself, Mr. Carolina): and foster inclusive communities that are RUBIO, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. S. 4672. A bill to reauthorize the Stem Cell free from discrimination; and KAINE, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005, and Whereas, On August 9, 2018, HUD issued an BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. CRUZ): for other purposes; to the Committee on advance notice of a proposed rulemaking S. 4661. A bill to authorize the President to Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. that would undo much of the AFFH rule for posthumously award the Medal of Honor to By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. the stated reasons that the rule impeded the Alwyn C. Cashe for acts of valor during Oper- MERKLEY): development and rehabilitation of affordable ation Iraqi Freedom; to the Committee on S. 4673. A bill to amend the Natural Gas housing and provided inadequate autonomy Armed Services. Act to require the Federal Energy Regu- to HUD funding recipients; and By Mr. GRAHAM: latory Commission to consider certain fac- Whereas, The AFFH rule has not been in S. 4662. A bill to amend title 18, United tors in issuing certificates of public conven- effect long enough to adequately assess its States Code, to criminalize blocking law en- ience and necessity under that Act, to mod- effect on the development and rehabilitation forcement officers who have been injured by ify the requirements for the right to exercise of affordable housing, the rule does not in a criminal act or in the line of duty from ac- eminent domain in construction of pipelines

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.024 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5833 under that Act, to provide that the right of S. Res. 714. A resolution encouraging the added as cosponsors of S. 946, a bill to eminent domain may not be exercised under Administrator of the Environmental Protec- direct the Comptroller General of the that Act for projects for the exportation of tion Agency to maintain and strengthen re- United States to complete a study on natural gas, and for other purposes; to the quirements under the Clean Water Act and barriers to participation in federally Committee on Commerce, Science, and reverse ongoing administrative actions to Transportation. weaken the Clean Water Act and protections funded cancer clinical trials by popu- By Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and for waters of the United States; to the Com- lations that have been traditionally Ms. SMITH): mittee on Environment and Public Works. underrepresented in such trials. S. 4674. A bill to amend title XIX of the So- By Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and S. 1602 cial Security Act to clarify that drugs and Mr. MORAN): At the request of Ms. COLLINS, the biologicals used for medication-assisted S. Con. Res. 46. A concurrent resolution to name of the Senator from New Jersey treatment under Medicaid are subject to the correct the enrollment of S. 2330; considered requirements of the Medicaid Drug Rebate and agreed to. (Mr. BOOKER) was added as a cosponsor Program; to the Committee on Finance. By Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. of S. 1602, a bill to amend the United By Mr. TILLIS: BOOKER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. WYDEN, States Energy Storage Competitive- S. 4675. A bill to amend the Health Insur- Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. ness Act of 2007 to establish a research, ance Portability and Accountability Act; HEINRICH, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE): development, and demonstration pro- read the first time. S. Con. Res. 47. A concurrent resolution gram for grid-scale energy storage sys- By Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. recognizing that the climate crisis is dis- tems, and for other purposes. CARDIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. SHA- proportionately affecting the health, eco- S. 1791 HEEN, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. MARKEY, nomic opportunity, and fundamental rights Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. of children, expressing the sense of Congress At the request of Mrs. GILLIBRAND, VAN HOLLEN, and Mr. KING): that renewed leadership by the United States the name of the Senator from New S. 4676. A bill to improve the debt relief is needed to address the climate crisis, and Mexico (Mr. HEINRICH) was added as a program under the CARES Act, and for other recognizing the need of the United States to cosponsor of S. 1791, a bill to prohibit purposes; to the Committee on Finance. develop a national, comprehensive, and discrimination on the basis of religion, By Ms. ROSEN (for herself and Mrs. science-based climate recovery plan to phase sex (including sexual orientation and HYDE-SMITH): out fossil fuel emissions, protect and en- S. 4677. A bill to amend the Workforce In- hance natural sequestration, and put the gender identity), and marital status in novation and Opportunity Act to create a United States on a path toward stabilizing the administration and provision of new national program to support mid-career the climate system; to the Committee on En- child welfare services, to improve safe- workers, including workers from underrep- vironment and Public Works. ty, well-being, and permanency for les- resented populations, in reentering the f bian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and STEM workforce, by providing funding to queer or questioning foster youth, and small- and medium-sized STEM businesses so ADDITIONAL COSPONSORS for other purposes. the businesses can offer paid internships or other returnships that lead to positions S. 514 S. 2001 above entry level; to the Committee on At the request of Mr. TESTER, the At the request of Ms. STABENOW, the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. name of the Senator from South Da- name of the Senator from New Hamp- By Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Mr. kota (Mr. ROUNDS) was added as a co- shire (Ms. HASSAN) was added as a co- CRAMER, Mr. HOEVEN, and Mrs. CAP- sponsor of S. 514, a bill to amend title sponsor of S. 2001, a bill to award a ITO): 38, United States Code, to improve the Congressional Gold Medal to Willie S. 4678. A bill to amend the Internal Rev- benefits and services provided by the O’Ree, in recognition of his extraor- enue Code of 1986 to repeal the credit for electricity produced from certain renewable Department of Veterans Affairs to dinary contributions and commitment resources, and for other purposes; to the women veterans, and for other pur- to hockey, inclusion, and recreational Committee on Finance. poses. opportunity. By Mr. LEE: At the request of Mr. CRAPO, his S. 2054 S. 4679. A bill to require the Bureau of the name was added as a cosponsor of S. At the request of Mr. MARKEY, the Census to determine income and poverty lev- 514, supra. names of the Senator from Nebraska els in the United States in a manner that ac- S. 569 counts for the receipt of Federal benefits, (Mrs. FISCHER), the Senator from South and for other purposes; to the Committee on At the request of Mr. YOUNG, the Carolina (Mr. GRAHAM), the Senator Homeland Security and Governmental Af- name of the Senator from Oklahoma from Hawaii (Ms. HIRONO), the Senator fairs. (Mr. LANKFORD) was added as a cospon- from Maine (Mr. KING) and the Senator By Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mr. sor of S. 569, a bill to direct the Sec- from Kansas (Mr. ROBERTS) were added WYDEN): retary of Transportation to issue regu- as cosponsors of S. 2054, a bill to post- S. 4680. A bill to amend the Natural Gas lations relating to commercial motor humously award the Congressional Act to provide that the United States dis- vehicle drivers under the age of 21, and Gold Medal, collectively, to Glen trict courts shall not have jurisdiction to condemn property in which a State holds for other purposes. Doherty, Tyrone Woods, J. Christopher any interest, and for other purposes; to the S. 861 Stevens, and Sean Smith, in recogni- Committee on Commerce, Science, and At the request of Mr. MARKEY, the tion of their contributions to the Na- Transportation. names of the Senator from Vermont tion. f (Mr. LEAHY), the Senator from New S. 2438 Mexico (Mr. HEINRICH) and the Senator At the request of Mr. MENENDEZ, the SUBMISSION OF CONCURRENT AND from Washington (Ms. CANTWELL) were name of the Senator from Maine (Ms. SENATE RESOLUTIONS added as cosponsors of S. 861, a bill to COLLINS) was added as a cosponsor of S. The following concurrent resolutions establish in the Bureau of Democracy, 2438, a bill to prevent, treat, and cure and Senate resolutions were read, and Human Rights, and Labor of the De- tuberculosis globally. referred (or acted upon), as indicated: partment of State a Special Envoy for S. 2748 By Mr. INHOFE: the Human Rights of LGBTI Peoples, At the request of Mr. MARKEY, the S. Res. 713. A resolution expressing the and for other purposes. name of the Senator from New Jersey sense of the Senate that the August 13, 2020, S. 878 (Mr. MENENDEZ) was added as a cospon- announcement of the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the State of At the request of Mr. COTTON, the sor of S. 2748, a bill to repeal the sec- Israel and the United Arab Emirates and the name of the Senator from Pennsyl- tion of the Middle Class Tax Relief and September 11, 2020, announcement of the es- vania (Mr. TOOMEY) was added as a co- Job Creation Act of 2012 that requires tablishment of full diplomatic relations be- sponsor of S. 878, a bill to foster secu- the Federal Communications Commis- tween the State of Israel and the Kingdom of rity in Taiwan, and for other purposes. sion to reallocate and auction the T– Bahrain is a historic achievement; to the S. 946 Band spectrum. Committee on Foreign Relations. S. 2882 By Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. At the request of Mr. VAN HOLLEN, BOOKER, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. WARREN, the names of the Senator from New At the request of Mr. WYDEN, his Mr. HEINRICH, Ms. HARRIS, Mrs. FEIN- York (Mrs. GILLIBRAND) and the Sen- name was added as a cosponsor of S. STEIN, and Mr. MARKEY): ator from Montana (Mr. TESTER) were 2882, a bill to establish a community

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.028 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5834 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 wildfire defense grant program, and for (Mr. COTTON) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4528, a bill to strengthen the other purposes. of S. 4150, a bill to require the Sec- United States ties with Latin Amer- S. 2898 retary of the Treasury to provide as- ican and Caribbean countries through At the request of Mr. INHOFE, the sistance to certain providers of trans- diplomatic, economic, and security co- name of the Senator from Virginia (Mr. portation services affected by the novel operation, to counter efforts by the KAINE) was added as a cosponsor of S. coronavirus. People’s Republic of China to under- 2898, a bill to amend title 5, United At the request of Mr. REED, the mine United States interests and val- States Code, to provide for a full annu- names of the Senator from Connecticut ues in the Americas, and to promote ity supplement for certain air traffic (Mr. MURPHY) and the Senator from Ar- economic development and competi- controllers. izona (Ms. SINEMA) were added as co- tiveness in the Latin American and S. 2950 sponsors of S. 4150, supra. Caribbean region. At the request of Mr. SULLIVAN, the S. 4233 S. 4579 name of the Senator from Florida (Mr. At the request of Ms. COLLINS, the At the request of Mr. MORAN, the RUBIO) was added as a cosponsor of S. name of the Senator from Wisconsin name of the Senator from North Da- 2950, a bill to amend title 38, United (Ms. BALDWIN) was added as a cospon- kota (Mr. HOEVEN) was added as a co- States Code, to concede exposure to sor of S. 4233, a bill to establish a pay- sponsor of S. 4579, a bill to increase, ef- airborne hazards and toxins from burn ment program for unexpected loss of fective as of December 1, 2020, the rates pits under certain circumstances, and markets and revenues to timber har- of compensation for veterans with serv- for other purposes. vesting and timber hauling businesses ice-connected disabilities and the rates S. 3595 due to the COVID–19 pandemic, and for of dependency and indemnity com- At the request of Ms. ROSEN, the other purposes. pensation for the survivors of certain name of the Senator from New York S. 4258 disabled veterans, and for other pur- (Mrs. GILLIBRAND) was added as a co- At the request of Mr. CORNYN, the poses. sponsor of S. 3595, a bill to require a name of the Senator from Virginia (Mr. S. 4582 longitudinal study on the impact of WARNER) was added as a cosponsor of S. At the request of Mr. RUBIO, the COVID–19. 4258, a bill to establish a grant program name of the Senator from Oklahoma S. 3761 for small live venue operators and tal- (Mr. LANKFORD) was added as a cospon- At the request of Mr. TESTER, the ent representatives. sor of S. 4582, a bill to extend, tempo- names of the Senator from Maine (Mr. S. 4279 rarily, daylight saving time, and for KING) and the Senator from Rhode Is- At the request of Mr. MARKEY, the other purposes. land (Mr. REED) were added as cospon- name of the Senator from New Mexico S. 4629 sors of S. 3761, a bill to amend title 38, (Mr. UDALL) was added as a cosponsor At the request of Mr. MENENDEZ, the United States Code, to require the Sec- of S. 4279, a bill to require the disclo- name of the Senator from Oregon (Mr. retary of Veterans Affairs to provide sure to Congress of presidential emer- MERKLEY) was added as a cosponsor of veterans service organizations and rec- gency action documents. S. 4629, a bill to address issues involv- ognized agents and attorneys opportu- S. 4298 ing the People’s Republic of China. nities to review Department of Vet- At the request of Mr. MORAN, the erans Affairs disability rating deter- S. 4634 names of the Senator from Arkansas minations before they are finalized, At the request of Mr. WICKER, the (Mr. BOOZMAN) and the Senator from and for other purposes. names of the Senator from Colorado Colorado (Mr. BENNET) were added as (Mr. GARDNER), the Senator from Texas S. 3831 cosponsors of S. 4298, a bill to amend At the request of Mr. SULLIVAN, the (Mr. CRUZ), the Senator from West Vir- the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 ginia (Mrs. CAPITO), the Senator from name of the Senator from Alaska (Ms. to direct the Secretary of Agriculture MURKOWSKI) was added as a cosponsor Alaska (Ms. MURKOWSKI), the Senator to make grants for improvements to from Montana (Mr. DAINES), the Sen- of S. 3831, a bill to authorize the posi- meat and poultry facilities to allow for tion of Assistant Secretary of Com- ator from Iowa (Mr. GRASSLEY), the interstate shipment, and for other pur- Senator from Indiana (Mr. YOUNG), the merce for Travel and Tourism, to poses. statutorily establish the United States Senator from Arkansas (Mr. BOOZMAN), Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, S. 4349 the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. KAINE, the BURR), the Senator from Alaska (Mr. names of the Senator from New York S. 4003 SULLIVAN), the Senator from Louisiana (Mrs. GILLIBRAND) and the Senator At the request of Mr. MENENDEZ, the (Mr. CASSIDY), the Senator from Mis- from Arizona (Ms. MCSALLY) were names of the Senator from Illinois (Mr. sissippi (Mrs. HYDE-SMITH) and the added as cosponsors of S. 4349, a bill to DURBIN) and the Senator from Maine Senator from West Virginia (Mr. address behavioral health and well- (Ms. COLLINS) were added as cosponsors MANCHIN) were added as cosponsors of being among health care professionals. of S. 4003, a bill to improve United S. 4634, a bill to provide support for air States consideration of, and strategic S. 4380 carrier workers, and for other pur- support for, programs to prevent and At the request of Mr. RUBIO, the poses. respond to gender-based violence from name of the Senator from California S. RES. 672 the onset of humanitarian emergencies (Mrs. FEINSTEIN) was added as a co- At the request of Mr. GRAHAM, the and to build the capacity of humani- sponsor of S. 4380, a bill to provide re- name of the Senator from Colorado tarian actors to address the immediate dress to the employees of Air America. (Mr. GARDNER) was added as a cospon- and long-term challenges resulting S. 4520 sor of S. Res. 672, a resolution desig- from such violence, and for other pur- At the request of Mrs. LOEFFLER, the nating September 2020 as National De- poses. names of the Senator from Arkansas mocracy Month as a time to reflect on S. 4032 (Mr. BOOZMAN) and the Senator from the contributions of the system of gov- At the request of Mr. LANKFORD, the South Dakota (Mr. ROUNDS) were added ernment of the United States to a more name of the Senator from Michigan as cosponsors of S. 4520, a bill to trans- free and stable world. (Mr. PETERS) was added as a cosponsor fer the responsibility of verifying small S. RES. 679 of S. 4032, a bill to amend the Internal business concerns owned and controlled At the request of Mr. BRAUN, the Revenue Code of 1986 to allow above- by veterans or service-disabled vet- name of the Senator from Texas (Mr. the-line deductions for charitable con- erans to the Small Business Adminis- CORNYN) was added as a cosponsor of S. tributions for individuals not itemizing tration, and for other purposes. Res. 679, a resolution expressing appre- deductions. S. 4528 ciation and support for essential em- S. 4150 At the request of Mr. MENENDEZ, the ployees with disabilities or who are At the request of Ms. COLLINS, the name of the Senator from Delaware blind during the COVID–19 pandemic name of the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. COONS) was added as a cosponsor and beyond.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.030 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5835 S. RES. 685 been a true lifeline for the Americans in helping Israel broker peace treaties with At the request of Ms. DUCKWORTH, who have found an unrelated match. Egypt and Jordan and promoting peace talks the name of the Senator from Pennsyl- By strengthening and enhancing the between Israel and Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinians: Now, therefore, be it vania (Mr. CASEY) was added as a co- important programs operating these sponsor of S. Res. 685, a resolution hon- Resolved, That the Senate— registries, many more Americans will (1) congratulates the Governments and oring the service and sacrifice of mem- be afforded the opportunity to find a people of Israel and the United Arab Emir- bers of the United States Armed Forces match if they are ever in need. I look ates and the Governments and people of and veterans and condemning the dis- forward to swift consideration of this Israel and Bahrain on reaching their respec- graceful denigration by President Don- legislation in the Senate Health, Edu- tive historic agreements; ald Trump of military service, pris- cation, Labor, and Pensions Committee (2) encourages other Arab nations to estab- oners of war, and Gold Star families. and working toward passage in the full lish full relations with Israel with the vision of realizing full peace between Israel and all S. RES. 709 Senate. of its Arab neighbors; and At the request of Mr. GRAHAM, the f (3) urges the President to continue to en- name of the Senator from Utah (Mr. SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS gage with the Government of Israel and the LEE) was added as a cosponsor of S. United States’ Arab partners in reaching Res. 709, a resolution expressing the these historic agreements. sense of the Senate that the August 13, SENATE RESOLUTION 713—EX- f 2020, and September 11, 2020, announce- PRESSING THE SENSE OF THE ments of the establishment of full dip- SENATE THAT THE AUGUST 13, SENATE RESOLUTION 714—ENCOUR- lomatic relations between the State of 2020, ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE AGING THE ADMINISTRATOR OF Israel and the United Arab Emirates ESTABLISHMENT OF FULL DIP- THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTEC- and the State of Israel and the King- LOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN TION AGENCY TO MAINTAIN AND dom of Bahrain are historic achieve- THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND THE STRENGTHEN REQUIREMENTS ments. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AND UNDER THE CLEAN WATER ACT S. RES. 711 THE SEPTEMBER 11, 2020, AN- AND REVERSE ONGOING ADMIN- At the request of Mr. SCHUMER, the NOUNCEMENT OF THE ESTAB- ISTRATIVE ACTIONS TO WEAKEN name of the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. LISHMENT OF FULL DIPLOMATIC THE CLEAN WATER ACT AND SCHATZ) was added as a cosponsor of S. RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PROTECTIONS FOR WATERS OF Res. 711, a resolution calling on the STATE OF ISRAEL AND THE THE UNITED STATES President of the United States to take KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN IS A HIS- Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. executive action to broadly cancel Fed- TORIC ACHIEVEMENT BOOKER, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. WARREN, eral student loan debt. Mr. INHOFE submitted the following Mr. HEINRICH, Ms. HARRIS, Mrs. FEIN- f resolution; which was referred to the STEIN, and Mr. MARKEY) submitted the STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED Committee on Foreign Relations: following resolution; which was re- BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION S. RES. 713 ferred to the Committee on Environ- ment and Public Works: By Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. Whereas President Donald J. Trump, S. RES. 714 BURR, Ms. SMITH, and Mr. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and other world leaders have worked Whereas access to clean water is a funda- SCOTT, of South Carolina): S. 4672. A bill to reauthorize the tirelessly to announce agreements on the mental human right; full normalization of relations between Whereas the Federal Water Pollution Con- Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Israel and other nations; trol Act (62 Stat. 1155, chapter 758) was en- Act of 2005, and for other purposes; to Whereas the United Arab Emirates and the acted into law in 1948; the Committee on Health, Education, Kingdom of Bahrain have been the first Arab Whereas the Federal Water Pollution Con- Labor, and Pensions. states to announce formal relations with trol Act Amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92– Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I am Israel; 500; 86 Stat. 816) were enacted with bipar- pleased to introduce the Timely Reau- Whereas, under the agreements, the two tisan support and significantly reorganized thorization of Necessary Stem Cell countries agree to the establishment of re- and expanded the Federal Water Pollution Programs Lends Access to Needed ciprocal embassies and the exchange of Am- Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) (com- bassadors; monly known as and hereinafter referred to Therapies (TRANSPLANT) Act of 2020 Whereas opening direct ties between Israel in this preamble as the ‘‘Clean Water Act’’); with Senators RICHARD BURR, TINA and the United Arab Emirates and between Whereas the Clean Water Act is one of the SMITH, and TIM SCOTT. This bill offers Israel and Bahrain could begin to transform most important laws of the United States promise to the tens of thousands of in- the region by spurring economic growth, en- and the principal safeguard of the United dividuals diagnosed with leukemia and hancing technological innovation, and forg- States against unregulated pollution or de- lymphomas, sickle cell anemia, and ing closer people-to-people relations; struction of surface waters of the United rare genetic blood disorders. Whereas these agreements could promote States; Our bipartisan legislation renews the investment, tourism, direct flights, security, Whereas the objective of the Clean Water C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation telecommunications, technology, energy, Act is to ‘‘restore and maintain the chem- healthcare, culture, and the environment; ical, physical, and biological integrity of the Program and the National Cord Blood Whereas the United States, Israel, the Nation’s waters’’; Inventory (NCBI), the only programs in United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain share a Whereas the Clean Water Act declared na- the country that maintain donor reg- commitment to promoting stability through tional goals of eliminating the discharge of istries for individuals in need of a bone diplomatic engagement, increased economic pollutants into the waters of the United marrow and umbilical cord blood trans- integration, and closer security coordina- States by 1985 and, wherever attainable, en- plantation. Over twenty-two million tion; suring that waters were fishable and swim- Americans are registered bone marrow Whereas Israel, the United Arab Emirates, mable by 1983; donors resulting in nearly 6,500 trans- and Bahrain will partner with the United Whereas the Clean Water Act provides States to launch a Strategic Agenda for the strong and comprehensive requirements for plants just last year. In the years since Middle East to expand diplomatic, trade, and the control of pollutants in the waters of the NCBI was established, more than security cooperation; United States; 300,000 cord blood units have been col- Whereas these historic agreements could Whereas the Clean Water Act authorizes lected, facilitating more than 100,000 help advance peace between Israel and other Federal financial assistance for building and blood stem cell transplants. The Arab nations; upgrading municipal sewage treatment TRANSPLANT Act would reaffirm the Whereas these bilateral breakthroughs plants and other types of water quality im- commitment to these life-saving pro- could set a precedent for further diplomatic provements projects; grams, which have been helping to con- openings throughout the region; Whereas rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, wet- Whereas support for peace between Israel lands, and other waters have enormous pub- nect individuals in need of bone mar- and its neighbors has longstanding bipar- lic health, community welfare, economic, row or umbilical cord blood transplants tisan support in Congress and among the and ecological importance to the United with donors for more than two decades. American people; and States, considering that— The public registries, made up of do- Whereas the agreements build upon the (1) 1 in 3 individuals in the United States nors from all over the country, have decades-long leadership of the United States receive drinking water from systems that

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.032 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5836 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 draw supply from headwater, intermittent, (2) a spill of a toxic chemical into the Elk analysis of Federal laws, including the Clean or ephemeral streams; River in Charleston, West Virginia, caused a Water Act, to analyze gaps in civil rights (2) according to a report of the Environ- cutoff of drinking water for approximately protections and found that the ‘‘EPA’s defi- mental Protection Agency, streams provide 300,000 individuals for several days; nition of environmental justice recognizes the majority of water to most rivers and (3) outbreaks of blue-green algae and red environmental justice as a civil right, fair ‘‘transport sediment, wood, organic matter, tide in Florida have caused widespread harm treatment and meaningful involvement of all nutrients, chemical contaminants, and many to businesses and have killed a substantial people regardless of race, color, national ori- of the organisms found in rivers’’; number of aquatic animals over multiple gin, or income with respect to the develop- (3) chemical, physical, and biological proc- years, with the effects of the outbreaks in ment, implementation, and enforcement of esses in streams can convert nitrogen and 2018 being particular severe; environmental laws, regulations and poli- other nutrients, preventing nitrogen and (4) in 2008, the coal ash waste pit of the cies’’; other nutrients from causing downstream Tennessee Valley Authority near Kingston, Whereas the United States Geological Sur- harm; Tennessee, experienced a mammoth struc- vey conducted limited monitoring of 17 (4) wetlands prevent and minimize flooding tural failure and released more than perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl sub- by storing as much as between 1,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 tons of waste into the Emory and stances (referred to in this preamble as 1,500,000 gallons of water for each acre of Clinch Rivers, and a 2019 analysis found that ‘‘PFAS’’) in source and treated public water wetland; similar pits around the country routinely supplies from 25 drinking water facilities and (5) wetlands and other waters in the flood leak and contaminate nearby groundwater found PFAS in all source water and public plains of rivers and streams help prevent pol- and surface waters; water supply samples collected; lution from reaching downstream waters; (5) beaches in multiple States, including Whereas a study led by Harvard University (6) 3⁄4 of fish harvested commercially de- Mississippi, New Jersey, Washington, and researchers found that the drinking water pend on wetlands; New York, were forced to close due to out- supplies for not less than 6,000,000 individuals (7) the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- breaks of algae that are commonly fueled by in the United States exceed the health advi- vention reported that ‘‘about 91 million peo- nitrogen and phosphorus pollution; sory of the Environmental Protection Agen- ple over the age of 16 swim in oceans, lakes, (6) intense flooding is occurring in places cy for 2 PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid (com- and rivers each year in the United States’’; like Houston, Texas, where wetland destruc- monly referred to as ‘‘PFOA’’) and (8) approximately 37 percent of water with- tion is believed to be contributing to the se- perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (commonly re- drawals, or 118,000,000,000 gallons of water verity of the flooding; and ferred to as ‘‘PFOS’’), and more recent infor- withdrawals per day, are used for irrigation, (7) many areas of the United States are ex- mation indicates that more comprehensive and 52 percent of water withdrawals are pected to experience worsened drought con- monitoring would find that the drinking taken from surface waters; ditions with climate change, making the water of many times more than 6,000,000 in- (9) a recent study estimated that wetlands preservation of water resources more crit- dividuals in the United States contains around the world provide ecosystem services ical; PFAS at levels that pose significant health like flood prevention and pollution filtration hazards; Whereas the Clean Water Act dramatically worth more than $47,000,000,000,000 per year; Whereas the Environmental Protection slowed the rate of wetlands loss in the (10) fishing and other water sports con- Agency has initiated numerous administra- United States from more 500,000 acres annu- tribute $175,000,000,000 annually to the econ- tive actions that collectively would evis- ally in the 1950s to approximately 80,000 omy of the United States and support more cerate the protections of the Clean Water acres annually in the late 1990s; than 1,500,000 jobs; Act and other safeguards for clean water, in- Whereas the quality of numerous water (11) companies often need clean water in cluding— their industrial processes or as a component bodies has substantially improved since the (1) repealing science-based protections for of their end product, such as craft beer brew- adoption of the Clean Water Act, including streams, wetlands, and other waters and the ers that depend on a reliable source of clean the Charles River in Massachusetts, the exclusion of millions of miles of streams and water, add approximately $76,000,000,000 an- Chesapeake Bay, and the Great Lakes; tens of millions of acres of wetlands from the nually to the economy of the United States, Whereas, despite the improvements pollution control programs of the Clean and support more than 500,000 jobs; brought about by the Clean Water Act, the Water Act; (12) according to 1 study, the ecological United States still faces major water re- (2) easing restrictions on wastewater restoration economy, which includes mitiga- source and pollution challenges, evidenced plants, authorizing the plants to release par- tion for harms to waters due to discharges of by the fact that— tially treated sewage during rainstorms; dredged or fill material, ‘‘directly employs (1) according to the most recent State data (3) refusing to develop regulations man- 126,000 workers and generates $9.5 billion in submitted to the Environmental Protection dated by the Clean Water Act aimed at economic output’’ per year, which ‘‘supports Agency— avoiding and minimizing spills of hazardous an additional 95,000 jobs and $15 billion in (A) 53 percent of assessed rivers and substances; economic output through indirect (business- streams do not meet 1 or more water qual- (4) weakening rules relating to the siting, to-business) linkages and increased house- ity standards, which are established to en- operating, monitoring, and closing of pits hold spending’’; sure waters are clean enough for specific where coal ash and other coal combustion (13) more than 318,000,000 individuals vis- uses like fishing and swimming; waste is dumped; (5) exempting polluters who harm water- ited national parks in the United States in (B) 71 percent of assessed lakes, res- ways from the penalties of the Clean Water 2018 to engage in recreation and be inspired ervoirs, and ponds are impaired; Act if their discharge first travels through by thundering waterfalls, streaming geysers, (C) 80 percent of assessed bays and estu- aries are impaired; and groundwater from the discharge permitting desert springs, ocean beaches, and jeweled program of the Clean Water Act; lakes, generating $40,000,000,000 for the econ- (D) 72 percent of assessed coastal shore- line waters are impaired; and (6) restricting the authority of experts omy of the United States and more than from the Environmental Protection Agency (2) the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 330,000 private sector jobs; under the Clean Water Act to stop dumping vention published a report stating that the (14) the Environmental Protection Agency projects that cause unacceptable harms to increasing frequency of harmful algal blooms reports that the Great Lakes contain ‘‘84% of water bodies; North America’s surface fresh water’’ and is associated with increasing temperatures (7) delaying and weakening toxic pollution ‘‘about 21% of the world’s supply of surface and levels of nutrients in waters of the discharge limits for power plants; and fresh water’’; United States; (8) curtailing the rights of States and Trib- (15) restoring and protecting the Great Whereas the 2017 Infrastructure Report al nations under the Clean Water Act to re- Lakes and their tributaries also protects the Card of the American Society of Civil Engi- view federally-permitted projects and impose $6,000,000,000,000 regional economy of the neers gave the wastewater infrastructure of conditions on or reject a project, as appro- Great Lakes and the 1,500,000 jobs and the United States a grade of D+; priate, to prevent harm to their waterways; $62,000,000,000 in wages directly connected to Whereas the most recent Clean Watersheds Whereas the United States remains far the Great Lakes; and Needs Survey report to Congress identified from achieving the objective of the Clean (16) the Great Lakes and their tributaries not less than $271,000,000,000 worth of capital Water Act by putting critical resources that facilitate nearly $16,000,000,000 in annual needs for wastewater, storm water, and other provide enormous value to the United States spending by residents and the 37,000,000 hunt- clean water infrastructure; at risk; and ers, anglers, bird watchers, and other tour- Whereas the condition of the waters of the Whereas the proposed actions of the Envi- ists who visit the region for recreation; United States consistently ranks as one of ronmental Protection Agency would sub- Whereas water pollution and the loss of the most acute environmental worries of in- stantially worsen the risk to critical re- water resources can cause catastrophic harm dividuals in the United States, with 80 per- sources: Now, therefore, be it to the health and economic strength of com- cent of respondents in a March 2019 Gallup Resolved, That the Senate encourages the munities, evidenced by the fact that— Poll indicating that they worry a great deal Administrator of the Environmental Protec- (1) in 2014, a harmful algal bloom in west- or a fair amount about the pollution of riv- tion Agency to— ern Lake Erie prompted a 3-day shutdown of ers, lakes, and reservoirs; (1) maintain and strengthen, rather than the drinking water supply of Toledo, Ohio, Whereas the United States Commission on attack, requirements that keep waterways of affecting approximately 500,000 individuals; Civil Rights recommended further study and the United States clean;

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.034 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5837 (2) end any ongoing administrative actions SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLU- ergy imbalance, equivalent to the quantity that weaken— TION 47—RECOGNIZING THAT of energy of exploding more than 400,000 (A) existing regulations that were promul- THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS DIS- atomic bombs of the kind dropped on Hiro- gated under the Federal Water Pollution PROPORTIONATELY AFFECTING shima, Japan, per day, 365 days per year, Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); and across the planet; THE HEALTH, ECONOMIC OPPOR- Whereas the latest climate science and (B) other requirements protecting the TUNITY, AND FUNDAMENTAL waters of the United States; and real-world observations of that energy im- RIGHTS OF CHILDREN, EXPRESS- (3) initiate actions to reverse any adminis- balance demonstrate that the approximately trative actions that have already been com- ING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS 1 degree Celsius of warming that has already occurred as a result of human-caused cli- pleted that weaken the implementation by THAT RENEWED LEADERSHIP BY mate change is already dangerous and nega- the Federal Government of— THE UNITED STATES IS NEEDED tively affecting all aspects of society and the (A) the Federal Water Pollution Control TO ADDRESS THE CLIMATE CRI- SIS, AND RECOGNIZING THE economy of the United States; Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); and Whereas the last time that atmospheric (B) other requirements that protect the NEED OF THE UNITED STATES concentrations of carbon dioxide were over waters of the United States. TO DEVELOP A NATIONAL, COM- 400 parts per million— PREHENSIVE, AND SCIENCE- (1) the seas were 70 to 90 feet higher; f BASED CLIMATE RECOVERY (2) Greenland had no ice; and PLAN TO PHASE OUT FOSSIL (3) coral reefs suffered a major extinction; Whereas similar conditions will result if SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLU- FUEL EMISSIONS, PROTECT AND the United States does not drastically reduce TION 46—TO CORRECT THE EN- ENHANCE NATURAL SEQUESTRA- carbon dioxide emissions and naturally se- ROLLMENT OF S. 2330 TION, AND PUT THE UNITED quester excess concentrations of atmos- STATES ON A PATH TOWARD pheric carbon dioxide during the 21st cen- Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and STABILIZING THE CLIMATE SYS- tury; Mr. MORAN) submitted the following TEM Whereas climate change is a threat to na- tional security, as climate change contrib- concurrent resolution; which was con- Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. utes to and exacerbates global instability sidered and agreed to: BOOKER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. and conflict; VAN HOLLEN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. HEIN- Whereas the generation of today’s children S. CON. RES. 46 RICH, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) submitted was born into a climate system made haz- Resolved by the Senate (the House of Rep- the following concurrent resolution; ardous to their health and well-being be- resentatives concurring), That in the enroll- which was referred to the Committee cause of human-caused climate change; ment of S. 2330, an Act to amend the Ted on Environment and Public Works: Whereas children are uniquely vulnerable Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act to to human-caused climate change because of S. CON. RES. 47 their developing bodies, higher exposure to provide for congressional oversight of the Whereas a stable climate system at the air, food, and water per unit of body weight, board of directors of the United States Olym- founding of the United States allowed human unique behavior patterns, dependence on pic and Paralympic Committee and to pro- life and human civilization to flourish; caregivers, and longevity on the planet; tect amateur athletes from emotional, phys- Whereas the United States was founded on Whereas human-caused climate change is a ical, and sexual abuse, and for other pur- the deeply rooted principle of securing ‘‘the public health emergency that is adversely poses, the Secretary of the Senate shall— Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our impacting the physical and mental health of (1) in subsection (b)(2)(D) of section 220504 Posterity’’; children through— of title 36, United States Code, as amended Whereas the Constitution of the United (1) extreme weather events; by section 6(b)(2) of the Act, strike ‘‘per- States protects the fundamental rights to (2) rising temperatures and increased heat cent’’; life, liberty, property, and equal protection exposure; (3) decreased air quality; (2) in subsection (a)(1)(H) of section 220541 of the laws; Whereas a climate system capable of sus- (4) altered infectious disease patterns; of title 36, United States Code, as added by taining human life— (5) food and water insecurity; and section 8(a)(1)(B) of the Act, strike ‘‘in a (1) is fundamental to a free and ordered so- (6) other effects; manner than’’ and insert ‘‘in a manner ciety; and Whereas infant mortality increases 25 per- that’’; (2) is preservative of fundamental rights, cent on extremely hot days, with the first 7 (3) in subsection (f)(4)(B) of section 220541 including the rights to life, liberty, property, days of life representing a period of critical of title 36 United States Code, as added by personal security, family autonomy, bodily vulnerability; section 8(a)(1)(E) of the Act, insert ‘‘and the integrity, and the ability to learn, practice, Whereas heat illness is a leading cause of Committee on the Judiciary’’ after ‘‘the and transmit cultural and religious tradi- death and illness in high school athletes, Committee on Energy and Commerce’’; tions; with nearly 10,000 episodes of heat illness oc- (4) amend paragraph (1) of section 220541(g) Whereas the Federal Government sets the curring annually; of title 36, United States Code, as added by energy policy of the United States, which Whereas 8.4 percent of children suffer from section 8(a)(1)(E) of the Act, to read as fol- has resulted in a national energy system in allergic rhinitis, and the ragweed pollen sea- son in North America has grown 13 to 27 days lows: which approximately 80 percent of the en- longer since 1995 due to higher temperatures ‘‘(1) MANDATORY PAYMENTS.— ergy in the United States comes from fossil and greater atmospheric carbon dioxide lev- ‘‘(A) FISCAL YEAR 2021.—On January 4, 2021, fuels; Whereas the national fossil fuel-based en- els; the corporation shall make a mandatory Whereas children exposed to wildfires suf- payment of $20,000,000 to the Center for oper- ergy system has led to carbon dioxide emis- sions from the United States constituting fer substantial— ating costs of the Center for fiscal year 2021. (1) eye symptoms; and more than 1⁄4 of cumulative global carbon di- ‘‘(B) SUBSEQUENT FISCAL YEARS.—For fiscal (2) upper and lower respiratory symptoms oxide emissions; year 2022 and each fiscal year thereafter, the that lead to increased rates of asthma-re- Whereas the United States is the largest corporation shall make a mandatory pay- lated hospitalizations and emergency room producer of oil and gas in the world, due in visits; ment of $20,000,000 to the Center not later substantial part to the Federal Govern- than the close of business on the first reg- Whereas extreme weather events can nega- ment— tively impact the mental health of children ular business day in January.’’; and (1) opening up Federal public land and (5) in subsection (h)(2)(C)(iii) of section due to— water for fossil fuel extraction; and (1) family loss or separation; 220541 of title 36, United States Code, as (2) actively supporting fossil fuel energy; (2) school interruption; added by section 8(a)(1)(E) of the Act, insert Whereas there is an overwhelming sci- (3) scarcities of food, water, and shelter; ‘‘and the Committee on the Judiciary’’ after entific consensus that— and ‘‘the Committee on Energy and Commerce’’. (1) human-caused climate change is occur- (4) public service outages; ring; and Whereas, without immediate steps to ad- (2) the rate of global heating and ocean dress human-caused climate change, the acidification as of September 2020 is a result health effects of climate change on children of the buildup of atmospheric greenhouse gas will— emissions, primarily carbon dioxide emis- (1) increase in severity and in terms of the sions, largely from the combustion of fossil number of children impacted; and fuels; (2) cost the United States billions of dol- Whereas atmospheric carbon dioxide levels lars per year by the end of the 21st century; of over 400 parts per million as of September Whereas children will largely shoulder the 2020 have caused a dangerous planetary en- costs of human-caused climate change;

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.034 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5838 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 Whereas further increases in global tem- AUTHORITY FOR COMMITTEES TO The senior assistant legislative clerk perature will saddle children with an enor- MEET read as follows: mous, perhaps incalculable, cost burden, un- A bill (S. 4675) to amend the Health Insur- dermining their economic security and the Mr. ERNST. Mr. President, I have 8 ance Portability and Accountability Act. economic security of the United States; requests for committees to meet during Whereas children are deserving of special today’s session of the Senate. They Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, consideration and protection with respect to have the approval of the Majority and I now ask for a second reading, and in human-caused climate change; Minority leaders. order to place the bill on the calendar Whereas children on the frontlines of Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph under the provisions of rule XIV, I ob- human-caused climate change across the 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Sen- ject to my own request. United States and globally have risen up and ate, the following committees are au- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- called upon government leaders around the world to take concrete, science-based, and thorized to meet during today’s session tion is heard. equitable action— of the Senate: The bill will be read for the second (1) to address human-caused climate COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES time on the next legislative day. change; and The Committee on Armed Services is f (2) to ensure climate justice for their gen- authorized to meet during the session eration, future generations, and frontline of the Senate on Wednesday, Sep- EXECUTIVE SESSION and vulnerable communities, including com- tember 23, 2020, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, munities of color, low-income communities, a hearing. I ask unanimous consent that the Sen- and indigenous peoples; COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND Whereas global atmospheric carbon dioxide ate resume executive session. TRANSPORTATION concentrations must be reduced to below 350 The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without parts per million by the end of the 21st cen- The Committee on Commerce, objection, it is so ordered. Science, and Transportation is author- tury, with further reductions thereafter, to f restore the energy balance of the planet, sta- ized to meet during the session of the bilize the climate system, and protect the Senate on Wednesday, September 23, ORDERS FOR THURSDAY, ice sheets and oceans for posterity; 2020, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing. SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 Whereas existing and future adverse public COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC health and other impacts and costs to chil- Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, WORKS dren and the United States can be signifi- I ask unanimous consent that when the cantly mitigated if the United States acts The Committee on Environment and Senate completes its business today, it promptly to reduce emissions from fossil Public Works is authorized to meet adjourn until 10 a.m., Thursday, Sep- fuels in the United States; during the session of the Senate on tember 24; further, that following the Whereas numerous experts have concluded Wednesday, September 23, 2020, at 10 prayer and pledge, the Senate resume that there are multiple technically and eco- a.m., to conduct a hearing. the Young nomination. nomically feasible pathways to place all sec- COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, tors of the economy of the United States on The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without AND PENSIONS objection, it is so ordered. an emissions-reduction path consistent with The Committee on Health, Edu- returning global atmospheric carbon dioxide f to 350 parts per million by 2100; cation, Labor, and Pensions is author- Whereas producing energy in the United ized to meet during the session of the ORDER FOR ADJOURNMENT States with noncarbon-emitting sources will Senate on Wednesday, September 23, Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, result in energy costs within the range of re- 2020, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing. cent experience, ultimately saving con- if there is no further business to come COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND before the Senate, I ask unanimous sumers money and stabilizing the cost of en- GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS consent that it stand adjourned under ergy, while increasing the number of jobs in The Committee on Homeland Secu- the previous order following the re- the energy sector; and rity and Governmental Affairs is au- Whereas multiple Federal departments and marks of Senator BENNET. thorized to meet during the session of agencies can exercise authority delegated by The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without the Senate on Wednesday, September Congress to prevent and respond to climate objection, it is so ordered. change, including— 23, 2020, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing (1) the Department of Energy; on the nomination of Chad F. Wolf to f (2) the Department of the Interior; be Secretary of U.S. Department of RECESS SUBJECT TO THE CALL OF (3) the Department of Agriculture; Homeland Security. THE CHAIR (4) the Environmental Protection Agency; COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, (5) the Department of Commerce; and The Committee on Indian Affairs is I ask unanimous consent that the Sen- (6) the Department of State: Now, there- authorized to meet during the session fore, be it of the Senate on Wednesday, Sep- ate stand in recess subject to the call Resolved by the Senate (the House of Rep- tember 23, 2020, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct of the Chair. resentatives concurring), That it is the sense a hearing. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without of Congress that— objection, the Senate stands in recess COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS (1) renewed leadership by the United States subject to the call of the Chair. The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is needed immediately to address the human- Thereupon, the Senate, at 6:38 p.m., is authorized to meet during the ses- caused climate crisis that is disproportion- recessed subject to the call of the Chair sion of the Senate on Wednesday, Sep- ately affecting the health, economic oppor- and reassembled at 6:42 p.m. when tember 23, 2020, at time to be deter- tunity, and fundamental rights of the chil- called to order by the Presiding Officer dren of the United States; and mined, to conduct a hearing. (Mrs. BLACKBURN). (2) there is a human-caused climate crisis SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE that— The Select Committee on Intel- f (A) has inspired children across the United States to organize and demand immediate ligence is authorized to meet during EXECUTIVE CALENDAR—Continued government action to protect their funda- the session of the Senate on Wednes- day, September 23, 2020, at 2 p.m., to The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- mental rights from the perils of climate ator from Colorado. change; and conduct a closed roundtable. SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS (B) demands a national, comprehensive, f science-based, and just climate recovery plan Mr. BENNET. Madam President, I that— MEASURE READ THE FIRST want to say how much I appreciate (i) is prepared by Federal departments and TIME—S. 4675 your staying late this evening for this. agencies pursuant to delegated authority Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, Last night, I had the chance to speak over energy and climate policy; and about the late Justice Ruth Bader (ii) to uphold the fundamental rights of I understand that there is a bill at the children, puts the United States on a trajec- desk, and I ask for its first reading. Ginsburg, somebody who, as much as tory consistent with reducing global atmos- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The anyone in our history, advanced the pheric carbon dioxide to below 350 parts per clerk will read the bill by title for the cause of equality between men and million by 2100. first time. women. When President Clinton named

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23SE6.036 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5839 her to the Supreme Court, she had al- nominees. In 5 years of a brand-new the eye and said, ‘Mr. President, you ready transformed American law President, they used the filibuster will not fill this Supreme Court va- through her trailblazing work as a pro- more times than in our history going cancy.’ ’’ fessor and litigator. It is why her nomi- back to George Washington. We know what happened next. We are nation sailed through this body with 96 The obstruction was relentless. It fi- still living in ‘‘next.’’ For the rest of votes—a reminder of a time not so very nally led Senate Democrats to change 2016, the majority leader held the seat long ago when the Senate understood the rules in 2013 with the so-called nu- open all year, 342 days with no hear- its constitutional duty to advise and clear option, allowing us to confirm ju- ings, no meetings, no vote. One of the consent, when a qualified judge would dicial nominees, except for the Su- Senators in this body went home—I get the vast majority of Senators to preme Court and other executive ap- was proud they went home and said: vote for that person. Every single time pointments, with 51 votes instead of 60 I am never going to vote for Merrick Gar- we did that, we reestablished the idea votes. I am sorry about that vote. land, but I think it is wrong for us not to that the judiciary is independent— I have apologized on this floor before have a vote. We should have a vote. I should independent from what hopefully are about that vote. It has led us partly to go home and explain why I voted the way I temporary, insane partisan battles. where we are today. After Republicans voted and have to defend my vote. After earning that 96 votes, for more won a majority in this body, Senator Two days later, a super PAC run by a than a quarter century on the Court, MCCONNELL made his prior obstruction former clerk of Justice Scalia started Justice Ginsburg authored rulings that look like a game of beanbag. He wasn’t to threaten they would run a primary promoted fairness, advanced equality, in the minority anymore. Now, he was against him if he didn’t change his and secured hard-won rights. They in the majority. mind, and he did. We know what hap- upheld affirmative action and pro- The next low point came on February pened. tected a woman’s right to choose. At 13, 2016. I will never forget it. I was Majority Leader MCCONNELL kept the the same time, she could never accept speaking at the Jefferson-Jackson Day seat open. He helped elect Donald a decision that nullified our right to dinner in Colorado when I saw the Trump who ran for office waving vote or otherwise limited our demo- crawl come on CNN announcing the around a list of judges that he would cratic values, even when it was hard death of Justice Scalia. It was a Presi- appoint to the court and made Donald for some of her colleagues on the high- dential election year, and there were Trump, of all people, the first Presi- est Court in the land to perceive the 342 days to go before the end of Presi- dent in American history with the systemic racism in our country. dent Obama’s second term—a term power to fill every judicial vacancy As I said last night, because the made possible by the American people with a simple majority vote because young Joan Ruth Bader knew America deciding, once again, to hire, to give Senator MCCONNELL later used the nu- would be worse off without her, with- him the power to appoint people to the clear option to change the rules again out her talent, Justice Ginsburg fought Supreme Court. Let the people decide. without really having any debate here. hard to make America more demo- One hour after Chief Justice Roberts As a result, he has used that power to cratic, more fair, and more free. Unfor- confirmed Scalia’s death, Senator confirm 217 judges. Nearly a quarter of tunately, the same cannot be said of MCCONNELL declared the American peo- the Federal bench are now Trump ap- the majority leader of this body who ple should have a voice in the selection pointees. now seeks to ram a replacement of their next Supreme Court Justice; In 2017, Senator MCCONNELL deto- through the Senate. As a Senator and therefore, this vacancy should not be nated his own nuclear option to lower as a majority leader, he dedicated his filled until we have a new President. the required votes for Supreme Court career to undo the work of Justice That is not what the Constitution says. Justices from 60 to 51, as he warned—in Ginsburg and those who have fought When there is a vacancy, the President fairness to him—as he warned he would beside her for a better America. shall nominate, and the Senate shall do. He installed Neil Gorsuch in what Pick almost any issue—from the deg- advise and consent. Today, we have a should have been Garland’s seat. In radation of our courts and our democ- Senate with this majority that is not 2018, he jammed through the nomina- racy to the sorry state of our govern- even interested in advising. As we tion of Judge Kavanaugh under his new ment’s fiscal condition—and for dec- stand here tonight, they have given regime, delivering the confirmation by ades, you will find the majority lead- their consent without even knowing a margin of two votes, the narrowest er’s fingerprints all over the crime who the nominee is going to be. margin for a Supreme Court nominee scene. Hoping cooler heads would prevail, since 1881. Let’s start with the courts; that President Obama nominated Merrick Throughout it all, he seated a roster seems an appropriate place to start Garland, someone a Republican Senate of judges across the Federal bench who today. Justice Ginsburg cared deeply had previously confirmed with 76 votes otherwise could not make the ‘‘B’’ about what she called public respect and whom the former Republican Sen- team. The Senate confirmed a judge for a confidence in the judiciary. No ator from Utah, my friend Orrin Hatch, who opposed the State proclamation one in America has done more to de- once called ‘‘a consensus nominee for honoring an association of professional stroy that confidence and respect than the Supreme Court.’’ women because it had dared to talk the Senator from Kentucky. I have known Merrick Garland for a about glass ceilings and pay equity. I first came to Washington as Colo- quarter of a century. I worked for him The Senate confirmed a lawyer who rado’s Senator during President fresh out of law school when both of us wrote blog posts peddling conspiracies Obama’s first term. The majority lead- served in the Deputy Attorney Gen- about Barack Obama and comparing er, who was then the minority leader, eral’s office at the Department of Jus- abortion to slavery; an attorney who MITCH MCCONNELL from Kentucky, led tice. I have never heard another lawyer suggested judges can ignore judicial the blockade against virtually all of or anyone, for that matter, refer to precedence they deem incorrect and President Obama’s nominees. He fili- Garland without the highest admira- who justified denying habeas corpus to bustered the nominee for Secretary of tion. He set the standard for excel- enemy combatants with the brutal an- Defense who was a Republican. In the lence. He was a lawyer’s lawyer. cient dictum: In times of war, the laws history of the country, no nominee to Senate Republicans, led by the ma- are silent. be Secretary of Defense was filibus- jority leader, refused to even meet with Then the Senate confirmed its first- tered. From George Washington to Judge Garland, let alone give him the ever nominee rated ‘‘Not Qualified’’ by George W. Bush, Senators had used the courtesy of a hearing so the American the American Bar Association. It had filibuster against 68 Presidential nomi- people could see what an outstanding never happened before in American his- nees; from Washington to Bush, that person he was, how brilliant and fair- tory. But once was not enough. The entire period, there were 68 filibusters minded he was. The majority leader Senate went on to approve six more of Presidential nominees. would go on to say about this disgrace- Trump nominees rated ‘‘Not Qualified’’ During President Obama’s first 5 ful moment in our democracy’s history by the ABA. You can’t find qualified years, Republican Senators, led by that ‘‘One of my proudest moments lawyers? You can’t find a lawyer who MITCH MCCONNELL, used it against 79 was when I looked Barack Obama in can just—not even exceeds—just

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.063 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE S5840 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 23, 2020 meets? These people are unqualified. every piece of legislation that has pro- for our democracy and for our institu- What qualifies them is many of them moted equality and advanced civil tions than the Senator and, I would are in their thirties and are going to be rights. Again and again, he has voted say, less regard for the American peo- on the courts for my lifetime. against banning discrimination based ple as well, because every time he has I thought that was all rock bottom. on someone’s sexual orientation, pros- taken a knife to our institutions, he is Then last Friday, 1 hour after we ecuting hate crimes, and improving eq- in front of the cameras, talking about learned of Justice Ginsburg’s passing, uity in the workplace. He even voted what an institutionalist he is. the majority leader issued a press re- against reauthorizing the Violence When he became majority leader, he lease saying: ‘‘President Trump’s nomi- Against Women Act. More than anyone said his first priority would be to ‘‘re- nee will receive a vote on the floor of in America—and I say he is actually store the Senate to the place our the United States Senate.’’ That is the proud of this—he is responsible for ex- Founders, in their wisdom, had in- opposite of what he sent out when Jus- posing our democracy to a deluge of tended, not the hollow shell’’—— tice Scalia died. money, special interests, and foreign The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- When the majority leader blocked interference. ator will suspend. Judge Garland, when he said the Amer- The majority leader has voted Rule XIX, paragraph 2, provides that ican people should have a voice in the against every major campaign finance no Senator in debate shall, directly or selection of their next Supreme Court reform bill that has come to this floor. indirectly, by any form of words im- Justice, there were 342 days left in In fact, he led the fight against the bi- pute to another Senator or to other President Obama’s term—342. There partisan reform bill that was written Senators any conduct or motive unwor- are 119 days left in President Trump’s by the late Senator John McCain, and thy or unbecoming a Senator. term, and there are 41 days left before when he failed to stop it in the Senate, The Senator may proceed. this election. Senator MCCONNELL went to the courts Mr. BENNET. Madam President, I Here is what the history really is, not to have it overturned, paving the way was interrupted, but let me go back. the masquerade that the majority lead- years later for the disastrous ruling in When he became majority leader, he er has been engaging in with the Amer- Citizens United, which has allowed bil- said the first priority would be to ‘‘re- ican people: From the founding of this lionaires to flood our political system store the Senate to the place the country until today, we have had nine in the name of free speech when aver- Founders, in their wisdom, had in- Supreme Court vacancies arise in the age working people are being drowned tended, not the hollow shell of the in- first 6 months of a Presidential elec- out. stitution [Harry Reid had created].’’ tion year. Nine vacancies have arisen He voted against the bipartisan Na- Harry Reid was his predecessor. I in the first 6 months of a Presidential tional Voter Registration Act, which think I remember him being on the election year. The Senate confirmed allowed people to register to vote when floor, calling Harry Reid the worst ma- every single one of them, except they got their driver’s licenses. jority leader that had ever existed in Merrick Garland. The Senate has never Ahead of the 2016 elections, he re- history. I don’t think he was sanc- fused to join President Obama and confirmed a Supreme Court nominee tioned for that. issue a bipartisan statement to alert this close to a Presidential election, He promised ‘‘to open up the legisla- the American people to the threat of never in the history of America. tive process in a way that allows more Now, we have given our consent, ap- Russian interference in our elections. amendments from both sides.’’ parently, before we even know who the He refused to do it, and the American Last year, we voted on 26 amend- nominee is. Because of Donald Trump’s people didn’t know until after the elec- ments. In the entire year last year, we tion was over that Vladimir Putin was magical powers, we are willing to voted on 26 amendments. Only eight of putting his thumb on the scale. To this somehow take it on faith. But these those amendments passed, and I think day, he refuses to let us vote on bipar- traditions make no difference to the Senator PAUL, of Kentucky, had four of tisan bills to protect our elections from majority leader. Thanks to him, we those amendments. foreign interference or even bills to now live in a world where confirming fully fund our elections so that people Sometimes it’s going to mean [actually] judges has become one more vicious working more often. Sometimes it’s going to can vote safely in the middle of a pan- partisan exercise, where confirmation mean working late, but restoring the Senate demic. is the right thing to do. votes will now break on party lines for There is only one person who gets to We are not working late around here. the foreseeable future—and, perhaps, decide whether we vote on something He said we were going to work on Fri- forever—and where every ruling a Jus- around here, and he is the majority days. Half the time, when Harry Reid tice makes is going to be viewed as leader. I would like to see which Sen- that is what we would expect from an ators would vote against protecting was the majority leader, I couldn’t go Obama judge, that is what we would our elections from Russian inter- home until Friday. Since the majority expect from a Trump-appointed judge. ference. I would like to see it, but we leader has been here, I have been home It is the opposite of the way this can’t know because he won’t allow it to for dinner every Thursday night. worked when I was in law school. come here for a vote. I would like to He said we need to recommit to what The majority leader says: I am just see who in this Chamber actually is he called a rational, functioning appro- putting it back to the days before we against universal background checks, priations process. This year, we had a filibuster of circuit court judges something we haven’t been able to take haven’t passed a single appropriations because now there is no filibuster when a vote on because the majority leader bill in the Senate. Last year, we had it comes to Justices or judges. It is not won’t allow a vote. the longest government shutdown in accurate, and it is not right because, in Come out and vote. American history. those days, if you were qualified, you It has been over 570 days since the ‘‘We need to return to regular order,’’ would get 96 votes like Ruth Bader House passed the For the People Act, a he said. This is from the majority lead- Ginsburg got and like Justice Scalia bill that would ban gerrymandering, er who put a bill on the floor to strip got. I think he got 95 votes. Yet now we expand early voting, create automatic healthcare from 16 million Americans, have exported the vicious partisanship voter registration, and make election a bill we didn’t even see until a few out of this Chamber and into the high- day a national holiday, among other hours before the vote. There are so est Court of the land. reforms. The majority leader refuses to many of these things that we don’t Senator MCCONNELL has not only bring it to a vote. He called it a power even remember them anymore. He damaged the integrity of our courts— grab. That is the Orwellian language claims to be an institutionalist, but he something the late Justice Ginsburg that he uses. The only power grab that has brought this institution to the low- cared deeply about—but he has also is, is a power grab by the American est it has been. worked to sabotage her legacy of an people to try to pry a little bit of It is no different than his claim to America that is more democratic, more power away from the majority leader being a fiscal conservative. I have fair, and more free. from Kentucky on behalf of himself. heard him say over and over again that Over his 36 years in office, the major- I am not sure any majority leader in our debt and deficits are the single big- ity leader has voted against nearly our history has had this low of regard gest threat to America’s future. He

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G23SE6.065 S23SEPT1 ctelli on DSK30NT082PROD with SENATE September 23, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5841 called it ‘‘the transcendent issue of our That is how big a number $6.8 trillion American people care about, no matter era.’’ is. We could have invested in the 70 what side of the political aisle they are He said, ‘‘Until we fix that problem percent of Americans who don’t grad- on. [the deficit], we can’t fix America.’’ uate from college so that they can earn Justice Ginsburg appreciated this. He said Americans are ‘‘tired of the a living wage when they graduate from She described her philosophy this way: spending, debt and government take- high school, not the minimum wage. I think I am an originalist in the sense of overs’’ and complained that our debt We could have made public college af- what these great men meant—a Constitution ‘‘makes us look a lot like Greece.’’ fordable for every middle-class Amer- that would govern through the ages. At He claims to be a fiscal hawk—he has ican, given every teacher in America a least, they hoped it would provide an instru- done it his entire career—but the truth 50-percent pay raise and paid them like ment of government that would endure. is there is not an American, living or the professionals that they are. That is what is at stake in this elec- dead, who has put more debt on the We could have cut child poverty by 40 tion—whether we will accept this sorry balance sheet of this country than percent in this country. We could have chapter in our history as the new nor- MITCH MCCONNELL—$17 trillion—and protected Social Security so that we mal or insist on a government that can that is just over the last 20 years. And would know it would be there for our actually govern and is focused on the for what—to invest in education? to children and our grandchildren. We needs and desires of the American peo- build our roads and bridges? to do could have rebuilt America’s roads, ple. something about mental health in the bridges, tunnels, and airports. We could I hope deeply that we are going to country or water infrastructure? For have laid high-speed broadband in put this era behind us, and I am not for what? It has been to cut taxes for the every community, lowered the cost of going back to some old era but to build richest people in the country and to prescription drugs, covered everyone a democracy that is worthy of the 21st borrow it all from China, which is the with high-quality healthcare by cre- century, worthy of the example Ruth opposite of what he said he was doing, ating a public option. We could have Bader Ginsburg set, worthy of the ex- the opposite of what he promised. passed paid family and medical leave, pectations that our kids and grandkids He said the tax cuts would pay for invested in science and public health so reasonably have of us and that most of themselves. They never have. He said that we could have been more prepared us have for America in this world. they would benefit the middle class, for the global pandemic. We might That is the choice in this election, but two-thirds have gone to the top 20 have even paid down some of our debt and to borrow a phrase from the major- percent at a time when we have had and actually acted fiscally responsible. ity leader, the ‘‘American people the worst income inequality that we In other words, we could have should have a voice’’ in the outcome. It have had since 1928, when we have had changed the destiny of America. We is my hope that in 41 days they will. an economy that, for 50 years, 90 per- could have added to Justice Ginsburg’s Madam President, I thank you for cent of the American people haven’t legacy by making this country more your patience and thank the staff for seen a pay raise. That means, in the democratic, more fair, and more free. their patience. first 25 years of this century, we are on We still can, but we can’t do it as long I yield the floor. track to spend $6.8 trillion on tax cuts as the majority leader is continuing to f for the richest 20 percent of Americans. pursue these policies. It is exactly the same thing as if a We have to choose leaders in the Sen- ADJOURNMENT UNTIL 10 A.M. mayor in any one of our communities ate who will build this country better TOMORROW in our States had said to their neigh- than we found it, not leave it in tatters The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under bors and to their city councils and to for our children and grandchildren to the previous order, the Senate stands the press: I am going to borrow more pick through the rubble. adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow. money than we have ever borrowed be- Instead of making the Senate work Thereupon, the Senate, at 7:16 p.m., fore. on behalf of the American people, the You would say: Well, that worries me Senator from Kentucky has run rough- adjourned until Thursday, September a little bit. What are you going to shod over this institution, doing what- 24, 2020, at 10 a.m. spend the money on? Are you going to ever he can get away with politically. f spend it on our roads? We are at a point at which what you No. can get away with here is the only rule NOMINATIONS Are you going to spend it on our that is left. Executive nomination received by bridges? As I said last night in this Senate, the Senate: No. words have lost their meaning, and OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL On our water system? when words lose their meaning and INTELLIGENCE when promises mean nothing and when No. ALLEN ROBERT SOUZA, OF NORTH CAROLINA, TO BE IN- On mental health? On COVID? On our commitments mean nothing, that is SPECTOR GENERAL OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY, public health infrastructure? when institutions fail. It is moments OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, VICE MICHAEL K. ATKINSON. I am going to take that money that like this that I remind my colleagues I am borrowing from the Chinese, and I that this is not the first Republic to f am going to give it to the two richest risk failure because of all of this—the CONFIRMATIONS neighborhoods in town. Senate, the Supreme Court, the cen- That is the majority leader’s tax pol- turies of rules, written and unwritten, Executive nominations confirmed by icy, and that is what it has been since that have guided this Republic. the Senate September 23, 2020: 2001. We are not preserving them for us. THE JUDICIARY This speech isn’t about spending, but We are preserving them for the Amer- JOHN CHARLES HINDERAKER, OF ARIZONA, TO BE while I have the microphone, here is ican people because, without our insti- UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE DISTRICT OF what we could have done for $6.8 tril- tutions, we can’t do what we need to do ARIZONA. lion: We could have created universal in this democracy, whether it is re- EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION preschool for every child in America. garding climate change or healthcare JOCELYN SAMUELS, OF MARYLAND, TO BE A MEMBER OF THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMIS- These are not either/or by the way. or education or any issue that the SION FOR A TERM EXPIRING JULY 1, 2021.

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