No deal has been reached on the next cove in 19 relief bill despite talks on capitol hill last week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell says lawmakers will get 24 hours notice to return to vote if a deal is reached. You are watching coverage of the senate on cspan2. Dr. Barry bla, will open the senate with prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal god, who rules the raging of the sea, we seek your face in these turbulent times. Lord, help us to so live that the generations to come will know of your mighty acts. Today, give our lawmakers the hearts to seek, find, and follow your will so that their legacy will be exemplary. Guide them in the path you have created, inspiring them with the potency of your powerful presence. May they trust your laws of sowing and reaping, knowing that they will receive a bountiful harvest if they persevere. Keep them from underestimating the power of your great name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Grassley mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley one minute for morning business, please. The presiding officer the senator may proceed. Mr. Grassley today our National Public health and economic crisis continues without additional legislative action. Reports over the weekend indicate that the Senate Minority leader believes that he can hold out for a massive, unwieldy bill that even includes unrelated policies yet refuse to consider action where there is already consensus. The New York Times reported that the speaker said, quote, believes she has the upper hand and does not intend to lose it, end of quote. The other side refuses to support even the relief measures where there is broad bipartisan agreement, such as providing additional funds for Unemployment Benefits, the Paycheck Protection Program, education, state and local governments, recovery checks, and hiring and Employee Retention incentives. This shows us where their priorities are politics, not people. I yield the floor. Thats a shame. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell id hope that this week the senate would be busy providing more coronavirus aid. The chairman and rank member would be working overtime across the aisle to finalize other relief package for the American People. After all, there are so many important ways in which American Families need help and which democrats say they see as big priorities, just like republicans do. Priorities like continuing a federal addon to Unemployment Insurance, more tools for schools to safely reopen, more access to testing and diagnostics, more resources to develop vaccines and treatments, a new round of checks to push to put cash in families hands asap, another round of the hugely successful Paycheck Protection Program that Small Businesses have relied on, which was left out of the democrats proposal. All of these things and many more were in Senate Republicans trilliondollar proposal for another coronavirus rescue package focused on kids, jobs, health care, and Legal Protections to help our country reopen. So id hoped the senate would be spending this week turning a major agreement into law, but sad lid for the country, sadly for struggling americans, the speaker of the house and the Senate Democratic leader decided we would not deliver any of that none of it. For weeks Speaker Pelosi and democratic leader in the senate stalled and stalled in backroom negotiations with the administrations team. For weeks, weeks they held up important aid over noncovid19related demands. They stayed true to their comments from very early on in the pandemic. This is the way they looked at it. They saw this pandemic as, quote, a tremendous opportunity to structure things to fit our vision. That was the House Democratic whip. Speaker pelosi herself put it this way. This is an opportunity every crisis is. Working families call this pandemic a crisis. They call it a nightmare. But leading democrats call it an opportunity. Just listen to some of their demands. These are the democrats demands that stood between all of this help and the americans who need it. Heres one. Democrats say nobody gets another dime of relief unless state and local governments get about a trillion dollars in extra money. Let me say that again. Democrats are saying nobody gets another dime of relief unless state and local governments get a trillion dollars in extra money. Lets put a few facts on the table. Number one, state and local governments have only spent about onefourth onefourth of the huge sums we sent them back in the springtime 150 billion. Number two, the economists who calculated the likely covidrelated shortfalls for state and local governments have mostly produced estimates that are entire multiples less entire multiples less than what democrats are demanding. Number three, in our heals act, republicans try to give states and localities extra flexibility around the unspent funds they already have. Extra flexibility around the unspent funds they already have. In my state, elogy, 94 of the men we sent them has not been spent. And we wanted to send huge sums to help with schools, which are one of the states biggest expenses, typically in a state budget, the two biggest items are education and medicaid. But forget all that. Democrats are demanding that we send state and local governments a colossal amount of money with no actual relationship to need, while theyve only spent a quarter 25 of the money theyve already gotten. Clearly, this isnt about covid. Democrats think they smell an opening they have wanted for years, to make uncle sam bail out decades of mismanagement and broken policies in places like new york, new jersey, and california. And so theyve decided that no working family anywhere in america can get another cent not one cent unless they get to create a trilliondollar slush fund for mismanaged states completely and totally out of proportion to pandemic needs. Heres another one of those farleft demands. Nobody gets another dime unless we indefinitely pay people more to stay home than to go back to work. Now, mr. President , republicans agree we ought to continue additional federal jobless benefits during this extraordinary time. Senate republicans tried several times to stop them from expiring. The democratic leader blocked us. Our view, which a majority of americans share, is simply that it disincentivizes rehiring and reopening to pay people to more to stay home. A statement of the obvious. It disincentivizes rehiring and reopening to pay people more to stay home. Plenty of democrats said they saw the point and were happy to negotiate on this. Speaker pelosis own number two, the House Majority leader, said, quote, its not 600 or bust. That was the numbertwo democrat in the house. The senior senator from merrell said, quote, we certainly understand. We dont want to have a higher benefit than what someone can make working. Oh, no, but the speaker and the democratic leader overruled them. No deal. No deal unless we pay people more to stay home. Thats not about covid. Its not about a real reopening. Its about farleft ideology. They preferred for the jobless benefits to go down to zero zero unless they could pay people more to stay home. Does anyone in this country really believe that relief for americans should be totally contingent on bailing out states for mismanagement that predated the pandemic by decades . Does anyone really think it was better for jobless benefits to completely expire unless we pay people more not to work . And does anyone really think that congress should walk away from countless subjects where a bipartisan agreement should be possible over these fringe positions . Do americans think democrats should walk away from school funding, testing, cash to households, preventing a spike in seniors medicare premiums, legal reform, and more over this . I think almost every family in america would answer these questions the same way, but, unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi and the democratic leader have answered them the opposite way. They think they have political leverage over the president of the United States, and so theyre willing to personally increase the pain for vulnerable families unless they get their way on matters not related to covid. Republicans wanted to agree on the things we could agree to. Democrats said, our way or the highway. Republicans wanted to send cash now right now for schools, testing, and Unemployment Benefits and argue over state bailouts later. Democrats said nobody gets a penny unless texas and florida bail out new jersey. Thats their position. Nobody gets a penny unless texas and florida bail out new jersey. So this is where we are. The previous u. I. Benefits expired. The p. P. P. Closed its doors. Over the weekend, President Trump took steps to soften the blow of the democrats hostage tactics on American Families who need help most. His decisions will help spare some americans some of the pain from the democrats hostage taking. From the beginning, from the very beginning, mr. President , our side has tried Everything Possible to find Common Ground and deliver more help, but the democrats have said no. At least the American People know the score. At least they know the score. Now, on a totally different matter, this weekend brought more unsettling news in the ongoing struggle for hong kong to preserve any shred of its Civil Liberties and selfgonance. One of the regions most prominent prodemocrats advocates, jimmy li, was arrested yesterday for alleged violations of the socalled National Security law imposed by beijing. Last year, after an historic election that saw millions flock to the polls to overwhelmingly reject president xis preferred candidates, the Chinese Communist party moved quickly to choke hong kongers free expression. Mr. Li has been at the van guard of the vibrant Hong Kongbased media and publishing world. Hes devoted much of his life to advancing precisely precisely the sort of values that the c. C. P. Finds most repulsive. The freedom of thought and freedom of speech. The senate, the country, and freedomloving nations across the world stand with mr. Li and with all the peaceful demonstrators who have met the business end of the c. C. P. s repression. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. Mr. Mcconnell i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call . Quorum call the presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer now, mr. President , over the weekend the United States achieved a milestone. Five million americans are confirmed to have contracted covid19, by far the most in the world. Our country went from four million americans having had the disease to five million in 17 days, only 17 days. One million americans were infected in just 17 days. Weve lost american businesses, american wealth, and an unbearable number of american lives. A number that will inevitably increase as the number of infections continues to rise. The brutal economic effect of the pandemic has spared no corner of our country. Were living through the greatest economic crisis since the depression, and the greatest Health Crisis since the spanish flu in 1918. So it should not be hard to convince republicans in the white house to provide urgent and necessary relief to the American People. The 3. 4 million in the heroes act was based on the countrys needs which are so large and so diverse. Its not a political position. Its what our country needs, its schools, its businesses, its renters, its homeowners, its post offices, its elections, state and local governments, our health care system. Leader mcconnell doesnt seem to understand this. He sees everything through a political lens, but we democrats are looking at the real needs of people, and they are large. There are in many different places, and that is why we called for a large bill because it was needed. Because the American People demanded it, and at this point the American People are on our side. Twothirds, by survey data, support thedz democratic plan, not the republican plan. After days of arduous negotiations, Speaker Pelosi and i continued to run into republican intransigence. They didnt see peoples needs the way we did, they didnt see the depth and breadth of this crisis. So, like in any normal negotiation, we offered to move in their direction if they would november in ours. Lets move in our. Lets meet in the middle, we said. In the middle. Thats how negotiations occur, thats how you get something done. The white house said no. It was difficult for us to offer that compromise. The democratic position is that we want to devote enough resources to defeat the virus and see the American People through this crisis. The republican position is to give much less than whats needed. Democrats dont want to leave large portions of the country and the economy to fend for itself. But the reason we want to meet in the middle is that getting major legislation through congress is the only way to achieve something significant for the American People. Rather than compromise, our republican counterpart said take a hike, quite literally, they said virtually this in the room. No, its going to be our way or no way. Were not going to meet you in the middle. Why . Why wouldnt they when the needs are so great, when there are so many people suffering and so many more who will suffer if we dont act . Well, its because this Republican Party is tied so tied in a knot that it cant agree to anything. It can only spew the same political speech every day. The republican leader mcconnell has admitted that 20 republican senators wont vote for anymore relief for the American People. The senate bill that the leader keeps refer to, the republican leader, lacks the support of Senate Republicans. He cant bring it to the floor because so many of them will vote against it. The president himself called the republican bill semiirrelevant, one of the few things that had some truth to it that he said about this crisis. It was not some possibility that democrats blocked. Senate republicans spiked it the moment it came out. Why . Maybe they thought these executive orders would be a way out, so tied in a knot they cant legislate or even join us in the to meet us in the middle. They were clinging to the hope that the president could do something on his own through executive orders. But as we have seen, executive orders in general arent going to get the job done, especially the incompetent ones issued over the weekend. President trumps recent executive orders are so unserious in terms of meeting the large needs of america as to be pathetic. Take, for example, the payroll tax deferral. It makes no sense. Even republican members of congress, and according to reports, some members of the administration, oppose a payroll tax deferral because it would do next to nothing to help our workers or the economy. Remember, the president did not cancel payroll taxes, he cant. He just deferred them. Most employers will continue to with hold the payroll tax so that their employees wont be hit with a very large tax bill in december when the deferral expires. An a. D. P. , a nonpolitical Payroll Processing company, said, quote, it may take months to implement the president s new policy. It feels like forever ago but candidate trump promised he was different from republicans and would never touch Social Security or medicare. Well, guess what. Deferring the payroll tax is a backdoor way of weakening Social Security and medicare in case the president s intentions werent clear, he said that after the election he may permanently cut the payroll tax, which would deplete the trust funds and destroy Social Security and medicare as we know it. If youre a senior or paid into Social Security or medicare and are waiting for it, watch out. Watch out. Seniors throughout the decades since weve had Social Security have jeaously regarded the trust fund and now donald trump says, well, now, maybe we should get rid of it because we should defer we should get rid of the payroll tax all together. So this executive order is an example of many false promises that donald trump has made. And just as importantly, it is so put together with spit and glue, that in all likelihood many states wont implement it at all, some have said so, and many more even if they want to implement it will take months, several months, while people will not get their Unemployment Benefits. The easiest thing to do for the good of the economy for keeping millions out of poverty which the president the president s pandemic Unemployment Insurance has done is simply to renew the existing Unemployment Insurance, but because of the hard right, because so many republicans dont want to spend the money, even for people who have lost jobs through no fault of their own, it doesnt happen. And the idea that the American Worker is looking for an out is demeaning to the American Worker, leader mcconnell. Americans want to work. Theres pride in work. The overwhelming majority of americans, if given the choice of a job or Unemployment Insurance for a period of time, even if that Unemployment Insurance is not exactly what they got paid, will take the job the we know that. America believes in the work ethic. So how demeaning to the American Worker to say they are looking for a way out. They are looking for a way to scheve the system. Thats not the American Worker i know. When employment is over 10 , you can look for a job but may not get it. Thats the reason why people are out of work. The president s plan there was a disaster in terms of its inability to be implemented, its effect on Social Security and medicare, and the demeaning way in which it looks at the American Worker. The president s executive order order therefore the are a disaster. And the president s executive order on evictions is the best example of all sizzle and no establishing. And no steak. It does not even guarantee a moratorium on evictions, it instructs federal agencies to review and and consider evictions. Three of the things the president has done dont work. The deferral of the payroll tax hurts Social Security and does not pump money into the economy. Cutting the employment insurance will take weeks and months to implement and hurts American Workers and demeans them. And the executive order on evictions is lets consider something. Well, we know what that means in jargon around here. Lets not do it. Lets just talk about it. So President Trumps executive orders are hardly worth the paper they are printed on. You dont have to take my word for it. Go ask senator republican senators from South Carolina and nebraska who arent too thrilled with it either. And, of course, the biggest problem with these executive orders is not what they do, but what they dont and cant do. The orders dont address tracing and treatment of covid19, desperately needed to curb the Health Crisis which in turn is hurt rg the economy hurting the economy so badly. The order leaves out money to safely reopen our schools and provide the p. P. E. And other help to keep kids, teachers and staff safe. The orders wont give Food Assistance to hungry kids and families. The orders wont aid firefighters, sanitation workers, all people who keep our communities running could lose their jobs. The orders leave out funds to make sure can be carried out effectively throughout covid19. And the orders do nothing to make sure our elections can conducted in a safe and secure manner during this covid crisis. The fact is, we are facing an unprecedented crisis. The government is going to have to commit resources to fight this disease and the economic devastation it has wrought. Executive orders cannot do that, and, therefore, will always be sufficient, especially those crafted in such a poor way as these. The only way to crush the virus and truly protect american working families is to pass a comprehensive bill in congress that is equal to the challenges. The challenges facing our country. Democrats remain ready to return to the table. We need our republicans to join us there and meet us halfway and Work Together to deliver immediate relief to the American People. Were ready as soon as our republican colleagues have come off this view that its their way or no way and meet us in the middle. Now, before i yield the floor, i want to take a step back and talk about the core problem in our negotiations over the past few weeks. President trump and the Republican Party certainly in the senate are not alive to the suffering of the American People. The response from the white house to the greatest domestic challenge of the 21st century can be summed up in five words issued by President Trump in an interview last week it is what it is. President trump was challenged to defend his claim that covid19 is under control. How, he was asked, 1,000 americans are dying a day. President trumps response it is what it is. It is what it is. Thats how the president of the United States of america responds to the harrowing fact that more than a thousand americans are dying every single day from a virus his administration failed to contain. Not a morsel of empathy, not an ounce of sorrow, not a shred of remorse for the many mistakes his administration has made. The president says, it is what it is. What a shocking admission of breadthdential fail what a shocking admission of president ial failure. We live in a wealthy and yet countries around the world manage to sighs late the spread and stop the disease. Countries are a mere fraction of our resources and knowhow. President trumps response to this crisis is a national and international embarrassment. The president says, it is what it is. President trump is not the only one who dismisses the graftty of covid19. The lack of empathy and understanding starts at the top but it goes all the way down. The president s chief of staff said covid19 isnt such a big deal for schoolchildren compared to the flu. Leader mcconnell put the senate on ice because his party didnt feel the urgency of act. His words. And now by the leaders own admission, more than a third of the Senate Republican caucus doesnt want to vote for anything anything to help the American People. The economy is failing. Small businesses are closing. State and local governments are cutting essential services. Americans cant pay the rent and will be thrown out of their homes. Families cant afford to feed their children. Essential workers dont have p. P. E. Were sending our kids back to School Without a plan. The number of americans were testings is going down. The disease is ravaging our nursings homes. And americans are dying so many in so short a time that Funeral Homes and morgues are storing the dead in refrigerated 18wheelers and yet the president says, it is what it is. The president , his aides, his party in congress are not even awake to whats happening in this country. That is the reason why Senate Republicans delayed for four more for four long mondays and that is the for morning hour long months and that is the reason weve been unable to find agreement with the white house. I yield the floor. Mr. Van hollen mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from maryland. Mr. Van hollen thank you, mr. President. I want to thank the minority leader, the democratic leader, mr. Schumer, for his remarks. You know, there are not many of us around here in the senate today. Its pretty quiet. You can walk through the halls. Virtually nobody around. Thats what it was like last thursday afternoon. Thats what it was like here in the senate on friday. And again on saturday and again on sunday. And here we are again on monday, and this senate is virtually a ghost town. A few people here, but for the most part, everybody was sent home by the majority leader. By senator mcconnell. He told senators, go home until further notice. Go home. Were going to put the senate on standby. No need to be here doing the peoples business. Well, mr. President , the coronavirus is not on standby. The coronavirus is very much alive and well and spreading throughout the country, more severely in some parts than others, but spreading throughout the country, and with it has come the spread of economic pain and economic harm. So covid19 is not on standby, and neither is the economic pain and fallout that it has caused. But here in the United States senate, the republican leader, the majority leader, has said, go home and be on standby. Mr. President , that is not leadership at any time. It is certainly not the kind of leadership that the American People need and should expect during a Global Pandemic and recessionera unemployment levels. So why did the majority leader tell people to just go home and be on standby . Its because he wanted the Trump Administration to negotiate an agreement. Last i checked, mr. President , the United States senate was a separate branch of government with its own responsibilities. And yet we have the republican leader, who runs the United States senate from the floor, telling people to go home and be on standby because he wants the president of the United States, the Trump Administration, to negotiate an agreement and then come back to us. In other words, the republican leader wants to contract out his responsibilities and the responsibilities of the United States senate to the executive branch. You look at the United States constitution, there are three separate branches of government, and yet the republican leader has decided to give his proxy to the president of the United States, to the executive branch, rather than stay here in the United States senate and do our work. Now, why is that . Why is it that the majority leader has decided to contract out his responsibilities and that of the senate to the executive branch of government . Well, we dont have to guess. Because mr. Mcconnell has told us. He told pbsnews hour that, quote, about 20 of my members think that weve already done enough, end quote. Let me read that again. This is from the republican leader. Quote, about 20 of my members think that weve already done enough, end quote. Its obviously referring to republican members of the senate caucus. These are members of the Senate Republican caucus. They think all is well. Weve done enough. Dont need to do anymore to expand spanned access dont need to do anymore to expand access to personal protective equipment, dont need to do anything else to help our schools. Weve done enough. Dont need to do anything more on Unemployment Insurance, where the additional 600 a week has expired. Senator mcconnell said that 20 of his members thought theyd already done enough. Addiction moratorium coming to an end, both nationally and in many states. But 20 members of the Senate Republican caucus, their leader says, have done enough. Heres what senator Lindsey Graham said on fox. Quote, i think if mitch can get one half of the conference, that would be quite an accomplishment. End quote. Referring to the republican conference. So senator graham of South Carolina is saying that if mitch mcconnell, mr. Mcconnell, the republican leader, can get half the members of the Republican Senate caucus to do anything, that would be quite an accomplishment. I want i want all of us to think about what that means. What it means is that many of our colleagues are happy to have packed up and gone home and that were not doing anything because they dont think we need to be doing anything. And that, mr. President , is really why were not here. And thats also why you saw the Trump Administration emissaries, secretary mnuchin and the chief of staff, mark meadows, walk away from the negotiating table, because they understood that if they reached what was truly a compromise, a principled compromise, as senator said, half the Republican Caucus would oppose it because they would oppose anything. So thats why you had the Trump Administration walk away from the negotiating table and refuse to come to a sensible agreement. And what did we get instead . Because they walked away from an agreement, we had the president of the United States throw together a press conference at his golf club in new jersey, put the american flags up at his golf club, put out a podium with the president ial seal, invited club members to witness the signing of an executive order and some memos. And heres the really sad truth about the matter. It was mostly show rather than real substance. It was something that we would come to expect from somebody who was really good at reality tv but somebody who did not understand the painful realities being experienced by americans throughout this country during this Health Pandemic and the economic pandemic. And i say that because, if you begin to look at what the president actually signed, its both inadequate and also unworkable in almost all its parts. Now, lets put aside for now whether the question the question of whether or not the president had the Legal Authority to do what he did, because clearly in some parts of his executive order, in his memos, he does not have the Constitutional Authority to do that. Weve heard that from some of the Senate Republican members already. But lets set that aside and just see whether we will actually deliver meaningful relief to americans. Or whether its more like the degree that was given to folks who attended socalled trump university, which turned out to be a fraud and is now shuttered. Lets take a look at what the president did. First, with respect to extending the 600 a week of Unemployment Insurance benefits, and lets remember the starting point for this is that neither the president of the United States, donald trump, nor the Republican Senate want to extend the 600 a week unemployment compensation. They say its too much for americans who are out of work through no fault of their own because of this pandemic, and even though and even though there are four people looking for work right now in america, for every job thats available, i hear from constituents every day. I read some of their stories last thursday on the floor of the senate. People who badly want to get back to work but their former job is gone, and there is no new job to replace it. And they need that additional 600 a week to make ends meet. In fact, mr. President , i want to just read to the senate some additional letters i received from constituents on this point. Please act to extend the 600 a week unemployment enhancement. I am requesting both in my name and on behalf of my wife. We both lost our jobs, and the additional 600 is significantly helping keep us afloat and purchase the needs of life. My job was supposed to restart in late june, but the owner has pushed it back to november, december, to be determined. My wife was put on furlough and told the company hoped to bring everybody back but has heard nothing yet. Without the additional 600, the time will come in the next few months when we will be unable to pay our bills. Here is a note i received from another constituent. Respectfully, senator chris van hollen, i would like to write to you about the 600 unemployment. I understand that the other party is fighting you all the way. This is painful because im a diabetic, and at this point, because that benefit was taken away, i have to choose between paying my bills or my insulin. I applied some time in june since i was thinking i would be back to work gone are my savings, paying rent gone are my savings to pay rent, car loan insurance, and other bills. From this week on, because of losing the 600, i will have to stop paying bills so i can pay my insulin. I never thought that i would be in a situation like this in america where if you work hard, pay your taxes to be able to have a roof over your head, health insurance, and human dignity. And i, like im sure many of my colleagues, have received hundreds, hundreds of notes like that from our constituents. Who will not be able to make ends meet without the additional 600 a week. But the president doesnt want to continue that, nor do Senate Republicans. And so what did the president say up in new jersey . Well, he came up with this plan that unfortunately will not deliver. Essentially, what he said was take the funds that were provided in the cares act to the states the United States congress provided about 150 billion to states to help during the early stages of this pandemic, both to help purchase things like p. P. E. And also to address the economic fallout. I should remind my colleagues that senator mcconnell was dead against that, even in the earlier version. You go back and look at the debate in the record, you will find that he was dead set against providing any funds to state and local governments. That was the result of a compromise that succeeded in pushing in those negotiations. But in these most recent negotiations, these most recent negotiations, both the white house and again senator mcconnell and Senate Republicans took the position no funds for state and local government. I remember a few months back when asked, the republican leader, senator mcconnell, said let them go bankrupt. Let them go bankrupt. Well, there is a productive solution. He may have walked those comments back a little bit, but he did not walk back his opposition to any funds for state and local governments. So what did the president say in new jersey the other day . Okay, states. Take the earlier emergency funds that the congress provided and use those as a 25 match to 300 federal so we can provide 400 per week in additional Unemployment Insurance. Here is the problem with that, mr. President. We provided that 150 billion in Emergency Assistance to the states because of the emergencies that they were facing then and continue to face, because they are facing both increased costs with respect to helping Frontline Health care providers and hospitals and providing them with personal protective equipment. The federal government has been pretty much awol when it comes to testing. The president said to the states, you all set up testing regimes, and so they are using some of those funds we provided them for that. They are using those funds to try to open schools safely or help provide Distance Learning when schools cant be opened safely. So many of the states, especially those hardest hit, have already allocateed the great majority if not all of those funds, and now the president is saying oh, well, use those funds that we provided you earlier for this other purpose. So number one, those states and other areas have already allocated most of those funds. I noticed that if you look at the treasury tables data they released, it was for the end of june and the money is already spent. Not today. Money is already allocated. So, first of all, for many states, that money is already spoken for. But lets say in some cases, there is some money left over. Whats the president of the United States saying . Hes saying he wants to take from one american to give to another one. The president wants to pit these needs against one another. He wants to rob constituent peter to pay constituent paul. Those moneys went to the states those money went to the states to pay for real needs. So okay, governor, okay state legislature, youre going to have to fire that Emergency Responder who will now both be out of a job and unable to provide Emergency Assistance so that you can give 100 match to help somebody who has lost their job a little bit more. Thats what the president is saying to those states that do have something left over. We dont even know how much that is. But if you think about it, that is not how a country should be responding in the middle of a pandemic. Governors, you have got to hurt that person to help that one. Thats what the president of the united the president the president of the United States plan says, and thats when its working the way he wants it. Thats if it works as advertised. So from the president s perspective, bestcase scenario, when this plans working, is asking governors to take from one set of constituents in americans who are hurting badly, could lose a job, they need the p. P. E. , they need testing, they need to open the schools, they take it from over there and put it over here. Thats what the president is saying. Now, thats assuming it works at all, whether that money is available and whether or not theres a way you can actually do all this through what is a pretty cumbersome administrative process. I dont know if any of my colleagues saw either the sunday shows in real time or reruns or read about them, but here is what larry kudlow was asked on the cnn morning show by dana bass. Simple question. Have you checked with the states . How many states and d. C. And other territories and did they say they will be able to pony up the 100 per week for unemployed citizens . Larry kudlow, answer, good question. Good question. Well probably find that out today or tomorrow. As we make our plans. Mr. President , if there wasnt a sign that what happened in new jersey was a total show, this tells it all. They laid out a plan asking states that have run out of money, but if they have some money to rob peter to pay paul, but they didnt even ask the states if it was doable. They didnt even ask the states if it was doable. And that is a reflection of this entire plan. Lets look at what the president said about the second piece, payroll tax deferral. Now, a lot of americans might have heard that and thought im an employee, im working, and now the portion of my check thats withheld for payroll taxes like Social Security, im not going to have to pay that anymore, and that would be money in my pocket. Thats not what it did. What it did was say to these people who are working and by the way, as we all know, deducting payroll taxes from paychecks doesnt help the 30 million who dont have a job. They are not getting a paycheck. They have got nothing to deduct something from. But for people who are working and thought that this was going to be extra money that they could pocket forever, thats not the case. What the president was saying is that we will withhold those payroll taxes from your paychecks through the end of the year. But its going to come due and owing. Now, these are people who are working. These are people who have their jobs. Maybe they wanted to bury that for a little while or not, but borrow that for a little while or not, but at the end of the day, they will have to pay that back to uncle sam. And here is the other problem. Employers are the ones who are legally responsible for the delivery of those payroll taxes, not just for the employer but for the employee as well. And so theyre going to have to take the risk that if one of their employees doesnt want their Social Security taxes paiy want them withheld, that ultimately it would be paid back. But what were hearing from lots of employers is they cant guarantee that. First of all, what if that employee leaves . How am i going to repay that portion of the payroll taxes . And so heres another example of something that may have sounded good to some people when they heard it, but it really is a shell game in the first sense and in many ways a sham. And by the way, and by the way, whether its deferral or if it is ultimately forgiven, that would require an act of congress, then the Social Security system takes a hit unless you refund it. But thats not in the president s plan. The president talked about refunding it if, in fact, it were ever forgiven, which he cant do either. Now, mr. President , lets look at the Eviction Moratorium. I mean, thats a real ma mirage. I ask my colleagues to read the executive order. It tells the centers for Disease Control to, quote, consider, unquote, whether an extended Eviction Moratorium is reasonably necessary to protect the public health. Hes asking two federal agencies to consider a question he posed to them. Now, i imagine a lot of people who may have watched the president with the american flags up at his country club, i imagine a lot of them thought, wow, the president just said that no one can get evicted. Thats not what he said at all. It was a sham. He said h. H. S. And c. D. C. Should consider whether an extended Eviction Moratorium is reasonably necessary to protect the public health. And then he asks h. U. D. And treasury to look around in their Bank Accounts to see if they have any money who might be ee convicted. You know who might be ee convict . Evicted. But to them and the landlords lets pass the rental provision that passed the house. Whether you look at the unemployment provision or the payroll tax provision or the socalled Eviction Moratorium provision, this really is show and not substance. And im only talking about what the president put into the plan, not everything that got left out. Everything that got left out that is in the heroes act hoping people go back to school safely, hoping to expand realtime testing so we can open our economy safely, Food Assistance for those who are struggling, rental assistance, money for state and local government whose needs have only risen dramatically since the last down payment that was passed in the cares act and now the president is saying we want you to go poach that fund and hurt people by taking things away from them in order to help other americans. So those are some of the things that were totally left out of here. Now, ive often heard when talking about state and local government, the president , he tweets it all the time, this is just a question of blue states wanting to be bailed out or for bad economic decisions or bad budget problems they had and that red states are just doing great. Mr. President , anybody who looks at the state Financial Affairs knows thats not true. Just take a look at my state of maryland. Some people would consider us a blue state. We have a triplea bond rating. Last i checked, the state of kentucky was a singlea bond rating. So this isnt a question of whether we want to help states who somehow had difficult financial situations before the coronavirus hit. The reality is right now this is not a red state or blue state issue, this is an american issue. We all know that the virus has spread throughout the country. Nobody can totally escape it. It doesnt matter whether youre a red state or blue state. This is a red, white, and blue moment, and we need to treat it as a national effort, not a statebystate effort, but one where also the federal government plays a very Important Role and is not awol in the middle of a big pandemic and not playing politics in the middle of a pandemic. Listening to the Health Care Experts about whether or not to wear a mask instead of making that a political statement that puts people eight greater risk at greater risk who follow the president s political advice rather than the health care advice of the Health Care Experts. So, mr. President , i hope we will get back to the negotiating table, but to do that, the president has got to be serious about reaching a conclusion and hes going to need help from the republican leader, senator mcconnell, and from more than half the senator republican conference that senator graham say let me clarify that. The republican leader said 20 members dont want to do anything at all and it was senator graham who said it was about half. If thats the case, our countrys in even bigger trouble than we might have thought because theres a failure to recognize the need immediacy of the immediacy of the need and the depth of the problem that we face. Lets get back to the negotiating table. I remember some of the president s Top Priorities when he first presented his plan. He wanted a taxation break for three martini lunches, no Food Assistance for needy families, yes to tax breaks for three martini lunches. Thats what the president said. I think we were all surprised to see that he wanted 1. 6 or 1. 7 billion to build a new f. B. I. Headquarters at its current site rather than follow through with the original plan which was to move that headquarters to a suburban campus for security needs and to consolidate. But i guess if you rebuild it at its current site, then theres really no risk that someone will buy that land and end up building a hotel that competes with nearby trump hotel. That was part of the president s set of priorities in the middle of an emergency. The American People people need to understand that so lets lets get back to the negotiating table. What the president did was show and not substance. We need to Work Together in order to do something meaningful. So dont walk away. Come on back and lets work and just, finally, mr. President , when i say come on back, again, ill end where i started many its awfully quiet around here. I mean, were in the middle of a pandemic. The virus isnt taking a vacation. The virus isnt taking any time off. The economic harm isnt taking a vacation or any time off. And, yet, here we are in the senate all quiet. Talks break down with the administration. We are a separate branch of government under the constitution of the United States. Lets get back here and do our job for the American People. I yield the floor. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 1417, s. 1014. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 117, s. 1014, a bill to establish the root 66 Centennial Commission and for other purposes. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. The senate will proceed. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that the duckworth amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell now, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 11 00 a. M. Thus day, august 11. Further, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. Final lurks following leader remarks, the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up it ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell so, if theres no further business to come before the senate i ask it stand adjourned under the previous order. The presiding officer the Senate Stands adjourned until m . The presiding have and the Coronavirus Relief package. I hope this week the senate would be busy providing more coronavirus aid, and they would work overtime across the aisle to finalize another major release package and democrats say they see a big priority just like republicans do. And priorities like continual federal addon to unemployment for schools to safely reopen. And access to testing and diagnostics and resources to develop vaccine, new round of checks to push the cash to finally send asap. In another round of the successful paycheck for Section Program for Small Businesses that relied on and all were many more with chilean known proposal for coronavirus rescue package focused on kids, jobs, healthcare and Legal Protections to help our country reopen. So i hope the senate would be turning a major agreement until wall. And sadly for the country and struggling americans in the summit democratic leader they stalled b installed and back in negotiations with the administration and they stay true from very early on in the pandemic. This is the way they looked at her, they saw the pandemic is a tremendous opportunity to structure things to fit our vision. Speaker pelosi herself put it this way, this is an opportunity call the crisis. They called it a nightmare but leading democrats call it an opportunity listen to their demands, these of the democrat commands the between the help and the americans who need it, here is one, democrats say nobody needs another dime of relief unless state and local governments get about a trillion dollars in extra money, let me say that again, democrats are say nobody gets another dime of relief unless state and local governments get a trillion dollars in extra money. Lets put a few facts on the table. Number one, state and local government have always spent about one fourth of the huge sum we spent them in the springtime. Part of the 50 billion. Number two, the economist who calculated the likely tobin related shortfalls for state and local governments has mostly produced estimates that are entire multiples less than what democrats are demanding more from. Number three, republicans tried to get states and localities extra flexibility around the unspent funds arity had, extra flexibility around the unspent funds they already had. In my state for example, 94 of the money that we sent them has not been spent. And we wanted to send huge funds to help schools which are one of the states biggestal expenses, typically in a state budget the two biggest items are education and medicaid. But forget all of that. Democrats are demanding more from that we send state and local governments a colossal amount of money with no relationship to actual need while theyve only spent a quarter, 25 of the money they were to gotten. Clearly, this is not about coping, democrats think they smell an opening they have wanted for years to make uncle sam bailout decades of mismanagement and broken policies in places like new york, new jersey and california. And so they decided no working family anywhere in america can get another sense, not 1 cent unless they get to create a trillion dollar slush fund from mismanaged states completely and totally out of portion two pandemic needs. Here is another one of the demands. Nobody gets another dime unless we end up in pay people more to stay at home then to go back to work. Mr. President , republicans agree we ought to continue additional federal jobless benefits during this extraordinary time. Senate republicans tried several times to stop them from expiring, theed democratic lead, our view, the more tort untrue majority of americans share, a disincentive buys is rehiring reopening to pay people more to stay at home, stating the obvious, a disincentive buys is rehiring and reopening to pay people more to stay at home. Plenty ofpl democrats so they sw the point and were happy to negotiate on this. Speaker below seat is on number two, the House Majority leader said its not 600 or bust, that was the number two democrat in the house. The senator from maryland says we certainly understand we dont want to have our benefit than what someone can make working. But the speaker and the democratic leader overruled them, no deal, no deal unless we pay people more to stay home, its not about coping, its not about a real reopening, its about follow ideology. They preferred for the jobless benefits to go down to 0, 0 unless they can pay people more to stay home. Does anyone in this country really believe that reef untrue relief should be contingent on bailing out states that predated the pandemic by decades . Does anyone really think it was better for jobless benefits tole completely expire unless we pay people more not to work and does anyone really think that congress should walk away from countless subjects for a bipartisan agreement and should be possible over these positio positions, do americans think democrats should walk away from school funding, testing, cash to households and providing in the american priorities and legal reformeis and more over this . , i think most every family in america would answer these questions the same way. But unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi and the democratic leader have answered them the opposite way. They think they have political leverage over the president of the United States and so theyre willing to personally increasecr the pain for vulnerable families unless they get their way on matters not related to covid. Republicans wanting to agree could agree to, democrats said our way or the highway. Republicans wanted to send cash now, right now for schools, testing and Unemployment Benefits and the state bailouts later. Democrats said nobody gets a penalty unless texas and for to be a lot new jersey. Thats a tough position, nobody gets a penny unless texas and florida bailout new jersey. So this is where we are. The previous benefits expired, the ppp closed its doors. Over the weekend President Trump took steps to soften the blow of the democrats hostage tactics on American Families who need help most. , his decisions will help spare some americans the pain from the democrats hostage take. From the beginning, from the very beginning mr. President , our site has tried Everything Possible to find Common Ground and deliver more help but the democrats have said no. At least the American People know the score, at least they know the a score. On a totally different matter, this week and brought more unsettling news and the ongoing struggle for hong kong to preserve any shred of its Civil Liberties and field governors. One of the reasons most prominent prodemocracy advocates, jimmy was arrested yesterday for alleged violation of the socalled National Security law imposed in june. Last year after historical election with millions of flock to the polls to overwhelmingly reject president shes counterparts, the client entered Chinese Communist party moved quickly to choke on congers free expression. He has been at the vanguard of the vibrant based media and publishing world. He is devoted most of his life to advancing precisely, precisely the value that the ccp finds most repulsive. The freedom of thought, and freedom of speech. The country and freedom loving nation across the world stand with him and with all the peaceful demonstrators who met the business