Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20240712

Judicial nominations. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Black, will open the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Ee ternl god, we are grateful that you continue to rule the universe. We being a knowledge that though wrong seems so strong your purposes will be fulfilled. Lord, we praise you for your promise that in everything you continue to work for the good of those who love you. Mighty god, let your will be done lest our law makers bless our lawmakers. Listen to their prayers. Quench their thirst for your proence with your abiding love. May they not forget the many times you have helped them in the past. We pray in your gracious 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 madam president. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley one minute for morning business, please. The presiding officer without objection. The signing of the Abraham Accords today that the at the white house represents a very historic breakthrough for peace in the middle east. Im not saying that this accord alone will bring peace to that troubled region, but this is a first tangible progress towards peace in that area in a quarter century. I met am war he is. Sedot when he was in the ways and Means Committee room in the house of representatives. And i had an opportunity also to witness at the white house the handshake between rabin and arafat in 1993. Both seemed to herald peace in the middle east that never quite materialized and yet we still have peace between israel and egypt and between israel and jordan. Israel has been a country for over 72 years. Its the only democracy in the region. Its a Major Economic and military political power and of course its our greatest ally in the middle east. Its overdue for other states, then, and those states that are in that area especially to recognize israel and pursue normal relations. The outdated notion that recognition of israels existence should be withheld until somehow israelis and palestinians agree on the details of a twostate solution that has not worked. The twostate solution has made an agreement more likely, but it has prevented diplomatic action that can be a stabilizing force in a nonstable region. In a polarized time, todays historic accord between israel and the u. A. E. And israel and bahrain is good news anyone can celebrate and we ought to give President Trump great credit for his leadership in this area. Hes delivered in a lot of areas where both republicans and democrats, president s, could not deliver in the past. I yield the floor. Mr. Mcconnell madam president. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell yesterday i discussed a tide of good news flowing out of the middle east, peace agreements between israel and the u. A. E. And israel and bahrain. It will be documented at the white house later today. Even more arab countries are reportedly considering follow suit. The winds have changed the winds of change are blowing across the middle east thanks in large part to the hard work of the strumtion, they are blowing administration, they are blowing towards peace. Not everyone is happy. Not everyone in the middle east is living in the 21st century. Some are too vested in the old fights and enemies and aggrade to let them and afraid to let them go. President abbas who is in the middle of a term predictly tried to dismiss the compromise as nonsense. But as the obama administrations expert wrote a few days ago, continuing this failed approach would just guarantee palestinians would be left behind while the rest of the arab world builds a better future. And then theres the bass basket case that is iran. Last weekend, as if purposely scripted to contrast with the hopeful news of optimism and peace coming from the arab world, the mullahs reminded the world of their disdain for Human Dignity and basic human rights. They carried out a hurried execution in the face of international condemnation, a 27yearold iranian wrestler, arrested during antigovernment protests in 2018, was tortured into questioning to a murder of confessing to a murder of a security guard. He was hanged on saturday. According to his mother, who was barred from visiting her son before his execution, he and two brothers arrested alongside him were forced to testify against one another. As they mourn their brothers, these two young men themselves face decades in prison for standing up to the brutal injustices of the iranian regime. Stories like this are tragic, but they arent shocking. Not in a country where dissent and preexpression are denied, not from Free Expression are denied, not from rulers who use domestic and international terrorism. This regime has its finger on disstabilizing campaigns, assassinations and violence against every single corner of the middle east from the shore of the medical terrainian, to the gulf mediterranean. The jcpoa did not improve any of this bad behavior. It ignored irans nonnuclear aggression, it let iran continue r d on enriched uranium. If anything, irans behavior has gotten worse. That bad deal is do going, it will have a Security Council resolution that kept iran from buying weapons. The votes of russia and china refuse to extend this 13yearold embargo. Returning to the jcpoa has become a sort of mantra for our political left here in the United States. But, really, the reflex to oppose everything President Trump does can be a gift to our adversaries. Former Vice President biden promises to force into a bag deal bad deal. He proposes to renegotiate the bad deal from the inside of it after tossing away any leverage in advance. Theres one right way to deal with regimes like iran, toughness and resolve. Thats why President Trump successfully restored an important measure of deterrence when he removed irans top terrorist solomony from the battlefield forever. Even though tehran is weakened by sanctions and economic unease, they are also emboldened by our internal divisions and eager to exploit rifts among our allies. We know from publicly released intelligence that iran seeks to interfere in our own politics. We know that iranianbacked groups continues to continue to threaten our forces in iraq an syria. We know iranian proxies like hezbollah pose a growing threat to our ally israel. Unit, strength, and unity, strength and resolve are the way to protect our interests, not capitulation. Now, on one final matter. For months it has been clear to every reasonable american that our country can and must hold two sets of true statements in our minds at the same time. Number one, our country has unfinished work to ensure that policing is fair to everyone and that black americans do not feel unfairly treated or targeted by Law Enforcement. And, number two, the vast majority of Law Enforcement officers are heroes and the toxicity and violence that farleft mobs have inflicted on Police Policemen is policemen is beyond the pail. The American People want good, strong policing to ensure equal protections of the laws. We understand there is no contradiction here, none whatsoever. Most people are outraged by the killings of black americans that have shocked our country. Sunday marks six months since the death of Breonna Taylor in my hometown. Our nation wants answers, but most feel sick when they hear about events like what happened in los angeles, two sheriffs deputies were shot in their patrol car and protesters blocked the entrance to the hospital chanting, kill the police, and i hope they die. Fortunately both are out of surgery, but the hateful climate that creates these acts is still with us. And one of our two Political Parties should do more to repudiate the underlying climate on their side. To be clear, democratic leaders, such as Vice President biden and the junior senator from california spoke up quickly to defend the shooting. What about the underlying climate . For months the political left put all its might behind a false narrative that says disorder is acceptable, riots are free speech and Law Enforcement is the real enemy of certain communities. One Prominent National newspaper, which found a straightforward oped from our colleague senator cotton was more than they could bear had no problem publishing a submission entitled, yes, we mean literally abolish the police. No problem publishing that. Yes, we mean literally abolish the police. When the speaker of the house was asked to respond to rioters illegally toppling statues across the country, she responded, people will do what they will do. That was about toppling statues. And from one liberal big city to another, we have seen mayors and local leaders who see it easier to oppose Police Funding than to denounce out of control riots in their very own cities. Just yesterday, with this Los Angeles Story making headlines nationwide, the junior senator from massachusetts decided to criticize Police Officers on his twitter feed and proposed a nationwide ban on nonlethal measures like tear gas and rubber bullets. A ban on tear gas and rubber bullets. We are now at a point where some of our democratic colleagues survey the nation, survey the way Law Enforcement officers are being treated, and decide the answer is to keep rhetorically throwing cops under the bus, throwing them under the bus, and try to ban their nonlethal means of selfdefense while they are at it. The American People dont have any trouble rejecting terrible racism and discrimination and rejecting lawlessness, violence, and adding Police Prejudice with equal clarity and equal force. They deserve leaders who can do likewise. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, mark c. Scarsi of california to be United States district judge for the Central District of california. Mr. Mcconnell i notice the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Schumer madam president. The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer are we in a quorum . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent i be allowed to finish my remarks before the vote begins. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer thank you. Now, madam president , after the Senate Republicans spent four months dithering, delaying, last week, leader mcconnell pushed a partisan emaciated covid bill. It was so paltry and laden with poison pills, it was clearly designed to fail, and fail it did. Its time for the Senate Republicans to wake up to the gravity of the crisis in our country and work with democrats on a comprehensive bill that delivers real help to americans. Speaker pelosi and i have already come down a trillion dollars from our initial requests. Leader mcconnell and Senate Republicans must drop the cynical political games and instead work with democrats to find Common Ground and reach a compromise. If Republican Leadership lets the 20 members of their caucus who barely want to provide any more relief and allows them to dictate their partys agenda, it will block the path to a compromise and republicans will have to answer to the American People. Now, our country still does not have a strong grasp on covid19. America continues to lead the world in a number of confirmed cases by far, over 6. 5 million. Nearly 200,000 americans have died. And yet unthinkably, it was reported that in one of his interviews with bob woodward, President Trump said, quote, nothing more could have been done to combat the coronavirus. Nothing more could have been done. Thats what President Trump said. Of the many lies the president has told about covid19, this is one of the most monumental and one of the most galling. There were so many vital things the president could have done to fight covid19 and protect our country. In the early days of the virus, hospitals, medical centers, essential workers were short on p. P. E. And ventilators and swabs and masks and gloves. President trump never mobilized the resources of the federal government, never fully invoked the defense production act, never set up a National Clearinghouse to get resources where they needed to go. It has been seven months and President Trump still doesnt have a National Testing strategy. There has never been a National Plan for Contact Tracing. The president took months before he even encouraged americans to wear a mask. This is an entire universe of actions that President Trump could have taken to help the spread help slow the spread of the virus and save american lives and american jobs. But he didnt. He never took strong action, never took responsibility. It is what it is. In many cases, it would have been better actually if the president did nothing instead of what he did. It would have been better if the president never downplayed the virus, never called it a hoax, never pushed quack medicines, never speculated by injecting bleach and never held rallies. And every week, every week brings new evidence that his administration is totally unequipped to right the ship, especially the department of health and Human Services. Over the weekend, there were numerous reports that political appointees at h. H. S. Have been interfering in the c. D. C. s report on covid19, trying to delay, edit out, or halt the release of facts that would have been politically embarrassing to the president. This is not the first time the administration has tried to hide reports and facts that would better inform the American People. Meanwhile, as that is happening, President Trump has pressured h. H. S. To slow the testing down. Hes overstated the benefits of certain treatments and pressured the f. D. A. To approve them and accused f. D. A. Officials of holding back a vaccine. And too many people within h. H. S. Are trying to suppress the science. The secretary of health and Human Services, alex azar, has not only failed to push back against these outrageous moves by President Trump, he has been almost entirely silent about the chaos and mismanagement in his own agency. In the in trumps administration, the most important skill is the ability to stand up to the president and resist political influence. More in an agency like h. H. S. Than others where the health of americans is at stake. It has become abundantly clear that the leadership at the department of health and Human Services has allowed perhaps the most important federal agency right now to become subservient to the president s daily whims. So so today im calling on secretary azar to resign immediately. We need a secretary of health and Human Services who will look out for the American People, not President Trumps political interests. Now, on another topic, wildfires. For the last several weeks much of the American West has been ravaged by a historic wave of wildfires. At least 35 people have been killed. Thousands of homes have been destroyed. Over five million acres of land have been incinerated, roughly the size of rhode island and connecticut combined. The sky glows with ghastly shades of red and orange. Its impossible to have a serious conversation about these wildfires without talking about Climate Change. We know that Climate Change contributes to the frequency of these fires. We know it accelerates their destructive power. Six of the 20 largest fires in california history have happened this year alone. Heat waves and dry air make these disasters more likely. These past few years have been some of the hottest and driest on record. But at a press conference yesterday with fema and california state officials, President Trump brushed aside any possibility that Climate Change had an effect suggesting ided onically idiotically suggesting that the planet will start getting cooler. Just you watch. Its like what he did with covid. He tries to deny it and he makes it worse. He encourages people to ignore it and the problem grows. When the head of the California Natural Resources Agency told the president that science disagreed with him, the president said i dont think science knows. This exchange that the president said it will start getting cooler, just you watch, when he was uprated by a scientific expert. He says i dont think science knows. That exchange captures everything you need to know about President Trumps grasp of basic scientific facts and especially the science of Climate Change. Without a shred of evidence or knowledge, President Trump said that our planet will, quote, just start getting cooler. Its just like his attitude towards this pandemic which he promised would magically disappear. Youd think the situation would be better here in congress but regrettably, the Republican Senate doesnt seem to take the threat of Climate Change seriously either. The republican majority had six years in charge of the senate to show that they want to make progress off Climate Change but have done next to nothing, next to nothing to curb emissions or protect our environment from the damaging effects of a warming planet. The only time republicans even brought up Climate Change legislation was when leader mcconnell scheduled a sham vote on a climate bill so his own members could vote against it. Thats right. The only climate bill leader mcconnell has brought to the floor is a bill he wanted his members to vote against. Democrats on the other hand believe protecting our planet is a moral obligation. Senate democrats created the first ever Senate Special committee to study the climate crisis. We have committed to creating Clean Energy Jobs and building resiliency in any, any infrastructure bill. Ive introduced legislation called clean cars for america that would make all vehicles on the road Carbon Neutral by 2040. And weve committed to creating at least ten million new Clean Energy Jobs and dedicating 40 of climate funding to Environmental Justice and the disadvantaged and communities of color. Just last week i joined with senator markey and many grassroots organizations to introduce the thrive resolution calling for millions of new jobs in Renewable Energy and making new investments in black, hispanic, indigenous communities so clean air, clean water and clean energy arent privileges for the wealthy, the wealthy few but abundant for all. This is about protecting our planet so that our kids and grandkids can live in a world with clean air, clean water, and the same kind of opportunities we grew up with. Republicans have had six years in the senate to show they are serious about the defining crisis of our time, something that over the years will be even worse than covid, much worse, and they have failed to take any action. Just like they did on covid, no action. Democrats would make would not make the same mistake again. We will not delay on climate the day republicans have delayed on covid and not done what is needed. I yield the floor. The presiding officer under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired. The question is on the scarsi nomination. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . Seeing none, on this vote the ayes are 83. The nays are 12. The nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senates actions. The clerk will report on the motion to invoke cloture. The clerk cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of Stanley Blumenfeld of california to be United States district judge for the Central District of california signed by 17 senators. The presiding officer by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. The question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of Stanley Blumenfeld of california to be the United States district judge for the Central District of california shall be brought to a close. The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber who have not yet voted . Seeing none, the yeas are 89. The nays are 6. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination , the judiciary, Stanley Blumenthal to be district judge for the Central District of california. Mr. Thune madam president. The presiding officer the senator from south dakota. Mr. Thune madam president , last week leader mcconnell called up a bill to the floor of the United States senate. It was a Coronavirus Relief bill which included a number of components that both sides had agreed needed to be in in a Coronavirus Relief bill. It wassing a targeted bill. It was it was a targeted bill. It was a fiscally responsible bill and it was a bill rooted in reality. In other words, there was a belief that it could be signed into law if, in fact, it was passed by the congress. And so when it was called up, obviously, we talked about the features in the bill, many of which are things, as i said, enjoyed bipartisan support. When i say it was fiscally responsible, it actually repurposed funds from the previous coronavirus bill, from the cares act, that had not been spent, so it took some of those dollars, repurposed them and used them in other ways which i think would be a fiscally responsible way to approach the whole issue of how we spend taxpayer dollars on any issue, including a crisis. And so there was a repurposing that i think, again, represents a fiscally responsible approach into doing this. It also addressed the issue of people who are unemployed. It had a provision in there that allowed people to continue to receive Unemployment Insurance above and beyond what their states offer in terms of a benefit. 300 above that on a per week basis which represents about 85 wage replacement. So about 85 wage replacement in terms of an unemployment benefit. It included bipartisan improvements and modifications to the Paycheck Protection Program program, a program which was successful which needed to be expanded and reauthorized. And so it included those changes, again, bipartisan changes. It included significant funding for both elementary and second ri secondary indication, about 35 billion and another 35 billion for colleges and universities, again a bipartisan priority. Those are just a few of the things that were included, madam president. It also included additional funding for vaccines, therapies, testing, all things that we think are vitally important if were going to defeat the virus. So those were all components included in the bill last week that was brought up to the floor by the majority leader, senator mcconnell, and it was blocked. It was foibd by the democrats. Now filibustered by the democrats. When i say blocked, im not talking about blocking the end bill. Im talking about blocking getting to the bill. It was to block the senate to proceed. There are several ways in which a bill can be stopped and they require a supermajority, 60 votes in the senate. Once you are on a bill ands is subject to an amendment process, you can at the end of that, if you dont like the bill, you can still block it with 41 votes. It takes 60 votes to proceed to a bill and 60 votes to get off the bill, to report it out. So there are several places where if you are opposed to something and you think you havent been treated fairly, you can you can block it. But blocking the motion to proceed means youre blocking a bill even just the idea of getting on the bill and opening up to an amendment process and debating it on the floor of the senate. Thats not obviously the first time it happened. It happened on the Police Reform. It happened earlier this year on the cares package. But on the Police Reform it had many bipartisan provisions in it. In fact, 85 of the bill were things that both sides agreed upon. There again, the motion to proceed just to get on the bill was blorkd. It was blocked. It was use of the it was so prevent the senate from even proceeding to the bill. Even after the manager of that bill, the author of that bill, senator tim scott of south carolina, had indicated through the leadership that they would be willing to accept up to 10 amendments, up to 20 amendments, they through unanimous consent were offered to get 10 to 20 amendments but it was blocked by the democrats in the senate. When they blocked the bill last week, it was pointed out, i think accurately, by the media, that reporting on the bill, these were a few of the headlines to give you a sense of the reaction, the hill, and i quote, Senate Democrats block g. O. P. Relief bill. The Washington Post said that democrats block slimdown g. O. P. Coronavirus relief bill. Nbc news says Senate Democrats block coronavirus, Senate Blocks g. O. P. s pandemic relief bill. So those were some of the headlines and, you know, and maybe this doesnt mean anything but to anything but to congress watchers, im sure the irony is not lost on anybody who follows this process. The democrats used the legislative filibuster when i say blocking a motion to proceed, it is the use of a legislative filibuster to block a bill last week, and as i mentioned several times earlier this year, at the same time that they are calling for an end to the legislative filibuster. Imagine that, madam president. Think about the irony of that. On friday nbc news reported, and i quote, democrat insiders are assembling a coalition behind the scenes to wage an allout war on the Senate Filibuster in bullish anticipation of sweeping the 2020 election. End quote. So the very mechanism that they used repeatedly here in just the last year, but, frankly, for the last six years that theyve been in the minority to block or in some cases to even improve a bill that comes to the floor of the United States senate, they are now talking about getting rid of that very rule. Think about that. The irony of that is pretty rich. It was a disturbing confirmation, madam president , that the campaign by some democrats to eliminate the senate ale nearly 200yearold practice for considering legislation has become official. It used to be whispered about but now they are talking openly about getting rid of the filibuster and it puts a stark contrast to what voters will face in november. What is a legislative filibuster . It is unlimited debate. It is the requirement that 60 senators agree before the senate can end debate and vote on a contentious bill. In other words, you need 60 of the senate to agree before you can pass a bill. Now, what this means in practice is that unlike the house of representatives where legislation can easily pass with the support of Just One Party in the senate you genuinely need the support spt generally need the support of the other party before you can pass legislation. Now the filibuster rule could be said to be the thing that distinguishes the senate from the house of representatives. That matters because the senate is supposed to be different from the house of representatives. The framers of the constitution designed the senate to be, as the minority leader once said, alluding to the exchange between washington and jefferson, the propensity of all singular to yield to the impulse of silent and violent passions, the founders created the senate as a check on the house of representatives. They made the senate smaller and the terms of office longer for a more deliberative legislative body to consider temperate legislation. And this has had the greatest impact on the senate. Thanks to the filibuster, its o harder toe get legislation through the senate than through the house. It requires more thought, more debate and greater consensus. And, madam president , those are good things. Historically senators of both parties have recognized this. They have seen beyond the narrow partisan advantage of the moment. When there was talk of abolishing the judicial filibuster, democrat senators, some of whom still serve in the body today, fought fiercely to safeguard it. At a rally in march of that year the democratic leader said, they believe if you get 51 of the vote, there should be oneparty rule. We will stand in their way because in america of check and balances is the america that we love. Its been the america that kept us successful for 200 years and were not going to let them change it. We will fight and we will preserve the constitution, end quote. Thats from the current democrat leader back in 2005 speaking about the proposals to eliminate the filibuster. Democrats changed their tune a few years later when they thought abolishing the filibuster would serve their advantage. Even then democrats and later republicans sought to ex extinguish between preserving debate on legislation. Now they are talking about abolishing the fundamental practice of the senate, the legislative filibuster for the same prospect of temporary partisan gain. Nothings off the table, the minority leader said when asked about democrats intention its for the legislative filibuster if they win back the senate. A far cry from what he said a few years ago. Madam president , eliminating the legislative filibuster would permanently change the nature of the senate. The cooling saucer that the founders envisioned would essentially be gone and the oneparty rule the democratic leader decried back in 2005 would become a reality. Some might ask why a oneparty rule is a problem. Shouldnt the party be able to pass whatever legislation it wants . Well, the answer is no, madam president. Our country is relatively evenly split down the middle with the advantage moving to the republicans and sometimes to the democrats. Even the party were a permanent minority, oneparty rule would not be acceptable. Let me go back to the federalist papers. Federalist 10 and 51 discuss two issues that the founders were concerned about. Minority rights and the tyranny of the majority. While we tend to think of tyrants as single individuals, the founders recognized that a majority could be a tyranny. So the founders designed to have a system to keep the tyranny from running over the rights of the minority. And today the legislative filibuster may be the single most important thing preserving the senates constitutional role as a check on majority tyranny. By requiring 60 votes, the filibuster ensures that in the legislation has to take into account the views of a broad group of senators with a 60vote threshold youre unlikely to get your legislation passed unless you bring some senators of the opposite party on board. That means that the Minority Party has a real role in shaping legislation in the senate, something the Minority Party in the house lacks. Democrats have repeatedly used the legislative filibuster to their advantage during this congress. In march, democrats the cares act until republicans agreed to add some democrat priorities. And democrats quickly took credit for making the bill better. You would think democrats would want to preserve this influence, especially, especially now the democrats have experienced the consequences of their decision to abolish the judicial filibuster. Of course, when they say they want to abolish the legislative filibuster, democrats mean that they want to abolish the legislative filibuster if they win a majority in november. They have a lot of legislation they want to pass, and they dont want to have to moderate that legislation to address republicans or americans concerns. But i would remind my colleagues that no one is in power forever. And if democrats do win in november and abolish the legislative filibuster, they may quickly come to regret that decision once they are in the minority again, because no matter how permanent a majority thinks it will be, sooner or later, every Majority Party returns to minority status. Mr. President , in addition to doing away with the bipartisan nature of the senate, ending the legislative filibuster would also overrule the civility of government. Legislation would become more powerful because the majority would not have to take into account the opinions of the Minority Party. That would make legislation likely to be reversed as soon as the opposite party gained the majority in a future congress. Without the legislative filibuster, its not hard to see a future in which National Policy on a host of issues could flux due eight wildly every few years. Taxes could go up and down on a regular basis. Government programs could be stopped and started every few years. The consequences for individuals, businesses, and our economy would not just be unpleasant, but potentially devastating. Mr. President , i understand the frustration of my democrat colleagues. I have been in the minority in the senate. My first eight years here i was in the minority. I also know what its like when you get in the majority and cant pass everything you want because the Minority Party will filibuster your bills. I have certainly had moments when i wished we could just pass legislation with a simple majority, especially copping from coming from the house of representatives. Democrats have stood in the way of a lot of legislation id like to have passed this year from senator scotts Police Reform bill that i mentioned earlier to additional Coronavirus Relief to prolife legislation. Its also important to note that not every filibuster has been undertaken for noble purposes. Like every tool, it can be misused. But i know that no matter how frustrating the filibuster may be in the moment, preserving it is essential to preserving this institution of the senate and the purpose for which it was created. Its essential to protecting minority rights, and its an essential check on tyrannical majorities that would seek to curtail our freedoms. Mr. President , legend has it that when Benjamin Franklin was leaving the constitutional convention, someone approached him and asked him what form of government the convention had instituted. A republic, franklin said, if you can keep it. If you can keep it. Mr. President , today the legislative filibuster is the key rule preserving the senates constitutional role as a check on partisan passion, and i pray that no future senate will destroy the senates essential role in our system of government for temporary partisan gain. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Ms. Murkowski mr. President , will the senator from south dakota yield for a question . Mr. Thune i would be happy to yield to the senator from alaska. Ms. Murkowski i want to just start by saying amen to everything that you have said, and i i listened to your words carefully, and i hear a great deal of caution in your words about actions that the senate may take as a body that would be in response to perhaps shortterm gain or immediate political gain, but a gain that could be finite, and as i have over the course of the years that i have been in the senate, i, too, have shared the same frustration about legislation that i care deeply about that i believe has been blocked that our parliamentarian rules have actually worked to delay things unnecessarily or oftentimes delayed things to the point where they never came to fruition, so i have seen the frustration. I also see the benefit of being more methodical, of being that cooling saucer in the process of governance and particularly good governance. But the words that you use are very, very cautionary. It is as if you are suggesting that if we change the filibuster rules, that we will in effect have changed the institution of the senate Going Forward, changed the institution so that it is perhaps just a smaller body than the house but subject to the same rules where those that have the most votes on one side win. So my question to the senator from south dakota is do you believe that a change in the filibuster rules here in the United States senate would be permanently des limittal to the institution of the senate Going Forward . Mr. Thune mr. President , i would say through the chair to my colleague from alaska, that is absolutely the case. I dont think there is any question but that if the legislative filibuster is done away with in a future senate and, again, members of the democrat side are talking openly about doing that if they gain the majority after this election in november it will transform the institution of the senate, and by extension transform our country, because the institution that was designed to protect minority rights and to put a check on the majority will no longer be a functioning institution in the way the founders intended. In fact, it will essentially become, as the senator from alaska pointed out, the house of representatives with longer terms. And i think that would be unfortunate for a fortune that was based upon a system of checks and balances and that recognized very early on how critical it was that minority rights be a part of our public debate and discussion and that those voices not be muffled or that those voices not be completely put out of the public debate. And so i would simply say to my colleague from alaska, i think that this is a monumental issue in terms of what this institution has meant to this country and what it will continue to mean in the future, and if these rules are changed and this provision is this constitutional protection i think as we have pointed out is done away with, it will transform the senate and it will transform the country in ways that would be very detrimental to what the founders intended. Ms. Murkowski i thank the senator from south dakota, and i would hope that on a matter as significant as we are talking about, which is effectively the operational integrity of this institution, that there would be good, thorough, open discussion and debate on this floor and amongst full members, but the concerns that we are hearing that there are efforts on the outside of this body that would that would push us to change our rules and do so in a way that could permanently erode and undercut the ability of the United States senate to operate as intended would, i believe, be a travesty. So thank you, mr. President. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the assistant democratic leader. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i listened to this debate very carefully because i have Great Respect for both of the senators, the senator from alaska and the senator from south dakota. I have seen both of them operate as effective legislators on the floor of the United States senate. I have seen both of them entertain amendments both friendly and not so friendly on the floor of the senate and deal with them in a fair fashion. I have seen both of them use the United States senate to achieve legislative goals, some that i share and some that i didnt share. But i have to ask them in all candor, as listened to the speech about preserving the senate as we know it, if they are really taking a look around at the senate as we know it. Do you know how many amendments were debated on the floor of the United States senate in the year 2019 . In the entire year . Americas greatest deliberative body considered 22 amendments in the year. Six of them offered by one senator, senator rand paul, the junior senator from kentucky. And you remember them as i do. He basically said here is a gun to your head. If you want to go home, i get a vote. He got his vote, and as he reminded me, he lost every one of those amendments. So six of the 22 amendments were, frankly, one senators effort to have a record vote, and thats all it was. 16 substantive amendments in a year, and you are arguing we cannot change the senate, we cannot transform the senate, we cannot consider changes in the rules of the senate. I know better. I know that you are a good legislator and you are as well, senator. I know that you can take a bill through a committee, bring it to the floor and defend it on the floor and go through the amendment process, and we all know that that is how the senate was designed to work. What happened . What happened to this senate . Well, if you take a look at the number of cloture motions to end a filibuster that were filed some 13 years ago, they averaged about 68 a year. Do you know how many we now have . Over 250 a year. This is out of control. It is so much out of control that when you take a look at the ordinary business of the United States senate, take a look at memories you may have of passing a budget resolution, we dont do that anymore, do we . Take a look at passing appropriation bills. You are a member of the Appropriations Committee, proud to be as i am, too. I loved that committee. It was a Great Committee to serve on. We actually took agencies and went through hearings and drew up budgets and took them to Appropriations Committees and actually considered amendments in the committees, then brought them to the floor and amendments to the floor. Yes, that happened in your political lifetime and in mine. It no longer occurs. Do you understand the senate which you are defending is a senate which no longer engages in that kind of debate . What does it boil down to . There are meetings of the big four or the big eight or whatever that happens to be. They decide all 12 appropriation bills. We sit on the outside of the room holding our hands patiently, hoping that something we wanted is included. Is that the senate that you ran for . Is that the senate you do not want to change . Tell me seriously, it cant be. And so when those of us on this side of the aisle say to younger members you would have loved the senate if you just could have seen it, but you have only been here six years so you missed it. There was a time when we did debate on the floor. Do you remember when doddfrank came to the floor . Senator dodd and senator shelby were managing that bill. This was the most dramatic change in wall street policy in a generation or more. I remember it because i offered what i believe was the 25th amendment on the floor. 25 amendments on this bill that had already come out of the banking committee. I offered the 25th amendment on debit cards, and they announced that it would be a 60vote margin. All the others had been a simple majority to that point. I surprised everybody, including myself, and passed that amendment. And then more were offered. Do you remember Immigration Reform bill . Do you recall what happened there . I can tell you because i was on the gang of eight that wrote the bill. We went through the judiciary committee, and senator Jeff Sessions of alabama was determined to derail the bill. He said i have 200 amendments, and im going to offer them all. Well, he stopped at about 40 or 50 because he wasnt passing any amendments. Then we came to the floor, and we faced the same process, amendment process after amendment, and the bill was passed on the floor of the senate. That was within my political lifetime and yours as well. It worked. Why is it not working now . Why is this such an empty chamber . Why all these empty desks when so many things are needed to be done in america . Because we have stopped legislating. We have stopped debating. We have stopped amending. And you say boy, we have to preserve this. We have to do everything we can to preserve this. We know better than that. This isnt the senate that we are witnessing. This is some aberration. Some use of the filibuster. In the first three years with senator mcconnell in charge, we had more filibusters and cloture votes than in the entire history of the United States senate. Its out of control, my friends, my colleagues, my fellow senators. I dont know what the answer is in terms of rule changes, but i will tell you this mr. Thune would the senator yield for a question . Mr. Durbin i will in just one moment. I will tell you this to argue that we need to preserve this is really to discourage anyone from becoming a member of this body. If we are not going to legislate, if we are not going to tkal the real issues of our time i look the a the presiding officer. He stepped up on the last immigration debate we had on a bipartisan measure. I thank him for doing it. It wasnt easy politically, but that is what the senate once was not that long ago. I do yield for a question through the chair to the senator from south dakota. Mr. Thune will the senator from illinois agree, however, because i think its important to point out this is not something that happened in the last few years. The senator from alaska had a colleague elected in 2008 who ran again for election in 2014, the argument could be made against him he had never gotten a vote on the floor of the United States senate on a single amendment in a sixyear term in the United States senate. And i came here in 2005 and the first eight years that i was here as United States senator, witnessed time and time again the very thing that youre talking about where amendments were shut down. The tree was filled in the parliamentary language that we use here in the senate. So i would ask the senator, is this not this is not an issue that has cropped up in the last few years. Is this not a problem that originated some time ago and is the senator suggesting that we need to do away with the super majority requirement that requires us as United States senators to Work Together in a bipartisan way to find Common Ground to fix what ails the senate. I would argue what ails the senate right now requires nothing more than behavioral change. We have to agree that when somebody offers an amendment on one side, that its not going to be blocked immediately and we get into this lockdown. Thats whats happened in recent years. And in the last couple of examples weve had, as recently as last week, blocking the motion to proceed to the bill. I mean, if you want to have an amendment process, youve got to get on the bill in the first place. Thats been now the routine has been executed by the minority is to prevent even a motion to proceed which would enable us to get to an amendment process. So this is not a new this is not something happening when senator mcconnell came here. This was happening well before that as i pointed out, the senator from alaskas colleague went through an entire sixyear term without getting a vote, a democrat colleague, when he was in the he was in the majority here in the United States senate. Mr. Durbin id say to the senator from south dakota, thank you. And with respect i said earlier and i meant it that i think you are a good legislator as is the senator from alaska and many others and given a chance, youve proven it. We just dont get the chance anymore. No budget resolution. No appropriations bills. One bill really of any substance comes to the floor of the senate each year now. Its the Defense Authorization bill by tradition. Hell or high water were going to bring that bill up and im glad we do. But thats it. End of story. The rest of the time what do we spend our days doing . Watching the clock go by for 30 hours so we can have the vote on the next nomination. Is that the senate you ran for . Is that why you went through the sacrifice and asked your family to join new that sacrifice to be in public life . No, not for me it isnt. Im here to do something. I think we can do something. Weve proven it in the past. The Affordable Care act, books will be written, they already have been written about what it took to finally pass it. Eventually it was enacted into law and signed by the president and chaiped the lives of changed the lives of millions of americans. Im glad i voted for it. It was not a bipartisan effort at any stage. I wish it were. The point im getting to is this. I dont know what the sans in terms of changing the answer is in terms of changing the rules. Im not going to stand in defense of the status quo. I do not believe the notion we cannot touch the senate and its fra decisions. Its indefensible in light of what weve seen on the senate floor in the last several years, years. I just have to tell you im surprised now that the republican position articulated by your leader and by your whip is status quo, leave it as is fine. Just great. Dont you change the senate. Well, i think the senate needs to change. Mr. Thune mr. President . Could i have one last question for the senator from illinois. I dont disagree that, again, that we can do a better job, both sides making the senate a more open place where we have an opportunity to debate which i think is the history and tradition of the senate. But blowing up the senate rules accomplishes that. I want to read for you this morning, hes on the floor here but in an interview on npr, the junior senator from massachusetts was asked if there were parts of the Green New Deal that might attract bipartisan support. How do he reply . He replied we need to enact the whole thing and if republicans disagree, democrats should eliminate the filibuster. Now, wanting for preserve the filibuster doesnt mean we cant reform the senate, but it does mean that we shouldnt allow a majority to steamroll a minority. And thats what the filibuster and in the rules of the senate were designed to protect. And what your members are talking openly about doing, including your leader, is nuking the filibuster, blowing up the senate and changing it and transforming it in way that will transform not only the senate in a way that the government i think was designed to work by our founders but also transform the country. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i would allow the junior senator from massachusetts to address that question himself when he gets his chance on the floor. Ms. Murkowski mr. President . Will the senator yield for one last question. Mr. Durbin happy to yield. Ms. Murkowski to follow senator from south dakotas comment about using the tool that would effectively blow up the senate, if you will, these are not words that we use freely, but i think it is fair to suggest that utilizing this tool that would eliminate the filibuster, that would eliminate really the strongest tool for a Minority Party is akin to the nuclear option. We use that term around here in legislative prose. And i would agree with much of what you have said. You and i have served on the Appropriations Committee now for years. We have weve had an opportunity to be engaged in good substancive substantive debates that have yielded good substantive enduring laws. And as i think about our role around here, its not just to engage in the partisan message of the day. Its actually to enact laws. But when we enact laws that are good for Just One Party, that are wholly partisan, you can kind of predict the direction that will be taken when that Minority Party that voted against that particular policy then regains power and takes the majority. And then attempts to overturn whatever that policy may be. When we think about ways that we can help an economy that is struggling right now, one of the things that im hearing from businesses is, the one thing we would like out of washington, d. C. , the one thing we would really like is some level of certainty with policies, that its not kind of this whiplash back and forth from one administration to the next. Well, the way that you do that is through a level of consensus. And as we know on this floor right now where its still pretty quiet, consensus has been harder and harder to achieve on a bipartisan basis. Maybe this is a place in time where we are and it is just dark. As our friend john mccain would say, its always darkest before it goes pitch black. Maybe were getting close to the pitch black. One could only hope. But i do hear your words that the status quo is not acceptable. And, you know, i agree with you, my friend, its not acceptable. Its not acceptable that we are in that place where we cant get votes on amendments that are legitimate and pertinent to the legislation that we have. Im trying to advance an energy bill right now to get to final passage. And were going through the procedural hurdles. And i will work through those. But it is we are at a point whereas an institution, i believe were failing. Were failing the american public. Were failing our constituents. We are failing in our role as governance in governing. And i do think, i do think that when people look to the anxiety that is at play right now with our national elections, with a president ial election that is as volatile as we have seen, if there is some level of comfort and security that they might have, they might think that just maybe the congress, maybe the senate can get its act together and be working together. And so i hear you. Status quo is not acceptable. And im not one thats going to say we cant change any of the rules, but we have to do better. And whether it is behavioral attitudes that need to change or whether we need to Work Together to change the rules, thats where we should be, not unilaterally bomb throwing, not unilaterally making the decision that is going to benefit our party today. And then when we lose the majority, well deal with it later. We owe it to the senate. We owe it to the country to do better. So i appreciate this back and forth today. I would welcome other colleagues to join us. But i would hope that we look very, very closely at where we are right now because we are using our own rules to do damage to the institution o of the senate. So lets not take the last tool that holds us in check, this filibuster, and throw it away as well. Because we will regret it. In the meantime, lets figure out what we can be doing as democrats and republicans to do better for the institution of the senate and do better for the American People. Mr. President , i apologize that wasnt by way of a question. It was occupying the senator from illinois time. But i think weve got a lot of work to do here, and i hope that were able to do it together. With that i yield the floor. Mr. Durbin mr. President , with her permission, i will add a question mark at the end of that statement to the senator from alaska and thank her and warn her that we are coming dangerously close to debating on the floor of the United States senate. It almost never happens. And were coming close to it. Were actually asking one another do we have to change the rules to finally make the senate work or is there another way . Im open to other ways. Im open to demonstrations of that. But i will tell you it isnt frustration. Its a determination to make certain if the people of illinois return me to the senate, that we actually do something, achieve something, that we go home win or lose with the feeling that weve been engaged in a process that respected our rights as individual senators and ended in a vote up or down and a measure pass or fail. That to me is why i ran for this job and i think probably for yourself as well. Were not there and were not close to being there. Im going to put my statement in the record here. Im just going to close with a brief comment. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin on substance. Mr. President , march 26 we shocked america in the United States senate. I know. I went home and they told me so. You know how we shocked them . By a vote of 960 we passed the cares act. 960. Not a single dissenting vote in the senate. 3 trillion to address our economic problems on the coronavirus epidemic that we were facing. We did it on march 26, yes, in this calendar year. And we did it knowing that the measures we were taking had a life expense attention of just a few Life Expectancy of just a few months because we thought it would be the end of our challenge. Its not. The challenges we faced in passing the cares act of march are still challenges america faces. When it comes to covid19, the numbers are sobering. The infection rate of covid19 in the United States is double the infection rate of the same virus in canada. Canada. How can the United States be in a position where twice as Many Americans are getting sick as those just living on the other side of the border . And when you look at the overall numbers, you have to shake your head. We have 4. 5 of the worlds population living in the United States. 4. 5 . And over 20 of the covid19 deaths in the world. 4. 5 and 20 . What is going on here . This nation, this great nation with all of its wealth and all of its resources and all of its talent and all of its great hospitals and doctors and pharmaceutical companies, we have a rate of covid19 deaths that is just indefensible. And so i would say to my colleagues when senator mcconnell came to the floor and said heres our package, take it or leave it, that is not how this can possibly end. Thats not the way the debate ended on march 26. It ended when senator mcconnell and his House Republican counterpart congressman mccarthy met with Speaker Pelosi, leader schumer, treasury secretary mnuchin in a room and worked it out. Thats what it takes. We need to return to that now and get it done before we leave for any reason, election or whatever it may be. There is no excuse. There are too many Unemployed People desperate to get by. They businesses desperate to survive. There are too many tests that we cannot take in america because we havent invested the resources. There are too Many School Districts telling me, senator, reopening these schools need some help. Election authorities because people want to vote in the safety of their homes, will receive a dramatic increase of paper ballots cast and they need help in processing them in an orderly, honest way. The demands are out there. State and local governments are in trouble. Small towns in Southern Illinois i speak to their mayors and i hear the same thing i hear from the mayor of chicago, we have a downtown of revenues, we will have to lay off firefighters and Health Care Workers if you dont give us a helping hand. Senator mcconnell cant take the position of my way or the highway. We have to find a i would to negotiate and answer this. I hope we do soon. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from massachusetts. A senator i ask unanimous consent to address the senate for ten minutes. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Markey mr. President , we are fast approaching nearly 2,000 deaths from the coronavirus but the moral and physical injury will never be contained in just one number. As that number continues to climb, so too does the frustration and the pain and the outrage of the American People. We know that donald trump recognized the threat of the coronavirus and deliberately downplayed it for his own political gain. He is, in large part, responsible for these deaths. We now have 31 million workers either receiving or who have applied for Unemployment Benefits. Since march 15, massachusetts alone has seen more than two million claims to our unemployment programs. We have the highest Unemployment Rate in the United States in massachusetts. Families across the country are facing devastating choices. Cities and towns are struggling to keep programs running and employees at work. We know the republicans recognize these threats and they are choosing to ignore it. They are, in part, responsible for the suffering. After four months of callous calculations, when they chose to respond, the republicans put out on to the floor a coronavirus package that was insulting to americans who had been awaiting relief. The extent of the misery facing our families is unimagable, yet, republicans and leader mcconnell responded by designing a bill so intentionally weak and insufficient that it was des tained to destined to fail. It was all a game to the Republican Party but to democrats this is a matter of life and death. We need a robust, comprehensive response right now that matches the scale of this crisis and we have an opportunity to deliver some real justice to working americans and their families. First, we need to give americans a monthly cash payment of 2,000 so that they have the funding to be able to pay their bills. A single check is not sufficient for households. Families need more than just one payment, providing recurring Monthly Payments is the most direct and efficient mechanism for delivering Economic Relief to those most vulnerable, the lowincome families, immigrant communities and our service workers. I see these families suffering today. They are the same kind of working families that i grew up with in molden and i know that 2,000 would mean the world to them each month so that they could sleep at night, they can pay the rent, they can pay the electric bill, they can buy the medications which they need. A Monthly Payment is the kind of big policy that provides relief on the scale that is needed. Our government needs to tell our families we are here for you. We will not let you down during this crisis. And, second, we need at least 4 billion for my Erate Program to connect every student to the internet at home. This has shown a light on the gap between the 16 Million Students in this country who do not have Internet Access at home and are unable to complete their homework. This is unconscionable and a threat to our countrys future. We cannot allow this homework gap to become a larger learning gap which is eventually going to become an opportunity gap for these young people. And Research Shows that the homework gap affects students in both rural and urban areas and disproportionately affects lowincome students and students of color. Trump is blocking this. We cant let them. We will not leave these students behind. Third, we need to extend Unemployment Insurance. The monthly 600 benefit through january of 2021. This is not just a line in the budget, it is a lifeline for workers who cannot go to work through no fault of their own. This crisis will only be solved by investing in workers. We cannot simply cut them off when we know harder days lie ahead for those workers in our country. And, fourth, we must continue a National Evictions moratorium and provide 100 billion in emergency rental assistance. No one should have to suffer the indignity of being escorted out of their homes by the police, a country that allows evictions during a pandemic because of a pandemic has failed its people. The same goes for electric. We need a National Moratorium that keeps the lights on, ensures drinking water, ensures that Wastewater Services arent disconnected during the emergency period due to nonpayment. We cannot cast families into the dark as they are struggling to stay afloat. It is wrong to allow a pandemic that has not been created by these families to result in catastrophic conditions that will look like the Great Depression in terms of their impact on families in the same way it impacted my family during the Great Depression. We owe these people more. They have worked hard. They have worked constantly throughout their lives and now, through no fault of their own, the pandemic has hit them and they are unemployed. And, finely, we need 1 trillion in funding for state and local governments so our teachers, nurses, postal workers and other dedicated Public Servants are not laid off. The essential workers who drive the buses, fight fires, educate our young people and despite our municipalities arent getting any money because republicans refuse to provide it. State and local governments have been pushed to the brink to support their residents and are in desperate need of relief. To my republican colleagues, i say this funding isnt blue or red, its green and all of our mayors an governors and city councils, whether republican or democrat, need that money right now. Ive been traveling around my home state of massachusetts talking to families. They tell me the same thing. They want a livable future for their children and that means they need the government to do its job effectively in managing this covid19 pandemic. Instead of making excuses, they need a government that works on Solutions Even if the problems are unprecedented and they want that government to recognize the rights and dignity of everyone. Our families want something so basic, so simple they almost shouldnt have to say it. They want their children to dream about the future instead of fearing about the future. They need Political Leadership from our right now, not political games, not the political calculation of just 20 members of the Senate Republican caucus. To my colleagues, i say the gravity of this crisis requires us to respond right now. And we know that we have a president in the white house who is irresponsible. The president knew it turn out he knew the virus was deadly. He knew it as well as we knew it, but he lied to us. He told us it would magically disappear. He said it was no worse than the flu while on tape we hear him say that it is lethal. On february 10, he said, you know, a lot of people think it goes away in april with the heat. When the heat comes in. Thats what the president said in february about the coronavirus. Well, he also tells us that the Climate Change is a myth. He tells us that our planet is not in grave danger. He makes fun of the science of Climate Change, the way he makes fun of wearing a mask. And now the denier in chief says when it gets cooler and it will go away. That the fires in the west coast will just go away. So his answer to coronavirus is, when it gets warmer, it will go away. When he deals with the science of Climate Change, he says when it gets cooler, the fires will go away. The west coast of the United States, mr. President , is on fire. 10 of oregon is under evacuation order, a warning. Thats half a million people. We have dozens of wildfires burning in california, including the largest in the history of that state, it has blotted out the sun, the west is in a constant twilight. We can keep looking at these things, isolated as if some how or another they are not connected, each hurricane, each devastating flood, each ungodly wind storm that wipes out a whole year of crops. We can say they have nothing to do with each other or we can look at the truth an listen to the science and say enough is enough. We can lie to ourselves and say, like trump does, that one day these things will just magically disappear, depending on whether the heat or cooling will solve the problem. But we all know better. We know that unless we act now, the fires will happen annually and burn hotter and larger each summer, each fall in our country. We they that the hurricanes will get worse and more frequent. Two made landfall at once this year. We know that they will disrupt and destroy the economies of the gulf and the eastern seaboard. How many times can we ask our people to rebuild . We know that midwestern floods will grow each year, drowning out a whole way of life and making are ref fewees of our refugees of our farmers. Iowa lost 43 of its corn and soybeans this year. It will not magically disappear. We need a brandnew deal. We need a solution that matches the magnitude of the problem. I yield back to the president and i appreciate his indulgence. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , i have four requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have been approved by the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Cornyn i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to complete my remarks before the lunch recess. The presiding officer without objection. Kosh corn mr. President , mr. Cornyn mr. President , let me just say i join my friend from massachusetts in a desire to see us take up and pass another covid19 relief bill. I would say that so far the house of representatives has taken a completely unrealistic approach, including many noncovid19 relief provisions in the bill, including tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. They literally include in the covid19 bill they call the heroes act a tax cut by removing the cap on deductibility on your federal income tax. When we did that in the tax cuts and jobs act, we felt it was improper to force states, like the presiding officers and mine, subsidize the irresponsible spending practices in major cities like new york and San Francisco and so if if our democratic friends are indeed serious about wanting to get a deal, were open, certainly, to negotiating a deal, just like we did the first four bills that we passed essentially by unanimous vote. But it seems like the closer we get to the election, now 49 days out, that the old partisan dysfunction begins to creep back in and you hear speeches like our friend from massachusetts just gave advocating things like the Green New Deal. As a solution to all the worlds problems. Just completely pie in the sky and a pipe dream that obviously is not going anywhere, but that doesnt stop our friends across the aisle blaming this side of the aisle or the president for everything that happens in the world, including hurricanes and forest fires, largely as a result of failing to undertake proper Forest Management which we know can prevent fires, and they blame it on Climate Change. Its an easy argument claiming that science is on their side. We need to be good stewards of our environment, no doubt about it, and i have no doubt that the climates changing and that humans contribute to that, but there are smarter and better ways for us to approach it other than eliminating the jobs, burdening people on fixed incomes, with higher electricity and energy costs, and just embracing an ideological solution which is no solution at all which will create more problems than it solves. And i would just say finally, mr. President , that on this point, that we know that the guidance from the center for Disease Control has evolved over time. I went back and checked. So my friend from massachusetts said the president did this, he did that, he said this, he didnt do this. I remember going back and looking at the center for Disease Control guidance, and before april, they said masks were ineffective, didnt do anything. They came back after some Additional Investigation and research said it does it can help, so thats why we are all wearing masks, especially when we cant socially distance. So looking at this pandemic now in september as opposed to the way it looked in march, weve learned a lot, thank goodness. Our medical professionals have saved a lot of lives. Weve learned how to mitigate the risks. Weve learned how to live with the virus at the same time were investing heavily in therapies and a vaccine, which cant come soon enough. But, mr. President , Senate Republicans have made attempt after attempt to deliver another round of Coronavirus Relief to the American People. In july, we proposed the heals act which was a starting point for negotiations. We realized this wasnt the endall and beall any more than the democrat heroes act, this 3 trillion hodgepodge of ideological wish lists. We knew that wasnt going to pass either, but we knew we needed to start somewhere. Well, Speaker Pelosi didnt help when she quickly disparaged our proposal, our starting offer as pathetic. And, of course, senator schumer, the minority leader here in the senate, called it unworkable. I guess they thought they finished their job. They dismissed it outright and did nothing to negotiate in good faith toward a resolution. They simply had no interest in amending the bill or trying to find a Common Ground. They just stiffarmed it. Then in august, when we attempted to narrow the scope of the negotiation to the most urgent matters, things like continuing federal Unemployment Benefits which expired at the end of july, this time our democratic colleagues rejected what they called a piecemeal approach. Never mind the fact that the house had returned to washington to pass a bill only to help the postal service, which was actually bipartisan, but apparently that kind of piecemeal is acceptable as long as its a democratsponsored and authored bill. That brings us to september. Last week, we gave it another shot. The majority leader brought a bill to the floor to address some of the most pressing challenges facing the American People funding schools, vaccine research, more testing, Unemployment Benefits, helping Small Businesses again through the extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, all of which should be and i believe in truth are bipartisan goals. But unfortunately our democratic colleagues couldnt resist that old temptation to partisan dysfunction this close to the election. They pulled out the same playbook they used all summer. Once again, they refused to engage in any meaningful negotiations. They resorted to namecalling and blocked the bill from even being debated. You cant pass a bill unless youre willing to get started considering it, but they werent willing to even do that. So here we are battling a pandemic which has claimed more than 190 american lives, and democrats have blocked every attempt to pass a piece of legislation since march. Rather than try to negotiate or amend these bills or reach a bipartisan compromise, they seem to be contented with airing their grievances at press conferences. I agree with one thing our friend from massachusetts said. There are people hurting and need help. And we should not take some perverse delight in exacerbating that pain or noting that pain and being unwilling to do anything to relieve it. This may be a political game for some of our colleagues. It may be a way to try to score points against the president or try to gain advantages in the runup to the election on november 3, but i assure you it is not an honest attempt to try to solve a problem. Its not a genuine attempt to try to provide relief to the American People who are hurting, and its not moving us any closer to defeating this virus once and for all. In the bills that we passed so far, again, on a bipartisan basis, largely unanimously, we provided unprecedented support for american families, including direct payments, bolstered Unemployment Benefits, and provided the ability to defer your student loan payments. We sent help to farmers, ranchers, and producers. We helped our schools prepare for the new school year. And given Small Businesses and their employees the resources to stay afloat. We have provided stability for families and communities across texas and across the nation. But more help is needed, especially to bolster our response to the virus itself. We know were in a race, a global race to develop a vaccine and treatment. Our brightest Scientific Minds are working 24 7 to deliver those lifesaving drugs to the world as quickly as we can, safely and effectively, but they need more money to succeed. At the same time, our communities are trying to test as many people as they can, whether its people attending College Football games or surveillance testing in communities or at colleges or grade schools. Our constituents dont care about our partisan disagreements. They just want us to do everything we can to help them and to help us defeat this virus. During the month of august, i was able to travel around the state and to listen to feedback from my constituents on how the funding we provided so far has aided in the fight against covid19. In Congress Congress has provided more than 230 billion to support our health care response. Thats 10 billion for research and development of a vaccine through operation warp speed. 16 billion for personal protective equipment. 26 billion for testing. And of course the 175 billion Provider Relief Fund to help our hospitals. More than 23,000 hospitals and Health Care Providers in my state alone have received more than 5. 1 billion in federal funding, allowing them to procure the Critical Resources like masks and gloves and to cover mounting costs due to the deferral of elective procedures. In august, i had a chance to personally thank some of the Health Care Workers in abilene, waco, wichita falls, amarillo, lubbock, and corpus christi. I also had lunch and visited with the children of Health Care Workers in the Rio Grande Valley who, even at such a young age, are amazed by the heroic work of their parents. As our war against this virus carries on, we need to ensure that our frontline workers and Health Care Providers have the resources they need to sustain this fight. I also visited with the Family Health center in waco, which is one of 73 federally qualified Health Centers in texas operating more than 500 sites. This is a really critical part of our Health Care Safety net in my state and across the nation. I have always been a strong supporter of our community Health Centers and cofounded the Senate Community Health Center caucus several years ago. As i said, these senators make Quality Health care a reality for so many texans, whether they have medicare or medicaid or private insurance or no insurance. Texans can go to these Health Centers and receive the care that they need when they need it. A particular Family Health center i visited in waco that was founded more than 50 years ago to address a shortage of doctors and primary care access for lowincome patients, and its since grown to 15 clinics across Mclennan County which provide not only primary and Preventative Care but dental and Behavioral Health care, too. As Family Health center c. E. O. Dr. Jackson griggs said, communityoriented primary care is difficult in any era, and its been uniquely challenging during covid19. Unexpected operating costs and lost revenue have created serious financial hardship, but because of the 3 million in cares act and other federal funding they got, they have continued to provide Quality Health care during this time of critical need. Because of federal funding, they have been able to test every person who comes in with symptoms. They have received the congresswomen, the kits, the mobile computer systems, tents, air conditioning units that allows staff to test patients outdoors, even during a hot texas summer. During our visit, dr. Griggs told me they had conducted more than 7,400 tests with over 1,50. Of those, 53 were uninsured. Without legislation passed by congress, who knows if these patients would have been able to afford or even get access to a covid19 test . This funding has also provided more than 187,000 pieces of p. P. E. To the Family Health centers doctors, nurses, dentists, social workers, and staff who are trying to stay safe and healthy so they can continue to care for their patients. On top of that, the funds we have provided have provided the Information Technology infrastructure to get Telehealth Services started in record time, and nearly 11,000 hours of paid leave for Health Care Workers and other Staff Members who become ill or needed to quarantine because of the virus. This legislation has passed that we passed has also helped community Health Centers, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, Health Care Facilities throughout the state continue to serve their communities. As we keep working to deliver the assistance for the American People, we need to continue to support our health care response. This means ensuring that providers continue to have the resources needed throughout this crisis. It means more resources for testing and Contact Tracing to stop the spread. It means an even greater investment in the race to discover a vaccine and treatment so we can finally bring this crisis to an end. And it means continuing to provide Health Care Coverage for those who are laid off or furloughed or lost employer coverage. I recently introduced a bill with my friend, senator mcsally from arizona to provide some degree of certainty for folks who found themselves without a job or Health Coverage through no fault of their own. Its called the continuous Health Coverage for workers act which would provide premium assistance for cobra coverage during the rest of the year. As the coronavirus has wreaked havoc on our job market, it has filled countless texans lives with uncertainty. By passing this legislation as part of the next relief bill, we can ensure that those who previously maintained their Health Coverage through their employer can continue to do so through the end of the year. Mr. President , let me just say in conclusion, covid19s not a partisan issue. It hasnt been up until this point. Unfortunately, the wheels came off, at least for the time being. We need to put those wheels back on the car. We are all on the same team and fighting a common enemy, and i hope we can rediscover the sense of bipartisanship and common purpose that helped us pass four bills up through and including march. During august, i was able to spend time speaking with countless of my constituents about the relief bills we passed and discuss what more was needed. In addition to hearing from Health Care Workers and providers who have been on the front line, i have also joined students and teachers for socially distanced conversations about starting the new school year. I held a video call with Restaurant Owners about the ongoing impact of the pandemic on their businesses. And i heard from constituents on telephone town halls about their struggles to make ends meet after losing their jobs and then losing the extra 600 a week federal unemployment benefit that lapse because our colleagues wouldnt allow us to take up and consider a continuation at some level of those enhanced benefits. As our democratic colleagues have continued playing games, these are the folks who have been hurt. And im sure there are similar situations in each of their states. For these texans that ive described, covid19 isnt about political points or sound bites. Its about their health, their families safety, and their livelihoods. So while it seems like some have yielded to the temptation to use this pandemic for political gain, i am committed to continuing to work with all of our colleagues who are willing to ensure we dont lose any of the ground weve gained in the war against covid19. We are literally up against the clock, and its enough and enough time has been wasted on name calling and finger pointing and political posturing. Its time for the games to end so we can finally provide our constituents and our including our frontline heroes with the resources they need in order to sustain and win this fight. Mr. President , i yield the floor. The presiding officer under the previous order, the Senate Washington journall 2 15 p. M continues. On journall 2 15 p. M reverend most cofounder of the National Independent Venue Association and we will have a conversation on how the coronavirus has impacted music venues. Moose, good morning i. How are you doing mark. Im doing fine. Lets first define this conversation for our viewing audience. Tell us what an independent music venue is as compared to other music