Pivotal point in the president s work to ensure there are more smart, conservative jurists in the federal judiciary. Under the leadership of President Trump and leader mcconnell, the senate has prioritized confirming bright, wellqualified men and women who will serve our country for years to come. Im proud to support judge cory wilson and urge my colleagues to approve his nomination. Thank you, and i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the madam president. The presiding officer the senator from minnesota. Ms. Klobuchar i ask unanimous consent that the rules Committee Madam president. The presiding officer the senator from minnesota. Ms. Klobuchar we got ahead of ourselves here. Im going to begin. Madam president , i come to the floor today to urge the senate to address the threat the coronavirus poses to our elections and to take immediate action to pass my legislation to ensure voters do not have to choose between their right to vote and their own health. Today is election day, madam president , in kentucky and in new york and in virginia. There are runoff elections in North Carolina and in mississippi as well. As we speak, voters in these states are experiencing what it is to vote in the middle of a global pandemic. If the past few months are any indication, for many casting a ballot today will not be safe and it will not be easy. The coronavirus has caused unprecedented disruptions in the daily lives of americans. In order to protect voters and poll workers, this pandemic has forced us to make changes to how we vote. 16 states postponed their president ial primaries or transitioned their primaries to almost entirely voting by mail. Weve seen democratic and republican governors across the country issue waivers allowing all voters to cast their ballots by mail during the pandemic, that includes in states like New Hampshire, republican governor, in states like in states like ohio where a republican governor that has focused on vote by mail, in states like maryland where the governor has been devoted to vote by mail and including in states like missouri. While it is important that individual states are taking action to protect voters during this pandemic, we must remember that in the end this is a national pandemic. Its not just a pandemic in vermont or in utah, it is national. It is the responsibility of this nation, of this nations government, of this congress to ensure that states have the funds they need to make our elections more resilient and to make sure that voters dont have to risk their vote to cast their ballots. When we have a national threat, whether it be international conflict, we do not expect an individual state to be able to respond. In world war ii when pearl harbor was bombed, we didnt say, oh, hawaii, you go deal with that yourself. We in this congress has acknowledged that this pandemic has National Consequences in how we responded with the cares act, with how the house has responded with the heroes act that i hope we consider very soon in this congress, with the fact that even when it comes to voting that this congress, with bipartisan support, this u. S. Senate, voted to give over 400 million originally to the states. There was some issues with how that money was given out that we are trying to fix, but nevertheless it was a down payment that the pandemic based on what weve seen in wisconsin we anticipated that there would be problems for voting, that there would be a massive change in how elections would vote. You have a place like new york state where only 5 have voted by mail. States like my state, despite having the highest voter turnout, minnesota, only 25 of people, on average voted by mail, and now youre seeing switchovers to 50 , 60 of the people of every single state in the nation asking to vote from home or in the alternative asking for safe voting places by keeping voting places open longer. By training poll workers so we do not need to depend on our Senior Citizen to staff the polling locations when they are the most vulnerable to the kroin coronavirus the coronavirus. This is common sense, thats why governors from republican states and democratic states all across the nation are asking for help from from washington. Today in kentucky and new york Election Officials are putting more than 36 million of federal funding to good use to provide workers with protective equipment an sanitizing supplies, funding for postage, purchase additional equipment and to cover the cost of moving poll locations to accommodate more people. I am proud to have fought to secure that funding and i appreciate senator blunt, my colleague who i know is going to be here shortly who is chair of the rules committee for assisting and making sure that that funding was designated as well as senator shelby and senator leahy and senator coons and so many others that have worked on this important issue. Its a good first step, but let us remember this is simply still the primaries in pa few states in a few states. If you talk to Election Officials across the country, they will tell you it wasnt enough that they desperately need more resources for the general election when so many more people vote. Support from the federal government is vital because we have seen states struggle when it comes to administering elections during the pandemic. We also know it is not like they have a reservoir of funding right now to deal with, which is one of the reasons that we want to pass the heroes act. So many of our states and local governments are struggling right now, and thats why its so important to designate funding as we move forward, and i hope we will soon, to discuss the heroes act to be able to help pay for elections. Support from the federal government is vital because we have seen states struggle when it comes to administering elections, with fewer than six months left before the general election, Congress Must act now to ensure that states have the resources and funding that they need. A lot of times you hear, well, its only six months, so why would we do funding now . Look at the fact that we were able to assure the states that the money was going to be out there for them a few months ago for the primaries that they were able to either spend their own money because they knew that money was coming or spend designated money. Thats how this works. Were no longer in a normal situation. Were in a situation where states are having to rearrange how they do elections all over the country to make it safe and to allow people to vote from home. Weve seen the chaos and disenfranchisement that will happen if we dont act soon. The wisconsin primary will forever with etched in the memory of our nation, voters stood for hours in the cold and rain wearing garbage bags and home made masks to exercise their right to vote. In milwaukee there were five polling locations open instead of the 180. The closure of so many polling places made it even heard for people with harder for people without easy access for transportation to get to a polling location and caused unnecessary lines wrapping around blocks. As a result voters were disenfranchised and some even contracted the coronavirus. According to local Health Officials nearly 70 people in wisconsin who either voted in person or served as poll workers contracted the virus as a result of that election. And then earlier this month in georgia, thousands of people went to the polls and were also met with long lines and confusion. Reports from atlanta indicate that voters faced malfunctioning machines and some voters never received the mailin ballots they requested. So instead of being able to safely vote from home many were forced to show up on election day. I was struck by an 80yearold woman from atlanta who actually marched with dr. King, and she was the first person in line at her polling location at 6 00 a. M. Waiting to vote this year. Anita called the long lines and waits unfair and ridiculous. She is right. In fulton count country, one voter, a mom, sat on an lawn chair holding her infant son in one hand and umbrella in another. She waited three hours to vote. She said she wont leaving because it was important to her and her son the one day she would be able to tell him he would vote for him. We dont foe if Voting Machines are operational. Jose andres, the remarkable chef who helps feed people in areas of Natural Disaster and will provide resources for people standing in line on election day. He is doing his part to address this issue as are so many people across the country, including as i mentioned democrat an republican secretaries of state an governors, and i appreciate senator blunt, the chairman of the rules committee is here. And as i said he worked to help us get that initial funding, experts have warned that today in kentucky we may see a repeat of the chaos that we have seen in early primaries. Reports indicate that fewer than 200 polling places are open in the entire state down than the 3,700 in a typical election year. We are glad kentucky has voting by mail. We also know based on what weve seen in these other states, and this is just based on facts, not on partisanship, its based on facts, we know that 200 polling locations in a state of that size will not be enough. Not in the primary, but it certainly wont be enough in a general election. In order to protect the right to vote, we have to learn from states who are taking steps to make voting safe and easy. Primary turnout this year has broken records in many states, especially when it comes to voting by mail, states like nebraska, iowa, south dakota, new mexico, idaho, West Virginia, have held elections by mail. Again thats a primary where some of these states have less voters, not all of them, because they are smaller population states, and many of them are not dealing with a qenl election. General election. In West Virginia mailin ballots increased to over 200,000 this year. In pennsylvania, the number of mailin ballots increased from 80,000 in 2018 to oarch 1. 5 million this year. Voters and Election Officials across the country in red states and blue states are turning to casting a ballot from home. In addition to the five states that already hold their elections mostly by mail, utah, oregon, colorado, hawaii and washington, and i note those states are not all blue states, including particularly utah, and colorado which is known as a purple state, three states, california, nevada, new jersey and the District Of Columbia have decided to send all voters absentee ballots and 13 states have decided to send all voters be absentee ballots. Both republican and democrats officials have decided to implement these policies to protect their voters. None of the five states that held their election primarily by mail this year had major voter fraud scandals. As the New York TimesEditorial Board notes, states that use vote by mail have encountered essentially zero fraud, oregon, the pioneer in this area, has sent out more than 100 million mailin ballots since 000 2000 and only a dozen of fraud. That is 0. 00001 of all votes cast. Weve all seen the president s tweets on this. We know these tweets are meant to hurt our democracy and people shouldnt fall for it because i just gave you the facts. 0. 00001 of all votes cast in the states that have been using this forever involving any frawld. We must set fraud. We must set the record straight. Senator remove any noted that rome any that almost everyone in his state votes by mail. In his words it works very, very well. Now is the time to reject any attempts to undermine our Voting System. What are you going to tell a veteran who has a preexisting condition like the guy who wrote me who served in vietnam who said what are we supposed to do now . We have to allow them to vote from home. In the midst of this pandemic, we need to make sure no voter has to choose between their health and exercising their right to vote. Thats why im urging my colleagues to support my legislation with senator ron wyden which is cosponsored by 35 other senators, the Natural Disaster and emergency ballot act to help state Election Officials meet this pandemic head on. Our legislation doesnt require us to reinvent how we vote. Instead, our bill would overcome the challenges posed by the coronavirus by expanding existing election practices like voting by mail and early voting. It starts with guaranteeing every american the option to vote by mail. 16 states require voters to provide an excuse if they want to cast a ballot by mail. But during the pandemic, 13 of these states are allowing all voters to cast a ballot by mail without needing to provide an excuse. Democratic and republican governors, that is progress. I would say while we still have three states that are still denying all voters the option to vote by mail, forcing them to choose between their health and their constitutional right and go through these hoops to do it, so why not put a standard in place on the federal level . Thats what our bill does. Our legislation would also get help to the states. Again, my friend, senator blunt, is here. I appreciate while he hasnt put a dollar amount on it, but his interest in looking at funding for this beyond this bill, i think is very helpful. Our bill called for 3. 6 billion, which is what is in the heroes act funding to safely administer elections, and it would knock down barriers, this bill, to safely vote, like the requirement to have your ballot signed by a witness or a notary. These are requirements that disproportionately hurt minority voters, people without as much money. Theres one story of someone sitting in a hospital room trying to get someone to notarize a primary ballot through a glass window, someone who has coronavirus. Are we really going to require them to do that . Thats what you have to ask yourself colleagues. The bottom line is it shouldnt be this hard to vote. Im proud this bill has been endorsed by more than a dozen organizations including the group founded by former first Lady Michelle obama, including vote latino, including the Lawyers Committee for civil rights, National Urban league, common cause, the Leadership Conference for civil and human rights. As i noted, the cares act included funding. It didnt include the standards that i think are necessary but included the funding, and thats just the beginning. That was a down payment negotiated in the middle of the night. I know that because i was talking to my colleagues back then. This is the real deal to be able to help states in the general election. This money was included in the heroes act. Public Health Experts have warned over and over again of the possibility of a new wave of this virus in the fall. We have to be ready. States are having this happen anyway. We should make sure that they have the funding to do it. I know were going to be discussing the National Defense authorization act in the next few weeks at some point, and i think about that. Our defense is important, but remember this is about the defense of our r democracy. The simple idea that this was a democracy, that its not a dictatorship, that people should be able to go out there and exercise their right to vote no matter how theyre going to vote, no matter what party theyre going to vote for. Because of this pandemic we need do t. Last thing, three polls released in the last couple of months showing overwhelming majority of voters, over 80 favor measures to make voting safe and easy. One of the polls conducted in six battleground states showed that 74 of voters wanted their senators to support legislation in congress to implement voting reforms, including a majority of republican voters. Think about that. Voters across party lines Want Congress to pass legislation that would guarantee the right to vote by mail and provide funding to states and make sure its safe to vote. Thats what this is about. And again, i thank my colleague, senator blunt, for all he has done and the fact that he was able to work with us when we did negotiate the cares act to make sure there was some funding clud as well includes well as i mentioned senator shelby, senator coons, senator shelby and others. Now is the time to prepare for what we have ahead and that is making sure everyone can vote safely. Mr. President , as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the rules committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 4033, the Natural Disaster and emergency ballot act of 2020, and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. That the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . A senator madam president. The presiding officer the senator from missouri. Mr. Blunt reserving the right to object, and with great consideration for senator klobuchars dedication on these issues, many of which, as she has pointed out, we have worked together on and i think well continue to, i just dont think this is the time to make this kind of fundamental change. I will admit that the very first legislation after the 2018 elections, the house passed a bill, but again it was a bill that would provide the federal government with unprecedented control over elections in this country. Despite the fact that for almost 250 years now, the states have been responsible for this particular government responsibility and to, quote, yet another time senator and then president obama in october of 2016 pointed out that the very strength of our system was the diversity of the system. I think one of the strengths of the system is the amount of local responsibility and local answerability, frankly, for how the system works on election day. Senator klobuchar pointed out that were fewer than six months none of the election. As a matter of fact, in our committee, i intend to hold a hearing next month on the problems that weve seen develop with this move toward more people wanting to vote not at the polling place on election day and how some states have dealt with those problems effectively and how others havent. And ill also say, to follow up on one of senator klobuchars points, i think funding i