And freedom. Inspire them to be stewards of your will as you answer their cries for help. Lord, listen to their fervent prayers as they wait expectantly for your deliverance. Keep our senators on the right path of your prevailing providence and surround them with the shield of your love. Defend them with your heavenly grace and give them the courage to face perils with total trust in you. We pray in your sovereign name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in 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. Mr. Grassley you watch the news or read the newspapers and you know that theres a lot of deliberations going on to help with the problems that we have of people being unemployed, the pandemic were fighting, and getting the economy up and running. While those negotiations are going on, every once in a while some of us on this side of the aisle try to get things to help people that have need. So a few days ago the democratic leader objected to one of these attempts which was a shortterm extension of the federal unemployment supplement that was created by this body as part of the cares act. And remember, the cares act passed unanimously by this body back in march. So those things are running out and were trying to get them extended. This effort to get this shortterm extension was to provide for americans who need the continued help while talks continue about a longer extension and even more relief. Common sense ought to play a role. There doesnt seem to be any downside to a temporary extension, but there apparently was a political upside to the other side blocking it. I hope we can Work Together and that the democrat leader will let his members work with republican colleagues on a path forward. This partisan my way or the high way approach just doesnt work, particularly in a body where it takes 60 votes to get things done. So these objections are not how we got the cares act passed in the first place. Its not how well continue to deliver for the American People now if we dont get more cooperation. I yield the floor. Mr. Mcconnell madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader is recognized. Mr. Mcconnell first, madam president , i extend the senates condolences to the people of lebanon following yesterdays horrific explosion in beirut. Reports indicate that at least a hundred have died and more than 4,000, 4,000 others were injured. The lebanese people have seen more than their share of tragedy. Civil war, syrian occupation, terrorism, and assassination, violence, economic and political corruption, the burden of caring for more than a million refugees fleeing syria. Now, unfortunately, once again in the wake of great tragedy, the Lebanese Armed forces will have to demonstrate they serve the state of lebanon and its people, not a Political Party or sect. Since the end of syrian occupation, the l. A. F. Has demonstrated it can be unifying National Force largely free from sectarianism that corrodes other lebanese institutions. Now it must do so again. The people of beirut are beginning the hard work of rebuilding their city. Their nation continues its hard work to restore its democracy and sovereignty. On these fronts the senate and the American People stand with them in their journey. Now, on an entirely different matter, stop me, madam president , if the story im about to tell sounds familiar. The speaker of the house, the democratic leader, some of summoned President Trumps representatives to the capitol. They meet for a long while. The democrats say they had a few meters of progress but the deal is still far off leaving millions of americans in the lurch. They continue to push their 3 trillion wish list that even their own democratic colleagues brushed off as absurd. Weve had variations on this theme daily for more than a week now. The speaker of the house called their far left proposal a well developed Strategic Plan. But even members of their own caucus know thats not true. Back when the speakers wish list was rammed through the house, one democratic member came right out and said the socalled heroes act, quote, isnt a plan. Its a wish list. Another said that members of her caucus had taken the bill as, quote, an opportunity to make political statements that go far beyond pandemic relief and has no chance at becoming law. Others said it was not focused and, quote, partisan gamesmanship. These are democrats im quoting. Even the speakers own rank and file know its comical to say your Strategic Plan for covid19 involves sending taxpayers checks to people here illegally. Paying people more not to work than essential workers earn by working. Soil help programs, socalled Environmental Justice grants, and a massive tax cut aimed directly at wealthy people in new york and california. The last point needs special attention. Now in ordinary negotiations, members of Congress Like to bring things home for their core supporters. But its a little too on the nose for the speaker from San Francisco and the democratic leader if new york city to be holding up a frill dollars in emergency aid for the entire country unless they get big tax breaks for millionaires in their own towns. Economists across the political spectrum say this demand of theirs is a bad idea. 94 of the benefit would flow to people who make north of 200,000. In the words of one progressive economist who ought to be on their side, quote, this is not a good idea. It would not help the economy heal and it would not benefit the people who need help. But my friends in the Democratic Leadership are not deterred. More than a week into the talks theyre still threatening to block all relief for struggling people unless big city penthouses get these tax cuts. The democratic leader said just yesterday hes Still Holding out for this. Now, this isnt the only bad policy theyre hung up on. The speaker and the democratic leader continue to insist that federal unemployment assistance should pay people more not to work than the essential workers who kept working. Let me say that again. The democratic position has been that these millions of laid off people should get nothing unless they get a higher salary than the people who are still working. This isnt just bad economics if youre trying to reopen a country. Its also just simply unfair in the simplest terms. Republicans want to keep providing some supplemental federal unemployment. We just dont think its remotely fair for the federal government to tax essential workers who kept working every day so that uncle sam can pay their neighbors a higher salary to stay home. Let me say that again. We just dont think its remotely fair for the federal government to tax essential workers who kept working every day so uncle sam can pay their neighbors a higher salary to stay home. Outside of the democratic leader and the speaker of the house, even democrats can see that the boyd upside down to pay people more not to work. Last week the House Democratic majority leader said, quote, its not just 600 or bust. Our colleague, the senior senator from maryland, has said, quote, we certainly understand we dont want to have higher benefits than what somebody can make working. And just yesterday the senior senator from West Virginia stated plainly that Speaker Pelosis position was untenable. Quote, i dont think were going to stay at the 600. Lets bare in mind even 200 would be eight times what democrat, put in place with union unified control in the last crisis in 2009. Its unthinkable they would hold every bit of relief hostage unless we land back at 600 and pay workers a bonus, a bonus if they do not help to reopen our country. Maybe the speaker and the democratic leader will get the memo from their colleagues sometime soon. And then theres democrats demand for a trillion more dollars to hand out to state and local governments even though theyve only spent onefourth, onefourth of the money we sent them back in march. Yesterday i received an urgent letter from the city of malibu, california. And i promise im not making this up. They asked congress for hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local government because they have had to delay their conversion to an allelectric city fleet. I guess thats an emergency in malibu when they cant keep buying grand mu brand new electric cars as quickly as they would like. Well this emergency is hitting most of america very differently. My constituents in kentucky have bigger problems. They need actual relief straight to struggling families and frankly, they need it yesterday. Not a trillion dollar slush fund for bureaucrats that havent spent what we sent them back in march. Those are just some of the fantasy items that are in the democratics demands. I havent even gotten to all the important things they left out. Their bill costs three times as much as Senate Republicans heals act but they kip over skip over major serious things we took care of. Democrats propose fewer resources than republicans for the fund to help schools reopen safely. Democrats completely shortchange the successful collinsrubio Paycheck Protection Program where our bill would have fund a whole second round. Democrats have no real equivalent to our proposals to strengthen domestic supply chains for p. P. E. And critical resources. And they propose no Legal Protections at all for the doctors and nurses who fought these unknown fought this unknown enemy or the schools, universities, churches, and businesses trying to reopen. Apparently those soil Health Experiments and diversity initiatives didnt leave enough room for the critical policies that would actually help the country. But remember our democratic colleagues told us from the beginning their goal was never a targeted plan for covid19. In march one of the speakers top lieutenants said democrats should view this deadly disease and mass unemployment as, quote, a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision. Speaker pelosi herself called this crisis a wonderful opportunity. And its clear they view it that way because while americans are struggling, the Democratic Leaders have moved about one inch, one inch in eight days. For the sake of the millions and millions who need more help, lets hope they decide to get serious soon. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Under the previous order the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. Mr. Mcconnell i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Schumer madam president. The presiding officer the minority leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be removed. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer now, negotiations on the next round of covid relief continued yesterday and will continue again today. Speaker pelosi and i are making progress with the white house, but we remain far apart on a large number of issues. As i mentioned yesterday, the fundamental disagreement between our two parties is the scope and severity of the problem. This is the greatest economic crisis america has faced in 75 years, the greatest Health Crisis in 100. There must be a relief package commensurate with the size of this historic challenge. A skinny package, a package that doesnt solve so many of the problems america faces would hurt the American People, and we cannot have it. But our republican friends are wedded ideologically to the idea that government shouldnt take forceful action, that we should leave the welfare of the American People to the whims of the private sector. It just doesnt work like that, especially in a time of national emergency. The private sector cannot do it. So while we have started to generate some forward momentum, we need our partners in the white house to go much further on a number of issues, let alone the republican senate, where 20 or so republicans, by the majority leaders admission, dont want to do anything. One example, the administration has finally come around to the view that we should extend the moratorium on evictions, but they continue to refuse to provide actual assistance to the renters themselves. What good does that do . We can prevent americans from being kicked out of their apartments for another few months, but if they cant pay the rent theyll be right back at square one when the moratorium expires with even more unpaid bills piled up. Extending the moratorium only solves half the problem. Republicans continue to stonewall support for state, local, and tribal governments who have already shed more than a million Public Service jobs this year and will continue to lay off teachers and firefighters and more if congress does nothing. In the early days of the crisis state and local governments fought this virus on their own. The Donald Trump Administration couldnt be bothered to provide more zeros. They put zero into their proposal for state and local, the republicans. Id like to go home and tell their mayors, we want zero for you. Its not acceptable. On Unemployment Insurance, a few Senate Republicans have belatedly accepted the view we should extend the enhanced benefit at 600 for an extended period of time. As democrats have proposed and voted for in the house. Of course many Senate Republicans, most Senate Republicans still object to that, but at least a few have come around. At the moment, however, the white house is not there, and we are not going to strike a deal unless we extend the Unemployment Benefits which have kept nearly 12 million americans out of poverty. The same goes for health care. Testing and tracing. How is it that everyone in the white house can get tested, everyone in the nfl can get tested but average Americans Still cannot access tests easily or get results back fast enough . More than seven months into the crisis, this administration does not have the adequate does not have a plan for the adequate capacity for testing and contact tracing. Its a shocking failure on the part of the Trump Administration and the republican senators. So democrats are insistent that we provide enough resources to finally slow the spread and defeat this disease. The singlemost important thing to our recovery. The American People know that the Trump Administration and the republican adherents in the senate are to blame for this huge failure in testing and tracing. They demand we act and act fully now, not with some halfbaked, poorly funded plan that wont do the job, which is where the administration seems to be at right now. And americans are and democrats are insistent that every american should be able to vote this november safely and confidently in person or by mail. Covid has affected how we will vote. Many more will vote by mail. There will be a need for polling places, maybe more of them. And a need to space people out as they vote. We are not going to stop fighting until state election systems and the post office, which is part of getting the mail there on time, get the resources that they need. Elections are a wellspring of our democracy, and the only answer as to why neither the republicans in the senate nor the white house want to do anything about it is they fear a free and fair election. That is inimitable to the core of this republic. Were going to keep fighting. And there have been alarming reports about recent failures at the post office, about residents in michigan and pennsylvania not getting their medicines or their paychecks for three weeks or more. The Postal Service is vital and not just for elections, but every single day. The new postmaster, a big donor to President Trump, which many believe is his main qualification as to why being chosen, has enacted new guidelines at the post office that experts say will cause severe delays in mail delivery, and then he refused for weeks to even hold a phone call with democrats, including myself, about this issue. I called three times. Mr. Dejoy evidently didnt have concern to call back when i was concerned about mail delivery in new york and the rest of the country. So we insisted to mr. Mnuchin and mr. Meadows on meeting with mr. Dujoy which will take place later today. We need to resolve the problems at the post office. There is lack of funding and there are new regulations that get in the way to the Timely Delivery of mail. We must resolve those in a way that allows mail to be delivered on time for the election and for the necessities that people need. Each and every one of these issues is critical, and there are many more. We need answers and movement on all of them, not just on one or two. But some of our republican friends seem content to pass a bill, any bill, so they can check the box and go home. We cannot do that. We cannot agree to an inadequate bill and then go home while the virus continues to spread, the economy continues to deteriorate and the country gets worse. So were going to keep slogging through step by step, inch by inch, until we achieve the caliber, the extent, the depth and breadth of legislation that the American People need, deserve, and want. In stark contrast, the republican leader has decided that he would rather just lob partisan pots