11 30 eastern this morning. That vote series will include the first test for the latest republican Coronavirus Relief bill 60 votes will be needed to advance the measure. Live to the u. S. Floor of the senate here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Black, will ms. Smith open the senate with prayer. The chaplain let us pray. O god, who sits on a lofty throne, we acknowledge your sovereignty over our nation and world. Keep us from becoming so desensitized to falsehood that we abort your plan for our lives. Lord, we are unworthy to approach your throne, for we are merely sinners, saved by your loving grace. Remove our guilt and forgive our sins. May we respond to your forgiveness by obeying your command for us to pray for our nation. Lord, use our senators today as messengers of truth, unity, and peace. Inspire them to stand for right, regardless of the consequences. We pray in your holy 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. S mr. Grassley madam president. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley one minute for morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley today the senate will vote on moving forward with relief for americans. That relief is necessary because of covid19. The bill contains new funds for testing and contact tracing, aid for schools and colleges to keep our kids safe, and it also includes child care assistance. It has more money for developing the Coronavirus Vaccine and treatments, funding for the Postal Service, and help for farmers. It allows for Small Businesses to access more Paycheck Protection Program with more flexibility and provides enhanced Unemployment Benefits. Now, surely these are items we can all agree on and ought to agree on them right now. We know how to Work Together to produce results for americans. We saw that in march when we successfully passed the cares act. Thats a good model to follow now. Back in march, republicans in the Senate Proposed a framework, then worked across party lines through the relevant committees to produce a consensus product that received overwhelming support in the senate. I was glad to lead the bipartisan negotiations on the part of the Senate Finance committee for that cares package and have been standing ready to repeat the process if Democratic Leaders would just agree to agree. Why cant we repeat the same process now . Democrats seem to think that they can hold out until republicans either agree to their partisan wishes or republicans take the blame for the lack of relief. If the democrats are right, it would be a partisan win for their party. But at the same time it would be a tremendous loss for the American People. Lets agree to move forward like we did last march. I yield the floor. Mr. Mcconnell madam president. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell 19 years ago tomorrow thousands of our fellow americans were murdered by terrorists. National landmarks were burning. Brave First Responders in new york city, arlington, and pennsylvania rushed in to mortal danger, putting their lives on the line to save strangers. And as the dust settled and 3,000 American Families grieved their loved ones far before their time, we quickly saw there was no going back. The old world that we had woken up to that Tuesday Morning was gone. We had not gone overseas in search of these monsters. These monsters came to us. These enemies would not leave our nation alone if we declined to confront them. So as we reflect on this anniversary tomorrow, well remember the thousands of innocent americans who died that day and the Brave Service Men and women who went on to pay the ultimate sacrifice to do justice and to prevent more attacks. My fellow kentuckians and i could not be prouder of the heroes stationed on our soil who have deployed throughout the war on terror. The special operators of the 160th, the Night Stalkers based at Fort Campbell, kentucky, handled the very first airborne insertion of army troops in midoctober. A dangerous flight over the hindu kush mountains, the soldiers they carried were from the famed fifth special forces group also based at Fort Campbell who formed the tip of the spear to unleash the might of america on the terrorists and their taliban hosts. The famous 101st airborne also at Fort Campbell became the first conventional unit on the ground just days later. Fast forward a decade, and the Night Stalkers were helicoptering over afghanistan yet again. They inserted and extracted seal team 6, the night we took Osama Bin Laden off the battlefield. Thousands more deployed from kentuckys Fort Campbell. More than 18,000 airmen from the Kentucky National guard have been mobilized to defend our nation. And fighting by our side for nearly 20 years now have been our friends and nato allies. Americas friend invoked article 5 right away and have fought alongside us to defeat this global threat. That dark day occasioned brave contributions from so many, from the firefighters who went through smoke, to the citizens who donated blood and flew our flag, to the young men and women who are stationed thousands of miles from home right now to help our nation project power and protect our homeland. We did what americans do. We stayed strong, we stuck together, and we rolled up our sleeves, and we rebuilt. Some rebuilt their lives. Others rebuilt buildings. Some put on the uniform and rebuilt peace and security with their own hands. May we never fail to honor them, and may we never tire of the toughness, vigilance and persistence it has taken and will continue to take to make our pledge, never again, a reality. Now, madam president , on an entirely different matter, congress has spent months talking, talking about whether to give the American People more relief as they continue grappling with this pandemic. Today were going to vote. Today were going to vote. Every senator will be counted. Should we move forward with the floor process to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars more for kids, for jobs, and for health care . Should we at least vote to move forward and have this debate out in the open . Or do our democratic colleagues prefer to hide behind closed doors and refuse to help families before the election . Well, well find out in a couple of hours. Republicans have tried repeatedly to build on the cares act and get more help out the door to American Families. Democrats have blocked us at every turn. Theyve invented different excuses each time. A few months ago Speaker Pelosi wrote a massive multitrilliondollar liberal wish list that even her own House Democratic members said would never become law. The heroes act went too far, a political wish list. Those were quotes from House Democrats. But in july when Senate Republicans put forward a serious offer, Speaker Pelosi and the democratic leader said they would not even talk not even talk unless we started with that unserious bill. No help for families unless they got to pass the absurd bill their own democratic members had ridiculed. So in august, republicans tried something else. We proposed breaking off some of the most urgent, most bipartisan policies and agreeing wherever we could. Unemployment insurance, the Paycheck Protection Program. But Speaker Pelosi and the democratic leader blocked that too. They said they didnt want to do anything piecemeal. Piecemeal, they said. And yet just a few weeks later, Speaker Pelosi completely contradicted herself, rushed back to washington to pass a total piecemeal bill that only helped the Postal Service and did nothing for working families. Contradiction after contradiction. Excuse after excuse. While working families have suffered and waited and wondered whether washington democrats really care more about hurting President Trump than helping them through this crisis. My democratic colleagues should stand up and tell the American People which elements of our multi multi proposal they propose. They should stand up and tell the American People which parts of the proposal well vote on today theyre actually against. Today were going to vote to extend the additional federal unemployment insurance. Democrats vote against that . Thanks to senator collins and senator rubio, were going to vote on a whole second round of p. P. P. For hardhit businesses. Are democrats against that . Thanks to colleagues like senator ernst, daines, gardner and sullivan well be voting on new support for Small Businesses like farms and fisheries. Thanks to senator cornyn, well be voting on commonsense Legal Protections at universities and nonprofits have been asking for. Who are the democrats excited to vote against . The farmers or the University President s . Thanks to chairman alexander and senator blunt were going to vote on an incredibly robust package for education and health care to get kids back to School Safely and then defeat this virus through science. Well be voting on 105 billion for education, more than House Democrats put in their bill. Billions for testing and tracing. And even more support for vaccines. And thanks to a number of our colleagues, including senator ernst and loeffler, theres new support for child care, plus other arrangements like homeschooling, thanks to senator cruz. Are democrats really going to refuse to fund k12 schools and child care in a pandemic because theyre afraid republicans might get some credit . Really . Theyre going to vote against finding and distributing vaccines because theyre afraid the breakthrough that our nation has prayed for might possibly help President Trump . These, these are the policies that every one of us will be voting on in a couple of hours. These and many more. Speaker pelosi and the democratic leader can keep up the frantic political spin. They can keep trying to make this an abstract argument over leverage or an infinite set of things that arent in the bill or whether the white house chief of staff has been polite to them, or whatever new excuse theyll settle on today. But none of that, madam president , is what were going to vote on. Were going to vote on policy. Today every senator will either say they want to send families the relief we can agree to or they can send families nothing. Nothing. Reporters asked the democratic leader yesterday if this stonewalling was making the perfect the enemy of the good. He replied listen to this republicans are the enemy of the good. Republicans are the enemy . Thats what he said, madam president. Weve all heard that saying that a gap is when a politician a gaffe is when a politician accidentally says what he really thinks. Thats a washington gaffe, when a politician actually says what he really thinks. Well, the democratic leader just told us how poisonous his thinking has become. The americans we represent, however they vote, know that republicans arent our enemies, and democrats arent our enemies. The coronavirus, madam president , is the enemy. The coronavirus is the enemy. My home state just passed a milestone yesterday. More than a thousand kentuckians have lost their lives to covid19. These families i represent are not burying their loved ones because republicans or democrats are the enemy. They are burying their loved ones because of this virus. Thats what were fighting. Thats what families are dealing with. Were not each others enemies. Were all in this together. Just like we were back in march and april. So today, every senator is going to vote. Every senator is going to vote. Senators who share the Democratic Leaders toxic attitude, who think the real enemy are their political opponents, i assume will follow his lead and vote no. They can tell American Families they care more about politics than helping them. But senators who want to move forward will vote yes. They will vote to advance this process so they can shape it into a bipartisan product and make a law for the American People. That, madam president , is what working families need. They need us to act. They need us to legislate. Today, they will see exactly who has their backs. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. 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, hala y. Jarbou of michigan to be United States district judge for the Western District of michigan. Mr. Mcconnell i notice the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Thune madam president. The presiding officer the majority whip. Mr. Thune my understanding is the senates in a quorum call. The presiding officer yes. Mr. Thune i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Thune once again this week republicans are bringing forward a proposal to provide additional Coronavirus Relief to help protect jobs, to get kids and teachers back in the classroom safely and to provide funding for the treatments and vaccines that we need to treat this virus. Once again, democrats are objecting. Its the same old song. Republicans bill doesnt spend enough. Well, lets talk about that for a minute, madam president. First of all, republicans are not claiming that the bill we put on the floor this week contains the last dollars that well need to spend in response to the coronavirus. We may need to spend more. This bill is simply an attempt to direct relief funds to some of the biggest priorities right now, like helping the hardesthit Small Businesses whether this crisis and provide more resources for testing, treatment, and vaccines. These are areas, madam president , that we should all agree on. Second of all, democrats coronavirus proposal, the 3 trillion bill that they proposed is both unrealistic and irresponsible. Our nation is deeply, deeply in debt right now. Next year our country will owe more than we produce for the First Time Since the end of world war ii. Thats that very bad place to be. Thats getting toward the kind of debt to g. D. P. Ratio that helped bring about financial disaster in greece. While the United States is not greece, if we grow our debt enough, what happened to the Greek Economy could happen here. Being the United States of america does not exempt us from financial reamounts. Realities. In times of crisis sometimes you have to borrow money, and thats what we had to do earlier this year with the cares act and other Coronavirus Relief legislation. But, madam president , we have an absolute responsibility to every american, to every hardworking individual in this country to ensure that we are only borrowing what is absolutely necessary. And democrats proposal doesnt even come close to meeting the definition of necessary spending. To give you just one example, democrats have proposed appropriating a staggering 1 trillion for states even though the states still still, madam president , havent spent the money that we provided for them in the original cares act. Now, its certainly possible that at some point well have to provide some kind of additional assistance to states, but to create a trillion dollar slush fund for states before theyve even spent the money theyve already been given would be an incredibly irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars. And at least some of that money could be used for Coronavirus Relief. Other money in the democrats bill would go to measures that have nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the virus. Things like, diversity studies in the cannabis industry. A soil health study, federalizing elections, tax cuts for millionaires in states like new york and california. Madam president , one of the biggest priorities in the wake of the coronavirus is helping americans keep their jobs or find new ones. It should be front and center in any relief bill. Yet, democrats massive bill, over 3 trillion in the democrats bill, manages to mention the world cannabis more often than the word job. Diversity studies for marijuana more sponsor, evidently than jobs, at least if you look at the democrats bill. And, madam president , that should tell you all that you need to know about the seriousness about the democrats proposal. Now, i would love for the democratic leader to come down to the floor and explain how a bill that mentions the word can business than the word job is a serious coronavirus bill. D