Will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal god, who makes us one, use our lawmakers today as agents of reconciliation. Give them the wisdom to build bridges that will enable Diverse People to accomplish your purposes on earth. Lord, inspire our senators with such oneness of spirit and resolve that they will provide our nation with a model of cooperation. Remind them of the wisdom of matthew 12 25, which states that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Lord, we thank you for giving senator grassley another birthday. We pray in your unifying 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 i ask for one minute. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley first of all, i thank the chaplain for the happy birthday that was part of the prayer so they heard it in heaven as well as throughout the United States. Before the 2016 election, democrats speculated very freeferrishly feverishly would donald trump accept the results of the election of 2016, then he won and it was the democrats who refused to accept the result. They sought to delegitimize the election, citing russias meddling and questioning our election system. On inauguration day, you know that a famous Washington Post headline said it all, quote, the campaign to impeach President Trump has begun. He was president about one hour at that time. In fact, we now know that efforts to fabricate a russian collusion narrative was well under way well after the president was inaugurated. The same people argued that President Trump might not somehow accept the Election Results if he loses, and, of course under our constitution, no president has any any option but to accept those results because the term ends on january 20. But cant we also ask the alternative . What if President Trump does win . Well, this was the advice from Hillary Clinton to the former Vice President biden. Quote that biden should not concede under any circumstances. End of quote. So will the democrats respect the Election Results this time . I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call snroo quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer now, madam president , this morning, i was planning to address a number of topics, but the president held a press conference yesterday afternoon that was so callous, so uninformed, so ego maniacal, so divisive that i am compelled to respond to it this morning. We are in the middle of a Global Pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 americans, far more than the number of americans who died in world war i. More than any other nation on gods green earth, more than countries with Larger Population s and more than countries with mere fractions of our wealth and power. And heres how the president spoke about the number of american deaths yesterday at his press conference. Quote, if you take the blue states out, were at a level that anyone in the world would be at, if you take the blue states out, were at a really very low level. Yes, mr. President , if you dont count the total number of americans who have died, you might think its not so bad. If you close your eyes and pretend that half of the country doesnt exist, maybe some might think you didnt do such a spectacularly awful job. What kind of person looks at the number of dead citizens in the country he is supposed to lead and in an attempt to glamourize himself dismisses every american who died in a state that didnt support the president politically . What a disgrace. Its monstrous. Not a shred of empathy. Not an ounce of sorrow. What kind of president do we have . The president just wants you to see a graph about how its catastrophic failure to fight covid19 could have been worse. I suggest President Trump spend some time reading the stories of the men and women across the country who have passed away from this terrible virus. This isnt about a number. Oh, no. Its about the people that families and communities have lost, whether they be in red states or blue states. Many of these families have been unable to hold Funeral Services to properly mourn their loved ones for fear of spreading covid to another member of their family. Thats why these remarks by the president are so horrific. What does the outcome of an election determine if these lives should be counted . Isnt that awful . Why does the outcome of an election determine if these lives should be counted . Does he mean that the loss of americans who lived in states with democratic governors shouldnt count . If thats the case, President Trump is saying that the deaths of David Pittman of summerset, kentucky, and Patrick Manamy of yips slant yips yipilanti, michigan, dont count. How about ralph davis, the basketball coach in wisconsin w. Did his life not count because he lived in a state with a democratic governor . What kind of demented person would say that those american lives dont count . The president also said, but some of those states, they were blue states and blue state managed. I suppose that means that the life of Dennis Wilson shouldnt count because he was an educator in linexa, kansas. If only mr. Wilson had lived 17 miles east in the hickman hills neighborhood of kansas city, missouri, maybe the president would think his life should have counted. How about captain doug hickock . If if he lived, i dont know, in cheyenne, wyoming, i suppose the president might have valued his life. Unfortunately for captain hickock, he lived 1,700 miles east in bangor, pennsylvania, so President Trump says his life isnt worth counting. Maybe im giving the president too much credit. You never really know what the heck he means when he talks, so its possible that his definition of blue states isnt limited to states with democratic governors. Maybe his definition of blue states includes states with more democrats than republicans in their congressional delegations. That would mean val entina blackhorses life didnt count because she lived in caliente, california. Nor would tie roan power who died of covid in california in june. What kind of demented person would make that calculation . President trump, thats who. Of course, there is no bottom with President Trump. He is so contemptuous of every virtue, so dishonorable, so dishonest that the vices parade themselves forward one after another. At the press conference after his disgusting comments about ignoring american lives from blue states, President Trump lied once again about his support for americans with preexisting conditions. A lie he has told and retold while his administration is in court suing to eliminate those very protections. Dont worry, though. President trump promised a brandnew fantastic Republican Health care plan is just around the corner. Youll see it in two weeks. Just like he told fox news in july when he said he would sign a Health Care Plan in two weeks, a full and complete Health Care Plan, and again in august, just two weeks away. Just like his infrastructure bill, a new middleclass tax cut, lower Prescription Drug costs, a new stimulus package, a report on covid19s impact on minorities and new covid tests, all of which the president said would be two weeks away but, in fact, never materialized. Not in two weeks. Not ever. He must think the American People are chumps, that he can say anything he wants with no accountability, not do it, and then do it again and again and again. For centuries, american president s have faced challenges with honor, with courage. They have stepped up to the podium and used their bully pulpit to give honor to american lives, but when this president , President Trump stands at that great podium, he reveals his cowardice, his callousness, his selfishness, his ignorance, and most of all, his insistence on dividing us. His inability and unwillingness to unite a grieving nation will be his legacy. When donald trump took the stage at the 2016 National Republican convention, he painted a false portrait of a country in crisis and declared, quote, i alone can fix it. Four years later, the country faces actual crises, the greatest economic crisis in 75 years. The greatest Public Health crisis in a century. And President Trump now says it is what it is. Could you have done more to stop it . I dont think so, he says. If you take the blue states out, were really at a very low level. I dont take any responsibility at all. Its going to disappear. A lot of people think the masks are no good. When it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. Then i see the disinfect tants where it knocks it out in a minute. Is there a way we can do Something Like that by injection . Im not a doctor but im like a person that has a good you know what. This man who said all these ridiculous, harmful things is leading the country through the worst Public Health crisis in a century. Americans dont have to ask themselves as reagan once asked if theyre better off now than four years ago. President trump has told everyone exactly what the score is. When donald trump said he was running for office, he said i alone can fix it. When donald trump is running the country during the worst pandemic in the century, he says, it is what it is. Five words. Both times five words. Five words that sum up an approach to government and leadership that is completely antithetical to everything the word leadership means. Promise big, deliver zero, dislifer small. Deliver small. Thats President Trumps view of government. But when you dont have any responsibility, boast when you dont have any responsibility. Shrink from it when you do. Thats President Trumps view of public service. It has diminished our institutions and our democracy. He has cost our country its moral standing in the world. He has threatened the future of our plan net, and he has cost americans their health care, their jobs, and their lives. But its not so bad if you dont count the numbers. I yield the floor. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Mcconnell madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell our democratic colleagues have sought to spend this week discussing Election Security. Well, they really have sought to discuss absolutely anything besides pandemic relief. Since their leaders are still blocking bipartisan negotiations that could actually get a result. So our friends across the aisle have tried to change the subject to Election Security or immigration from venezuela or anything besides the hundreds of billions of dollars in relief theyve been filibustering. But the integrity of our democracy is a crucial issue. We are fewer than 50 days from november 3. Every voter deserves to know their state and local authorities are as well equipped as possible to oversee fair, safe, and secure elections. So lets discuss the progress made since back in 2016. The threats are still before us and how poisonous it is when this nonpartisan issue gets hijacked, literally hijacked for partisan point scoring. Heres how the democratic vice chair of the Intelligence Committee described our vulnerability to foreign influence in 2016 during the obamabiden administration. This is the democrat vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee. About 2016. He said, we were caught flat footed. We were caught flat footed. That administrations relationship with state governments were dysfunctional. Information sharing was weak. Cross sector partnerships hardly existed. And eight years of weak Foreign Policy had emboldened putin to push the envelope. Now for the last four years thanks to actions of this senate and leadership of the current administration, a huge number of dedicated experts have worked hard to improve our defenses and regain americas trust. In 2016 the department of Homeland Security was on an island but under this administration d. H. S. Officials have built partnerships with state and local officials who run our elections and stood up massive intelligence sharing efforts that connect them with federal authorities, the intelligence community, as well as the private sector. In 2016 the Outgoing Administration hid their limited grasp of the threat from congress and the American People. The Trump Administration and Intelligence Experts have been far, far more transparent. In 2016 only 14, 14 state or local authorities had hightech sensors to detect cyberattacks. Now all 50 states, all of them have them. The Trump Administration has opposed real pain on russia, closing consulates, expelling spies, sanctioning oligarchs, and agents of influence and equipping neighbors that are threatened by moscow to deter further aggression. Here in the senate multiple committees have become Major Players in this effort. Our colleagues on the Intelligence Committee spent literally years producing their fivepart 1,300plus page report on what happened back in 2016. Some of their bipartisan recommendations are already taking effect. And then theres funding. The senate has led the efforts to set aside more than a billion dollars in extra election assistance from foreign interference to covid19. Through the end of the primari primaries, more than 70 of the huge sum we provided in the cares act is still unspent. As recently as a few months ago, more than 60 of the first traunch we provided all the way back in fiscal 2018 was still unspent. So we have made sure money is not an obstacle. So, madam president , these threats are still with us and they have evolved not only russia but also china, iran, and other adversaries are looking constantly for ways to interfere in our politics, divide americans, and erode confidence in our institutions. Thats a fact. The work goes on but we certainly arent flat footed any longer. This progress should be cause for bipartisan celebration, but one side of the aisle seems to prefer pretending, pretending there hasnt been any progress at all. Frankly, while a nonpartisan experts worked around the clock to fight our adversaries destabilizing efforts, too Many Democrats have been undermining americas confidence in our democracy to a degree that those adversaries could only dream of. Baseless, baseless accusations that the last election was stolen. Casual assertions that this one, too, must be illegitimate if they dont win. On a monthly basis weve heard New Historical pronouncements that our democracy was on deaths door. Even sensitive intelligence became grist with the partisan mill. This has not been universal. There has been good bipartisan work in some committees but the democratic leadership appear to make a conscious choice, a conscious choice instead of treating the Election Security like the unifying bipartisan issue it ought to be, they would use it as a partisan cudgel to hit the other side playing right into other adversaries hands. This week the democratic leader has attacked republicans and basically questioned our patriotism because we did not rush to meet his latest demands for empty thee at ricks theatrics. He approached to crowd out four years of bipartisan work from actual committees by inventing, inventing a Brand New Senate committee and pull experts off the front lines during the home stretch for theatrical hearings here on capitol hill. He says we must allocate more money, never mind that millions and millions of dollars we already set aside remain unspent. He proposes that the administration pull experts off the front lines to continue briefing him, never mind that o. D. I. Alone have supported security briefings to Congress Since 2018, 53 Election Security briefings to Congress Since 2018. Im sure 54 will be the magic number that finally makes our colleague a Reasonable Voice on this issue. The truth is briefings are ongoing. The intelligence and Armed Services committees will be briefed this week. All senators will have access to written intelligent analysis by career professionals if new developments arise since last months allsenate briefings. Democratic leader demands arent solutions. These arent what the experts say we need. Theyre just em