nomination, and the senate will work on katherine tye to be the next trade representative. take you live here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. black, will open the senate with prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. father of life, awaken in our senators the joy of living this day with all its new challenges and hopes. may they see in the challenges opportunities to grow in grace and in a deeper knowledge of you. may they find in their hopes seeds to plant that will bring a harvest of healing to our land. lord, fill their working hours with your redeeming radiance and their hearts with your peace. keep them safe, for they have found in you a refuge. instruct them with your truth, as you give them faith to believe. to believe in the serpts of your ultimate triumph. we pray in your strong 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. the president pro tempore: 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, small business administration, isabella casillas guzman of california to be administrator. the president pro tempore: the majority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: mr. president, the covid-19 pandemic has revealed just how important the federal government can be in helping workers, families, and businesses during a time of crisis. congress has passed trillions of dollars in urgent relief and we have relied on federal agencies to implement that aid quickly, reliably, competently. so while it might not normally be as high profile as other cabinet agencies, the small business administration has recently been in the spotlight. over the last 12 months the small business administration has overseen two pandemic-related programs that will doll out -- dole out more than $1 trillion to our nation's small businesses, nonprofits, and religious institutions. moving forward, it will play a prominent role in implementing the american rescue plan. and today the senate will vote on president biden's nominee to take on that important job, ms. isabel guzman. ms. guzman could not be more ready. she comes from a family of small business owners herself. her dad ran his own veterinary clinic. not only is ms. guzman a veteran of the small business administration serving as deputy chief of staff in the obama administration, she has just finished a stint as a top official at california's office of business and economic development helping support the fifth largest economy in the world. for many americans, opening and operating a business is part -- is their own part of the american dream. i have every confidence that under ms. guzman's leadership, the s.b.a. will help small business owners hold on to their dreams until our economy comes roaring back. this morning i also want to continue the theme of highlighting aspects of the american rescue plan that have not received enough attention. we've heard a lot about the progress that we've made on vaccines. i read this morning that 109 million americans have received at least one vaccination. so we are well on the path, well on the path to getting americans vaccinated. and checks have gone out the door. i was on a call with people from central brooklyn, b bedstuy and brownsville and many have already received their checks, very much needed, very much welcome. as president biden announced today on the vaccines, we've had a hundred million shots in people's arms and a hundred million checks in people's pockets. let's say that again. that sounds good to me, mr. president. a hundred million shots in people's arms. and a hundred million checks in people's pockets. democrats are delivering what we promised. now, we've heard a lot about the american rescue plan will help americans who need it the most. the 20% of americans at the lowest levels of income will receive the highest levels of support. it's about time. we had the mirror image of that when our republican colleagues ran the senate where the top 1% did the best and the bottom 20% were totally ignored. that's backwards. god bless the people who are in the top 1% but they don't need the help. it's the people struggling to feed their families, pay the rent, help the kids in school that need the help. and we're doing it. first time in a while. experts predict that child poverty could be cut in half. meanwhile, the top 1% of americans will see an income boost of zero percent. as i said, god bless them but they're doing fine already. they're doing fine already. and we've heard a lot about how the american rescue plan will prime the american economy to come roaring back. economists are already projecting that economic growth could double as a result of the american rescue plan. when over 75 -- 85 i think it is, percent of americans get some checks, the money goes out. it starts revitalizing our economy. people shop in the stores, eat at the restaurants, even begin to travel. see their relatives maybe for the first time if people are vaccinated. wow. this is great news. this is great news. so i think that america is turning the corner, and i think the attitude of americans is turning the corner as well. people now see a brighter future for this country and their regions. so today, though, as i said, there's so much in this bill but every day i want to focus on something else that may not be focused upon. since the senate is set to vote on the confirmation of the new saab administration -- of the new s.a.b. administrator, today is a good opportunity to expound on just how the american rescue plan will help our nation's 30 million businesses. we all know small businesses are have been some of the hardest hit entities by the pandemic. early in the crisis, 80%, four out of five of small businesses reported having to close their doors at one point. just the other day, just the other day i heard of a local new york business owner was forced to close up shop after surviving most of the pandemic. you could hear the pain in their voice. they poured their entire soul into this business. i know. this hits home for me. my dad was a small businessman. he struggled. he had a little exterminating business all through my growing years, from the day i was born until the day i left the house. my brother and sister and i still have vivid memories, mr. president, of dad pacing the floor sunday nights at 2:00 a.m. because he hated going to work monday morning. so many challenges, so much thrown at him, and not much he could do about it. he was wondering how he would actually provide for his family. now, praise god, he retired at around 70. he's now 97. he's been a happy man for these last 27 years. god is good. as you know, mr. president, better than most of us. but he struggled. and so when i hear about the anguish of small business people, i'll never forget i would work there sometimes weekends, summers, and he sent me out to collect checks from a landlord who had three or four buildings, smaller buildings. and we had -- my dad's company had done the exterminating. the guy hadn't paid for six months. i traveled. took me about an hour, hour and a half on to buses to go to this man's door. i knocked. he opened the door. i said, you know, i'm chuck schumer, the son of abe schumer, century exterminating. you owe us six months. we've been doing a good job exterminating your house. you know what he said to me? your dad is a small businessman. he can't afford a lawyer. he can't afford anything to go after me. i'm not paying. the anguish that small business people face. so we need to help them. we need to help them. and that's one of the many reasons i'm so proud of the american rescue plan because it provides tens of billions of dollars support for small businesses that have suffered during the pandemic. the american rescue plan is nothing short of a lifeline for main street businesses from one end of this country to the other, main street businesses in rural america, main street businesses in suburban america. main street businesses in urban america and in our inner cities. it's a lifeline. for starters, the american rescue plan provides $30 billion for restaurants and bars through the restaurants act, which was the first bipartisan amendment added to the bill sponsored by senators sinema and wicker. the american rescue plan also includes more than a billion dollars in additional support for our nation's small theaters and venues adding to a grand program i helped create in december called the save our stages act, these ven uses like rehe -- venues like restaurants. that's where people gather when they're not gathering, there's no income, whether it be the money they pay the small business, the check they pay at the restaurant, or the money they leave in the collection plate when they're not there in our religious institutions. so this is a good thing. the -- and i want to say one more thing about save our stages. it not only includes more money for save our stains, it includes an amendment owe stages, it includes an amendment i offered to allow venue owners to apply for aid to save our stages without losing eligibility for traditional small business grant through the p.p.p. so that's a change that our art institutions, our independent venues, our theaters should know, they can both get p.p.p. and save our stages. these venues, the small businesses of many types, the nonprofits, they are the lifeblood of our communities. they were the first to close. they will be the last to open. i'm hopeful that the support we passed in the american rescue plan will help our small businesses, our theaters, and our music venues, our restaurants to hold on until we can all gather safely once again. that's not all. the american rescue plan provides $15 billion in flexible, targeted grants to help small businesses that have had a hard time accessing relief over the last 12 months, including most nonprofits and churches. up to 90% of minority-owned small businesses will qualify for this funding, closing the racial gap and keeping local economies from deteriorating further. we invest $10 billion in state, local, and tribal small business financing programs. we expand the employee retention tax credit so that businesses of any size can more easily keep their workers on the payroll because that one doesn't have an employee number limit. and finally, we bolstered and expanded the popular paycheck protection program to include more nonprofits, including labor and agricultural organizations who unfortunately in december our republican colleagues wouldn't let in. in a nutshell, the american rescue plan provides a colossal boost for our nation's small businesses and we'll make sure that all of them, not just those with the right connections, can access relief. it will help millions of americans keep their jobs, retain their incomes, support their families during this recovery. now, we know many of these businesses are not out of the woods yet. there is still some time until our country can fully open up, until families can eat inside their favorite restaurant or colleagues can meet at a bar for a happy hour, until we can see one of our favorite performers put on a concert, but we're already seeing signs of hope. as a "washington post" headline announced recently, companies are scaling back layoffs because of the american rescue plan. let me say that again, proudly and happily. companies are scaling back layoffs because of the american rescue plan. and the senate, i assure the american people, is going to keep working to make sure that the support for our businesses remains intact over the next few months. i yield the floor. and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, today i'd like to begin with a few quotations. quote, the legislative filibuster is the most important distinction between the senate and the house. without the 60-vote threshold for legislation, the senate becomes a majoritarian institution, just like the house. much more subject to the whims of short-term electoral change. no senator would like to see that happen. so let's find a way to further protect the 60-vote rule for legislation. that was the -- that was the current democratic leader, senator schumer, in april of 2017, less than four years ago. here's another quote, mr. president. what about the nuclear option, doing away with the filibuster? i can tell you that would be the end of the senate as it was originally devised and created, going back to our founding fathers. we have to acknowledge our respect for the minority, and that is what the senate tries to do in its composition and in its procedure, end quote. that was the assistant democratic leader, senator durbin, in 2018, about three years ago. a few years ago, 33 members of the senate side signed a letter insisting that, quote, we preserve existing rules, practices, and traditions regarding legislation. now under pressure from the outside, many of our democratic colleagues are abandoning their stated principles as fast as possible. yesterday, senator durbin said the filibuster is not a core principle but, quote, an offhanded clerical suggestion. an offhanded clerical suggestion. and a number of senate democrats are trying to pressure the senior senators from west virginia and arizona to abandon their own very recent commitments to honor the central rule of the senate. now, mr. president, the framers designed the senate to require deliberation, to force cooperation, and to ensure that federal laws in our big, diverse country earned broad enough buy-in to receive the lasting consent of the governed. james madison said the senate should be a complicated check against improper acts of legislation. thomas jefferson said great innovation should not be forced on slender majorities. senate democrats parroted all these arguments when they were the ones benefiting from minority protection. when president trump pressed republicans to kill the filibuster, our democrat colleagues cried foul. and when our republican majority stood on principle and refused to wreck the rules, our democratic colleagues happily used the filibuster themselves. in some cases, they flat-out blocked legislation like senator tim scott's police reform bill. in many other cases, democrats did what minority parties always do and leveraged the existence of the filibuster to influence must-pass legislation long before it got to the floor. there is so much emphasis on the most extreme bills that either party might pass with a simple majority. people forget that the senate's 60-vote threshold is the only reason, the only reason that any routine must-pass legislation is bipartisan except during divided government. big funding deals, appropriation bills, farm bills, highway bills, the ndaa. the senate's 60-vote threshold backstops all of it. it's not just about controversial items. it's about everything we do. the senate democrats who are pressuring our colleagues from arizona and west virginia to reverse themselves are not just arguing for some procedural tweaks. not a procedural tweak. they're arguing for a radically less stable and less consensus-driven system of government. forget about enduring laws with broad support. nothing in federal law would ever be settled. does anyone really believe the american people were voting for an entirely new system of government by electing joe biden to the white house and a 50-50 senate? this is a 50-50 senate. there was no mandate to completely transform america by the american people on november 3. that may be what a few liberal activists want, but does anyone believe that millions of americans thought that's what they were electing? of course not. there's an ironic element to this whole conversation. some democratic senators seem to imagine this would be a tidy trade-off if they could just break the rules on a razor-thin majority, sure, it might damage the institution, but then nothing would stand between them and their entire agenda, a new era of fast-track policy making. but, mr. president, anyone who really knows the senate knows that's not what would happen. so let me say this very clearly for all 99 of my colleagues. nobody serving in this chamber can even begin, can even begin to imagine what a completely scorched earth senate would look like. none of us have served one minute in a senate that was completely drained of comity and consent. this is an institution that requires unanimous consent to turn the lights on before noon, to proceed with a garden-variety floor speech, to dispense with the reading of lengthy legislative text, to schedule committee business, to move even noncontroversial nominees at anything besides a snail's pace. so,mr. president, i want our colleagues to imagine a world where every single task, every one of them, requires a physical quorum, which, by the way, the vice president does not count in determining a quorum. everything that democrat senates did to presidents bush and trump, everything the republican senate did to president obama would be child's play compared to the disaster that democrats would create for their own priorities if -- if -- they break the senate. so this is not a trade-off between trampling etiquette but then getting to quickly transform the country. that's a false choice. even the most basic aspects of our colleagues' agenda, the most mundane task of the biden presidency, would actually be harder -- harder -- not easier. -- for democrats in a post-nuclear senate that is 50-50, dead even. if the democrats break the rules to kill rule 22 on a 50-50 basis, then we will use every other rule to make tens of millions of americans' voices heard. perhaps the majority would come after the other rules next, perhaps rule 22 would just be the first domino of many, until the senate ceased to be distinct from the house in any respect. this chaos would not open up an express lane to liberal change. it would not open up an express lane for the biden presidency to speed into the history books. the senate would be more like a 100-car pileup, nothing moving. and then there's the small matter that majorities are actually never permanent. the last time a democrat leader was trying to start a nuclear exchange, i remember offering a warning. i said, my colleagues would regret it a lot sooner than they thought. in just a few years and a few supreme court vacancies later, many of our democratic colleagues said publicly that they did. touching the hot stove again would yield the same result, but even more dramatic. as senate republicans wind up back in the saddle, we wouldn't just erase every liberal change that hurt the country, we'd strengthen america with all kinds of conservative policies with zero -- zero -- input from the other side. how about this -- nationwide right-to-work for working americans, defunding planned parenthood and sanctuary cities on day one, a whole new era of domestic energy production, sweeping new protections for conscience and the right to life of the unborn, concealed carry, reserve process city in all 50 states and the district of columbia, pardoning of security on our southern border. we saw during amendment votes just days ago that some commonsense republicans' positions actually enjoy more support right now than some of the democratic committee chairs' p