Richard Durbin

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let's face reality. The immigration law system in America is broken. If we are going to get behind slogans and bumper stickers and do something about the problems we face in America, we have to talk about comprehensive immigration reform. The amendment being offered by the Senator from Arkansas brings back another one of the old arguments about sanctuary cities. Let me tell you what the police chief, Art Acevedo of Houston, had to say before the Senate Judiciary Committee. If we are to be tough on crime, we must not forget that it begins with trust and cooperation in our communities. He went on to say: [I]f we want to be effective and work to disrupt the drug cartels, we cannot afford to alienate broad spectrums of our community. Asking local law enforcement officers to become involved in immigration enforcement is counterproductive. Vote no on the Cotton amendment.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this amendment will cause harm to the families of incarcerated individuals, joint filers who would receive only half of the payment that the families are owed while the spouse is incarcerated. Given the stark racial disparities in our criminal justice system, this would cause the most harm to Black and Brown families and communities already harmed by mass incarceration. Children should not be forced to go hungry because a parent is incarcerated. Relief payments would allow families to replace lost income and pay rent and put food on the table. The Cassidy amendment sweeps broadly, denying recovery of rebates not only to incarcerated individuals but also to anyone violating a condition of probation on parole, but the Social Security statute that Senator Cassidy's amendment copies from has a safety valve giving discretion to allow payments to persons because of mitigating circumstances. His amendment does not. I would urge my colleagues to understand what we are facing with our criminal justice system today. We need to bring more justice to it and caring for the families of those who are incarcerated.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the statement of the Senator from Texas is just plain false--false. Let me be clear. Undocumented immigrants do not have Social Security numbers, and they do not qualify for stimulus relief checks, period. And just in case you didn't notice, they didn't qualify in December when 92 of us voted for that measure, and they don't qualify under the American Rescue Plan. Nothing has changed. And for you to stand up there and say the opposite is just to rile people up over something that is not true.

Mr. DURBIN. No. It is not true, and we know what is going on right now. They want to be able to give speeches and say the checks go to undocumented people. In the circumstance where there is a parent receiving----

Mr. DURBIN.--a check for the child, that is it; but no money going to undocumented people under the American Rescue Plan.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, some of our Republican colleagues say that America doesn't need President Biden's COVID rescue plan because ``the pandemic is nearly over.'' Funny. I have never heard them say we shouldn't spend money to help tornado victims in their States after the tornadoes were gone. Let me say it clearly. We are not out of the woods yet. I wish we were. There are 510,000 Americans--maybe more now--who have died. The United States has 5 percent of the world's population. We have 20 percent of the COVID infections and deaths. Why? Because of poor leadership during the first year of this pandemic. We had a President then, who is now gone, who would announce it was a hoax, and it was going to disappear by Easter, downplaying the seriousness of the situation with his fanciful flights about certain chemicals that were going to save us or whether or not we should all be gargling Lysol every morning. It made no sense, and the American people came out of that experience confused and infected, with deaths in their families. That was the reality of the first year of the pandemic. There was also another reality, which the Republican leader just alluded to in that, 12 months ago, we passed something called the CARES Act. It was historic--the largest Federal expenditure in the history of the United States of America. Who designed that bill? Well, it was Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, whom I didn't know well but who, apparently, had some skill as a negotiator because he managed to not only speak for President Trump but to negotiate a bipartisan package in March of last year, called the CARES Act, for $2 trillion. It came to the floor of the Senate, with a vote of 96 to nothing. Every Democrat voted for the COVID rescue plan of the Trump administration a year ago--every Democrat. The second major bill occurred in December, that of $900 billion, designed to help us through the first 3 months of this year--again, with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin at the table on behalf of President Trump, negotiating with Democrats and Republicans. It came to the floor of the Senate, and, this time, there were 92 votes in favor of it, including every Democrat, and 6 Republicans voted no. So, you see, when it came to COVID rescue plans under the Trump administration, the Republicans were happy to ask us to join them, and we did. Oh, some people said we were giving them a political advantage here or there or the other place, but those arguments didn't prevail on the Democratic side. The Nation came first. The pandemic came first. Unemployed people and businesses that were struggling came first, and we voted that way. Then came a new President: Joe Biden, elected November 3, despite the denial of some. It was a reality. He took this pandemic and faced it squarely--no excuses about hoaxes or ``it is going to go away'' or ``I have got a favorite chemical that will save everybody's life.'' He faced it squarely. He accepted the responsibility, as President of the United States, to tell the American people the truth. The first thing he told them was that we cannot, we should not, stop in our efforts to end this pandemic and put America back on its feet. So he made a proposal, a proposal with at least $160 billion in it, for buying vaccines, administering those vaccines, and distributing them across the United States. I would think that everybody would agree with that as a starting point. It wasn't the end point. As for the cash payment promised by the Trump administration and agreed to by most Democrats, he wanted to keep his word on that--$1,400 more for families all across America. He talked about State and local aid. I can tell you that this is more than a theoretical exercise in my State of Illinois. We need help. The expenses of COVID-19 and the lost revenue by our shrunken economy have taken their toll in my State and in the cities across the State. I just got off a Zoom call with a dozen small towns in Illinois. They are all down from my neck of the woods. They are great folks, doing their best, struggling under COVID-19. They asked me: Are you going to send us any help? I said: President Biden has made his American rescue proposal. If we can pass it, help is on the way. Assistance won't just go to Springfield, our State capital, or to Chicago, which does need help, but to cities across our State and across our Nation. That is included in this bill too. Help for our schools is included in this bill too. The list goes on, and it is an important list because it really highlights the priorities of recovery in the United States. President Biden and all of us heard the news a day or two ago when the Governors of Texas and Mississippi, in full-throated denial of the reality of this pandemic, basically took off all the limitations on businesses and on individuals. No more mask requirements. Let's open up everything all the way. The President was right. That was not a smart choice. It was not a wise choice. We are up against it, and we have to remain united in our effort to defeat this coronavirus. So this week, in a day or two, President Biden's American Rescue Plan will come to the floor. Will we have another bipartisan rollcall, 96 to nothing, 92 to 6? I am afraid not. As of this moment, and I hope it changes, no single Republican Senator has expressed an interest in voting for this bill. Not one. I hope it changes, and it could. Some Senators at the last minute, I think, will realize this is the right way to go. Meanwhile, the Republican leader comes to the floor every day and mocks this plan--a Democratic wish list, a liberal wish list, Nancy Pelosi's wish list. This is the American people's wish list. Eighty percent of the American people support what President Biden is trying to do, and the leading economists have told us we have to do this. If we don't inject money into this economy to restore its energy and future, we will pay for it not just for months to come but far beyond. It is a situation that every parent knows, when they go to the doctor, to the pediatrician, with their little boy or little girl with an earache, and he says: I am going to give you some antibiotics. Now, this is a 5-day prescription. This little boy is going to start feeling better on the second day, and by the third day, he is going to be playing as usual. You are going to think, well, he doesn't need the rest of these antibiotics. Don't make that decision. Keep giving him the full dose of medicine to get well completely, or he may lapse back into it again and get sick all over again. So you stick with it even when your little boy is running rings around you or the little girl is getting ready to get on her tricycle, because that is what the doctor said, and that was the right thing to do. That is the same thing with this. If we accept the Republican argument that this pandemic is really over; if we accept the argument of the Governor of Texas--that was yesterday; we don't have to worry about it tomorrow; if we take that approach, we could have a disastrous result. We could be back in trouble again in just a few weeks. I hope we don't. I hope we come together in the Senate, preferably on a bipartisan basis, and help the President get us through this pandemic. This is our chance. We have no greater responsibility than to put an end to this pandemic, put the economy on its feet, get the kids back in school, and let grandparents visit those grandkids again. That is part of getting America back where it needs to be. We need bipartisan support. As Democrats, we provided that support to a Republican President. Now that we have a Democratic President, will our Republican Senators do the same? I yield the floor.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 578, which was introduced earlier today.

Mr. DURBIN. I further ask that the bill be 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.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I know of no further debate on the resolution.

Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 579, which was introduced earlier today.

Mr. DURBIN. I further ask that the bill be 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.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 12 noon, Thursday, March 4; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on a different subject, I listened to the speeches of Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell about the American Rescue Plan--Joe Biden's proposal, his initial proposal as President-- to deal with the pandemic, the state of the economy, and many other aspects of American culture and life that need to be addressed. Clearly, there is a difference of opinion. I couldn't help but think, as Senator McConnell was recounting our experience last year, that when it came to the CARES Act a year ago-- the $2 trillion plan to respond to the state of the pandemic and the economy, the plan that was engineered by Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, a member of the Trump administration, who argued and negotiated with Republicans and Democrats alike--that, when they finally agreed, the vote was 96 to nothing in this Chamber. Every Democrat voted for the proposed CARES Act that was engineered by the Trump administration. Party was pushed aside because the priority was our Nation. It happened again in December of last year. In President Trump's administration, with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin at the table and with Democrats and Republicans bargaining, the final vote was 92 to 6 in the Senate--not bad--and the 6 noes were all Republicans. Again, the Democrats stepped up and said: We will support this bipartisan effort because that is why we are here. The American people sent us here to do a job. Now comes the new President, Joe Biden, who says: Good work last December, but that was temporary, and that was supposed to be a special effort. Now we have to finish the year. We have some deadlines coming. Just 2 weeks from now--or in less than 2 weeks--the unemployment insurance programs will be running out for millions of Americans, and the rental assistance program as well. Some will face eviction, and some will not have enough money to feed their families. So get to work. Pass the American Rescue Plan on a bipartisan basis. We have yet to hear from one Republican Senator who will support President Biden's plan. Some of them have legitimate differences with his policy, and I wish they would come to the table and be a part of the conversation, but none of them has really stepped up and said: We are in for the big effort that the President is calling for. That is what it will take. Unfortunately, because of that, in a 50-50 Senate, we will need every Democratic Senator to support the President's plan and to pass a version of what the House is sending over to us. We will go through an exercise called ``reconciliation'' in just a few days. It is not a pretty scene if you follow legislative history, but it is long overdue. Do you know the one thing that should drive us on? It is not only the obvious need for this but the fact that the American people overwhelmingly support what President Biden has proposed. The American people believe, as he does, that we should be investing billions into more vaccines and more people to administer them. The American people believe that a cash payment to families is essential in some parts of this country. They would like to see the $600 in last December's bill complemented with the $1,400 in this proposal. They would like for us to put money on the table for people who are unemployed so they can put food on that same table, and they would like for us to get the schools ready to deal with reopening and classes that are safe for the kids and the teachers. There is no argument about that. While 20 percent of the people may oppose it, 80 percent support it. Yet we can't find one Republican Senator to support President Biden's plan. They say it costs too much. Well, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Mr. Powell, a conservative Republican economist, has told us to be careful that you do too little. This economy is fragile. It needs to be strengthened. We need to inject into this economy enough of our resources so that people are back, purchasing again, and businesses are reopened. He has warned us, if you do too little and if you cut it off too soon, you are going to pay for it for years to come with unemployment and problems with the sluggish economy. My Republican colleagues say it is just too much money. Well, I think they are wrong, and at this moment in history, I am prepared to err on the side of investing in the American people and American businesses and making certain that we have a fighting chance to put this behind us. Our constituents know about the cost of this situation. They want us to provide the solutions. They want results from Congress. If we were to delay this payment, people would see their unemployment insurance lapse and hardships continue. We shouldn't play politics with it either. In the two big bills last year, the Democrats were on board for plans engineered by the Trump administration. Economists believe that we need to move and move decisively. According to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, passing a comprehensive plan like the American Rescue Plan could produce a 4- percent growth in U.S. GDP this year. Moody's estimates that passing the same plan would create 7\1/2\ million American jobs. How about that? We got good news over the weekend with the arrival of another safe and effective vaccine. This is the third one, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, in our arsenal--perhaps more to follow. It holds the promise of finally getting America inoculated, vaccinated, and breaking the back of this pandemic. This new vaccine prevents hospitalizations and deaths, stored at normal temperatures, a single shot--all good news. But we need more than a promise of a vaccine. We need a plan. These vaccines are of no good to us sitting on a shelf or not being produced in volumes necessary. President Biden's rescue plan, which not a single Republican supports, would provide 100 and--I think I have got the number right-- $160 billion in resources for the production of vaccines and the distribution. If we ever needed it, this was the moment. Thankfully, President Biden's leadership has led to allocations to Illinois of vaccines that have increased by 70 percent since he took over as President. We still have our challenges at the local level. I want to salute the Governor, JB Pritzker; the mayor of the city of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot; the Cook County Board President Preckwinkle; and all the others who are doing their best. I announced with Senator Duckworth just last Friday that we are going to put a new facility in the parking lot of the United Center, where the amazing Chicago Bulls play basketball from time to time, and it is going to be able to vaccinate thousands of people every single day. It is Federal assistance that is making it happen, and it happens to be in a neighborhood where African Americans and Latinos are nearby, and we need to protect them with even more effectiveness than we have to date. They account for 33 percent of the population of that area, and only 16 percent have been vaccinated. The American Rescue Plan provides $20 billion to expand our vaccine distribution capacity. You would think that that would maybe attract one Republican supporter. It should. There are certainly some who argue against all vaccines and spending any money for it and all the rest, but they are such a small minority. The vast majority of Americans of both political parties understand that we have got to go to vaccinations as quickly as possible. The Biden rescue plan does that. I wish they would join us in supporting it. There is also a need for money for education. There is $128 billion in this bill for additional education funding K-12, and there have been arguments made on the floor here by the Republicans that we just don't need it. They point to data showing that the school districts haven't spent the money that we provided in previous relief packages. Well, just talk to the principals and the teachers in your home State about that conclusion. You will find the money is desperately needed and that the money that has been appropriated before will be spent in an orderly way and not shoveled out the window. We are looking ahead to the entire year and making certain that we have a real school year--perhaps the remainder of this year but certainly for next year. Illinois needs these funds and America does. When it comes to State and local support, I have to tell you, we have paid a heavy price in our State of Illinois and our major cities. We have seen expenses go up and we have seen revenue go down and we need help, not unreasonable. This helping hand will save jobs that are necessary for us--some of them healthcare jobs, some of them security and safety jobs, but they will save jobs, and that is why the State and the local resources included in this bill are so important and timely. Over the past year, States and localities have lost 1.3 million jobs of their payrolls, far more than the 750,000 lost in the great recession. There is needed help from the Federal Government, and it is needed now. We have recovered just 12 million of the 22 million jobs we have lost since the start of the pandemic. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, more than 8 million rental households and 2 million homeowners were behind on housing payments at the end of last year. The burden is tough, and for those of us lucky enough to have escaped it, we may not know the feeling, the empty feeling of eviction or the loss of a home that you have paid a mortgage on for years. I am going to close. I see one of my colleagues on the floor preparing to speak, but I would like to close with the story of Galen Hensen from Midlothian, IL. For 34 years, Galen has supported touring artists through his work in live concert production for some of America's most iconic musicians. When the American economy was upended by the pandemic, his industry froze to save other lives and to avoid crowds. Like so many others, Galen went on unemployment. Yet, even with the Federal $600 supplement to State unemployment, he had only half of his regular income replaced. He struggles--still struggles to make ends meet. He wrote to me urging that we put aside our partisan differences and pass the American Rescue Plan. Let's listen to Galen, and let's listen to many others like him. They are counting on us. I hope when all is said and done after all the speeches, that just as we came together on a bipartisan basis to pass the rescue plan twice last year--96 to nothing, 92 to 6--under the Trump administration, with all Democrats supporting it, wouldn't it be great if we showed that same bipartisanship again I yield the floor.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, history was made on Monday. Judge Merrick Garland finally got a vote before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was a long time in coming. His nomination was approved by a bipartisan vote of 15 to 7. I am not surprised. He is superbly qualified to be the next Attorney General of the United States. With experience, judgment, and integrity, he checks all the boxes. He served with distinction on the DC Circuit Court for 23 years and, in that time, developed a reputation for fidelity to the rule of law, a strict adherence to judicial independence, and a commitment to treat people with fairness, dignity, and respect. It is no surprise that he has been endorsed by 60 former Federal judges and by judges, of course, who have been appointed by Presidents of both political parties. In addition to his experience on the bench, he is a longtime veteran of the Department of Justice, where he served before he ascended to the DC Circuit. He is uniquely qualified at this moment in history to lead the Department and to investigate and prosecute, for example, the January 6 insurrection--the mob that invaded this Capitol Building. The reason he is qualified is that he led the investigation and prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombing. We remember that very well. That was clearly a case of domestic terrorism. His work on that project won praise from across the political spectrum. He also personally understands the Department's role in protecting civil rights. I believe he is the person to restore honor and dignity to this Department. He has support from every major law enforcement organization in the country, from 150 former Justice Department officials of both parties, from the Nation's leading civil rights organizations, and from many others--left, right, and center. His credentials are second to none, and his character--in particular, his selflessness--is a model to us all. When we held the markup on his nomination in the committee, the most significant witness may have been a lady by the name of Mrs. Tucker. She testified on the second panel. She is the mother of two DC public school students who were tutored and mentored by Judge Garland. After the first child had received his helping hand for several years, the second child asked if she could be included in the next round, and then they both won the help of Judge Garland. Doesn't it speak volumes of a man who has reached that station in life that he would be so humble as to sit down and help children whom he had never met before find their way through life? It was a touching moment when she testified. It really was an insight into his character. So you would think, with a 15-to-7 vote, you would think with all of these endorsements, and you would think that the fact of there being four members on the Republican Senate side of the Senate Judiciary Committee behind him that this would be a nomination of an Attorney General so important to this Nation that it would be given expedited treatment on the floor of the Senate. No. Unfortunately, there was an objection to expediting his nomination so he could get to work for the Department of Justice, and, as a consequence, we face the Senate procedure, which means that it could be days, maybe even into next week, before he can take the job. That is unfortunate. We need him now more than ever. Even Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has said he would support him. Chuck Grassley, my friend and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted for him. There is just no reason the Senate should not immediately hold a vote for Merrick Garland's nomination. He is the last remaining member of President Biden's national security team to be chosen. It is time for him to take this job. The Attorney General is needed to fight the threat of domestic terrorism, which the FBI Director spoke to yesterday in the Senate Judiciary Committee, to reorganize this Department and get it moving in the right direction, and to face the many challenges when it comes to national security and the administration of justice. We should confirm Merrick Garland immediately. I sincerely hope that whoever is holding his nomination on the other side can be persuaded to give him his chance

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 164 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions, which were submitted earlier today: S. Res. 90, S. Res. 91, S. Res. 92, and S. Res. 93.

Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.