Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, anyone watching the Senate yesterday saw another installment in an ongoing series that has become somewhat familiar. Republicans roll out yet another effort to forge a bipartisan compromise around coronavirus relief, and Democrats reply with partisan cheap shots and threats to block everything. Republicans develop a serious plan to get historic amounts of additional money in the pipeline for kids, jobs, and schools, and Democrats just point fingers, call names, and keep blocking American families from getting any more help before the November election. In July, Republicans put forward a serious framework, but Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leader refused to talk unless the starting point was their literally absurd $3.4 trillion far-left wish list that even House Democrats called a stunt. In August, with those talks stalled, Republicans proposed narrow agreements on specific urgent policies to help families, unemployment benefits, the Paycheck Protection Program. Democrats refused again. This time their invented excuse was that any assistance short of their entire wish list was too ``piecemeal''--too ``piecemeal''--and not worth doing. If Democrats didn't get their diversity studies for the cannabis industry, stimulus checks for illegal immigrants, and tax cuts for blue State millionaires, they would make sure millions of Americans would lose their unemployment benefits and PPP would close. That is what they threatened, and that is what they did. So here we are in September. Schools and colleges have gone without the $105 billion that Republicans wanted to give them back in July. That is more money than Speaker Pelosi put in her bill. American workers have gone without the second round of the PPP that Republicans proposed weeks and weeks ago. Speaker Pelosi had no money for PPP in her $3.4 trillion bill. The race for treatments and vaccines has gone without the additional funding that Republicans wanted to deliver. Families have gone without the economic relief that Republicans wanted to put in their pockets. And Washington Democrats have just kept trying to run out the clock-- run out the clock--until November. But here is one thing: The Senate majority works for the American people. We fight for American families. We are not going to let Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leader kill and bury coronavirus relief behind closed doors without putting every Senator on the record. So we have put together a new, targeted proposal containing several of the most urgent and most popular policies that would help Americans right now. Tomorrow, the whole Senate will vote on it. It will be a procedural vote. It is not a vote to pass our bill tomorrow, precisely as written. It is a vote for Senators to say whether they want to move forward toward huge amounts of relief for kids, for jobs, for healthcare, or whether they are happier doing absolutely nothing. That is what every single Senator will decide tomorrow. Do you want to do something--something--or do you want to do nothing? Democratic leaders know this simple choice will put the spotlight on their partisan antics. They know this vote will expose their obstruction. Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer were attacking our new proposal yesterday before they even read it, before it had even come out. I would normally make fun of that, but in this case it makes perfect sense because their position clearly is that they do not want any bipartisan relief whatsoever. They do not want any bipartisan relief whatsoever to reach American families prior to the election. They didn't even need to see what we were proposing. If it helped working families in any way--in any way--between now and November 3, Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer knew for sure they opposed it. Their red herrings and cherry-picked arguments have now given way to total dishonesty. Yesterday, our colleague from New York railed against a provision pertaining to critical supply chains, calling it some sinister giveaway to big business. A provision pertaining to critical supply chains he called a sinister giveaway to big business? That provision is cosponsored by his own Democratic ranking member on the committee. So either the Democratic leader is impugning his own ranking member right along with Republicans or else he simply doesn't know what he is talking about. Likewise, the junior Senator from Vermont attacked this provision as ``corporate welfare,'' but he himself did not vote against this very provision in committee on two occasions. They are so desperate to keep working families from getting any help before the election that some Democrats are now attacking things they previously supported. At this point it is just silly season on the Democratic side. They have run out of excuses not to legislate, and even their cheap shots just backfire in embarrassing ways. So tomorrow--tomorrow--the Senate will cut through all the noise with one vote. Every Senator will either say they want to move forward, agree where we can, make a law to help people, and keep arguing over our differences later or say they prefer to do absolutely nothing. Every Senator will vote on this significant package, which secures Federal unemployment benefits, reopens the PPP for a second draw, sends more than $100 billion to keep kids safe in school, helps parents with childcare, helps families afford expenses or homeschooling, and rebuilds our strategic medical stockpile. This is not a simplistic argument over big versus small. Republicans want more money for K-12 and college than was in the Democratic bill. We want more money for PPP, which their bill forgot to fund. These are bipartisan priorities that Democrats left behind and Republicans want to take care of. So tomorrow--tomorrow--American families will learn who wants to make a law for them and who is happiest if they get nothing.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on a completely different matter, on Saturday, the world of sports once again revolved around my hometown of Louisville for the 146th Kentucky Derby. Like so many other events, the coronavirus made this year's derby look a little different. The race had already been postponed for only the second time in history, and none of the 150,000 spectators who normally fill Churchill Downs were there to sing ``My Old Kentucky Home,'' but the most exciting 2 minutes in sports refused to be defeated. The derby remains the longest continuously held sporting event, and this year's Labor Day derby proved worth the wait. The winning thoroughbred, Authentic, outlasted a ferocious challenge from the favorite. So I would like to extend the Senate's congratulations to the entire Hall of Fame team. (The remarks of Mr. McConnell pertaining to the introduction of S. 4547 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Mr. McCONNELL. I yield the floor

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this year's Kentucky Derby showed that our great traditions can adapt to overcome any challenge. But our sport must be protected. I have been proud to stand up for Kentucky horse racing throughout my career. I introduced a checkoff bill to promote the sport domestically. I assembled a coalition to open new markets in Japan and Hong Kong. I worked to make sure internet regulations did not unduly restrict the racing industry. I have secured tax provisions to promote equine equity and grow investment in Kentucky. It has been my privilege to deliver for this sport and Kentuckians who stand behind it. Today, I am introducing new legislation to keep it up because, unfortunately, the coronavirus isn't thoroughbred racing's only challenge. In recent years, tragedies on the track, medication scandals, and an inconsistent patchwork of regulations have cast clouds over the future. A national publication's editorial board even called for this sport to be abolished altogether. We needed action to protect the sport we love, to defend our history and the 24,000 Kentuckians who work in the thoroughbred racing industry. So in Lexington, the horse capital of the world, I announced with my friend Congressman Andy Barr that we had found a way forward. Today I will introduce the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act to recognize a uniform, national standard for thoroughbred racing. Baseball, football, and other professional sports have a central regulatory authority. Thoroughbred racing should as well. Some of the biggest names in the sport--Churchill Downs, Keeneland, the Breeders' Cup and the Jockey Club, just to name a few--are supporting our plan to provide Federal recognition and enforcement power to an independent Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. The board will be made up of both industry-selected and independent members. It will set national standards for track safety, anti-doping, and medication practices and lab protocols. This will make thoroughbred racing as fair and as safe as possible. I am proud to partner with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on this bipartisan legislation. New York is home to another leg of the Triple Crown. Their junior Senator has previously introduced similar legislation to protect our sport. I am also glad to have the senior Senator from California and the junior Senator from Arkansas as original cosponsors on this bill. Today, Congressman Barr and Congressman Tonko will present this legislation over in the House. I am grateful for Congressman Barr's years of leadership on this issue, and I am glad we are making bipartisan, bicameral progress with our bill. This way, when we can all return to the grandstands to watch the thoroughbreds round the final turn toward a thundering finish, we will be taking pride in a fair and safe race. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this year's Kentucky Derby showed that our great traditions can adapt to overcome any challenge. But our sport must be protected. I have been proud to stand up for Kentucky horse racing throughout my career. I introduced a checkoff bill to promote the sport domestically. I assembled a coalition to open new markets in Japan and Hong Kong. I worked to make sure internet regulations did not unduly restrict the racing industry. I have secured tax provisions to promote equine equity and grow investment in Kentucky. It has been my privilege to deliver for this sport and Kentuckians who stand behind it. Today, I am introducing new legislation to keep it up because, unfortunately, the coronavirus isn't thoroughbred racing's only challenge. In recent years, tragedies on the track, medication scandals, and an inconsistent patchwork of regulations have cast clouds over the future. A national publication's editorial board even called for this sport to be abolished altogether. We needed action to protect the sport we love, to defend our history and the 24,000 Kentuckians who work in the thoroughbred racing industry. So in Lexington, the horse capital of the world, I announced with my friend Congressman Andy Barr that we had found a way forward. Today I will introduce the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act to recognize a uniform, national standard for thoroughbred racing. Baseball, football, and other professional sports have a central regulatory authority. Thoroughbred racing should as well. Some of the biggest names in the sport--Churchill Downs, Keeneland, the Breeders' Cup and the Jockey Club, just to name a few--are supporting our plan to provide Federal recognition and enforcement power to an independent Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. The board will be made up of both industry-selected and independent members. It will set national standards for track safety, anti-doping, and medication practices and lab protocols. This will make thoroughbred racing as fair and as safe as possible. I am proud to partner with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on this bipartisan legislation. New York is home to another leg of the Triple Crown. Their junior Senator has previously introduced similar legislation to protect our sport. I am also glad to have the senior Senator from California and the junior Senator from Arkansas as original cosponsors on this bill. Today, Congressman Barr and Congressman Tonko will present this legislation over in the House. I am grateful for Congressman Barr's years of leadership on this issue, and I am glad we are making bipartisan, bicameral progress with our bill. This way, when we can all return to the grandstands to watch the thoroughbreds round the final turn toward a thundering finish, we will be taking pride in a fair and safe race. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Our Nation has spent the last 6 months fighting the medical, economic, and social effects of this pandemic. The Senate's historic rescue package from back in March, the CARES Act, has gone a long way to help American workers and families endure these incredible challenges. It delivered the extra Federal unemployment benefits that helped laid-off workers make ends meet. It created the Paycheck Protection Program, which has helped millions of small businesses keep their lights on and keep employees on the payroll; it sent resources to the frontlines of the healthcare fight; and it invested billions in the race for treatments and for vaccines. But this relief was never going to last forever. Today, enhanced Federal unemployment benefits are only still available because of action by President Trump. The Paycheck Protection Program has closed to new applications, and the funds it has delivered are being exhausted. This last month has brought a whole new challenge: how to get teachers and students safely into a new school year. These are the challenges that people I represent are facing every single day. Kentuckians and all Americans know this unprecedented crisis is not through with us yet, and so they expect that Congress isn't through helping yet either. Senate Republicans have been fighting for months to deliver another round of COVID-19 relief. In July, we proposed the HEALS Act, a sweeping package totaling more than $1 trillion that would have led right to bipartisan talks, but Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leader said no. They said they would block our trillion dollars for kids, jobs, and healthcare unless we doubled the cost to accommodate an endless wish list of non-COVID-related liberal priorities such as tax cuts for blue- State millionaires. So Republicans tried another way to break the logjam. In August, we proposed narrowing discussions to some of the most urgent, most bipartisan subjects that seemed especially ripe for agreement, but Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leader blocked that as well. Now they claimed it was too ``piecemeal''--too piecemeal, they said--to get any help out the door until Democrats and Republicans had settled every disagreement on every front. The Democratic leaders have spent months playing these ``Goldilocks'' games. They have complained about every single thing we put forward but produced nothing of their own with any chance whatsoever of becoming law. Meanwhile, after all their blustering that Congress should never do anything ``piecemeal,'' Speaker Pelosi came rushing back to Washington to pass the most piecemeal bill you could possibly imagine--legislation that solely helped out the U.S. Postal Service and did nothing at all for American families. When Republicans tried to help American workers keep their jobs, Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer said it was ``piecemeal,'' but when House Democrats' fears about mail-in voting made them think maybe their own jobs would be in jeopardy, that argument suddenly disappeared. That is the score. Democrats are all for piecemeal bills when they concern their own reelections, but when it comes to bipartisan aid for kids, jobs, and schools, Democrats say it is either their entire wish list--all of it--or nobody gets a dime. Well, Republicans see this quite differently. We don't think this crisis cares about partisan politics. We think people are hurting and Congress should do its job. We want to agree where a bipartisan agreement is possible, get more help out the door, and then keep arguing over the rest later. That is how you legislate. That is how you make law. You find agreement where agreement is possible and keep arguing over the rest later. So Republicans are making yet another overture. Today, we are releasing a targeted proposal that focuses on several of the most urgent aspects of this crisis--issues where bipartisanship should be especially possible. I am talking about policies such as extending the additional Federal unemployment benefit for jobless workers; providing a second round of the job-saving Paycheck Protection Program for the hardest hit small businesses to prevent layoffs; sending more than $100 billion to help K-12 schools and universities open safely and educate our kids; dedicating billions more for testing, contact tracing, treatments, and vaccines; on-shoring manufacturing capacity for critical medical supplies and rebuilding our national stockpile; giving all kinds of families more choice and flexibility to navigate education and childcare during the crisis; providing legal protections for schools, churches, charities, nonprofits, and employers so they can reopen; providing more help for the Postal Service. Our proposal would do all this and more. Now, here is what our bill is not. It is not a sweeping, multitrillion-dollar plan to rebuild the entire country in Republicans' image. It does not even contain every single relief policy that Republicans ourselves think would help in the short term. I am confident the Democrats would feel the same way. But the American people don't need us to keep arguing over what might be perfect. They need us to actually make law. So Democratic leaders are perfectly free to come out here and keep up their playbook from these past months. Just blast away--blast away--in bad faith, call names, and complain about the infinite number of things this proposal does not do. Maybe they will bring back their ``Goldilocks'' act and say our multihundred-billion-dollar proposal is too small or too skinny, even though Democrats just passed a piecemeal bill for the Postal Service that ignored everything else--a piecemeal bill for the Postal Service that ignored everything else. Democrats can do all that if they want to. I understand they have already been criticizing this bill today before they even read it, before it had even been put out. More of this would just reinforce that only one side of the aisle seems to want any bipartisan outcome at all. It is easy to tell in Washington whether somebody's end goal is political posturing or getting an outcome. One way or another, what Democrats do will be revealing. The Senate is going to vote on this targeted proposal. We are going to get the stonewalling of Democratic leaders out from behind closed doors and put this to a vote out here on the floor. It is going to happen this week. Senators will not be voting on whether this targeted package satisfies every one of their legislative hopes and dreams. That is not what we will do in this Chamber. We vote on whether to make laws, whether to forge a compromise, whether to do a lot of good for the country and keep arguing over the remaining differences later. A few weeks ago, more than 100 House Democrats spoke out publicly. They asked Speaker Pelosi to stop stonewalling and let the House vote on targeted COVID relief short of--short of--her entire wish list. The Speaker ignored them--ignored her rank and file, just like her piecemeal postal bill ignored American families. Over here I will make sure our Democratic colleagues get a chance to walk the walk. Every Senator who has said they want a bipartisan outcome for the country will have a chance to vote for everyone to see. Senators will vote this week, and the American people will be watching

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I understand there are three bills at the desk due for a second reading en bloc.

Mr. McCONNELL. In order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceedings en bloc.

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. I move to proceed to executive session.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. McCONNELL. What is the pending business?

Mr. McCONNELL. I withdraw the motion to concur in the House amendment with amendment No. 2499.

Mr. McCONNELL. I move to concur in the House amendment with amendment No. 2652.

Mr. McCONNELL. I ask that the reading be dispensed with.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk for the motion to concur with amendment.

Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory call be waived.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn to then convene for pro forma sessions only, with no business being conducted on the following dates and times, and that following each pro forma session, the Senate adjourn until the next pro forma session: Friday, August 14, at 10 a.m.; Tuesday, August 18, at 12 p.m.; Friday, August 21, at 11:15 a.m.; Tuesday, August 25, at 2:30 p.m.; Friday, August 28, at 2 p.m.; Tuesday, September 1, at 7 a.m.; Friday, September 4, at 10 a.m. I further ask unanimous consent that when the Senate adjourns on Friday, September 4, it next convene at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, September 8, and 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; further, that upon the closing of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume the Ludwig nomination; finally, that notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I understand that there are three bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I now ask for a second reading, and I object to my own request, all en bloc.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Senate was supposed to spend this week finalizing another bipartisan rescue package for the American people. Millions of laid-off workers needed more Federal assistance to weather the storm. Small businesses needed more support to make payroll. Schools and families need more funding, tools, and certainty with reopening dates fast approaching. Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers need more backup as they hold the line against this disease. We all need more gas for the race toward more testing, better treatments, and the vaccine that will finish this fight. So last week I canceled the first week of our August State work period in the hope that the Speaker of the House and the Democratic leader would put aside their ideological demands with no relation to this pandemic and finally let Congress legislate. Unfortunately, the Democrats have continued to let working families down. They are still rejecting any more relief for anyone unless they get a flood of demands with no relationship to COVID-19. It has been more than 2 weeks since Senate Republicans put out a trillion-dollar plan to help America reopen, recover, and stay on offense against this virus. Republicans did the same thing that worked back in March. We set up the same process that built the unanimous CARES Act in a matter of days. We laid out a strong marker built by our chairmen and our committees, fitted to real, fact-based needs of our Nation and then invited the Democrats to negotiate. We want another round of direct cash payments for American families. We want to send $105 billion to help schools and universities safely reopen and billions more to help working parents with childcare. We want to create new incentives for retaining and rehiring America's workers and for businesses to improve workplace safety. We want to create the smart legal protections that small businesses and university presidents are pleading for, so they can reopen safely for students and workers without paying a ransom to the trial lawyers. These are the strong policies we proposed because these are the policies our Nation actually needs. We want to take second runs at the best and most successful parts of the bipartisan CARES Act while adding in bold new steps for this new phase of our Nation's battle. But as I said right from the outset, Republicans had no illusion that our initial marker would become law. That isn't how divided government operates. There was never any question that bipartisan compromise would be needed to get an outcome. So I expected that, just like in March, the Democratic ranking members would sit down with our chairmen, bring some of their own serious ideas to the table, and work together to build a bipartisan bill. That is what happened back then. But, instead, the country got something else entirely. Instead of working with our serious framework, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Democratic leader spent weeks insisting on a completely--completely--unrealistic, far-left proposal that even their own Democratic Members mocked as a go-nowhere messaging stunt the instant it was first released. Instead of letting their committees and their Members discuss substantive issues across the aisle, they said nobody could negotiate but them. And instead of staying focused on the real needs of our Nation, these two Democratic leaders have held the talks hostage for weeks now--weeks--over nonCOVID-related ideological items, which the political left has wanted since well before this virus hit our shores. You know what I am talking about. By now, the whole country knows what I am talking about: the absurd issues the Democrats have turned into sticking points; the bizarre, parochial leftwing favors that Democrats have put ahead of the help that working families need right now, like the massive tax cuts for the highest earners in the bluest States--an idea that even supposedly progressive economists have said is ``not a good idea''; the trillion-dollar slush fund for State and local governments that have only spent 25 percent--25 percent--of the billions that we sent them back in March, totally out of proportion to any estimate of urgent pandemic shortfalls; the socialist insistence on the Federal Government paying people more not to work--not to work-- than essential workers earn when they are on the job. Go to any kitchen table in America, outside of a few skyscraper penthouses, and put these bizarre demands up against the trillion dollars of real, practical relief that Republicans wanted to get out the door weeks ago. No family in Middle America is saying: Thank goodness. Thank goodness the Democrats are blocking cash payments to me, money for my kids' schools, and money for vaccines until Manhattan millionaires get a tax cut. No working people are saying: Thank goodness the Democrats are blocking the next small business rescue plan, money for testing, and rehiring incentives until Malibu, CA, gets Federal money to keep buying more electric cars, which they wrote to the Congress demanding. Families aren't saying this. Outside of Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer, even Washington Democrats aren't saying this. While the press tries its hardest to praise Speaker Pelosi for ``playing hardball,'' her own House Democrats are rebelling. They say they are ``frustrated'' and ``angry'' that relief is being held up over what they themselves acknowledge is a ``political wish list.'' ``[T]he HEROES Act went too far,'' is another quote. These are Democrats talking about the Heroes Act. Even the Speaker's own members are not buying their political spin. They want what Republicans want, what the administration wants, what America's families everywhere want. We need to get an outcome. The Secretary of the Treasury and the White House chief of staff have given ground. They have put new issues on the table that Democrats wanted. They have worked to find commonality. But the Democrats are barely even pretending to negotiate--barely even pretending. The Speaker's latest spin is that it is some heroic sacrifice to lower her demands from a made-up $3.5 trillion marker that was never going to become law to an equally made-up $2.5 trillion marker. She calls this meeting in the middle. That is not negotiating; that is throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. People who have serious policy proposals that are fitted to actual needs cannot breezily knock off a trillion here and add a trillion there. Heck, by the Speaker's logic, they should have just opened with their entire $93 trillion Green New Deal. Then they could have blamed the President for not meeting them halfway at the cut-rate bargain sum of $45 trillion. Come on. In point of fact, the Speaker and the leader have not conceded anything at all. They haven't budged on their absurd demands. They just moved the expiration date a few weeks on the exact same crazy wish list, so the pricetag comes down without moving an inch on the merits. They have refused Republicans' offer to pass everything that we can agree on. The administration has said: Let's pass things we can agree on right now. The Republicans don't think that a disputed issue should hold up the most urgent aid for working families, but the answer so far from the Democratic leadership is no. The partisan games continue, so the Nation's pain continues as well. Laid-off workers and kids and parents and doctors and nurses are waiting for help. Our people are waiting for help. Republicans have been at the table for weeks. We just need seriousness on the other side. American families' livelihoods are at stake. American lives are at stake. Democrats must rerun their political calculations and finally--finally--let Congress act

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, after the Senate adjourns today, we will have our regular pro forma meetings through the end of the State work period. If the Speaker of the House and the minority leader of the Senate decide to finally let another rescue package move forward for workers and for families, it would take bipartisan consent to meet for legislative business sooner than scheduled. As has been the case, Senators would receive at least 24-hours' notice before any unanticipated votes. The American people need more help. The coronavirus is not finished with our country, so Congress cannot be finished helping our people. The Republicans have been waiting and trying to pass bipartisan relief, literally, for weeks. I hope our Democratic colleagues will let the Senate act sometime soon.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 646.