Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I have an update for the information of all the Senators and for the information of the American people, and it is good news. It is good news for the doctors and nurses in emergency rooms around the country who are waiting for more masks and more funding. It is good news for families all across America. At last we have a deal. After days of intense discussions, the Senate has reached a bipartisan agreement on a historic relief package for this pandemic. It will rush new resources onto the frontlines of our Nation's healthcare fight, and it will inject trillions of dollars of cash into the economy as fast as possible to help American workers, families, small businesses, and industries make it through this disruption and emerge on the other side ready to soar. The bipartisan CARES Act will squarely address each of the four big priorities that I laid out in my legislation at the beginning of the process about a week ago. It will rush financial assistance to Americans through direct checks to households from the middle class on down and through a significant and creative expansion of unemployment insurance during this emergency. It will deliver historic relief to Main Street America through hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency loans so more small businesses can survive this and keep paying their workers. It will help secure our economic foundations and stabilize key national industries to prevent as many layoffs as possible, while keeping big companies accountable, as both sides have sought to do. And, of course, it will push major relief to hospitals and healthcare providers, invest in new medicines and vaccines so we can beat this virus faster, and help get more equipment and masks to the frontline heroes who put themselves at risk to care for patients. In effect, this is a wartime level of investment into our Nation. The men and women of the greatest country on Earth are going to defeat this coronavirus and reclaim our future, and the Senate is going to make sure they have the ammunition they need to do it. I am thrilled that we are finally going to deliver for the country that has been waiting for us to step up. I am relieved that my distinguished Democratic colleagues are ready to take yes for an answer. This has been a long week for the Senate, but it has been a much longer week for the hundreds of millions of Americans who find themselves in this strange new reality, where every morning brings new worries about their health, about their loved ones, and about whether their job or their small business will still exist at this time next week. So, Madam President, help is on the way. The American people are already rising to this grave challenge, and the Senate is about to follow suit. We are going to pass this legislation later today.

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 12 noon, Wednesday, March 25; further, 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 following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 748.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the eyes of the Nation are on the Senate. For days now, we have been engaged in intense, bipartisan talks to build emergency relief legislation on a historic scale, to push resources to our healthcare heroes and American workers and families. Democrats and Republicans sat down together. We crafted this version of a proposal together. This compromise package would push tens of billions of dollars to hospitals and healthcare providers. It would send direct checks to millions of American households--direct checks. It would massively expand unemployment insurance in this crisis. It would stabilize industries to prevent mass layoffs. And, crucially, it would deliver historic relief to small businesses to help Main Street employees from being totally crushed--crushed--by this pandemic. But, yesterday, when the time came to vote on these urgent measures, our Democratic colleagues chose to block it. So why are the American people still waiting? It is a good question to ask. I hear the markets are not doing well today. They would like to ask the question of us: Why not move? Why are Democrats filibustering the bipartisan bill they helped write? It is an appropriate question to ask this morning as the country waits on us. So let me give the American people a taste of the outstanding issues we woke up to this morning. Here are some of the items on the Democratic wish list over which they chose to block this legislation last night: tax credits for solar energy and wind energy, provisions to force employers to give special new treatment to Big Labor, and--listen to this--new emissions standards for the airlines. Are you kidding me? This is the moment to debate new regulations that have nothing whatsoever to do with this crisis? That is what they are up to over there. The American people need to know it. Democrats will not let us fund hospitals or save small businesses unless they get to dust off the Green New Deal. I would like to see Senate Democrats tell New York City doctors and nurses who are literally overrun as we speak that they are filibustering hospital funding and more masks because they want to argue with the airlines over their carbon footprint. I would like to see Senate Democrats tell small business employees in their States, who are literally being laid off every day, that they are filibustering relief that will keep people on the payroll because Democrats' special interest friends want to squeeze employers while they are vulnerable--squeeze these employers while they are vulnerable. I would like to see Senate Democrats tell all the American seniors who have seen their hard-earned retirement savings literally melt away, as the markets track toward their worst month since 1931, that they are continuing to hold up emergency measures over tax credits for solar panels--tax credits for solar panels Even with the Federal Reserve announcing even further extraordinary steps today, the markets are tanking once again, as I said, because this body can't get its act together, and the only reason it can't get its act together is right over here on the other side of the aisle. So these are just a few of the completely nongermane wish list items that they are rallying behind, preventing us from getting this emergency relief to the American people right now, eleventh-hour demands the Democrats have decided are more important than Americans' paychecks and the personal safety of doctors and nurses. So remember what one of Speaker Pelosi's top lieutenants in the House said a few days ago--and this is a direct quote: This is a tremendous opportunity to restrict things to fit our vision--to fit our vision. That was the Democratic whip in the House, just laying it out there. It reminds me of the definition of a Washington gaffe: when a politician in Washington tells you what he really means. We heard something similar here on the Senate floor last night--just last night. Here was one of our Democratic colleagues: ``How many times are we going to get a shot at a trillion- dollar-plus program?'' Right here on the floor last night: ``I don't know how many trillion-plus packages we are going to have.'' In other words, let's don't waste this opportunity to take full advantage and get our whole wish list done. They ought to be embarrassed. In fact, I have heard from some of them who are embarrassed, talking like this is some juicy political opportunity. This is not a juicy political opportunity. This is a national emergency. We had days of productive, bipartisan talks to get to this point. Senate Democrats sat down with Senate Republicans and negotiated furiously to get to this point. The bill now contains a huge number of changes that our Democratic colleagues requested, including major changes. We were this close--this close. Then, yesterday morning, the Speaker of the House flew back from San Francisco, and suddenly the Senate's serious bipartisan process turned into this leftwing episode of ``Supermarket Sweep''--unrelated issues, left and right. I will tell you what would really lower our carbon footprint. If the entire economy continues to crumble, with hundreds of thousands more Americans laid off because Senate Democrats will not let us act, that will lower our carbon footprint all right. Every single American outside of Washington knows this is no time for this nonsense. A surgeon in Fresno, CA, says: ``We are at war with no ammo.'' ``We are at war with no ammo.'' That is a surgeon in Fresno. An intensive care nurse in New York City says: ``If we don't get the proper equipment soon, we're going to get sick.'' Democrats are filibustering more masks and aid for hospitals. Every day, more Americans wake up to the news that their jobs are gone--their jobs are gone. Democrats are filibustering programs to keep people on the payroll, and they are filibustering a huge expansion of unemployment insurance, which they themselves negotiated and put into the bill. Hundreds of dollars extra per week for laid-off workers on top of existing unemployment benefits, and Democrats are blocking it? This has to stop, and today is the day it has to stop. The country is out of time--out of time. When the Democratic House passed their phase 2 bill, even though Senate Republicans would have written it very differently, we sped it through the Senate and passed it quickly without even amending it. I literally told my colleagues to ``gag and vote for it,'' for the sake of building bipartisan momentum, because Republicans understand that a national crisis calls for urgency and it calls for bipartisanship. It is time for that good faith to be reciprocated. It is time for Democrats to stop playing politics and step up to the plate. The small businesses in their own States deserve it. Their own States' emergency room doctors deserve it. Their own constituents who have lost their jobs deserve it. In my home State of Kentucky, the Governor has effectively paused commerce across the State, and our unemployment system crashed due to demand. Kentuckians need help now, and we aren't alone. I have heard the pleas from healthcare workers in New York and Seattle. I have listened to the small business owners crying out in Brooklyn and Chicago. Why does only one side understand that this is urgent? Why are these hard-hit cities' own Senators happy to keep this slow-walking going on indefinitely? Is that really something these folks on the other side are comfortable with--indefinitely slow-walking all of this? How can half the Senate not rise to the occasion? At a time when everybody else in the country is pulling together, they are pulling us apart. The examples are all over the country that we ought to look to: healthcare heroes, to neighborhood volunteers, to national industries. Everybody is unifying and pitching in. What about here in the Senate? It is time to get with the program. It is time to pass historic relief that we have built together. The country doesn't have time for these political games. They need progress. So we are going to vote in just a few minutes, and I assure you the American people will be watching.

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Maine be allowed to speak for a few minutes.

Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is my understanding that they are going to let us voice vote this.

Mr. McCONNELL. What you are proposing is that we voice vote two, and then the cloture vote occurs automatically?

Mr. McCONNELL. Parliamentary inquiry: Does the cloture vote occur--

Mr. McCONNELL. I propose we voice vote the first two and then pause so that there are some speeches allowed by Members--up to an hour of speeches allowed by Members before the cloture vote.

Mr. McCONNELL. That is fine.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to the motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked on the motion to proceed to H.R. 748.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the cloture was not invoked on the motion to proceed to H.R. 748.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I also ask that the vote be 30 minutes in length.

Mr. McCONNELL. By firming a deal, we have to get cloture again once we got on the bill. In other words, this is cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill.

Mr. McCONNELL. Let me explain it to my good friend from West Virginia.

Mr. McCONNELL. Here is the way it works, colleagues. We have been fiddling around, as the Senator from Maine pointed out, for 24 hours.

Mr. McCONNELL. I thank the Senator from West Virginia.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for the information of our colleagues on both sides, as a result of this procedural obstruction, let me explain where we are. By refusal to allow us to take this first step, which would have still given them plenty of time to negotiate, we have put the Senate in the following position: If any 1 of the 100 of us chooses to object, we can't deal with this until Friday or Saturday at the earliest. If any 1 of the 100 of us objects to some of the procedural hurdles we have to overcome as a result of this mindless obstruction--absolutely mindless obstruction going on on the other side, while the public is waiting for us to act, while people are losing their jobs, losing their income, and shutting down the economy, which we have had to do to deal with this public health crisis, they are fiddling around with Senate procedure that could, if 1 Senator objected, take us all the way to the end of the week to solve this problem. I am beginning to think our Democratic colleagues don't understand the procedure in the Senate. I am not sure you understand the position your leader has put you in. He loses nothing--nothing--in terms of negotiating leverage by letting us get through these procedural hoops sooner rather than later--sooner rather than later. The American people have had enough of this nonsense. They wonder where we are. They are looking to us to solve this problem. The Secretary of the Treasury keeps going into the Democratic leader's office, and the list keeps getting longer and longer and longer. The bazaar is apparently open on the other side. Never let a crisis go to waste, one former President's Chief of Staff famously said. So, look, I hope my colleagues will come out here and express themselves in the course of the afternoon. The American people would like to hear from us. They would like to know what is going on here. So let's tell them. I yield the floor.

Mr. McCONNELL. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, beyond what the Senator is accurately pointing out, they put us in the following procedural position. By refusing to jump over some of these procedural steps along the way--it would not disadvantage their negotiating one bit--they have put us in a position where one Senator 1 of 100--1--could keep us here until Friday or Saturday. Our constituents are saying to act now--as the Senator from Ohio was pointing out--minus procedural roadblocks in a time of national emergency.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I say to my friend from Nebraska that I will be very brief. Cloture Motion

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion be waived.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, just one further observation, we will not be having any votes tonight.