Chuck Schumer

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, for the information of Senators, there will be a rollcall vote at 5:30 p.m. on the confirmation of the Koh nomination.

Mr. SCHUMER

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, earlier this morning, it was my honor to join with President Biden, the Vice President, Leader McConnell, the Speaker, and other congressional leaders in paying a final tribute to our former colleague, Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. From defending our country in World War II, where he fought the Nazis on the hillsides of Italy, to dedicating his final years advocating with disabled Americans and veterans, Senator Dole redefined and elevated what it means to serve our country. By 21, he had given more of himself than most of us give in a lifetime, and then he kept going for 70 years after that. Leader Dole, rest in peace. Thank you for all you did to make our country better. And I extend my condolences and prayers to his wife, Senator Elizabeth Dole, their family, and all who mourn the loss of the gentleman from Kansas. Debt Ceiling Mr. President, now on the debt ceiling. Later today, the Senate is going to hold a crucial vote that will enable us to address the debt ceiling on a fast-track basis, avoiding the prospect of a catastrophic, calamitous default on our sovereign debt. The proposal I worked on with Leader McConnell will allow Democrats to do precisely what we have been seeking to do for months, what I have been coming down to the floor advocating since the fall: provide a simple majority vote to fix the debt ceiling without having to resort to a convoluted, lengthy, and ultimately risky process. The Nation's debt has been incurred on a bipartisan basis, so I am pleased that this responsible action will be taken today to facilitate a process that avoids a default. I want to thank Leader McConnell for working with us on this agreement. Our multiple conversations were fruitful, candid, productive. This is the responsible path forward: no brinksmanship, no default on the debt, no risk of another recession. We still have a few more steps to take before we completely resolve this matter, but I am optimistic that after today's vote we will be on a glide path to avoid a catastrophic default. Build Back Better Act Mr. President, now on Build Back Better. In the first 9 days of December, Democrats have made very good progress on some of our largest priorities for the month. We successfully avoided a needless government shutdown. We cleared the path to address the debt ceiling and avoid a default. And now we are close to passing an annual Defense bill on a bipartisan basis, as we have done for decades. Last night, I filed cloture on NDAA and, for the information of my colleagues, we will vote early next week to move forward on this bill. Soon we will be able to turn to another crucial item on our December to-do list: passing Build Back Better in time for Christmas. We remain on schedule to bring this bill to the floor of the Senate before December 25. Yesterday, four Senate committees released their titles of the Build Back Better Act, and the Congressional Budget Office released scores for those titles. More titles and scores are scheduled to be released this week. For the knowledge of all Senators, the text and scores can be found online at the Senate Democrats' and CBO websites. So it is available to everybody. Senate Democrats have also wrapped up all of our final meetings with the Parliamentarian's office. Those are the meetings where just Democrats talked to the Parliamentarian. Republicans also get their chance alone. And now we anticipate that the bipartisan Byrd bath-- where both sides are together to make their case to the Parliamentarian and argue back and forth--we expect those to start next week. I want to thank the Parliamentarian's office and all of our committee's staff for working so hard this week to bring us to this point. For all the reasons we should pass Build Back Better, I want to talk about one in some detail this morning: extending the child tax credit. During the holiday season, American families are looking for every option to lower costs, make ends meet. So the best thing we can do is pass Build Back Better before some critical tax breaks from the American Rescue Plan--above all, the child tax credit checks--come to a premature end. That is one thing no American should want. COVID isn't over, and so these checks shouldn't lapse either. On the contrary, they should keep going. Roughly 35 million families will get their next $300-per-child check in the mail on December 15, and we need to assure that they will get their checks in January, too, without any glitch. As a number of outlets have reported, families are at risk of seeing these checks end after December, if we don't take action. So let's get this done. Let's pass and enact Build Back Better into law before Christmas so families won't see their checks come to a halt in the coming months, and families, as they are doing their Christmas shopping, can be assured that new checks will be coming over the next year. For the tens of millions of families that have taken it on the chin during COVID, an extra $300 per month, per child could be what helps the parents stand on their own two feet. That is extra money for groceries, fill up the tank at the gas station, pay for diapers. These are not luxuries. These are not handouts. They are daily essentials that nobody should have to worry about in today's day and age. In an affluent society, no one should have to worry about these things, and that is what these checks do: they bring a little more fairness into our economy. They say to poorer people: You can have a chance and, more importantly, your children can have a chance. That is part of the American dream. Of course, Build Back Better will do more than that. It will, for example, provide the largest investments to date to fight climate change. I have been working with my colleagues for months to make sure our climate investments will be robust, effective, and will lay a foundation for us to keep taking action to fight the climate crisis here in Congress in the future. Climate change costs our country tens of billions of dollars every time that storms we used to label ``once in a century'' slam us. Build Back Better will help us address the climate crisis by lowering emissions, making our communities more resistant to disasters, and protect our planet for the next generation. Our work on Build Back Better will keep going until we get the job done.

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be discharged from further consideration of S. 3294 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 172, H.R. 4660.

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 171, H.R. 390.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendment to the preamble be agreed to; that the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Ossoff substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 2796 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas and nays on my motion.

Mr. SCHUMER. I have an amendment to the instructions, which is at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask that further reading be waived.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, December, 8, be waived.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask that further reading of the amendment be waived.

Mr. SCHUMER. I have an amendment No. 4884 to amendment No. 4883, which is at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; and if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table all without intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nomination; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate consider the following nomination, Executive Calendar No. 563, Jennifer Clyburn Reed, of South Carolina, to be Federal Cochairperson of the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, one more issue--the upcoming vaccine CRA. On another matter, reports this morning indicate that getting vaccinated and boosted offer significant protection against the Omicron variant. As we learn more about Omicron, it is an important moment for national leaders to double- and triple-down on encouraging all eligible Americans to get vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible. But as soon as today, our Republican friends are going to come to the floor to push an anti-science, anti-vaccine proposal to overturn the President's vaccines requirements for businesses with more than 100 employees. My friends, America, we are in the middle of a public health crisis. Everyone sees the damage it causes to themselves, their friends, their families, and their communities, and the way to solve this is to be driven by science. We have had hundreds of years of scientific advancement. It has helped us live longer and live healthier. My dad just lived until 98. That didn't happen in a vacuum, and it certainly wouldn't have happened when there were scientific advances and people said, ``Let's not listen to them,'' for political, ideological, or whatever reasons. We cannot go back to the days when people were driven by wild theories. Some of the anti-vaxxers here in this Chamber remind me of what happened 400 years ago, when people were clinging to the fact that the Sun revolved around the Earth--they just didn't believe science--or 300 years ago or 500 years ago, when they were sure the Earth was flat. It is just like that. The science is here. And what does the science show? The more people who get vaccinated, the greater chance we have to eliminate and, certainly, greatly reduce the virulence and ``widespreadness'' of this disease. People are resisting. Is it political? Is it fueled by lies on the internet? Is it just because people fear vaccines? We never had this outcry when we had to give our kids--my kids--mumps, measles vaccines before they went to school. We never had this outcry as people lined up to get flu shots. All of a sudden, something has happened here. It is wrong, and it is bad for the country, and it is not based on any scientific evidence whatsoever. I know that wild stories on the internet, lies, sometimes get in people's heads, but we can't listen to people's lies. We are a fact- based society. We always have been. The biggest thing standing between us and the end of the pandemic is Americans who have refused to get vaccinated. Too many Americans believe a wide range of conspiracy theories about vaccines, and even those who seem to encourage those crazy theories often get vaccinated themselves and don't tell anybody. We have had so many of these hard-right leaders admitting: ``Oh, yes, I did get vaccinated,'' even though they are telling people they shouldn't have to take one. ``Oh, yes, I will get vaccinated, but you shouldn't have to.'' If the only damage were to the person, him or herself, who didn't get vaccinated, maybe some people would say that is OK. But it is not just to them because, when there is a large pool of people unvaccinated, even if it is not the majority, that allows the COVID virus to spread, to mutate, to create new variants, and create new stronger variants. It is a pool of people. If you greatly reduce that pool, you greatly reduce the chance of a new variant, particularly a virulent one, from afflicting us in the months ahead. It is crazy. The internet has had a role in spreading this, and so has the far right. The same people in the far right who want to tear down government and hurt working people in so many other ways are here doing the same thing--the same thing--even though, as I said, a good number of them get vaccinated themselves--hypocrisy. There should be one message, and one message only, coming from this Chamber to the American people: Get vaccinated. Get boosted. Stay safe yourself. Keep your families, your communities, and our country safe. The worst thing we can do is tie our own hands behind our backs and let these new variants spread and grow--new ones after Omicron and so many others. But that is what Republican-pushed ``anti-vaccines'' would do. I will strongly vote against this amendment. I have strong feelings about what is good for this country and about fighting anti-science and theories that seem to, as I said, come from the same place that the flat Earth theory came from, that the theory that the Sun revolves around the Earth came from. Anti-science, nonscience, fictional belief come from there. We ought not give it a stamp of approval in this Chamber. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam 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. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, 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. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to consideration of S. Res. 476, submitted earlier today.