Congressional Record, Senate, July 1, 2020 — Senate
Summary
Pages S4103 and S4104 of the Congressional Record, Senate, July 1, 2020. The pages record that S. Res. 641 was agreed to, then Mr. HEINRICH speaks on the Justice in Policing Act and says the Senate needs to pass it. Mrs. BLACKBURN speaks under the heading Free Speech about the power of the digital community and of technology companies including Google and Facebook. The text ends with Mr. MENENDEZ speaking on his amendment No. 2270 to S. 4049, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which would establish in law the position of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, July 1, 2020 — Senate.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-07-01-crec-2020-07-01-pt1-pgs4103-aa6e77c0e0/
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4103
agreed to, and the motions to recon- It would improve transparency in po- this March in which the response to a
sider be considered made and laid upon lice departments by creating a national welfare check on Valente Acosta-
the table with no intervening action or police misconduct registry, requiring Bustillos, a man with documented be-
debate. accurate data reporting on misconduct havioral health challenges, ended with
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without and use-of-force incidents and ensuring officers fatally shooting him after he
objection, it is so ordered. problematic officers cannot avoid ac- wielded a shovel that he had been using
The resolution (S. Res. 641) was countability by simply changing de- to do yard work.
agreed to. partments. This is not an isolated incident. The
The preamble was agreed to. It would also institute a real na- evidence is everywhere that systemic
(The resolution, with its preamble, is tional ban on choke holds and other reform is needed for law enforcement,
printed in today’s RECORD under ‘‘Sub- deadly, restrictive airway holds. We not just in Albuquerque but all across
mitted Resolutions.’’) have seen this use of lethal force kill my State and all across this country.
f George Floyd and Eric Garner before Since the beginning of 2015, since the
him and earlier this year, in Las Nation reeled over the death of Mi-
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZA-
Cruces, NM, when a police officer chael Brown in Ferguson, MO, there
TION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR
killed Antonio Valenzuela with a vas- have been more than 5,000—5,000—fatal
2021—Continued
cular neck restraint. While I hope that police shootings. It pains me to say
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. I yield the that in that time period, New Mexico
justice will be served for Mr. Floyd’s
floor. has had the highest rate of these shoot-
I suggest the absence of a quorum. and Mr. Valenzuela’s families, I know
that these men should never have died ings in the entire country on a per cap-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ita basis.
clerk will call the roll. in the first place. This lethal and un-
necessary type of force should not be While our overall nationwide statis-
The senior assistant legislative clerk tics on deaths in police custody are in-
proceeded to call the roll. allowed anywhere in America.
The Justice in Policing Act would complete—which is a problem in and of
Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask itself—the data we do have makes it
unanimous consent that the order for put an end to the injudicious use of no-
knock warrants that led to the murder clear that police in the United States
the quorum call be rescinded and to are killing people at a rate much high-
speak as in morning business. of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, KY.
In order to prevent future er than our peer nations.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. COT- A review of media-reported, arrest-
TON). Without objection, it is so or- extrajudicial killings like the murder
related deaths in the Bureau of Justice
dered. of Ahmaud Arbery earlier this year by
Statistics found that more than 1,300
JUSTICE IN POLICING ACT vigilantes in Georgia, the Justice in
people died in police custody in the 10
Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, Amer- Policing Act would also finally des-
months from June 2015 to March 2016.
icans are demanding an end to the per- ignate lynching as a Federal crime.
During that same period, only 13 people
sistent racial injustice and violence The legislation would also make
in the United Kingdom died in or after
that inflicts our country. broad improvements in training for po-
being in police custody.
Protestors have gathered outside of lice officers. That includes implicit While we are a much larger country,
the White House and the Capitol. New bias training to confront the prejudice even on a per capita basis, that means
Mexicans from our biggest city to our that contributes to racial profiling and that Americans are being killed at a
smallest communities are marching for confrontational treatment of people of rate of approximately six times higher
meaningful change. color. than in the UK. Many, if not most, of
I have joined these protests in Eman- We must also make deescalation and these deaths fall or are deemed ‘‘justi-
cipation Hall, in the streets of Wash- crisis intervention techniques standard fied’’ by law enforcement, but I want to
ington, DC, and now I am joining them operating procedures in encounters and say in the strongest possible terms: We
from the U.S. Senate floor. make the use of lethal force the abso- can’t keep accepting a system that jus-
The systemic racism being called out lute last resort. tifies this level of deadly violence.
is real, and it is all around us all of the In my State, we have seen far too The House of Representatives dem-
time. Within law enforcement, we have many incidents in which police have onstrated last week that we can take
seen it in the horrific videos docu- killed people of color with lethal tac- action to address this system. Answer-
menting the racist violence that took tics or responded to New Mexicans ex- ing the calls of Americans all across
the lives of Black men and women at periencing mental illness or addiction our country, the House voted to pass
the hands of police officers and with unnecessary force that resulted in the Justice in Policing Act. The Senate
extrajudicial killers. death. Nearly a decade ago, the Depart- needs to do the same because no one
As a father raising two sons, my ment of Justice began an investigation should be above the law—no one, in-
heart aches for the parents whose sons’ into the Albuquerque Police Depart- cluding those in law enforcement.
and daughters’ names we now chant ment after numerous such fatal police While I believe these last weeks and
loudly in the streets. encounters. months of Americans calling for jus-
It is unacceptable for any American In 2014, the Department of Justice re- tice have changed many hearts and
to live in fear of violent encounters leased its report that cited chronic minds, I am not naive enough to be-
when they enter public spaces or retail abuses of civil rights, widespread com- lieve the current administration is ei-
stores or just go out for a walk. The munity distrust, and a pattern of ex- ther willing or capable of bringing the
very fact that painful experiences with cessive force across the department. level of change that Americans are de-
law enforcement are ubiquitous among For these past 6 years, the Albu- manding.
so many in our Nation should be evi- querque Police Department has been Unfortunately, in the last 31⁄2 years,
dence enough that our current model of under a federally enforced consent de- President Trump and his Justice De-
policing is not working. That is why I cree that has brought much needed partment have either turned a blind
am proud to support my colleagues changes in hiring, training, and use-of- eye, excused, or even openly encour-
Senator BOOKER and Senator HARRIS to force policies. aged a more violent police culture.
cosponsor the Justice in Policing Act. This ongoing process of changing just Starting under Attorney General Jeff
This sweeping legislation reforms the this one police department’s culture is Sessions and certainly continuing
police system as Americans across the far from complete. Court hearings con- under Attorney General Bill Barr
country demand an end to police vio- tinue, and a federally appointed mon- today, this administration has spent
lence that is disproportionately tar- itor continues to oversee the yearslong much more time and Department of
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geting communities of color. It would process of completing all of the re- Justice resources aiding the Presi-
address qualified immunity standards forms in the federally mandated, court- dent’s own political battles and imple-
in Federal law which currently stand approved settlement agreement. menting even harsher penalties on
in the way of police officers being held We have still seen multiple fatal po- Americans than on holding police de-
accountable in court when they violate lice shootings each year since reforms partments accountable for guaran-
constitutional rights. began. That includes one case from just teeing equal justice under the law.
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S4104 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
None of this excuses us in the U.S. Now, I want to be careful to empha- months and years ahead. Let’s rebuild
Senate from our own responsibility to size that the responsibility for chang- our country to create an America that
lead. We have a moral obligation, as ing this mentality must not fall en- includes all of us. Let’s rebuild our
Senators, to grapple with how we can tirely on the shoulders of our law en- country in a way that respects the
bring about necessary Federal changes forcement officers because we also rec- human dignity of Black lives and pro-
with better Federal policies. That ognize that our law enforcement offi- vides safety and opportunity to all of
should start with passing the account- cers, too, are being impacted and us. Let’s rebuild America to become
ability measures, the meaningful im- harmed by this broken system. We, as the place we all want it to be: a nation
provements to police training, and the a society, have asked them to treat the where we see each other as fellow
bans on excessive lethal force tactics symptoms and respond to the defi- human beings, equally deserving of life
that are in the Justice in Policing Act. ciencies that all of us have allowed to and liberty.
We also need to encourage the persist in education, in healthcare, in There is still so much more hard
changes that will necessarily need to addiction treatment, and in housing. work ahead of us. Passing the Justice
come at the local government level. On a daily basis, police officers ad- in Policing Act is a first meaningful
Advocates are calling on local govern- dress the most acute impacts of our step on a long path forward.
ments to reassess their budgets and not solving those other issues. I would I suggest the absence of a quorum.
how much they have prioritized polic- argue that this is because the same The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
ing and prisons over education and wrongheaded ‘‘us versus them’’ warrior clerk will call the roll.
housing. They are also calling on their mentality that I have been describing The legislative clerk proceeded to
local leaders to reimagine a world has long resided within this very insti- call the roll.
where armed police officers are not the tution and has been baked into our Mrs. BLACKBURN. I ask unanimous
responders dispatched to all crisis situ- country as a whole. consent that the order for the quorum
ations. It is the same warrior mentality that call be rescinded.
Last week, the mayor of Albu- has fueled the Federal Government’s The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
querque, Tim Keller, announced a pro- ineffective and racist War on Drugs and objection, it is so ordered.
posal to create an entirely new public War on Crime over the course of the FREE SPEECH
safety department that would dispatch last 50 years. Intentionally or not, Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President,
social workers, housing and homeless- these policies helped build what advo- over the past few months, we have all
ness specialists, and violence preven- cates label the ‘‘school-to-prison pipe- watched the power that the digital
tion and diversion program experts in- line’’ and the ‘‘New Jim Crow.’’ ‘‘New community has to make someone’s
stead of police officers to homeless- Jim Crow’’ may sound harsh, but in my passing thought go viral and the power
ness, so-called down-and-out calls, and estimation, it is an astonishingly accu- that the digital mob has to make con-
behavioral health crises. rate way to describe the unequal soci- troversial voices completely disappear.
This is the scale of systemic change Well, who is the ‘‘digital mob’’ ex-
ety we have created across our entire
that we need to be thinking about and actly, because right now we are hear-
country.
devoting real resources toward imple- More than half a century since the ing a lot about mob rule. Sometimes it
menting in all of our communities. We marchers in the civil rights movement is hard to tell who the mob actually is.
all need to carefully assess the effec- Is it the millions of users who swarm
called on us to create an America
tiveness of continuing a status quo in social media platforms at the very first
where we were all judged by the con-
law enforcement that is clearly not hint of a controversy, or is it the pro-
tent of our character rather than the
keeping all of us safe. fessional activists who provoke many
It will not be easy to dismantle the color of our skin, we find ourselves fac-
ing the same challenges as 50 years of these attacks? They seem to know
‘‘us versus them’’ warrior mentality
ago, with implicit bias and structural just when to pitch a thought, a word,
that is so pervasive in far too many of
our law enforcement agencies. If you inequities ravaging our communities of or an idea. Could it be the platforms
treat the communities that you police color. That is what you get after com- themselves that cave to the pressure
like they are war zones, you create a bining militarized policing with overly and police speech when they don’t
relationship that dehumanizes the very harsh sentencing laws, mass incarcer- agree with that speech?
people you are charged to protect, and ation, private prisons, continued insti- So let’s drill down on this just a lit-
you fuel more of the very violence and tutional racial discrimination, and a tle bit. Today I want to focus on the
crime that you are supposed to pre- decades-long disinvestment in public Googles and the Facebooks of the
vent. education, affordable housing, food as- world because, when it comes down to
Our streets in American communities sistance, addiction treatment, and it, they are the ones that are in the
should never be treated like battle- healthcare resources. driver’s seat. They are the ones that
fields. Our local law enforcement offi- That is the system we are talking end up calling the shots.
cers should not be armed with mili- about when we talk about systemic For years, tech companies have
tary-grade equipment or AR–15s or racism. It will take more than nice waged a very public war against plat-
MRAP armored vehicles. They should words and kind wishes in a fleeting pe- form users who speak out against the
not be meeting peaceful protesters or riod of weeks to dismantle that system popular narrative, and the executives
demonstrators with teargas, flash gre- that has been built up in the 400 years charged with defending these calls rou-
nades, or rubber bullets. Police officers since the first slaves were brought to tinely struggle to explain the arbitrary
should not be treating any of us—what- our shores and in the last 50 years of nature of their content-moderation
ever our race and regardless of the rea- rapidly growing mass incarceration. policies.
son we are encountering them—as if we The sooner we finally recognize this, Every time moderators remove a post
are enemy combatants. the sooner we can try to envision and for what is called shocking content or
This militarized version of policing is implement effective, comprehensive re- cause a moral panic by placing a warn-
simply not the way to keep the peace forms on the scale necessary to create ing label on satire, Big Tech asks us to
or create a sense of public safety in our institutions that look out for all of us. just, oh, write it off: It was a mistake.
communities. It has created a distrust Over the last months, as we have all We really didn’t mean to do it. Move
in police and perpetuated trauma and confronted the health and economic on.
inequities in communities across our crises brought on by the COVID–19 pan- But we haven’t moved on because the
country. demic, I have often heard that we need platforms themselves have provided
I believe that we must transform this to get back to normal. But that version plenty of evidence to confirm that Big
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dangerous warrior mentality into a of normal was not working for all of us. Tech’s employees bring their bias to
guardian and neighborhood support Rather than hoping to get back to the workplace. Bear in mind, all of
mentality that looks to serve all mem- that unequal and unjust normal of be- these employees who are developing
bers of our communities. We should re- fore, I would offer this challenge to all the search models—the algorithms that
member that police officers are sup- of us. We have an opportunity—an op- are prioritizing your search, that are
posed to be officers of the peace. portunity to rebuild our country in the mining your data, that are policing
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4105
your speech—are bringing their bias percent of the time. The dynamic be- how information is prioritized through
and their prejudice to the workplace. tween users and platforms has changed. your search engine. We are not going
These fears were confirmed back in And now, Congress must change the to allow Big Tech and their political
2017 when the New York Times re- law that guides that dynamic. bias to data-mine every email, every
ported that a Twitter employee inten- Here is the problem. This country text, and every search, and then use
tionally—intentionally—deleted Presi- has become so polarized, I am not sure that to access your information online.
dent Trump’s account, not because of Big Tech understands what a healthy Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
any violation but because the employee dynamic would actually look like. No sent to have printed in the RECORD the
had an ax to grind. They did not like longer do their choices seem to make previously referenced articles from the
President Donald Trump. sense to many Americans. The compul- New York Times and the Wall Street
This May, the Wall Street Journal sion to flag and report and threaten Journal.
revealed that Facebook set up a has become a reflex. When the digital There being no objection, the mate-
multistep approval process for changes mob chooses to attack on any given rial was ordered to be printed in the
to its ‘‘integrity ranking initiative’’ day, then, their choices are going to RECORD, as follows:
due to ‘‘reasonable concerns that over- change with every news cycle. As we [Nov. 2, 2017]
zealous engineers might let their poli- have seen, this heavily influences how ROGUE TWITTER EMPLOYEE BRIEFLY SHUTS
tics influence the platform.’’ Big Tech chooses to police content on DOWN TRUMP’S ACCOUNT
Think about that. Facebook set up a their platforms. (By Maggie Astor)
multistep approval process for changes You may have been saying or posting This is the way the world ends: not with a
to its integrity ranking initiative due something for years—no problem. But bang but a deleted Twitter account.
to reasonable concerns that over- then one day, that digital mob—be- At least, so it appeared for 11 minutes
zealous engineers might let their poli- cause of the news cycle—will choose to Thursday evening, when visitors to Presi-
tics influence the platform. Do you attack you. dent Trump’s personal account,
think? Of course they were. Of course Conservatives have suffered under @realDonaldTrump, were informed that
there was no such thing.
they were. The problem: They have this mob rule. There is no denying it.
The error message on some devices was
been doing it all along and trying to There is no denying that there is a dig- even more dire: ‘‘@realDonaldTrump does
say it is just your imagination when, ital mob. But reform can happen with- not exist.’’
actually, it is not. out overextending the heavy hand of Amid a presidency that has seemed, at
I don’t think anyone anticipated that Federal regulation over the entire tech times, to be conducted primarily in 140-char-
digital platforms would become power- industry. As someone who knows what acter pieces, this was a seismic event—and
ful enough to act as judge and jury it feels like to be censored, I get it. I what was left of Twitter erupted. It was a
over what information Americans absolutely understand why we need raucous, modern-day town-square gathering
of the sort not seen since . . . well, since five
should be allowed to access online. these reforms and why Congress needs months ago, when Mr. Trump coined a new
Congress certainly didn’t anticipate it to act now, this year. But I also know word in the middle of the night.
when drafting legislation to keep those that the more you rely on threats to It was just before 7 p.m. Thursday, and the
companies in check. But they have motivate good corporate behavior, the internet was in an uproar. Time stopped. The
overstepped their bounds. They con- more likely you will be to find reasons sun rose in the west and set in the east.
tinue to misbehave until we come to follow through on them. What, the watchers wondered, was going on?
along and slap their hand, and then We must find stronger ways to rein Had Twitter closed the president’s account?
they try to act as if they are going to in tech firms seeking to become the Had a White House aide snatched the phone
from Mr. Trump’s tweeting hands? Had Rob-
solve their problems, which leads us to new speech police. We know for a fact
ert Mueller chosen this moment to rifle
our current debate over section 230 re- that Big Tech’s biases are the problem. through the president’s direct messages? Had
form. But when did more government become Mr. Trump himself—could it be?—decided
Big Tech relies on section 230 of the the solution? We already tried that ap- he’d had enough of his favorite medium?
Communications Decency Act to shield proach. We called it the fairness doc- The answer, revealed three hours later,
themselves from content-based litiga- trine. Guess what. It did not work. In- was something straight out of ‘‘Office
tion. The statute also acts as a sword stead of encouraging free and fair dis- Space.’’ After saying in an initial statement
that platforms can engage to remove course, powerful parties use those rigid that the account had been ‘‘inadvertently de-
content they judge to be obscene, vio- activated due to human error by a Twitter
standards as leverage to control
employee,’’ Twitter announced that a rogue
lent, harassing, or otherwise objection- speech. customer support worker had done it on his
able. And, I will tell you, I can think of or her last day at the company.
In the section 230 world, then, the few things more dangerous than allow- Many of Mr. Trump’s supporters were in-
users—the users—are responsible for ing lawmakers and bureaucrats to censed, with some saying the incident
what they post, not the platform that weaponize the full force of the Federal showed a disregard for free speech. His oppo-
hosts the content. Government against the private ex- nents, on the other hand, were gleeful.
The platforms, however, have the change of information. ‘‘America: Hire this person,’’ former Rep-
right to set their own content guide- What we do know is this. Big Tech’s resentative John Dingell of Michigan
tweeted.
lines within limits without being sued. era of self-regulation is over. It no Even before Twitter confirmed that the de-
That sounds reasonable. Section 230 is longer works. Big Tech is not a group activation had been deliberate, some were
important, specifically, because of of infant companies. They are referred speculating about it.
what it doesn’t do. It does not force to as Big Tech because they have In the tech world, the statement raised
companies to choose between moder- grown. more questions than it answered. Twitter
ating every piece of content they host This self-regulation is over. It is time has never said how many employees have ac-
and letting their websites turn into the for Congress to take an action. But pu- cess to Mr. Trump’s account, or described
Wild West. nitive, one-size-fits-all standards will the safeguards it has in place for its highest-
profile users. And the company is already
But, as I said, no legislation could put these tech companies in a strait- under the microscope in Washington, where
have anticipated our current digital jacket. It would hamper innovation, Congress is investigating how technology gi-
landscape. Big Tech companies like and, eventually, it would collapse the ants might have shaped the outcome of the
Google and Facebook now have the industry. 2016 presidential election.
power to ruin content creators who Instead, we should set up and give Mr. Trump was locked out for just 11 min-
step out of line. And it is their line. Big Tech guidance that will encourage utes, and then, just as suddenly, he was
Even if those creators manage to stay growth and will encourage innovation, back. Those watching found themselves un-
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on the right side of the moderators, while also making it abundantly clear scathed—though some could not quite shake
a sense of dread.
they know their online presence—and that Congress will not allow Big Tech’s
The president himself got back to business
many times this is also their liveli- political bias to determine what infor- as if nothing had happened, tweeting at 8:05
hood—lives or dies at the hands of em- mation Americans are allowed to ac- p.m.: ‘‘Great Tax Cut rollout today. The lob-
ployees given the near-impossible task cess online. We will not allow Big Tech byists are storming Capital Hill, but the Re-
of remaining completely neutral 100 and their political bias to determine publicans will hold strong and do what is
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S4106 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
right for America!’’ He then fired off four ation of social media, decades of Pew Re- employees said weren’t unique to Germany
more tweets, denouncing the Democratic Na- search Center surveys have shown. But 60% or the Groups product. In a presentation at
tional Committee and James B. Comey be- of Americans think the country’s biggest an international security conference in Feb-
fore inviting viewers to watch his interview tech companies are helping further divide ruary, Mr. Zuckerberg said the company
with Laura Ingraham on Fox News. the country, while only 11% believe they are tries not to recommend groups that break its
And so, back in the offices and homes of uniting it, according to a Gallup-Knight sur- rules or are polarizing.
the nation, the people of Twitter could only vey in March. ‘‘We’ve learned a lot since 2016 and are not
sit back and reflect. At Facebook, ‘‘There was this soul-search- the same company today,’’ a Facebook
For better or for worse, the world seemed ing period after 2016 that seemed to me this spokeswoman said. ‘‘We’ve built a robust in-
predictable again, and one user made his pre- period of really sincere, ‘Oh man, what if we tegrity team, strengthened our policies and
diction bold. ‘‘Man,’’ Alex Zalben wrote, ‘‘in really did mess up the world?’ ’’ said Eli practices to limit harmful content, and used
like nine months there’s gonna be a ton of Pariser, co-director of Civic Signals, a research to understand our platform’s im-
Trump Twitter blackout babies.’’ project that aims to build healthier digital pact on society so we continue to improve.’’
spaces, and who has spoken to Facebook offi- Facebook in February announced $2 million
[May 26, 2020] cials about polarization. in funding for independent research pro-
FACEBOOK EXECUTIVES SHUT DOWN EFFORTS Mr. Pariser said that started to change posals on polarization.
TO MAKE THE SITE LESS DIVISIVE after March 2018, when Facebook got in hot The Common Ground team sought to tack-
water after disclosing that Cambridge le the polarization problem directly, said
(By Jeff Horwitz and Deepa Seetharaman) people familiar with the team. Data sci-
Analytica, the political-analytics startup,
A Facebook Inc. FB 0.35% team had a blunt improperly obtained Facebook data about entists involved with the effort found some
message for senior executives. The com- tens of millions of people. The shift has interest groups—often hobby-based groups
pany’s algorithms weren’t bringing people gained momentum since, he said: ‘‘The inter- with no explicit ideological alignment—
together. They were driving people apart. nal pendulum swung really hard to ‘the brought people from different backgrounds
‘‘Our algorithms exploit the human brain’s media hates us no matter what we do, so together constructively. Other groups ap-
attraction to divisiveness,’’ read a slide from let’s just batten down the hatches.’ ’’ peared to incubate impulses to fight, spread
a 2018 presentation. ‘‘If left unchecked,’’ it In a sign of how far the company has falsehoods or demonize a population of out-
warned, Facebook would feed users ‘‘more moved, Mr. Zuckerberg in January said he siders.
and more divisive content in an effort to would stand up ‘‘against those who say that In keeping with Facebook’s commitment
gain user attention & increase time on the new types of communities forming on social to neutrality, the teams decided Facebook
platform.’’ media are dividing us.’’ People who have shouldn’t police people’s opinions, stop con-
That presentation went to the heart of a heard him speak privately said he argues so- flict on the platform, or prevent people from
question dogging Facebook almost since its cial media bears little responsibility for po- forming communities. The vilification of
founding: Does its platform aggravate polar- larization. one’s opponents was the problem, according
ization and tribal behavior? He argues the platform is in fact a guard- to one internal document from the team.
The answer it found, in some cases, was ian of free speech, even when the content is ‘‘We’re explicitly not going to build prod-
yes. objectionable—a position that drove ucts that attempt to change people’s be-
Facebook had kicked off an internal effort liefs,’’ one 2018 document states. ‘‘We’re fo-
Facebook’s decision not to fact-check polit-
to understand how its platform shaped user cused on products that increase empathy,
ical advertising ahead of the 2020 election.
behavior and how the company might ad- understanding, and humanization of the
dress potential harms. Chief Executive Mark INTEGRITY TEAMS
‘other side.’ ’’
Zuckerberg had in public and private ex- Facebook launched its research on divisive HOT-BUTTON ISSUES
pressed concern about ‘‘sensationalism and content and behavior at a moment when it
One proposal sought to salvage conversa-
polarization.’’ was grappling with whether its mission to
tions in groups derailed by hot-button issues,
But in the end, Facebook’s interest was ‘‘connect the world’’ was good for society.
according to the people familiar with the
fleeting. Mr. Zuckerberg and other senior ex- Fixing the polarization problem would be
team and internal documents. If two mem-
ecutives largely shelved the basic research, difficult, requiring Facebook to rethink
bers of a Facebook group devoted to par-
according to previously unreported internal some of its core products. Most notably, the
enting fought about vaccinations, the mod-
documents and people familiar with the ef- project forced Facebook to consider how it
erators could establish a temporary sub-
fort, and weakened or blocked efforts to prioritized ‘‘user engagement’’—a metric in-
group to host the argument or limit the fre-
apply its conclusions to Facebook products. volving time spent, likes, shares and com-
quency of posting on the topic to avoid a
Facebook policy chief Joel Kaplan, who ments that for years had been the lodestar of
public flame war.
played a central role in vetting—proposed its system. Another idea, documents show, was to
changes, argued at the time that efforts to Championed by Chris Cox, Facebook’s
tweak recommendation algorithms to sug-
make conversations on the platform more chief product officer at the time and a top
gest a wider range of Facebook groups than
civil were ‘‘paternalistic,’’ said people famil- deputy to Mr. Zuckerberg, the work was car-
people would ordinarily encounter.
iar with his comments. ried out over much of 2017 and 2018 by engi- Building these features and combating po-
Another concern, they and others said, was neers and researchers assigned to a cross-ju- larization might come at a cost of lower en-
that some proposed changes would have dis- risdictional task force dubbed ‘‘Common gagement, the Common Ground team warned
proportionately affected conservative users Ground’’ and employees in newly created in a mid–2018 document, describing some of
and publishers, at a time when the company ‘‘Integrity Teams’’ embedded around the its own proposals as ‘‘antigrowth’’ and re-
faced accusations from the right of political company. quiring Facebook to ‘‘take a moral stance.’’
bias. Even before the teams’ 2017 creation, Taking action would require Facebook to
Facebook revealed few details about the ef- Facebook researchers had found signs of form partnerships with academics and non-
fort and has divulged little about what be- trouble. A 2016 presentation that names as profits to give credibility to changes affect-
came of it. In 2020, the questions the effort author a Facebook researcher and sociolo- ing public conversation, the document says.
sought to address are even more acute, as a gist, Monica Lee, found extremist content This was becoming difficult as the company
charged presidential election looms and thriving in more than one-third of large Ger- slogged through controversies after the 2016
Facebook has been a conduit for conspiracy man political groups on the platform. presidential election.
theories and partisan sparring about the Swamped with racist, conspiracy-minded and ‘‘People don’t trust us,’’ said a presen-
coronavirus pandemic. pro-Russian content, the groups were dis- tation created in the summer of 2018.
In essence, Facebook is under fire for mak- proportionately influenced by a subset of hy- The engineers and data scientists on
ing the world more divided. Many of its own peractive users, the presentation notes. Most Facebook’s Integrity Teams—chief among
experts appeared to agree—and to believe of them were private or secret. them, scientists who worked on newsfeed,
Facebook could mitigate many of the prob- The high number of extremist groups was the stream of posts and photos that greet
lems. The company chose not to. concerning, the presentation says. Worse was users when they visit Facebook—arrived at
Mr. Kaplan in a recent interview said he Facebook’s realization that its algorithms the polarization problem indirectly, accord-
and other executives had approved certain were responsible for their growth. The 2016 ing to people familiar with the teams. Asked
changes meant to improve civic discussion. presentation states that ‘‘64% of all extrem- to combat fake news, spam, clickbait and
In other cases where proposals were blocked, ist group joins are due to our recommenda- inauthentic users, the employees looked for
he said, he was trying to ‘‘instill some dis- tion tools’’ and that most of the activity ways to diminish the reach of such ills. One
cipline, rigor and responsibility into the came from the platform’s ‘‘Groups You early discovery: Bad behavior came dis-
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
process’’ as he vetted the effectiveness and Should Join’’ and ‘‘Discover’’ algorithms: proportionately from a small pool of
potential unintended consequences of ‘‘Our recommendation systems grow the hyperpartisan users.
changes to how the platform operated. problem.’’ A second finding in the U.S. saw a larger
Internally, the vetting process earned a Ms. Lee, who remains at Facebook, didn’t infrastructure of accounts and publishers on
nickname: ‘‘Eat Your Veggies.’’ respond to inquiries. Facebook declined to the far right than on the far left. Outside ob-
Americans were drifting apart on funda- respond to questions about how it addressed servers were documenting the same phe-
mental societal issues well before the cre- the problem in the presentation, which other nomenon. The gap meant even seemingly
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4107
apolitical actions such as reducing the became Facebook super-sharers to promote ators. Once passed, the law will double
spread of clickbait headlines—along the lines cookies? Mitigating the reach of the plat- the length of time we require tech
of ‘‘You Won’t Believe What Happened form’s most dedicated users would unfairly firms like Facebook and Snapchat to
Next’’—affected conservative speech more thwart them, he said.
Mr. Kaplan in the recent interview said he
preserve evidence and reports of online
than liberal content in aggregate.
That was a tough sell to Mr. Kaplan, said didn’t remember raising the Girl Scout ex- child exploitation.
people who heard him discuss Common ample but was concerned about the effect on In 2018, tech companies reported over
Ground and Integrity proposals. A former publishers who happened to have enthusi- 45 million—45 million—photos and vid-
deputy chief of staff to George W. Bush, Mr. astic followings. eos of children being sexually abused.
Kaplan became more involved in content- The debate got kicked up to Mr. Unfortunately, that was double the
ranking decisions after 2016 allegations Zuckerberg, who heard out both sides in a number of reports in 2017. This legisla-
Facebook had suppressed trending news sto- short meeting, said people briefed on it. His
tion will give the police more time to
ries from conservative outlets. An internal response: Do it, but cut the weighting by
80%. Mr. Zuckerberg also signaled he was investigate these horrific crimes. It
review didn’t substantiate the claims of bias,
Facebook’s then-general counsel Colin losing interest in the effort to recalibrate will put child predators in jail where
Stretch told Congress, but the damage to the platform in the name of social good, they they belong.
Facebook’s reputation among conservatives said, asking that they not bring him some- I yield the floor.
had been done. thing like that again. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
Every significant new integrity-ranking Mr. Uribe left Facebook and the tech in- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
initiative had to seek the approval of not dustry within the year. He declined to dis- clerk will call the roll.
just engineering managers but also rep- cuss his work at Facebook in detail but con- The bill clerk proceeded to call the
resentatives of the public policy, legal, mar- firmed his advocacy for the Sparing Sharing roll.
keting and public-relations departments. proposal. He said he left Facebook because of
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I
Lindsey Shepard, a former Facebook prod- his frustration with company executives and
uct-marketing director who helped set up their narrow focus on how integrity changes ask unanimous consent that the order
the Eat Your Veggies process, said it arose would affect American politics. While pro- for the quorum call be rescinded.
from what she believed were reasonable con- posals like his did disproportionately affect The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs.
cerns that overzealous engineers might let conservatives in the U.S., he said, in other BLACKBURN). Without objection, it is so
their politics influence the platform. countries the opposite was true. ordered.
‘‘Engineers that were used to having au- Other projects met Sparing Sharing’s fate: UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST—S. 3685
tonomy maybe over-rotated a bit’’ after the weakened, not killed. Partial victories in-
cluded efforts to promote news stories gar-
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President,
2016 election to address Facebook’s perceived
flaws, she said. The meetings helped keep nering engagement from a broad user base, today is July 1. For millions of Ameri-
that in check. ‘‘At the end of the day, if we not just partisans, and penalties for pub- cans, the rent is due. Utility bills don’t
didn’t reach consensus, we’d frame up the lishers that repeatedly shared false news or stop, either. But too many New York
different points of view, and then they’d be directed users to ad-choked pages. families and too many American fami-
raised up to Mark.’’ The tug of war was resolved in part by the lies will be unable to make the pay-
SCUTTLED PROJECTS
growing furor over the Cambridge Analytica ments amid the pandemic that has al-
scandal. In a September 2018 reorganization
Disapproval from Mr. Kaplan’s team or ready hurt my city and its people.
of Facebook’s newsfeed team, managers told
Facebook’s communications department employees the company’s priorities were
The first of the month should not be
could scuttle a project, said people familiar shifting ‘‘away from societal good to indi- the end of the financial line for work-
with the effort. Negative policy-team re- vidual value,’’ said people present for the dis- ing families, and that is why we are
views killed efforts to build a classification cussion. If users wanted to routinely view or here. We must continue to put real
system for hyperpolarized content. Likewise, post hostile content about groups they didn’t pressure on Leader MCCONNELL to pass
the Eat Your Veggies process shut down ef- like, Facebook wouldn’t suppress it if the
forts to suppress clickbait about politics
the COVID 4 legislation that would in-
content didn’t specifically violate the com- clude critical rent relief to families
more than on other topics. pany’s rules.
Initiatives that survived were often weak- who desperately need the help.
Mr. Cox left the company several months
ened. Mr. Cox wooed Carlos Gomez Uribe, later after disagreements regarding
Our working families—many of color
former head of Netflix Inc.’s recommenda- Facebook’s pivot toward private encrypted and other minority groups—are in des-
tion system, to lead the newsfeed Integrity messaging. He hadn’t won most fights he had perate need of this basic assistance so
Team in January 2017. Within a few months, engaged in on integrity ranking and Com- they can continue working, feeding
Mr. Uribe began pushing to reduce the mon Ground product changes, people in- their families, making ends meet. That
outsize impact hyperactive users had. volved in the effort said, and his departure
Under Facebook’s engagement-based
is our push today.
left the remaining staffers working on such Enact the Emergency Rental Assist-
metrics, a user who likes, shares or com- projects without a high-level advocate.
ments on 1,500 pieces of content has more in- ance and Rental Market Stabilization
The Common Ground team disbanded. The
fluence on the platform and its algorithms Integrity Teams still exist, though many
Act—which has a $100 billion promise
than one who interacts with just 15 posts, al- senior staffers left the company or headed to to renters across the country—and the
lowing ‘‘super-sharers’’ to drown out less-ac- Facebook’s Instagram platform. promise is real help during the real and
tive users. Accounts with hyperactive en- Mr. Zuckerberg announced in 2019 that unprecedented crisis.
gagement were far more partisan on average Facebook would take down content violating Let me give you some background.
than normal Facebook users, and they were specific standards but where possible take a The Heroes Act would authorize $100
more likely to behave suspiciously, some- hands-off approach to policing material not
times appearing on the platform as much as
billion for the Emergency Rental As-
clearly violating its standards. sistance Program led by SHERROD
20 hours a day and engaging in spam-like be- ‘‘You can’t impose tolerance top-down,’’ he
havior. The behavior suggested some were ei- said in an October speech at Georgetown BROWN, the ranking member of the
ther people working in shifts or bots. University. ‘‘It has to come from people Banking and Housing Committee, who
One proposal Mr. Uribe’s team cham- opening up, sharing experiences, and devel- has just done a great job letting people
pioned, called ‘‘Sparing Sharing,’’ would oping a shared story for society that we all know the crisis and now acting on it.
have reduced the spread of content dis- feel we’re a part of. That’s how we make What it does is it helps families and in-
proportionately favored by hyperactive progress together.’’ dividuals pay their rent and utility
users, according to people familiar with it.
Its effects would be heaviest on content fa-
END CHILD EXPLOITATION ACT bills and remain in their homes during
vored by users on the far right and left. Mid- Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I and after the COVID–19 crisis.
dle-of-the road users would gain influence. want to take a moment to thank Sen- The bill was already included in the
Mr. Uribe called it ‘‘the happy face,’’ said ate Judiciary Committee Chairman House-passed and bipartisan Heroes
some of the people. Facebook’s data sci- LINDSEY GRAHAM for adding the bipar- Act, but, unfortunately, once again—as
entists believed it could bolster the plat- tisan and critically important END Ex- he does with so many other important
form’s defenses against spam and coordi- ploitation Act to the EARN It Act, issues—Senate Majority Leader MITCH
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
nated manipulation efforts of the sort Russia which is set for markup on Thursday. MCCONNELL has refused to bring it to
undertook during the 2016 election.
This bill, which I introduced with the floor, so Senator BROWN has come
Mr. Kaplan and other senior Facebook ex-
ecutives pushed back on the grounds it Senator CORTEZ MASTO, would lengthen to ask the unanimous consent.
might harm a hypothetical Girl Scout troop, evidence preservation time in online Without basic assistance, even those
said people familiar with his comments. Sup- child exploitation cases and assist law renters who are currently shielded by
pose, Mr. Kaplan asked them, that the girls enforcement in prosecuting child pred- temporary Federal and local eviction
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S4108 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
bans may still face eviction. Let me unlike anything any of us have ever The ones they had before, many people
tell you, once someone is evicted and lived through. That goes without say- have now. Millions have them all at
homeless, they regress. The kids can’t ing. Every single day we hear about once. They face impossible choices be-
go to school. Healthcare becomes even hundreds and hundreds more Ameri- tween rent and groceries, or prescrip-
more remote. Getting to a job through cans dying. tions, or draining their savings, or
public transportation is so difficult. Back in March, South Korea had 90 going to a payday lender, and you
This actually is a stitch in time that cases. We had 90 cases. The capital of never go to a payday lender once. You
saves nine. If people can stay in their South Korea is 800 miles from Wuhan keep going back and back, and the in-
homes because they can’t pay the rent where this virus started. They have terest you pay is more than you origi-
through no fault of their own, they had fewer than 300 people die. We have nally borrowed. In essence, they have
have a better chance of reestablishing had 120,000. They don’t have better doc- no choice at all. It is not a choice be-
their lives and maybe even climbing up tors. They don’t have better public tween prescriptions and groceries and
that American ladder. If they are health. They don’t have better medical draining their savings. It is no choice
kicked out of their homes because they scientists. They have better leaders at all. Far too often, it ends up being
can’t pay the rent, through no fault of than we do, obviously. Their unemploy- eviction.
their own, it is very, very difficult. ment rate is under 4 percent and fewer In the CARES Act, we passed emer-
They are in a deep, deep hole. than 300 people have died. The people gency expansion of unemployment in-
We must, must do something for who have died are our sisters, our surance. I appreciate my friend Sen-
them. Senator BROWN, with his persist- brothers, our parents, our friends, and ator CRAPO, chairman of this com-
ence and passion, has put together the neighbors. mittee, who supported that and so
right plan. We talk about numbers, The President of the United States much of what is in this package. We
sure, but behind those numbers are the and the Republican leader down the provided funding for the most imme-
faces of countless New Yorkers we see hall—who occasionally goes in and out diate needs of housing and organiza-
each and every day on mass transit, of his office—have stopped pretending tions that put a temporary morato-
walking the streets, working among us. to care. They rarely talk about the rium on evictions and foreclosures for
These folks are fine, hard-working peo- coronavirus. The President rarely ex- some—not all renters and not nearly
ple. All they want is a little dignity in tends any sympathy to our brothers all homeowners. It is an important step
their lives and ability to keep a roof and our sisters and our parents and our but not enough.
over their heads. They need help now friends and our neighbors who have We face two huge cliffs. This is July
more than ever. been sick and who have died. It is not 1. On July 31, the $600 a month that has
We need action on this now, and that the President’s rich friends who are kept people in their homes and kept
is the message to our friends on the dying; it is our grandparents. They are food on their table and kept clothes on
other side of the aisle. the people in nursing homes. They are the backs of their kids—that $600 a
I yield the floor. disproportionately the Black and month ends come July 31. At the end,
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Brown workers who caught the virus in many cases, the eviction morato-
ator from Ohio. on the job. rium ends.
Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I The Trump administration and Sen- The President and Leader MCCON-
thank the Democratic leader. ator MCCONNELL, essentially, have just NELL don’t seem to notice. They don’t
I have a prepared speech I want to given up. We can’t. We have to do our seem to care. For all those renters who
make, but I heard Senator SCHUMER jobs. We need to show leadership where have been protected, back rent will
talk about this. These are human the President has failed and where the suddenly be due. You may have gotten
beings. We in this body are Senators. majority leader—the most powerful a moratorium on your rent for 3
We go back and forth to our States. We person in this body, the top elected of- months, but now you will owe for 4
have the privilege of working pretty ficial in the Senate, says: ‘‘I see no ur- months. The same goes for millions
safe. We are paid. We aren’t exposed to gency.’’ He sees no urgency because he who aren’t protected under the CARES
the virus all that much, mostly be- is not out talking to people who are Act but got relief from a temporary
cause we are pretty careful because we about to be foreclosed on or evicted State or local moratorium or because
can be, and we have jobs where we can from their home. Imagine being evicted their eviction courts were closed in
be. in the middle of a pandemic. Imagine many States.
Think about this. You work in a gro- the fear and anxiety a family have With tens of millions of people filing
cery store, and you are exposed to the when they are in that position. for unemployment, the President is
coronavirus. A grocery store worker We need to fight the health crisis and still refusing to lead and do something
told me one day: They tell me I am es- economic crisis. We can’t do one with- about this virus to get it under control.
sential, but I feel expendable because I out the other. Millions of Americans We know people still need help. They
am not very safe in this job, and they are in danger of being evicted and hav- still need help paying the rent. They
don’t pay me much. ing their homes foreclosed on. The last still need help making mortgage pay-
What if she gets laid off—that thing we need to do is turn them out on ments. They still need help protecting
wouldn’t happen so much in a grocery the streets. themselves from evictions and fore-
store because they are hiring—but in We have a housing crisis. Many know closures. Forty percent of Black and
another job, they get laid off. They this. Senator MENENDEZ has joined us, Latinx renters report they are unlikely
have to worry about potential eviction. who is one of the best advocates for able to make their next payment—40
Their unemployment will run out at these issues of anybody in the Senate. percent. It is not because they are not
the end of July. We have done nothing We knew there was a housing crisis be- working hard. They got laid off and are
to help them. fore the coronavirus set. in low-wage jobs.
What happens with all these people We know that one-fourth of renters That is why Senator MENENDEZ and I
who get evicted? They end up on the in this country, before the coronavirus, and Senator SCHUMER and others co-
streets or they go to homeless shelters paid more than half of their income in sponsored and introduced—39 of my fel-
that are too crowded. They go to live housing. One thing happens in their low colleagues—introduced the Emer-
on their cousin’s couch in the base- life, just one thing. Their car breaks gency Rental Assistance Stabilization
ment. What are the chances of them down. Their child gets sick. They get Act. It would provide $100 billion for
getting coronavirus? These are human in a car accident, and they are out of emergency rental assistance, including
beings in New York and Ohio and Idaho work for a week. They get evicted. help with missed rent and utility bills.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
and Tennessee and all over. I can’t be- They don’t have any kind of margin It already passed the House twice.
lieve we are not about to do something there. It is included in the Heroes Act that
about this. We know that professions we are rec- they passed a month ago, but it is sit-
I thank the leader for his involve- ognizing as essential don’t pay enough ting on the majority leader’s desk be-
ment on this issue that is so impor- to afford housing. We are seeing mil- cause he doesn’t seem to notice. For
tant. We are in the middle of a crisis, lions of people have these emergencies. millions of families, the bills keep
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4109
coming and the clock keeps ticking en, and support Americans in all walks ance is needed for renters, home-
and the stress keeps mounting. of life, to fight the COVID–19 pandemic owners, and others in our society, I am
Now a second round of layoffs are and to stabilize the infrastructure and not willing to simply bypass the proc-
starting because this President refuses our economic system. ess in the Senate—ignore the consider-
to lead and get this virus under con- Senator BROWN and I worked on a big ations that our leadership has called
trol. part of that package together on a for as we look to see how our current
Two weeks ago, they reopened evic- team which was put together by Sen- support programs are playing out—and
tion courts in Columbus. They opened ator MCCONNELL to try to make sure simply jam the House bill through the
the Convention Center to process evic- we addressed, in a bipartisan fashion, Senate without having any debate or
tions. Think of the heartache in that the way to respond to this pandemic. process.
building. People go to court and find The CARES Act has been central to This was the biggest rescue package
out they are evicted. The judge brings the effort and includes measures to in the history of Congress, and we in-
down a gavel, and their lives turn up- help families directly, to provide aid to cluded a variety of oversight mecha-
side down. Reflect on that. Tens of mil- small businesses, to assist those in the nisms in the legislation to ensure that
lions of people lose their jobs. We are medical field and on the frontlines of the dollars and programs associated
not using arenas to play basketball or our response effort, and to stabilize our with it reached their intended marks.
to play indoor soccer. We are not doing markets. Many of the provisions in the CARES
that now. We are using arenas as evic- Soon after, Congress passed the Act and those appropriated dollars are
tion courts. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic still making their way to these individ-
Before this pandemic, President Security Act—or CARES Act—codi- uals and families and businesses and
Trump and his wealthy Cabinet Mem- fying and extending these protections markets across the country.
bers didn’t realize or didn’t care that and providing financial relief to rent- So we must work together to address
behind the rosy stock market data this ers—yes, to renters. these critical issues rather than simply
economy was already broken for mil- Title IV of the CARES Act contains try to jam one party’s or one side of
lions of workers—especially for Black three housing provisions. Section 4022 this Congress’s approach to the solu-
imposes a 60-day eviction and fore- tion without going through regular
and Brown workers for whom it never
closure moratorium for single-family order.
worked to begin. Now the Trump ad-
borrowers with federally backed mort- I would say the arguments that are
ministration—sort of like what hap-
gage loans. It allows struggling home- being made that we or any of us are
pened with the Russians paying to kill
owners 1 year of loan forbearance. somehow turning a blind eye to the
American troops—the administration Section 4023 extends similar relief to
either doesn’t know it or doesn’t care problems that exist could not be fur-
multifamily borrowers who are current ther from the truth. As I said earlier,
that the bottom is falling out for these on their mortgage payments. They can the reality is that we passed the larg-
families. request up to 90-days forbearance as
Without emergency rental assist- est relief program in the history of this
long as they do not evict the tenant or country. We are working to provide li-
ance, these families find themselves on charge late fees during the pandemic.
the street with their lives turned up- quidity, as well as actual dollar relief,
Section 4024 imposes a 120-day mora- in the amount of trillions of dollars,
side down in the middle of a pandemic. torium on evictions, fees, and pen-
People are tired of the lack of action and those programs are still playing
alties. That moratorium will not expire out.
and lack of accountability. They are until August 31. We need to work together rather
tired of being betrayed by a leader who As with much of the CARES Act, the than, by unanimous consent request
is supposed to look out for them. They provisions dealing with stabilizing our after unanimous consent request after
are tired of feeling like no one is on economy and helping to support and unanimous consent request, try to jam
their side. We are the greatest country sustain workers, small business own- down one side’s approach without look-
on the Earth, and we should act like it. ers, homeowners, and home renters are ing to find the cooperative solutions
American people should not always all playing out right now as we speak. that I know we can.
have to fend for themselves because we Yet the real objection here is that Like I said, I am open to working on
have an indifferent majority leader and Senator MCCONNELL and the Repub- these very issues, but the way to do it
a President who doesn’t know or licans have said we want to work on is not to come to the floor with a unan-
doesn’t care in the middle of this once- looking at the next package of support, imous consent request—take it or leave
in-a-generation crisis. but we want to see how this one is it. We need to let proper, regular work-
It is time to step up. It is time to playing out first and identify those ing order operate in the Senate, and we
lead. It is time to think about what it places where we need to target the re- have time to do so.
would be like to face an eviction, lief most. For that reason, I object.
knowing your two small children and The objection is that there is a de- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec-
you don’t know where you are going to sire, once again, to go rapidly into tion is heard.
live. It is probably going to be in a passing the House bill and not having The Senator from Ohio.
homeless shelter or in a cousin’s base- regular order follow in the Senate as Mr. BROWN. Madam President, be-
ment. You know your chances of get- we work to approach this issue as the fore turning to Senators MENENDEZ,
ting infected with the coronavirus go existing CARES Act plays out. CORTEZ MASTO, WYDEN, KLOBUCHAR,
up. Just think about those people when All of our housing agencies have ex- REED, SCHATZ, and VAN HOLLEN, who
we make these decisions. tended this eviction and foreclosure all want to speak, I appreciate the
Madam President, I ask unanimous moratorium and are working to help comments from my friend—and he real-
consent that the Senate proceed to the address the issues relating to tenants. ly is my friend—from Idaho. We work
immediate consideration of S. 3685, the HUD has expanded issuer assistance to well together.
Emergency Rental Assistance and include Pass-Through Assistance Pro- We want to do regular order. This
Rental Market Stabilization Act of gram support, which allows servicers last bill was passed in March. Then
2020. I ask that the bill be considered to apply for assistance in meeting prin- there was April, May, June. Now we are
read three times and passed and that cipal and interest payments, and the in July. It is not a question of regular
the motion to reconsider be considered FHFA has announced that no mortgage order. We would love to sit down with
made and laid upon the table with no servicer will be responsible for advanc- Senator MCCONNELL and start negoti-
intervening action or debate. ing more than 4 months of missed prin- ating as to what is next. We have want-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there cipal and interest payments on a loan. ed that really from about April 1. No
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
objection? All of these things have been done to April Fools’ joke there; we really want-
The Senator from Idaho. stabilize the housing markets and to ed to do that. Instead, Senator MCCON-
Mr. CRAPO. Madam President, re- assist low-income home ownership and NELL just seemed to ignore this.
serving the right to object. home construction and assistance. I mean, go back to the human side.
To date, Congress has appropriated While I am open to looking at the What happens when somebody is unem-
nearly $3 trillion to protect, strength- question of whether additional assist- ployed? We will be leaving now for 2
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S4110 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
weeks. That is why we are doing these economy like the airline industry and one safe place in the middle of a pan-
unanimous consent requests now. It is others. demic, further exposing themselves and
because we want to see action. We have What we are talking about goes to others to the virus.
asked and asked and begged and begged the very essence of what it is to have a The Senate can stop this if it wants
and pleaded and pleaded. So what hap- home. ‘‘Home’’ is one of the most im- to. We can make sure that every Amer-
pens? We will go back home for 2 more portant American concepts. It is where ican has a safe and healthy place to
weeks. Right now, if you can’t find a we are taken when we are born. It is call home. That is why I joined my
job, if you are unemployed and are get- where we are nurtured while we are Democratic colleagues on the Com-
ting that $600 a week, you start paying young. It is where we are schooled. It is mittee on Banking, Housing, and
attention online or you read the papers where good times and bad times take Urban Affairs in introducing two bills
or however you get your information, place. Ultimately, it is where we build last month that will provide assistance
and you find out that this is going to a life around our families if we are for- to homeowners and renters.
expire at the end of July. You don’t tunate to have a home. Then, in a pan- The Housing Assistance Fund, led by
know what you are going to do, but demic, we have learned that it is also a Senator REED, provides $75 billion in
you know that you haven’t paid rent in place in which to shelter. targeted assistance to keep people in
3 months because you have had an evic- I come to the floor today to warn of their homes while they search for new
tion moratorium. an impending storm that is brewing, employment or a way to get back to
Senator CRAPO talked about the mor- and it is headed our way. work. This money can go toward mort-
atorium. Only half of the people who When the funds for the PPP—for the gage payments or utilities or as other
pay mortgages are subject to that mor- business program—ran out, we didn’t support to prevent eviction, delin-
atorium and are protected, and only a have regular order to see if the PPP quency, or foreclosure.
third of people who rent are. So, for had been working well. No. There was a The Emergency Rental Assistance
most people, that is simply not the rush to put more billions in it. It was and Rental Market Stabilization Act,
case. only when we said ‘‘Wait a minute, this led by Senator BROWN, would provide
Now that the eviction courts are isn’t working so well for small and $100 billion in rental assistance to help
open and the evictions are starting, midsized businesses’’ that we made families pay rent and help property
what happens to those people? Are we some reforms. So there was a rush owners maintain safe and healthy
just going to say: Well, let’s see it play then. There was no regular order. housing. It will help the economic re-
out. We know what will happen. If you We have a storm that is brewing and covery by stabilizing the rental market
don’t have rental assistance, if you lose is headed our way. It will bring with it overall.
your unemployment and don’t get that enormous financial pain. It will threat- We also have to empower Americans
$1,200 check, which is basically 1 en public safety. It will make fighting to make informed financial decisions—
month’s rent for most people, we know the pandemic that much harder, and it to help them navigate the maze of
what is going to happen to you. Your will set back our Nation’s economic re- lenders, landlords, government agen-
life is going to turn upside down. That covery. If the Senate fails to respond to cies—to find a sustainable path to stay
is why we need to move. That is why this looming crisis, Americans will in their homes.
we need to pass this. needlessly suffer; families will be dis- We all know there is a housing af-
I am disappointed that Senator placed; personal fortunes will be wiped fordability crisis in this country that
MCCONNELL has shown no interest in out; and the scars will run so deep that jeopardizes the aspirations of millions
doing anything on this other than just it could take decades to heal the of Americans who hope to join the mid-
sitting tight and hoping that the wounds. dle class, and just as they have borne
money he raises from special inter- As the COVID–19 pandemic took hold, the brunt of the COVID–19 pandemic,
ests—from tobacco, the gun lobby, the one saving grace most of us had— low-income and minority Americans
banks, and insurance companies—can the one place we could take refuge to will disproportionately suffer during
help his candidates get reelected and protect ourselves and our families—was economic downturns.
he can be majority leader again. our home. Our leading medical experts The provisions that the chairman
I yield the floor to Senator MENEN- all urged us to stay home. If you are talked about in the law that we passed
DEZ. sick, stay home. If you have an under- in order to help are going to be expir-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- lying condition or are ing. To the extent that you know about
ator from New Jersey. immunocompromised, stay home. If it, you might invoke it to protect your-
Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, you are elderly or otherwise at risk, self against an eviction or a mortgage
let me thank my colleague, the rank- stay home. If you can, work from foreclosure, but if you don’t know
ing Democrat—the senior Democrat— home. If you are a student, go online about it and either the financial insti-
on the Committee on Banking, Hous- and learn from home. If we have tution or your landlord looks the other
ing, and Urban Affairs, for his passion learned anything from this pandemic, way and doesn’t follow the law, well
and his commitment. He has really ele- it is that staying home can help to con- then, you won’t get the protection.
vated housing within the jurisdiction tain the virus, flatten the curve, and That is why I and 19 of my Demo-
of the committee, which is something I save lives. cratic colleagues introduced a bill on
am passionate about. Very often, ev- What if you don’t have a home? As Monday to provide $700 million in hous-
eryone refers to the committee as the we speak, millions of our fellow Ameri- ing counseling assistance. Research
Banking Committee, but housing is a cans are asking themselves that very shows that homeowners who receive
critical element of what it does. He has same question. housing counseling have better out-
elevated it, and I really appreciate his At a time when COVID–19 cases are comes than those who don’t, and that
passion on behalf of the millions who spiking across the country, the provi- evidence is overwhelming. Their risk of
rent or who are fortunate enough to sions that we passed in the CARES Act default goes down, and they are more
own homes and want to keep them to to help renters and homeowners stay in likely to see their credit scores rise
try to be able to do so. their homes are about to run out. If we and their debt levels fall.
I would just say to my distinguished do nothing, we could face a foreclosure In rough times like we are in right
chairman of the committee that I do and eviction crisis far greater than now, these borrowers are more likely
have the highest respect for him. that which we encountered during the to get sustainable mortgage modifica-
Look, with the CARES package, we great recession. tions and are less likely to end up in
lumped in trillions of dollars, but over- There is a storm on the horizon. default. The benefits of housing coun-
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whelmingly that money went to busi- Americans shouldn’t have to fear being seling flow to the community at large
nesses. Of course, I support that, but it thrown out on the street if they miss because when a family is able to buy a
went to businesses. It went to sustain their next rent or mortgage payments home, pay their mortgage, build eq-
businesses. It went to ultimately help through, really, no fault of their own. uity, and ultimately achieve the Amer-
small, midsized, and even large busi- They shouldn’t have to fear losing ican dream, our towns and cities
nesses. It went to sustain sectors of our their greatest personal assets or that thrive. And during a pandemic, having
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4111
a safe and affordable place to live could ator BROWN—whether it is super- If they are home all August long, in
mean the difference between life and charged unemployment benefits, the heat with families, and they are
death. whether it is housing, whether it is going to have nowhere to turn in terms
It is also especially important for taking on the big pharmaceutical com- of paying for a roof over their heads
senior citizens, who are more suscep- panies—is there again and again and and groceries, this is going to be a
tible to COVID–19. So tomorrow I will again to stand up for people who don’t long, long, hot summer that will never
introduce legislation to provide $1.2 have power and don’t have clout, and I be forgotten.
billion in aid for older adults living in want to thank him especially for giv- So let’s be clear what is at stake.
federally assisted housing. ing us this opportunity to focus on the Long before the pandemic hit, housing
This bill provides additional rental avalanche of evictions that I believe cost too much. Homelessness was way
assistance for senior housing, personal will be headed in our direction in too common, and, in my view, the rate
protective gear, and staffing to help weeks if the Senate doesn’t act. of homelessness among children is a
maintain a healthy community. Yesterday, Dr. Fauci talked about true national scandal.
So the forecasts are in. The storm is soon possibly seeing as many as 100,000 In the wealthiest Nation on Earth, no
coming. The question is, What are we new coronavirus cases a day. You sim- child should be without a home. But
going to do about it? ply cannot have a healthy economy in even before the COVID crisis, 1.5 mil-
The Fourth of July is Independence a country suffering from mass illness lion children were experiencing home-
Day. It is nice to have independence and death. lessness—1.5 million youngsters living
from the fear that I will lose the place There are already tens of millions of outside, living in cars, sleeping on
that I call home. That would be a tre- Americans out of work as a result of a floors, sleeping on the ground.
mendous gift on the Fourth of July. pandemic that is only continuing to Colleagues, in my home State, they
Are we going to help our most vul- spread, and it has hit the whole afford- have said that school buses have had to
nerable citizens during this pandemic ability of rent for millions of Ameri- go to the parks. They have had to go to
or are we going to just watch them suf- cans like a powerful storm. the parks to pick up kids who are liv-
fer, lose everything, and exacerbate According to the Census Bureau, 40 ing outside with their families.
this public health crisis? percent of Black and Latino renters are It rains once in a while in Oregon. It
Today is July 1. The rent is due. worried they will not be able to make is cold in Oregon. And to think that
Mortgage payments are due. The Sen- the rent this summer due to the pan- kids in the richest country on Earth
ate’s work is due. demic. That in and of itself is an out- are spending the night in the parks and
I remember—and I will close with rage and an injustice. the school buses have to come and get
this personal anecdote—when I was My question for our Republican col- them while we have huge tax cuts for
growing up poor in a tenement in New leagues today involves this frightening those who are powerful and have lobby-
Jersey, the son of an itinerant car- day at the beginning of the month—the ists shows that things are really out of
penter and a seamstress, there wasn’t frightening day when families sit whack.
around a kitchen table, all across the What I describe as it relates to those
always work, which meant that some-
country, and you can see the anguish kids living in the parks—those kinds of
times paying the rent was a real tough
in their faces when you talk to them conditions exist for youngsters all over
choice. And it was a choice of paying
because, around that kitchen table, America, and that was before the job-
the rent or putting food on the table. I lessness crisis hit and threw so many
they are saying to themselves: What
saw the anxiety in my mother’s eyes. I more working families into economic
am I going to spend our scarce dollars
saw the fear in my siblings not know- hardship.
on this month? Is it going to be the
ing whether that apartment in that If the Senate doesn’t step up to help
rent? Is it going to be groceries? What
tenement was something we were even families stay in their homes, it is going
about that big pile of medical bills that
going to be able to keep. That wasn’t to get much, much worse because there
is off in the corner that we have to
in a pandemic. That was just in normal pay? are hundreds of thousands, if not mil-
times. Imagine in a pandemic, you are It is July 1, and the rent is due. Our lions, of kids facing this recipe for dis-
told to stay home, and there is no place question for our Republican colleagues aster. They are out of school. They are
to call home. We can do much better is, What is your plan? isolated, and they are more exposed to
than that. We can do much better than Senator BROWN has been leading us neglect and abuse. I am so pleased that
that. every day—day in, day out—with a set my friend from Nevada has been talk-
July 1, the rent is due. The mortgage of sensible policies that respond to ing about those families and talking
payment is due. The Senate’s work is what those families are saying around about those kids.
due. Let’s pass this bill today and their kitchen tables. We fought for the They are hungry. Their families are
make sure every American can weather moratorium on evictions that was in- facing the threat of eviction. If the
the pandemic in a safe and affordable cluded in the CARES Act, but it goes Senate just sits back and allows these
place to call home. poof in a few weeks. children to fall into homelessness, they
I yield the floor. Already this week my Republican may never have a chance to get ahead.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- colleagues have blocked funding for So what it comes down to is that the
ator from Oregon. State and local governments that could Senate has an obligation to help, and
Mr. WYDEN. Because a lot of my col- have been used to help people who are Senator BROWN is on target in saying
leagues have been so thoughtful, I will walking that economic tightrope. that this is the time to pass his Emer-
have some brief remarks, and then I This morning, Leader SCHUMER and I gency Rental Assistance Act. I am with
would ask unanimous consent that laid out a plan that I think is a path to him. I think we have a lot of colleagues
Senator CORTEZ MASTO could follow me a dependable safety net in America here in the queue because they, too,
because she is facing a tight schedule and, specifically, an extension of super- want to speak up for the radical idea—
as well. I know all of my colleagues charged unemployment benefits, which what a radical proposition—that in the
are. ties the benefit to economic conditions richest country on Earth, the vulner-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without on the ground. It will be a financial able ought to have a roof over their
objection, it is so ordered. lifeline for millions and millions of head.
Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I join people. Republicans have been opposed Senator BROWN’s proposal is a vital
my colleagues this afternoon in appre- to that. Those benefits are going to ex- step forward. I think we all agree that
ciation of Senator BROWN, who has pire in a matter of weeks, and as I said much more needs to be done. I am very
been relentless—absolutely relentless— to colleagues: Better know what you interested in the proposal I call the
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
in prosecuting this cause of trying to are going to be looking at when you go DASH Act, the Decent, Affordable and
get a fair shake for millions of Ameri- home in August if there hasn’t been ac- Safe Housing for All Act. I hope we will
cans who are walking on an economic tion on our legislation to make sure be able to get serious about that in
tightrope. Every single month, they that there are supercharged unemploy- 2021.
balance the food bill against the rent ment benefits so that people can pay The step to take today is to pass Sen-
bill against the energy bill, and Sen- the rent and buy groceries. ator BROWN’s bill, and I look forward to
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S4112 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
being back with our colleagues day in, Eviction isn’t just a matter of spend- package, and it must include addi-
day out, focusing on this crisis and ing a few days scrambling to find a new tional help for families and commu-
making sure that nobody thinks we are place. The financial consequences can nities including eviction and fore-
going to skip away until the Repub- follow families for years, and as for the closure prevention assistance, as well
licans act. effects on children’s physical and men- as additional help for State and local
This country faces a truly horrific tal health, well, there is no way to governments.
eviction nightmare if action is not undo that. Last night the Senate unanimously
taken soon, and I am very pleased that Believe me. I know. The foreclosure extended the PPP application window.
my friend from Nevada is here. crisis hit Nevada in 2008, and I saw up This was a tiny but needed step in rec-
I yield the floor to her. close the pain that caused throughout ognizing the depth of the economic cri-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- my State when people were evicted sis Americans are facing. Now the
ator from Nevada. from their homes. Lenders took the question before us is, will Republican
Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Madam Presi- homes of more than 219,000 Nevada leaders allow this body to work its will
dent, I am here today to support my families during that period of time. and provide needed, targeted, and effec-
colleagues and our cause to keep Amer- That is why it is so vital that we pass tive rescue assistance, or will it con-
icans in their homes. It is very simple. legislation now to help Nevadans and tinue to delay and deny assistance
The House has already passed a number people all across the country pay their which will only prolong the pandemic,
of bills to do just that, and the Senate rent and utility bills when they cannot deepen the financial hole, and make
needs to do the same thing. safely go to work. the remedy costlier and recovery steep-
In this pandemic, housing is I support Senator BROWN’s Emer- er?
healthcare. I know that a lot of Ameri- gency Rental Assistance and Rental Strong State and local governments
cans have had their lives upended by Market Stabilization Act, as well as are critical to our economy. Indeed, ac-
this coronavirus pandemic, but I would other bills introduced by my colleagues cording to the Center on Budget and
like you to imagine for a moment how to keep homeowners in their homes. Policy Priorities, State and local gov-
much more chaotic your life would feel These bills provide essential stability ernments provide about 20 million jobs
if you found out that tomorrow you are to the rental and mortgage market. and contributed 8.5 percent to the na-
going to be evicted. Imagine trying to We can’t expect landlords to keep tional GDP in 2019. They did so by not
make sure you are washing your hands shouldering the burden of missed pay- only serving as customers and clients
while you are living in your car. ments. Landlords have bills to pay, as for our local and national businesses,
We are in the middle of a public well—mortgages, taxes, insurance, and but also by providing the essential
health crisis where we need people to staff. Without assistance from us, services, such as public infrastructure,
be socially distancing, and that means many of them may go bankrupt or can a strong education system, and other
they simply must have a safe, stable be forced to sell their properties. necessary functions that provide the
place to be at the end of the day. Experts estimate that Nevada is business certainty that make our coun-
We realized this months ago in my going to need nearly $1 billion in rental try attractive to businesses and inves-
State, and that is why Governor assistance to keep families housed this tors throughout the world. We should
Sisolak put a hold on evicting resi- year. Landlords can’t lift the load and do everything possible to maintain our
dents through August 31 of this year. neither can State budgets that are al- country’s comparative advantage rel-
And Congress? Well, we passed the ready stretched too thin. ative to other countries.
CARES Act to provide unemployment So let’s focus here on the essentials, But today, as a result of the tremen-
benefits and one-time relief. Those the basic need for things like shelter. dous economic shock created by the
funds, plus the ban on evictions, were Let’s keep people safe and off the coronavirus and the lack of a coherent
intended to help keep families in their streets. Let’s pass Senator BROWN’s public health strategy from the Trump
homes. rental assistance bill, Senator REED’s administration, estimated State rev-
We are 60 days away from resuming housing assistance fund bill to help enue shortfalls will total about $615 bil-
evictions in Nevada. In my State and homeowners avoid foreclosure, and lion over the next 3 fiscal years, not in-
across the country, the wave of evic- Senator MENENDEZ’s housing coun- cluding the added costs of fighting
tions we have been holding off for a seling bill, and the others we need to COVID–19. This is just for the States—
month is going to come crashing down prevent an epidemic of homelessness. $615 billion.
if we do not act now. Across the Nation people are re- This is why I initially fought for $750
Nevada has the highest unemploy- sponding to the pandemic by staying at billion in the Coronavirus Relief Fund
ment rate in the entire country. In home because we asked them to do so. when negotiating the CARES Act and
May, it was over 25 percent—as high as Now the Senate needs to do its part by introduced S. 3671, the State & Local
the national rate during the worst of making sure those homes are safe and Emergency Stabilization Fund Act,
the Great Depression. On top of that, stable so that Nevadans can continue which would provide an additional $600
some Nevadans haven’t yet received to teach their children, care for loved billion to State and local governments
their unemployment benefits or their ones who are ill, and avoid spreading to supplement the $150 billion in
pandemic unemployment benefits. coronavirus to others. In the midst of a coronavirus relief funds I secured in
Across the country, almost half of global pandemic, housing is healthcare, the CARES Act.
workers earning under $40,000 a year and we owe this to each other. So let’s Madam President, would it surprise
have lost income. Some people just act now on behalf of the American pub- you to learn that the Trump Treasury
don’t have the ability to fully pay for lic and American families. Department has needlessly created a
the rent or mortgage, particularly I yield the floor. bureaucratic regulation that makes it
when we are asking them to shelter in The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- difficult for States to use these
place. ator from Rhode Island. coronavirus relief funds? And that this
The thing is, in Nevada, we were al- Mr. REED. Madam President, I rise regulation is standing in the way of
ready in the midst of a housing crisis to support efforts by my Democratic what should have been an immediate
even before this pandemic hit us. Al- colleagues to pass much needed and de- $150 billion boost to our economy,
most half of Nevadans are renters. layed economic measures by unani- which even the Chamber of Commerce
That is 45 percent. Of those renters, mous consent. thinks is burdensome. Because of this
half are cost-burdened in some way, It is painfully obvious that the econ- onerous Trump rule, States can’t use
meaning that they pay more than 30 omy is in bad shape. Families and the coronavirus relief funds to replace
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
percent of their income in rent. small businesses continue to struggle lost or delayed tax revenues in order to
Now, the Silver State has the biggest and there is a real need for further Fed- maintain public services.
shortage in the country of affordable eral assistance. In order to get our That is what Neil Bradley, the U.S.
housing for the very lowest income Ne- economy back on track, this body must Chamber’s chief policy officer said in
vadans. We have just 19 units for every take action in crafting another com- an interview, ‘‘Part of our conversation
100 that we need. prehensive, bipartisan COVID relief with Republicans on Capitol Hill is
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4113
that, ironically, if your concern is big June, meaning that they had missed ployment at their companies to de-
State government, then the last thing last month’s rent or mortgage payment crease in the next 6 months?
you need to do is force States to re- or had slight or no confidence that We don’t need to inflict any further
place one-time lost revenue with per- their household could pay next month’s unnecessary economic pain and suf-
manent tax increases.’’ rent or mortgage on time. fering. I would also urge my colleagues
As the primary author of the We know that behind each one of to consider the costs of inaction.
Coronavirus Relief Fund, I can tell you these numbers is a family that can be Indeed, during an April 29, 2020, press
that it is fully within the Treasury homeless at the worst possible time in conference, Federal Reserve Chairman
Secretary’s authority and the intent of the middle of a public health emer- Powell stated:
the CARES Act for these funds to be gency. I have long-time been an advocate for the
used to replace lost or delayed tax rev- For some, given their current health need for the United States to return to a sus-
enues and maintain public services. To situations and age, there will be an ad- tainable path from a fiscal perspective at the
prevent the flexible use of these relief ditional human toll that we surely Federal level. We have not been on such a
funds is a choice that is neither re- should strive to avoid. We implore our path for some time, which . . . just means
colleagues on the other side of the aisle that the debt is growing faster than the
quired nor intended by law.
to work with us to keep our constitu- economy.
Unfortunately, this completely un- This is not the time to act on those con-
necessary choice has already created ents in their homes so that they too
cerns. This is the time to use the great fiscal
avoidable economic harm. can make it to the other side of this power of the United States to do what we can
Since February, State and local gov- public health emergency. to support the economy and try to get
ernments have cut a total of 1.5 million In that spirit, I draw your attention through this with as little damage to the
jobs, an 8-percent drop that is twice to S. 3620, the Housing Assistance longer-run productive capacity of the econ-
the decline seen during and after the Fund. This legislation expands the ex- omy as possible.
2007–2009 recession. In addition, the isting ‘‘Hardest Hit Fund’’ model and This week we are also considering
Center for Economic and Policy Re- provides it with additional resources the National Defense Authorization
search reports that ‘‘job losses forced for each State to keep families in their Act, and every year for the last 59
on State and local governments by homes, the utilities on, the internet years, Democrats and Republicans have
pandemic-related shortfalls will dis- connected, and the property taxes paid. come together to strengthen our na-
proportionately impact the African As a result, landlords who are also tional security and to help all Ameri-
American workforce . . . 14 percent of struggling to pay their own bills would cans. We have proven that we are more
state and local employees were African receive some assistance. than capable of working together pro-
Madam President, it is not every day
American compared to 11.7 percent of ductively on the most complex and
that the Independent Community
private sector employees, a margin of controversial issues in service of our
Bankers of America and the Credit
20 percent.’’ constituents, and we would like to con-
As the Wall Street Journal reported Union National Association support
tinue that not just in the context of
the same legislation with consumer
in a May 24, 2020, article titled ‘‘State national defense but in the context of
rights and affordable housing organiza-
and Local Budget Woes Create Drag for economic prosperity and security.
tions, such as the National Housing
Economic Recovery Prospects″: One final point. We also need to ex-
Conference, the National Low Income
Based on evidence from the last recession, tend unemployment compensation in-
Mr. Chodorow-Reich, a Harvard economics
Housing Coalition, the Center for Re-
surance because we know it will run
professor, estimates that every dollar in cuts sponsible Lending, and the National
out, and everyone has told us that un-
costs the economy $1.50 to $2. He also said Consumer Law Center, among others.
employment rates will not drop dra-
every additional dollar in spending adds $1.50 As we work toward this next fiscal re-
lief package, I hope you and our col- matically. They will stay persistently
to $2 to the economy.
leagues will consider joining with us in high. People will need this assistance
Of all the regulations that this ad- going forward.
ministration seeks to cut, it should enacting S. 3620, the Housing Assist-
ance Fund. We must do more, and I hope we can
start with this one if it really wants a do much more going forward.
healthy economy. With just one stroke But we can’t stop there. We must
also immediately, among other needs, I yield the floor.
of the Treasury Secretary’s pen, our The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
economy can receive a direct multibil- increase SNAP benefits to help the al-
most 150,000 Rhode Islanders who are CRAMER). The Senator from Oklahoma.
lion dollar jolt today. Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I have a
But to be clear, this administrative food insecure during this crisis; boost
public health efforts to help keep the motion to be made, but before making
fix is by no means sufficient because of it, I yield 3 minutes each to Senator
the massive revenue shortfalls our virus at bay, from more testing and
contact tracing to supporting our KLOBUCHAR from Minnesota and Sen-
State and local governments are fac- ator SCHATZ from Hawaii.
ing. Congress still needs to provide ad- healthcare providers, to developing ef-
fective vaccine deployment systems; The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
ditional and flexible fiscal relief to our objection, it is so ordered.
State and local governments as part of help childcare centers, public schools,
and college campuses to safely reopen The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
its next fiscal package, and it is my ator from Minnesota.
hope that S. 3671, the State & Local and support libraries in keeping our
communities connected; provide relief Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I
Stabilization Fund Act, is included. thank Senator INHOFE so much for his
As I indicated earlier in my remarks, for the hardest hit small and mid-sized
businesses, many of which will con- allowing me to say a few words. I know
keeping families in their homes also it is his time. And I thank my friend
must be included in the next package. tinue to be shut down for the foresee-
able future; and safeguard our election JACK REED.
According to Nicholas Chiumenti, Today is July 1, which means that
with the New England Public Policy infrastructure, as Russia and other for-
eign actors seek again to use voter sup- rent and mortgage payments are due,
Center in the research department at and as I speak today, so many families
the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston: pression, hacking, and disinformation
in the 2020 elections. across this country are being forced to
If current economic activity does not im- make the difficult decision about how
prove substantially, without an extension of
What exactly are we waiting for? Is it
not enough that, according to a June 29 they will make this month’s payment
the CARES Act, unemployment insurance or
additional stimulus money or other fiscal re- CNBC article, ‘‘the employment-popu- to stay in their homes.
lief, up to 13 percent of homeowners and 33 lation ratio—the number of employed Even before the pandemic began, al-
percent of renters in Rhode Island are at the people as a percentage of the U.S. adult most one-fourth of all renters, or 11
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
risk of being unable to pay their mortgage or population—plunged to 52.8 percent in million households, were forced to pay
rent payments. This represents over 80,000 May, meaning 47.2 percent of Ameri- more than half of their income for
Rhode Island households. cans are jobless, according to the Bu- housing—half of their income. Accord-
Nationally, according to census sur- reau of Labor Statistics? ing to the National Low Income Hous-
vey data, 23 percent of all adults re- Is it not enough that 46 percent of ing Coalition, more than half a million
ported being housing insecure in mid- Business Roundtable CEOs expect em- people experienced homelessness on a
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S4114 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
given night before the pandemic, and will intervene in July and incorporate (6) An October 2018 poll found that 57 per-
that has just gotten worse. the legislation Senator BROWN is lead- cent of Americans, including 69 percent of
That is why I am a strong supporter ing because the rent is going to be due, United States veterans, believe that all
of Senator BROWN’s Emergency Rental United States troops should be removed from
and we are going to—just as we faced
Afghanistan.
Assistance and Rental Market Sta- this pandemic square in the eyes, we (7) In June 2018, the Department of Defense
bilization Act, which will provide $100 are going to be facing a massive evic- reported, ‘‘The al-Qa’ida threat to the United
billion in emergency funding. I am also tion crisis. We have to take action. States and its allies and partners has de-
proud to support Senator REED’s bill as I yield the floor. creased and the few remaining al-Qa’ida core
well as the work of Senator MENENDEZ. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- members are focused on their own survival’’.
The pandemic, as we know, has wide ator from Oklahoma. (b) PLAN REQUIRED.—Not later than 45 days
and longstanding racial disparities in Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, while we after the date of the enactment of this Act,
housing. We had a 30-percent gap in continue negotiating an agreement on the Secretary of Defense, or designee, in co-
Black and White ownership rates be- operation with the heads of all other rel-
amendments, I think we need to move evant Federal agencies involved in the con-
fore the pandemic due to discrimina- forward and start voting on some of flict in Afghanistan shall—
tory practices, and it has only made it the amendments we know need votes. (1)(A) formulate a plan for the orderly
worse. Therefore, in just a minute, I will drawdown and withdrawal of all soldiers,
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, a lead- call up the Paul amendment regarding sailors, airmen, and Marines from Afghani-
er and a good friend, has repeatedly re- the withdrawing of troops from Af- stan who were involved in operations in-
minded us that this means investing in ghanistan. While I disagree with the tended to provide security to the people of
programs like section 8 housing, which substance of the amendment, I think Afghanistan, including policing action, or
still remains unavailable to so many military actions against paramilitary orga-
the Senate should vote on it. So, at 5:30
families. nizations inside Afghanistan, excluding
today, I will move to table the amend- members of the military assigned to support
Yes, we need to address this shortage ment. We have talked to Senator
of affordable housing. We need to take United States embassies or consulates, or in-
PAUL’s office about this. telligence operations authorized by Con-
action now. I thank my colleagues. We gress; and
AMENDMENT NO. 2011
have an opportunity. The Fourth of (B) appear before the relevant congres-
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I call up
July is at the beginning of July, but by sional committees to explain the proposed
the end of July, we had better have the Paul amendment No. 2011 to the
implementation of the plan formulated
gotten something done, and that means text proposed to be stricken. under subparagraph (A); and
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The (2)(A) formulate a framework for political
help our State and local governments;
clerk will report. reconciliation and popular democratic elec-
that means funding for elections; and
The senior assistant legislative clerk tions independent of United States involve-
that means making sure we are re-
read as follows: ment in Afghanistan, which may be used by
sponding to the crisis in housing.
The Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. the Government of Afghanistan to ensure
I yield the floor.
INHOFE], for Mr. PAUL, proposes an amend- that any political party that meets the re-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
ment numbered 2011. quirements under Article 35 of the Constitu-
ator from Hawaii. tion of Afghanistan is permitted to partici-
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, today is Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask
pate in general elections; and
the 1st of the month, and that means unanimous consent that the reading be (B) appear before the relevant congres-
the rent is due, but for the 9 million dispensed with. sional committees to explain the proposed
renters who have lost their jobs, they The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without implementation of the framework formu-
may not be able to pay. objection, it is so ordered. lated under subparagraph (A).
Now, in March, we made sure that The amendment is as follows: (c) REMOVAL AND BONUSES.—Not later than
the CARES Act included cash assist- (Purpose: To withdraw all United States 1 year after the date of the enactment of this
ance, unemployment benefits, and sus- Armed Forces from Afghanistan) Act—
(1) all United States Armed Forces in Af-
pensions on evictions and mortgage At the end of subtitle B of title XII, add
ghanistan as of such date of enactment shall
forbearance to help the people who the following:
be withdrawn and removed from Afghani-
have been hurt the most by this pan- SEC. 1216. WITHDRAWAL OF UNITED STATES
ARMED FORCES FROM AFGHANI-
stan; and
demic. Lots of States and counties STAN. (2) the Secretary of Defense shall provide
have set up their own programs, either (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the fol- all members of the United States Armed
subsidies or prohibitions on evictions lowing findings: Forces who were deployed in support of the
themselves, but we are now 3 months (1) The Joint Resolution to authorize the Global War on Terror with a $2,500 bonus to
later, and unemployment benefits use of United States Armed Forces against recognize that these Americans have served
stand to expire at the end of this those responsible for the attacks launched in the Global War On Terrorism exclusively
against the United States (Public Law 107– on a volunteer basis and to demonstrate the
month and moratoriums that allowed heartfelt gratitude of our Nation.
families to stay in their homes are end- 40) states, ‘‘That the President is authorized
to use all necessary and appropriate force (d) REPEAL OF AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF
ing. Eviction courts are reopening. MILITARY FORCE.—The Authorization for Use
against those nations, organizations, or per-
Think about that. Eviction courts are sons he determines planned, authorized,
of Military Force (Public Law 107–40) is re-
reopening. pealed effective on the earlier of—
committed, or aided the terrorist attacks
So what we are facing is a ticking (1) the date that is 395 days after the date
that occurred on September 11, 2001’’.
timebomb. We are facing the fact that of the enactment of this Act: or
(2) Since 2001, more than 3,002,635 men and
it is true that people got forbearance (2) the date on which the Secretary of De-
women of the United States Armed Forces
fense certifies that all United States Armed
on their rent or forbearance on their have deployed in support of the Global War
Forces involved in operations or military ac-
mortgage, but I remember very well in on Terrorism, with more than 1,400,000 of
tions in Afghanistan (as described in sub-
March and April, as I explained to the them deploying more than once, and these
section (b)(1)(A)) have departed from Afghan-
Americans who volunteered in a time of war
people of Hawaii, you are getting for- istan.
have served their country honorably and
bearance not forgiveness, which means with distinction. Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, as I said
you just simply don’t have to pay your (3) In November 2009 there were fewer than earlier, I will move to table the Paul
mortgage or your rent this month. You 100 Al-Qaeda members remaining in Afghani- amendment at 5:30 today, and Senators
do have to eventually pay your mort- stan. should expect a rollcall vote at that
gage or your rent. (4) On May 2, 2011, Osama Bin Laden, the time.
So what is going to happen is, for the founder of Al-Qaeda, was killed by United I yield the floor.
most economically challenged among States Armed Forces in Pakistan. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
us in the United States, they are going (5) United States Armed Forces have suc- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
cessfully routed Al-Qaeda from the battle-
to face a huge backpayment at the be- clerk will call the roll.
field in Afghanistan, thus fulfilling the origi-
ginning of August or the beginning of nal intent of Public Law 107–40 and the jus-
The senior assistant legislative clerk
September, and they are going to lose tification for the invasion of Afghanistan, proceeded to call the roll.
the place they live in. but public support for United States contin- Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask
Now, I am very, very hopeful that ued presence in Afghanistan has waned in re- unanimous consent that the order for
cooler heads will prevail and that we cent years. the quorum call be rescinded.
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4115
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without cording to most people asking for more in direct relief. People haven’t
objection, it is so ordered. more, is that the direct aid for States been very careful, though, in reading
CORONAVIRUS and localities in the CARES Act is too the Moody’s reports that are the basis
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, Con- restrictive and cannot be used to re- of their arguments.
gress has taken action in response to place lost revenue. I am sympathetic to Moody’s Analytics, which makes
the coronavirus pandemic and its sig- the idea of giving States and localities very clear in the report that it is not
nificant effects on workers, families, more flexibility in how to use $150 bil- an arm of Moody’s that rates bonds—
and the economy. It is because the lion of direct relief provided in the though, I am not sure everyone is clear
State, Federal, and local governments CARES Act if it is not needed for the on that—Moody’s Analytics said in
shut down the U.S. economy for the virus health issues. Beyond that, I April that under their most severely
first time in the 240-year history of our want you to know I am more skeptical, adverse assumptions about the future,
country. until we get more solid numbers on un- State and local governments would
We enacted four laws in March and realized State and local revenue and have a budget shortfall of around $172
April, which CBO says has increased the impact of the CARES dollars not billion over the next 15 months and
the deficit by at least $2.4 trillion, but yet allowed. more than $450 billion if you extend out
that doesn’t measure the entirety of I recently heard the minority leader to cover the years 2022.
the relief. If you add in support from here on the floor attempting to scold Again, this is all based on shaky fore-
programs initiated by the Fed and the us Republicans for not doing exactly casts, and it is not at all clear that the
Treasury, you would add trillions more what he wants, exactly when he wants ratings on municipal bonds done by the
of relief. it, and saying we need to immediately Moody’s ratings agency align with the
One of the recent pieces of legisla- spend more, including more direct aid forecasts of Moody’s Analytics.
tion, the CARES Act, devoted $150 bil- to States. Of course, in his partisan po- More recently, Moody’s Analytics’
lion of direct Federal relief to govern- litical analysis, Republicans are chief economist, Mark Zandi, who is a
ments of the States, localities, terri- blamed for not wanting massive regular proponent of Keynesian stim-
tories, the District of Columbia, and amounts of additional aid for State and ulus for the Democratic Party, upped
Tribes. That is around 16 percent of the the estimate of the needs to about $500
local governments because what he be-
total fiscal year 2020 State general fund billion. That number remarkably
lieves is ideological opposition to gov-
expenditures enacted prior to the pub- matches what we heard from the Na-
ernment in general.
Now, that is quite a stretch, even for tional Governors Association about 6
lic emergency.
In addition to the $150 billion, CBO the minority leader. Republicans sup- weeks ago. Dr. Zandi promises so-
has identified hundreds of billions called bang-for-the-buck magic to save
ported four pieces of legislation in re-
more from the various relief programs States and localities, but the govern-
cent months providing hundreds of bil-
that are directed to State and local ment will have to pony up perhaps a
lions of dollars in relief to State and
governments. From the $340 billion of half a trillion more just to start that
local governments in various ways.
emergency funding in the CARES Act I heard the Governor of California in- magic. So I am skeptical, to put it
mildly.
alone, the Senate appropriators have struct Congress on moral and ethical
If you remember, it was that kind of
told me that more than 80 percent, or grounds, saying that it is our duty to
reasoning that led to the Obama stim-
roughly $275 billion, goes to States and give more funding to States and local- ulus promising vague and relatively
localities. ities or else first responders will be the quick unemployment deductions fol-
So, you can see, the CARES Act first ones laid off by cities and coun- lowing the financial crisis but failed to
alone provided $150 billion of direct aid ties. It is almost like the first argu- come even close to these promised re-
to State and local governments, and ment when we were just about ready to sults.
the emergency funding added $275 bil- shut down the Federal Government, if Finally, regarding funding requests,
lion. That means that $425 billion in we don’t finance everything, first thing there is the Heroes Act over at the
the CARES Act is directed to govern- we are going to do is shut down the House. State and local aid in that act
ments of the States, localities, terri- Washington Monument. provides nearly $1 trillion to States
tories, Tribes, and the District of Co- While that may have been a subtle and localities inside a liberal wish list
lumbia. That happens to be 47 percent threat from the Governor of California in their bill.
of the total State general revenue ex- to use as leverage to pressure Congress That, along with what we have al-
penditures enacted prior to the public to provide more funds to California, it ready done, would put State and local
emergency for fiscal year 2020 and is unfortunate that State and local relief at more than 75 percent of all
about the same percentage of enacted governments laid off so many of their combined State and local tax collec-
total State revenue. workers in recent months. That doesn’t tions for a year, depending how you
On top of that, the Fed has allowed seem to be much dedication by govern- measure things. That is more of a Fed-
use of municipal securities as collat- ment to its workforce. eral bailout than the partnership that
eral for bank lending to help ease bor- I heard from associations of Gov- we are asked to finance.
rowing costs for local and State gov- ernors, associations of counties, cities, I have heard a lot of calls for massive
ernments. Treasury and the Fed also and other municipal governments that amounts of additional direct aid to our
established a Municipal Liquidity Fa- they need between a half a trillion and States, funded by Federal debt. Yet
cility. The purpose of it is to ‘‘help a trillion more in direct aid from the there still is a lot of money in the pipe-
state and local governments better Federal Government. Usually, they line that hasn’t even been used yet.
manage cash flow pressures.’’ cite a need to ‘‘replace lost revenue.’’ And future needs of States and local-
The Fed will buy up to $500 billion of Many have asked for funds to cover ities are highly uncertain—too uncer-
debt from State, counties, and cities. lost revenue as far out as two addi- tain, in my view—to commit the Fed-
As others have noted here on this very tional fiscal years beyond fiscal year eral Government today to half a tril-
floor, a significant amount of the fund- 2020. Most of those requests are based lion dollars or $1 trillion more to
ing directed to States and localities on forecasts of what the pandemic and States and localities, on top of the $425
and the like are still in the pipeline the economy will look like for the rest billion or more of funding already in
and remain unspent or even of the year and even in coming years. play and up to $500 billion of credit
unallocated. Some States, as I under- I think you have to take those fore- support.
stand it, have not even allocated any casts with a grain of salt. Just look at I am highly skeptical of schemes to
money downstream to their own local what the last employment report index future aid to measures of the in-
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
governments from the $150 billion of di- looked like relative to the forecasts, cidence of COVID–19 cases, since we al-
rect aid provided under the CARES and you can tell how cloudy people’s ready have had controversies sur-
Act. crystal balls are right now. rounding those measures, and some of
Despite all that, we have heard a I heard from some here on the floor them are political controversies.
number of calls for massive amounts of that Moody’s thinks States and local- Of course, I do understand budget
additional spending. The reason, ac- ities may need hundreds of billions rules that States and localities operate
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S4116 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
under. They do provide constraints. I the responsible or prudent action to station has been abandoned—$43 mil-
also believe that proponents of massive take. lion.
amounts of additional Federal aid to I yield the floor. We spent nearly $80 million on a lux-
States and localities overstate the se- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- ury hotel. Why is the American tax-
verity of those constraints. I think ator from Kentucky. payer building luxury hotels in Kabul?
State budgets are more flexible and Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I ask unan- Guess what. A contractor ran off with
fungible, for example, than some would imous consent that I be allowed to the money. It is a skeleton. The
have us believe. complete my remarks. Taliban are now said to climb up into
We have seen that flexibility re- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without the structure and shoot down at our
cently in legislators’ consideration of objection, it is so ordered. Embassy. What kind of foolhardy na-
altering police funding or using tax- AMENDMENT NO. 2011 ture of government are we that we con-
payers’ funds to erect barriers in occu- Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, Senator tinue to stay there?
pied zones of lawlessness as just one ex- UDALL and I are pleased to present a bi- These are just a few of the many ex-
ample of that flexibility. partisan amendment that will finally amples that have had us spend more
There are also many issues about in- end America’s longest war. Our amend- than we spent in Europe on the Mar-
centives associated with massive new ment will finally and completely end shall Plan.
amounts of direct Federal funding of the war in Afghanistan. We continue to pour good money
State and local governments. Sending Over 4,000 Americans have died in Af- after bad into Afghanistan, hoping that
massive amounts of additional Federal ghanistan, and over 20,000 have been the outcome will somehow change,
funds to States that were responsible wounded. It is time to bring our sol- hoping that maybe the first 20 years
in good times and built up rainy day diers home. will produce better results than the
funds means that they are treated the I supported going into Afghanistan last 20 years did.
same as States that didn’t build much, originally. Had I been in Congress at This NDAA, this defense authoriza-
if any, in rainy day funds, as I said, Il- that time, I would have voted in favor tion that we are debating here in the
linois and New Jersey, for examples. of it. But the people who attacked us Senate, even has the sense of the Sen-
Those States that acted irresponsibly on 9/11 have all been killed or captured. ate in it opposing a precipitous with-
then get rewarded. Most of the people fighting us today drawal from Afghanistan. We have been
Since funds in State and local gov- are their successors or children or the there for 20 years. How can we charac-
ernments are fungible, sending massive children of their children. In fact, we terize withdrawal after 20 years, after
amounts of additional Federal dollars now have soldiers who were born after we defeated the enemy, as precipitous?
to States and localities means that 9/11 serving in Afghanistan. It is crazy. The American people say
hard-earned Federal tax dollars coming The cycle shows no sign of ending.
‘‘Come home,’’ and this is your chance.
from Iowa, as an example, can end up The war shows no sign of ending. It is
Many people have said that we
helping financially unsustainable pen- not sustainable to keep fighting in Af-
should end the war. Today, you get to
sion promises of fiscally irresponsible ghanistan generation after generation.
vote. Are you for staying in Afghani-
States, and it means that Federal tax We have been fighting in Afghanistan
stan for another generation? Are you
revenues get channeled to States run for so long that our youngest soldiers
for continuing a war that has lost its
by politicians who will not even en- fighting there weren’t even born at the
purpose? Today, we get to vote up or
force existing Federal laws and who use time.
We have spent about $1 trillion to es- down: Are you for the war or against
taxpayer resources on lawless occupied the war? Does the war still have a mis-
zones or sanctuary cities to provide tablish an Afghan Government—a gov-
ernment that is rife with corruption sion?
benefits to undocumented residents.
and dysfunction. We spent more to re- The American people know better.
There are many of my constituents in
build Afghanistan than the Marshall They are ready to declare victory and
Iowa who do not support those uses of
Plan to rebuild Europe after World War come home. It is why President
Federal funds.
II. We have built infrastructure in Af- Trump’s message resonated with so
So, as I wind down here, I am highly
ghanistan and then watched it deterio- many. He said ‘‘It is time to come
skeptical of sending massive amounts
rate and watched the Afghans be un- home,’’ and the people agreed.
of additional funds to States and local-
ities, since future needs are so highly able to even maintain the infrastruc- Not only is it time to end the war
uncertain and there is still unspent ture we built for them, and then they and focus on our needs at home, but it
money in the pipelines. ask us for more money to maintain the is time to reward those who fought the
I am, however, sympathetic to pro- structure. Meanwhile, our roads and battle. We are spending $50 billion a
viding additional flexibility for funds our bridges crumble here at home as we year over there.
we have already provided in the rebuild the infrastructure in Afghani- From the savings in the first year, in
CARES Act so that State and local stan. our amendment, Senator UDALL and I
communities can make broader uses of One example is, several years ago, we will provide a $2,500 bonus for anyone
those funds. And I believe that if the reportedly hired a local security con- who has been deployed in the long War
pandemic and the economy worsens, sultant to help secure the roads at a on Terror. That is a pretty good bonus.
under those circumstances, future cost of $1 million per year. But accord- Our soldiers deserve it, and they also
needs can be addressed when needed. ing to the report by the Special Inspec- deserve to come home because there is
I understand that there are a range of tor General for Afghanistan Recon- no military mission left.
views regarding additional funds for struction, American officials came to Instead of spending another $50 bil-
States and localities. At this point, I suspect that the money was being fun- lion in Afghanistan next year, let’s
believe it may be useful to entertain neled to insurgents to stage attacks on give some of that money to our soldiers
more flexibility in what has already our infrastructure to justify the secu- who fought the war, and let’s begin
been approved, and there may be a need rity contract. So our money was going saving some money from the massive
to make sure that States get shares of to a guy who was paying insurgents to deficit we face here at home.
money they have received to counties pretend to attack him so he could pro- This is the Senate’s chance to show
and cities. There may even be a rea- vide security for their infrastructure. that it is time to declare victory. It is
soned case for limited additional fund- It is crazy. time to come home.
ing to States and localities in the near We spent $43 million on a natural gas I urge support for my amendment,
term, although, as I said, I am a bit gas station. Guess how many vehicles and I also remind Senators this is your
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
skeptical. in Afghanistan run on natural gas. chance to vote to end a war.
But approving half a trillion dollars Zero. You can’t even find the gas sta- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
to $1 trillion of additional funds for un- tion. My staff went there to see if the ator from New Mexico.
certain future needs right now to cover money had been spent, and they Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I thank
unknown State and local needs as far couldn’t go there because it was too you for the recognition, and I thank
out as 2 years down the road just isn’t unsafe. Now the report is that the gas Senator INHOFE. I talked to him.
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4117
I would ask unanimous consent, as way, with a yearlong timeframe. It The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a
Senator PAUL did, to complete my re- also sunsets the 9/11 AUMF, which has sufficient second?
marks and unanimous consent to com- been stretched beyond recognition to There appears to be a sufficient sec-
plete my remarks right here on the justify wars we never considered. ond.
floor before we have the vote. Even to this day, some in this admin- The question is on agreeing to the
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without istration envision using the 2001 AUMF motion.
objection, it is so ordered. to justify a war with Iran rather than The clerk will call the roll.
Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I am a actually standing on the floor and in- The legislative clerk called the roll.
strong supporter of the AFGHAN Serv- troducing a proposal, as required by Mr. THUNE. The following Senators
ice Act, which I introduced with Sen- the Constitution to get in a war, as is are necessarily absent: the Senator
ator PAUL. Congress’s authority. from Missouri (Mr. BLUNT), the Senator
It has been nearly 19 years since the On the AUMF, this isn’t something from North Carolina (Mr. BURR), the
United States entered this war in Af- sudden either; it would give Congress a Senator from Wyoming (Mr. ENZI), the
ghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, and we year to consider a new AUMF, if need- Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. HYDE-
have had several Presidents—one a ed. SMITH), and the Senator from Alaska
Democrat, one a Republican—say they It is long past time for Congress to
(Ms. MURKOWSKI).
want to end this war. They announced: make the difficult decision and stop
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the
ducking the votes on whether to send
We don’t want endless wars. We want Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. MAR-
our troops into harm’s way.
to end this war. KEY), and the Senator from Washington
Finally, this amendment rewards the
Our current President has said he (Mrs. MURRAY) are necessarily absent.
veterans of these wars. We owe a lot
wanted to do this for the last 31⁄2 years. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there
more to them, but this is a start.
He hasn’t gotten it done. President I hope you will join me in supporting any other Senators in the Chamber de-
Obama wanted to end it. the end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan siring to vote or change their vote?
This is the way—the responsible and support the restoration of congres- The result was announced—yeas 60,
way—to end this war. We give a year sional war-making authority and vote nays 33, as follows:
timeframe. We make absolutely clear against tabling this amendment. This [Rollcall Vote No. 129 Leg.]
we are not against our American sol- amendment deserves an up-or-down YEAS—60
diers. We give them a bonus, and we vote, not a tabling vote, so vote no to Alexander Grassley Risch
say: You have done a good job. tabling this amendment. I say this in Barrasso Hassan Roberts
So don’t listen to the distortions that great respect to Senator INHOFE, and I Blackburn Hawley Romney
will be talked about what this amend- Blumenthal Hoeven Rosen
know that Senator INHOFE has been Boozman Inhofe Rounds
ment is about. very courteous in terms of the time. Capito Johnson Rubio
We have soldiers who are heading to At this point, I yield the floor. Carper Jones Sasse
fight in this war who weren’t even born The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Cassidy Kennedy Scott (FL)
when it began, and most of the soldiers ator from Oklahoma. Collins King Scott (SC)
Coons Lankford Shaheen
I have talked to who have come home MOTION TO TABLE Cornyn Loeffler Shelby
from Afghanistan believe we should be Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, there is Cotton Manchin Sinema
out of there. That is one of the most another side to this story, and I think, Cramer McConnell Sullivan
Crapo McSally Thune
persuasive things I have seen. Several when you hear those promoting this Cruz Menendez Tillis
of those soldiers have been elected to particular amendment, it is one we all Ernst Moran Toomey
the U.S. Congress and have spoken up agree—we want an end to the war. We Feinstein Murphy Warner
very, very strongly about continuing want this to happen. But there are Fischer Perdue Whitehouse
Gardner Portman Wicker
our war in Afghanistan. some other reasons that this probably Graham Reed Young
It has been nearly 10 years since I is not the best way to do it.
First of all, the amendment directs a NAYS—33
first came to the Senate floor in 2010 to
call for the withdrawal of U.S. combat calendar-based withdrawal from Af- Baldwin Durbin Peters
ghanistan rather than a conditions- Bennet Gillibrand Sanders
forces from Afghanistan. We have ac- Booker Harris Schatz
complished our goal of routing al- based. We have talked about this quite Braun Heinrich Schumer
Qaida and killing Osama Bin Laden. often. It is something that you can’t Brown Hirono Smith
Those were two of the big things that just say ‘‘It is going to happen by this Cantwell Kaine Stabenow
Cardin Klobuchar Tester
were talked about originally when date’’ but, rather, under these certain Casey Leahy Udall
President Bush went in and basically circumstances. Cortez Masto Lee Van Hollen
said: We have these short-term objec- It undermines peace negotiations and Daines Merkley Warren
tives, we are going to get them the Trump administration’s Afghan Duckworth Paul Wyden
achieved, and then we are going to be strategy. He has talked about that pub- NOT VOTING—7
licly. I think a lot of people agree with
out. Blunt Hyde-Smith Murray
We have achieved those objectives. that. I do. Burr Markey
It would also undermine the Feb- Enzi Murkowski
There is no reason for delay and to con-
ruary 2020 U.S. agreement with the The motion to table was agreed to;
tinue this endless war. The longer we Taliban that tries to map out a path to
stay with an ill-defined mission, the the amendment was tabled.
peace. According to the plan, U.S. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
greater the risk of a wider war in the forces’ reductions must be tied to
region. Believe me, I listen to people ator from New Jersey.
Taliban counterterrorism commit-
back home. They don’t want a wider ments. That is part of the plan. COVID–19 INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE AND
war. They want us to bring our troops Repealing it—the 2001 authorization RECOVERY ACT OF 2020
home. for use of military force—would under- Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I
The recent news that has gripped the mine the authority of the President of rise to speak to S. 3669, the COVID–19
Capitol only underscores that our men the United States for countering ter- International Response and Recovery
and women in Afghanistan remain in rorists in Afghanistan but also would Act of 2020.
harm’s way. They should be brought undermine the GITMO detention and As of this weekend, there are an esti-
home and focus on our core national other global counterterrorist efforts. mated 10 million confirmed cases of
security. The DOD and the White House would COVID–19 worldwide. More than 2.5
After 19 years of war, peace in Af- oppose this because it removes an au- million of those cases are right here in
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
ghanistan will need to come from nego- thority for using military force and the United States. The disease has
tiation, and the United States can and would significantly undermine coun- claimed over 125,000 American lives.
should continue to play a role in those terterrorism authority. For anyone who questioned why we
diplomatic efforts. So I move to table the Paul amend- should care about what happens else-
This legislation ends the U.S. in- ment No. 2011, and I ask for the yeas where in the world, this pandemic has
volvement in the war in a responsible and nays. certainly been most assuredly a wake-
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S4118 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
up call. The virus didn’t start here, but In May, the administration an- a clear strategy to confront the ongo-
it came here and Americans are now nounced a 30-day plan to review the or- ing pandemic—the ongoing pandemic—
suffering from the effects of an epi- ganization’s handling of the pandemic and prepare the United States to deal
demic that shows no signs of stopping. response. But less than 2 weeks after it with the next.
Even if we bring it under control in announced that sham review, the It compels the Trump administration
the United States, in the absence of President said he was going to with- to constructively engage with other
U.S. leadership for a truly global re- draw from the organization—so much countries, international organizations,
sponse, the virus can and will return. for the 30-day review. and multilateral fora to stop the
We cannot safeguard American lives Next, the administration doubled spread of the coronavirus.
without one, but we cannot lead or down on blaming China. The President, Specifically, our bill authorizes an
even meaningfully participate in a the Secretary of State, and the Deputy additional $9 billion in funding to fight
global response when we don’t have a Administrator of USAID have all used the COVID–19 pandemic through con-
coherent and effective domestic strat- racially stigmatizing language to de- tributions toward vaccine research at
egy. scribe COVID–19, in direct contradic- the Coalition for Preparedness and In-
The President’s desperate denial, his tion to guidance issued by our own novations; a contribution to the Global
refusal to take this pandemic seri- Centers for Disease Control and Pre- Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis, and Ma-
ously, and his seeming inability to care vention. And the insistence that the laria, for its COVID–19 response mecha-
about the health and well-being of all rest of the world agree to use such lan- nism; additional funding for emergency
Americans are as shocking as they are guage has prevented us from reaching overseas humanitarian assistance in
dangerous. consensus on statements at the G–7 and response to the pandemic, ensuring
As opposed to a pandemic response in the U.N. Security Council and seri- that these funds are provided both to
strategy, the White House seems to ously weakened our standing. the U.N. for its global response plan, as
have a dangerous public relations If this administration is truly con- well as directly to NGOs working on
strategy focused on perpetuating a cerned about China’s malign intent at the frontlines; and a new surge financ-
false narrative that insists the pan- the WHO and elsewhere, there is a sim- ing authority at the U.S. International
demic is almost over, blames China and ple answer: Take action. If the United Development Finance Corporation, or
the World Health Organization for its States leads, others will follow. If we DFC, that will allow the DFC to expe-
own preparedness and response fail- leave the field open, others, like China, dite decisions and make strategic in-
ures, overstates the administration’s will step into the vacuum. vestments quickly to aid in COVID–19
domestic and international response, Isolationist, go-it-alone tactics are reconstruction efforts.
and refuses to be candid with Congress not the way to end a pandemic. At a CIRRA also puts in place mecha-
and the American people about the time when the United States should be nisms to help us prepare for the next
consequences of its irresponsible ac- leading the global response to one of pandemic. It requires an annual na-
tions. the greatest threats we face in the 21st tional intelligence estimate on pan-
Make no mistake, contrary to what century—and this pandemic will, most demic threats, and it establishes a
the White House would have us believe, certainly, not be our last—I have to White House adviser for global health
the COVID–19 threat is far from over. wonder if, instead, what we are wit- security to coordinate a whole-of-gov-
As Dr. Anthony Fauci testified, it is a nessing is the death of American lead- ernment U.S. response to global health
lack of serious response—not as some ership and the end of American security emergencies, aimed at improv-
in the White House would have us be- exceptionalism, brought about by the ing both domestic and international
lieve, more tests—that is leading to the inattention and ineptitude of the capacity to prevent, respond, and de-
skyrocketing case numbers and hos- Trump administration, both here and tect epidemic and pandemic threats.
pitalization rates we are seeing today. abroad. It clearly delineates the roles for the
Unfortunately, the haphazardness Meanwhile, the rest of the world is State Department, USAID, and the
that has characterized the White stepping up and stepping past us. For Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
House’s response at home has also example, when Chinese President Xi vention in responding to pandemic
shaped its response abroad. Jinping addressed the World Health As- threats, and it directs the U.S. Execu-
Secretary Pompeo is right. The sembly in May, he pledged $2 billion tive Director at the World Bank to
American people are the most generous over 2 years to combat COVID–19. Sec- begin negotiations to establish a trust
on the planet, but that belies this ad- retary Azar used the opportunity to at- fund at the World Bank designed not to
ministration’s actual response. The re- tack the WHO and cast blame on China compete with or supplant the World
ality is that when it comes to discus- for the pandemic. Health Organization but to work in
sions about what it is doing to end the The European Union held a pledging tandem with the WHO on incentivizing
pandemic globally, the administration conference on vaccines in May, at countries to mobilize their own re-
is trumpeting programs it has spent 3 which $8.2 billion was raised. The sources for epidemic and pandemic pre-
years consistently and aggressively United States was invited to partici- paredness.
cutting, which explains perfectly why pate, but the White House declined the Now, my Republican colleague on the
Secretary Pompeo, to this day, refuses invitation. Is this what the President Foreign Relations Committee finally
to come before the Senate Foreign Re- means by ‘‘America first’’? did introduce a modest bill in response
lations Committee to defend his pro- Well, if this EU consortium comes up to the pandemic. In keeping with the
posed fiscal year 2021 budget. with a vaccine before we do, it will Republican effort to pretend that the
America, the world needs a strategy mean America last, as we wait for pandemic is over, it completely ignores
to end this pandemic, not a PR blitz to them to share it with us. the current crisis.
cover inaction. The blame game will This approach is not only isola- Instead, it focuses on giving legisla-
not help us either. Yet, instead of tak- tionist, shortsighted, and foolish; it is tive cover to elite proposals from the
ing care of the business at hand, the dangerous. White House that seem to strip essen-
administration is channeling its energy It is clear that the administration’s tial pandemic response functions from
toward fault finding and divisive, ra- response is not keeping the American USAID and put them in the State De-
cially inflammatory rhetoric. people safe, and it is just as clear that partment, and sets up a structure at
First, the White House tried to say there are actions we can take to effec- the World Bank that would allow the
that the U.S. epidemic was the World tively respond to this pandemic and White House to channel funding meant
Health Organization’s fault, despite the better prepare for future pandemics. for the WHO into another multilateral
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
fact that the United States was regu- Since the administration doesn’t mechanism.
larly communicating with and receiv- seem to have any ideas, Democrats on Colleagues, to say that that approach
ing information from the WHO, includ- the Foreign Relations Committee in- is inadequate to meet the crisis of the
ing through U.S. Government employ- troduced a bill to provide some. S. 3669, century would be so much of an under-
ees embedded at the WHO headquarters the COVID–19 International Response statement as to almost be a lie in and
in Geneva. and Recovery Act, or CIRRA, presents of itself. The chairman’s legislation
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4119
completely ignores the current pan- held only 25 percent of corporate board to him, along with our chairman, Sen-
demic while setting us up for failure seats, and only 5.8 percent of that 25 ator CRAPO.
when we are confronted by the next percent were women of color. While While convictions are important to
pandemic. We quite simply must do men make up 75 percent of Fortune 100 us on the Banking Committee, so is
better. corporate board seats, only 13.7 percent data. I believe that as much as we can
More than 700 Americans a day are of those are men of color. be, America is and should be a color-
dying. Neither the finger-pointing, If we wanted to take a broader look, blind meritocracy. I believe in that.
blame-game, race-baiting statements the picture is even bleaker. Latinos I also believe in data. I believe in
linked to the origins of the disease, nor and Latinas make up 25 percent of the facts. This is a data bill. This is a fact
a strategy centered on denial will win U.S. population, yet they held only 2.7 bill. This doesn’t make anybody do
the battle against COVID–19. percent of corporate board seats in anything except be transparent.
It is painfully apparently that Con- Fortune 100 companies. I could go on, This bill applies to public companies.
gress will have to lead in this effort, but I think I have made the point. Some may call them Wall Street com-
just as it led in domestic relief and re- I was originally hopeful that the Se- panies, but they are spread throughout
covery efforts. If we fail to develop a curities and Exchange Commission America. I make that point simply to
proposal that boldly and robustly ad- would help address this problem reaffirm that this does not apply to
dresses the current crisis, ensures that through its 2009 diversity disclosure small, publicly held companies we
we are adequately prepared for the rule, but the 2009 rule failed to even de- sometimes call Main Street businesses.
next one, and aids countries around the fine diversity and gives companies far This bill is endorsed by the U.S.
globe with recovery, we will have failed too much discretion on what they re- Chamber of Commerce. This fact and
the American people and fallen pain- port. That is why I introduced a bill data bill passed overwhelmingly in the
fully short of the legacy created last year with Representative MEEKS House with a bipartisan coalition, and
through initiatives such as the Presi- to improve the SEC rule. as Senator MENENDEZ eloquently point-
dent’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief The bill does three main things. No. ed out, it simply requires public—usu-
and the Marshall plan, to name a few. 1, it requires public companies to dis- ally large, but not always—publicly
We must understand that there is a close specific information related to held corporations to report data with
recent report that came out of a poten- the racial, gender, ethnic makeup and respect to their Board of Directors,
tial swine flu. Well, whether it is that veteran status of corporate boards and nominees to the Board of Directors,
or something else, we have the risk of senior management—simple disclosure. and their executive officers.
the next pandemic. Our engagement No. 2, it requires public companies to The data that these companies are
globally is not just about being a good disclose whether they have policies in being asked to report is data with re-
global citizen. It is about security and place to promote diversity in their spect to gender, data with respect to
health here at home. leadership. No. 3, it requires the SEC to veteran status, data with respect to
When we can engage abroad to stop establish a diversity advisory group ethnicity, and data with respect to
the flow of a virus, then, we ultimately composed of government, academic, race to the extent that the board mem-
achieve the success on behalf of the and private sector representatives to bers, nominees, and the executive offi-
American people, and we leave the study strategies for increasing gender, cers themselves report that data.
world with a better response. That is racial, and ethnic diversity in cor- Frankly, and I will end on this note,
what we are seeking to do, and we will porate America. I was very surprised that we didn’t
come back to the floor at the appro- Let me be clear. The bill does not have this data. In fact, when I first
priate time to seek to move that legis- force companies to be more diverse, read Congressman MEEKS’ bill and Sen-
lation. but it does require them to be more ator MENENDEZ’s bill, I thought: This
UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST—H.R. 5084 transparent about their numbers and can’t be necessary; we must have this
Madam President, turning to a dif- their practices. That is valuable infor- data at the Securities and Exchange
ferent topic for the moment, one that mation that the public and potential Commission. We do not, but we will if
my colleague from Louisiana is also investors should have when deciding this bill becomes law. For that reason,
here to join me in—and I appreciate his where to put their money. I rise in support of Congressman
being here—I come to the floor today, The House passed this bill on a bipar- MEEKS’ legislation and Senator MENEN-
in addition to speaking about the tisan vote in November, and it enjoys DEZ’s legislation, and I support it.
COVID–19 international legislation, to bipartisan support here in the Senate. With that, I would yield to Senator
seek unanimous consent on H.R. 5084, It is supported by a fantastic coalition MENENDEZ.
the Improving Corporate Governance that includes the NAACP, the National The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
Through Diversity Act of 2019. Urban League, the Latino Corporate ator from New Jersey.
This is a bipartisan piece of legisla- Directors Association, and the U.S. Mr. MENENDEZ. I thank the Senator
tion aimed at increasing transparency Chamber of Commerce. from Louisiana for his words and for
in America’s corporate boardrooms and Corporate diversity is not just mor- his support, and I wish we had this al-
ultimately lead to greater diversity in ally right; corporate diversity makes ready. It is not very difficult—trans-
the upper tiers of America’s companies. financial sense. McKinsey & Company parency, information for which con-
We know that corporate America has studies have consistently found that sumers can make decisions and inves-
a diversity problem. Boards and execu- greater diversity on executive teams tors can make decisions, and you would
tive offices across the United States do has led to greater profitability. The think in the 21st Century, that is not a
not look like the customers they serve. need for increased corporate diversity problem.
Multiple studies, including my own, is not an act of benevolence; it is a ne- Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
have demonstrated this hard fact. cessity for businesses looking to com- sent that the Committee on Banking,
Since 2010, I have conducted four sur- pete in a diverse 21st century economy. Housing, and Urban Affairs be dis-
veys focused on the Fortune 100 compa- Before I proceed to my unanimous charged from further consideration and
nies looking into this problem. They consent request, I would like to yield the Senate proceed to H.R. 5084; I fur-
had very big response rates, for which to Senator KENNEDY for some remarks ther ask unanimous consent that the
I am grateful to the companies who he has on this issue, and then I will bill be considered read a third time and
participated. proceed to that consent request. passed and that the motion to recon-
My latest survey revealed that since The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- sider be considered made and laid upon
2010, women and people of color have ator from Louisiana. the table.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
made only marginal gains in represen- Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, thank The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
tations on corporate boards. For exam- you to my colleague from New Jersey objection?
ple, in 2018, women held only 25 percent for yielding me some time. The Senator from Utah.
of corporate board seats on Fortune 100 I sit on the Banking Committee with Mr. LEE. Mr. President, reserving
companies. Despite making up over Senator MENENDEZ, and it is my privi- the right to object, the purpose of the
half of the entire U.S. population, they lege. I have learned a lot from listening Securities and Exchange Commission
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S4120 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
is to protect investors and to maintain If I were an investor, I would like to and colleague, the Senator from New
orderly and efficient markets. This bill know whether a company is diverse or Jersey. I do respectfully but strongly
would change that deal. It would not. Latinos represent 25 percent of the disagree with his position on this.
change the entire premise of the SEC. population, the fastest growing, largest He made the point several times that
It would use the SEC to pressure people minority in the Nation. I would like to if he were acting as an investor, he
to disclose personal information that know if the money I am going to put would very much like to know the
has no connection to the financial into a stock—buying a stock of a com- composition of a corporate board or an
health of the company, information pany—does it reflect the understanding executive team within a corporation,
that many people understandably, jus- of that community in any way? African which is great. A lot of people feel the
tifiably, and with really good reason Americans—does it reflect that under- same way. That isn’t the question. No
prefer to keep private. Why? Because it standing? Does it reflect the under- one is stopping a corporation from dis-
is not the public’s business; it is theirs. standing that 50 percent of the popu- closing that information. In fact, a
The bill requires businesses to probe lation are women? whole lot of corporations do.
the race, gender, ethnicity, and veteran The free market—yes, the free mar- Some may not want to do that. Some
status of not only those already on the ket works on information. You make might want to disclose some of this in-
senior payroll of their companies but decisions in the free market based on formation but not all of it. Some might
also anyone who is even considered for information, but when the information not want to be in a position of asking
those positions. is hidden from you, when you can’t find probing questions regarding the gender
Secondly, the free market already out, in fact, what is the diversity of the and ethnicity and race of their employ-
provides a way to achieve these goals. corporate board, senior executive man- ees, understanding that it will then be
If investors prefer to invest in compa- agement, procurement and other disclosed to the public under the crush-
nies that have certain kinds of people things, then the free market doesn’t ing force of Federal law.
on their boards and certain kinds of work very well, does it? There are legitimate reasons why a
people in executive positions, then The heavy hand of government—oh, company might not want to do that,
companies have a financial incentive my God—to disclose, to be trans- some of which have to do with that
to disclose that information. No one is parent—that is the heavy hand of gov- company’s own ability to treat its em-
stopping them from doing that. Many ernment? When the government ployees and its board members and its
companies do, in fact, disclose that in- doesn’t work to make our systems executive team with dignity and re-
formation. Many companies are al- more transparent so that investors and spect. In some circumstances, not ev-
ready providing this information be- consumers can make decisions, who erything is the government’s business.
cause their customers and their inves- will do that? The free market? I don’t Transparency, yes. It is absolutely
tors are demanding it. think so. something that I believe in. Trans-
Government is neither omniscient The Senator from Utah, I know, has parency usually refers to what we need
nor omnipotent. It is not a deity. It is been very much an advocate of trans- when it comes to government action.
just force. It is just organized, collec- parency in other matters; somehow, in Transparency is what we demand when
tive official force. That is all it is. We this one, it seems to be a problem. And we require open public hearings when
should not use the heavy hand of gov- to protect investors—yes, we ought to government does business. Trans-
ernment for things that the American protect investors because investors parency is what we require when we
people already have the opportunity to who would be making investments in a allow government documents to be
do on their own and in many, if not company that is devoid of African made public and allow the public to see
most, cases already are doing on their Americans, devoid of Latinos, devoid of what the regulatory process is doing.
own. the representation of who America is Transparency doesn’t mean that ev-
Finally, the bill co-ops Federal em- today may think twice about the large erything that everyone does in Amer-
ployees at the SEC to create a diver- pension funds and other entities. They ica that has a tie to economic activity
sity advisory group of government bu- may say: Wait a minute. Maybe that is is the public’s business. The fact that
reaucrats and academics who would ad- not the type of company I want to in- it is publicly traded doesn’t mean it is
vise Congress on policies to increase vest in. owned by the government.
ethnic and gender diversity on cor- But the investor will not know that So the statement made by my col-
porate boards. unless they have that information. I league to the effect that when informa-
We already have a diversity advisory would think, in the 21st century, when tion is hidden from you, then the free
group. We already have it. It is the mil- we see the national debate that is tak- market doesn’t work very well—I don’t
lions of Americans whom we represent. ing place today on the questions of understand what that means. If what
To think that bureaucrats at the SEC race, on questions of ethnicity and he is suggesting is that it is hidden in
could inform Congress of the impor- other things, we would want to at least violation of law, that is not the case. If
tance of inclusion and diversity better have the data so that we can make in- what he is suggesting is that the free
than the American people is wasteful, telligent decisions. market can’t punish those who refuse
and to think that it is appropriate to By the way, the U.S. Chamber of to disclose information about the
vest in the SEC an entity designed to Commerce—the Chamber of Commerce boards and reward those who do, that is
protect investors from fraudulent ac- is normally not on my side. They came exactly what the free market does. The
tivities of those running these enter- and testified specifically in support of free market has every opportunity to
prises is just the wrong conception, not this provision. They represent business work here. It is not as though nobody
only of the SEC but of government in in America, and they came forth and is providing this information, but it is
general. said: We believe that, in fact, this is not their business.
For these reasons, Mr. President, I good for business. If it weren’t good for As to the suggestion that because the
object. business, they wouldn’t be there. They Chamber of Commerce supports this,
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- wouldn’t be advocating for it. therefore it is pro-business, and be-
tion is heard. So we will succeed at this. We may cause it is pro-business, we should all
The Senator from New Jersey. not have done it today by this process, support it, I respectfully but strongly
Mr. MENENDEZ. I am not surprised, but we will succeed at this because the disagree. I know that as a Republican,
but I am deeply disappointed that my Nation requires it. It is good account- I am supposed to automatically agree
colleague takes that position. First of ability. It is good transparency. It is good for with what the Chamber of Commerce
all, the SEC has had a diversity rule the free market to know what the informa-
tion is so people can make decisions. It is
says. Sometimes I do, but, you know, a
since 2009. It has a diversity rule, but whole lot of the time, I don’t.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
certainly, at the end of the day, about pro-
the diversity rule as they devised it tecting investors. So I look forward to mak- This goes back a long time. It goes
doesn’t do anything about trans- ing that happen at the appropriate time. back to the time when the U.S. Cham-
parency of information. So we are not The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- ber of Commerce opposed a massive tax
creating something at the SEC that ator from Utah. reform bill that was proposed by Presi-
the SEC itself wasn’t pursuing in the Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I have deep dent Calvin Coolidge. I found some re-
protection of investors. affection and adoration for my friend lief in the fantastic, eponymous book
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4121
‘‘Coolidge’’ about President Coolidge this moment—not in spite of this mo- And even though donations have gone
and his proposal of that reform—a re- ment but because of it. Government is up—we are a generous people in this
form that, by the way, helped build for. We have seen the catastrophic con- country—donations have gone up, but
America’s middle class and resulted in sequences of people who lose sight of the need has far outpaced the funds
explosive economic growth. The U.S. what government is for and what its that are available.
Chamber of Commerce opposed that re- limitations are. As the pandemic swept across our
form. The fact is that we don’t have access Nation, one in five adults experienced
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce gets to angels, as James Madison described food insecurity—one in five. More than
a lot of things wrong, and it is wrong it in Federalist 51. If men were angels, 3 months later, even more Americans
here. This isn’t the government’s busi- we wouldn’t have a need for govern- in every State are struggling to put
ness. These businesses are not govern- ment. If we had access to angels to run food on the table. These are laid-off
ment. They can do what they want, and our government, we wouldn’t need all workers who lost their jobs due to the
it is not our place to say otherwise. these rules. But because we are not an- pandemic and aren’t sure they will be
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- gels, we don’t have access to them to able to find employment. Many of them
ator from New Jersey. run our government. We have to have need food assistance, and it is for the
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I ap- rules, and there have to be limitations first time in their life that they need
preciate the intellectual exercise we on what is and isn’t the role of govern- to ask for that help.
are going through on the floor. I will ment. These are single moms and dads who
just make two final comments because Now, look, there are all kinds of busi- are worried about getting their kids fed
I know that my colleague is anxiously nesses that keep track of this informa- before they even think about them-
waiting to talk about the need for peo- tion on the corporate board members selves.
ple to be able to put food on the table. and those considered for those posi- These are veterans who are willing to
Look, the Securities and Exchange tions and their executives and those put their lives on the line for the coun-
Commission exists, yes, to protect in- considered for those positions. It is not try. Now they are struggling to find
vestors and also the marketplace, but our role to tell them the information work and make rent and just need a
they make all types of demands upon they have to extract from each and little extra help getting the food they
the companies that are publicly traded every person they interview for those need to survive.
in terms of disclosure of information, positions and demand that it be pub- These are senior citizens who are at
so I don’t know what is so difficult licly disclosed. Why? Well, because, high risk of COVID–19 and have had to
about that. among other things, it is none of their make drastic changes to their day-to-
I will say this: The Nation will have darn business, and in many cases, it is day life just to stay safe.
a rude awakening if it thinks it can none of ours. That is the business of These are children who relied on
continue with business as usual—a the individual. school meals for breakfast and lunch,
rude awakening. We shouldn’t be punishing compa- possibly after school as well, who have
Something as simple as simply know- nies, businesses, and hard-working gotten used to the pain of an empty
ing the information about diversity on Americans. Yes, some of them are rich, stomach since their school closed.
corporate boards, which every study and a whole lot of them are not rich. To these people, hunger is not a par-
shows actually improves the bottom We shouldn’t be punishing them just tisan issue. It is not a political issue.
line and which investors should be able because they don’t happen to share our For them, it is a daily reality that
to have to make those decisions—and view of how they ought to be oper- they face. For many of them, SNAP is
we are not talking about the employ- ating. the vital lifeline that keeps them fed in
ees; we are talking about the corporate I find it curious that he says over and times of need, and today that need is
board members, my God, the people over again that this is how they will be even greater. If we are looking at the
who make billions of dollars of deci- more successful and this is how they direction of COVID–19 and what is hap-
sions, who ultimately decide whether will make more money. It is not our pening across the country, I am con-
they go to a community or don’t go to place to decide. They are free to oper- cerned, but I think it is realistic to say
a community to invest in, who ulti- ate their business in a foolish way and that the need is going to go even high-
mately get the dollars from the com- in a way that might cost them money. er.
munities that I like to see represented. It doesn’t make it our place to decide In any crisis, it is just common sense
It is good enough to take our money, this. to make sure affected families have
but it is not good enough to have us The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- their basic needs met. When I think of
have any representation. And evidently ator from Michigan. my friend from Ohio, who is our cham-
this body is not even good enough to UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST pion on housing—we talked about
have the information so I know who is Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I housing as being a basic need. I don’t
taking my money without representa- rise today to be joined by my col- know anything more basic than a roof
tion. That cannot be. That cannot be leagues as well. I am very grateful to over your head and food on the table.
the American way. see the Senator from Ohio here. Food and housing are pretty basic. We
I yield the floor. Thank you so much for being on the would all suggest that those are things
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- floor. that you start with and that you want
ator from Utah. Other colleagues will join to speak for yourself and your family.
Mr. LEE. Mr. President, as my dis- this evening on behalf of millions of When people’s lives are turned upside
tinguished friend and colleague from American families who are struggling down through no fault of their own,
New Jersey says, the fact that they to make ends meet and feed their fami- Americans come together to provide a
make all types of demands on publicly lies at this incredibly challenging temporary safety net to help them get
traded companies is not a substitute time. back on their feet. That is what the
for an actual logical or legal argument The COVID–19 crisis is taking a pro- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
as to why they are entitled to informa- found toll on our economy and the Program is, SNAP. It is not there for
tion that is not theirs—information quality of life of millions of families. when folks don’t need it; it is there for
these companies may or may not As businesses have closed and millions when they do need it.
choose to collect because that is their have lost their jobs, the number of peo- During every past disaster, we have
business. It is not the government’s ple in need of food assistance has acted to make sure, as Americans, that
business, and it sure as heck isn’t the soared. Food banks have seen a 70-per- people don’t go hungry. On a bipartisan
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
government. cent increase in demand—70 percent in- basis, we have increased SNAP benefits
So the fact that they make all types crease in demand. We have all seen the when families are in need and in cases
of demands on publicly traded compa- photos of lines of families in cars of natural and economic disasters, like
nies doesn’t prove the point here. We stretching on and on for miles, waiting after the 2008 financial crisis.
have to remember something, and, yes, in parking lots with moms and dads, I do note that my dear friend, the
we have to remember it right now in trying to get food for their children. chairman of the Ag Committee—who I
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S4122 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
think is on a different side of what we fruits and vegetables so they can stay Over the past few months, through
are going to be asking for tonight—he healthy while they are staying at home the enactment of both the Families
and I have come together over and over through this crisis. It means maybe First Act and the CARES Act, Congress
again on a bipartisan basis and will one less skipped meal at the end of the has provided both funding and flexibili-
continue to do that to work together month. One less skipped meal, that is ties for nutrition assistance during this
on these issues. what we are talking about. pandemic emergency. The funding from
We provide additional help to people This modest increase will help ensure the Families First and CARES Acts
in need. That is the first thing we do. that families most affected by the pan- has included the following: $15 billion
Yet we know that increasing SNAP demic will be able to cover the cost of for the Supplemental Nutrition Assist-
benefits, in addition to helping people food while they stay safe, while they ance Program; $8.8 billion for the
in need, should be No. 1. Put people look for work, and while they rebuild School and Child Nutrition Programs;
first—that should be No. 1. their lives, which many families are $1 billion in food distribution pro-
The great news with SNAP is that it needing to do. grams, like The Emergency Food As-
also boosts the economy. This is a We also need to increase the min- sistance Program, TEFAP, and the
twofer. According to the USDA, SNAP imum amount of SNAP from $16 to $30 Food Distribution Program for Indian
is one of the best investments we can per day. Again, for all of us, that Reservations; $500 million for the Spe-
make. For every dollar we put into doesn’t seem like a lot. The reality is, cial Supplemental Nutrition Program
SNAP benefits, when somebody walks this may be lifesaving—lifesaving—this for Women, Infants, and Children, or
into the grocery store and buys food, difference, especially for our seniors the WIC Program.
we see roughly $1.70 more in the econ- who live alone. In addition, Congress provided emer-
omy. It is the most efficient way to We must also waive the Trump ad- gency SNAP benefits, allotments, and
help farmers and to help the food in- ministration’s harmful regulations pandemic EBT benefits for children
dustry, is to allow people to have that will take food assistance away while schools are closed.
money to buy food for themselves and from hungry Americans when they The Department of Agriculture has
their kids and for their parents. need it the most. At a time when our been steadily distributing both food
We know that every additional bil- neighbors and our economy are strug- and benefits, and the Department has
lion dollars in SNAP supports nearly gling, it is unconscionable to move for- granted and extended many flexibili-
14,000 jobs. ward with rules that would cut and
ties to State and sponsoring organiza-
Usually families spend their benefits deny benefits to millions of Americans,
tions to get food to those in need.
immediately, so it is very quick. I rules that would take away school The distinguished Senator from
mean, you don’t spend a lot of time—if meals from up to 1 million children. Michigan, for whom I have a great deal
you are hungry, you are not going to be The Senate has the power to provide
of respect and friendship—we have a
waiting a couple of weeks before you quick help to millions of people in
history of working together on the Ag-
every State across the country right
use your SNAP benefits; you are going riculture Committee to help those in
now, right now. What a great way to
to immediately go to the store. That is need.
spend a Wednesday evening to be able
an immediate economic impact. In fact, just last week, we wrote the
When families buy food at grocery to help millions of families during this
Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny
crisis.
stores and markets, as I said, they are Perdue, about some of the WIC flexi-
This is urgently needed. This is ur-
strengthening their local economies bilities, and the Department of Agri-
gently needed help for the millions of
and the supply chain as a whole, from culture has already acted to extend
families who are wondering where their
the farmers to the truckdrivers, to the those flexibilities. This is just a recent
next meal is going to come from. This
stockers, to the cashiers, to the folks example of the good work we can ac-
is urgently needed help for the millions
who invest in the stock markets. complish together, but I respectfully
of people who have lost their jobs
In fact, farmers understand better object to this unanimous consent.
through no fault of their own in this
than anybody that families are their The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ob-
crisis.
customers. That is why, when we write When an unprecedented emergency jection is heard.
a bipartisan farm bill, which I am has put American lives and livelihoods Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President.
proud that we have been able to do, we in danger, we have an obligation to act. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
make sure it helps both farmers and It is not only our sworn duty; it is the ator from Michigan.
families. right thing to do. It is just, plainly, the Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I
Farm bills are about a farmer safety agree with my friend from Kansas that
right thing to do.
net. Farmers need additional help right Boosting SNAP benefits is a tried- we work together in many ways and
now. It is also about a family’s safety and-true, effective way to strengthen have been able to get a lot of good
net, and families need help right now. the economy and help Americans put things together by working across the
Families across the country need help food on the table. The U.S. Senate aisle. I want to focus on just a couple
right now, and this time is no different. should not look away in the face of so of things to expound on what he said,
Nearly 2,500 farm and food advocates much need. though.
agree with that. In a letter to Senate Therefore, Mr. President, I ask unan- While we, in fact, did add dollars for
leadership, these groups, including the imous consent that the Senate proceed some emergency SNAP in the original
National Council of Farmer Coopera- to the immediate consideration of my Families First Response Act, unfortu-
tives, the National Milk Producers bill to make temporary modifications nately, about 40 percent of the house-
Federation, the National Farmers to the Supplemental Nutrition Assist- holds didn’t get any extra help at all.
Union—thousands of organizations— ance Program, which is at the desk. I These were our poorest citizens. These
have urged us to increase SNAP bene- further ask that the bill be considered were those who were already getting—
fits for families in need right now with read three times and passed and that because their income was so low—the
what is happening right now in this the motion to reconsider be considered maximum benefit, and they got no help
crisis. made and laid upon the table. at all. So 40 percent of the folks didn’t
We are asking for something very The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there see anything that was just described,
simple and very reasonable, a 15-per- objection? and, for others, we are very concerned
cent boost in SNAP benefits. This in- Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, reserv- about the temporary nature of this and
crease means an additional $25 a month ing the right to object. the fact that it was not enough to sus-
per person. That may not seem like The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- tain what is happening for families.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
much, unless you don’t have any food, ator from Kansas. The 15 percent that we are talking
unless you can’t feed your children, un- Mr. ROBERTS. I rise to respond to about, which is something that was
less you are a senior, and you can’t get this unanimous consent request to call done back during the economic reces-
food. up and pass a bill to make modifica- sion and has been done in various ways
The fact is, it may mean that a mom tions to the Supplemental Nutrition in the past, is an important response to
can actually give her children some Assistance Program, known as SNAP. make sure that every single family and
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4123
individual who needs food assistance— how people are living. I want to hear Leader MCCONNELL says no to rental
not just some but that every single one about people’s lives. assistance. He says no to helping State
can get the help they need at this time. I can’t imagine Senator MCCONNELL and local governments. Wait until the
What has been done up to this point does any of that; otherwise, he couldn’t layoffs in Michigan and Ohio and Or-
was a start. It is surely not enough— make these awful, hard-hearted deci- egon and Minnesota and North and
surely not enough. At the very begin- sions to eliminate unemployment when South Dakota. Wait until the govern-
ning of this process, it was not clear it ends at the end of this month. Maybe ment and the local government layoffs
how long this was going to go or how he will decide to compromise, but, come. Then what are we going to do?
deep this was going to go. right now, if you are an unemployed People shouldn’t have to always fend
The U.S. Senate needs to respond to worker, and you can’t find a job in De- for themselves in the middle of a crisis.
what we are seeing now and how fami- troit or in Portland or in Eugene or in We should not have people starving or
lies are being affected across the coun- St. Paul, you wonder if your unemploy- risking their health to get food. People
try. ment is going to just stop, and you are shouldn’t be hungry in this country—in
I am going to now yield to Senator going to get evicted. You don’t have this rich country.
BROWN and then Senator KLOBUCHAR. I enough food, and we don’t do a damn It is time for us to step up. It is time
believe I saw her on the floor as well. thing about it here. to lead where the President has failed.
Yes, Senator KLOBUCHAR and then Sen- This is the United States of America. It is time for Senator MCCONNELL to
ator WYDEN as well—three tremendous Couldn’t we help hard-working Ameri- let us do our jobs—debate this; let’s
advocates. cans? Instead, we see an objection to pass it; and let’s move forward.
Thank you so much. rental assistance. We see an objection I yield the floor.
Senator BROWN. to increasing food benefits. I don’t get The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
Mr. BROWN. Thank you, Senator it, the United States of America, that ator from Michigan.
STABENOW, and thank you for intro- this would possibly happen. Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I
ducing this bill and your leadership on We should take up and pass Senator want to thank Senator BROWN for his
all issues agriculture, especially the STABENOW’s bill right now to increase eloquence and advocacy, and I want to
importance of SNAP and feeding peo- SNAP benefits. thank him also for being an incredibly
ple. At a time when the country is finally effective member of the Agriculture,
This is the United States of America. focusing on racial injustice, we have to Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, as
One specific thing Senator STABENOW recognize these issues are all con- is our next speaker, the senior Senator
said that really caught me was, it is nected. from Minnesota—two Members that I
pretty simple: People should have a You all know that this pandemic has am so proud to have as partners of
roof over their head, and people should been the great revealer. It has revealed mine on the Agriculture, Nutrition,
have food on the table. income inequality. It has revealed ra- and Forestry Committee.
Think if you don’t. I don’t think that cial disparities. It has revealed life I yield time to Senator KLOBUCHAR.
probably most of us know, intimately, expectancies. If you look like me, your The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
people who don’t have enough to eat life expectancy is a good bit longer ator from Minnesota.
and people who get evicted. I don’t than if you are African American or Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I
think we feel the anxiety they feel Latino in this country; that our earn- want to thank the Senator from Michi-
every night, wondering about the next ing power is more and that our edu- gan for her leadership on the Agri-
meal. Today is July 1, wondering about cational opportunities are greater. We culture, Nutrition, and Forestry Com-
the rent payment. know all that. Are we doing anything mittee, helping to pass and leading the
Senator KLOBUCHAR said this earlier about it here? No, we are not. last farm bill in the Senate, along with
today; that before the coronavirus, 25 The President of the United States Senator ROBERTS and so many of us
percent of Americans who rent spend has put all of that behind him. He who are on that committee.
more than half their income in rent. So doesn’t care about the pandemic. He We understand that rural America is
if one thing goes wrong in their life— never mentions the 120,000 people in hurting right now, and rural America
one thing goes wrong: their car breaks this country—our brothers and sisters is actually part of the solution as well
down; they have a problem and their and mothers and fathers and children for so many people who are hungry and
roof leaks; their child gets sick; they and grandparents who have died from who need help.
get hurt on the job and miss 2 weeks of this. He never mentions them. He has This pandemic and its economic im-
pay, their life turns upside down. forgotten about that. He just doesn’t pact has left 41 million Americans un-
Do we think about them? Do we want it to affect the stock market. employed and strained the financial se-
think about their anxiety? Apparently It goes on and on and on. Increased curity of hundreds of thousands of fam-
not. demand at food banks, we hear it all ilies across this country.
Today, this could have been a really, the time. We see the stress on employ- I have always worked to ensure, from
really, really good day for workers in ees and the volunteers at food banks. the minute I got on the Agriculture,
this country—for fast-food workers, for Governor DeWine, to his credit—a Nutrition, and Forestry Committee,
the people who change the linen in hos- Republican, and I appreciate that he is that we focus on nutrition. Programs
pitals, for custodians, for data entry doing this—sent the National Guard in like the Supplemental Nutrition As-
people, for home care workers—people to help at food banks. Why? Because sistance Program—or, as it is known,
who are on their feet all day long many, many food bank volunteers are SNAP—are the place to do this: to pro-
working for little pay. It could have older, and they couldn’t risk getting vide meaningful relief to families, chil-
been a big-deal day. It could be a red- exposed to so many who are coming in dren, senior citizens, veterans. People
letter day for them because we could for food. The lines are hours and hours all over this country, people who never
have assured them that they will not and hours long. Food insecurity rates thought they would be out of a job,
get evicted; that they will not get fore- have doubled since March, almost. people who used to—and I heard this
closed on if their hours have been cut We are realizing why we have a safe- story in Minnesota—volunteer in food
back or if they are laid off; and we ty net in this country. We are realizing banks, now they are standing in line at
could have assured them that they the importance of government. But, ap- food banks because they unexpectedly
would get a little food on the table. parently, my colleagues, under Senator lost their jobs.
But under the leadership of Senator MCCONNELL and President Trump, Many of us have seen this. I have vis-
MCCONNELL, we don’t ever do that. don’t want to recognize that govern- ited these food banks. Even before the
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
Senator MCCONNELL’s office is back ment has a role in our lives. pandemic, more than 37 million people,
there. I don’t know if he ever thinks The House did its part. It passed the including more than 11 million chil-
about people like that. One of my fa- Heroes Act, which has a 15-percent dren, were living in a food-insecure
vorite Lincoln quotes is he said: I have across-the-board increase of SNAP ben- household.
to get out of the White House and get efits, but, as always, Leader MCCON- Analytics released by the national
my public opinion baths. I have to see NELL is standing in the way. nonprofit Feeding America in April
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S4124 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
projected these numbers to increase pants out of the program, and that is In these times of uncertainty and
this year to more than 54 million peo- why I have called on the administra- with rising food insecurity, we need to
ple, including 18 million children. tion to withdraw rules that would take work to ensure that the nutrition
The 350 food shelves in my State op- these benefits away from families in needs of our most vulnerable citizens
erated by Second Harvest Heartland need. are met.
are seeing double or triple the number As for food deserts, again, the pan- I yield the floor.
of visitors. So this weekend, on Sun- demic has simply put a big, fat magni- Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I
day, I visited one of our biggest food fying glass on a problem that already want to thank my friend from Min-
shelves, Second Harvest Heartland, existed, and that is that 23.5 million nesota for her wonderful words. Again,
with Director Allison O’Toole, with a Americans live in a food desert where we think about all the need that is
number of people who were working the absence of a grocery store within 1 there, and we are here just trying to
there around the clock. They just re- mile of their home makes it more dif- make sure that people can get their ba-
leased a study. What the study said is ficult to purchase fresh, nutritious sics, such as food on the table for the
that before the pandemic 1 in 11 Min- food. kids.
nesotans were living with hunger. Now, Low-income Americans and people of We are very fortunate, and I feel very
they project for August—only a little color are much more likely to live in a fortunate to have both Senators from
over a month from now—that one in food desert, and people in rural areas Oregon here on the floor this evening.
eight Minnesotans will be food inse- live in these food deserts all over I am going to first yield now to Sen-
cure—one in eight. America. ator WYDEN, but I want to say first:
They said, tracking our State’s his- That is why Senator BROWN and I Senator WYDEN is the ranking member
tory back to the Great Depression, wrote a letter with 20 Senators urging of the Finance Committee, as we know.
they have never seen anything like this the Department of Agriculture to I think that is a pretty powerful com-
since the Great Depression—not even prioritize these programs intended to mittee, and we are grateful for his
the economic downturn 10 years ago, minimize food deserts and support leadership.
I am particularly grateful for the
not the ups and downs in unemploy- local and regional efforts for these
work the Senator is doing and has done
ment that we have seen in our rural projects.
We cannot overlook the capacity on unemployment compensation and
areas, the farm crises up in Northern
needs of food shelves, and that is some- what needs to be done and the impor-
Minnesota—nothing like they are pro-
tance of tying all of this together—for
jecting to happen. thing I talked about with our friends at
somebody having enough income to be
July begins with the Fourth of July. Second Harvest Heartland just this
able to pay the rent and then getting
The Fourth of July is when we cele- weekend.
The WORK NOW Act is something enough help to put food on the table.
brate our country. We celebrate what I am proud to be his partner and very
America means. My hope is that we that—I appreciate Senator WYDEN is
much appreciate all that he is doing to
will end July by actually passing the here as one of the cosponsors, along
put people first—Senator WYDEN.
Heroes Act. I know we are going to ne- with Senator BROWN and Senator Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I thank
gotiate it, colleagues. I know we will SCHATZ—supports nonprofit organiza- Senator STABENOW, my seatmate on
make changes over what passed in the tions, to make it easier for them to the Senate Finance Committee. We are
House, but we cannot let our States go hire people who are actually out of a bit more socially distant now, but we
bankrupt. We must help local areas. work, who could then help other peo- still have spent this time plotting and
I was on the phone today with our ple. thinking and trying to imagine a fu-
friends in the Fargo-Moorhead area, It is why I joined Senator STABENOW ture that provides the kinds of prior-
and we have seen it there too. We have and several of my colleagues in the Ag- ities that we have been talking about
seen it all over our State. riculture Committee in introducing the today.
The SNAP program was originally Food Supply Protection Act to help Senator STABENOW’s reports particu-
designed to respond to changes in the food banks increase their capacity and larly—these wonderful reports that
economy by expanding to meet in- strengthen partnerships to prevent document the cost of inaction—I have
creased need during economic down- food waste while feeding more families. almost made them a reference tool on
turns and contracting as economic re- One of my predecessors, Vice Presi- my desk so, when I have to look at a
covery alleviates the need for food as- dent Hubert H. Humphrey, whose desk particular area, I can turn to one of
sistance. I stand in front of today—his name is those Stabenow reports. They are al-
Under the farm bill that was signed carved in the desk—served on the Agri- ways understandable, always cutting
into law under Senator STABENOW’s culture Committee. He grew up in a right to the heart of the issue, which is
leadership in 2018, we preserved this small town in South Dakota. He be- this: How are you going to give the op-
critical lifeline. The conference report, came a professor eventually, but his fa- portunity for everybody in America to
which passed with 87 votes in the Sen- ther was a pharmacist. He understood get ahead—not just the people at the
ate and 369 votes in the House of Rep- the importance—growing up in that top but everybody in America the
resentatives, avoided making cuts to family, seeing the ups and downs of chance to get ahead?
benefits or changes to eligibility that rural America—of stable government I am not going to take but a few min-
would take away benefits or create ob- policy for both agriculture producers utes. I do want to note that I believe
stacles. and families struggling to put food on that Oregon is the only State to have
At this difficult time, we should en- the table. produced 100 percent of its U.S. Sen-
sure that we are getting assistance to He was a leading advocate of Federal ators on behalf of the cause tonight.
all of those who need it, not put up new nutrition programs and played an in- This is something Senator MERKLEY
barriers—not with what we are seeing strumental role in the passage of what and I enjoy doing when there is an op-
with more COVID cases in the southern was then called the Food Stamp Act of portunity to speak for justice.
part of this country and in the western 1964, which turned what was then just a I want to reflect for a minute on how
part of this country. pilot program into the permanent pro- the day started, because I guess it was
In fact, the facts and the numbers gram we know today. almost 12 hours ago our Democratic
bear out that we should be increasing He knew that the moral test of gov- leader, Senator SCHUMER, stood right
those benefits. The House has taken ac- ernment is how government treats its there; I stood where I am; and he out-
tion to do just that by passing a 15-per- most vulnerable citizens: those in need, lined the Schumer-Wyden proposal for
cent increase in SNAP benefits during those who are seniors, those with dis- the next steps on dealing with this
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
the pandemic. That is what they did in abilities. crushing unemployment we have in our
the Heroes Act. That is what we should He once said this: ‘‘We will be re- country—30 million people.
do here. membered not for the power of our The number is almost so large that
At the same time, the middle of a weapons but for the power of our com- the experts can’t get their arms around
pandemic is the wrong time to be cut- passion, our dedication to human wel- exactly how many people are unem-
ting SNAP benefits or kicking partici- fare.’’ ployed, but what we know is that every
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4125
week it goes up far more than that by the inimitable Susannah Morgan, is since you were here yesterday to shoot
kind of similar period during the great doing a fabulous job. But the fact is— baskets with a Senator?
recession. and I was really struck by this—the Or- They would look at you and say:
We talked about what is going to egon Food Bank has told my office that Well, I had a Milky Way.
happen July 31. July 31, if the Senate demand for emergency food has dou- That is what we are dealing with in
does not act, we are going to have a bled in Oregon over the past 2 months America right now. What Senator STA-
tsunami of evictions. We are going to at Oregon Food Bank’s five branches. BENOW is doing with these programs is
have families, just as Senator STABE- Recently, I was home. Whenever Sen- so incredibly important. When we have
NOW said, basically sitting in their liv- ator MERKLEY and I are home, we try our priorities straight, kids who are el-
ing rooms, sitting in their kitchens, to get out and talk to a variety of com- igible for free or reduced-cost meals
and trying to figure out how they are munity groups. I was helping distribute would be able to get that food. I know
going to make ends meet that month. food baskets. I was struck because we that my colleague from Michigan has
Without supercharged unemploy- were all being socially distant. They worked hard to make sure that those
ment, without the SNAP benefits that were handing me the bags, and I was meals include more fresh fruits and
Senator STABENOW is talking about, putting them in the back of the cart. I vegetables. I heard her talk about it.
without the help Senator BROWN is got a chance to have a little bit of a She is trying to reach out to so many
talking about with respect to housing conversation with those people. The communities where often—and Senator
and evictions, there are a lot of people cars were backed up for blocks and KLOBUCHAR talked about it—it is kind
who are just going to fall between the blocks on the east side of our commu- of a food desert. If you don’t have the
cracks. nity, where Senator MERKLEY and I program Senator KLOBUCHAR is work-
I thought, it being 12 hours since we both live. ing for, you are just going to have a lot
began this, that I might just connect There were people who had not faced of people like those kids I met going
the dots for a few minutes. this kind of challenge before. You hungry.
In the face of this historic public looked at them, and they looked at I am going to close with one last
health emergency, we know that mil- you, and you could see in their faces thought that is important to us in our
lions of Americans have their health on that they never expected this, particu- part of the country. The reality is that,
the line, and because Donald Trump larly the seniors. for many years, none of this was at all
has failed to get the COVID–19 virus My colleague has heard all the Gray partisan. We have all heard about Bob
under control, we have now got jobs on Panthers stories. Senator MERKLEY Dole and George McGovern and the his-
the line. Now many people are being heard them 50 times; you only heard tory books, and they made their com-
forced to choose between feeding their them 25 times. But a lot of those sen- mon cause with respect to agriculture,
child or paying the rent to keep a roof iors going through in their cars, it was and they would round up urban legisla-
over their head. clear, also, that was the big outing for tors. We read about that, various his-
So you have housing, you have the day. They didn’t get really dressed torical figures from the East, they
healthcare, you have unemployment, up, but kind of, and the car was per- weren’t partisan.
In our part of the world, when we
and we are trying very hard to be cre- fectly clean. They came through, and
talk about the practical, commonsense
ative. I know, for my colleague from they wanted to visit. But you knew
ideas that Senator STABENOW is offer-
Michigan, hardly a day goes by when that, without that food, they wouldn’t
ing for feeding hungry people, we just
she doesn’t talk to me about the ben- have a chance to make it through the
call them the Oregon Way. People al-
efit of Work Share, a creative way to day.
ways ask: Well, where is this Oregon
make unemployment dollars stretch. What this comes down to is what
Way, Ron? Where is this thing? Is it on
By the way, Senator MERKLEY talks Senator STABENOW is basically doing, is
the top of the capitol dome or Pioneer
about it almost as much as my friend being in the Tikkun Olam business.
Square in Portland? I say: No, it is
from Michigan because he feels very That is a phrase Jews often use; it is
what we have tried to do for years.
strongly about it. about perfecting the world. It is about I want to thank Senator STABENOW
So as we connect the dots, as we have the moral obligation we have in Amer- for bringing heart and a pragmatic ap-
over the last 12 hours, and we talk ica to do everything within our power proach to this. We saw how you just
about housing and healthcare and un- to make sure that kids and families do reached out to Senator ROBERTS. By
employment, I also want people to un- not go hungry. Susannah Morgan was the way, I am on the Intelligence Com-
derstand that those challenges were se- real clear about the things she wanted mittee. I am not going to give out any-
rious last week and the week before. Senator MERKLEY and I to talk about thing classified, but Senator ROBERTS
We ought to put in context what we on the floor of the Senate and make walked by, and he said: We are going to
heard yesterday from Tony Fauci, who sure they got out. She wants to make get this worked out. We are going to
said that the trajectory as of right now sure that people can get assistance figure this out.
is one where our country may possibly through a regular EBT card. I am going to end on a little bit of an
see 100,000 new cases a day. The Trump administration, of course, upbeat note because that happened
So let’s picture what that means for has pushed to impose strenuous work maybe only half an hour ago, and hav-
the SNAP program and how hard Sen- requirements, which don’t make any ing watched my seatmate in action
ator STABENOW’s work is going to be, sense—particularly in a public health with Chairman ROBERTS often pull to-
because we have heard Chairman ROB- crisis—in workplaces and can be dan- gether agreements where nobody
ERTS—and you all have worked very gerous. We want to expand ways to get thought an agreement was possible—no
well—and the like, and hopefully we food to SNAP participants, like home pressure, don’t feel like we are singling
can get that worked out because I delivery, curbside pickup. We want to you out, but just know that a lot of us
don’t even want to begin to imagine extend what has come to be known as are going to be your allies in this fight
how much hunger and unemployment the pandemic EBT through the summer because it is a fight for fairness, it is a
and housing challenges we are going to and any future school closures. fight for kids, it is a fight for families
face with 100,000 new cases a day. This is so important because, even that are hurting, and it is a fight for an
So the work that Senator STABENOW before the pandemic, I often would go America where everybody gets a
is doing is urgent business. It really to various kinds of programs run by chance to get ahead.
also brings us back to this: How can it community groups, and they would be Thank you for doing that.
be, in a country as strong and as good serving a lunch. I would shoot baskets Ms. STABENOW. I am going to yield
as ours, that we have all these kids with kids for a bit. I would see the kids to Senator MERKLEY in a second. First,
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
going to bed hungry at night? drift away, and they would take at I want to say to the senior Senator
In our home State—the State Sen- least two lunches—at least two. I from Oregon, when you talk about the
ator MERKLEY and I have the privilege would go and visit. It was clear that Oregon Way, this needs to be the Amer-
to represent—one out of every four Or- they were just ravenous; they were in- ican way. This is the American way.
egonians worries about putting food on credibly hungry. This was pre-COVID. I Right now, the average food benefit
the table. Our Oregon Food Bank, run would ask: What did you have to eat under SNAP is $4.17 a day for a person.
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S4126 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
Think about going to the grocery Does hunger take a vacation? Do those spirits.’’ Let this Chamber have the au-
store—$4.17 a day. We are asking for a who are hungry in Oregon and hungry dacity not just to believe that people
15-percent increase during this pan- in Pennsylvania, is it going to take a can have three meals a day but to
demic. We ought to all be looking at vacation for 2 weeks? make it happen.
these numbers and going: Come on, the Ms. STABENOW. I don’t think hun- I am fully in support of your efforts,
America way ought to be to make sure ger ever takes a vacation, if it is in the a full partner on behalf of all those who
somebody can put food on the table for middle of the night, early in the morn- suffer hunger in the United States, on
the children and that they are not eat- ing, all the way through the week. I behalf of every child who wants a basic
ing a Milky Way until they can get to mean, the reality is, when we are here, foundation to thrive here in the United
school. there are people around this country States of America. We are failing in
I am going to now turn to Senator who are hungry. When Senator MCCON- our job. Hunger doesn’t take a vacation
MERKLEY. I want to give a shout-out to NELL adjourns the Senate for the week and neither should the Senate. Let’s
Senator MERKLEY, who is the ranking and we are not here for the next 2 get the act passed now.
Democrat on the Agriculture Sub- weeks, people are going to continue to The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
committee of Appropriations, ex- be hungry and probably getting more GARDNER). The Senator from Michigan.
tremely important. He is such a won- and more hungry as the economic situ- Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I
derful partner and advocate on all of ation gets worse. want to thank my friend from Oregon
the food access issues and healthy food Mr. MERKLEY. We might think of for his comments and his ongoing lead-
issues and so on. We are so lucky to hunger as kind of a temporary discom- ership on the Appropriations Com-
have Senator MERKLEY in the position fort, something you get through, but mittee. It is incredibly important.
that he is in. I will turn to Senator my understanding is, when children are Now, I am going to turn to the Sen-
MERKLEY. hungry, when they don’t have the basic ator from Pennsylvania, Mr. CASEY,
I yield time to Senator MERKLEY. nutrients on a regular basis, it dam- and thank him on so many different
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- ages the development of the mind. issues, which range from children and
ator from Oregon. Is that something you heard? what they need, in terms of healthcare
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I ask Ms. STABENOW. Absolutely. and being able to have the support they
unanimous consent to engage in col- Mr. MERKLEY. We are talking about need to be able to grow and be success-
loquy with my colleague from Michi- millions of American children who are ful, all the way up to our older citizens
gan. suffering not just discomfort but dam- and those in nursing homes, where he
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without age to their minds because they don’t is providing such advocacy now as we
objection, it is so ordered. have enough to eat. The majority lead- look at what needs to be done to sup-
Mr. MERKLEY. Senator STABENOW, er is sending us on vacation rather port our seniors and those in nursing
it is a pleasure to be here with you in than addressing it. homes.
this fight for something as funda- Thank you to my colleague for com- Thank you for always putting people
mental as hunger. As I was listening to ing to the floor, organizing, carrying first and for joining us tonight.
the conversation, your words and our this forward, the work you do, and au- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
colleague’s from Ohio, SHERROD BROWN, thorizing the work the Appropriations ator from Pennsylvania.
who was speaking, and our colleague Committee does and the funding. Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I want to
from Minnesota and partner from Or- We have got to address this. We have thank the senior Senator from Michi-
egon, I thought: How many Senators to recognize how bad the situation is, gan for her leadership. I will say more
have experienced hunger this last how bad things are nationally. More about her work in a moment.
week, the inability to have a meal? than 40 million people have lost their We would not be here tonight talking
What is your sense of that? jobs; 120,000 people have died. The rate about this program that we know by
Ms. STABENOW. My guess would be of infections are exploding across the the acronym, but the words are all im-
that everyone is like me, and, no, I country—and how bad things are in my portant, Supplemental Nutrition As-
have not experienced a sense of it. home State—243,000 people are out of sistance Program—SNAP—what we
Mr. MERKLEY. No one in this Cham- work. We have an unemployment rate used to call food stamps. We wouldn’t
ber is missing a meal. of over 14 percent, higher than it was be here without her leadership and
Ms. STABENOW. We are all ex- any point in the great recession. Food those who made food insecurity and
tremely fortunate; we don’t have to ex- insecurity and hunger have doubled anti-hunger initiatives a priority.
perience that. since March. Food is at the top of the This is a program that I believe is
Mr. MERKLEY. I am pretty sure, hierarchy of needs for human life. core to our responsibility to support
down the hall in the House of Rep- All we have done is come to the floor American families during this national
resentatives, nobody is missing a meal; and say: Let’s help in a pretty modest crisis—the public health crisis and the
yet so many people in each of our way with a 15-percent increase—the $4 jobs crisis. This program, the Supple-
States are missing meals. In my State and change that the Senator talked mental Nutrition Assistance Program,
of Oregon, hunger has doubled since about—60 cents? We probably should be is a lifeline for millions of Americans
March. I imagine hunger has increased doubling it. to access the food they need to survive.
in your home State of Michigan. But that 15-percent increase in the I think that is an understatement. As
Ms. STABENOW. Absolutely—at maximum benefits does make a dif- the junior Senator from Oregon, Mr.
least doubled, absolutely. ference. It makes a difference. Hunger MERKLEY, just said, this is about life
Mr. MERKLEY. It is being driven by doesn’t take a vacation and neither itself. This is about being able to live
massive unemployment. The estimate should we. and being able to survive. No human
in April was for families who earn less As Senator STABENOW proposed, we being can survive without food, and so
than $40,000 a year, 40 percent had lost should debate a bill now—pass now a many go without food on a regular
their job. I think that was April. Now, bill. We should effect these changes at basis. So many others are food inse-
maybe it is well over 50 percent. Half of this moment and not leave this Cham- cure, but that doesn’t mean they have
working America of modest incomes ber until we have gotten the work of not felt the pain we are talking about.
lost their jobs, and it wasn’t that easy the American people done for the most I wanted to say just a couple of words
to sign up for unemployment benefits. important need any human being has, about Senator STABENOW because this
We still have a couple hundred thou- and that is basic nutrition. has been not just an issue for her, not
sand people in Oregon who are waiting When Martin Luther King was ac- just a program, the SNAP program,
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
for unemployment benefits. I can guar- cepting his Nobel Peace Prize, he said and not just a cause of food insecurity,
antee you they are very hungry. I know that he had ‘‘the audacity to believe but it has really been a passion for her.
there are those in Michigan as well. that people everywhere could have Some people are mission-driven in
The majority leader has decided to three meals a day for their bodies, edu- their work. She has been one of those
send the Senate on vacation for 2 cation and culture for their minds, and Senators who has been mission-driven
weeks. I guess my question to you is: dignity, equality and freedom for their to make sure we are doing everything
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4127
we can with every opportunity, every that we see now are further exacer- Let’s not even get to transformative.
budget, every season of the Senate; bating what were already the undeni- Let’s get to substantial help for Ameri-
that we do everything we can to help able realities of hunger, poverty, and cans who are hungry right now, folks
the most vulnerable. food insecurity in this country. who are low income and are hungry;
Someday, many years from now when I know, for example, in my home folks who had a job and lost their job
many of us may not be around, there State of Pennsylvania—I haven’t seen are hungry. They may benefit from a
may be folks who are chronicling or the May numbers yet, but April num- food pantry or a food bank. We are not
summarizing the history of the Senate bers were high: 15 percent unemploy- doing enough for them either. We are
on particular issues. I am sure, just as ment, 975,000 people out of work, head- certainly not doing enough for the Sup-
we make reference to work that has ing toward a million people out of work plemental Nutrition Assistance Pro-
preceded us or Senators who have pre- in one State. I am certain that number gram, the most vulnerable among us.
ceded us—I have no doubt when a Sen- will be lower in May, and thank God Thirdly, in addition, increase the
ator stands up on this floor years from for that, and I hope lower in June benefits overall by 15—the minimum
now, maybe even decades from now, again. benefit level. We should put a stop to
and they talk about the Supplemental When you are saying in one State the rules the administration has been
Nutrition Assistance Program, if they there are hundreds of thousands more cramming down the throats of Ameri-
start to itemize or catalog or list the on top of the unemployed numbers cans so that less people will get the
Senators who had the most profound from March, you can understand the
benefit of the SNAP program. The ad-
terrible impact. When we talk about
impact on this program, Senator STA- ministration is dead wrong about that.
unemployment, that often leads to food
BENOW will be one of very few who will They haven’t just doubled down on
insecurity, and that may lead to the
be listed in such a chronicle of the ad- pushing these draconian changes to the
kind of desperation that hunger can
vocacy done for the SNAP program. program, but they recently appealed a
William Jennings Bryan said a long bring. You are talking about real pain
court ruling that put a temporary
time ago, in a different context, but he in the lives of people—physical pain in
pause on one of the rules. I don’t know
said it well about a cause, about how an adult but especially in a child who
the words for that—heartless, callous—
one person can make such a difference may not be able to articulate the pain
but it is not good for any of us. It is a
on one issue or one cause. We have seen they are feeling. They may not be able
stain on the moral fabric of America
some of that lately with Americans de- to function, literally. They may not be
when any administration does that.
manding action on a range of issues— able to function in any way. They cer- I know Senator STABENOW and her
marching and protesting for criminal tainly can’t learn in school. No human colleagues on the Agriculture, Nutri-
justice reform or changes to policing or being can learn and grow if they are tion, and Forestry Committee—we
advocates for healthcare or whatever hungry all the time—no one, not the should use the middle word more often
issue, whatever cause. William Jen- strongest person we know. than we do. It is not simply the Ag
I come from a heritage of people who
nings Bryan said it well. I think he Committee. It is the Agriculture, Nu-
left Ireland because of hunger. They
said it in 1896: ‘‘The humblest citizen in trition, and Forestry Committee. The
called it the Great Hunger at the time.
all the land, when clad . . . in a right- nutrition part of it has been the sub-
When policies were put in place or ac-
eous cause, is stronger than all the ject of some good working relation-
tions were not taken and hundreds of
hosts of error.’’ ships on the committee.
thousands of people starved, millions
‘‘When clad . . . in a righteous cause, I want to thank Senator STABENOW
left Ireland, just like people leave their
is stronger than all the hosts of error.’’ for her work again. I appreciate the
I think what he meant by that is that homelands today to escape hunger, to
work she has done with Senator ROB-
escape poverty, and even famine
one citizen can have a huge impact. ERTS. We have to do more than we have
itself—the most extreme version of
What we have even with Senator STA- done on this program.
hunger around the world.
BENOW’s work is one Senator who can I was proud a couple of years ago to
We are talking about real physical
have an impact. This has been for her, pain. We are not just talking about a finally—after attempt after attempt,
I know, her righteous cause, and the casual missing of a meal or being a lit- year after year—finally, to get the
country is better for her service and tle bit hungry, as so many of us have Global Food Security Act passed. Peo-
better for her work on this issue. never experienced. It is pain, but it is ple have been waiting for that from the
What are we talking about here? time Dick Lugar served in the Senate
also fear. Imagine the fear of a parent.
When we say food insecurity, that may I can’t even begin to imagine as a par- all the way through the time I teamed
not sound too threatening to a lot of ent knowing that, for a lot of different up with former Senator JOHNNY ISAK-
people. That means you are hungry. reasons—job loss or other adverse cir- SON.
The person we are talking about might cumstances in your life—you cannot We got the Global Food Security Act
be an adult, but all too many times it afford to feed your children. That one done, which meant that the Feed the
is a child. When a child is hungry, it is person might have both the pain of Future Program—that great program
hard as an adult to really fully under- hunger and the total fear of not being the Bush administration started and
stand what that means. I never lived a able to feed your children. If we are not the Obama administration brought to
day of my life when I was hungry the doing something about that in the Sen- fruition—was codified in law. That was
whole day or the second day or the ate, we are just not doing our job. a good day for world food security.
third day, so I really can’t explain it. I We say: Oh, the CARES Act did this That was a good day for the world
never experienced it. I think that is and the CARES Act did that. Well, do when America showed that we know
probably true of most Members of Con- you know what? We have been trying how to do this, that we know how to
gress. Maybe growing up for some, they for months now, on the Democratic help countries grow their own food and
were, but many, of course, now don’t side of the aisle in the Senate, to get a provide food security. Yet we haven’t
feel that sense of food insecurity. couple of things done. done enough here. We never can say we
It is a devastating reality for tens of What are they? No. 1, increase in have done enough here if we are not
millions of Americans. That was the SNAP benefits by 15 percent. Why can’t funding at an adequate level in the
case before the jobs crisis, before the that be done in the Senate when we middle of a pandemic, in the middle of
COVID–19 public health crisis. It is know the pain and the reality of hun- a public health emergency, and in a
ever more so now in the aftermath of ger? Increase the minimum benefit jobs and economic emergency. We can’t
the onset of the virus and while we are level. Why can’t we do that in the Sen- say we are doing enough if we are not
still in the grip of this COVID–19 dis- ate? We passed, what, five bills for $3 going to invest in SNAP.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
ease—what we know and are describing trillion, and we can’t add more money I have a lot more to say, but I know
worldwide as a pandemic. to the SNAP program? I know, we did I am over my time. Let me make one
The pandemic has only made this cri- it in an earlier bill. Let’s stop patting final point.
sis worse. Even more urgent is the cri- ourselves on the back for that. The moral case is unassailable here.
sis of food insecurity and economic in- Let’s do something transformative or There is no disputing the benefit of
security. The unemployment numbers at least do something substantial. this program, especially now. So I
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S4128 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 1, 2020
think the moral question is settled. I luctant to do that vote for this and Act. I would love to be able to do more
just hope folks will consider it. support this, then you can do all the than that, but at a minimum, we
How about the economic case? pats on the back that you want, but should be doing that. That is what the
Say that you are a Member of Con- let’s do the right thing for America, es- House did. That is what has been done
gress and that you don’t like this pro- pecially for those suffering from the in other economic downturns, and that
gram. There are not many people who pain of hunger. is what we should be doing to help fam-
would admit to that, but you don’t like I yield the floor to the senior Senator ilies in America who, frankly, just
it, and you don’t want to add more from Michigan. want to know somebody has their
funding to it. That is your position. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- backs right now when everything is
That is a morally objectionable posi- ator from Michigan. coming at them and when they are try-
tion, but let’s say that is your position. Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, first, ing to figure out how they are going to
You could also be for an increase to the I thank my friend from Pennsylvania keep their heads above water and care
SNAP program because it is a good for his passion and for his being such a for their children and make sure that
bang for the buck, OK? wonderful partner on these issues. I the older adults in their lives have the
So if all you are interested in is very much appreciate his speaking help and support they need as well.
going back home and saying ‘‘Do you about the fact that there is an eco- We are going to keep working on this
know what I did today? I voted for a nomic benefit. until we get it. There is just no excuse
program that will more than pay for If nothing else, if someone wants to not to be able to meet the need that so
itself, and it will help everybody’’—if look at how we can help our farmers, many millions of families are feeling
that is what your game is and if that is how we can help our grocery stores, right now.
what makes you happy, your going how we can help those in the food This is a moral moment for the Sen-
back to your community, to your chain—all of whom we want to help as ate. It could have been a moral
State, then fine. This program, the well—you do that in the most efficient Wednesday. If there had not been an
SNAP program, is a great bang for the way possible, which is by giving people objection, we could have gotten it done
buck. the funds to go buy food directly in the tonight. Wouldn’t that have been a
If you spend a buck on SNAP benefits grocery stores so that they are able, great way to go into the Fourth of July
in an economic downturn—and I will when they have a need like this, to weekend—being able to provide some
make sure I cite the source here. It is support their families. small, additional food assistance for
the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s The great thing about SNAP is that millions of Americans who are in need
Economic Research Service. Guess it is set up so that when the economy right now? This is not going to happen
what. You will get $1.50 in return, gets better, the food assistance goes now because of the objection, but we
maybe even as high as $1.80. Let’s go down. When the economy gets worse, are going to keep going until we can
with the current number of $1.50. That the food assistance goes up. The chal- get families the help they need.
is a pretty good ROI, return on invest- lenge for us right now is that there is I yield the floor.
ment. such a crisis and there are so many The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
If that is all you care about, is a re- more people needing help—people who ator from Pennsylvania.
turn on investment, and you don’t care never in their lives thought they would Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask
about the program—you are not really need help—that we are in a situation in unanimous consent to speak as in
troubled by food insecurity, and you which we are called upon to meet that morning business.
are not really persuaded by the pain of need and to be able to increase what we The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
hunger—then support it because it is a are doing. objection, it is so ordered.
good bang for the buck. That would There was a small effort at the begin- RUSSIA
make sense. That is the American way ning to provide some additional help, Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, before we
to consider what we should be doing but it nowhere near met the need we close tonight, I want to talk about a
here. Consider the moral case, which have now—nowhere near. When I think story that is troubling a lot of Ameri-
should be enough, but you can also about negotiating the CARES Act and cans—one that we have just learned
consider the efficacy of the program— the fact that, again, the average ben- about in the last couple of days—and
the effect, the value—in an economic efit for food assistance in this country that is the recent events regarding the
sense. per person is $4.17 a day, the White U.S. presence in Afghanistan and some
We are all better off when SNAP is House said no to any increase to the of the reporting.
funded at an adequate level—all of us— $4.17 a day. Leader MCCONNELL said no Like many of my colleagues—and I
because of that bang for the buck and to any increase in the CARES Act—to am sure this is a feeling shared by tens
because when people get SNAP dollars, the $4.17 a day for people. and tens of millions of Americans—I
they spend them. Guess what. That is There is something wrong with that, am alarmed, as I know they are, by re-
good for all of us. It is good for our so we are here on the floor to say we ports of the intelligence community’s
local economies, and it is good for our have to do better. The Senate has to do discovery that the Russian Govern-
State economies. It is good for pro- better. The House did better when it ment offered to pay Taliban and
ducers, for the people transporting the passed the Heroes Act. It gave some ad- Haqqani Network militants to target
food, and for the people marketing the ditional support and help. The Senate American troops in Afghanistan.
food. That is why farmers and people in needs to do the same. The Senate could The New York Times broke the story
the ag sector of our economy are some- have done the same tonight rather on June 26. Since then, several ques-
times the biggest proponents of the than to now wait 2 weeks, as we will tions have emerged regarding how the
SNAP program. not be in session. We haven’t really intelligence has been handled, how long
This is the right thing to do to try to started negotiating what comes next, decisionmakers within the U.S. Gov-
ease some of that pain—that awful and it will take weeks after that. ernment have known about this, and
pain—that children feel in the middle Every single day, there are people thirdly, what measures the administra-
of the night, in the morning when they going hungry. The pain that Senator tion is taking to hold Russia account-
wake up, at lunchtime when other kids CASEY talked about is something being able.
are eating something and they may not experienced by people tonight and Obviously, there are a number of sto-
be eating, especially now that they are being experienced by people in the ries by other news outlets in addition
away from school, at night, and when morning and every single day going to that by the New York Times. I will
they go to bed at night. forward. That is the reality for too just refer to one excerpt from the New
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
So let’s come together and get some- many families in America—in the York Times’ June 26 report.
thing done. There is some good news in United States of America—and it It reads: ‘‘An operation to incentivize
that we might be considering another doesn’t have to be that way. the killing of American and other
bill, but let’s meet our obligation on We can at least give some help. I NATO troops would be a significant
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance wish we could do more. We couldn’t get and provocative escalation of what
Program. If others who have been re- a 15-percent increase in the CARES American and Afghan officials have
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July 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4129
said is Russian support for the immediately and in close proximity to President’s power to appoint ambas-
Taliban.’’ the reporting. The briefings should in- sadors is subject to the advice and con-
The story later goes on to read: ‘‘Any clude when they received the intel- sent of the Senate. Accordingly, it is
involvement with the Taliban that re- ligence—when the administration re- my view that the appointment of the
sulted in the deaths of American troops ceived it—when the President was Special Envoy with the rank and sta-
would also be a huge escalation of Rus- briefed, and what actions were consid- tus of ambassador, pursuant to this
sia’s so-called hybrid war against the ered in response. I also call on the ad- amendment, requires the advice and
United States, a strategy of desta- ministration to report to Congress on a consent of the Senate.
bilizing adversaries through a combina- process for protecting our troops in f
tion of such tactics as cyberattacks moving forward.
FOURTH OF JULY
. . . and covert and deniable military You could be justifiably offended by
operations.’’ inaction by the administration or for Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, I rise
We have learned in recent days that the knowledge that preceded that inac- today to speak about our Nation’s
these reports have been circulating tion, that they did nothing in response independence.
through the U.S. intelligence commu- to it. Some 244 years ago this Saturday,
nity since early 2019, but there was lit- It is especially offensive now to a lot the Founding Fathers of this country
tle to no action taken. The timeline re- of Americans that this information voted to declare our independence from
garding these events is of particular now is in the public record and there Great Britain.
concern to me and, I know, to many All Americans know the basics of
seems to be no evidence of any kind of
Americans but especially to those who this story, but not everyone knows the
a response, any kind of an action.
story behind one of our Nation’s found-
represent a State in which there is a So I think the administration should
ing documents.
direct connection. report to Congress not just on who Thomas Jefferson was just 33 years
In April of 2019, three U.S. marines knew what when, but also on what we old when the Second Continental Con-
were killed in a car bomb near Bagram do going forward. gress commissioned him to draft a dec-
Airfield in Afghanistan. There was The families of these fallen soldiers laration of independence. When he sat
speculation that this may have been a deserve answers. The American people, down in a rented room in the heat of
bounty attack that had been carried obviously, deserve answers as well. the Philadelphia summer to write it,
out by the Taliban for the Russians. We cannot let Russia and Vladimir the American Revolution had already
There has been further reporting on Putin get away with this. begun.
this—tracking the dollars—by the New I yield the floor. On one level, he was simply putting
York Times and maybe by a few other I suggest the absence of a quorum. the reasons for independence into
outlets, but I know the New York The PRESIDING OFFICER. The words. The first shot had been fired
Times did. clerk will call the roll. over a year earlier, after decades of in-
One of the marines killed in that The senior assistant legislative clerk creasingly tyrannical British abuses
April 2019 attack was a Pennsylvanian. proceeded to call the roll. had culminated in open revolt in Mas-
If there had been credible intelligence Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask sachusetts.
regarding the Russian plot and if that unanimous consent that the order for Even so, it was not yet clear whether
intelligence had been acted upon, one the quorum call be rescinded. the delegates from all 13 colonies
question I have is—and it is only a The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. would put their names to a formal doc-
question; I don’t know the answer to SCOTT of South Carolina). Without ob- ument declaring our independence.
this question, but I ask it—could the jection, it is so ordered. They had to be persuaded.
death of this young Pennsylvania ma- Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I want After 17 days of writing and rewrit-
rine and his brothers in arms have been to thank all my colleagues and my ing, struggling to find the right words,
averted? partners, my partner Senator REED, for Jefferson presented his work to Ben-
That is a question. I don’t know the working so hard today to come to an jamin Franklin and John Adams. He
answer to it. I hope, in the coming days agreement. It has been a tough day. We then submitted a draft to the Congress
and weeks—and I hope not longer than think we have created a package that on July 1, which officially adopted it
weeks—we will have an answer to that is acceptable to everyone and we will three days later.
question, among many, as it troubles be hotlining it tonight. Each year on the Fourth of July, we
so many Americans. The Senate will come back into ses- celebrate this moment—the moment
As of the close of last year, December sion at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, and that we declared our independence
of 2019, 294 servicemembers from Penn- hopefully, we will be able to lock in our from the British Empire and began to
sylvania had been killed in the wars in deal here. see ourselves as our own nation.
Iraq and Afghanistan—the third high- f I love Independence Day celebrations
est toll of any State. Our State has in Nebraska. Like many people, my
sacrificed a lot. If Russia had had any MORNING BUSINESS family often spends the day enjoying
hand in contributing to these losses, to Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask the great outdoors before hosting
say that it is offensive, enraging, and unanimous consent that the Senate be friends and neighbors for a barbecue.
deeply problematic is an understate- in a period of morning business, with But the Fourth of July is about more
ment and warrants a close look not Senators permitted to speak therein than food and fireworks or parades and
only at the U.S. engagement in Af- for up to 10 minutes each. pancake feeds. It is an opportunity to
ghanistan but also at how we respond— The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without reflect on the nearly two and a half
how the United States of America re- objection, it is so ordered. centuries of our nation’s history and
sponds—to Vladimir Putin’s efforts to f remember what it means to be an
disrupt U.S. efforts overseas and take American.
American lives while doing it. NATIONAL DEFENSE To me, America is a nation based on
Accordingly, I have several questions AUTHORIZATION ACT an idea. It is the idea, as Jefferson
about how the intelligence has been Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I wrote, that ‘‘all men are created equal,
handled and what measures have been rise to clarify a point concerning my that they are endowed by their Creator
taken to hold Russia accountable for amendment No. 2270 to the National with certain unalienable Rights, that
these horrific, incendiary, unlawful ac- Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal among these are Life, Liberty and the
tions contrary to international law. Year 2021, S. 4049. This amendment pursuit of Happiness.’’
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
The administration must brief all would establish in law the position of Belief in this creed is what unites us
Members of Congress immediately. I the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs as Americans. And while we may not
think Americans are offended when the at the State Department and provides always live up to this idea, we can
administration briefs one side of the that the Special Envoy shall have the never stop trying. We should count
aisle. All Members of Congress should rank and status of ambassador. Under ourselves fortunate to live in the great-
be briefed. Those briefings should occur article II of the Constitution, the est nation on earth, where the notion
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