Congressional Record, Senate, July 29, 2020, Page S4555
Summary
A page of the Congressional Record, Senate, dated July 29, 2020, at page S4555. A Senator criticizes Senate Republicans for what he calls an interminable delay and several incongruent drafts of a relief proposal, saying President Trump called the proposal semi-irrelevant and that it is not a useful starting point. The Senator says Speaker Pelosi and he have started negotiating with the White House chief of staff and Secretary Mnuchin, and, under the heading NLRB Nominations, says the Senate will vote on two nominations to the National Labor Relations Board. The page ends with remarks on health care providers and on websites that knowingly allow criminal content.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, July 29, 2020, Page S4555.”
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July 29, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4555
of extreme judicial nominees humming licans are blocking the Republican pro- it. Senate Democrats spent the entire
along and did little else. posal. month of June asking our Republican
Now, after an interminable delay, the So it is abundantly clear that the colleagues, including Leader MCCON-
Senate Republicans have finally admit- Senate Republican proposal for the NELL, to pass crucial legislation related
ted that the country needs relief, but next phase of COVID relief is not a use- to jobs, healthcare, and small business.
they can’t even get their act together ful starting point. You don’t have to We went on the floor and made those
to produce a halfway legitimate legis- take my word for it; just ask President requests. Republicans blocked every
lative proposal. We all witnessed a Trump, who took the podium yesterday single one—nearly every single one of
week and a half of infighting on the afternoon and called the Senate Repub- those requests. So this absurd, nasty
Republican side as the country ca- lican proposal ‘‘semi-irrelevant.’’ At insinuation by the Republican leader
reened toward several cliffs created by this point, I am beginning to wonder doesn’t pass the laugh test.
Republican delay. The Republicans who does support the Republican pro- The fact that Leader MCCONNELL
bickered amongst themselves as the posal on COVID–19. would even consider the idea that a po-
moratorium on evictions expired, State So here is where we are. We need to litical party might deny support for
and local governments shed jobs and turn the page on the Republican pro- the American people in order to help
cut public services, and the last en- posal—and quickly. The legislative win an election says more about the
hanced unemployment checks went out train wreck by Senate Republicans Republican leader than anybody else.
the door. cannot derail our efforts to provide ur- NLRB NOMINATIONS
When the Republicans finally con- gent, comprehensive, and necessary re- On another matter, today the Senate
vinced themselves they were ready to lief to the American people. will vote on two nominations to the
unveil a plan, instead of presenting a Speaker PELOSI and I have started NLRB—the National Labor Relations
single, coherent bill, the Republicans negotiating with Chief of Staff Mead- Board—one nominee from the Repub-
released several incongruent drafts ows and Secretary Mnuchin. We want lican side and another from the Demo-
that were littered with corporate give- to work with our Republican col- cratic side. On bipartisan boards and
aways, K Street handouts, and Presi- leagues and the White House on a bill commissions like the NLRB, this used
dential pet projects. that actually meets the needs of the to be the tradition. The President’s
Some Republicans proposed billions American people in these unprece- party always enjoys a majority on
of dollars for large agribusinesses and dented times, but it is going to take these boards, but it is crucial for the
defense contractors but not a dime to good faith and compromise. We are not opposite party, whoever it is at the
help American families stay in their hearing that from Leader MCCONNELL. time, to have their recommendations
homes. The Republican bill has a tax Leader MCCONNELL is already draw- approved to these bipartisan boards.
break for three-martini lunches but no ing lines in the sand, insisting that any Unfortunately, the vote comes today
food assistance for hungry kids. There agreements include his specific cor- after more than 2 years during which
is $2 billion for a new FBI building, the porate immunity provision—no nego- the Republican majority refused to
location of which will increase the tiation. Put this provision—extreme even schedule a vote on a Democratic
value of the Trump hotel, but no fund- provision—in the bill without negotia- nominee to the NLRB, Mark Pearce.
ing to help State and local govern- tion. That sure doesn’t sound like The Republicans waited so long that
ments retain teachers, firefighters, someone who wants to reach a bipar- both Democratic nominees who were
busdrivers, and other public employees. tisan agreement. We are going to need already on the NLRB had their terms
There is no support for Medicaid, for everyone to pull together. We are going expire.
nursing homes, or for those with dis- to need to focus on the needs of the While Democrats look forward to
abilities. American people. confirming Lauren McGarity McFerran
The proposals to support our health With all due respect to the Repub- to the NLRB later today, we are still
system and to meet our testing needs lican leader, Americans on the brink of frustrated that the Republican major-
are wildly insufficient. eviction are not crying out for a sweep- ity denied any Democratic representa-
If you are one of the 20 to 30 million ing corporate liability shield. No one tion on the Board for too long, and
Americans who lost their jobs through should be willing to torpedo all the re- they continue to deny a vote on the
no fault of their own and you can’t find lief Americans are counting on unless second Democratic seat.
work, Senate Republicans think you there is a giant corporate giveaway at- I yield the floor.
have it too good right now. You should tached. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
take a 30-percent pay cut, Republicans Time is short. Speaker PELOSI and I ator from South Dakota.
are saying. will be back at the negotiating table CORONAVIRUS
This is not a serious proposal for a with the White House later today. It is Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I in-
country in the midst of a once-in-a- time for our Republican colleagues to tend to talk about section 230 here in
generation crisis. So, as you can imag- roll up their sleeves and get serious as just a moment. I just want to react to
ine, when reviews started rolling in well. what the Democratic leader said and
yesterday, they weren’t too positive. One final point on this subject. Again also make some observations generally
One Republican Senator said: ‘‘There this morning, the Republican leader about where I think we are with re-
are 100 problems with the plan.’’ An- continued his ‘‘Alice in Wonderland’’ spect to a coronavirus relief bill.
other Republican: ‘‘It is a mess. I can’t interpretation of what has happened. The Democratic leader indicated that
figure out what this bill is about.’’ An- When what has happened is black, he the Republican bill wasn’t a serious
other Republican of this Chamber said: says white. When what has happened is bill. Frankly, I think it could be ar-
‘‘You look at the package that was white, he says black. He is totally the gued that the bill he has endorsed,
rolled out by the Republican leader- opposite of the truth on what has hap- passed by the House of Representa-
ship, and it contains virtually nothing pened. tives, was not a serious bill. It was
that will actually aid in the recovery.’’ He has suggested that Democrats about $3.5 trillion, which would make
Those would be harsh criticisms if they might be trying to block progress on it about $1 trillion larger than the mas-
came from Democrats, but those COVID relief because it might suit our sive coronavirus relief bill we passed
quotes weren’t from Democrats; those party in the election, that we Demo- unanimously in the Senate back in
were Republican Senators talking crats had decided to stop legislating March. That bill, at the time, for a lot
about their own party’s plan. until November—I mean, shocking of people, represented something un-
Two senior Republican Senators have stuff. like anything they had ever seen be-
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
said that the Republican proposal Over 10 weeks ago, Democrats— fore, both in terms of scale and scope,
would be lucky to get even half of the Democrats—passed a bill three times the expanse of all the issues that it ad-
Republican conference to vote for it. the size of the Republican proposal dressed. I think in many respects it
Leader MCCONNELL warned Democrats that was more generous and beneficial was a bill that most Members believed
against blocking the Republican pro- to the American people on nearly every at the time that we needed to get as
posal. It turns out that Senate Repub- measure. Leader MCCONNELL dismissed much assistance out there as quickly
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S4556 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 29, 2020
as we could, and as a consequence of So those are the priorities that I I hope the Democrats will negotiate
that, there was broad support for that. think ought to be in this bill. It seems in good faith and not simply try to
We are at a different point now, obvi- to me there is plenty of room for bipar- raise the ante because they have a bill
ously, several months later, and have tisan cooperation, and it will take that has already passed the House at
some perspective that enables us to that. It also strikes me that this sug- $3.5 trillion. That, to me—not to men-
look at what might be effective, what gestion that you have to do more dol- tion the size of it but also the compo-
has worked, and what hasn’t worked. lar-wise isn’t always necessarily a nents of it—was a very irresponsible
We have gotten a lot of input from sound approach. In fact, I would argue bill. That is not a serious bill. And the
State and community leaders, from that anything we do right now ought to fact that it mentions the word ‘‘can-
businesses, schools, hospitals, and be targeted. It ought to be focused on nabis’’ more times than it mentions
healthcare providers who have been im- those who have needs. If it is assist- the word ‘‘jobs’’ I think gives you all
pacted by the virus, and have been able ance to State and local governments, if you need to know about how serious
to respond to what has already been it is assistance to small businesses that that effort was.
done by the Congress in terms of as- are out there creating jobs—anything But there is a place that we can land
sistance. that we do at this point ought to be that addresses those critical elements
So I think at this point, as we look at based and predicated upon where the that I mentioned, and I hope that, not-
what the greatest needs are, it is pret- needs are, and we ought to have ac- withstanding the rhetoric we are hear-
ty clear that we have to do something countability for the funds that are ing from the Democratic leader, the
to provide safety net assistance for going out there. Democrats will enter into good-faith
those who have lost jobs in the form of My impression from the bill passed discussions and play a constructive
unemployment insurance. I think there by the House Democrats and supported role in trying to come up with a bipar-
is a commitment on both sides to ad- by many Senate Democrats here is tisan solution to the challenges we face
dress that. that the more we spend, the better it because of an unprecedented and his-
I would argue that the proposal ad- is. I don’t think the American people toric pandemic.
vanced by the Democrats, which would subscribe to that view. I think they re- PACT ACT AND SECTION 230
just be a continuation of the existing alize, like I do, that we are operating Madam President, yesterday in my
program, is not one that I think most in an environment where we have a $26 role as head of the Commerce Sub-
people across this country think is trillion debt, and we have already committee on Communications, Tech-
wise policy, and certainly to the degree added this year, because of the first nology, Innovation, and the Internet, I
that it provides an incentive for people coronavirus bill, about another $3 tril- led a hearing looking at proposed re-
to stay home and not go back to work, lion to that debt and increased our forms of section 230 of the Communica-
it does provide a disincentive to work. debt to GDP ratio up over 100 percent, tions Decency Act.
I think that is something this legis- So what is section 230? Section 230
which is pretty dangerous territory if
lation ought to address, and that is provides internet sites that host user-
you look at any relevant metric in his-
pretty much a widely held view, not generated content—sites like YouTube
tory.
just by Republicans but by Democrats. or Twitter or Facebook—with immu-
So I would argue that the approach
There are Democrats here in the Sen- nity for the content users post on their
that we take right now ought to be fo-
ate, Democrats in the House, and sites. So, for example, if somebody
cused, it ought to be targeted, it ought
Democratic Governors who have said uploads a YouTube video with defama-
to be measured, and it ought to be di-
that the existing unemployment ben- tory content, YouTube isn’t held re-
rected to those who really have needs—
efit needs to be modified, needs to be sponsible for that content.
by that, I mean people who are unem-
reformed, needs to be revised. It is not fair to say that section 230
The question has been raised: What ployed—through unemployment insur-
has enabled the internet as we know it.
level? It strikes me, at least, that we ance. It ought to be small businesses
Without section 230 protections, many
ought not be putting a benefit out that are trying to keep their employees
of the sites we rely on for social con-
there that exceeds the amount that employed and trying to get back and
nection or news or entertainment
people would make if they were actu- going again and creating jobs. It ought
would never have come into being. If a
ally working, because what that essen- to be healthcare providers who are
solo blogger, for example, could be held
tially says is that those who are work- dealing with the frontline crisis and
responsible for monitoring each and
ing, those who stayed in the workforce also the heavy investment we need to
every comment on his or her site, no
are basically paying benefits to those make in the ultimate solution, which matter how many hundreds or thou-
who did not, when, in fact, if there will be the vaccine, and, of course, in sands there are, it is unlikely blogging
weren’t a benefit that exceeded the terms of the fall, getting kids back to would ever have taken off. If YouTube
amount that they made when they school. That entails a whole lot more were responsible for the content of
were working, they might get back in testing. Those are all things that are every one of the millions of videos on
the workforce if those jobs become included in the bill that was put for- its site, it is unlikely that YouTube
available again. That is certainly ward by Republicans. would have grown the way that it has.
something we want to incentivize. Most of the Democratic objections to There is a reason that user-generated
So I would hope that in any deal that that bill are that it doesn’t spend sites like Twitter and Facebook are
is struck where we address unemploy- enough, that it is just not generous U.S. companies and not, for example,
ment insurance, we can come up with a enough. Well, again, I think we have to European companies. That is because
solution that does tailor it to the need be very, very careful, very thoughtful other countries do not offer the liabil-
of the moment, and that is to get peo- and aware and conscience of the fact ity protections of section 230.
ple back to work. We want to have that we are operating at a time when But section 230 was written in the in-
policies that create jobs. That is some- we have $26 trillion in debt, where fancy of the internet, long before sites
thing I think ought to be first and fore- every dollar we spend is a borrowed like Twitter and Facebook were cre-
most in this bill. dollar, and we need to be effective, sur- ated. As we have seen the internet
We have indicated that this ought to gical, targeted, and wise about how we grow, we have come to realize that
be about kids, getting them back to spend the American people’s hard- there are also some changes that need
school in the fall. It ought to be about earned tax dollars. to be made.
healthcare, about coming up with I am hopeful these discussions will For example, while I support the
therapeutics and more testing, better lead to a solution. We knew right away principle that sites should not be held
testing. It ought to be about ulti- that there wasn’t going to be unani- responsible for everything users gen-
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
mately, hopefully, getting a vaccine mous support for this. It is not like the erate, there is a difference between an
and in the meantime making sure that last time around, and I have said all inappropriate video a site misses and a
we are addressing the needs of our pro- along that I wouldn’t expect every Re- site that knowingly allows itself to be
viders, those doctors and nurses and publican to support the bill that came used for criminal purposes.
nursing home caregivers who are on out and was released a couple of days In 2018, after it became obvious that
the frontlines. ago. I think it is a starting point. certain sites were knowingly allowing
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