Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Aug. 12, 2020)
Summary
The Congressional Record, Volume 166, No. 144, for Wednesday, August 12, 2020, reports that the House was not in session and will next meet on Friday, August 14, 2020. In the Senate, Mr. Blunt serves as Acting President pro tempore, and under the heading Coronavirus Mr. McConnell says Democrats are treating the relief negotiations like a game while more than 160,000 Americans have been killed and more than 16 million are out of work. He quotes House Democrats calling the Speaker's proposal gamesmanship and says Kentuckians need results, with remarks near the end noting the 100th anniversary of the amendment that guaranteed women the right to vote.
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Cite this document
“Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Aug. 12, 2020).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-08-12-crec-2020-08-12-pt1-pgs5391-8-f2858f088c/
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Congressional Record
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116 th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
United States
of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE
Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2020 No. 144
House of Representatives
The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Friday, August 14, 2020, at 2 p.m.
Senate
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2020
The Senate met at 11 a.m. and was to the Senate from the President pro ICO says she is ‘‘taking a huge risk . . .
called to order by the Honorable ROY tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). as she remains almost entirely
BLUNT, a Senator from the State of The senior assistant legislative clerk unyielding in her demands.’’
Missouri. read the following letter: More than 160,000 Americans have
f U.S. SENATE, been killed by the worst infectious dis-
PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, ease outbreak in more than a century.
PRAYER Washington, DC, August 12, 2020. More than 16 million Americans are
To the Senate: out of work. An entire school year for
The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3,
fered the following prayer: of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby our kids is in limbo, but Democrats are
Let us pray. appoint the Honorable ROY BLUNT, a Senator playing political games like this were
O God, our refuge and strength, give from the State of Missouri, to perform the some run-of-the-mill typical negotia-
us reverence for Your greatness. Guide duties of the Chair. tion.
our Senators around the pitfalls of CHUCK GRASSLEY, Speaker PELOSI’s own Democratic
their work, enabling them to have President pro tempore. House Members call her proposal
hearts sustained by Your peace. May Mr. BLUNT thereupon assumed the ‘‘Washington gamesmanship,’’ ‘‘par-
they surrender their will to You as Chair as Acting President pro tempore. tisan gamesmanship,’’ and ‘‘playing
they trust You to guide their lives. f politics.’’ Those are House Democrats I
Lord, give them the wisdom to re- RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY am quoting on the House Democratic
ceive Your reproof, with the under- LEADER bill.
standing that You chastise those whom Yesterday, literally a few minutes
You love for their good. Make their The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- after I said on the floor that Democrats
lives productive for the glory of Your pore. The majority leader is recog- should stop treating this crisis like a
Name. nized. game, the Democratic leader came to
Mighty God, protect the oppressed f the floor to talk about who ‘‘ran down
and helpless, preserving them from CORONAVIRUS the clock,’’ who ‘‘tossed up an air
evil. Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, yes- ball,’’ and who ‘‘subbed themselves out
We pray in Your great Name. Amen. terday, I spoke about the disconnect of the game.’’
f between the discourse here in Wash- So, look, the Democrats aren’t tak-
ington and the pain and uncertainty ing this as a serious issue. They aren’t
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE acting like this is serious, and the
that American families are feeling all
The Presiding Officer led the Pledge across our country. American people are hurting in the
of Allegiance, as follows: I spoke about the human toll of the meantime.
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the Democrats’ choice to play politics with Let’s get outside the beltway and lis-
United States of America, and to the Repub- billions and billions of aid and block it ten to how this crisis has impacted real
lic for which it stands, one nation under God, all over non-COVID-related wish list American families and how the Demo-
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. items. crats’ stonewalling continues to hurt
f It has been clear for some weeks that them.
the Speaker of the House and the Sen- Since we passed the CARES Act, I
APPOINTMENT OF ACTING ate Democratic leader are treating this have been visiting healthcare facilities
PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE crisis like an ordinary political game. in my home State of Kentucky—places
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The The New York Times says Speaker like St. Claire’s Healthcare in More-
clerk will please read a communication PELOSI is ‘‘playing hardball.’’ POLIT- head and King’s Daughters Medical
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∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.
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S5392 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 12, 2020
Center in Ashland—always wearing a You have no idea how much this second need results. And Republicans will
mask and social distancing, of course. draw on PPP will help us. We were actually fight until we actually get an outcome.
I have thanked the frontline workers in the process of figuring out how we were
going to make it through to our fall work f
and heard how the Senate’s last rescue
season. . . . If we get this, we could make it
package has helped them save lives and RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME
into our season with no layoffs.
stay safer themselves while doing it. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
Republicans want to get more aid to
That is because the CARES Act pro- pore. Under the previous order, the
these workers, but Senate Democrats
vided $1.3 billion for Kentucky leadership time is reserved.
have blocked every bit of it over non-
healthcare providers alone, on top of
COVID-related liberal demands. f
more than $120 million we had already Let’s talk about our university presi-
sent for testing. dents who are worried about testing MORNING BUSINESS
But Kentucky’s incredible nurses, and funding in the fall. Our K–12 school The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
doctors, and hospitals are not finished boards and superintendents want legal pore. Under the previous order, the
fighting the battle on behalf of their protections so they can reopen. Senate will be in a period of morning
communities, and Congress must not So Republicans proposed billions for business, with Senators permitted to
be finished helping them do it. That is education—actually, even more than speak therein for up to 10 minutes
why Senate Republicans proposed House Democrats in their bill. But now each.
major new investments in health pro- Democrats are blocking it all over un- The Senator from Virginia.
viders. related, liberal demands.
We want to send tens of billions more f
Republicans want another round of
to expand testing, to reimburse direct checks—direct checks to house- VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION
healthcare facilities for unplanned pan- holds across Kentucky and across
demic expenses, to speed the develop- Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise
America. today to speak about the latest
ment and rapid distribution of COVID– I just heard from one constituent
19 treatments, and to find a vaccine to coronavirus emergency aid package,
who said: but before I do, as a matter of personal
finish this fight once and for all. With my first one, I was able to get an eye
That is what Republicans would like privilege, I want to offer some com-
exam and new glasses. . . . I appreciate all
to do, but Democrats have about you can do. Some of us are hurting and need
ments in praise of a colleague.
blocked all of it over non-COVID-re- help. Just as we gather together, regard-
lated, liberal demands. less of party, to mourn when a col-
I want to put more cash in her pock-
Let’s talk about the PPP—the his- league dies or be together with a col-
et right now, but Democrats are block-
toric program from Chairman COLLINS league who is undergoing a challenge, I
ing every penny over unrelated, liberal
and Chairman RUBIO that has kept think it is good to gather together and
demands.
Main Street alive and kept millions of So do you see the pattern? Kentuck- acknowledge when something positive
Americans from losing their jobs. ians need more help; Americans need happens to a colleague, regardless of
This program has been trans- more help. The American people are our political affiliation.
formational for Kentucky. Our small not done fighting this virus, and Re- This is the first opportunity on the
businesses and their workers have re- publicans are not done crafting policies Senate floor to offer a word about Sen-
ceived more than $5 billion of payroll to help them. But the difference be- ator KAMALA HARRIS, one of our col-
support. As the director of the Dare to tween now and March is that Demo- leagues, who, in a historic move, was
Care Food Bank in Louisville told me crats seem to be finished being reason- asked by another former Senate col-
recently, PPP funding is what has al- able. league, Vice President Joe Biden, to
lowed his facility to keep its entire The Speaker of the House and the join him as his preferred nominee to be
workforce—precisely when our commu- Senate Democratic leader have cut all Vice President of the United States.
nity needs were the greatest. their colleagues—all of them, all of I have come to know Senator HARRIS
And I heard from the director of a their committees—out of negotiations. in her 4 years in the Senate, as many of
Kentucky museum that ‘‘[t]he PPP They are doing this alone, and they us have, through her service on espe-
program was the one hope that we had have declared that none of the prior- cially the Judiciary Committee and
to keep our business alive.’’ ities I have named will see a single the Intelligence Committee.
But these small businesses and non- dime unless—the two of them have de- Her public service track record is a
profits are now nearing the end of that clared none of the priorities I have significant one worthy of praise, from
help. The PPP had to close its doors named will see a single dime unless her work as a district attorney, first a
last Saturday for new applications, and millionaires in Brooklyn and San Fran- line prosecutor, and then the elected
many employers are exhausting the cisco get a massive tax cut, States get district attorney in San Francisco,
money they had already received. Our a trillion-dollar slush fund to cover where she focused on trying to keep
country is approaching another small budget problems long before the pan- her community safe, to serving as Cali-
business tipping point, and workers demic, and we tax essential workers to fornia’s attorney general, broadening
could begin getting pink slips instead pay unemployed people a higher salary the portfolio to include environmental
of paychecks. to stay home. justice and consumer protection, and
That is why Senate Republicans Republicans wanted to reach agree- now her work in the Senate since 2016.
wrote up plans for another whole round ment on all these issues where we What I find so compelling about Sen-
of PPP—a full second draw for the could find common ground and fight ator HARRIS, in addition to her track
hardest hit businesses. House Demo- over the last few issues later. But the record of public service during a very
crats left this out of their bill entirely Speaker and the Democratic leader say long career, is her personal story.
and essentially turned their backs on nothing can move unless every one of Raised as the child of two immigrants,
those benefiting from PPP. But Repub- these unrelated, far-left items tags a Jamaican father and an Indian moth-
licans want to keep helping Main along. er, as so many in this country raised as
Street workers. These two individuals are letting the children of immigrants, she developed
One woman-owned small business in wish lists of wealthy coastal elites a passion to serve and a patriotic love
Northern Kentucky shared: stand between every working family in of country.
We are grateful for the $465,000 in the PPP. America and the additional help they She is the first African-American
[But] we have used all of it for payroll and deserve. woman nominee ever to be on a ticket.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
employee related costs . . . 18 weeks of ex- So maybe in a few moments the She is the first person of South Asian
penses. We are seeking [more] financial help Democratic leader or somebody on the descent ever to be on a ticket. And in
to keep our most treasured asset, our people, other side will try again to explain how the year 2020, when we are commemo-
employed. this is all some big political game. rating the 100th anniversary of the
And the president of an inspection Well, Kentuckians know differently. amendment that guaranteed women
company in Louisville says this: They need results. All of our States the right to vote, I can think of no
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