Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Sept. 16, 2020)
Summary
This is the Congressional Record, Senate, September 16, 2020, covering pages S5625 and S5626 under the heading Coronavirus, with interleaved columns. A speaker not named in the text read opens by criticizing Democratic Senators' letter to Social Security's Chief Actuary about hypothetical legislation, and cites a newspaper fact check that gave Biden campaign ads four Pinocchios. Mrs. Shaheen of New Hampshire then urges resumed talks on a bipartisan COVID relief package, noting that nearly 200,000 Americans, including 436 Granite Staters, have died. She says only $17 million of the up to $200 million the CARES Act provided for nursing home infection control had been sent, and that New Hampshire hospitals have lost more than $550 million in revenue. The views are those of the speakers.
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Cite this document
“Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Sept. 16, 2020).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-09-16-crec-2020-09-16-pt1-pgs5625-b5a39c5425/
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September 16, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5625
Nonetheless, he identified that, with- latter lesson, it would be easy for a Re- As well, I think journalists should be
out payroll tax revenue and no replace- publican Senator to ask the Chief Ac- more responsible when reporting on
ment from the general fund, the trust tuary to analyze hypotheticals cor- these political shenanigans, although I
funds would run out of money pretty responding to the allegations made by will note that even the most recent
quickly. Senator SANDERS, one of the authors of ploy was at least called out by fact
Of course, this is obvious to anyone the letter, concerning the ‘‘hypo- checkers and given four Pinocchios.
who has even slight knowledge of these thetical legislation’’ about Vice Presi- Rather than acting like demagogues
programs, but information was not the dent Biden’s history on Social Secu- on Social Security, we should do what
aim of the Democratic Senators’ letter. rity. we can to improve these programs. So-
Instead, it was to put forward a silly Senator SANDERS, during the pri- cial Security trustees across adminis-
hypothetical case that doesn’t cor- mary, has run political ads character- trations have continually and consist-
respond to anything that anyone has or izing Biden’s record on Social Security, ently recommended addressing the pro-
is proposing. Of course, they attributed saying that Biden’s claim that he has jected trust fund shortfalls since pro-
it to the President of the United always protected Social Security are tected benefits will continue to out-
States. ‘‘patently false.’’ pace revenues.
I know you all now see the purpose of It wouldn’t be hard to send a hypo- Some sort of reform is inevitable, but
this replay—because it is an election thetical in for analysis by the Social outside of broad reform, there are
year. They used the Chief Actuary’s re- Security Chief Actuary to get an an- many programmatic improvements
sponse to claim that authoritative swer to reinforce Senator SANDERS’ that can help make the programs work
sources have shown that President views that former Vice President Biden better for beneficiaries and today’s
Trump has a plan to essentially defund has not acted to protect Social Secu- workers.
Social Security, and in due course they rity. While not as encompassing as broad
engaged in the cottage industry of It wouldn’t be hard to send a letter to reforms, there are plenty of areas that
groups which exist here in Washington, the Chief Actuary asking about how we and Social Security Commissioner
DC, that regularly scare seniors and Senator SANDERS’ plans to reform So- Saul continue to monitor and work to
the disabled, especially before an elec- cial Security—which Senator HARRIS reduce backlogs and improve services.
tion, about some sort of backdoor plan has cosponsored—would harm the mid- Just recently, for example, the Sen-
or Trojan horse plan to destroy Social dle class by raising payroll taxes, with ate passed by unanimous consent a bill
Security, and the Democratic Senators that we entitled ‘‘Improving Social Se-
no corresponding benefits for people
used the Chief Actuary’s response to curity’s Service to Victims of Identity
with incomes below Biden’s $400,000
feed the Biden campaign with a false Theft Act.’’ That was sponsored by this
threshold for defining who is rich and
talking point about Social Security. Senator and Senator SINEMA. This bi-
who is not.
So you see the motives of these Sen- partisan effort will help people who fall
It certainly wouldn’t be hard to con-
ators in their using the Chief Actuary victim to identity theft by providing
struct politically charged hypothetical
as their tool. You see it pretty clearly. improved services from Social Security
legislation and ask the Chief Actuary
The Biden campaign has run ads, stat- with a single point of contact.
about it in order to make political In my view, more bipartisan work to
ing, among other mistruths, ‘‘If Trump points and use the Actuary’s position
gets his way, Social Security benefits improve the programs is the way we
for political purposes. should go. Partisan attacks to scare
will run out in just 3 years from now.’’ It happens that the Chief Actuary
Let’s go back to the Washington beneficiaries into believing that people
doesn’t exist for the purpose of polit- are out to destroy people’s retirement
Post. Even the Post’s Fact Checker
ical interference. and disability benefits do nothing to
gave those ads four Pinocchios, mean- In my view, though, none of those
ing that they contained a whopper of a help working, disabled, and retired
would be a proper use of Social Secu-
lie. The Fact Checker also concluded: Americans.
rity taxpayer resources, in the same I yield the floor.
‘‘To make a long story short, Demo-
way that the Democrats are wasting The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
crats ginned up a letter from the chief
resources using the Chief Actuary for YOUNG). The Senator from New Hamp-
actuary to describe a plan that does
political purposes. So Democrats shire.
not currently exist.’’
In a followup letter that Ranking should stop wasting Social Security’s CORONAVIRUS
Member KEVIN BRADY of the House resources trying to construct false and Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I
Ways and Means Committee and I misleading political points to use in come to the floor today to urge that we
wrote to Social Security’s Chief Actu- elections to feed their political base come together and resume negotiations
ary, we expressed our concerns about and dark money groups who then use on a comprehensive, bipartisan COVID
the Democrats having, once again, used the points in social media and attack relief package—the kind of package
his office for political purposes, and, ads against Republicans. But that is that this country has been calling for.
once again, it refers back to the 2016 how they wasted the taxpayers’ Today, nearly 200,000 Americans, in-
era that I have already talked about. money—by writing the letter and eat- cluding 436 Granite Staters, have died
From his response, we learned a few ing up the time of the Chief Actuary from COVID–19, and we still have as
things. for nothing other than pure partisan many as 40,000 new cases each day in
First, we got confirmation that no politics. this country—enough people to fill a
one has a plan to defund Social Secu- They should also stop politicizing So- baseball stadium each day. As a result,
rity, including the President of the cial Security’s actuaries and the Social our economy continues to struggle,
United States. That confirms that the Security trustee’s position in their with nearly 30 million Americans still
Democrats’ letter was just pretty silly, transparent attempt to mislead the out of work and more than 1 million
but not oddly, pure politics. public and try to score political points filing new applications for unemploy-
Second, we got confirmation that the about Social Security. ment each week. Many Americans have
Democratic Senators, during the 2016 The American public should—espe- been forced to raid their retirement
election, published lies in the Huff- cially during even years, in the runup savings just to pay rent and put food
ington Post article, invoking the Chief to elections—turn a deaf ear to scare on the table—and that is for those peo-
Actuary in an effort to smear a trustee tactics that Democrats continue to use ple who actually have retirement sav-
nominee. on Social Security beneficiaries. But ings. Sadly, too many people do not.
when senior citizens who aren’t sophis- The President’s recent Executive or-
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
Third, we learned that Social Secu-
rity’s Chief Actuary feels compelled to ticated in the operation of the Federal ders have many State unemployment
respond to any hypothetical posed to Government or the uses of politics to officers tied up in knots. Those orders
him by any Senator, independent of scare people—they might believe this affect Social Security and Medicare,
how silly or blatantly political it stuff. So you are doing a disservice to and they provide no new help for the
would be. a lot of people who shouldn’t have to nearly 13 million households who could
Of course the Chief Actuary worry about where their next meal is be at risk of eviction in the coming
shouldn’t be so compelled. With that coming from. months.
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S5626 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 16, 2020
Unfortunately, the Trump adminis- There wasn’t nearly enough to help drops in revenues and that desperately
tration and Majority Leader MCCON- with testing and contact tracing and need help to continue providing the
NELL have refused to recognize that too no real assistance for the Postal Serv- most basic services—schools, fire-
many Americans are still suffering and ice even as it faces bankruptcy. fighters, police, trash collection, water
still need help. Funding for schools in that skinny and sewer, and wastewater treatment—
It has been 4 months since the House bill? That was tied to whether the stu- because those have been dramatically
of Representatives passed the Heroes dents are going in person or learning affected by the loss in revenue.
Act—a bill to provide assistance to remotely. Well, in New Hampshire, we Of course, we urgently need assist-
Americans who are in need. Instead of believe those kinds of decisions should ance for our nursing homes and for our
negotiating a bipartisan bill, as we did not be made in Washington; they long-term care facilities, which in New
with the CARES Act back in March, should be made by States and local Hampshire account for more than 80
Leader MCCONNELL has released par- school districts. If local school dis- percent of the COVID–19 deaths, the
tisan legislation—written in secret— tricts don’t feel they can bring kids highest percentage in the country.
that is woefully inadequate and ignores back safely, then they shouldn’t be We need an answer from the adminis-
many of the problems I am hearing forced to do that just to get the help tration as to why they are not dis-
about from Granite Staters. they need to ensure that kids can go to bursing the funds that Congress di-
Not surprisingly, the bill that was school safely. rected. For instance, the CARES Act
put on the floor last week—the so- I think the American public wants provided up to $200 million for nursing
called skinny bill because it didn’t pro- results. They want a bipartisan, com- home infection control efforts. To date,
vide the kind of help so many people prehensive bill so we can address the only $17 million of that has been sent
need—that bill failed. I opposed that needs of Granite Staters and the people out to those long-term care facilities
skinny bill because I didn’t believe it of this country. That is what I am that need it.
came close to addressing the public fighting for, and I believe it is past On top of that, HHS has only spent
health and economic issues that our time for people to come to the negoti- about half of the $16 billion that Con-
country is facing. It provided no fund- ating table so we can get that done. gress provided for the acquisition of
ing for hospitals or healthcare pro- What we have seen during this pan- personal protective equipment and
viders on the frontlines, and the nurs- demic is unemployment levels that we other medical supplies. Nursing facili-
ing home and hospital staff I talk to in have not had in this country since the ties and providers across the care sys-
New Hampshire tell me that more fi- Great Depression. We need to provide tem in New Hampshire desperately
nancial support is needed to stem the additional unemployment benefits for need this help, and they need it now.
financial losses from this pandemic. We had a hearing this morning in the
people who need those dollars so that
New Hampshire hospitals have al- HHS Appropriations Subcommittee,
they can continue to pay their rent,
ready experienced more than $550 mil- and I had a chance to ask some of the
their mortgages, put food on the table,
lion in lost revenue statewide, and they officials from HHS about why they
and pay their bills. We need to make
don’t see an end this year. Losses of have not distributed these funds. And,
sure this emergency relief continues to
that magnitude are unsustainable, and of course, the answer they gave me was
be available to Granite Staters.
the skinny bill that we voted on last this: Well, we don’t know. That is not
Small businesses need a second round
week would not have addressed those part of our responsibility.
of PPP loans, which would prioritize Well, that is part of everybody’s re-
losses.
That proposal provided no support those smallest businesses and those in- sponsibility—to ensure that funds that
for State and local governments that dustries that have been hardest hit by Congress has provided get distributed
are facing severe budgetary shortfalls. this pandemic, industries like tourism in a way that Congress has said they
The State of New Hampshire expects to and the hospitality sector. should be distributed, because we have
We need to provide support to our people across this country who need
experience a budget shortfall of nearly
$540 million, over half a billion dollars. live venues. I recently visited the Bank that help and they need it now.
That is about a 20-percent drop in of New Hampshire Stage in Concord, We need a comprehensive bill to help
State revenues. our capital. I heard firsthand how their treatment and recovery centers for
In the city of Manchester, which is business has been affected by the pan- those who are still struggling with sub-
our largest city, they expect to spend demic and the ripple effect that has on stance use disorders, because we have
$11 million between this year and next all live entertainment venues, on the seen this crisis worsen during the pan-
related to COVID–19 expenses—money performers who depend on those venues demic. We had been seeing deaths go
they hadn’t budgeted for. They had to be able to support themselves and down from overdoses in New Hamp-
hoped that some of those expenses the other members who are part of shire, and since the pandemic, we are
would get reimbursed by FEMA, but their performances. beginning to see those numbers go up
under the recent order from the admin- We need to make sure that childcare again.
istration, FEMA is being told to no centers are supported. I was visiting a This isn’t a problem that is unique to
longer reimburse those expenses. small business, a restaurant that has New Hampshire. I heard Senator CAP-
So what I am hearing from mayors two locations in New Hampshire—one ITO in the hearing earlier this morning
and municipal leaders in New Hamp- in Portsmouth and one in Epping. The talking about the challenges that West
shire is that they are soon going to business is called Popovers. It is very Virginia is facing. It has become more
have to face some very difficult choices popular. What I heard from them is critical than ever that Congress pro-
about whether they are going to have that the PPP loans had made a huge vide substantial funding for substance-
to cut essential services like trash col- difference. They were able to keep use disorder treatment and prevention.
lection and water and sewer and wheth- some of their employees on. But as We need real support for the post of-
er they are going to have to lay off they are looking to the fall, they are fice, which was lacking from that skin-
teachers and firefighters and police of- worried about whether those employees ny bill last week. The Postal Service is
ficers. are going to be able to come back full the only Federal agency mentioned in
The bill we voted on last week, that time because they don’t have access to the Constitution, and every commu-
skinny bill, provided no financial help childcare and they are not sure wheth- nity in New Hampshire and the United
for families struggling to pay the bills er schools are going to be remotely or States relies on its essential services,
and put food on the table. There was no in person. We need to provide help so especially those States that have rural
communities. A lot of rural commu-
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
help in there to feed kids, nothing to that those businesses can get their em-
address broadband needs—the needs ployees back to work and people can nities in New Hampshire don’t have ac-
that we have seen in New Hampshire continue to support their families. cess to the internet. They depend on
for telehealth and for remote learning. We need a comprehensive bill that the post office for communications
We have significant parts of our State provides emergency housing relief and going in and out and the packages that
and significant communities where we food assistance to Granite Staters. go in and out. What I am hearing from
have students who don’t have access to We should support our counties and Granite Staters is that there are Post-
technology to do remote learning. towns that are experiencing historic al Service delays that are affecting
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September 16, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5627
their ability to pay their bills and to week—merely a month before election ceiving information from the par-
receive medications, and that small day. There is a dark similarity here to ticular Russian agent that I have men-
businesses are not able to complete the Republican effort in the House in tioned, Mr. Derkach, but Chairman
their transactions. Congress has a re- the previous election to discredit the JOHNSON has never provided a full ac-
sponsibility to enact legislation that Democratic Presidential candidate counting of all the Russian- and
will restore timely delivery and fully with the Select Committee on Ukrainian-linked individuals he sought
fund the Postal Service. Benghazi. information from. One of the chair-
Finally, we need to ensure that the You may remember the now-minor- man’s subpoenas, for example, targeted
Census Bureau has the time necessary ity leader of the House Republican cau- a Ukrainian national who is an asso-
to execute a complete and accurate cus bragging that the Republicans cre- ciate of Mr. Derkach.
2020 count. You know, it has been in- ated the committee to bring down Hil- So anticipating his objection to this
teresting to me to see the efforts of lary’s poll numbers. You know what resolution, I would simply ask the
this administration to try and politi- they say about a political gaffe: It is chairman to provide a full accounting
cize the census, because this is no red when politicians tell the truth. of whom he sought information from,
State or blue State problem. The Well, it seems like the Republican so we can know who they are, what
States with the lowest percentage of chairman of the Homeland Security their motives are, and, therefore, the
households that have been counted dur- and Governmental Affairs Committee Senate can see if they are trying to
ing the census are Alabama, Montana, has made the same gaffe that Minority interfere with our elections.
Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Leader MCCARTHY made in 2016. In a The chairman should have no issue
South Carolina. They are mostly in the little-noticed interview with a Wis- furthering a complete accounting of his
South, but not all. We must give the consin radio station last month, Sen- contacts with Russian and Ukrainian
Census Bureau time to make a com- ator JOHNSON said that his probe would sources. The American people ought to
plete and accurate count by including a ‘‘help Donald Trump win reelection,’’ know whether the U.S. Senate has been
statutory delay for the apportionment and yet somehow the current activities sullied by potentially receiving infor-
and redistricting count that is part of of the Republican majority in the mation from discredited Russian
any package before we go home. This is Homeland Security committee are agents. The American people should ex-
something that the Census Bureau even worse than what the House Re- pect the Senate to pass this resolution
asked us for last spring, and it is some- publicans did in 2016, because in the today.
rush to find scraps of information for What were our Founding Fathers
thing that we should make sure they
these investigations, Senate Repub- most worried about? One of the top
receive, even though under political
licans may have collected and propa- things—top things—was interference
pressure they changed their request.
Bipartisanship on these priorities is gated disinformation that came from by foreign powers in our elections.
Putin’s intelligence agents. Back then, their concerns were about
possible. We were able to negotiate the
Some of the allegations that the bribery or treason or a foreign actor
CARES Act legislation that passed the
Homeland Security chairman is now who infiltrated our government.
Senate by a vote of 96 to 0. We did it
pursuing are the same ones pushed by Today, in our information age, the
before. We can do this again because
Andriy Derkach, a known Russian methods of foreign interference are dif-
that is how government is supposed to
agent who was sanctioned by President ferent, but the risks are the same.
work. We are supposed to come to- Our chief adversaries—Russia, China,
Trump’s own Treasury Department for
gether and negotiate and deliver for Iran, North Korea—have found that
interfering in our elections.
the American people. Powerful Senate Republicans are disinformation and misinformation are
Probably the most often heard re- a weak point in open societies like
echoing the same claims that the Rus-
mark that I hear in New Hampshire is ours. That makes it incumbent on us—
sians are pushing, the same nonsense
this: Why can’t you just all work to- all of us—here in the Congress to be
that Ukraine interfered in the 2016
gether to address the needs of this careful about the information we re-
elections and not just Putin.
country? We have all become so inured to ceive and repeat.
That is what we should be doing scandal during this scandalous admin- In the zeal for partisan advantage, we
around everything, and it is what we istration, but the fact that a powerful hope the Republican majority on the
should be doing around responding to Senate committee may have fallen vic- Homeland Security Committee has not
this coronavirus. tim to misinformation from Moscow is become a sympathetic audience and a
We should not recess until we can get potential entrance point to foreign in-
appalling.
a bill to the President’s desk. We were The PRESIDING OFFICER. Would fluence campaigns, wittingly or unwit-
sent here to do a job. We have an obli- the Democratic leader yield? tingly. What a disastrous and disgrace-
gation to get it done. The foot dragging Mr. SCHUMER. I will yield. ful state of affairs. The Senate should
has gone on for far too long. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The pass this resolution today.
Brinksmanship should end because chair will remind Senators that Rule I yield the floor to my colleague from
time is running out on the needs of the XIX provides that ‘‘No Senator in de- Oregon.
American people. bate shall, directly or indirectly, by The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
I yield the floor. any form of words impute to another ator from Oregon.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator or to other Senators any con- Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise in
Democratic leader. duct or motive unworthy or unbecom- support of this resolution offered by
UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST ing a Senator.’’ the Democratic leader. We are calling
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this Mr. SCHUMER. I am aware of it. Ev- for an end to a horribly flawed congres-
morning the Republican majority of erything I have stated here is factual— sional investigation. The foreign
the Homeland Security and Govern- everything, every single thing. threats to our democracy—attempts to
mental Affairs Committee authorized So, this afternoon, my colleagues and poison it with disinformation and to
another smattering of subpoenas in I have drafted a simple resolution that sow distrust—are an established mat-
what seems to be an ongoing effort to calls for the cessation of any Senate in- ter of fact.
disparage a former Vice President and vestigation or activity that allows the It is especially troubling because for
his family. U.S. Congress to act as a conduit for periods over the last year, two Senate
While the rest of the country is busy Russian disinformation. committees have conducted an inves-
fighting COVID–19, this is what the tigation involving Ukraine, former
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
I cannot fathom how any Member of
Homeland Security Committee has this Chamber could justify blocking Vice President Biden, and his son Hun-
been up to—using the powers of the such a resolution. There must not be a ter: the Homeland Security and Gov-
Senate to, in effect, conduct opposition single aspect of this Chamber that ernmental Affairs Committee, led by
research for President Trump’s cam- wittingly or unwittingly furthers the our colleague from Wisconsin, Chair-
paign. propaganda machine of Vladimir Putin. man JOHNSON; and our colleague from
The Republican chairman has said he Now, I know what my friend from Iowa, Chairman GRASSLEY, of the Fi-
plans to release a report about it next Wisconsin might say. He will deny re- nance Committee, in which I am the
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