Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Oct. 1, 2020)
Summary
This Senate page of the Congressional Record for October 1, 2020 begins with remarks about colleges and the coronavirus pandemic. The remarks say Lee Tyner, general counsel for Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, testified before a committee earlier this year that running a campus is like leading a small city, and that John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, said A&M has adopted wastewater surveillance to find COVID–19 cases in student housing. Later remarks quote statements on religion and a presidential election and describe Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur.
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“Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Oct. 1, 2020).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-10-01-crec-2020-10-01-pt1-pgs6020-e42da53f54/
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S6020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 1, 2020
He said: Our college campuses, for example, in they can to identify them and then
For while this year it may be a Catholic most cases, are home to more than just stop the spread.
against whom the finger of suspicion is classrooms and libraries. They are John Sharp, who is the chancellor of
pointed, in other years it has been, and may whole communities unto themselves the Texas A&M University System,
someday be again, a Jew—or a Quaker or a with student housing, offices, dining talked about one unconventional way
Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia’s har- facilities, gyms, convenience stores,
assment of Baptist preachers, for example,
that A&M is trying to pinpoint poten-
that helped lead to Jefferson’s statute of re-
and with, in some cases, full-service tial outbreaks as soon as possible.
ligious freedom. Today I may be the victim, utility companies. A&M has adopted the practice of
but tomorrow it may be you—until the Lee Tyner, who serves as general wastewater surveillance, which has
whole fabric of our harmonious society is counsel for Texas Christian University been used for years as a way to detect
ripped at a time of great national peril. in Fort Worth, testified before the Ju- viruses or diseases within a commu-
He made the important point that diciary Committee earlier this year nity. Now it is being used to find the
seems so obvious that he shouldn’t and compared running a campus to source of individual COVID–19 cases or
have had to make. leading a small city. You have a vast clusters of cases in student housing,
He said: set of responsibilities that extend far particularly dormitories. The univer-
I am not the Catholic candidate for presi- beyond the education you are providing sity takes wastewater samples from
dent. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate to your students, and those responsibil- sewage systems on campus, and a posi-
for president, who happens also to be a ities have only grown more challenging tive test allows them to then go back
Catholic. during the pandemic. and target individuals for testing.
Finally, he said: Back in July, I spoke with some of Obviously, if there is no virus de-
But if this election is decided on the basis the chancellors of our public colleges tected, they know there is no need for
that 40 million Americans lost their chance and universities to learn more about that conditional testing, at least at
of being president on the day they were bap- how they were preparing to deal with this time. This practice can help to de-
tized, then it is the whole nation that will be the immense challenges higher edu-
the loser—in the eyes of Catholics and non-
tect an outbreak at a dorm that can
cation was facing, and last Friday, I otherwise go unnoticed for several days
Catholics around the world, in the eyes of was able to catch up and see how
history, and in the eyes of our own people. and, thus, be spread far and wide.
things had gone—whether they had Our colleges and universities across
Throughout her career, Judge Bar- gone according to plan or whether they
rett has impressed the brightest legal the State have gone to great lengths to
had encountered problems they had not manage the crisis that did not come
minds with her deep understanding of been able to anticipate.
the law and commitment to judicial with a manual. They have implemented
I learned about the University of
independence. She made it clear at her the best practices to protect the health
Texas System’s comprehensive plan to
hearing 3 years ago that she would be and safety of students and staff mem-
keep students and staff safe at each of
loyal to her oath, and that is to uphold bers and to ensure that their students
their campuses across the State, which
and defend the Constitution and laws have access to a quality education,
involves a serious testing infrastruc-
of the United States. which is the very purpose for which
ture. Four institutions have built labs
It is clear, under the appropriate can- they exist.
on their own campuses to conduct the
ons of judicial ethics, that if for some In our conversation last week, these
testing that is necessary, and each has
reason a judge can’t apply the law be- chancellors told me how helpful the
the capacity to test between 500 and
cause of some personal opinion or con- CARES Act funding has been over the
2,000 people each day. Other campuses
viction, then one needs to disqualify last several months, and they reiter-
are partnering with the UT Health
oneself. President Kennedy said that, if ated that they need more help. They
Science Center institutions for their
it violates your conscience and your need Congress to come together and
own testing, and these are providing a
faith and you can’t reconcile the two, provide more help. It is not just col-
no-out-of-pocket cost testing oppor-
you should resign. leges and universities. It is also our el-
tunity for students, faculty, and staff.
Well, there is just no legitimate rea- The University of North Texas Sys- ementary, middle, and high schools.
son to question whether Judge tem has reopened campuses with a mix Congress has already provided more
Barrett’s religious beliefs would make of in-person, online, and hybrid in- than $30 billion in emergency relief for
her unfit to serve on the Supreme struction, and it has been very effec- education, including $2.6 billion in
Court, and I hope our colleagues on the tive at stopping the transmission of Texas alone. This funding has gone a
other side will refrain from, once the virus. If a student or any close rel- long way to prepare for this school
again, imposing a religious test on ative tests positive, there are clear year and to allow these leaders to man-
Judge Barrett as we consider her nomi- guidelines for isolating and then con- age the risks associated with the
nation. tact tracing to minimize the spread. spread of the virus.
CORONAVIRUS When I spoke last week with the They say they need more help, and it
Mr. President, on another matter, chancellors, UNT had only 27 active is incredibly frustrating that, despite
with the school year well underway, I, cases on campus, and it has seen no this being a bipartisan goal and some-
like, I am sure, many of my colleagues, evidence of COVID–19 transmission in thing we were able to do together in
am continuing to listen to and learn the classrooms or buildings where they four separate bills, we have now been
from our teachers and administrators conduct face-to-face activities. unable to pass another relief bill to
about how this unprecedented school This is the trend most campuses are give our schools and our children the
year is unfolding. Whether kicking off seeing. There is a low to zero trans- resources they need in order to be safe.
the year in person or online or with mission rate in classrooms, thanks to You would think this would be a pri-
some hybrid model, educators are fac- these preparations and these pre- ority.
ing a whole new range of challenges cautions. The biggest risk to students, The two House proposals we have
that have made the past several weeks staff, and the surrounding communities seen—one of which passed the House
anything but ordinary. actually comes from off-campus activi- earlier this year and the other of which
Over August, I spent some time talk- ties or people who bring it onto the was introduced last week—did include
ing to kindergarten through 12th grade campus who are not part of that stu- additional funding for education, and a
teachers and students to learn how dent body or administration. bill we proposed over the summer in-
they were preparing to overcome the In Texas and States across the coun- cluded another $105 billion for edu-
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hurdles brought on by this pandemic. I try, we have seen news articles about cation—more than tripling the invest-
also visited our colleges and univer- how off-campus parties and gatherings ment that has already been made in
sities to see how they were handling have been linked to clusters of these the CARES Act.
the start of the new year, and since new cases. Appropriately, the univer- History has proven that legislation
then, I have stayed in close contact sities have cracked down on these cam- gets harder to do the closer we get to
with all of them to learn more about pus groups or individuals hosting those an election, and perhaps nothing is bet-
how it is proceeding. events, and they are trying to do what ter evidence of that than where we find
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October 1, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6021
ourselves today, but the need for addi- That is why I have been working for the second set of tablets following the inci-
tional help should transcend those par- years to establish a memorial on the dent of the Golden Calf. Moses, Moshe
tisan differences. National Mall to those Black Revolu- rabbeinu, Moses our teacher, literally mod-
els teshuva, repentance, return, when after
I spoke to Secretary Mnuchin less tionary War patriots who fought for the first tablets lay shattered at his feet he
than an hour ago, and he continues our founding ideals. turned around and returned to once again
talking to Speaker PELOSI, but at some I commend to all Americans the in- climb Mount Sinai.
point, while talking is good—it is bet- sights of the founder of the organiza- We are no different, as the echo of Yom
ter than not talking—sometimes it is tion working to build this memorial, Kippur is always with us, pushing us to
important not just to talk but to actu- who argues that these patriots’ service climb the mountain all year long. Yom
Kippur Katan, the small Yom Kippur, ob-
ally do something. In this case, that and sacrifice completed the Founders’ served by some in most months on the day
would mean the House and the Senate vision. preceding Rosh Hodesh, is one of those
working with the President to agree on (At the request of Mr. DURBIN, the echoes. It includes a daylight-hours’ fast and
another bill. So I hope we are at a following statement was ordered to be special liturgy.
point at which we can see some relief printed in the RECORD.) Rabbi Shefa Gold elucidates the origins of
Yom Kippur Katan, teaching, ‘‘Kabbalists
soon. f
were moon watchers. The lenses through
I am thinking about the airline in- VOTE EXPLANATION which they gazed were intensely focused on
dustry and the tens of thousands of air- issues of exile and redemption. And so as the
line employees who are being fur- ∑ Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I was moon waned, the exile of the Shechina (the
loughed, actually, starting today. absent due to an urgent family matter Divine Presence) was noted and mourned.
American Airlines and Southwest Air- requiring my attention when the Sen- With the moon’s return came the celebra-
lines are headquartered in my State. I ate voted on vote No. 200 on the motion tion of the miracle of redemption, a redemp-
to invoke cloture on the motion to pro- tion that could be tasted and known but
know, through no fault of their own, briefly before the cycle of exile continued.
the airlines are struggling. We have ceed to Calendar No. 551, S. 4653. On
They based their custom on a legend that
tried to help them, and we have helped vote No. 200, had I been present, I was recorded in the Babylonian Talmud in
them, but we need to help the airlines’ would have voted yea.∑ which God says to Israel, ‘‘Bring atonement
employees by providing them with f upon me for making the moon smaller.’’
more assistance during this chal- (Hullin 60b) THAT EPISODE in the Talmud
YOM KIPPUR is fascinating in and of itself. There God ad-
lenging time. We can do that if we mits after God made the moon smaller than
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Rabbi
would get off of dead center and work the sun that God had wronged the moon, and
Michael Cohen is a longtime friend of
out some mutually agreeable com- because of that God needed to do teshuva!
Marcelle and me. He occasionally sends
promise. Implied within that radical text: If God can
me a Sunday sermon, which I thor- admit to wrongdoing and address trans-
Nobody is going to get everything
oughly enjoy and share with family gression, who are we not to?
one wants. It is not the nature of life or
members. Following a week of mourn- In addition to Yom Kippur Katan, another
the nature of this business, but the echo of Yom Kippur is the sixth paragraph of
ing the passing of Justice Ginsburg, it
American people are depending on us the weekday Amidah prayer. There we say
was comforting to have this sermon to
to do our jobs, and we cannot let them the confessional selach lanu, forgive us, in
read after church this last Sunday.
down. the same manner that we say the confes-
I ask unanimous consent that this sional prayers ashamnu and al chet of Yom
I yield the floor.
sermon be printed in the RECORD. Kippur. Interspersed within the al chet Yom
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
There being no objection, the mate- Kippur liturgy itself we also say selach lanu
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
rial was ordered to be printed in the as we do during the rest of the year: ‘‘Ve’al
SCOTT of Florida). The clerk will call kulam eloha selichot selach lanu. Mechal
RECORD, as follows:
the roll. lanu. Kaper lanu,’’ And for them all, God of
[From the Jerusalem Post, Sept. 24, 2020]
The senior assistant legislative clerk forgiveness, please forgive, pardon us, help
THE ECHOES OF YOM KIPPUR
proceeded to call the roll. us atone.’’ The selach lanu paragraph follows
Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I (By Rabbi Michael M. Cohen) the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the
ask unanimous consent that the order When the gates of heaven close during the Amidah. We first ask for binah, under-
Ne’ila service of Yom Kippur, many of us put standing, including self-understanding, so we
for the quorum call be rescinded. can ask in the next prayer for help with
the avodah, the work, of Yom Kippur behind
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. us. But that is an illusion. As the expression teshuvah, repentance. There is a logic within
SCOTT of Florida). Without objection, goes, when one door closes, another opens. the order of the Amidah: first self-under-
it is so ordered. Commentating on the Kol Nidre service at standing followed by repentance, and only
f the beginning of Yom Kippur, when the gates then forgiveness.
are open wide, Rabbi Max Arzt teaches the Three times a day the weekday Amidah is
LEGISLATIVE SESSION goal of Yom Kippur is, ‘‘to lessen the dis- said. This means three times a day—evening,
tance between what we are and what we morning, and afternoon—we ask for forgive-
ought to be.’’ ness. In Judaism there is the concept of not
MORNING BUSINESS If the long day of introspection has saying a bracha levatala, a blessing whose
worked, then at Ne’ila those gates close on purpose is not going to be fulfilled. This
Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I means that when we ask for forgiveness
who we were and open to a lighter, better
ask unanimous consent that the Sen- throughout the day there is the implied un-
and more refined version of who we are.
ate proceed to legislative session for a But that too is an illusion. It is a fleeting derstanding, since we can’t say the bracha in
period of morning business, with Sen- moment of personal triumph. Like the sun- vain, that we did something wrong in the
ators permitted to speak therein for up morning, afternoon and evening.
set that gives way to the night, the dawn to
For some this is proof Judaism is a reli-
to 10 minutes each. the morning, the moon and its phases, the gion of guilt. Rabbi Art Green teaches the
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without high tide and the low tide; stasis is not opposite when he says that Judaism is actu-
objection, it is so ordered. derech haolam, the way of the world. ally about guilt relief. This system provides
Each morning the siddur, the prayer book, us precious moments throughout the day to
f reminds us, ‘‘Day after day You renew cre- check in with ourselves and recalibrate as
BLACK REVOLUTIONARY WAR ation.’’ In that unfolding story we are, truth needed.
PATRIOTS be told, composed of stardust. Most of the Elaborating, Rabbi Daniel Kamesar, z’’l (of
elements of our bodies originated in stars blessed memory), looks to the past daily sac-
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, and the Big Bang. rificial system of the Temple in Jerusalem
America’s founding principles, includ- Like the rest of the universe, our course is as a model for that guilt relief when we
ing that all men are created equal and one of continual renewal. Yom Kippur high-
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would bring a chatat or an asham offering as
endowed by our Creator with lights that awareness and the work we began expiation for our wrong choices, for missing
unalienable rights, are timeless and on Rosh Hodesh Elul, the beginning of the the mark. Watching the smoke rise heavenly
month of Elul, 40 days earlier. Our work could be a cathartic, like watching the
apply equally to all Americans.
reaches a higher level on Rosh Hashanah and breadcrumbs of the Tashlich service float
Commitment to these founding prin- the Ten Days of Repentance, aseret yomei downstream away from us.
ciples is what ties us together as Amer- teshuva, culminating with Yom Kippur. ‘‘Burn it up and let it go,’’ Daniel points
icans, so it is vital that all Americans Those 40 days parallel the period when out. ‘‘Most therapists are trying desperately
feel connected to them. Moses returned to Mount Sinai to receive to help us achieve that.’’
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