Congressional Record, Senate — October 19, 2020, S6051
Summary
This is page S6051 of the Congressional Record, Senate, October 19, 2020, with interleaved columns. Mr. McConnell moves to proceed to Calendar No. 554, S. 4675, the PROTECT Act, and suggests the absence of a quorum. Under Recognition of the Minority Leader, Mr. Schumer criticizes the confirmation hearings for the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, saying they came in the midst of a pandemic with no uniform testing protocol. Under Coronavirus, he says the Senate should work on a comprehensive COVID relief bill, cites 69,000 new cases reported the previous Friday and more than 6 million Americans who missed rent or mortgage payments in September, and calls the bill Mr. McConnell will bring to a vote partisan and designed to fail. The views are attributed to the speaker.
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“Congressional Record, Senate — October 19, 2020, S6051.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-10-19-crec-2020-10-19-pt1-pgs6051-79a2823bc6/
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October 19, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6051
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without farce. It is trying to confirm a Supreme self harshly criticized Justice Roberts’
objection, it is so ordered. Court nominee in the middle of a na- decision to uphold the law. Senator
(The amendment is printed in today’s tional election. The Republican major- HAWLEY said, after his meeting with
RECORD under ‘‘Text of Amendments.’’) ity is running the most hypocritical, Judge Barrett, he was satisfied she be-
f most partisan, and least legitimate lieves Roe v. Wade was not correctly
process in the history of Supreme decided. At one moment in the hear-
PROTECT ACT—Motion to Proceed Court confirmations. Again, the Repub- ings last week, Judge Barrett admitted
Mr. MCCONNELL. I move to proceed lican majority is running the most she considered Brown v. Board a super-
to Calendar No. 554, S. 4675. hypocritical, most partisan, and least precedent—outside the realm of legal
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The legitimate process in the history—the challenge—but that Roe v. Wade was
clerk will report the motion. long history—of Supreme Court nomi- not.
The senior assistant legislative clerk nations. So, despite what the American people
read as follows: And what of the nominee? She per- heard in the hearings last week, Judge
formed as nearly every Trump-nomi- Barrett does have opinions; she does
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 554, S.
4675, a bill to amend the Health Insurance nated judge has performed when nomi- hold views. She has a track record of
Portability and Accountability Act. nated to the Supreme Court. Essen- criticizing the decisions that have
tially, she answered nothing—nothing upheld our healthcare law. She has be-
Mr. MCCONNELL. I suggest the ab-
of substance. Throughout the week, the longed to organizations and signed her
sence of a quorum. name to advertisements that have
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Committee on the Judiciary and the
American people were treated to the called for an end—an end—to a wom-
clerk will call the roll. an’s right to choose. Her judicial opin-
The senior assistant legislative clerk same practiced evasions that have be-
ions express an extreme and rather bi-
proceeded to call the roll. come a hallmark of these hearings.
According to Judge Barrett, the judi- zarre view of the Second Amendment.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I She believes that the government lacks
ask unanimous consent that the order cial standard of ethics that a nominee
the power to forbid felons from owning
for the quorum call be rescinded. ‘‘shouldn’t comment on cases that
guns—a view far to the right of even
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without might come before the Court’’ is an ex-
Justice Scalia.
objection, it is so ordered. cuse so large that it applies to any If Judge Barrett is confirmed, those
RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY LEADER
question she might not want to an- views will matter a great deal to Amer-
swer—even questions of basic legal icans whose fundamental rights are on
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
fact. It produced an absurd and stun- the line at the Supreme Court—their
Democratic leader is recognized.
ning set of exchanges. right to affordable healthcare, to
NOMINATION OF AMY CONEY BARRETT
Judge Barrett would not say whether marry whom they love, to join a union,
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, voter intimidation is illegal. It very
last week, the Republican majority on to make private medical decisions with
much is. Judge Barrett would not say their doctors and without government
the Senate Judiciary Committee con- whether Congress is empowered to pro-
cluded what can only be described as a interference, to vote without first hav-
tect the right to vote. We certainly ing to jump through 15 hoops and do 20
farcical set of hearings for a Supreme have that power. Judge Barrett would
Court nominee. In the midst of a pan- somersaults.
not say if the President of the United The American people should make no
demic, when several members of the States can unilaterally change the date mistake: If Judge Barrett becomes Jus-
committee majority were exposed to or of an election. He cannot. She wouldn’t tice Barrett, every single one of their
tested positive for the coronavirus or say a President should commit to the fundamental rights would be at risk.
themselves were sick with COVID–19 in peaceful transfer of power, if absentee Her views are so far away from what
the days immediately beforehand, ballots were a proper way to vote, or if the average American believes and
hearings and an in-person markup were Medicare and Social Security were con- would do so much damage to the funda-
conducted with virtually no regard for stitutional. She wouldn’t even say mental structure and comity of this
the risks. that. country that I just hope and pray two
No uniform testing protocol was put On the final day of her confirmation Republicans will see the light and real-
in place to protect all of the people hearings, Judge Barrett refused to say ize that we should not nominate any
who had to be in that room. Why? Be- if climate change were real, because nominee before the election, which is 2
cause the Republican majority wanted her answer might be ‘‘politically con- weeks and 1 day away.
to jam this nomination through before troversial.’’ Seriously? This nominee CORONAVIRUS
the election. was unable to confirm the existence of Madam President, now, of course, in-
The chairman of the committee ig- climate change? What is next—gravity? stead of ramming through a Supreme
nored the committee’s quorum rules so Is the Earth round? To be fair, the Flat Court nominee in the most hypo-
that he could conduct business without Earth Society might find that opinion critical of circumstances, the Repub-
the participation of the minority. politically controversial. lican majority should be working with
Why? Because the Republican majority These aren’t matters of opinion. the Democrats on a real comprehensive
has decided to ignore the rules, norms, These are matters of law and matters COVID relief bill.
and standards—even its own rules, even of fact. She is a sitting judge, and if Over the past few weeks, COVID–19
its own standards—to get this nominee the Republican majority gets its way, cases, unfortunately, have swelled
onto the bench. she will be a Justice on the highest across the country. The United States
Four short years ago, every member Court in the country, but, apparently, reported 69,000 new cases last Friday,
of the Committee on the Judiciary said the American people do not deserve to with 10 States reporting their highest
that we shouldn’t approve a Supreme hear anything about her views. single-day totals ever. Poverty is be-
Court nominee in a Presidential elec- The principal thing we learned about ginning to increase. Unemployment re-
tion year. Many refused even to meet Judge Barrett in her hearings was she mains alarmingly high. More than 6
with Obama’s nominee. believes she doesn’t have to answer any million Americans missed their rent or
‘‘Use my words against me,’’ Chair- question that might upset President mortgage payments in September.
man GRAHAM said, in case a Supreme Trump, but, of course, we do know that What we need right now is an emer-
Court vacancy opened up in the final Judge Barrett has a certain interpreta- gency relief package with enough re-
year of his term. LINDSEY GRAHAM, in tion of our laws and the Constitution— sources to beat back this enormous cri-
talking about himself, said: ‘‘LINDSEY one that she wants to hide from the sis. Yet, Leader MCCONNELL, this week,
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
GRAHAM says let’s let the next presi- American people because it is so ad- will, once again, force a vote on a par-
dent [decide].’’ verse to what they believe. tisan, emaciated COVID bill—so defi-
But now the Republican majority’s President Trump swore that he would cient and laden with poison pills that
supposed principle that we shouldn’t only nominate Justices to the Supreme it is obvious he designed it to fail. In
approve Supreme Court nominees in Court who would ‘‘terminate’’ the Af- the immortal words of Yogi Berra:
election years has been exposed as a fordable Care Act. Judge Barrett her- ‘‘It’s deja vu all over again.’’
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S6052 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 19, 2020
Leader MCCONNELL tried the same portunity and resources to commu- the American people who are willing to
stunt last month. It failed. Instead of nities of color. condition their tolerance for diverging
trying to work with the Democrats or The Trump administration’s rewrite viewpoints on how they feel, they
increase the size of the relief package of the rule not only undermines core themselves feel about what is being
to meet the needs—the desperate elements of the CRA, but it replaces said, worshipped, or reported. And as
needs—of the American people, Leader past practices with complicated re- scary and as frightening as that atti-
MCCONNELL is back with the same quirements that would lead to less tude is to many of us, it is increasingly
sorry excuse for a bill. It fails to in- lending in communities that need it reflected in the very companies that
clude robust unemployment insurance, most. I have fought too hard through- have the most influence over how we
enough funding for schools and univer- out my career to lift up the protections access and consume information.
sities, or funding for rental, housing, or of the CRA to stand idly by as the Last week, we saw two of these com-
nutrition assistance. It does nothing Trump administration tries to tear panies go to extremes to get in line
for the census or our elections and them down. with radicals who are trying to block,
abandons State, local, and Tribal gov- The window to challenge this rule censor, and intimidate their way into
ernments on the brink of catastrophe. under the Congressional Review Act power. We all know the companies and
It doesn’t include recent bipartisan leg- closes today, so I will move to consider the controversy I am talking about.
islation that helps independent music the resolution this evening. Normally, Twitter and Facebook censored the
and theater venues—the Save our we would work these votes out with the spread of a New York Post article con-
Stages Act—or bipartisan legislation majority, but its abuse of the Supreme taining allegations that could poten-
to help our ailing restaurants. It is to- Court process means we will not have tially affect the outcome of the upcom-
tally inadequate when it comes to business as usual—not now, not until ing election.
funding for testing and tracing, espe- the Republicans stop their mad dash to That is all I am going to say about
cially given the new spike in cases and confirm a Supreme Court Justice mere the article itself because, frankly, the
especially given the fact that a second days before a Presidential election. content bears no importance on how
wave may be upon us. I hope and pray anyone should react to what happened
f
it isn’t. It, once again, includes the poi- after it was posted. Someone working
son pill of all poison pills—a sweeping PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL for a private company—someone who is
corporate immunity provision that DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER a content reviewer or content moder-
would shield corporations from ac- 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES ator—someone working for a private
countability if they put their workers CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED company made a unilateral decision to
in harm’s way. BY THE OFFICE OF THE COMP- stop Americans from reading the arti-
Let me be clear: The Republican pro- TROLLER OF THE CURRENCY RE- cle. They didn’t like it. They said: I
posal was unacceptable a month ago, LATING TO ‘‘COMMUNITY REIN- have the power to stop it, and because
and it remains unacceptable now, even VESTMENT ACT REGULATIONS’’— I have that power, I am going to stop
more so in that the crisis has gotten MOTION TO PROCEED it.
Now that is precisely what happened,
even worse. Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I
Remember, Leader MCCONNELL has and I will tell you, colleagues, it is not
move to proceed to H.J. Res. 90, pro-
been clear that as many as 20 Repub- just that they blocked the link and the
viding for congressional disapproval
lican Senators don’t want to provide text of the article, it is that at least in
under chapter 8 of title 5, United
any more relief to the American peo- Twitter’s case, they suspended the
States Code, of the rule submitted by
ple. According to press reports, one Trump campaign’s account; they sus-
the Office of the Comptroller of the
pended the New York Post account;
Senator said: ‘‘Not another dime.’’ Re- Currency relating to ‘‘Community Re-
they locked the White House Press Sec-
publican Senators gave their counter- investment Act Regulations,’’ which
retary’s account; and they suppressed
parts in the White House an earful for was received from the House. information posted by the House Judi-
even considering a bigger package of The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ciary Committee Republicans. They
aid. So this is not a serious attempt at clerk will report the motion. couldn’t even provide a plausible expla-
pandemic relief. It seems to be another The senior assistant legislative clerk nation for why they did this. Think
attempt at giving the Republicans po- read as follows: about that.
litical cover before the election. Motion to proceed to H.J. Res. 90, a joint They made themselves the arbiters of
Speaker PELOSI continues to nego- resolution providing for congressional dis- free speech, and they, in their almighty
tiate with Secretary Mnuchin and the approval under chapter 8 of title 5, United
position, decided they were going to de-
White House in the hopes of finding a States Code, of the rule submitted by the Of-
fice of the Comptroller of the Currency relat- termine what you could hear, when you
deal that would actually meet the could hear it, and how you could hear
needs of the American people. Instead ing to ‘‘Community Reinvestment Act Regu-
lations’’. it. They decided.
of repeating the same failed partisan The common element, of course, in
gambit, Leader MCCONNELL should be Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I
all of this action that took place was
working with the Democrats and the ask unanimous consent that the vote
the New York Post story. Was it infor-
administration on a proposal that ac- on the motion to proceed to H.J. Res.
mation or hacked information or just
tually has a chance of making it 90 occur at 5:45 p.m. today, with the
inconvenient information? No one
through both Houses of Congress. The time equally divided between the two
seems to want to answer that question.
longer he waits, the greater the cost to leaders or their designees.
Why do they not want to answer that
the American people. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
question? It is because they didn’t like
Now, before I yield the floor, I want objection?
the information. It did not suit their
to be clear about one thing. Because Without objection, it is so ordered.
narrative, but the way things stand,
our Republican colleagues have made Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas
they didn’t have to, because there is no
such a mockery of the Supreme Court and nays.
real accountability and now their weak
confirmation process, we are not going The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a
explanations have been co-opted into
to have business as usual here in the sufficient second? arguments made by activists, rival
Senate. Tonight, I will move to bring There appears to be a sufficient sec- media organizations, and even journal-
up a vote under the Congressional Re- ond. ists who were insisting that the infor-
view Act and force action on a resolu- The yeas and nays are ordered. mation is harmful and must be strick-
tion to undo the Trump administra- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. en from the record.
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
tion’s gutting of the Community Rein- BOOZMAN). The Senator from Tennessee Mr. SCHUMER. Would the Senator
vestment Act. This is an important is recognized. yield? I have brought an announcement
fight in its own right. We should be CENSORSHIP AND SOCIAL MEDIA to the floor that will take a brief
standing up for critical civil rights Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, it minute. I don’t mean to interrupt.
laws, like the Community Reinvest- doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Mrs. BLACKBURN. I would be happy
ment Act—laws that help deliver op- there is a small but very loud sector of to yield to the Democratic leader.
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