Congressional Record, Senate — November 17, 2020, S7025

Summary

This is page S7025 of the Congressional Record, Senate, November 17, 2020, with interleaved columns. The page opens with the end of remarks, by a Senator whose name is not printed in the text read, urging Congress to act on a pandemic relief bill and criticizing the Senate's schedule of judicial nominees. Mr. Lee asks unanimous consent that S. 4902 be passed, designating the United States courthouse at 351 South West Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Orrin G. Hatch United States Courthouse, and Mr. Romney speaks in support before the bill passes. Under Coronavirus, Mr. Durbin says the United States surpassed 11 million COVID–19 cases, 6 days after recording 10 million, and describes the situation in Illinois. He also criticizes the nomination of Dr. Judy Shelton to the Federal Reserve Board; the views are attributed to the speakers.

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“Congressional Record, Senate — November 17, 2020, S7025.” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-11-17-crec-2020-11-17-pt1-pgs7025-2-dd4fa04e28/, SHA-256 ee821e9cca6ef90fec46993cc2b4a58dab35631bcf355071da9de4f8cf9834fa.

Full text

November 17, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7025
the law—not just the hot-button issues The bill (S. 4902) was ordered to be fits, funding for the food stamps—the
that people think of when they watch engrossed for a third reading, was read SNAP program? Our country is in des-
the news, but he was delving into ar- the third time, and passed as follows: perate need of help, and they are
cane details of the law that really S. 4902 counting on us.
made me proud to have him rep- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep- You would think a crisis of this scale
resenting me in the U.S. Senate from resentatives of the United States of America in would be the first order of business for
the State of Utah. Congress assembled, the Republican-controlled Senate this
I got to know Senator Hatch even SECTION 1. ORRIN G. HATCH UNITED STATES week. Yet, while this pandemic con-
better after I got elected to the Senate, COURTHOUSE. tinues to rage, too many Republicans
and he and I had the opportunity to (a) DESIGNATION.—The United States court- in Congress refuse to even come to the
work together as colleagues. Through- house located at 351 South West Temple in
table to negotiate a comprehensive, bi-
out all these experiences, I have come Salt Lake City, Utah, shall be known and
designated as the ‘‘Orrin G. Hatch United partisan relief bill. There are those
to revere him as someone who reveres States Courthouse’’. who will, and I commend them. It
the law. (b) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, takes real courage. Instead, their lead-
For these reasons, I conclude that it map, regulation, document, paper, or other er, Senator MCCONNELL, has scheduled
is fitting for us to name this Federal record of the United States to the United votes this week on six barely qualified
courthouse in Utah after him. It is dif- States courthouse referred to in subsection judicial nominees. The average age of
ficult to imagine anyone who has had (a) shall be deemed to be a reference to the this week’s judicial nominees is 38.
the same impact on the Federal judici- ‘‘Orrin G. Hatch United States Courthouse’’. You see, these are lifetime appoint-
ary who has ever lived in or served Mr. LEE. Madam President, I am ments. If you get somebody with the
from our State as Senator Hatch. grateful my colleagues have chosen to right answers to their political ques-
Madam President, I would like to allow this to pass into law. It is a great tions, then they will give you 20, 30, or
yield some time to my colleague, the day for Senator Hatch, the State of more years while you have control of
Senator from Utah. Utah, and the United States. that court, and control of the court is
Mr. ROMNEY. Senator LEE, thank I suggest the absence of a quorum. more important, obviously, than
you for your excellent remarks with re- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The coronavirus.
gard to Senator Orrin Hatch. I rise to clerk will call the roll. The youngest one of these nominees
second what you said and to add a few The senior assistant legislative clerk is Kathryn Mizelle. She is 33 years old.
words, some duplicative. proceeded to call the roll. The American Bar Association took a
As you indicated, Senator Hatch
f look at her record and judged her ‘‘not
dedicated his life to serving our coun-
EXECUTIVE SESSION—Continued qualified.’’ This is the 10th Trump
try and our State, and he served in this
nominee for a lifetime appointment to
body for some 42 years—a remarkable Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask
and extraordinary career of public the Federal court who has been judged
unanimous consent that the order for ‘‘not qualified’’ by the American Bar
service. And, of course, he was one of the quorum call be rescinded.
the longest serving chairmen of the Association. You might say: I am sure
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. CAS- that happens. Well, it didn’t happen at
Senate Judiciary Committee and, SIDY). Without objection, it is so or-
therefore, played a pivotal role in con- all in the 8 years of the Obama Presi-
dered. dency. Not a single nominee who was
firming many, many current and now- CORONAVIRUS
retired Supreme Court Justices. And judged ‘‘unqualified’’ was sent to Con-
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the gress.
while serving as chairman, he also
United States surpassed 11 million Another nominee, Stephen Vaden,
helped shepherd hundreds of district
COVID–19 cases this past week. This who has been nominated for a lifetime
and appellate judges through confirma-
comes just 6 days after our Nation re- position at the Court of International
tion, including the majority of Utah’s
corded 10 million cases—1 million Trade, has never appeared before the
Federal judges.
His impact on the State of Utah is added to the 10 million in 6 days—mak- Court of International Trade. He has
not just professional but also personal. ing it the fastest transmission of 1 mil- never tried a case in any court. He will
Virtually anybody who stopped Sen- lion new cases since the pandemic be a great judge once he figures it out.
ator Hatch and asked his opinion on a began. Nearly a quarter of a million We voted on Dr. Judy Shelton’s nom-
topic—he would stop, shake their hand, Americans have died. This runaway ination to the Federal Reserve Board.
smile, and give them a full rapt atten- crisis is alarming, it is deadly, and it She is uniquely unqualified. Her eco-
tion. He is a tall drink of water, so you demands action. nomic views are almost humorous,
have to look up to Senator Hatch. The city of Chicago began a stay-at- they are so out of touch with reality.
I came to him, following the crisis of home advisory to help encourage peo- We are experiencing the worst reces-
9/11, asking for his help in securing es- ple to contain the virus in our commu- sion in 75 years, and Dr. Shelton, by
sential security funding for the Olym- nities. Across Illinois, more than 5,000 her stated views, is unprepared to con-
pic Winter Games of 2002. Senator patients have been hospitalized with tribute to dealing with this economic
Hatch immediately took me to meet COVID–19 each night for the past week. crisis.
with other Senators, and he, along with We have shattered new infection It is the story of the 116th Congress.
others, was able to secure the funding records nearly every day this month. The Republican-controlled Senate
necessary to make sure that our games Illinois has now experienced more than spends month after month after month
were safe and were ultimately produced 597,000 cases, and we have sadly lost ignoring a raging pandemic and refus-
successfully in a way that made them 10,875. My heart goes out to everyone ing to even consider the House-passed
the most successful Olympic Winter who has lost a loved one. relief legislation.
Games in history. He was and is an In addition to trying to keep our- Here is a good question for Members
honorable public servant who con- selves and our loved ones healthy and of the Senate: How many amendments
tinues to have tremendous impact on safe from the virus, Americans have has the Senate voted on this calendar
our State; therefore, it is only appro- also been struggling to deal with eco- year of 2020? Not counting impeach-
priate that Utah’s Federal courthouse nomic uncertainty, job loss, food inse- ment—set that aside. But how many
be named in his honor, and I am glad to curity, childcare—the list goes on and amendments to legislation have we
support this legislation. on and on. Here we are just days before considered in this calendar year? The
I yield my time back to Senator LEE. Thanksgiving, and many of our neigh- answer is 27—27 amendments in this
Mr. LEE. I ask unanimous consent bors are trying to pick the right day to calendar year. That is an improvement,

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that S. 4902 be considered read a third go to the food bank so they can feed incidentally. In 2019, we considered ex-
time and passed and that the motion to their families on this day of thanks. actly 22 amendments. Six of them were
reconsider be considered made and laid Where is the sense of urgency on Cap- forced on us by Senator RAND PAUL of
upon the table. itol Hill when it comes to providing an- Kentucky, who basically said: I won’t
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without other round of economic impact pay- let you go home until you vote on this
objection, it is so ordered. ments, enhanced unemployment bene- amendment. And, as Senator PAUL has

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S7026 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 17, 2020
said, of course he lost every one of to bring an end to the deadliest health can’t feel the pain of others. Joe Biden
those amendments. crisis in our country, but that is what and KAMALA HARRIS received at least 5
Twenty-seven amendments in 1 year; is happening. It is shocking. It is dan- million more votes than President
22 the previous year. Do you know gerous. It is shameful. It needs to stop Trump and Vice President PENCE. That
why? We don’t legislate. We don’t de- now. is the largest popular vote margin of
bate. We don’t offer amendments. We Some of my Republican colleagues victory in a Presidential election since
don’t pass bills. We come here with a ask: What harm can it do? We want to 1932.
new set of nominations every week humor the President. He is going In the 2 weeks since the election has
from the Republican majority. We through a period of adjustment here. ended, the Trump campaign and its al-
don’t have any legislation on the pan- He lost an election. It hurts. The poor lies have decided to strike back and
demic. We have no legislation on eco- President—we have to stick with him. file a flurry of lawsuits in six different
nomic recovery. We just have to get We have to parrot his theories of how States, challenging the vote counts.
these lifetime appointees, some who there will be massive numbers of votes Well, how are they doing? These law-
have been found categorically unquali- discovered somewhere. We know that suits have only affirmed the integrity
fied. That is what this Senate is all he is raging in his tweets regularly. So of the election results that we knew.
about. he still must be in pain, the poor man, Many of the complaints have been dis-
In this last week before the Thanks- and we have to humor him. We have to missed, and not a single vote has been
giving recess, is this really all we are tell him: Yes, Mr. President. You must invalidated. Even Trump campaign of-
going to do? How about the 28 rural be right. This election must have been ficials privately and publicly agree
hospitals in Kentucky that are facing stolen from you. that none of the remaining legal chal-
the risk of closure? How about the $1.3 Let me tell you what harm it can do. lenges can change the outcome of the
billion of uncompensated losses for Every minute of every hour, an Amer- election.
these hospitals across Kentucky? The ican dies from COVID–19. Every day, Last Thursday, members of the Elec-
Republican proposal a few weeks ago 1,000 Americans are dying from COVID. tion Infrastructure Government Co-
didn’t provide any economic relief for That is nearly a 50-percent increase ordinating Council, within this admin-
hospitals, clinics, or healthcare pro- from a month ago. We are nearing 1 istration’s own Department of Home-
viders like those. million new COVID infections every land Security, called the 2020 election
Americans need leadership. They week. The pandemic is surging in every ‘‘the most secure in American his-
need for the Senate to step up and say: single State, and public health experts tory.’’
For goodness’ sake, whatever the polit- warn the worst is yet to come. Over the weekend, a senior Federal
ical agenda is here, how can it be more Over the weekend, we learned that election official who was nominated by
important than this pandemic? President Trump has not attended a President Trump condemned the Presi-
Isn’t there enough talent or will on single meeting of the White House’s dent’s false postelection claims of vote
the floor of the Senate—on the Repub- coronavirus task force in 5 months. He fraud, calling them baffling, laughable,
lican side and on the Democratic side— told us why. I am tired of this COVID– and insulting. The same official warned
to find a way to help Americans who 19, he says. He has gone AWOL. By re- ‘‘these conspiracy theories that are fly-
are struggling, to provide unemploy- fusing to concede the results of the ing around have consequences.’’
ment assistance, to provide help to They are dangerous to our national
election, President Trump is pre-
small businesses, these restaurants and security. Over the weekend, John
venting our Federal health officials
small businesses that are facing clo- Bolton, who is President Trump’s
from meeting with President-Elect
sure, to give some money to local units former National Security Advisor,
Biden’s COVID task force and starting
of government that through no fault of urged Republican leaders to finally ac-
to coordinate the efforts for the transi-
their own lost revenue to this COVID– knowledge Mr. Trump’s defeat and get
tion that is going to take place on Jan-
19 crisis? These are not wild ideas; on with it.
uary 20, and failing to put the time, Another former Trump security ad-
these address the very basics that face personnel, and resources into the dis- viser, LTG H.R. McMaster, rejected Mr.
families, businesses, and governments tribution of a vaccine, which we pray Trump’s claim on Twitter that the
across this country. For some reason, to God will be available soon. In doing Presidential election was rigged.
that particular issue can’t make the this, the President is jeopardizing ‘‘What the President says in this
agenda. America’s ability to successfully dis- tweet—it’s just wrong,’’ the general
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION tribute a COVID vaccine and bring this said. ‘‘It’s regrettable, it’s counter-
Mr. President, losing an election pandemic, once and for all, under con- productive.’’
hurts. I know. I lost three elections be- trol. John Kelly, once Chief of Staff to the
fore I ever won one. I suspect that any- He is deepening our Nation’s eco- same President, told POLITICO that a
one who has ever lost an election has nomic crisis because the first step to delayed transition was detrimental to
had to grapple with the disappoint- healing our economy is in defeating the country’s national security. His
ments, the what-ifs, and even a kind of this virus—all because of the pain he is concerns were echoed by more than 150
sadness, bordering on anger, but that is going through personally. Well, I wish former national security, senior mili-
the risk you take when you run for of- I could share that pain, but I am over- tary, and elected officials who called
fice. The voters have the last word. whelmed by the pain of America’s on the leader of the General Services
Never, until now, have we ever heard going through a pandemic. The Presi- Administration, Ms. Emily Murphy, to
it suggested that a losing Presidential dent’s hurt feelings don’t compare. The recognize the election of President-
candidate ought to be allowed to put grief of losing an election is nothing Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect
America’s national security at risk be- compared to the grief of 246,000 Amer- HARRIS.
cause he is struggling mightily to ac- ican families who have lost loved ones Yet Administrator Murphy refuses to
cept his own loss in the election. to this pandemic. That is the grief we gauge what is known as ‘‘ascertain-
Never, until now, have we tolerated a ought to be concerned about. ment’’ to establish who the real win-
losing Presidential candidate’s delib- More Americans voted in these elec- ners were. She continues to deny Presi-
erately undermining Americans’ faith tions than ever before—in history. Now dent-Elect Biden and his team access
in the integrity of our electoral sys- that the election is over, the results to resources and the knowledge they
tem. are clear: President-Elect Biden and need to begin the massive task of set-
Never before have we witnessed a los- Vice President-Elect Harris received ting up a new government. Adminis-
ing Presidential candidate refuse, out 306 electoral votes versus 232 electoral trator Murphy’s actions are in defiance

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of spite and anger, to follow the law votes for President Trump and Vice of the Federal Presidential Transition
and allow the peaceful, orderly transfer President PENCE. Four years ago, the Act, the law that has governed the
of power to his successor. Never before President referred to exactly the same transfer of Presidential power in Amer-
now could many Americans even imag- vote totals in his favor as a landslide. ica since 1963.
ine an outgoing President deliberately Today, he refuses to acknowledge Quite stunningly, what we are hear-
sabotaging our Nation’s heroic efforts them. He is so full of himself that he ing from our American President—the

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