Congressional Record — Senate, November 17, 2020, Page S7027
Summary
Congressional Record, Senate, November 17, 2020, page S7027 and following. Mr. CORNYN responds to the Democratic whip's advice to President Trump, says the President may use existing State and local procedures to review results, and says that the 2000 election came down to 537 votes in Florida. Mr. CORNYN also says that 72 million-plus people voted for President Trump and Vice President PENCE. Later remarks discuss keeping teens from becoming addicted to certain devices and withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.
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“Congressional Record — Senate, November 17, 2020, Page S7027.”
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November 17, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7027
leader of the free world—are the same The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- lionaires and billionaires, which was
kind of nonsense claims that petty dic- ator from Texas. not exactly dealing with the virus, ei-
tators use to deny citizens democracy Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I was ther its economic fallout or the public
and the peaceful transfers of power. listening to our friend, the Democratic health consequences.
One need only look at Belarus, at the whip, and his advice to President Then, if that weren’t enough—stiff-
moment, for a timely comparison. Trump to capitulate before the re- arming every effort that we tried to
America is the country that stands counts and before the litigation that undertake since March to try to pass
against these kinds of undemocratic has been filed has been finally decided. additional relief, both from a public
attempts at power around the world, I know they would like to have him do health and economic perspective—
not a nation that cowers in fear. so, but he is completely within his today, the Speaker and the Democratic
Leader MCCONNELL has compared rights to use the existing procedures in leader of the Senate took the bold
President Trump’s refusal to accept the States and in the local jurisdic- step—the bold step—of writing a letter
the election results to the delay in de- tions where these elections were con- to Majority Leader MCCONNELL. Man,
termining the winner of the 2000 elec- ducted to review the results to see if that was a bold step to protect the pub-
tion, which sounds right until you look there are discrepancies. lic health and protect those who,
at the facts. He is wrong. The compari- I also know they would like to say it through no fault of their own, find
son is wrong. The 2000 election between is just about President Trump, but themselves out of a job or in financial
President Bush and former Vice Presi- more candidates other than President distress.
dent Gore ultimately came down to a Trump were on the ballot. We ought to Well, I have been around here long
difference of not 5 million votes but 537 be in the position of trying to preserve enough to know the only reason you
votes in one State—Florida—not tens every legal vote for every candidate write a letter to somebody and then re-
of thousands of votes in many States. and making sure there are no mis- lease it to the press before it gets to its
Even Republican attorney and elec- takes, and there is a process in place to intended recipient is for political pur-
tions expert Ben Ginsberg rejects the make that happen. poses. It is posturing. That is what we
comparison. He ought to know. I don’t know what the ultimate out- continue to see from our friends across
Ginsberg was part of the team that led come will be—I sort of have a sneaking the aisle—political posturing.
President Bush’s recount effort in 2000. suspicion about what the trend line Now they are saying—I think the
The refusal by President Trump and looks like—but 72 million-plus people Vice President himself said this—un-
some around him to accept the election voted for President Trump and Vice less you drop the lawsuits, you drop
results is damaging faith in our elec- President PENCE. Out of respect for the efforts to review the vote and to
tions and our democracy. The goal is them, at least, if not for the President make sure all the ballots—all the legal
clear: to undermine the legitimacy of and the Vice President themselves, we ballots—are correctly counted and the
the Biden-Harris administration even ought to let this process play itself ballots that are not appropriate are not
before it is sworn in. He is damaging out. There will be a peaceful transition counted, then people will die, unless
the ability of President-Elect Biden of power. I have no doubt whatsoever. you capitulate and give up all those
and his team to get to work now on the CORONAVIRUS rights.
deep and painful challenges we con- Mr. President, I would like to also In the wake of these partisan efforts
front as a nation. take a second to respond to the Sen- to defeat any meaningful, additional
People close to President Trump tell ator’s comments about our needing to relief post-March, it should be held up
reporters off the record that the Presi- do something about this pandemic— to ridicule because that is exactly what
dent knows he can’t win. Some say he that we need to pass another piece of it deserves. It is not serious. It is par-
just needs to very gradually come to legislation and that we need to collabo- tisan posturing.
accept the reality of his defeat. rate with the incoming administration If the Speaker and the Democratic
Well, with all due respect, Mr. Presi- to make sure that we don’t miss dis- leader wanted to get to work on an-
dent, your duty is to preserve this de- tributing this vaccine on a timely other COVID–19 bill, do you know what
mocracy. Your moral obligation is to basis. they could do? They could pick up the
prevent unnecessary suffering and My friend from Illinois, at least on telephone. You know, they could do a
death and to defend this country. three occasions, has voted against bills Zoom call. They wouldn’t even have to
For 4 years, Donald Trump has feast- that would help to facilitate the deliv- socially distance or wear masks. They
ed on chaos and the discord of America. ery of the vaccine and would ensure wouldn’t have to worry about that.
Time and time again, he has placed his that small businesses and other indi- They could do it virtually. Or, if they
own self-interest over our national in- viduals get the economic help they wanted to do it in person, then they
terest. He has damaged the institutions need during this crisis that has been could come over, socially distance, and
of our democracy and abused his power. through no fault of their own. do it safely.
We shouldn’t be surprised by his de- By my count, our Democratic col- But this is all partisan posturing.
structive actions on his way out, but leagues voted against a $1 trillion This is not about the public health of
we shouldn’t tolerate them either. HEALS bill. They voted against two the American people. This is not about
It is time for Donald Trump to accept separate, more targeted pieces of legis- helping people who are desperately in
the clear results of the election and for lation that totaled a half a trillion dol- need of additional financial assist-
his administration to work with Presi- lars each. Those are three occasions on ance—the small businesses and others
dent-Elect Biden’s team for a success- which they voted against continuing to that continue to struggle and lay off
ful, peaceful, productive transition of provide the aid that we had voted on, their workforce.
power. It is time for the President’s on a bipartisan basis, by the end of If we are serious about solving this
friends, allies, and political pals to fi- March—four bills worth $3.8 trillion. problem, then we need to work to-
nally level with the President. It is I could only have wished that the gether as we did during four separate
time for a confrontation, perhaps—a sort of bipartisan cooperation we saw pieces of legislation, ending with the
moment of truth, perhaps—and to say up through and including the CARES CARES Act in late March.
to the President: It is over. Now be a Act in late March would have contin- But ever since that time, ever since
man. Stand up, and show this Nation ued, but that wasn’t to be. Time and we have offered additional assistance,
that we can have a peaceful transition again, Speaker PELOSI stood on a $3 Speaker PELOSI has shut it down. Our
of power. Show this Nation we are pre- trillion piece of legislation that she Democratic colleagues have all voted
pared to accept the will of the Amer- knew had no chance of passing. Why? against it.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
ican people. Because it included things like tax cuts If they were serious about it, they
Subverting faith in democracy is not for millionaires and billionaires in blue would have voted to get on the bill,
a winning strategy, and it should be be- States. She wanted to eliminate the offer amendments, try to make it bet-
neath the dignity of any American cap on State and local tax deductions ter, and let the Senate do its job. But,
President. in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which we no, they wanted to make things worse
I yield the floor. passed a few years ago, and reward mil- in the runup to the election because
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S7028 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 17, 2020
one of their main arguments against protection for our intelligence officers, the strain on mental health resources.
President Trump was that he mis- who quietly work without any par- The stresses this virus are taking on
handled the COVID–19 pandemic. ticular attention, hopefully. That is our people—on the American people—
I know and you know that hindsight the nature of their work. But they need are serious, as many cope with isola-
is 2020. We know that the public health the military to be there to provide that tion, health anxieties, job losses, and
guidance provided by the CDC has force protection if they need it to en- financial struggles.
evolved over time. We have learned a able their important work. We are seeing a correlation with an-
lot since then. But they were more in- So a precipitous retreat, which would other health crisis that has been exac-
terested in the blame game to advance reverse the progress we have made and erbated by COVID–19. Last fall, one of
their political cause in the runup to fought so hard to make, I think, is biggest health threats making head-
the November 3 election than they deeply troubling. lines was the nationwide use of e-ciga-
were in actually trying to help the If we have learned one thing, it is rettes by our young people. Folks of all
very people who sent us here to rep- about—maybe you call it the—I don’t ages were experiencing a range of mys-
resent them, and I think it is just know if you call it the physics of mili- terious medical conditions linked to
shameful. tary conflict or leadership, but history these devices, with vaping-related inju-
TERRORISM has taught us that power vacuums are ries reported in all 50 States. What is
On another matter, over the last 4 not often filled by the good guys. It is most concerning to me is that most of
years, our country has made serious the tyrants, it is the thugs, it is the those affected were otherwise healthy
progress in the decades-long fight dictators, it is the terrorists who fill children and teens.
against terrorism and to lay the foun- those power vacuums, and if we mis- I met one of those teenagers in Fort
dation for peace and stability in the takenly, even with the best of inten- Worth last December when I visited the
Middle East. tions, create a power vacuum, we could University of North Texas Health
We have virtually wiped out the ISIS see once again the rise of ISIS like we Science Center for a roundtable discus-
caliphate, which was the most recent saw with President Obama’s premature sion on the use of e-cigarettes. Sixteen-
manifestation of this poisonous ide- withdrawal from Iraq. year-old Anna Carey was one of the
ology embraced by al-Qaida that led to We simply need to learn from our ex- many students at her high school who
the attacks on 9/11. We have brought perience and not make the same mis- became addicted to e-cigarettes. She
down high-ranking terrorists like al- take again. A precipitous withdrawal started to see symptoms that are un-
Baghdadi, and we have eliminated the would not empower our allies. Indeed, common for an otherwise healthy teen-
head of the Quds Force, the IRGC in we have heard from some of those al- ager. She was extremely lethargic and
Iran, that is the No. 1 state sponsor of lies. For example, NATO—the North would experience random and severe
terrorism in the world—Mr. Soleimani. Atlantic Treaty Organization—has a pains in her chest.
We have actually strengthened our significant number of troops in these Two initial x rays came back clear,
relationship with allies in the region, areas that are providing training and so doctors released her, but she contin-
like Israel and Jordan, and taken a support for our friends on the ground. ued to struggle. Eventually, she was
tougher approach on a unified basis It could well give rise to an oppor- admitted to Cook Children’s Hospital
against enemies like Iran. And the re- tunity for our adversaries—to the ter- and diagnosed with chemical-induced
cent Abraham Accords Peace Agree- rorists and insurgents who would love pneumonia in both of her lungs.
ment marked a historic step in normal- nothing more than to see American Well, I am glad to report that Anna
izing relations between Israel and the troops packing their bags so they could has now fully recovered and is using
United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. claim that they have defeated the her story to encourage more teens not
There is no question in my mind that Great Satan, as some of them have re- to go down the same path that she
the world is safer today than it was 4 ferred to it. traveled down.
years ago because of the historic We would also, I think, cause our al- Now, with the additional public
progress that we have made, not only lies to question our reliability, while health concern of COVID–19, the need
against terrorists but to provide the unintentionally, perhaps, emboldening for action to prevent children and
foundation of peace and stability in the our enemies and jeopardizing the lives teens from using these devices could
Middle East by encouraging Israel and of civilians in the region. not be higher.
its neighbors to work together where So I think we need to have a con- When it comes to the coronavirus, we
they can. versation here. We need to have a con- know those who are older or who have
But our job is not finished. Dan- sultation. We need to get the military underlying health conditions are most
gerous and destabilizing forces still re- leaders before the appropriate commit- likely to experience severe cases. But
main, and America’s military con- tees in the Senate so that we can ask there is a recent study by researchers
tinues to play a vital role. questions and understand the process at Stanford University School of Medi-
I personally appreciated General and what the end goal is, particularly cine that looked at the connection be-
Mattis’s doctrine of fighting terrorists this close to the close of this adminis- tween vaping and COVID–19 among
by, with, and through our allies on the tration’s current term of office. young people.
ground. That meant that we didn’t I understand the desire to bring our Researchers found that those who use
need to put hundreds of thousands of troops home. But in doing so, we can’t e-cigarettes were five to seven more
American soldiers and marines, Special undermine the gains that they and times likely to be diagnosed than
Forces on the ground. We could work thousands of other brave Americans nonusers. Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher
through and with our allies, and that have made in the fight against ter- is a professor of pediatrics and the sen-
was largely successful at eliminating rorism and those who would do us ior author of the study. She said:
the ISIS threat in the Middle East. harm. ‘‘Teens and young adults need to know
So I was alarmed by Acting Sec- E-CIGARETTES that if you use e-cigarettes, you are
retary of Defense Christopher Miller’s Mr. President, on another matter, I likely at immediate risk of COVID–19
announcement today that without any have said here on the Senate floor because you are damaging your lungs.’’
real consultation either with our allies many times over the last several Now, one of simplest and most effec-
at NATO or elsewhere—certainly not months that COVID–19 is the most ur- tive ways to discourage children and
with Congress—the Pentagon plans to gent threat facing our country right teens from becoming addicted to these
withdraw troops from Afghanistan and now. But as I just got through saying, devices is to prevent them from even
Iraq to a potentially unstable and dan- it is not the only one. trying in the first place. But, unfortu-
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
gerous level. Both here and abroad, the same nately, our current laws make that
I happen to be a member of the Sen- threats and challenges that existed be- easier said than done.
ate Intelligence Committee, and one of fore COVID–19 are still with us and If you want to buy tobacco at a con-
the things our military does in for- may have been exaggerated by the cur- venience store or gas station, you have
ward-deployed locations like the Mid- rent crisis. I spoke about one example to show an ID to prove you are over 18.
dle East is provide enabling and force here on the Senate floor yesterday— So whether a teen is trying to buy e-
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