Congressional Record — Senate, S7295 (December 9, 2020)
Summary
Page S7295 of the Congressional Record, Senate, for December 9, 2020, records Rollcall Vote No. 260 with yeas 50 and nays 46. A Senator then discusses COVID–19 relief, saying the White House presented an offer of around $900 billion and that the bipartisan proposal should serve as a framework for negotiations. The same remarks cover Biden nominations, including the selection of Lloyd Austin to be Secretary of Defense. A motion to discharge the Foreign Relations Committee from further consideration of S.J. Res. 77, a joint resolution of disapproval on a proposed foreign military sale to the United Arab Emirates, is pending.
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“Congressional Record — Senate, S7295 (December 9, 2020).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-12-09-crec-2020-12-09-pt1-pgs7295-9e67cb12de/
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December 9, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7295
The clerk will call the roll. and I have encouraged everyone to use average of nearly $6,000 in back rent
The bill clerk called the roll. this bipartisan proposal as a frame- and utilities—a shocking figure.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators work for negotiations. We need to deliver an emergency re-
are necessarily absent: the Senator Yesterday, the White House pre- lief package to keep American fami-
from Georgia (Mrs. LOEFFLER), the sented us an offer of similar size, lies, workers, and businesses afloat
Senator from Georgia (Mr. PERDUE), around $900 billion—an encouraging until the crisis finally begins to sub-
and the Senator from South Dakota sign that Republican leadership is mov- side. The only way to get that done is
(Mr. ROUNDS). ing in the right direction by endorsing in a bipartisan fashion. The sooner the
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the the size of the Gang of 8’s bill. But the Republican leader realizes it, the bet-
Senator from California (Ms. HARRIS) is President’s proposal must not be al- ter.
necessarily absent. lowed to supersede or obstruct the bi- BIDEN ADMINISTRATION NOMINATIONS
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there partisan congressional talks that are Mr. President, on Biden nomina-
any other Senators in the Chamber de- underway. That is where the real ac- tions—President-Elect Biden continues
siring to vote? tion is and where bipartisan agreement to roll out an impressive slate of Secre-
The result was announced—yeas 50, on the basic concepts will ultimately taries-designate to lead Cabinet agen-
nays 46, as follows: be forged. cies in his administration.
[Rollcall Vote No. 260 Ex.] The President’s proposal, for in- Yesterday, he selected Lloyd Austin
YEAS—50 stance, completely misses the mark on to be the next Secretary of Defense, an-
Alexander Ernst Paul
unemployment benefits and aid to other groundbreaking selection. Mr.
Barrasso Fischer Portman American families. In order to include Austin would be the first African-
Blackburn Gardner Risch $600 stimulus checks, it actually cuts American to lead the largest Cabinet
Blunt Graham Roberts proposed unemployment benefits by agency in our government. Secretary-
Boozman Grassley Romney
Braun Hawley greater than a factor of 4, from $180 bil- designate Austin is a familiar face to
Rubio
Burr Hoeven Sasse lion to just $40 billion—an unaccept- many of us on Capitol Hill, and I am
Capito Hyde-Smith Scott (FL) ably low amount—while tens of mil- also pleased to say he is a familiar face
Cassidy Inhofe
Collins Johnson
Scott (SC) lions of Americans remain out of work, to many in the North Country in New
Shelby almost all of whom have lost their jobs York. He is the former commander of
Cornyn Kennedy
Sullivan
Cotton King
Thune
because of COVID. the 10th Mountain Division at Fort
Cramer Lankford Economists from every end of the Drum—the pride of Jefferson County.
Crapo Lee Tillis
Cruz McConnell Toomey spectrum, including the conservative Like all of President-Elect Biden’s
Daines Moran Wicker U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are warn- national security nominees, Senate-
Enzi Murkowski Young ing us that the United States faces the designate Austin is deeply experienced
NAYS—46 prospect of a double-dip recession with- and familiar with our Nation’s national
Baldwin Heinrich Sanders out another round of emergency fiscal security, as well as the many issues
Bennet Hirono Schatz stimulus. A robust unemployment ben- that face our servicemembers and their
Blumenthal Jones Schumer efit is crucial—crucial—to that pro- families each and every day. Lloyd
Booker Kaine Shaheen Austin served our Nation for more than
Brown Kelly
gram. Earlier in the pandemic, it
Sinema
Cantwell Klobuchar helped keep 12 million Americans out four decades, and his willingness to
Smith
Cardin Leahy Stabenow of poverty and propped up consumer serve his country again is admirable.
Carper Manchin Tester spending. We shouldn’t be cutting un- He will make an excellent Secretary of
Casey Markey
Coons Menendez
Udall employment benefits now, as the Presi- Defense.
Van Hollen dent’s team proposes; we should be ex- Now, an hour ago, I met with Presi-
Cortez Masto Merkley
Warner
Duckworth Murphy tending them. dent-Elect Biden’s economic team by
Durbin Murray Warren
Whitehouse Now, the Republican leader, as usual, teleconference, including Secretary-
Feinstein Peters
Gillibrand Reed Wyden gave a very angry speech this morning designate of Treasury, Janet Yellen, to
Hassan Rosen accusing Democrats of all manner of discuss priorities with the incoming
NOT VOTING—4 things, including intentionally block- administration on how to get our econ-
ing aid to thwart President Trump. I omy back on track. I urged them, once
Harris Perdue
Loeffler Rounds don’t know what evidence he has of President-Elect Biden becomes Presi-
that, but there are actual reports— dent, to go bold. Austerity right now is
The nomination was confirmed. honest-to-God reports—in the New not what America needs but a bold pro-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under York Times and the Washington Post gram to stimulate our economy and
the previous order, the motions to re- that Leader MCCONNELL was warning get things moving, to help get people
consider are considered made and laid the White House not to cut a deal on jobs—good-paying jobs—because our
upon the table, and the President will COVID relief before the election. economy is suffering. I look forward to
be immediately notified of the Senate’s Here is the Washington Post: our continued conversations.
action. ‘‘McConnell warns White House against A few weeks ago, I predicted that we
f making stimulus deal as Pelosi and would see some crocodile tears from
LEGISLATIVE SESSION Mnuchin inch closer.’’ That is from Oc- the Republican majority about Biden’s
tober 20—2 weeks before the election. Cabinet nominees, but I didn’t think it
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
Meanwhile, Democrats have contin- would occur this fast. It began when
ate will now resume legislative session.
ually lowered our proposals, now by several Republican Senators raised
RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY LEADER
over $2 trillion, to move closer to our some objections over Neera Tanden’s
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican colleagues in the spirit of Twitter feed. After 4 years of pre-
Democratic leader is recognized. compromise and for the sake of getting tending that they ‘‘didn’t see’’ Presi-
CORONAVIRUS something done for the American peo- dent Trump’s latest online outburst, it
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, the ple. It would do a whole lot of good if seems that Senate Republicans have
most important item on the Senate’s the Republican leader would drop the rediscovered their Twitter passwords
to-do list before the end of the year is daily tirades and diatribes, which seem now that Joe Biden is the President-
a bipartisan emergency relief package to be based in some alternative reality, elect.
for a nation suffering the worst month and join the rest of the Senate in urg- This week, after President-Elect
of the COVID–19 pandemic. ing the bipartisan negotiations now un- Biden announced that Xavier Becerra
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
Negotiations continue between a bi- derway to continue. is his pick to be the next Secretary of
partisan group of Senate and House Families all over the country are Health and Human Services, Repub-
Members who, last week, agreed in nearing a point of desperation, unable lican Senators raised concerns, in their
principle on a $900-plus billion emer- to put food on the table, a roof over minds, about Mr. Becerra’s qualifica-
gency relief proposal. As the details their children’s heads. By January, tions. The senior Senator from Texas
continue to get sorted, Speaker PELOSI nearly 12 million renters will owe an said:
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S7296 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 9, 2020
I’m not sure what his Health and Human Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, If we aren’t going to be willing to ask
Services credentials are. It’s not like Alex today I am asking our colleagues to these questions, then we have to think
Azar who used to work for pharma. stand up for two very important prin- about the magnitude of the sale with-
With all due respect to the senior ciples. One is the congressional over- out caring about the consequences.
Senator from Texas, working for the sight over arms sales abroad and, sec- I have heard a number of my col-
pharmaceutical industry is not the ondly, to ensure that these sales, in leagues advocate in support of these
only way to get experience in fact, promote and protect the long- sales because they believe it will help
healthcare. Some might argue it is the term national security of the United our like-minded partners better pos-
wrong kind of experience for an HHS States. ture against Iran. Now, no one is more
Secretary. Colleagues, I wish we didn’t find our- clear-eyed in this Chamber or has pur-
The truth is, Xavier Becerra is emi- selves in the position of having to dis- sued Iran and its threat of nuclear
nently qualified. He worked in the cuss our concerns with this sale in this weapons more than I, and we are clear-
House of Representatives for two dec- kind of forum. The United Arab Emir- eyed about the threat Iran continues to
ades, always very involved in advanc- ates has, indeed, been an important pose to national security interests, but
ing the healthcare of his constituents, partner in the fight against terrorism we have yet to understand exactly
and he has a particularly long track and across the region and, I believe, what military threat the F–35s or
record as an advocate of women’s will continue to do so. However, a sale armed drones will be addressing vis-à-
health. As the attorney general of Cali- of this magnitude requires the appro- vis Iran. Furthermore, according to the
fornia, he became one of the foremost priate due diligence. Trump administration, as recently as
legal experts on our Nation’s For the past few decades, the execu-
last year, the UAE continued to host a
healthcare laws. tive branch has respected the congres-
number of companies that facilitated
I must say, it is particularly rich for sional oversight of the arms sales proc-
Iranian financial transactions in viola-
this Republican majority to raise ‘‘con- ess, a critical piece of which is an in-
tion of various U.S. sanctions.
cerns’’ about whether Biden Cabinet formal review period during which we
So Iran is a threat, but you are help-
nominees have every last pristine qual- get answers to pressing questions. We
ing it facilitate U.S. financial trans-
have an opportunity to review sen-
ification for their posts. Not so long actions. It is not that I have said so but
sitive information so that, when sales
ago, nearly every Republican in this that the Trump administration has
come up for the formal notification,
Chamber lined up to make an oil exec- said so. Meanwhile, over the past year,
which is what we have before us now,
utive the Secretary of State. I don’t re- Iran has ramped up its nuclear capa-
we have a clearer path forward. Unfor-
member too many Republican ‘‘con- bilities amidst American diplomatic
tunately, in this case, the Trump ad-
cerns’’ when President Trump nomi- fallout.
ministration decided to simply ignore
nated a retired neurosurgeon to be the So, if we really want to talk about
congressional rights here and the re-
Secretary of HUD or when he put Rick countering Iran, we need a comprehen-
view process, formally notifying the
Perry in charge of the Department of sive, diplomatic strategy. Arming part-
sales of these complex weapons sys-
Energy—an agency he wanted to abol- ners with complex weapons systems
tems, along with other weaponry, to-
ish before learning it maintained the that could take years to come online is
taling $23 billion.
Nation’s nuclear stockpile and that he Beyond obliterating the congres- not a serious strategy with which to
would be in charge of it. If memory sional review process, the administra- confront the very real and timely
serves, this Senate Republican major- tion also seems to have rushed through threats from Iran.
ity confirmed a Secretary of Education the interagency review of a sale of this I have also heard some of our col-
whose only qualification for the job magnitude. Whereas, a sale of this leagues argue that, if we do not sell
was she used her inherited fortune to scope would normally merit months these weapons, the UAE will turn to
try to privatize American schooling. and months of detailed deliberations China and Russia. Well, let’s be clear:
Look, the country needs to move on between the Departments of Defense They already do. They already do. Our
from the past 4 years, but Senate Re- and State, this sale was announced own Department of Defense’s inspector
publicans can’t pretend like it never with more missing than a few dotted i’s general recently reported that the UAE
happened. After the sordid caliber of and crossed t’s. may be funding the Russian mercenary
nominees that this Republican major- I will go into more detail later before Wagner Group in Libya. U.N. reporting
ity confirmed over the past 4 years, it we vote, but the bottom line is that implicates the UAE’s use of Chinese-
will be impossible to take these com- there are many outstanding issues that manufactured drones, in violation of
plaints about Biden’s nominees very se- are critical to U.S. national security the U.N. arms embargo, also in Libya.
riously. that have not been addressed, includ- So, while I absolutely agree that we
I yield the floor. ing, by way of example, the United have to counter Chinese and Russian
I suggest the absence of a quorum. Arab Emirates’ present and future influence in the region, again, this re-
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. ROM- military relationships with Russia and quires a real strategy, not simply more
NEY). The clerk will call the roll. China. My understanding is that there arms. Isn’t this a conversation and a
The senior assistant legislative clerk are negotiations to have with China re- commitment that we should get in
proceeded to call the roll. garding an airstrip for the Chinese writing from the UAE as part of such
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I ask military off of the UAE. Is that in the an arms sale? We don’t have that. Fur-
unanimous consent that the order for national interest and security of the thermore, if we go forward with these
the quorum call be rescinded. United States? sales, yet deny similar requests to
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Should we not have a definitive com- countries like Qatar or Saudi Arabia,
objection, it is so ordered. mitment from the UAE that it will not where will they go for their advanced
f move forward if these arms sales move weaponry to keep pace, and what reac-
forward, including with the most so- tion will Iran have to them? Do we
MOTION TO DISCHARGE—S.J. RES. phisticated stealth jet fighter that we really think we can sell this just to the
77 have? How do we work to safeguard UAE and not have those other coun-
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, pur- U.S. technology? the guarantees we tries come knocking on our door, start-
suant to the Arms Export Control Act will have in place about how U.S.-ori- ing a very sophisticated arms race in a
of 1976, I move to discharge the Foreign gin weapons will be used given the tinder box of the world?
Relations Committee from further con- Emirates’ history of transferring weap- Finally, let me be very clear: I ap-
sideration of S.J. Res. 77, a joint reso- ons to a terrorist organization and vio- plaud the Abraham accords as a histor-
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
lution providing for congressional dis- lating the U.N. arms embargo in ical turning point for Israel and the
approval of the proposed foreign mili- Libya? the longer term implications of Arab world. These new, formal rela-
tary sale to the United Arab Emirates an arms race in the region? and then, tionships have the possibility of trans-
of certain defense articles and services. yes, the impact that it could have on forming the region much more broadly
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The mo- both our and Israel’s qualitative mili- and bringing peace, stability, and pros-
tion is pending. tary edge? perity to people who desperately want
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