Congressional Record — Senate, December 18, 2020, Page S7649

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Page S7649 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for December 18, 2020, in interleaved columns, with a defense authorization discussion and a NASA authorization bill. One speaker marks December 19 anniversaries, including NATO naming General Eisenhower in 1950 and Apollo 17 in 1972. Another speaker says a massive cyber security breach of the government has the earmarks of the Russians, criticizes the White House for silence on bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan, and says the NASA bill sets bold goals, which are that speaker's views. A further speaker lists Illinois transit funding and notes the continuing resolution expires at midnight.

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“Congressional Record — Senate, December 18, 2020, Page S7649.” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-12-18-crec-2020-12-18-pt1-pgs7650-2-96233f53cf/, SHA-256 7212b3751949cb7a3f80f807cf24dd81ab33a4fdba12ce849cef10ff310b705f.

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December 18, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7649
In 1950, December 19, NATO named defense of our country. They relate to ning and honest with the American
General Dwight D. Eisenhower as su- issues which are thorny, political people, as well, about the nature of this
preme commander of the Western Eu- issues that shouldn’t slow down these threat. Instead, this President has been
ropean defense forces. critical programs. silent.
Then, in 1972, December 19, Apollo 17, This authorization bill comes at an I recall not that long ago, a few
the last of the Apollo moon landings, exceptional time. We have been learn- months ago, we disclosed—we found
returned to Earth. ing over the last few weeks about a evidence that the Russians were offer-
Then, in 1984, December 19—I remem- massive cyber security breach of our ing bounties on the heads of American
ber this well because I was in Hong government, probably by the Russians. soldiers in Afghanistan. It is an out-
Kong when this happened—that was It has all the earmarks and finger- rageous and unthinkable act. Yet the
when China signed an accord returning prints of Vladimir Putin project to White House was silent, refused to re-
Hong Kong to the Chinese sovereignty. compromise our national security and spond to what I know—because I have
A lot of people thought it was a good to create chaos whenever possible. We seen it—was credible evidence that this
idea at the time to accept the people learned of it 4 years ago in the 2016 was linked directly to Moscow and the
from Hong Kong. I was there, and look election, when every intelligence agen- operatives of the Russian Government.
what has happened now after all these cy of our government agreed that the The attempted assassination of
years. I would have to say that created Russians were meddling in our election Navalny, the dissident in Russia, has
a hysteria that has continued to this and doing their best to subvert the will been well documented. Yet, again, our
day. of the American people. White House, our President are silent.
Then, in 1998, December 19, U.S. We made strong statements in oppo- I don’t understand it.
President Bill Clinton was impeached. sition to it, and we took action. Some I am hopeful that the new President,
I was there for that one too. That was of it has been publicly reported, and Joe Biden, when he takes office Janu-
December 19, 1998. some of it has been disclosed to Mem- ary 20, will make it a priority to estab-
The event that is more significant by bers of Congress in a classified setting. lish a new understanding and relation-
a landslide is what happened on Decem- We were successful in thwarting their ship with Vladimir Putin. The United
ber 19 of 1959. On December 19, 1959, my efforts in the 2018 election. I want to States cannot be a victim of Putin over
wife Kay and I got married. That salute all of those who were responsible and over again without speaking out—
makes tomorrow our 61st wedding an- for that effort. In 2020, I believe the and more. I am counting on Joe Biden
niversary. Just look at all of the beau- same can be said. We will know more to do that. I believe he will. He is a re-
ty that has followed us—20 kids and as we sift through the evidence. alist. I know he wants peace in the
grandkids, all of that in a 61-year pe- This latest disclosure is really trou- world, and I do, too, but we also must
riod of time. bling. We believe that beginning in defend this country. The men and
What I want to say is the beautiful March of this year, the Russians start- women in uniform who risk their lives
life that we are still having together— ed compromising our cyber security every single day should be our highest
and, Kay, I love you more now than I network in many different ways. Every priority.
did 61 years ago. day there is a new disclosure of an- I am heartened by Joe Biden’s clos-
I say to the Senate leadership that other agency that reports that they ing that he is using in all of his public
you better get this last vote done by have somehow wheedled their way into speeches now. He, of course, says it
tonight or you will have to do it with- this important, critical information. more artfully than I will, but he calls
out me because I am going to be with How much they know, what they have on God to bless America but also God
Kay on our anniversary on Saturday, gained, how much they have com- to keep our troops safe. I am sure it
our 61st wedding anniversary. promised us, we don’t know yet. It cer- has special meaning to him since the
To everyone else out there, as you tainly is unnerving, and it deserves a death of his son Beau is a reminder of
celebrate the birth of Christ at Christ- very thorough—thorough—investiga- the sacrifices that not only the men
mastime, I am going to say to you: tion as to how we failed. and women in uniform but their fami-
Merry Christmas and God bless you. You see, the United States was not lies make for us every single day. I
I yield the floor. taking anything for granted. We were hope that continues to be the watch-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The as- literally spending billions—billions—of word of his administration.
sistant minority leader. dollars for the safety of the security CORONAVIRUS
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT systems. We knew that included in Mr. President, there is not much ac-
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am those systems was information which tivity on the floor of the Senate today.
sorry I didn’t come to the floor quickly is essential for the protection of the I hope there will be before the end of
enough to wish my friend Jim Inhofe United States. To think that has been the day. The leaders in the Senate and
and his wife the best. He is one of the compromised at the hands of one of our House—Democrat and Republican—as
real contributors in the U.S. Senate implacable foes is certainly unnerving. well as the White House, with Treasury
and has been for years. He is a special I believe we should initiate a thorough Secretary Mnuchin, are fast at work,
individual. He decided to take an inter- and complete investigation, let the we are told, establishing a COVID–19
est in the continent of Africa. I don’t chips fall where they may, establish relief bill.
know that there is another Senator where we have failed from a technology I was part of an effort, which the Pre-
who knows as much about that con- viewpoint, and if any individuals are siding Officer also shared in. It was a
tinent as he does. He has been there so responsible, that they be held account- volunteer activity that involved about
many times. His stories, many of them, able. 3 weeks of endless telephone con-
relate to countries that few people At the same time, I have to say that ferences and Zoom calls. Staff sup-
have heard of. He has made a special I join the Presiding Officer in com- ported us all the way or we couldn’t
point to understand that continent, the menting on one particular aspect of have done it.
people on it, in addition to his respon- this that I just can’t understand. The But it started off with eight of us
sibilities serving the State of Okla- White House has been virtually silent eating dinner one night and deciding to
homa and, of course, now, as chairman as all of these facts have unfolded by come together as a group to see if we
of the Armed Services Committee, his the day. I cannot understand that— could break the logjam. The whole no-
responsibility for funding the Depart- why the Commander in Chief of the tion of COVID–19 relief was dead in the
ment of Defense. He and our Demo- United States of America has not spo- water for some reason—no action, no
cratic colleague, Senator JACK REED of ken out forcefully against the Russians activity.

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Rhode Island, have done a remarkable for their involvement in this cyber se- We remember back in March when
bipartisan job on that Defense author- curity breach, why he has not likened Congress—particularly, I remember the
ization, let me add. this to a virtual invasion of the United Senate, by a vote of 96 to 0, passed, on
I sincerely hope that the President States when it comes to our own na- a bipartisan basis, the largest relief
will sign that bill. His objections to it tional security. I believe that we bill in the history of the United States.
have nothing to do with the military or should have been firm from the begin- It was over $3 trillion in the CARES

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S7650 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 18, 2020
Act, which was for addressing and lions for airports, including millions of tragedy if we saw this government
fighting the pandemic as its first pri- dollars for Illinois airports and airline come to a close for any reason at any
ority, but, secondly, trying to rescue relief as well. We provided more than $1 time. And certainly, at this moment,
our floundering economy. billion in funding for Amtrak to pre- when our economy is so tenuous and
Thank goodness we did that, and we vent further furloughs, provided mil- our worries are so large over the
came together. We hoped that it would lions in payroll support to protect jobs healthcare of our Nation, we shouldn’t
be a short-lived requirement, but it of thousands of Illinois airline workers, allow this to occur. I pray that the ne-
turned out to be much longer. Many of and provided funding to help struggling gotiators will be able to spend good
us anticipated that by the middle of Illinois bus companies keep their work- time today and report to us soon that
this year things would have come ers on the job. they have reached an agreement. It is
under control. We know, sadly, that is That is not the end of the list, by any time for us to get our work done.
not the case. means. Part of the money we put in And like Senator INHOFE, who is
There has been a call ever since to here was for the logistics of the vac- going home for his 61st anniversary,
step back into this theater of con- cinations which are now taking place many of us are anxious to return to our
frontation with this pandemic and the across the United States. We provided homes and families. We won’t have the
weakening economy. But for some rea- some. I think the negotiators are add- expansive Christmas this year that we
son—and I won’t point fingers—we ing to the amount, and I applaud them have had in the past. We won’t be re-
have been unable to reach any bipar- for that. uniting with children and grand-
tisan agreement. What we left out of this, I think, was children who really make the holiday,
Well, eight of us willful Senators— significant too. We did not provide any but we are looking at the long run. The
four Democrats and four Republicans— direct assistance to State and local long run is we want to be around for
set out to try and get the conversation governments. This morning, I got on next Christmas. Instead of one tree, we
started and see what we could agree on. the telephone with a group that has are going to have two to make up for
It was a great experience. Even though been kind enough to volunteer for this year.
there were parts of it where we could many years to consider the applica- I yield the floor.
not agree, and there was a lot of frus- tions of individuals in Illinois who I suggest the absence of a quorum.
tration, there was also a lot that was want to attend our service academies. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
constructive and encouraging. Some of these people have been doing clerk will call the roll.
At the end of the day, we produced this for 20 years. I really respect them The senior assistant legislative clerk
two documents. One of these docu- and thank them for doing it. I tried to proceeded to call the roll.
ments was a $748 billion consensus doc- take myself out of that consideration Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unan-
ument, which spelled out the things so no one can ever claim political con- imous consent that the order for the
that we thought were essential as part sideration was taken in any way. quorum call be rescinded.
of any COVID relief package—extend- One of the persons who did part of The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
ing unemployment benefits for 16 the meeting this morning was Skip objection, it is so ordered.
weeks, including for about 160,000 peo- Lee. Skip is the mayor of Sterling, IL. f
ple in my State who claim the pan- He said to me: Senator, can you pro-
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND
demic unemployment assistance and vide any help for COVID relief for
SPACE ADMINISTRATION AU-
248,000 who claim pandemic emergency towns like Sterling, IL?
THORIZATION ACT OF 2019
unemployment compensation. Millions I said: Skip, there will be some help,
of Americans—12 million Americans I think, but it won’t be the kind of help Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, in a few
will lose their unemployment com- that I wanted. moments, I am going to ask unanimous
pensation on the day after Christmas. I do believe we should help State and consent for the Senate to pass S. 2800,
Imagine that. local governments. I have been re- which is the bipartisan NASA Author-
We also, in this bill, provided assist- minded by the Presiding Officer and ization Act. Before doing so, I want to
ance for small businesses, including the others that every State is not the make some brief remarks about how
second round of Paycheck Protection same, every locality is not the same. important this legislation is to Amer-
Program loans for the hardest hit busi- Some have suffered real losses in rev- ican leadership in space and to our con-
nesses; extended the eviction morato- enue directly related to COVID–19 and tinued space exploration efforts.
rium through January 31, 2021, pro- some have prospered. It just depends on Well over a year ago, I joined with
viding emergency rental assistance to your circumstances. Chairman WICKER, Ranking Member
help families stay in their homes; pro- In my circumstance, the State of Illi- CANTWELL, and Subcommittee on Avia-
vided funding for hospitals and clinics nois has paid a heavy price as a State tion and Space Ranking Member
for testing and to quickly and fairly and in the localities as well. We do not SINEMA, and we began writing the
distribute vaccines, including $500 mil- include the direct relief for State and NASA Authorization Act, using as a
lion to Illinois for testing and vaccine local governments, which I hoped foundation the bipartisan bill that I
distribution and $1.5 billion for Illinois would be part of this agreement. had previously authored with Senators
hospitals and healthcare providers. I hope we can return to that issue CORNYN, RUBIO, MARKEY, and then-Sen-
We provided $82 billion nationwide soon, very quickly—after the first of ator Bill Nelson, from the last Con-
for education—$54 billion for K–12, $20 the year, perhaps, with the new Presi- gress, as our starting point. We solic-
billion for higher ed. We extended the dent—and find a way to provide this re- ited input from hundreds of stake-
Federal student loan forbearance from lief. holders, from individuals and aca-
its current expiration, January 31, 2021, The alternative is awful. I know what demics to industry partners and even
through April 30, 2021. is going to happen to a lot of the local our international allies. Hundreds of
We provided $10 billion nationwide of budgets. Police officers are going to be pages of suggestions, proposed edits,
much needed support for the struggling furloughed—firefighters, teachers, and comments were submitted. Over
childcare sector. healthcare workers—just at a moment many months, our staffs worked dili-
We addressed hunger by increasing in time when we need them the most. gently through each and every submis-
SNAP benefits for nearly 2 million in- Many of these communities will be un- sion, trying to incorporate the feed-
dividuals in my State and millions able to continue providing those very back to the greatest extent possible,
more across the United States and by fundamental services to keep us safe. I and what resulted is this bill, which
providing funding for food banks and hope we can get back to that as quick- was marked up last year and unani-

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senior nutrition programs, serving ly as possible. mously reported.
more than 1.5 million people in Illinois. Finally, let me say that we are all What we have achieved together is
We provided billions for transit, in- anxious to fund this government at legislation that enjoys deep and broad
cluding hundreds of millions of dollars midnight tonight when the continuing bipartisan support and that sets bold
for Illinois transit agencies and help resolution, which we passed several goals for NASA and the United States
for Amtrak as well. We provided bil- months, ago expires. It would be a real in space. It provides the direction and

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