Congressional Record, Senate, December 20, 2020 — Executive Calendar and Coronavirus
Summary
Senate page of the Congressional Record dated December 20, 2020. It prints a cloture motion and roll call votes on the nomination of Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, of California, to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California. Toomey states that Republicans set four goals for the CARES Act emergency lending programs and achieved them, including shutting down the four existing CARES-funded facilities and forbidding the reopening of those facilities without the consent of Congress. McConnell reports that the four leaders of the Senate and House finalized an agreement and says more help is on the way.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, December 20, 2020 — Executive Calendar and Coronavirus.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-12-20-crec-2020-12-20-pt1-pgs7860-3-5300940e00/
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S7860 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 20, 2020
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a CLOTURE MOTION McConnell Rosen Tester
Menendez Rubio Thune
sufficient second? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant Merkley Sasse Tillis
There appears to be a sufficient sec- to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Moran Schatz Toomey
ond. Murkowski Schumer Udall
Senate the pending cloture motion, Murphy Scott (FL)
The clerk will call the roll. Van Hollen
which the clerk will state. Murray Scott (SC) Warner
The senior assistant legislative clerk The senior assistant legislative clerk Peters Shaheen Whitehouse
called the roll. Portman Shelby
read as follows: Reed Sinema
Wicker
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators CLOTURE MOTION Risch Smith
Wyden
are necessarily absent: the Senator Roberts Young
We, the undersigned Senators, in ac- Stabenow
from Tennessee (Mr. ALEXANDER), the cordance with the provisions of rule
Romney Sullivan
Senator from North Carolina (Mr. XXII of the Standing Rules of the Sen- NAYS—7
BURR), the Senator from Texas (Mr. ate, do hereby move to bring to a close Blumenthal Lee Warren
CRUZ), the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. debate on the nomination of Fernando Hawley Markey
ENZI), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. L. Aenlle-Rocha, of California, to be
Hirono Sanders
FISCHER), the Senator from Georgia United States District Judge for the NOT VOTING—11
(Mrs. LOEFFLER), the Senator from Central District of California. Alexander Enzi Paul
Kentucky (Mr. PAUL), the Senator from Mitch McConnell, John Barrasso, David Blackburn Fischer Perdue
Georgia (Mr. PERDUE), the Senator Perdue, Thom Tillis, Tom Cotton, Mike Burr Harris Rounds
from Idaho (Mr. RISCH), and the Sen- Cruz Loeffler
Rounds, Roger F. Wicker, Kevin
ator from South Dakota (Mr. ROUNDS). Cramer, Richard Burr, Mike Crapo, The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this
Further, if present and voting, the Steve Daines, Marsha Blackburn, John vote, the yeas are 82, the nays are 7.
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. ALEX- Thune, James E. Risch, Mike Braun, The motion is agreed to.
Tim Scott.
ANDER) would have voted ‘‘yea.’’ f
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unan-
Senator from California (Ms. HARRIS) is imous consent the mandatory quorum EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
necessarily absent. call has been waived. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there The question is, Is it the sense of the clerk will report the nomination.
any other Senators in the Chamber de- Senate that debate on the nomination The legislative clerk read the nomi-
siring to vote? of Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, of Cali- nation of Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, of
The result was announced—yeas 84, fornia, to be United States District California, to be United States District
nays 5, as follows: Judge for the Central District of Cali- Judge for the Central District of Cali-
fornia, shall be brought to a close? fornia.
[Rollcall Vote No. 282 Ex.]
The yeas and nays are mandatory The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
YEAS—84 under the rule. ator from Pennsylvania.
Baldwin Graham Portman The clerk will call the roll.
Barrasso Grassley Reed CORONAVIRUS
Bennet Hassan Roberts The senior assistant legislative clerk Mr. TOOMEY. Mr. President, earlier
Blackburn Hawley Romney called the roll. today, the minority leader came down
Blunt Heinrich Rosen Mr. THUNE. The following Senators
Booker Hirono Rubio to the Senate floor and unfortunately
Boozman Hoeven Sasse
are necessarily absent: the Senator once again mischaracterized both the
Braun Hyde-Smith Schatz from Tennessee (Mr. ALEXANDER), the objectives and motives of Senate Re-
Brown Inhofe Schumer Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. BLACK- publicans in the pursuit of the changes
Cantwell Johnson Scott (FL) BURN), the Senator from North Caro-
Capito Jones Scott (SC) we wanted to make with respect to the
Cardin Kaine Shaheen lina (Mr. BURR), the Senator from CARES Act emergency lending pro-
Carper Kelly Shelby Texas (Mr. CRUZ), the Senator from gram, and I want to address that. But
Casey Kennedy Sinema Wyoming (Mr. ENZI), the Senator from
Cassidy King Smith let me just say candidly that I under-
Collins Klobuchar Stabenow
Nebraska (Mrs. FISCHER), the Senator stand his frustration. Republicans to-
Coons Lankford Sullivan from Georgia (Mrs. LOEFFLER), the gether set out four goals for the coun-
Cornyn Leahy Tester Senator from Kentucky (Mr. PAUL), the try with respect to these programs, and
Cortez Masto Lee Thune Senator from Georgia (Mr. PERDUE),
Cotton Manchin Tillis we achieved all four goals. I guess that
Cramer McConnell Toomey and the Senator from South Dakota is a little bit frustrating.
Crapo Menendez Udall (Mr. ROUNDS). Let me go through just a little bit of
Daines Merkley Van Hollen Further, if present and voting, the
Durbin Moran Warner recent history on this. Let’s remember
Ernst Murkowski Whitehouse Senator from Tennessee (Mr. ALEX- that this debate has been going on for
Feinstein Murphy Wicker ANDER) would have voted ‘‘yea.’’ several months. The Democrats’ origi-
Gardner Murray Wyden Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the nal position was to keep these pro-
Gillibrand Peters Young
Senator from California (Ms. HARRIS) is grams in place. In fact, many of them
NAYS—5 necessarily absent. wanted to expand them. They certainly
Blumenthal Markey Warren The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. wanted to extend them well past the
Duckworth Sanders SCOTT of Florida). Are there any other end of the year. How do we know that?
NOT VOTING—11 Senators in the Chamber desiring to Well, among other ways, Senator SCHU-
Alexander Fischer Perdue
vote? MER himself sent a letter to Secretary
Burr Harris Risch The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 82, Mnuchin and Chairman Powell asking
Cruz Loeffler Rounds nays 7, as follows: exactly that—that they extend these
Enzi Paul
[Rollcall Vote No. 283 Ex.] programs.
The nomination was confirmed. YEAS—82 You might wonder, why would they
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- Baldwin Coons Hassan want to extend an emergency lending
jority leader is recognized. Barrasso Cornyn Heinrich facility when we are clearly not in an
Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I Bennet Cortez Masto Hoeven emergency in terms of the financial
Blunt Cotton Hyde-Smith
ask unanimous consent that the man- Booker Cramer Inhofe markets? The reason is that a lot of
datory quorum call be waived. Boozman Crapo Johnson Democrats had other purposes in mind
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Braun Daines Jones for these programs, and in my view,
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Brown Duckworth Kaine
objection, it is so ordered. Cantwell Durbin Kelly
those other purposes would have con-
Under the previous order, the motion Capito Ernst Kennedy stituted a terrible misuse of those pro-
to reconsider is considered made and Cardin Feinstein King grams.
laid upon the table, and the President Carper Gardner Klobuchar One of the goals clearly was to kind
Casey Gillibrand Lankford
will be immediately notified of the Cassidy Graham Leahy of morph the Fed’s Municipal Liquidity
Senate’s action. Collins Grassley Manchin Facility into a bailout fund for States
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December 20, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7861
and municipalities. How do we know the year. We know it from his letter sional intent. Let me say that I was
that? Well, because the Democrat-con- that he wrote. But, to his credit, he ul- one of the two Republican Senators in
trolled House passed a bill that would timately relented, and Republicans the room when we were negotiating
require that. There is no mystery here. achieved our second goal. this part of the CARES Act with our
They passed a bill that specifically The third goal that we had was to Democratic counterparts, Secretary
would require the Fed to use the Mu- make sure that these programs aren’t Mnuchin, our respective staffs, and at-
nicipal Liquidity Facility to bail out simply resuscitated next year. We all torneys. There was nobody in the room
States and municipalities under out- know there is going to be a new Sec- who thought for a minute that these
rageous terms: ultra-low interest rates, retary of the Treasury, and a joint de- were meant to be indefinite programs.
ultra-long-term loans, 25 basis point in- cision by the Treasury Secretary and Remember where we were. We were
terest rate, 10 years. States wouldn’t the Fed is what governs this program. absolutely convinced—and I think
even need to attest, as they do under Now, I don’t think they would have the rightly—that we were on the verge of a
current law, that they were unable to legal authority to resume this, but full-blown financial crisis, a meltdown
secure credit elsewhere. many of our Democratic colleagues in the financial markets. If that had
Basically, they wanted to turn the openly advocated that despite the fact happened, it is very likely we would
Fed from the lender of last resort to that Secretary Mnuchin and Powell have had a full-blown depression that
the lender of first resort. So they were had agreed not to extend these pro- could have lasted a very, very long
clear about that. There are many grams, that a new Treasury Secretary time. Credit markets were freezing.
Democratic activists and folks here should, in fact, resume these programs, Companies couldn’t borrow. Do you
who are sympathetic with them who start them up again. We said no, and know what that means when that hap-
have other purposes as well, such as again, to the credit of our Democratic pens to a business? They can’t make
using the Corporate Credit Facility as colleagues, they relented, and Repub- payroll. If they can’t access credit, if
a way to coerce the behavior they want licans achieved our third goal. they can’t borrow, draw down on a
from corporations. It wasn’t about ex- The fourth was simply to forbid the bank facility or issue their commercial
tending credit to companies that need creation of a clone that would cir- paper or issue their corporate bond, if
credit; it is about achieving a social or cumvent the third; right? If you had to they can’t raise the credit they need,
cultural or political objective by at- end a particular lending facility, but they can’t pay their bills. When the
taching terms to the loans that would you could just create an identical credit markets freeze up and businesses
result from that. version of it or a nearly identical can’t pay their bills, including payroll,
Those are the kinds of uses that version of it and call it something else, you have a full-blown, unmitigated dis-
many on their side had. How do we why, that would defeat the purpose of aster. That is what we wanted to pre-
know that? Well, among other things, ending the one you ended. So we need- vent.
they beat us up almost every day for ed, in statute, to make it clear that The purpose of these facilities was
not voting on the Heroes Act. I think there would be a prohibition against narrow. It was to restore the normal
they intended to vote for it, so they the creation of a clone or a near clone. functioning of the private lending and
This one, Senator SCHUMER fought us capital markets of America. The pur-
would have been voting for this very
hard on. I will say he fought us hard on
misuse. pose was never to replace those mar-
So our goal was simple. Our goal as a this. In the course of exchanges, we
kets. The purpose was never to pick
conference or the consensus of Repub- kept getting documents that didn’t
winners and losers and decide which
lican Senators was to end these pro- have any reference to this at all, but in
companies and industries should get fa-
the end, he agreed that we would have
grams consistent with the intent of the vorable terms and which should not. It
this prohibition.
law and, in fact, I believe, the letter of was none of those things. And it was
We then went back and forth on the
the law, prevent the misuse, and make exact language, exactly what would very much not intended to be some
sure the Fed’s legitimate functions are constitute a clone, as I am using the kind of all-purpose cure-all for what-
not impinged upon. How are we going term, and what wouldn’t. We got to an ever economic ills there are. None of
to do this? We are going to do this with agreement, and we achieved our fourth that. The purpose was always to ensure
four specific steps, four specific goals goal. that creditworthy borrowers could ac-
that would allow us to achieve that I want to commend my Democratic cess credit through normal channels.
outcome for the American people. colleagues for working with us to get Well, guess what. It worked. It
No. 1, sweep the unused money out of here. It wasn’t easy, and I know there worked better than we could have
those accounts and repurpose it; use it is a lot in this that they don’t love imagined, better than I was even hop-
for other, better purposes. We have about this, but with respect to these ing, because within days—within
other needs. That is an important ob- really important goals for the Amer- days—credit markets were flowing
jective. It also makes sure that the ican people, we are making progress. again because lenders had the con-
money is not available for misuse, if we One of the other things that I just fidence that, through these facilities,
are shifting it out of these facilities have to address because the leader the markets would not collapse, there
and putting it to good use. brought this up in his comments ear- would not be a freezing up, they would
Now, again, initially the Democratic lier was a terrible misrepresentation of be able to function, and therefore they
position was in opposition to this, but what our objective was or why did we had the confidence to make that loan
to their credit, the bipartisan group of think it was so important to end these to that company that needed to make
eight folks who got together and really programs in the first place. its payroll and all the other innumer-
were the catalyst for the bill that we Our intent was not, as Senator SCHU- able transactions that have to take
are working on now—the Republicans MER implied on the floor today, to sab- place.
persuaded the Democrats to accept this otage the incoming administration’s In fact, it worked so well that as of
idea that the money should be swept ability to stabilize the economy. And now, I think, total credit has flown at
out, and to the credit of the Democrats that is a direct quote. That was not our an alltime record pace in the United
there, they agreed. So that became the intent. So what was our intent? Well, States of America. Corporate bond
basis or one of the bases of this piece of first, I mentioned earlier we think it is issuance is off the charts. High credit,
legislation that we have been working important that you follow the law, and lower credit, debt and equity—the cap-
on, and it achieves Republicans’ first we believe the law requires that these ital markets have been flowing. Credit
goal. be shut down. We understand there was lines from banks have been flowing.
The second goal is to end the pro- going to be an aggressive attempt to The programs achieved their limited
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grams as the statute intended. As I circumvent that by interpreting the purpose extremely well.
say, I believe the statute achieves that, law differently, so we felt, clarify the Now, look, are there other economic
but there is a very aggressive interpre- statute, make it unambiguous, and we needs in America? Absolutely. I mean,
tation to the contrary. We know that would achieve that. there are industries that have been
Senator SCHUMER wanted to extend The second thing is, of course, it is devastated—the restaurant industry,
these programs well beyond the end of completely consistent with congres- hotels, transportation. We know that,
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S7862 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 20, 2020
and we have legislation that is at- Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, I want cue package for the American people.
tempting to address many of those to commend Senator TOOMEY and As our citizens continue battling this
issues with forgivable loans and an in- thank him for his expertise, for his coronavirus this holiday season, they
crease in unemployment benefits and foresight, and for his courage on the will not be fighting alone.
other provisions. It is here on the Sen- issue of ending these CARES Act-fund- We have agreed to a package of near-
ate floor, through legislation like that, ed Federal Reserve programs. ly $900 billion. It is packed with tar-
that we should decide how, whether, You have probably seen that over the geted policies to help struggling Amer-
and to what extent we are going to ad- last few days, he has been subjected to icans who have already waited entirely
dress those problems. That is our job— an onslaught of vicious, dishonest at- too long. For workers at the hardest
to do it through an appropriation proc- tacks by Democrats and their stenog- hit small businesses, there will be a
ess here in the Senate. That is not the raphers in the Press Gallery, saying targeted second draw of the Paycheck
job of the Fed. that he was somehow gumming up the Protection Program. We have not
That brings me to another really im- works, that we were not going to pass worked so hard to save as many jobs as
portant reason why we didn’t want this bill because the Toomey language possible, all these months, only to fum-
these programs to continue indefi- was stopping it. Nothing could be fur- ble the ball with vaccinations already
nitely, and that is to protect the Fed ther from the truth. underway.
from being politicized, to preserve the First off, while Senator TOOMEY may Speaking of vaccines, we can’t nul-
independence of the Fed, which is very, be our thought leader on this issue, lify the success of Operation Warp
very important. this was the Senate Republican con- Speed by falling asleep at the switch on
If the Fed ever became simply an ex- ference’s position. That is why our ma- distribution. This agreement will pro-
tension of one of the political parties, jority leader stood firm behind it. vide huge sums for the logistics that
we would be in a very, very bad place. Second, as Senator TOOMEY said, this will get these lifesaving shots to our
But think about it. If these programs is not a new issue; this is not some- citizens as fast as possible.
were going to continue indefinitely and thing we just started debating. We had Of course, many millions of Ameri-
our Democratic colleagues got their versions of this in our bill this sum- cans have lost their jobs—and are con-
wish that is represented in the Heroes mer. As he laid out, the minority lead- tinuing to lose them—through no fault
Act—to have massive subsidies for mu- er and the Speaker of the House had a of their own. This package will renew
nicipalities—think about the amount version of it in their $3.4 trillion this and extend a number of the additional
of political pressure on the Fed to bail summer as well. The minority leader important Federal unemployment ben-
out whoever is the preferred con- sent a letter about it. This has been at efits that have helped families stay
stituent of the day: private or public, the heart of this legislation’s debate afloat.
municipal or business. Across all kinds of families, in all
for months. And the fact that it was in
Just think about how it would be kinds of situations, this has been a dif-
their legislation, it was in their let-
used, and think about the strings that ficult time across the board. So, at the
ter—they kept saying that we wanted
they would—they have advocated this. particular request and emphasis of
to somehow sabotage the economic re-
Many of our Democratic colleagues President Trump and his administra-
covery—just goes to show you what
have said: This could be a way to en- tion, our agreement will provide an-
their intents were with these pro-
courage unionization or encourage the other round of direct impact payments
grams. It was to use them, as Senator
composition of the Board to look like to help households make ends meet and
TOOMEY said, as political slush funds;
we would like it to look. continue our economic recovery.
It is an endless list, and it is all wild- use them to bail out—I don’t know— We all know this crisis has tested our
ly inappropriate for the central bank of New York State or the city of New healthcare providers. This legislation
America to be engaged in this kind of York; use them to impose politically will continue to fund the frontlines.
thing. You should never put the Fed in correct policies on companies that But the crisis in American education
the position of the incredible political could come to the Fed and get low- or has been staggering as well. So this
pressure that they would have been no-interest-rate loans if they danced to package will supply millions and mil-
under. the woke left’s tune. lions of dollars to help get kids back in
So with this bill—and I hope we are Senator TOOMEY and Senate Repub- school and to do so safely.
able to vote on this, if not today then licans drew the line on this. We drew These are just some of the key com-
tomorrow. There are some things in the line on politicizing the Fed. We had ponents. There are many more. And
this bill—unrelated things—that I like. no intent whatsoever to harm the Fed’s importantly, we are going to supply
I do think we need another round of background ability to take emergency this emergency aid in a way that is
PPP loans. I do think we need the ex- action, and we will be prepared in the smart and responsible. We will be
panded eligibility for unemployment future, as Congresses in the past have repurposing more than $560 billion in
benefits, for instance. Here are things I been, in an economic crisis to act as money that was already set aside by
don’t like. I think direct payments to well, just like we have twice in the last the CARES Act—but not spent—toward
people who have not suffered a loss of 12 years—2008 and 2020. these urgent needs that I have out-
income makes no sense whatsoever. But nothing you have read in the lined.
But this topic I have been discussing— news about Senator TOOMEY and his We will be appropriately paring back
the end of these 13(3) lending facilities language that he carried on behalf of some of the most expansive powers
is a very important part of the bill that the Senate Republican conference that Congress temporarily gave
I like very much. could be further from the truth. I want unelected officials to stabilize the fi-
There are four important objectives to thank him for standing strong, and nancial system back in the springtime.
we set out, and we achieved them: I want to thank the majority leader for And I want to particularly thank Sen-
sweeping the money out; shutting standing strong on this as well. ator TOOMEY for his extraordinary con-
down existing facilities, the four exist- I yield the floor. tribution to that effort.
ing CARES-funded facilities; forbidding The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- At long last, we have the bipartisan
their reopening without the consent of jority leader. breakthrough the country has needed.
Congress; and forbidding clones from CORONAVIRUS Now we need to promptly finalize text,
being an end-run around that—all Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, for avoid any last-minute obstacles, and
without impinging on the Fed’s ability the information of all Senators—and, cooperate to move this legislation
to intervene in the markets in emer- more importantly, for the American through both Chambers.
gency circumstances. Those were our people—we can finally report what our This is good news. But I need to close
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objectives. In this legislation, we Nation has needed to hear for a very with one observation that is regret-
achieve all four of those objectives. I long time: More help is on the way. table. From where I stand, from where
would say that is a good day’s work. Moments ago, in consultation with Senate Republicans stand, there is no
I yield the floor. our committees, the four leaders of the reason this urgent package could not
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Senate and House finalized an agree- have been signed into law multiple
ator from Arkansas. ment. There will be another major res- months ago—multiple months ago.
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