Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Dec. 30, 2020)
Summary
The Congressional Record, Volume 166, No. 222, for Wednesday, December 30, 2020, with Senate proceedings at pages S7971 and S7972; the House was not in session. Under the heading Coronavirus, Mr. McConnell says the Senate will not split apart the three issues linked by the President and criticizes sending more nontargeted checks after the nearly $900 billion relief law signed four days earlier. The clerk reads a policing bill, Calendar No. 480, on a motion to proceed, and S. 5085 and H.R. 9051, recovery rebate bills, are placed on the calendar after Mr. McConnell objects to further proceedings en bloc. Mr. Schumer then answers the junior Senator from Missouri's plan to contest the electoral college votes, saying the Biden-Harris ticket won 306 to 232 and that President Trump and his allies lost more than 50 lawsuits.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Cite this document
“Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Dec. 30, 2020).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-12-30-crec-2020-12-30-pt1-pgs7971-8-58397df3b7/
, SHA-256 c3210a5ab7505ff323eff46274feb1e7d9282a96c3c0ba2be6e112019f91c93f.Full text
Congressional Record
E PL
UR M
IB NU
U U
S
116 th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
United States
of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE
Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020 No. 222
House of Representatives
The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Thursday, December 31, 2020, at 10 a.m.
Senate
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020
The Senate met at 3 p.m. and was NATIONAL DEFENSE trying to gut America’s capabilities
called to order by the President pro AUTHORIZATION ACT while our adversaries continue ramping
tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, up. The Senate will stay on this impor-
f today, the Senate was supposed to fin- tant bill until we complete it one way
ish legislation securing critical tools, or another.
PRAYER
training, and support for America’s f
The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- Armed Forces, but the junior Senator
fered the following prayer: from Vermont had other ideas. CORONAVIRUS
Let us pray. Remember, Senator SANDERS spent
Almighty God, our gracious King, Mr. MCCONNELL. Now let’s talk
last summer, literally, trying to defund about COVID–19 relief. Four days ago,
You are the one clear power of love in
our military. Not my words, but the President Trump signed the second
the midst of lesser powers. Thank You title of a piece he published: ‘‘Defund
for giving us the confidence that You largest rescue package in American
the Pentagon: The Liberal Case.’’ Our history. The largest one was the
hear and answer prayers. colleague offered an amendment to
Lord, use the Members of this body CARES Act back in March. Due to this
strip 10 percent of funding from our
as ambassadors of reconciliation. Help pandemic and our massive response, we
servicemembers and decimate our de-
them to bring wholeness, healing, and now have a national debt far larger
fense budget. The Russians aren’t cut-
unity to a fragmented nation and than our entire economy for the first
ting military funding. China isn’t cut-
world. Inspire them to discover Your time since World War II, but we knew
ting funding. But last summer, Senator
love in each other and to see Your our people needed more help, so Con-
SANDERS and fellow Democrats, includ-
image in all creation. gress just passed another nearly $900
Lord, settle our Senators down into a ing the Democratic leader, voted to
billion in emergency relief targeted to
contemplative stillness that will make make America unilaterally disarm and
those who need it most, a second round
them yearn for righteousness, justice, cut ours.
The left took a break from trying to of payroll support to save small busi-
and peace. May they speak wise words ness jobs, more unemployment aid,
defund the police to try to defund our
from a reservoir of wisdom that will vaccine distribution money, funding
Armed Forces. Their amendment went
transform discord into harmony. for safe schools, and much more.
We pray in Your loving Name. Amen. down in a landslide, but now our col-
league from Vermont is again putting In addition to historic amounts of
f targeted help at the request of Presi-
political stunts before the needs of our
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE men and women in uniform. dent Trump and his team, the package
Our colleague says he will slow down also included another round of direct
The President pro tempore, led the
this vital bill unless he gets to muscle checks to households, whether or not
Pledge of Allegiance, as follows:
through another stand-alone proposal each household needs the help, whether
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the
from Speaker PELOSI that would add or not their finances have changed dra-
United States of America, and to the Repub-
lic for which it stands, one nation under God, roughly half a trillion dollars to the matically this past year.
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. national debt, which does not align Yesterday, Secretary Mnuchin an-
f with what President Trump has sug- nounced households should begin re-
gested and which has no realistic path ceiving these payments as early as
RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY to quickly pass the Senate. today and this week. That is more good
LEADER Well, as I have said, the Senate will news to a lot of people.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. not let our national security be shoved After Congress and the administra-
YOUNG). The majority leader is recog- off course, certainly not by Senators tion finalized the bipartisan bill, the
nized. who have spent years—literally years— President expressed interest in further
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.
S7971
.
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Dec 31, 2020 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A30DE6.000 S30DEPT1
CORRECTION
S7972 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 30, 2020
expanding nontargeted direct pay- their special tax cuts for rich people in The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
ments. So to ensure the President was rich States. Now they say it is a mat- clerk will report the motion.
comfortable signing the bill into law, ter of survival to send another boat- The legislative clerk read as follows:
the Senate committed to beginning one load of cash to people making $300,000, Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 480, S.
process that would combine three of regardless of whether they have experi- 3985, a bill to improve and reform policing
the President’s priorities: larger direct enced any disruption at all this past practices, accountability and transparency.
checks, a repeal of section 230 of the year. MEASURES PLACED ON THE CALENDAR—S. 5085
Even the liberal Washington Post AND H.R. 9051
Communications Decency Act, and fur-
ther efforts to review the integrity of today is laughing at the political left Mr. MCCONNELL. I understand there
our democracy—three of the Presi- for demanding more huge giveaways are two bills at the desk due a second
dent’s priorities in one Senate process. with no relationship to actual need. reading en bloc.
That was the commitment, and that is Here is what the Washington Post The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
what happened yesterday when I intro- wrote: ‘‘Especially wrongheaded . . . is clerk will read the bills by title for the
duced text reflecting just what the the progressive left, spearheaded by second time.
President had, in fact, requested. Sen. BERNIE SANDERS . . . who depicts The legislative clerk read as follows:
Now House and Senate Democrats the $2,000 as aid to ‘desperate’ Ameri- A bill (S. 5085) to amend the Internal Rev-
want something very different. As they cans despite the huge amounts destined enue Code of 1986 to increase the additional
tried to do countless times in the past for perfectly comfortable families.’’ 2020 recovery rebates, to repeal section 230 of
That is from the editors of the Wash- the Communications Act of 1934, and for
4 years, Speaker PELOSI and Leader other purposes;
ington Post.
SCHUMER are trying to pull a fast one The Wall Street Journal, usually A bill (H.R. 9051), to amend the Internal
on the President and the American their opposite number, actually agrees. Revenue Code of 1986 to increase recovery re-
people. bate amounts to $2,000 for individuals, and
These nontargeted ‘‘checks are unnec- for other purposes.
First of all, they are hoping everyone essary,’’ and struggling households can
just forgets about election integrity access targeted support like ‘‘expanded Mr. MCCONNELL. In order to place
and Big Tech. They are desperate to ig- jobless benefits, food stamps, child- the bills on the calendar under provi-
nore those two parts of President care subsidies and much more.’’ sion of rule XIV, I object to further
Trump’s requests, and you can draw The liberal economist Larry Sum- proceedings en bloc.
your own conclusions. Even on the mers, President Clinton’s Treasury The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec-
question of larger checks, the Demo- Secretary and President Obama’s NEC tion having been heard, the bills will be
crats have tried to warp what Presi- Director, says: ‘‘There is no good eco- placed on the calendar.
dent Trump actually laid out. nomic argument’’ for universal $2,000 RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY LEADER
Look, it is no secret that Repub- checks at this moment. He points out The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
licans have a diversity of views about the CARES Act and the brandnew law Democratic leader is recognized.
the wisdom of borrowing hundreds of will already have boosted overall ELECTORAL COLLEGE
billions more to send out more nontar- household income, relative to the econ- Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I was
geted money, including to many house- omy, back to its prepandemic levels, if prepared this afternoon to speak about
holds that have suffered no loss of in- not higher. the business the Senate must address,
come during the crisis. COVID–19 has If specific struggling households need and I will do that, but, first, I must re-
not affected all households equally— still more help after the huge, historic spond to the recent announcement by
not even close. package that was just signed into law 4 the junior Senator of Missouri that he
It is hardly clear that the Federal days ago has taken effect, then what intends to contest the certified votes of
Government’s top priority should be they will need is smart, targeted aid, the electrical college when Congress
sending thousands of dollars to, for ex- not another firehose of borrowed meets to count those votes next week.
ample, a childless couple making well money that encompasses other people The process for electing American
into six figures who have been com- who are doing just fine. Presidents is provided in our Constitu-
fortably teleworking all year. Our duty So, in my view, colleagues like Sen- tion and laws.
is to help get help to the people who ator CORNYN and Senator TOOMEY have The process has been followed fully,
actually need help, like we did, to a pointed this out persuasively. But, fairly. The results have been duly cer-
historic degree, just 4 days ago. more broadly, here is the deal. The tified by the Governors of the States,
But above and beyond that discus- Senate is not going to split apart the and they have been reviewed and con-
sion, the Democratic leaders have bro- three issues that President Trump firmed by the courts many times over.
ken from what President Trump pro- linked together just because Demo- The result is that Joe Biden and
posed. They quietly changed this pro- crats are afraid to address two of them. KAMALA HARRIS won the election by
posal in an attempt to let wealthy The Senate is not going to be bullied overwhelming margins in both the pop-
households suck up even more money. into rushing out more borrowed money ular vote and the electoral vote.
Speaker PELOSI structured her bill so into the hands of the Democrats’ rich The Biden-Harris ticket received
that a family of four would have to friends who don’t need the help. more than 81 million votes, more than
earn more than $300,000 in order not— We just approved almost a trillion any ticket in American history. That
not to qualify for more cash. A family dollars in aid a few days ago. It struck was over 7 million more votes than
of three could pull in $250,000 per year— a balance between broad support for all Trump-Pence. The Biden-Harris ticket
a quarter of a million dollars—and still kinds of households and a lot more tar- won the electoral college 306 to 232, the
qualify for some money. geted relief for those who need help the
very same total that President Trump
Democratic leaders want to call this most.
called a landslide for himself then just
We are going to stay smart; we are
scheme ‘‘survival checks.’’ Only my 4 years ago.
going to stay focused; and we are going
friends Speaker PELOSI and the Demo- Since the election process, President
to continue delivering on the needs for
cratic leader could look at households Trump and his acolytes have lost more
our Nation.
in New York and California who make than 50 lawsuits, falsely claiming fraud
$300,000, in households where nobody f or other irregularities in the conduct
abonner on DSKJLXR7X2PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE
has been laid off, where earnings have LEGISLATIVE SESSION of the 2020 election, including the
not even dropped during the past year, unanimous decision by the Supreme
and conclude these rich constituents of Court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by
theirs need ‘‘survival checks’’ financed JUST AND UNIFYING SOLUTIONS the attorney general of Texas and more
by taxpayer dollars and borrowed TO INVIGORATE COMMUNITIES than half the Republican Members of
money EVERYWHERE ACT OF 2020—MO- the House.
Everyone sees the game here. These TION TO PROCEED Today, we heard from the junior Sen-
are the same Democrats who proudly Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I ator from Missouri that he intends to
blocked the entire aid package for move to proceed to Calendar No. 480, S. object to the election results, particu-
months because they tried to hold out 3985. larly in Pennsylvania—a State where
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jan 26, 2021 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4637 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD20\DECEMBER\S30DE0.REC S30DE0
File and source
- File
- CREC_crec-2020-12-30_crec-2020-12-30-pt1-pgs7971-8.pdf
- Size
- 303,576 bytes
- SHA-256
- c3210a5ab7505ff323eff46274feb1e7d9282a96c3c0ba2be6e112019f91c93f
- Original
- www.govinfo.gov