Congressional Record, Senate, January 1, 2021 — $2,000 Checks and H.R. 9051

Summary

Senate page of the Congressional Record dated January 1, 2021. One speaker says it is the last chance for the 116th Congress to pass $2,000 checks, and asks unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 645, H.R. 9051, a bill to increase recovery rebate amounts to $2,000 per individual. Another speaker says the House Democrats' bill is not the right approach and that the Senate is focused on completing the 60th annual NDAA before the Congress concludes on Sunday. A later speaker, addressing Senator Thune, says a company received a $129 million tax rebate and calls it socialism for the rich.

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“Congressional Record, Senate, January 1, 2021 — $2,000 Checks and H.R. 9051.” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-01-01-crec-2021-01-01-pt1-pgs7996-2-642122f8c3/, SHA-256 c067b45c088756d93331f53e0a17b0d6467834a2ae1bb6bd49c5accb9cdc5921.

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S7996 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 1, 2021
households earning well into six figures last of the 116th Congress. That means money to feed their families, pay the
who did not lose any jobs or income that today is the last chance to take rent, and get on with their lives; pay
last year. up and pass the House bill to provide the utility bill of that kindergarten kid
The House Democrats’ bill is just $2,000 checks to the American people. If or third grade kid who can’t even go to
simply not the right approach. That is the Senate does not take action today, school because his family can’t afford
what editorial pages across the polit- $2,000 checks will not become law be- electricity.
ical spectrum say. That is what even fore the end of Congress, and they will We have a chance—a chance at the
liberal economists say. And that is know that Leader MCCONNELL and the end of this painful year and at the be-
what common sense tells us. Republican majority have prevented ginning of a new one—to give Ameri-
Here is what the Senate is focused them from getting the checks, plain cans reason for hope in 2021. The only
on: completing the annual Defense leg- and simple. thing standing in the way right now is
islation that looks after our brave men This is the last chance—the last Leader MCCONNELL and the Republican
and women who volunteer to wear the chance for a mother in Nashville, $4,000 Senate majority.
uniform. We passed this legislation 59 behind on the rent, whose water was In a moment, I will ask consent for
years in a row and, one way or another, shut off earlier this month. This is the the final time that the Senate set a
we are going to complete the 60th an- last chance—the last chance for the time for a vote on the House bill to
nual NDAA and pass it into law before medical receptionist in Macomb, $2,100 provide $2,000 checks. I have done it
this Congress concludes on Sunday. behind on the rent, whose electricity every day this week. This is it, the last
It is a serious responsibility, but it is was shut off in September, on her son’s chance for the 116th Congress to pass
also a tremendous opportunity to di- third day of virtual kindergarten. The $2,000 checks and to say to regular
rect our national security priorities to kid can’t go to school. This is the last Americans: ‘‘Help is on the way.’’
reflect the resolve of the American chance for 12 million Americans who Let’s have a vote. Let’s have a vote.
people and the evolving threats to have fallen nearly $6,000 behind on rent Pass this bill. There is no better way to
their safety at home and abroad. It is and utility or the 26 million Americans usher in the new year.
our chance to recommit to research who have had trouble putting food on Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
and development so that our 21st cen- the table—the last chance. sent that the Senate proceed to the im-
tury military is equipped to outmatch Make no mistake about it, $600 has mediate consideration of Calendar No.
any adversary. It is our chance to en- never been enough for them. This is the 645, H.R. 9051, a bill to increase recov-
sure that we keep pace with competi- last chance to deliver $2,000 before a ery rebate amounts to $2,000 per indi-
tors like Russia and China. It is our new Congress is sworn in and the legis- viduals; that the bill be read a third
chance to remind brave servicemem- lative process must start all over time and the Senate vote on passage;
bers and their families that we have again. and if passed, that the motion to recon-
their backs with facilities, resources, For once, we have progressive Demo-
sider be considered made and laid upon
and support benefiting the finest fight- crats, conservative Republicans, the
the table with no intervening action or
ing forces in the world. President himself, and not to mention
debate.
Over the past year, our colleagues on the majority—the vast majority—of
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
the Armed Services Committee have the American people singing from the
objection?
made sure the legislation delivers for same songbook in support of these
checks. We have a bill that has already The assistant majority leader.
our troops and for our Nation. Now it is
time for us to deliver this bill. passed the House. Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, reserving
All we are asking for is a simple vote the right to object—and let me say,
f
in the Senate. I, for one, am confident through the Chair, thank you to the
RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY it would pass if given the chance, and Senator from New York and the Sen-
LEADER that may be the real reason that Lead- ator from Vermont, the Senator from
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The er MCCONNELL and the Republicans Illinois, and others here for the oppor-
Democratic leader is recognized. don’t want to bring it up. We have had tunity to spend New Year’s with them.
f many opportunities this week to vote I know that has always been something
on the measure. Senator MCCONNELL that has been on my bucket list—
UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST— maybe not on top of the bucket list.
has blocked every one of them.
H.R. 9051 We have offered to vote on whatever But, nevertheless, thank you for that
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, well, I unrelated issues the Republican leader opportunity. It does feel like a long
can’t remember the last time the Sen- says he wants to vote on, so long as we time ago, but it was, actually, only—if
ate convened on New Year’s Day. I can get a clean vote on the House bill you can believe this—the beginning of
want to take this opportunity to wish to provide $2,000 checks—the only way last week when both sides of the aisle
all of my colleagues a happy new year. to actually make it happen in this and both sides of the Capitol came to-
I want to thank the staff for having to year, in this session of Congress. That gether to pass a targeted, responsible,
come into work on New Year’s Day, offer still stands. That offer still and necessary relief package, which be-
and I want to bid good riddance to 2020. stands. But give us a vote. Give us a came law with overwhelming bipar-
There can be no question that last vote on the House bill. tisan support. It passed here in the
year was a horrible year—as they have It is OK if the Republican leader op- Senate 92 to 6. Members on both sides
said in Britain, an ‘‘annus horribilis.’’ poses checks. It is OK if the majority of the aisle, myself included, have dem-
But as we begin the first year of this of Republican Senators oppose the onstrated that we are willing to dedi-
new decade, preparing to inaugurate a checks. They can make their case to cate resources to those who are strug-
new President and inoculate the coun- the American people and oppose the gling during this pandemic.
try against this virus, the American bill, but let us vote. It is OK if the Re- The problem with what is being put
people have reason to hope. publican leader wants to call direct as- forward—the House-passed CASH Act—
The Senate can start off this new sistance to American people ‘‘poorly is that it is not targeted to help those
year by adding to that sense of hope by targeted’’ and ‘‘socialism for the rich,’’ who are the most in need. I will just
sending $2,000 checks to struggling even after he drove the passage of a $2 point out that it is not just our saying
American families. The Senate can trillion across-the-board reduction in that; even the Washington Post edi-
start off 2021 by really helping the corporate taxes. But give us a vote. torial board called it ‘‘one last bad
American people. We can start off 2021 Make the argument. Let the Senate idea’’ for 2020. It singled out as ‘‘espe-

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by sending $2,000 checks to struggling work its will. cially wrongheaded’’ the efforts of the
American families to carry them To me, it seems like the Republican progressive left to depict this ‘‘as aid
through the darkest and final days of leader is afraid to schedule a vote on to ‘desperate’ Americans despite the
this pandemic. $2,000 checks because he is afraid it will huge amounts’’—this is the Wash-
The votes today, on this uncommon pass. What a terrifying thought that ington Post’s term—‘‘destined for per-
New Year’s Day session, could be the struggling Americans would get some fectly comfortable families.’’

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January 1, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7997
As others here on the floor have it is not an effective way to spend the THUNE, Senator MCCONNELL, and others
noted, the bill would provide a pay- American taxpayers’ dollars. have raised objection to the House-
ment to a family of five making up to Let’s help the people who need it the passed bill. In the U.S. Senate, when
$350,000. A family of five making most. We just passed and signed into we have differences of opinion, what we
$250,000 would receive a $5,000 benefit. law a proposal that does that. I think should be doing is debating that bill.
Just to put that in perspective, that is many of us on this side of the aisle are So all that Senator SCHUMER is asking
more than was paid to a middle-class willing to look at other ideas and and all that I am asking is simple:
family of five under the CARES Act things that we could do that would Bring the bill to the floor. We are not
that we passed back in March. In addi- help these people more, but this is cer- even asking you to vote for it. Bring
tion, the bill would add an additional tainly not it, so I object. the bill to the floor. On top of every-
$463 billion—nearly half a trillion dol- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- thing else, we need 60 votes to pass it—
lars—to the annual debt. tion is heard. 60 votes. Can we get 60 votes? I don’t
Again, it is all money we have to bor- The majority—excuse me. The Demo- know. I think virtually all of the 48
row. All of this is money we have to cratic leader. Democrats will vote for it.
borrow, and that is more than the first Mr. SCHUMER. Someday soon. It means, Senator THUNE, that we
two economic impact payments com- (Laughter.) need 12 Republicans. I gather we have
bined. Put that in perspective, and Mr. President, the only thing I would one right here who indicated he would
think of other ways you could use that say, through the Chair, to my friend vote for it, and five or six others have
amount of money. The truth is that from South Dakota is that the many been public about saying they will vote
those types of sums could potentially proposals he proposed as alternatives for it. Will we get the rest? I don’t
be spent in many more targeted ways, to our proposal are those to which the know. You don’t know. What is the
but our colleagues on the Democratic Republican majority objected when we problem with giving Members of the
side don’t even want to debate some of had our negotiations on the CARES U.S. Senate the opportunity to vote on
those alternatives. bill. We believe this can be in addition the legislation? When we have that de-
Allowing small businesses a second to the expansion of unemployment in- bate, you can come up and raise all of
draw from the Paycheck Protection surance and other things. Given the your objections, and we can debate it.
Program would cost, approximately, state of the economy, that is what is Now, I heard Senator THUNE and Sen-
$285 billion. For the cost of the CASH needed. ator MCCONNELL before him talk about
Act, we could do another round of as- I yield the floor. this bill being socialism for the rich,
sistance to help small businesses keep The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- which I have to tell you I find some-
their employees on the payrolls and ator from Vermont. what hysterical because that is an
still have almost $200 billion left over. f issue I have been talking about for
The expanded unemployment bene- UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST— many, many years. I am very delighted
fits—signed into law last week—will H.R. 9051 AND S. 5085 that my conservative Republican
cost approximately $120 billion for 11 friends now recognize that we do have
additional weeks. That means, for the Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me socialism for the rich. To paraphrase
same cost as this proposal, we could say to my friend, Senator THUNE, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he said we
provide an additional 40 weeks—10 I certainly concur with you as to what live in a society where we have social-
months—of enhanced unemployment a pleasure it is to be spending New ism for the rich and rugged individ-
insurance benefits to those who have Year’s Day with you and our col- ualism for the poor. King was right.
lost their jobs. leagues. It is exactly what I, I know, Despite what my Republican col-
This is simply not targeted relief for and every other Member here wanted leagues are saying, the truth is that,
the people who need it the most, and to do, but here we are because we have according to the Tax Policy Center, the
those who say that we should just vote to be here. We are here because, back top 5 percent of Americans—the
on this flawed House bill conveniently home in my State and all over this wealthiest people in our country—
leave out the fact that they do not country, millions and millions of fami- would receive less than 1 percent of the
want us to amend it to make it better lies are struggling to put food on the benefits of these direct payments—less
in order to deliver more assistance to table. They are struggling to pay their than 1 percent. It doesn’t sound, to me,
the people who are hurting the most. rent. They are struggling to come up like too much socialism for the rich.
Again, I will just point out one last with the money they need to go to the While we are on the subject of social-
time that it has been less than a week, doctor. ism for the rich, which my Republican
really, since the Senate voted and the This hits me, in a sense, in a personal friends have suddenly become very con-
President signed into law a proposal way. The other day, I received a letter cerned about, let me talk about the
negotiated, literally, over months. from a colleague of mine in Burlington, Trump tax proposal that was pushed
Every fine point of that proposal was VT, where I live—the largest city in very hard by Senator MCCONNELL and
negotiated, and it was signed into law the State of Vermont, all of 40,000 peo- the Republican leadership and that, I
to provide targeted, fiscally respon- ple. He wrote to me, reporting on a think, every Republican voted for. Do
sible assistance to the people of this food drive in Burlington, VT, where I you want to talk about socialism for
country who need it the most. This live: the rich? It is not the bill that puts
proposal is a shotgun approach, where Over 30 volunteers showed up to the Cham- $2,000 into working-class hands all over
a rifle makes a lot more sense. plain School to help bag groceries and to this country. That isn’t socialism for
If you really want to help people who hand them out to those who came out. Un- the rich. This is socialism for the rich.
need this the most, at a time when we fortunately, there was not nearly enough do-
nated food to provide a bag to everyone who
In that bill, Amazon—oh, by the way, I
are running a $26 trillion debt and are showed up despite us planning on an in- must say this, if I may: We were
borrowing every penny that we are creased need. The line of cars filled the park- quoting the liberal Washington Post,
making available to do this, we ought ing lot, wrapped around the school, and went owned by Jeff Bezos—the wealthiest
to sit down and figure out how to do it out onto the main road for half a mile. This guy in the world. So here is Jeff Bezos’
in the most efficient, effective, tar- represented a major up-tick for the October company, Amazon, and they received a
geted way possible. This, absolutely, event that we were involved in. tax rebate. They paid nothing in 2018 in
does not do that. When you have a fam- This was in Burlington, VT, with Federal taxes. That is a corrupt tax
ily who is making $350,000 a year in hundreds of cars lining up for emer- system to begin with, but then, on top
this country getting up to thousands of gency food and the volunteers not hav- of that, they received $129 million as a

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dollars of payments and a family mak- ing enough food to distribute. They had tax rebate.
ing $250,000 a year in this country get- to say to the families who were trying That, Senator THUNE, is socialism for
ting, under this proposal, a $5,000 to feed their kids: Sorry. We do not the rich. In fact, this particular com-
check, I would argue that it is not tar- have enough food. pany is owned by the richest guy in the
geted, that it is not fiscally respon- So what we are doing today is very world, and you gave him a $129 million
sible, that it is not efficient, and that simple, and that is that Senator rebate, but it is not just Amazon.

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