Business Before the Senate (Cong. Rec., March 1, 2021)
Summary
A page of the Congressional Record, Senate, dated March 1, 2021, at page S908, with remarks under the heading Business Before the Senate. A senator welcomes Ann to a new role in the Senate, thanks Senator Leahy for parting with her, and bids farewell to Julie Adams and Mary Jones, praising their impeccable skill and unflappable professionalism. The senator says the Senate will confirm Cecilia Rouse as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and will then take up the American Rescue Plan, which the House passed the week before. The remarks also say that more than 253 bills in 43 States have been introduced to tighten voting rules and criticize proposals in Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia, including a Georgia bill to eliminate early voting on Sundays.
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“Business Before the Senate (Cong. Rec., March 1, 2021).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-03-01-crec-2021-03-01-pt1-pgs908-fa8a88af35/
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S908 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 1, 2021
AL, and a graduate of the University of The Senate will also confirm Dr. But any American who thinks that
North Alabama, to work for Senator Cecilia Rouse to serve as the Chair of today, in 2021, that fight is over—that
Howell Heflin. the Council of Economic Advisers, an- the fight for voting rights is over—is
Clearly, word got around about her other history-making pick who will be sorely and, unfortunately, sadly mis-
talents because, over the course of her the first Black official to head that De- taken.
career, she went to work for Senators partment. In the wake of the most recent elec-
CARPER, EDWARDS, MOYNIHAN, JONES, All three nominees are exceptionally tion, an election that the former Presi-
and, most recently, as Senator LEAHY’s well qualified. All have received bipar- dent has repeatedly lied about and
deputy chief of staff, where she was an tisan support in their respective com- claimed was stolen, more than 253 bills
indispensable resource not only to Sen- mittees, including a unanimous vote in in 43 States have been introduced to
ator LEAHY’s office but to my team and favor of Dr. Rouse. tighten voting rules under the per-
to countless other Senators. As we continue the fight against the nicious, nasty guise of election integ-
I want to thank Senator LEAHY for pandemic on all fronts—in particular, rity.
parting with Ann and lending her con- the damage it has caused our schools In Iowa, the State legislature voted
siderable talents to the full Senate. He and our economy—these nominees will to cut early voting by 9 days. Polls will
told me he regretted her going, but he have a difficult and important task close an hour earlier. And they voted
was so glad that the Senate had seen ahead of them. It will be very good to tighten the rules on absentee voting,
her talents. news once we have them confirmed and which so many—the elderly, the dis-
And thank you, Ann. Thank you for on the job. abled, the frail—depend on.
accepting this incredible responsi- The Senate will then return to the In Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers
bility. Congratulations on beginning American Rescue Plan, comprehensive have proposed limiting ballot drop
your historic tenure, and we all wish legislation that will help us crush the boxes to one per municipality—a mu-
you the best as you work to bring this virus, recover our economy, and get nicipality of hundreds of thousands,
great institution to life. life back to normal. and a tiny one gets the small one. I
As we all welcome Ann to her new (Ms. HIRONO assumed the Chair.) wonder why. I wonder why.
Defeating the pandemic is national In Arizona, one Republican legislator
role, the Senate bids a fond farewell to
priority No. 1: getting our schools to wants to pass a law allowing the State
Julie Adams and Mary Jones. Over the
reopen as safely and quickly as pos- legislators—listen to this—to ignore
last 6 years, Julie Adams and Mary sible; helping small businesses hang on
Jones have served as Secretary and As- the results of the Presidential election
until the economy can come roaring
sistant Secretary of the U.S. Senate and determine their own slate of elec-
back; keeping teachers and firefighters
with impeccable skill and unflappable tors. One legislator in Arizona wants to
and other essential employees on the
professionalism. pass a law allowing State legislators to
job; providing aid to the jobless, food
Both are longtime veterans of Wash- ignore the results of the Presidential
to the hungry, direct cash payments to
ington. Julie worked for many years election and determine their own slate
millions of Americans struggling—
under Leader MCCONNELL and First of electors. That doesn’t sound like de-
struggling—for the cost of rent, gro-
Lady Laura Bush, while Mary served in mocracy. That sounds like dictator-
ceries, medicine, and utilities; speeding
the White House under President ship.
the distribution of the vaccine, which
George H. W. Bush and, as I remember, The most reprehensible of all efforts
is the cornerstone to ending this aw-
because I was, I guess, chairman or might be found in Georgia, where Re-
fully dark chapter in American his-
ranking member—I can’t recall which, publicans have introduced a bill to
tory.
maybe both—as staff director of the That is what our country needs, and eliminate all early voting on Sundays,
Senate Rules and Administration Com- that is what the American Rescue Plan a day when Black churches sponsor
mittee, where she did just a great job. will achieve. To paraphrase Franklin get-out-the-vote drives known as
Both of them are friendly and famil- Roosevelt, we must do the first things ‘‘souls to the polls.’’
iar faces around here in the Senate. first. We have, supposedly—supposedly—
Both have earned the respect here in Last week, the legislation passed in come a long way since African Ameri-
the Senate of just about everyone who the House of Representatives. This cans in the South were forced to guess
has worked with them. week, the Senate will take up the the number of jelly beans in a jar in
Of course, Julie and Mary deserve measure. Let me say that again. The order to be allowed to vote. But it is
special praise for their leadership over Senate will take up the American Res- very difficult to look at the specific
the last 12 months. As a global pan- cue Plan this week. laws proposed by Republican legisla-
demic forced the Senate to adapt to I expect a hearty debate and some tures around the country, designed to
new ways, they kept the Senate func- late nights, but the American people limit voter participation in heavily Af-
tioning in the midst of this historic sent us here with a job to do: to help rican-American and Hispanic areas, to
crisis. And in the wake of the horrific the country through this moment of lower turnout and frustrate election
attacks on January 6, Julie and Mary extraordinary challenge; to end, administration in urban districts and
were heroic—heroic—in getting the through action, the greatest health cri- near college campuses, to gerrymander
Senate back on its feet only a few sis our country has faced in a century. districts to limit minority representa-
hours after the violence had been And that is just what we are going to tion ‘‘with almost surgical precision,’’
quelled. do. to specifically target and thwart Black
To Julie and Mary, thank you. Thank f churches from organizing voting
you for all you have done. The entire drives—it is difficult, very difficult not
Senate wishes you and your families VOTING RIGHTS to see the tentacles of America’s gen-
the very best, and we look forward to Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on erations-old caste system, typically as-
seeing what the road ahead holds for another matter entirely, voting rights, sociated with slavery and Jim Crow,
both of you. the story of American democracy is a stretching into the 21st century and
f long and messy one, full of contradic- poisoning the wellspring of any true
tions and halting progress. It was a democracy—free and fair elections.
BUSINESS BEFORE THE SENATE century and a half after our founding We see a lot of despicable things
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President pro before women got the right to vote, an- these days, but nothing that seems to
tempore, now, on Senate business, the other half century before African be more despicable than this. When you
Senate will have a busy week ahead of Americans could enjoy the full rights lose an election in a democratic soci-
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
it. Today and tomorrow, the Senate of citizenship. It took mighty move- ety, you update your party platform
will confirm two more members of ments and decades of fraught political and appeal to more voters. You don’t
President Biden’s Cabinet: Dr. Miguel conflicts to achieve even those basic change the rules to make it harder for
Cardona to serve as Secretary of Edu- dignities and establish the United your opponents to vote, especially not
cation and Governor Gina Raimondo to States as a full democracy worthy of African Americans, Hispanics, Native
serve as Commerce Secretary. the title. Americans, and other voters who have
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