Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., March 2, 2021)
Summary
This Congressional Record for Tuesday, March 2, 2021 (No. 39) covers the Senate, which met at 10:30 a.m. with Warnock as Acting President pro tempore and a prayer by the Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black. Majority leader Schumer says the Senate confirmed Dr. Miguel Cardona as Secretary of Education the night before and lists firsts among confirmed nominees, including the first Black Secretary of Defense and the first woman Treasury Secretary. Schumer notes the virus has stolen half a million American lives and says the Senate will confirm more nominees as quickly as possible. Later remarks turn to voting rights and the history of who could vote in the elections of 1789.
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“Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., March 2, 2021).”
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Congressional Record
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117 th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
United States
of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE
Vol. 167 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021 No. 39
Senate
(Legislative day of Monday, March 1, 2021)
The Senate met at 10:30 a.m., on the appoint the Honorable RAPHAEL G. WARNOCK, Biden has nominated and the Senate
expiration of the recess, and was called a Senator from the State of Georgia, to per- has confirmed in the first month of the
to order by the Honorable RAPHAEL G. form the duties of the Chair. Nation’s administration.
PATRICK J. LEAHY
WARNOCK, a Senator from the State of So far, the Senate has promoted the
President pro tempore.
Georgia. first Black Secretary of Defense and
Mr. WARNOCK thereupon assumed the first woman to serve as Deputy
f
the Chair as Acting President pro tem- Secretary of Defense.
PRAYER pore. After an unbroken streak of 77 male
The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- f Secretaries in a row, all the way back
fered the following prayer: to Alexander Hamilton, the Senate
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Let us pray. confirmed the first woman to serve as
Eternal God, restore us and bring us The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Treasury Secretary.
back to You. Give us back the joy we pore. Under the previous order, the By the end of the day, we will have
once felt in Your presence. By Your Senate will proceed to legislative ses- confirmed the first Black woman to
mercies, we have navigated through sion. lead the Council of Economic Advisers,
dangers, toils, and snares. Mighty God, f the first Latino and first immigrant to
You have been faithful. lead the Department of Homeland Se-
Today, give our Senators the wisdom RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME
curity, the second Black woman to
to seek Your guidance. May they daily The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- serve as U.N. Ambassador, the third
read Your Word to find light for the pore. Under the previous order, the Latino to serve as Education Sec-
road ahead. Lord, help them to experi- leadership time is reserved. retary, and the first openly gay Sec-
ence the certainty that comes from f retary of any Cabinet Agency.
embracing Your precepts. Inspired by Cabinet Agencies, we all know, have
reverence for You, may they find and RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY
an immense influence over the policy
stay on the right path. LEADER
of the United States. It is critical for
We pray in Your sacred Name. Amen. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- their leaders to have lived experiences
f pore. The majority leader is recog- that represent the broad spectrum of
nized. Americans those Agencies serve. Not
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
f only that, but the nominees I just men-
The Presiding Officer led the Pledge tioned are some of the most qualified
of Allegiance, as follows: BUSINESS BEFORE THE SENATE
public servants in America and are al-
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today, ready hard at work at delivering re-
United States of America, and to the Repub- the Senate continues its steady sults for the American people.
lic for which it stands, one nation under God, progress in improving highly qualified The Senate will continue to confirm
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. nominees to serve in the executive more nominees as quickly as possible.
f branch. Last night, the Senate con- The process can certainly move more
APPOINTMENT OF ACTING firmed Dr. Miguel Cardona as the Sec- quickly with the cooperation of our Re-
PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE retary of Education, fulfilling Presi- publican colleagues, whose States and
dent Biden’s promise to elevate some- constituents benefit equally from hav-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
one with public school experience. Gina ing these qualified nominees in place.
clerk will please read a communication
Raimondo will soon become the former f
to the Senate from the President pro
Governor of Rhode Island as she pre-
tempore (Mr. LEAHY). CORONAVIRUS
pares to take on the top job at the
The senior assistant legislative clerk
Commerce Department. Pending the Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on
read the following letter:
Senate’s approval, Dr. Cecilia Rouse COVID–19, as early as tomorrow, the
U.S. SENATE,
will soon become the Chair of the Senate will begin work on the Amer-
PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE,
Washington, DC, March 2, 2021. Council of Economic Advisers. ican Rescue Plan. As the country faces
To the Senate: This morning, I want to pause for a a series of historic challenges, we must
Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, moment to recognize the historic na- meet the moment with a historic re-
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of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby ture of the nominees whom President sponse.
∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.
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S966 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 2, 2021
Millions of jobs and trillions of dol- democracy and expand the franchise to America’s sordid history of voter sup-
lars have been taken out of our econ- all our citizens, including the Civil pression and discrimination against
omy. Thousands of small businesses are Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Black voters.
holding on for dear life. Tens of mil- Act of 1965, the 14th, 15th, 19th, 23rd, Well, today the Supreme Court will
lions of Americans are struggling with 24th, 26th amendments—just to name a hear another case concerning the Vot-
the rent, groceries, medicine, and utili- few. ing Rights Act, this time about section
ties. Despite all this progress, there is 2, a section which Chief Justice Rob-
Only a week ago, the United States now, in the 21st century, a concerted erts referred to in the Shelby County
crossed the tragic milestone of half a effort to roll back voting rights in ruling as a necessary failsafe to police
million deaths from COVID–19, a stark State legislatures across the country, discriminatory voting procedures na-
reminder that the pandemic isn’t done alarmingly making it harder—harder— tionwide.
with us yet. for Americans to vote and particularly As one news outlet reported this
Over the past year, Congress has aimed at Americans of color—African morning, ‘‘there is every possibility
stepped up to the plate to pass impor- Americans, Latinos, and Native Ameri- that the high court could make it more
tant relief measures, but the job is not cans. And it is becoming a feature of difficult, or practically impossible, to
complete. The American Rescue Plan one of America’s major political par- challenge voting restrictions in the fu-
is designed to finish the job; to patch ties. ture,’’ warning that another ruling
up the holes in our economy and lay a Yesterday, I detailed a number of against the law could render the Vot-
foundation for recovery; to keep strug- laws pushed by Republicans in State ing Rights Act ‘‘a dead letter.’’
gling businesses, families, and workers legislatures to limit the amount of That is what is at stake in America
afloat until brighter days appear on time that Americans have to vote, to right now. As State legislatures move
the horizon; to send our children back frustrate election administration in to restrict voting rights from one end
to school as quickly and safely as pos- urban areas and around college cam- of the country to the other, the law we
sible; and to defeat this evil disease puses, to impose overly burdensome ID rely on to prevent outright discrimina-
once and for all. requirements, absurd witness and sig- tion at the ballot box is at risk of being
That is what the American people nature requirements for absentee bal- ‘‘a dead letter.’’ This is one of the most
sent us here to do. That is what our lots. Maybe the most pernicious of all, appalling things I have seen in this
government is for—not to sit back and Republicans in Georgia have coalesced country after 4 years of an appalling
wait for problems to fix themselves, around a plan to end all early voting administration. This is just incredible.
not to cross our fingers and hope the on Sundays, a day when Black church- It burns my blood and should burn the
economy will recover on its own. Our es organize voter drives, with no good blood of every fair-minded American—
job is to end, through action, the cur- reason—again, none. Republican, Democrat, Independent,
rent state of the crisis and hasten the The threat to voting rights in Amer- liberal, conservative.
day when our country and all of our ica is now very real. It must be opposed After centuries of expanding the
lives can return to normal. in every State house and Governor’s right to vote, of struggling to get that
The bottom line, if you look at the mansion in this country. right to vote, these pernicious, self-
trajectory, every time we put in a re- And the threat extends all the way to serving proposed laws cut back on the
lief bill—in March, the economy got the Supreme Court of the United right to vote. Will the Supreme Court
better in June, and July. We put a re- States. Eight years ago, a conservative let that happen? It is so against what
lief bill in December, and now the num- 5-to-4 majority on the Court gutted the America is all about.
bers look a little better for January. Voting Rights Act by essentially ren- We cannot stand by and do nothing
But the economy is not strong dering meaningless section 5 of the as these rights are diluted or stripped
enough to sustain things on its own. statute, a provision which prevented away. Congress must pursue a restora-
We need strong relief to get the econ- the implementation of undue voting re- tion of the Voting Rights Act, and by
omy going so it can continue on an up- strictions in a State with a history of all accounts should be working in a bi-
ward path on its own. That is what this discrimination. partisan way to make it easier, safer,
bill is designed to do. I fear—most Chief Justice Roberts suggested that and more convenient for all Americans
economists, Secretary Yellen, Chair- the era of widespread discrimination, to vote. The judgment of history has
man Powell—if we do too little or which led to the enactment of the Vot- never been kind to those who work
nothing, the economy could stay mired ing Rights Act, was over, and there was against the full participation of their
in recession for all too long a time, just no longer a need for the critical por- fellow citizens in our democratic exper-
as it did when we didn’t do enough in tions of the statute. Well, within 24 iment.
2009, and the economy stayed in reces- hours after the ruling had been handed I yield the floor.
sion for many years after the financial down, Texas announced it would imple- f
crisis. ment a strict voter ID law, and soon
thereafter, Mississippi and Alabama RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY
f
followed with laws that had previously LEADER
VOTING RIGHTS been barred by the Justice Depart- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on ment. pore. The Republican leader is recog-
voting rights, in our American system, Republican leaders in the State of nized.
we talk a lot about ‘‘perfecting our North Carolina passed a suite of voter f
Union,’’ a reference to the preamble of suppression laws that a Federal judge
the Constitution, a document which ef- found targeted African-American vot- CORONAVIRUS
fectively gave only White male land- ers ‘‘with . . . surgical precision.’’ Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President,
owners the right to vote in our fledg- Think about that. This was not a rul- there has been a lot of discussion about
ling democracy. Suffice it to say, there ing from the Reconstruction Era or the Democrats’ decision to load up
is a lot of perfecting to do. Jim Crow. It was only a few years ago. their partisan spending bill with liberal
As I think about my Democratic cau- At a time when an African-American items that are completely unrelated to
cus—incidentally, it is probably so that man elected by the most diverse coali- the pandemic.
less than half of them could actually tion in the history of American politics We are at a key turning point in this
vote in the elections of 1789 because I occupied the White House, Republicans crisis. The Nation has just endured a
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believe in many States you had to be in North Carolina passed voting laws so historically painful year. This virus
White, male, Protestant, a property pernicious that even the Roberts has stolen half a million American
owner—not so many of those around Court—among the most conservative lives. It has thrown millions of chil-
here. we have seen on this issue of voting dren out of classrooms and workers out
Over the course of 230 years, we rights—could not ignore the over- of jobs.
passed scores of laws and amended the whelming stench of discrimination. But on every front there seem to be
Constitution to reflect the flaws in our That is what it was—a stench rooted in signs we are actually turning the tide.
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