American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — Congressional Record, Senate, March 4, 2021, Page S1043

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A page of the Congressional Record, Senate, dated March 4, 2021, at page S1043, under the heading American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. A Senator asks unanimous consent to proceed to S. 590, a bill to establish limitations regarding Confucius Institutes, saying the Senate passed an earlier version twice. Mr. Kennedy then criticizes the coronavirus bill, saying it is the sixth such bill, that about $4 trillion has already been spent, and that the $1.9 trillion bill was not done on a bipartisan basis. The page ends with a Senator's remarks supporting swift passage of the American Rescue Plan.

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“American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — Congressional Record, Senate, March 4, 2021, Page S1043.” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-03-04-crec-2021-03-04-pt1-pgs1043-2570efa155/, SHA-256 7948b561731b290ad5fcb5c7176ee19dcff89905a5828561484c2f73d25e3826.

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March 4, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S1043
The Communist Party of China, My bill has—our bill, because the taught, the activities carried out, the re-
being as aggressive as it is, has for a Senate passed it twice. Twice this bill search grants that are made, and who is em-
number of years reached out to our col- has passed the U.S. Senate, the last ployed at the Confucius Institute.
leges and universities to establish what time with bipartisan support. We put f
the Communist Party of China calls the bill on the NDAA, and, Mr. Presi- AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF
‘‘Confucius Institutes.’’ And this was dent, you know how conference com- 2021
the pitch made by the government of mittees work with the NDAA. Some-
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, since
China to our universities: ‘‘We will give times it is a ferret fire drill, and there we have a few minutes here—I think
you bucket loads of money if you’’— is a lot of confusion, and somehow the Senator SANDERS is supposed to be
our American universities—‘‘will allow Confucius Institute bill got watered next—I just thought I would take a few
us to establish Confucius Institutes down to do nothing in the conference minutes to talk about President
where we can explain our culture to negotiations on the NDAA. I am not Biden’s coronavirus bill.
the young people of America, where we criticizing anybody, but it happened. Let me see if I can explain why so
can have a free exchange of ideas, and So I am going to ask my colleagues many of my Republican colleagues—
where we can help young Americans on both sides of the aisle to pass the and I am a part of that—are dis-
learn the Chinese language if they Confucius Institute Act for a third appointed in the bill. This bill will be
would like.’’ time, and I hope, in our new Congress, our sixth coronavirus bill. I don’t think
That sounds great. You know, I will we can keep teeth in it in working with anybody, any fair-minded person, can
take a dozen of those. But the Com- our colleagues, not only in the Senate accuse the U.S. Senate, both Demo-
munist Party of China being the Com- but in the House. crats and Republicans, of not trying to
munist Party of China, that is not how Toward that end, I ask unanimous respond to this devastating virus and
our Confucius Institutes have worked consent that the Senate proceed to the the economic problems it has created.
out. immediate consideration of S. 590, in- I have been very proud, within the
These institutes, run by the authori- troduced earlier today. first five bills, that we did it on a bi-
tarian Government of China, will not The PRESIDING OFFICER. The partisan basis. We spent a lot of
allow the free exchange of ideas. They clerk will report the bill by title. money, about $4 trillion. That is 4–0-0–
will not allow anyone to talk about the The legislative clerk read as follows: 0-0–0-0–0-0–0-0–0-0 taxpayer dollars.
Uighurs or the people of Tibet or Hong
A bill (S. 590) to establish limitations re- And, of course, we don’t even have 5
Kong or what happened at Tiananmen garding Confucius Institutes, and for other percent of that. We borrowed every bit
Square. They basically—‘‘they’’ mean- purposes. of it. It is a staggering sum. But we did
ing the Communist Party of China—
There being no objection, the Senate it because we had a crisis. We had to
have used these Confucius Institutes as
proceeded to consider the bill. deal with it. That is what we were sent
propaganda arms of their government.
Many of our universities have done Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask up here to do. We did it on a bipartisan
the right thing. They have said: No, we unanimous consent that the bill be basis. But this, the last bill, President
stand for the free exchange of ideas, considered read a third time and passed Biden’s most recent bill—we call it the
and if you are going to come on our and that the motion to reconsider be $1.9 trillion bill—we haven’t done it on
campus and tell our people that there considered made and laid upon the a bipartisan basis. I am disappointed in
are things they can’t talk about, then, table. that.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there I understand politics. The Presiding
respectfully, you need—you, the Confu-
objection? Officer does too. But I listened very
cius Institutes—to leave our campus.
But some of the universities haven’t Without objection, it is so ordered. carefully to President Biden through-
done the right thing. I am not sug- The bill (S. 590) was ordered to be en- out the campaign and in his 6 weeks of
gesting that—I am not cynical enough grossed for a third reading, was read this administration, and he said very
to suggest that it is all about the the third time, and passed, as follows: clearly and repeatedly: You know, I
money, but you can’t ignore the fact S. 590 want to work with everybody. What I
that I think the Communist Party of Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep- heard him say to the Republicans was:
China has given our universities, resentatives of the United States of America in You know, I want to meet you halfway.
through the years—don’t hold me to Congress assembled, I don’t mean any disrespect, but if
this figure exactly—but about $150 mil- SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. that is the case, either he or the people
lion to set up these Confucius Insti- This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Concerns around him are not very good judges of
tutes. Universities, you know, they Over Nations Funding University Campus In- distance.
build that money into their budget, so stitutes in the United States Act’’ or the It has been made very clear to us
they are reluctant to see the Confucius
‘‘CONFUCIUS Act’’. that there would be no negotiations on
Institutes leave—not all of our univer-
SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON CONFUCIUS INSTI- this bill and that President Biden de-
TUTES. cided to proceed to reconciliation,
sities but some of them. I recognize the (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term
economic reality. which only requires a majority. And I
‘‘Confucius Institute’’ means a cultural in-
I have a bill that would say to—we think we both expect there to be 50
stitute directly or indirectly funded by the
wouldn’t get rid of Confucius Insti- Government of the People’s Republic of Democratic votes in favor of this bill
tutes. It will just tell our universities: China. and 50 Republican votes against it, and
You have to properly manage them. (b) RESTRICTIONS ON CONFUCIUS INSTI- Vice President HARRIS will break the
You can’t allow the Confucius Insti- TUTES.—An institution of higher education tie. That is not a bipartisan bill, and I
tutes to stay on your campus if the or other postsecondary educational institu- regret that, and I think it could have
tion (referred to in this section as an ‘‘insti- been different.
Confucius Institutes will not allow for
tution’’) shall not be eligible to receive Fed- You know, we can debate about
the free exchange of ideas. eral funds from the Department of Education
If kids—I shouldn’t call them kids. If whether we need $1.9 trillion, and I un-
(except funds under title IV of the Higher
young people in our universities want derstand there are good arguments on
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.)
to talk about Tibet, they get to talk or other Department of Education funds that both sides. I have heard the arguments,
about Tibet. And the bill would say are provided directly to students) unless the and I have listened carefully to my
that the universities have to take back institution ensures that any contract or Democratic friends explain why they
control of these Confucius Institutes agreement between the institution and a think we need it. There is another side
Confucius Institute includes clear provisions of the story, and that is that, thank

SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
from the Communist Party of China;
otherwise, they are not going to be eli- that— the Lord, we enjoyed 4 percent GDP
(1) protect academic freedom at the insti- growth last quarter. Most economists
gible for Federal funds. tution;
My bill, once again, doesn’t kick any- reckon that we will have about 6 per-
(2) prohibit the application of any foreign
body off campus. It just says you have law on any campus of the institution; and cent GDP growth this year. The Amer-
to—you, the Communist Party of (3) grant full managerial authority of the ican people have about $1.6 trillion in
China, have to do what you originally Confucius Institute to the institution, in- excess savings. We have all this liquid-
told us you were going to do. cluding full control over what is being ity that, as soon as it is allowed to be

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S1044 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 4, 2021
released, is going to stimulate our some Americans who need help, but if Act—‘‘we,’’ meaning the Republicans—
economy substantially, in my judg- what the President is saying is accu- we went through reconciliation. We
ment. rate, then why is so much of the money did. And so a fairminded person might
Everyone involved is doing a wonder- not even going to be spent until a year be thinking, well, KENNEDY, you know,
ful job on the vaccines. President from now? how can you criticize your Democratic
Trump’s team did a wonderful job. I look at the bill, and I say, if all colleagues for using reconciliation if
President Biden’s team is doing a good that is true to deal with an immediate you did it? And that is fair, except
job. The Governors seem to be doing a crisis, why are we giving money to when we did the Tax Cuts and Jobs
great job. People are getting vac- States and local governments that Act, we asked our Democratic friends
cinated. We know that we have a lot of have actually seen their revenues go in leadership: Can we sit down and see
people in America who had the virus up? Why? There is no crisis. And I look what we can put together? And we were
and didn’t even know it. We are rapidly at the bill and I ask myself, you know, told: No, we don’t want to reduce taxes.
approaching the point where, either why are we giving money to bail out That is not what happened this time.
through vaccination or people who had pension plans? Can we talk about this? Ten of my colleagues—I wasn’t invited,
the virus and therefore have the anti- And I look at the bill and I say, why, as and that is OK. But 10 of my colleagues
bodies, we are going to have way over I just alluded to, why are we giving $160 went to the White House and visited
the majority of American people pro- billion—I think that is the figure—$160 with President Biden for 2 hours and
tected. billion to our elementary and sec- came back and said: You know, I think
So one point of view is that we don’t ondary education institutions when we he may want to put a bill together.
need to spend $1.9 trillion, but there have given them $70 billion in the past And we were excited. We were going:
was a middle ground here, and I am dis- and they have only spent $4 billion? Yay, that is great. Wonderful.
appointed that the President took the Where is the fire? They have $65 billion Then, the next thing we knew, the
position that, look, we need to spend $2 or so left. This is real money. There is White House issued a statement and
trillion right now, even though there is no money fairy. said: Our idea of unity is to do what we
$1 trillion at least in previously appro- I look at the bill—I mean, I want to say and don’t ask questions.
priated funds that we haven’t spent help the American people. Gosh, many Both of us know that is not unity.
yet. of them do need help. But should we So all of this could have been avoid-
Now, a reasonable approach would really be sending stimulus checks to ed. It all could have been avoided. And
have been to say: Do we really need to people who have never missed a pay- I think we are going to end up spending
spend $2 trillion? Maybe we ought to check out there? Do they really need money that doesn’t need to be spent
spend the other $1 trillion and see if the money if they haven’t been laid off right now. I think we are going to end
that will do it. Another reasonable ap- and if they have been paid the entire up spending money where we don’t
proach would have been to say: Maybe time of the lockdown? Why are we need to spend it.
we ought to reprogram some of the $1 doing this? I am so glad that Senator SCHUMER
trillion that hasn’t been spent. For ex- Couldn’t that money—first of all, one withdrew his bridge project and that
ample, we appropriated I think about option is not to spend it if there is not Speaker PELOSI withdrew her Silicon
$70 billion to our elementary and sec- a need. We can pay down our debt or at Valley subway. That is just spending
ondary schools. They have only spent least not increase our debt. Another porn as far as I am concerned.
$4 billion, so why are we giving them option would be to spend it on some- But, in any event, I wanted to get
another $160 billion in President thing that we really need. that off my chest. We are going to go
Biden’s bill? Maybe—I am not saying it I come to the conclusion—I am not through a vote-arama, where we all
is the case, but we ought to explore it— trying to be mean-spirited, but that is offer amendments. Maybe together we
maybe the schools didn’t need the full why I say calling this a coronavirus can make this bill better and get rid of
$70 billion we gave them if they have bill, you know, it is like calling Harvey some of the spending porn, as I call it,
only spent $4 billion or $5 billion. So Weinstein a feminist. This isn’t a and do the job that the American peo-
maybe we can reprogram some of that coronavirus bill, not the way it has ple sent us here to do.
money. been portrayed. Thank you.
Now, if we had this money sitting in Now, the American people still have I don’t see Senator SANDERS. I’m
a checking account, I would still needs. We still have some folks, pri- sorry.
think—because it represents a scarce marily in the leisure industry and in With that, I yield to my good friend
resource, I would still think that we the travel industry, who need our help. Senator PETERS.
need to take a look at the money we They do need help. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
have already sent and either spend it, We have a lot of folks who have lost ator from Michigan.
if it is well placed, or reprogram it be- their jobs through no fault of their f
fore we go out and spend $2 trillion. own. They are on unemployment that
But we don’t have the money in a is about to run out. They need our AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF
checking account. We will borrow help, and we ought to help. But the 2021
every penny of this money, $2 trillion. right way to do this is to sit down as a Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, as we
That is going to bring debt up to 27, 28, body—Democrats and Republicans— near the 1-year anniversary of the
29 trillion dollars, and we know that and go through our needs, not our coronavirus pandemic ripping our
right behind it is going to come a green wants, because that is another problem country, there is no question that
infrastructure bill. I am hearing that with this bill; it is more ‘‘wanty’’ than Michiganders and people all across our
could be $2 trillion to $3 trillion more. needy. Let’s go through our needs, and country are still hurting.
At some point, we are going to run out let’s discuss how much money we While we are making important
of digits. I mean, at some point, we are should appropriate to those needs in progress in the fight to combat this
going to have to change the name of light of the facts that we have already virus, this public health and economic
the Department of Treasury to the spent $4 trillion and we have a bunch of crisis continues to take a significant
‘‘Department of Debt’’ because there is money left over. And that is not the toll on families, workers who are out of
no treasury left. It is all debt. way this is being done. a job, educators, students, small busi-
The other thing that bothers me This is just being rammed down our nesses, hospitals, and communities all
about the bill is President Biden—and, throats. This is just raw gut politics, across our country.

SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
again, I understand politics. He has which I understand. I have been around We passed targeted, temporary relief
marketed this bill as an emergency. It it. You have, too, Mr. President. We in December, but we knew at that time
is an emergency. We have to do it now. have both been around the block a few that that was not going to be enough.
Right now, we need $1.9 trillion to deal times. But that is not how you allocate We need more robust, meaningful re-
with the economic crisis caused by the scarce resources. lief. We must act quickly to meet the
lockdown. And I understand that argu- The final point I will make is, I know urgency of this moment by swiftly
ment and that there currently are when we did the Tax Cuts and Jobs passing the American Rescue Plan.

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