Congressional Record, Senate, March 10, 2021, Page S1439

Summary

A page of the Congressional Record, Senate, dated March 10, 2021, at page S1439, carrying floor speeches. A Senator at the top of the page marks the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and urges finishing the work of John Lewis. Mr. Thune then pays tribute to Senator Blunt, who announced he will not seek reelection in 2022, and criticizes the COVID relief bill, saying it provides $350 billion for States and nearly $129 billion for K–12 schools and that Democrats kept a vote open for almost 12 hours. Mr. Barrasso then speaks on immigration policy.

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

“Congressional Record, Senate, March 10, 2021, Page S1439.” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-03-10-crec-2021-03-10-pt1-pgs1439-2-bb9e3f6945/, SHA-256 4dc41127e2e1b27dc33ec1dd1209242e0d900c86673e0c4f0db1cc933cf6543c.

Full text

March 10, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S1439
In 2020, the American people turned party tries to strong-arm its legisla- schemes. This bill is mostly just a col-
out in historic numbers in the election, tion through the Senate. lection of payoffs to Democrat interest
but they also turned out in historic Last Friday was perhaps most nota- groups in Democrat States.
numbers in protests in support of ra- ble for its 11-plus-hour vote on an For the extreme abortion wing of the
cial justice across America. John Lew- amendment. Democrats held a 15- Democratic Party, this bill omits long-
is’s march to Montgomery never ended. minute vote open for almost 12 hours— standing Federal restriction on using
It has taken on a new life, a new gen- making it the longest vote in modern taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion. It
eration of marchers, and more Ameri- Senate history—because it had become makes labor unions eligible for loans
cans than ever before are putting their clear that they were in danger of losing designed to rescue Main Street small
feet to the pavement. the support of one of their Members. businesses. It bails out failing union
It is time to finish the work of John It turns out that when you force a pensions—a bailout even the New York
Lewis and the heroes of the civil rights massive, liberal piece of legislation Times describes as having ‘‘nothing to
movement. As we commemorate the through the Senate without committee do with the pandemic’’ and as an ‘‘al-
56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, we review and without any attempt at so- most unheard-of’’ use of taxpayer dol-
can do no less. With his eyes wide open, liciting input from the Senate as a lars. That is from the New York Times.
John Lewis marched across the Ed- whole, you start to lose support even It provides nearly $129 billion for K–
mund Pettus Bridge in Selma knowing from Members of your own party. It 12 schools—despite the fact that these
he was facing a deadly, hateful crowd. was an embarrassing moment for the schools have spent just $5 billion of the
They broke down his body, but they Democrat leadership and a sad moment $68 billion already given to them—
could not defeat his spirit. The ques- for the rest of the Senate. while keeping teachers unions happy
tion we face today is whether John In that same speech on Inauguration by making sure funding isn’t tied to
Lewis’s spirit still lives in us. Day, the Democratic leader pledged: any requirement to actually get back
I yield the floor. [The] Senate will legislate. . . . And to my to in-person instruction.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Republican colleagues, when and where we Then, of course, there is the money
pore. The Republican whip. can, the Democratic majority will strive to for the States. The bill appropriates a
TRIBUTE TO ROY BLUNT make this important work bipartisan. staggering $350 billion for States, de-
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, before I There was no evidence of that here. spite the fact that a majority of States
begin, I want to take a moment to ex- Democrats didn’t try to make this bill already have the resources they need
press my sadness about Senator bipartisan. In fact, they actively tried to weather the rest of the pandemic.
BLUNT’s announcement that he will not to make sure Republicans didn’t have a On top of that, the distribution for-
seek reelection in 2022. voice in this legislation. mula for that $350 billion is heavily
He has been a leader within our con- Remember that almost 12-hour weighted in favor of blue States, like
ference ever since he came over to the amendment vote? Democrats held that California, which stands to see $27 bil-
Senate, and he will be sorely missed. I vote open for nearly 12 hours solely be- lion under this legislation, despite the
will especially miss having him as a cause they were afraid that a Repub- fact that California’s revenues are up
Member of the whip team here in the lican amendment might pass. Repub- by $15 billion. Now, imagine the outcry
Senate. licans were more than willing to work if Republicans were directing funding
I came to the House of Representa- with Democrats on COVID relief, as we to States that voted Republican in the
tives with Senator BLUNT back in the did last year on five separate COVID last election.
election of 1996. We began our service bills, but Democrats didn’t want Re- And lest anyone thinks any of this
in January of 1997, and he quickly rose publicans interfering with their legis- was unintentional, Democrats doubled
up through the ranks in the House and lation. down on the partisanship when it came
became the Republican whip in the I want to talk about those previous to amendments. They rejected an
House of Representatives. He has al- COVID bills for just a minute. Prior to amendment that would have protected
ways been involved in leadership wher- Democrats taking control of the Sen- Americans from having their tax dol-
ever he has been, and his list of ate, COVID relief was a bipartisan lars used to pay for abortions, even
achievements is long. process. Under Republican control, the though multiple Democrats broke
All Americans have benefited over Senate passed five COVID relief bills ranks with their party to support this
the past year from his tremendous ef- with overwhelming bipartisan majori- amendment.
forts to accelerate coronavirus testing ties. Because both Democrats and Re- They rejected an amendment to tie
and vaccine development. And less publicans had a voice in the legisla- funding for schools to schools that ac-
than 2 months ago, in his role as chair- tion, there was no need to keep any of tually are reopening. They rejected an
man of Rules Committee, he oversaw a those votes open to engage in partisan amendment to ensure seamless support
very successful inauguration at a par- arm-twisting. ‘‘The Senate works best to nonpublic schools serving low-in-
ticularly challenging time. when it works together.’’ come students. They rejected an
The one good thing is that ROY is not The bipartisan process on those other amendment to stop labor unions from
leaving us immediately. He will be here COVID bills didn’t just guarantee a bi- taking loan money intended for small
for 2 more years, and I look forward to partisan vote in the Senate; it also businesses. They rejected an amend-
continuing to work with him and to guaranteed that those other COVID ment to provide greater transparency
seeing everything that he will accom- bills were actually about COVID. Be- on nursing home COVID deaths, pre-
plish. cause both parties had to work to- sumably in an attempt to protect the
AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2021 gether to get a result, neither party Democratic Governor of New York,
Mr. President, it has been quoted was able to hijack the bill for partisan who is under fire for seemingly delib-
that ‘‘[t]he Senate works best when we purposes. erate attempts to obscure reporting of
work together. . . . The challenges we Contrast that with the bill the Sen- these deaths.
face are great. The divisions in the ate passed on Saturday. While Demo- In a nod to the far-left environmental
country are real. We have no choice crats have tried to sell their legislation wing of the party, they rejected an
but to try to work together every day as a COVID relief bill, the truth is it amendment to reverse the President’s
to reward the faith the American peo- isn’t one. Just 1 percent—1 percent—of cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipe-
ple have placed in us.’’ this bill actually goes to our top line, which will cost thousands—thou-
Those are not my words. Those are COVID priority—vaccinations—and sands of American jobs.
the words of the Democratic leader on less than 10 percent of this bill is di- I could go on for a while on amend-

dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
Inauguration Day. But I agree with rectly related to combating the virus. ments because there are a lot more.
him. The Senate does indeed work best There has been a lot of talk about Democrats passed an amendment
when we work together. And, for proof, how this bill is a liberal wish list, that provides an incentive for some
look no further than last week’s deba- which it is, but that is almost being Americans to stay on unemployment
cle—a good example of what happens too generous. A liberal wish list at by making more than $10,000 of their
when, instead of working together, one least suggests some grand policy unemployment benefits nontaxable.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Mar 11, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G10MR6.010 S10MRPT1
S1440 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 10, 2021
Think about that. More than $10,000 of President Biden’s Executive orders on portations for a hundred days. It didn’t
their unemployment benefits is immigration. matter to President Biden what you
untaxable without regard to income. Now, there are more than 11 million were going to be deported for. No. Now,
Working Americans still have to pay illegal immigrants in the country maybe you are a serious criminal.
their taxes, even if they are making today. This is a group equivalent to the President Biden says: You can stay
less money than they would on unem- population of the entire State of Geor- longer. A court has already stepped in
ployment. If you are a hard-working gia, and this number has nearly tripled and said this is illegal, this Executive
taxpayer in this country and you are in the last 30 years. In fact, some ex- order.
not getting a tax break when the peo- perts say the number is a lot higher President Biden has, astonishingly,
ple who are on unemployment are get- than that. Folks at Yale and MIT and brought back the idea of catch-and-re-
ting a $10,000 tax break, nontaxable in- the researchers there said it could ac- lease—catch-and-release. He has or-
come that is costing the Federal Gov- tually be twice as high; it could be 22 dered our immigration agents to re-
ernment somewhere on the order of $30 million people in the country illegally. lease illegal immigrants into the
billion, you can imagine the average Well, that is more than the population United States, and he is doing it in the
taxpayer in this country might find of the entire State of New York. middle of a pandemic. Senator COTTON
that to be highly objectionable when So it appears to me that illegal im- and I sent a letter to the President
they find out about it. A substantial migration is making a mockery of our raising this concern. It is now harder
amount of unemployment benefits will borders. Yet President Biden and this to go to church in some parts of Amer-
be tax-free. That doesn’t seem too fair, administration refuse to admit, even as ica than it is to cross the border into
not to mention that the last thing we of this morning, that there is a crisis America.
should be doing right now is discour- at the southern border. Under President Trump, if you want-
aging people from going back to work. Now, if you talk to law enforcement ed to apply for asylum in this country,
In that speech I referenced earlier all across the country, they will tell you had to remain in Mexico. That was
that the Democratic leader gave on In- you that many of the problems that the policy. The policy of ‘‘Remain in
auguration Day, he said: they face every day are problems re- Mexico’’ was based on the standards of
As the majority changes in the Senate, the lated to our open southern border. The international law. To get asylum, you
Senate will do business differently. Drug Enforcement Administration has have to show that you can’t live safely
‘‘The Senate will do business dif- said for nearly a decade now that the in your home country because of perse-
ferently.’’ Well, now we have a glimpse vast majority of illegal drugs in Amer- cution—understandable. Yet the fact is
of what that looks like. And, appar- ica come here across the southern bor- that most illegal immigrants don’t
ently, it looks like ruthless partisan- der. come here because of persecution. They
ship in an attempt to completely si- Now, I am a doctor. I will tell you, come here for economic reasons. They
lence the minority and the Americans these drugs have killed thousands of want a better job. They want better
they represent. It is deeply dis- Americans. They kill thousands of schools for their kids. They are under-
appointing that Democrats have turned Americans every year. They tear fami- standable motives; nonetheless, they
a bipartisan process into a totally par- lies apart. They lead to heartbreaking are not standards for asylum.
tisan exercise. stories. They rob people of their God- Now, another requirement for asylum
As I mentioned, pandemic relief given potential. is that you have to go to the nearest
ought to be bipartisan, and it was last Our law enforcement, our Coast safe country and seek asylum. You
year, five times. Five times here in the Guard, our border agents, they do he- don’t get to pick anywhere you want to
U.S. Senate, we passed pandemic relief, roic work every day to intercept drugs, go in the world. You have to go to the
coronavirus relief legislation, with to stop human trafficking. They can’t nearest safe country. Yet people
overwhelming bipartisan majorities do it alone. They need the support of around the world know that our asy-
under regular order, where 60 votes are the U.S. Senate. lum system here in the United States
required, instead of under the proce- Well, during the debate last week has become a sham. It is no secret that
dure that was used by the Democrats over the spending bill, we had a chance it is easy to game the system, and it is
last week to shut Republicans out of to give them support. Senator CRUZ in- being gamed regularly in the Biden ad-
that process. troduced an amendment to prevent ministration.
We could have passed a bill last week checks from going to illegal immi- So they often stop in at least one
again with overwhelming bipartisan grants. Democrats blocked it. Senator other safe country, and they apply for
support, but that would have required COTTON introduced an amendment to asylum here. President Biden now says:
Democrats to be willing to genuinely cut the bailout funding to sanctuary You don’t have to wait in Mexico.
collaborate with Republicans. And, un- cities. Well, these are cities that ac- Cross the border. We will give you a
fortunately, it is becoming clear that tively try to prevent Federal agents— court date years from now, years from
collaboration is not part of the new actively try to prevent Federal agents now, and after they give you the court
way of doing business in the Demo- from enforcing our immigration laws. date, they release you into the United
cratic-led Senate. Democrats blocked the amendment. States. Even those who know they
I hope my Democratic colleagues will So no wonder we have a crisis at the don’t qualify and will not qualify for
change course in the days ahead and border. Democrats seem to be adver- asylum, they come anyway because
work with Republicans to unite our tising to the entire world: Come here they know they get released into the
country. As the Democratic leader sug- now. If you come here illegally, you United States. It happens all the time.
gested on Inauguration Day, they owe can get a check, possibly. Just before the new administration
the American people nothing less. If you are an immigration enforce- took over, the Department of Home-
I yield the floor. ment officer, Democrats seem to block land Security published a report about
I suggest the absence of a quorum. them from doing their own job. Presi- this. According to the Department, our
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- dent Biden has already issued at least border agents apprehended 3.5 million
pore. The clerk will call the roll. seven Executive orders on immigra- illegal immigrants along the southern
The legislative clerk proceeded to tion. In just over a month in office, border between 2014 and 2019. Only 8
call the roll. President Biden has already proven to percent of them—only 8 percent, 1 out
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask be the most open-border President in of 12—ended up receiving legal protec-
unanimous consent that the order for U.S. history. tion from being deported, but the De-
the quorum call be rescinded. Now we face an entirely predictable partment says half of them are still

dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- crisis at the border. That crisis rests here in the United States. How does
pore. Without objection, it is so or- squarely at President Biden’s feet. On that happen? They didn’t show up.
dered. his first day in office, President Biden President Biden has also started an
IMMIGRATION shut down construction of the southern unprecedented expansion of the refugee
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I border wall. By the time the day was program. The most refugees that this
come to the floor today to oppose over, President Biden stopped all de- country has ever resettled in a single

VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Mar 11, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G10MR6.013 S10MRPT1

File and source

File: CREC_crec-2021-03-10_crec-2021-03-10-pt1-pgs1439-2.pdf
Size: 210,916 bytes
SHA-256: 4dc41127e2e1b27dc33ec1dd1209242e0d900c86673e0c4f0db1cc933cf6543c
Our copy: CREC_crec-2021-03-10_crec-2021-03-10-pt1-pgs1439-2.pdf
Original: www.govinfo.gov