Unanimous Consent Request—S. 948 (Cong. Rec., March 24, 2021)

Summary

A page of the Congressional Record, Senate, dated March 24, 2021, at page S1738, headed Unanimous Consent Request on S. 948. Mr. Cruz disputes remarks by a Senator from New Mexico, saying Democrats voted against an amendment to keep $1,400 stimulus checks from criminals in prison, and speaks about case law on criminal immigrants. Mr. Scott of Florida then discusses the COVID relief spending bill, saying it tucked in tax increases on the self-employed and lowers the threshold for 1099 forms from $20,000 and 200 transactions to $600 for contractors with gig economy companies.

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“Unanimous Consent Request—S. 948 (Cong. Rec., March 24, 2021).” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-03-24-crec-2021-03-24-pt1-pgs1738-cce90a72ec/, SHA-256 6c6d1d136db589b2f1963f0f1827d9edcbc581f54a7b099644c7ee87b598e438.

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S1738 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 24, 2021
I traveled down there with a group of I said: How about child molesters? Actions mean more than words, and,
colleagues. We had a chance to visit Surely, we can all agree child molest- unfortunately, the actions of today’s
with the Border Patrol in El Paso. We ers are not worthy of a $1,400 taxpayer Democratic Party are extreme and out
had a chance to visit with Border Pa- government bonus given by the Demo- of touch with the American people we
trol in Antelope Wells in New Mexico crats. The Democrats objected. were elected to represent.
and Lordsburg in New Mexico. We have So with all due respect to my friend I yield the floor.
had the honor of traveling down into from New Mexico, it is not the case The PRESIDING OFFICER. The jun-
the Rio Grande Valley, down to that Democrats support holding pris- ior Senator from Florida.
Brownsville. We had a chance to visit oners to account. UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST—S. 948
with folks on the frontlines, not just Today, in the Rules Committee, the Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam Presi-
wearing the green uniform of our Bor- Democrats are pushing forward an elec- dent, I rise today to discuss another
der Patrol and those working with the tion bill, the Corrupt Politicians Act, issue in the Democrats’ massive COVID
Department of Homeland Security but which would allow every felon in Amer- spending bill that we need to fix.
those who are also providing humani- ica who has been released from prison My Democratic colleagues want to
tarian relief. to vote. It would allow murderers to keep spending into oblivion, taking our
Those camps in Matamoros that I vote, rapists to vote, child molesters to national debt to $30 trillion. This
went to, they still exist. And one of the vote. So it is not the case that Demo- would be bad enough on its own, but
questions that needs to be asked is, crats are willing to stand up to violent tucked into the bloated spending pack-
What are these kids going through? crime. age were new tax hikes on self-em-
What are they thinking about to travel Now, there are a couple of things ployed individuals.
thousands of miles because of the con- that the Senator from New Mexico said President Biden and the Democrats
cerns that they have for their own that I wrote down. He said the only didn’t talk about it, and they certainly
health and well-being? I hope we can thing he disagreed with was ‘‘the asser- aren’t talking about it as they travel
have that conversation and solve this tion that immigrants are inherently the Nation to brag about their bad bill.
problem. So let’s find a way to work criminal.’’ Well, I challenge anyone Democrats are quietly raising taxes,
together. watching this exchange to read the hoping the American people don’t no-
I have said it before, and I will say it transcript. tice. The $1.9 trillion so-called Amer-
again: We need to go after criminals I am glad he disagrees with that as- ican Rescue Plan Act, of which less
and felons, not children and families. sertion. That assertion never came
than 10 percent went to actually help
In truth, I think we can get there. from my mouth. I am the son of an im-
fight COVID and 1 percent to vaccines,
So as I close, I just say: Let’s be a migrant who came from Cuba. We are a
had several tax increases and burden-
beacon of hope to the most vulnerable. nation of immigrants. I am not re-
some reporting requirements, includ-
Let’s make sure we go after these motely asserting that immigrants are
ing one that significantly impacts the
criminals and felons, wherever they inherently criminal. There is a right
gig workers—those who have been se-
may be, and they feel the full weight of way to come, and that is to come le-
verely impacted by the coronavirus
the law. But when it comes to the bro- gally.
But case law isn’t about immigrants pandemic.
ken immigration system in America, Starting in 2022, this bill requires
let’s work together to fix it. generally; it only applies to criminals.
It is immigrants that have a criminal many contractors with gig economy
Therefore, I object. companies like Uber, DoorDash,
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- conviction, that have an aggravated
felony conviction. So when my friend Airbnb, and Lyft to file 1099 forms
tion is heard.
from New Mexico says that we need to when they previously would not have.
Mr. CRUZ. Madam President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- focus on felons—and he closed his re- The new requirement dramatically
ator from Texas. marks with the following: ‘‘We need to lowers the annual 1099 reporting
Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, I appre- go after criminals and felons, not chil- threshold from $20,000 and 200 trans-
ciate the warm sentiments of the Sen- dren and families’’—the case law does actions to just $600 and eliminates the
ator from New Mexico, but the Amer- exactly that. transaction minimum.
ican people can distinguish the dif- If the Senator from New Mexico be- In late February, before the Demo-
ference between talk and action. lieves the words he said, the next words crats rushed their spending bill
The Senator from New Mexico sug- out of his mouth would not have been through Congress on a purely partisan
gested that all Democrats support ‘‘I object.’’ By virtue of objecting, he basis, a coalition of groups wrote to
holding criminals to account. I would prevented us from, in a bipartisan way, Speaker PELOSI and Leader SCHUMER,
suggest the facts are precisely to the going after criminals and felons. Case asking that this onerous new provision,
contrary. law is targeted at those criminals and which has nothing to do with address-
Just 2 weeks ago, on the floor of this felons. It is not targeted at kids; it is ing the coronavirus crisis, be removed
body, we introduced an amendment to targeted at criminals and felons. or at least reconsidered. The letter was
provide that $1,400 government stim- I would ask the Senator from New signed by groups such as the Small
ulus checks should not go to criminals Mexico and every Senate Democrat: Business and Entrepreneurship Coun-
currently in prison. Every single Sen- What would you say to Kate Steinle’s cil, the National Asian American
ate Democrat voted against that. That family? I have heard them testify in Chamber of Commerce, National Asso-
amendment failed by one vote. If even the Senate Judiciary Committee. I ciation for the Self-Employed, United
one Democrat had said ‘‘OK, that is have visited with them personally. If States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,
reasonable,’’ it would have passed. you were looking them in the eyes, and the National Association of Women
Yesterday, I introduced multiple what would you say to a system where Business Owners.
unanimous consent requests to stop Kate Steinle’s murderer was deported After receiving such a letter, one
money from going to convicted crimi- five times—multiple criminal convic- would think that Democrats would
nals in prison and to send the money tions? want to reconsider. Raising taxes and
instead to the Crime Victims Fund. A I am the original author of Kate’s reporting requirements in the midst of
Democrat objected. Law. We have voted on this on the Sen- a pandemic? This is never good policy,
I then said: All right, if you don’t ate floor multiple times. Every time but I can’t think of any worse timing.
want to do all criminals, how about we have voted, every single Democratic Of course, Democrats kept the provi-

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murderers? Can we agree, if you were Senator has voted against Kate’s Law. sion buried deep within the bill, hoping
convicted of homicide, if you killed You don’t get to vote against Kate’s the American public wouldn’t notice.
somebody, let’s not send you a govern- Law, you don’t get to vote against The Democrats’ new reporting re-
ment check; let’s send it to the Crime stopping violent criminals from repeat- quirements are effectively a tax hike
Victims Fund? The Democrats ob- edly entering the country illegally, and and will ultimately hurt low- and mid-
jected. then claim you are against violent dle-income contractors, the self-em-
I said: All right, how about rapists? criminals repeatedly entering the ployed, and freelancers, many of whom
The Democrats objected. country illegally. have been devastated by the pandemic,

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March 24, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S1739
while Federal and State Governments tions. Without this information, for ex- sion of my remarks, I be allowed to
will collect billions more in income tax ample, workers may lose out on bene- present an excerpt of my speech in
revenue. fits that would help them pay rent and Spanish. I will provide transcripts both
My Democratic colleagues want the buy groceries. They could inadvert- in English and in Spanish of those
American public to believe this is ently lose out on important tax bene- paragraphs.
about catching tax cheats. And, to be fits, like the earned income tax credit. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
clear, any attempt to evade taxes and The rescue plan, of course, expands the objection, it is so ordered.
defraud the public by not following the earned tax credit. We want to make UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST—S. 884
law should be condemned, and Congress sure that every eligible worker can get
should appropriately address it. How- that financial help. Mr. LEE. Madam President, I have
ever, a massive new reporting require- Finally, without reporting, workers read the accounts and so have many of
ment of gig workers, many just trying might jeopardize the size of their fu- you. A young mother from Honduras,
to make ends meet in the midst of this ture Social Security benefits, putting two young sisters from Guatemala, a 6-
pandemic, is not about catching tax their retirement security at risk. year-old child from El Salvador—they
fraud. It is about punishing the self- So what the Senator from Florida is were all told by a local cartel that, for
employed and raising revenues for the up to here would deprive American en- a price, a better life awaits them in
Democrats’ massive spending plans. trepreneurs of the information they America.
It wasn’t that long ago that Presi- need to keep business records, comply They are told, as evidenced by those
dent Biden promised that he wouldn’t with tax requirements, and claim im- chanting ‘‘Biden, Biden’’ at the border,
raise taxes on anyone making under portant Federal benefits. For these rea- that this new President has opened the
$400,000. Obviously, that was not true. sons, I strongly object to this request borders and that amnesty is imminent,
But this isn’t the first time Democrats for unanimous consent. so get in while you can.
have tried to quietly increase taxes and I yield the floor. These vulnerable people are flocking
saddle the self-employed with new re- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- to smugglers and violent criminals and
quirements like this. They did it with tion is heard. paying them all that they have for
ObamaCare when they required busi- The junior Senator from Florida. their chance to get in while they can.
nesses to send 1099 forms for all pur- Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam Presi- In the last month, traffickers have al-
chases of goods and services over $600 dent, that sounded good, but this is legedly made as much as $14 million a
annually. They quickly learned how clearly a tax increase. It is a massive week smuggling men, women, and chil-
unpopular and harmful this provision tax increase, and it is a massive new dren across the border.
was, and they quickly repealed it. The reporting requirement on already Once indebted to cartels and coyotes,
Obama administration even praised the struggling Americans. Our focus ought the price these vulnerable people pay is
repeal as a ‘‘big win’’ for the self-em- to be on helping support American far more costly than money. According
ployed. I guess some never learn. workers, especially these gig economy to media reports, men are used as
What I am proposing is very simple. workers who have been hurt so badly. slaves; women are raped endlessly. In
It is what the Democrats supported in I am disappointed my colleague fact, one-third of the women making
2011 when they repealed this bad tax in- wants to increase costs and regulations their way to the border are reportedly
crease in ObamaCare. on American families. What is strange sexually assaulted, and 68 percent of
Today, I want to remove this new re- is that my colleague from Oregon voted the people coming across the border
porting requirement and simply rein- to repeal this bad provision when are physically assaulted.
state the previous law back into U.S. Democrats added it to ObamaCare. So Children are rented, trafficked, and
code. what is crazy is, why is he OK today ‘‘recycled,’’ as they put it, forced to
Increasing reporting requirements on with raising taxes on the American pose as the child of one illegal immi-
our gig workers will create new and un- people now? This is all part of the grant after another to activate the so-
expected challenges for independent, Democrats’ tax-and-spend agenda, and called Flores get-out-of-jail-free card.
self-employed workers and entre- it is just the beginning. One former Border Patrol agent told
preneurs, who are already facing an in- Let’s remember, with the last spend- me that the smugglers prefer to use ba-
credible burden created by the ing bill the Democrats passed, we will bies because they are unable to tell
coronavirus. have $30 trillion of debt. As Governor Border Patrol agents that these are
Increasing costs and regulations on of Florida, I worked so that we cut not, in fact, their parents.
already struggling Americans is wrong, taxes 100 times, and we paid off a third
What of those who escape the clutch-
and I hope all of my colleagues will of our State debt.
es of the cartels? Well, estimates of
join me today and repeal this bad pol- We have to think that way here. How
how many children are currently in
icy. can we grow this economy and reduce
Madam President, as if in legislative Customs and Border Patrol custody
the costs for Americans, not increase
session, I ask unanimous consent that vary from more than 4,000 children to
the costs to Americans? These bad
the Senate proceed to the immediate well over 15,000. Thousands of these
types of policies will ruin our economy
consideration of S. 948, introduced ear- children are being held, packed into
and a shot at the American dream,
lier today. I further ask that the bill be housing facilities, for well over the 72-
which we all believe in.
considered read a third time and passed hour limit required by Flores—and
I am going to fight every day to get
and that the motion to reconsider be with no end in sight.
the government out of the way and
considered made and laid upon the make sure that doesn’t happen. The Biden administration is doing all
table. I yield the floor. it can to hide the humanitarian crisis
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there The PRESIDING OFFICER. The jun- created by its own immigration poli-
objection? ior Senator from Florida. cies—a disaster that Secretary
Mr. WYDEN. Reserving the right to Mr. SCOTT of Florida. I suggest the Mayorkas refuses to acknowledge as a
object. absence of a quorum. crisis. It denied media access and ap-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The sen- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The pears to be enforcing an unofficial gag
ior Senator from Oregon. clerk will call the roll. order on Border Patrol agents. Jour-
Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, the The legislative clerk proceeded to nalists have not been permitted inside
the detention facilities since President

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Senator from Florida claims to be call the roll.
looking out for gig workers and free- Mr. LEE. Madam President, I ask Biden took office.
lancers. The reality is very different. unanimous consent that the order for Now, it shouldn’t be a surprise to any
What is in the bill, which the Senator the quorum call be rescinded. of us that the Biden administration’s
from Florida apparently opposes, is a The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without open border policies have resulted in
way to make sure that these workers objection, it is so ordered. this overwhelming crisis—and a crisis
can get the information they need to Mr. LEE. Madam President, I ask it is. This is what then-Candidate
help meet their existing tax obliga- unanimous consent that at the conclu- Biden promised us in the very first

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