The Economy (Cong. Rec., July 15, 2021)

Summary

Page S4916 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for July 15, 2021, under the heading The Economy, in interleaved columns. A roll call ends with 8 nays and 1 not voting, and the nomination of Jennifer Ann Abruzzo to be General Counsel for a term of four years is confirmed. Mr. Schumer moves to proceed to executive session on Calendar No. 246 and sends a cloture motion. One speaker says there is strong bipartisan support for an infrastructure bill but criticizes the planned cloture filing on a bill not yet written and scored, and another discusses police, the release of violent criminals and unemployment benefits, which are their views.

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

“The Economy (Cong. Rec., July 15, 2021).” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-07-15-crec-2021-07-15-pt1-pgs4916-7-88a75ff523/, SHA-256 1202d19691ffe9b8ff1340e37bd53e397018b824932a916d18706256a9d44b98.

Full text

S4916 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 15, 2021
Sinema Tillis Warren The motion was agreed to. half is more than $1 trillion worth of
Smith Toomey Whitehouse
Stabenow Tuberville Wyden f infrastructure.
Sullivan Van Hollen Young
And I would note that while there is
Tester Warner
EXECUTIVE SESSION strong bipartisan support for an infra-
Thune Warnock structure bill, that the Democratic
NAYS—8 EXECUTIVE CALENDAR leader is apparently intending to file
Blackburn Hawley Shelby for cloture on a motion to proceed to a
Ernst Lankford Wicker
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I bill that hasn’t even been written yet,
Hagerty Scott (FL) move to proceed to executive session to much less had a Congressional Budget
NOT VOTING—1
consider Calendar No. 246. Office score to see whether the pay-fors
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The are meaningful or phony.
Graham
question is on agreeing to the motion. As I see it, our friends on the other
The nomination was confirmed. The motion was agreed to. side have made it even more difficult
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under The PRESIDING OFFICER. The to convince our colleagues, let alone
the previous order, the motions to re- clerk will report the nomination. the American people, that this type of
consider are considered made and laid The senior assistant legislative clerk spending is necessary. After all, they
upon the table, and the President will read the nomination of Jennifer Ann have already developed a spotty record
be immediately notified of the Senate’s Abruzzo, of New York, to be General this year. At a time when our debts
action. Counsel of the National Labor Rela- were piling up, they added up even
The majority leader. tions Board for a term of four years. more unnecessary spending.
f CLOTURE MOTION Back in March, Democrats spent
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I send nearly $2 trillion without the support
LEGISLATIVE SESSION of a single Republican. They claimed
a cloture motion to the desk.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clo- this was all in the name of COVID–19
move to proceed to legislative session. ture motion having been presented relief, even though less than 10 percent
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The under rule XXII, the Chair directs the directly supported our pandemic re-
question is on agreeing to the motion. clerk to read the motion. sponse. The rest was a grab bag of irre-
The motion was agreed to. The senior assistant legislative clerk sponsible spending.
read as follows: One case in point is the blue State
f
bailout. Democrats spent $350 billion
CLOTURE MOTION
EXECUTIVE SESSION more in aid to State and local govern-
We, the undersigned Senators, in accord-
ments, many of which were not even
ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby facing any sort of budget shortfalls.
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR move to bring to a close debate on the nomi- Democrats said the jobs of everybody
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I nation of Executive Calendar No. 246, Jen- from police officers to teachers would
move to proceed to executive session to nifer Ann Abruzzo, of New York, to be Gen- be in jeopardy without this funding.
consider Calendar No. 195. eral Counsel of the National Labor Relations Republicans offered that this huge
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
Board for a term of four years. sum of funding wasn’t needed since
Charles E. Schumer, Ben Ray Luján, Jeff many States were not operating in the
question is on agreeing to the motion. Merkley, Raphael Warnock, Alex
The motion was agreed to. red. Even liberal economists and non-
Padilla, Sheldon Whitehouse, Chris- partisan groups, like the Committee
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The topher A. Coons, Benjamin L. Cardin,
for a Responsible Federal Budget,
clerk will report the nomination. Jack Reed, Patrick J. Leahy, Tammy
Baldwin, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Chris- agreed.
The senior assistant legislative clerk But as the old saying goes, time tells
read the nomination of Kenneth Allen topher Murphy, Tim Kaine, John
Hickenlooper, Angus S. King, Jr., all. And it didn’t take much time for us
Polite, Jr., of Louisiana, to be an As- to see how completely unnecessary this
Tammy Duckworth, Patty Murray.
sistant Attorney General. $350 billion payout was. Take Cali-
CLOTURE MOTION
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent that the manda- fornia as an example. California has
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I send more than $100 billion budget surplus.
tory quorum calls for cloture motions
a cloture motion to the desk. That is with a capital ‘‘B.’’ Governor
filed today, Thursday, July 15, be
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clo- Newsom is using that money to dole
waived.
ture motion having been presented out stimulus checks and provide med-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
under rule XXII, the Chair directs the ical coverage for undocumented immi-
objection, it is so ordered.
clerk to read the motion. grants.
The senior Senator from Texas.
The senior assistant legislative clerk New Jersey has had so much extra
THE ECONOMY
read as follows: cash lying around that it has made its
CLOTURE MOTION
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, our first full payment into the State’s pen-
Democratic colleagues have begun to sion system in more than 25 years. But
We, the undersigned Senators, in accord-
ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the
lay out the groundwork for a partisan they didn’t stop there. It exceeded that
Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby reconciliation bill totaling $3.5 tril- payment by more than half a billion
move to bring to a close debate on the nomi- lion—what used to be an absolutely as- dollars.
nation of Executive Calendar No. 195, Ken- tonishing amount of money. This was exactly the kind of reckless
neth Allen Polite, Jr., of Louisiana, to be an We don’t have many details about spending of supposed COVID–19 dollars
Assistant Attorney General. how that money could be spent, but borrowed against future generations
Charles E. Schumer, Richard J. Durbin, based on everything we have heard that we advocated against because we
Tina Smith, Margaret Wood Hassan, from President Biden and our Demo-
Catherine Cortez Masto, Jeff Merkley, saw a tidal wave of funding going to
Patty Murray, Tammy Baldwin, Debbie
cratic colleagues over recent months, States that were not even operating in
Stabenow, Gary C. Peters, Angus S. there are some safe assumptions: Medi- the red.
King, Jr., Sheldon Whitehouse, Robert care expansion, Green New Deal-era One recent POLITICO article read:
P. Casey, Jr., Christopher Murphy, Ben climate initiatives, and a range of free State Faced Financial Ruin. Now they’re
Ray Luján, Jack Reed, Chris Van Hol- programs that we know aren’t free at swimming in cash.
len. all—college, childcare; you name it.

SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
The Wall Street Journal Editorial
f To pay for these runaway spending Board asked: ‘‘Didn’t States Say They
habits, our Democratic colleagues will Were Broke?’’
LEGISLATIVE SESSION lean on job-killing tax increases and At a time when our spending already
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I excessive borrowing from future gen- mirrored wartime expenses, Democrats
move to proceed to legislative session. erations. As a reminder, this is only handed States piles of cash to erase
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The one-half of the dual-track strategy debts and add to rainy-day funds, not
question is on agreeing to the motion. they are pushing this month. The other to provide for COVID–19 relief.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 16, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A15JY6.001 S15JYPT1
July 15, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4917
This money could have been used to production and safeguard against simi- House, and took President Biden at his
invest in our roads and bridges, to have lar shortages in the future. word that he promised to work across
credible pay-fors for the bipartisan in- But getting back to these rising costs the aisle. This far left—hard left turn
frastructure bill that is currently being depicted here on this chart, these kinds is not what the American people voted
considered, or to increase broadband of across-the-board cost increases are for.
access in rural communities, or to sup- simply unmanageable for many fami- Republicans will continue to fight
port the response to the immigrant cri- lies. I know it is easy sitting here in this irresponsible spending bonanza
sis occurring on our southern border, Washington, DC, getting a government once again. And I hope, I hope some of
or a number of other priorities. salary, to think that, well, people can our Democratic colleagues will stand
But rather than repurposing the sur- manage. But if you are a working fam- with us.
plus funds from the first spending bo- ily, particularly one coming off of lay- I yield the floor.
nanza, our Democratic colleagues are offs or reduced hours as a result of the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
trying to double down on reckless COVID–19 mitigation efforts, these are ator from Ohio.
spending, more irresponsible bor- real. And they bite into the economics Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I see a
rowing, more unnecessary spending, of these families. very different country, apparently,
and more burdensome taxes. This As bad as inflation is, it is only one from my colleague. And I respect Sen-
multitrillion-dollar spending spree part of our economic woes. We are also ator CORNYN.
comes at a time that is already an un- seeing trouble getting people to go I sat at this desk on March 6. We had
stable one for our economy. back to work. In February last year, been voting, as the Presiding Officer
Last month, inflation hit a 13-year before the pandemic hit, the unemploy- from Hawaii remembers. We had been
high. And average prices are up 5.4 per- ment rate was 3.5 percent. The econ- voting all night. It was a Saturday at
cent over the last year. Now, this is omy was hitting on all cylinders. But about 12:30. We had voted for about 11
what happens when so much money within 2 months, unemployment went hours. And we defeated by one vote an
starts chasing limited goods and serv- from 3.5 percent to 15 percent. amendment where Senator GRASSLEY
ices. The price of those goods and serv- Since then, thanks to our invest- and my colleagues from the Finance
ices goes up. That is what helps to ments and bipartisan cooperation and Committee and the Senate Republicans
cause inflation. And consumers are the our great scientists, we have made tried to delete the child tax credit from
ones feeling the sting of rising prices steady progress in getting workers the American Rescue Plan. We then
for virtually everything they buy. back on the job. But, unfortunately, took a second vote around noon on Sat-
Fruits and vegetables are up 3.2 per- our Democratic colleagues have seen urday, after 11 or 12 hours of voting,
cent; electricity is up 3.8 percent; and fit to incentivize men and women to re- where we passed the American Rescue
dining-out costs are up 4.2 percent over main on the sidelines of the labor mar- Plan by one vote.
a year ago. For families operating on a ket. Two different times, the Republican
budget, unlike the Federal Government The partisan bill they passed earlier Party, which always votes for tax cuts
that can simply print money and bor- this year extended, bolstered unem- for the richest people in the country,
row more money and impose that bur- ployment benefits through the end of always on party-line votes, always
den on future generations—for families September, long after we expected our under the very discredited theory that
operating on a budget, especially those economy to reopen. with tax cuts the dollars trickle down
who battled job losses and other tough It was literally true with the $300 to workers and to the middle class and
financial circumstances during the Federal supplement to State unem- the rest of the country—they will al-
pandemic, those dollars and those ex- ployment benefits. People receiving ways vote for a big tax cut for rich peo-
penses add up awfully quick. unemployment benefits in my State, 80 ple, but they opposed twice—unani-
And those account for only a few of percent of them got more from unem- mously opposed, every single one op-
the price increases that families are ployment than they did from their posed—the child tax credit.
facing. For example, if you want to former jobs. (Mr. KING assumed the Chair.)
purchase a washer or dryer for your That is simply the wrong kind of in- Today is the magic day. I remember
home, you are going to be met with centives to try to incentivize people saying to Senator CASEY, when we
some pretty serious sticker shock. not to work. We need to incentivize passed the American Rescue Plan, that
Prices are up 26 percent over last year. and facilitate people getting back to this is the best day of my career in
For folks hitting the road for maybe work so they can support their fami- public service because we are going to
a little time off during the summer- lies. reduce the child poverty rate by 50 per-
time or maybe even just commuting So it is no wonder our economy is cent.
back and forth to work will have to still struggling to rebound. A partisan This isn’t a tax cut for rich people, so
budget quite a bit more for the gaso- go-it-alone strategy has not led to posi- they can buy another home or another
line necessary to get them there. They tive results for our country. It has yacht or another vacation place. This
are paying 45 percent more at the pump driven up debt, deficits, borrowing, and is money in the pockets of working-
than they did just 1 year ago. spending. And for what? class and middle-class and struggling
And anyone heading to the used-car The American people are spending people from Maine and Ohio and Texas
lot is bound for a big surprise. Over the more of their hard-earned money on ev- and Iowa and all over the country.
last 12 months, used-car prices are up eryday items. Workers are sitting on So, today, people should start check-
an eye-popping 45.2 percent. We know the sidelines of the labor markets. And ing their bank accounts, looking at
one contributing factor is the shortage our national debt is at a higher level their phones, checking their bank ac-
of semiconductors necessary to run than it was following World War II. counts, looking in their mailbox.
these computers on wheels that we now In the last election—contrary to, per- Starting today—today, Friday, Satur-
call cars. Without a steady supply of haps, the belief among some circles day, Monday—the great majority of
these chips, automakers haven’t been here in Washington—the voters did not American families will see this tax cut.
able to manufacture the normal num- give our Democratic colleagues a man- They will see this $250 or $300 a month.
ber of new vehicles, making used ones date. They didn’t sign off on the far- They are going to start receiving it.
a particular hot commodity. left agenda or give a green light to There will be $250 if the child is 6 or
This is another reason why the House spend trillions and trillions of dollars over. There will be $250 6 to 17. If they
needs to take up the bipartisan U.S. In- on unnecessary liberal programs. are 5 or under, it will be $300 per month

SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
novation and Competition Act, which If they wanted BERNIE SANDERS’ per child—on July 15, August 15, Sep-
passed the Senate last month. It can multitrillion-dollar budget, they would tember 15, October, November, Decem-
take literally years to get new semi- have elected him President of the ber.
conductor foundries or manufacturing United States. But we know that did Then, with the second half of the tax
facilities up and running. And time is not happen. cut, they will get a lump sum starting
of the essence. Getting this bill signed Voters elected a 50–50 Senate, less- next year when they file their taxes.
into law will help bolster domestic chip ened the Democratic majority in the Ninety-two percent of kids in my

VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 16, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G15JY6.014 S15JYPT1
S4918 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 15, 2021
State—92 percent of children under 18— portunity. What is not to love about Recently, the President’s spokes-
are eligible for this. that? person said it was the Republicans who
These are all numbers and these are I yield the floor. wanted to defund the police, not the
all statistics, but here is what it The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Democrats. And that is just plain un-
means. I did a series of roundtables in ator from Iowa. true and everybody knows it. What
Cleveland and Columbus and Dayton POLICE DEPARTMENTS they were trying to say is that Repub-
and Cincinnati and Toledo and Youngs- Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, why licans didn’t support the Democrats’ ir-
town and Fremont and Bryan and Defi- is there such an increase in violent responsible spending bill back in
ance, OH. Here is what I heard. One crimes in American cities? March.
woman said: You know, my son, for the In New York City, the murder rate is That is not defunding the police.
first time in his life, I can send him for up 37 percent from 2 years ago; in At- That is just being fiscally responsible.
a week at summer camp because of this lanta, 53 percent from 2019. In Port- It is not Republicans who say things
child tax credit. land, OR, murders have increased over like: ‘‘No more policing, incarceration,
A father said: I can buy the equip- 500 percent. or militarization. It can’t be re-
ment for my daughter to play fastpitch So everybody is asking: What is formed,’’ or words like ‘‘defunding the
softball now. going on? police means defunding the police.’’
Another said: I am so anxious—I Well, if you were to ask President Let me give you another example.
heard this many times—I am so anx- Biden, he would say the usual rhetoric The push to take resources away from
ious at the end of every month during about how we need more gun control. law enforcement is alive and well over
the last week. How am I going to cob- The White House recently put out a so- in the House. A couple of weeks ago,
ble together the money to pay my called strategy to reduce crimes. the Senate passed three bills that
rent? And often I have to choose be- What is the first thing that the would support police. The first one is
tween buying enough food and paying President wants to do about this issue? the Protecting America’s First Re-
my rent. Go after rogue gun dealers. Well, we all sponders Act. That bill makes sure se-
Others said: Now I can work more know gun dealers must follow the law, riously injured first responders or their
hours because I can afford daycare for like doing background checks. We all widows and children get the benefits
my children. agree on that. But I don’t think anyone that they are entitled to.
A few said things like: You know, truly believes that legal gun dealers The second bill, the COPS Counseling
now, per child—my babies are 3 and 4 are responsible for the sudden spike in Act, creates a zone of privacy for police
years old—I can put $100 a month aside violent crime, including our own De- officers so that they can have coun-
for each of them so they can go to Lor- partment of Justice. seling sessions for traumatic experi-
raine Community College or Sinclair Referring to a Department of Justice ences and protect their privacy.
or Northwest State Community College 2019 report, inmates who committed a A third bill, the Jaime Zapata and
Victor Avila Federal Officers Protec-
or Ohio State University or Denison. gun crime most likely got their weap-
tion Act, makes it clear that killing a
They can get a start on saving money. ons from the black market—no back-
law enforcement officer overseas is a
Why wouldn’t we want to do that? ground checks there. In fact, according
We talk about infrastructure around crime in the United States.
to this report, only about 1 in 50 Fed- The Senate passed these bills because
here. Infrastructure is building a foun- eral inmates got a gun from a legal when it comes to law enforcement, we
dation so families can launch their firearms dealer. have their backs.
children to a better life. And providing Speaking of which, if Democrats real- But right now, Democratic leadership
families $250 or $300 a month—month ly want to protect Americans from ille- in the House is preventing a vote on
after month after month—gives those gal gun sales, they should support my these bills. Why? I don’t know. They
families, give those kids an oppor- bill, the Protecting Communities and are bipartisan bills that should easily
tunity they never would have had. Why Preserving the Second Amendment pass with resounding support. If you
wouldn’t we think this is the best day Act, which would actually do that. are with me on funding the police, I
this Congress has had in 25 years when But getting back to the recent crime know you will support these bills. If
we do that? It is pretty simple. wave, the real problem is what every- the President wants to reduce crime,
You know what I really like about one knows but many of my friends on he should tell our police: Go out there.
this—and I know the Presiding Officer the left dare not say. The real problem Patrol our streets. We have your back.
appreciates that in Maine; Senator is that for the past 14 months, police I yield the floor.
KING in Maine, Senator GRASSLEY in officers across the country have been The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
Iowa—we don’t make the decisions vilified for doing their job, which has ator from Alabama.
about what these parents should do. We led to many of those same police leav- THE ECONOMY
provide them the dollars. They spend it ing their job. In addition, liberal com- Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President,
best, whether it is a family in Dubuque munities—and everybody knows most Members of the Senate were all home
or a family in Portland or whether it is of our big cities of America are run by last week for 2 weeks during their
a family in Mansfield or Cleveland. I Democratic mayors—reduced the po- State work period. It was a good time
don’t know what is best for them. We lice forces and even reduced prosecu- to get back—to get back to reality, as
provide them the dollars. They make tions. The result is that in San Fran- I call it, because we all know here in
the decision of what is best for their cisco, for example, as you see on tele- Washington, people aren’t always oper-
child—summer camp, diapers, softball vision, shoplifting appears to be a way ating in reality. If we were, we
games, saving for college, just having of life. wouldn’t be seeing some of the policies
enough to eat, occasionally getting to Some police have pulled back from that are coming out as we speak.
go out to a diner down the street in making sure that we are all safe be- These State work periods are a great
Lima, OH. All those kinds of decisions, cause in too many cities, elected offi- time to hear directly from the people
let the parents make. cials don’t have their backs. we represent, and that is who we work
We are giving them that. If we care Last year, Attorney General Barr en- for—what they care about and how
about family values, if we care about acted Operation Legend, which paired they are affected by what is happening
our families, give them a little more Federal law enforcement officers up here in our Nation’s Capital.
help. It will make a huge difference in with local police in nine cities where This is what folks back in Alabama
crimes were soaring. This led to the ar- were talking about. They were talking

SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
their lives.
That is why it is so important. It rest of 6,000 violent criminals by the about small businesses that can’t find
starts today, then next month, and the end of last year, including hundreds of people to work because the government
month after, for a year. murderers. is paying more in unemployment bene-
We need to renew this. We need to Now, does this White House have the fits than folks make on the job. And
make sure it is permanent. If we do will to support law enforcement so the that is understandable. We have to un-
that, it is going to launch a whole gen- police can make our streets safer? Does derstand that, and we have to under-
eration of kids and give them more op- the President have their backs? stand the problem and how we rectify

VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 16, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G15JY6.016 S15JYPT1

File and source

File: CREC_crec-2021-07-15_crec-2021-07-15-pt1-pgs4916-7.pdf
Size: 240,781 bytes
SHA-256: 1202d19691ffe9b8ff1340e37bd53e397018b824932a916d18706256a9d44b98
Our copy: CREC_crec-2021-07-15_crec-2021-07-15-pt1-pgs4916-7.pdf
Original: www.govinfo.gov