Congressional Record, Senate, August 7, 2021 — H.R. 3684 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
Summary
Congressional Record, Senate, beginning at page S5995, August 7, 2021. The Senate closes morning business and resumes consideration of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Capito says the bill provides $303.5 billion, over 5 years, for Federal highway programs, a 35-percent increase, and $65 billion toward the digital divide, and that West Virginia would receive $506 million for bridges with Corridor H getting $195 million. Carper traces earlier surface transportation laws, from ISTEA to MAP-21, and says the Senate will soon vote on cloture on the bill.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, August 7, 2021 — H.R. 3684 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”
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August 7, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5995
her colleagues. It is long past time the transit, and housing infrastructure— award $2 billion in competitive grants
Biden administration revisit this deci- without adding to the cost of this legis- over 5 years to improve and expand
sion and send us somebody who fits lation. roads and bridges in rural America. I
that description. I plan to vote for cloture at 12 noon am especially excited that this pro-
f because this infrastructure legislation gram has a 25-percent set-aside for
makes important investments in our projects that support the completion of
CONCLUSION OF MORNING Nation’s future. I am a West Virginian, the Appalachia Development Highway
BUSINESS and all West Virginians and all Ameri- System, otherwise known as ADHS.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning cans will benefit from the roads, That set-aside means ADHS projects in
business is closed. bridges, water infrastructure, West Virginia are eligible to compete
f broadband, and other modes of core in- for $500 million over 5 years in discre-
frastructure that would be financed tionary grants. This package will move
LEGISLATIVE SESSION our Corridor H project along signifi-
through this bill, but I believe some-
--- thing more foundational than infra- cantly because we know that that
INVESTING IN A NEW VISION FOR structure is at stake here. project will be getting $195 million, and
THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUR- We need to demonstrate to the Amer- this grant program opens up the possi-
FACE TRANSPORTATION IN ican people that we can work together bility of more. This is a vital connec-
in this Congress to pass major legisla- tion in our State for our tourism and
AMERICA ACT—Resumed
tion that benefits our country and, I our economy. It also will open us up
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under might add, legislation that we have even broader to the east coast.
the previous order, the Senate will re- passed more than a few times in the West Virginia will receive $506 mil-
sume consideration of H.R. 3684, which past. Infrastructure is that perfect lion to refund and repair our State’s
the clerk will report. place to do that. bridges, addressing a critical need cer-
The senior assistant legislative clerk Senator CARPER and I led the Envi- tainly in our State and across the Na-
read as follows: ronment and Public Works Committee tion. This funding is part of the single
A bill (H.R. 3684) to authorize funds for with the surface transportation reau- largest investment in bridge infra-
Federal-aid highways, highway safety pro- thorization bill, and the Presiding Offi- structure since the construction of the
grams, and transit programs, and for other cer is on that committee. We passed Interstate Highway System.
purposes. Briefly, the bill recognizes that
that out of our committee with unani-
Pending: mous support, and we also passed a broadband is core infrastructure and
Schumer (for Sinema) amendment No. 2137, drinking water bill that passed out of prioritizes unserved communities. This
in the nature of a substitute. our committee with unanimous sup- is the area I have gotten really the
Carper-Capito amendment No. 2131 (to port but also out of this body with 89 most questions about: What is this
amendment No. 2137), to strike a definition. going to do for West Virginia, for the
votes. Both of those bills are included
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- in this package in their entirety. Bi- digital divide areas that are still
ator from West Virginia. partisan bills reported by Commerce unserved?
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, this Today, education, tourism,
and the Energy Committees are also
week, the Senate has been considering healthcare all rely on high internet
included.
historic infrastructure legislation. speeds. I launched my Capito Connect
I certainly appreciated Chairman
We have seen a lot of positives in this Initiative in 2015 to help expand
CARPER’s leadership and partnership
process. Twenty-two amendments have broadband infrastructure in our State.
throughout the entire process. I appre-
been processed, and 12 of those amend- Many communities that lack adequate
ciate the efforts of our colleagues in
ments have been adopted. Many of broadband are already struggling eco-
the G–22 who have worked with each
those are bipartisan amendments that nomically. It is impossible to compete
other tirelessly and with the Biden ad-
our fellow Senators have worked on to- for jobs if a community cannot offer
ministration to get us to this point. good internet service, causing these
gether. We will soon have a chance to ad-
On Thursday, we saw the process hit areas to fall even further behind. And I
vance this infrastructure legislation
a snag. We have colleagues who sin- will say, since the pandemic, rural
toward final passage. Is this bill per-
cerely want to debate their remaining America—as we have known who live
fect? No—no compromise legislation in rural America—is a great and won-
amendments, but we had objections ever is—but it will make a big dif-
that prevented our votes from moving derful place to live. More people in con-
ference in modernizing our country’s gested areas are realizing there are a
forward. In my view, that is unfortu- infrastructure. More than that, we will
nate. I want everybody’s voice to be lot more pluses in rural America than
demonstrate that both Republicans and what, maybe, they might have realized
heard because a number of the amend- Democrats can come together and do
ments awaiting action would actually over a year ago.
big things that move our country for- The bill invests $65 billion to help fix
improve this legislation, and, again, we ward. our country’s digital divide. That fund-
have consensus on both sides on that. I I have just a bit of a recitation to re- ing would support a formula-based
hope we can reach agreement on a mind folks what is in this bill. I will grant program to States and also sup-
package of amendments that can re- try to speed this part up. ports competitive grants, like the
ceive votes before we pass this bill in The bill provides $303.5 billion over 5 USDA’s ReConnect Program.
final. years for Federal highway programs—a Additionally, this bill makes large
In particular, I support an amend- 35-percent increase. That investment investments in clean and safe drinking
ment that Senator CORNYN from Texas represents historic funding for our water; it provides resources that will
would like to offer to allow States to roads and bridges and provides States put West Virginians to work cleaning
use previously appropriated COVID with the long-term certainty that they up our abandoned mines and orphaned
funding to finance infrastructure need and flexibility that they need to wells.
projects. complete projects. Every Senator could stand here and
When I began negotiating with the The bill ensures that 90 percent of tell similar stories about the invest-
White House in April and May, this was the funding is distributed by formula— ment that this bill will make in his or
one of the things that I put on the very predictable. It gives the States her own State. This is the perfect time
table with the President, and I know the certainty they need to prioritize for us to come together toward the end
the G–20 has also had this on the table their projects. For West Virginia, that of a summer that has been full of stops
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with the President. So it has been a means over $3 billion over 5 years. That and starts, and we need to pass this
topic of great discussion both here in is a huge investment for our State and legislation that will benefit every
the Senate but also with the White much needed. American.
House as well. The Cornyn-Padilla This bill also creates something that I hope my colleagues will join me to
amendment would unlock tens of bil- I am passionate about, the Rural Sur- advance this important legislation to-
lions of dollars—more for highway, face Transportation Grant Program to ward its passage.
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S5996 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 7, 2021
I yield the floor. we had transit, and our policies really Today, our Interstate System is a
I suggest the absence of a quorum. didn’t consider them as a united, uni- critical national asset, carrying over a
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The fied, integrated system, which is how quarter of all motor vehicle travel in
clerk will call the roll. most commuters and most travelers in our Nation—over one-quarter—despite
The legislative clerk proceeded to our Nation really thought it to be. being only 1 percent of all lane miles.
call the roll. ISTEA sought to change that. ISTEA These highways have enabled a sig-
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask sought to change that by requiring in- nificant expansion of truck movement,
unanimous consent that the order for tegrated regional planning of transpor- including supporting local businesses,
the quorum call be rescinded. tation systems that accounted for and interstate commerce, international
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without better facilitated connections amongst trade, and providing Americans with
objection, it is so ordered. our highways, our rail, and our transit access to low-cost goods and services.
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask to enable more efficient freight move- Along with the many benefits of
unanimous consent to be able to com- ment and more efficient movement of interstate highways have come indis-
plete my remarks this morning. people. putable costs. Highways have spawned
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without It was around the same time that we sprawling auto-dependent and develop-
objection, it is so ordered. also integrated our transportation pol- ment patterns that exacerbate green-
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, well, icy with the Clean Water Act, which house gas emissions, thus compro-
soon we are going to vote on cloture, represented a major strengthening of mising our efforts to deal with a chang-
and we will move toward, I hope, con- our pollution laws to respond to urban ing climate.
cluding our consideration of the Infra- smog, acid rain, ozone depletion, and Interstate highways divided commu-
structure Investment and Jobs Act. other air pollution problems. nities and were often intentionally
I have spoken, as our Presiding Offi- For the first time, transportation built through minority and low-income
cer knows, over the last few days quite planning was obliged to take into ac- neighborhoods, becoming tangible evi-
a bit as to why the legislation we are count pollution from mobile sources dence of racism. Today, more than
considering today is so important. and take steps to reduce the consider- 36,000 people lose their lives each year
I think that as we prepare to take able contribution of transportation to on our roadways. While we seek to
this vote, though, we ought to take our pollution. maintain the mobility benefits of the
maybe just another minute or two and Today’s legislation substantially Federal-aid highway system, we must
reflect on the bill’s merits and the builds on our historic efforts to reduce also acknowledge and address these
needs that it will address—important dangerous emissions like greenhouse significant detriments.
needs it will address—for our country. gases and particulate matter that spew We have been at the hard work of
In my opening statement, several from too many of our cars, our buses, transportation policy for a long, long
days ago, I reminded the Senate that and other modes of transportation. time in this country, and we have en-
the state of our Nation’s infrastructure Congress took another major leap in joyed major success, benefiting our
currently ranks and rates at a C-minus transportation policy a few years later, people and our economy. And if we are
in 1998, in fact, with the Transpor- honest with ourselves, we have made
according to the American Society of
tation Equity Act for the 21st Century, quite a few mistakes along the way, di-
Civil Engineers. That is not the infra-
also known as TEA–21, which focused viding communities with poorly con-
structure that the American people
on improving safety while advancing sidered projects and developing a trans-
want or need in the 21st century.
America’s economic growth and com- portation sector that produces twice as
In the jurisdiction of the Environ-
petitiveness. much greenhouse gas emissions as any
ment and Public Works Committee, Nearly 10 years later, in 2005, as other country’s transportation sector.
which Senator CAPITO and I are privi- transportation fatalities reached a 10- We have an opportunity to learn
leged to lead and which the Presiding year high of over 43,000 people—over from both success and failure, and we
Officer is a new member of, this bill in- 43,000 people—President George W. must account for new challenges that
cludes language that will make his- Bush, son of Herbert Walker Bush, were not on our radar screen in the
toric investments in our roads, our signed into law the Safe, Accountable, past—not the least of which are the se-
highways, and our bridges—a 34 per- Flexible, Efficient Transportation Eq- rious threat of climate change and the
cent increase, if you will, over the last uity Act: A Legacy for Users. That is a obvious specter of environmental injus-
5 years. The bill will also reauthorize long title, but we found an acronym for tice.
our drinking water and our water sani- it, SAFETEA–LU, in 2005. Today, we are rising to the challenge.
tation programs at robust new levels. At its core, the key was that this leg- The bill before us, the Infrastructure
As we take this vote, I think it is im- islation improved highway transpor- Investment and Jobs Act, includes,
portant to reflect on our past efforts. I tation safety through the creation of among other provisions, the largest
want to go back in time and why this the Highway Safety Improvement Pro- Federal investment in public transit in
vote is so important today. gram to reduce highway fatalities. history; the largest investment in
Since I first joined the Congress as a Then, in 2012, President Obama clean drinking water and wastewater
brandnew freshman Congressman from signed into law the Moving Ahead for infrastructure in history; the largest
Delaware in 1982, we have updated our Progress in the 21st Century Act, investment in clean energy trans-
transportation laws in this country known as MAP–21. Responding to con- mission in history; the largest invest-
some eight times—eight times. With cerns about the growth of the number ment in climate resiliency in history;
each of these efforts we have tried to of small programs, MAP–21 sought to and the largest investment in transpor-
improve our policies, address gaps, in- simplify the highway program struc- tation electrification in history.
corporate new information, and deliver ture, provide more flexibility to Infrastructure policy is a little bit
needed resources. States, while also increasing their ac- like an aircraft carrier. The Presiding
The modern era of these transpor- countability and focusing on perform- Officer, who just left the podium, re-
tation laws began in 1991. George Her- ance outcomes, including safety, asset tired as a Navy Captain, and so did I.
bert Walker Bush was the President, conditions, congestion, and air quality. He and I both spent a lot of time in air-
and Congress passed and then Presi- Congress reauthorized our transpor- planes, and he spent a fair amount of
dent Bush signed into law legislation tation laws most recently in 2015, when time in outer space as an astronaut.
called the Intermodal Surface Trans- President Obama signed into law the But we have both spent some time on
portation Efficiency Act, or ISTEA, as Fixing America’s Surface Transpor- aircraft carriers, and we know you
it was called at the time—ISTEA. tation Act, or FAST. can’t turn an aircraft carrier on a
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Until ISTEA legislation was adopt- The FAST Act focused on freight dime. With the Infrastructure Invest-
ed—enacted and signed into law—as a movement, supported with new for- ment and Jobs Act, as we say in the
matter of Federal policy, we divided mula and competitive grants for high- Navy, we are ‘‘coming hard about.’’
transportation into separate systems. way and intermodal freight, as well as Coming hard about. The carrier is
We had, on the one hand, highways; an- a focus on Federal and State freight turning. We are finally recognizing cli-
other hand we had rail; another hand planning efforts. mate change and addressing it. We are
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August 7, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5997
recognizing some of the mistakes of in- san, Sheldon Whitehouse, Amy Klo- Churchill quotes is, when asked when
frastructure policy in the past and fix- buchar, Christopher A. Coons, Mark R. he was being thrown out of office at
ing them. Warner, Patrick J. Leahy. the end of World War II—he was asked
Before I call for us to invoke cloture, The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unan- by reporters outside of 10 Downing
I am channeling today, of all people, imous consent, the mandatory quorum Street: Mr. Churchill, for you, is this
Winston Churchill. I love Churchill. I call has been waived. the end?
know he is quoted by a lot of my col- The question is, Is it the sense of the He said: It is not the end. This is not
leagues as well. One of my favorite Senate that debate on amendment No. the beginning of the end.
quotes from Winston Churchill is, ‘‘The 2137, offered by the Senator from New He said: This is the end of the begin-
further back we look, the further for- York, [Mr. SCHUMER] for the Senator ning.
ward we see.’’ Another one I especially from Arizona, [Ms. SINEMA] and the While we are grateful for everybody
like from Churchill is, ‘‘You can al- Senator from Ohio, [Mr. PORTMAN] to who voted for cloture, it is not the end,
ways count on America to do the right H.R. 3684, a bill to authorize funds for but it takes us a step closer to the end.
thing in the end after trying every- Federal-aid highways, highway safety I just want to thank everybody who
thing else.’’ programs, and transit programs, and came in, took the time to get here to
It would seem, as we have gone for other purposes, shall be brought to vote. We are prepared to take the next
through this legislative process, that a close? step. It involves some additional nego-
we have tried just about everything The yeas and nays are mandatory tiations. A lot of folks have amend-
else. We had a lot of surprisingly good under the rule. ments they want to offer. Some of
debate here on this floor. Senator CAP- The clerk will call the roll. those that are not germane I think will
ITO, my colleague and partner in the The bill clerk called the roll. largely fall away. There are legitimate,
Environment and Public Works Com- Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the germane amendments that still need to
mittee, has done a great job. But we Senator from Georgia (Mr. WARNOCK), be negotiated and may require some
have seen a lot of amendments of- is necessarily absent. unanimous consent votes.
fered—over 20—to this bill. I think Mr. THUNE. The following Senators This is another step, important step.
most of them were bipartisan. A bunch are necessarily absent: the Senator I am grateful that we could be this far.
of them have been adopted. from Wyoming (Mr. BARRASSO), the I note Senator CAPITO feels the same
The other thing I would just offer Senator from North Carolina (Mr. way.
from Churchill is another one of my fa- BURR), the Senator from South Caro- AMENDMENT NO. 2633
vorites: lina (Mr. GRAHAM), the Senator from Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I
Democracy is the worst form of govern- Florida (Mr. RUBIO), and the Senator call up amendment No. 2633 to H.R.
ment devised by the wit of man . . . from South Carolina (Mr. SCOTT). 3684.
Democracy is the worst form of govern- The result yeas and nays resulted— The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
ment devised by the wit of man . . . yeas 67, nays 27, as follows: clerk will report.
This is a hard way to go, and we have [Rollcall Vote No. 309 Leg.] The senior assistant legislative clerk
learned that again as we have gone YEAS—67 read as follows:
through this process. As we prepare to Baldwin Grassley Portman The Senator from Delaware [Mr. CARPER]
maybe, hopefully, invoke cloture, I Bennet Hassan Reed proposes an amendment numbered 2633.
again want to say how much I have en- Blumenthal Heinrich Risch The amendment is as follows:
joyed working with my ranking mem- Blunt Hickenlooper Romney
Booker Hirono Rosen
(Purpose: To establish an effective date for
ber, Senator CAPITO—two West Vir- Brown Hoeven the bill)
Rounds
ginians who found common ground on Cantwell Kaine Sanders On page 15, between lines 5 and 6, insert
these issues and worked hard to lead Capito Kelly Schatz the following:
Cardin King
our team and a lot of other committees Carper Klobuchar
Schumer SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
of jurisdiction. Another one of them Shaheen Except as otherwise provided, this Act and
Casey Leahy
Sinema
was led by another West Virginian, JOE Cassidy Luján
Smith
the amendments made by this Act take ef-
MANCHIN. I want to thank all those Collins Manchin fect on the date that is 1 day after the date
Coons Markey Stabenow
committees for their good work and for Tester of enactment of this Act.
Cornyn McConnell
the leadership we received from our Cortez Masto Menendez Tillis Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I
leaders. Cramer Merkley Van Hollen suggest the absence of a quorum.
Crapo Murkowski Warner
With that having been said, let’s go The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
Duckworth Murphy Warren
ahead and vote, and I hope to vote to Durbin Murray Whitehouse clerk will call the roll.
invoke cloture and take the critical Feinstein Ossoff Wyden The senior assistant legislative clerk
next step. Fischer Padilla Young proceeded to call the roll.
Gillibrand Peters
I yield the floor. Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I
CLOTURE MOTION NAYS—27 ask unanimous consent that the order
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Blackburn Hyde-Smith Paul for the quorum call be rescinded.
SMITH). Pursuant to rule XXII, the
Boozman Inhofe Sasse The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
Braun Johnson Scott (FL) objection, it is so ordered.
Chair lays before the Senate the pend- Cotton Kennedy Shelby
ing cloture motion, which the clerk Cruz Lankford Sullivan Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, now
will state. Daines Lee Thune that cloture has been invoked on the
Ernst Lummis Toomey substitute bill, we are one step closer
The legislative clerk read as follows: Hagerty Marshall Tuberville
Hawley Moran Wicker
to completing this product, which has
CLOTURE MOTION
been the subject of bipartisan negotia-
We, the undersigned Senators, in accord- NOT VOTING—6 tion with the White House for quite
ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Barrasso Graham Scott (SC)
Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby some time. I know a lot of hard work
Burr Rubio Warnock
move to bring to a close debate on Sinema has been put into this, and I want to
substitute amendment No. 2137 to Calendar The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this thank all of our colleagues who have
No. 100, H.R. 3684, a bill to authorize funds vote, the yeas are 67, the nays are 27. contributed to it.
for Federal-aid highways, highway safety Three-fifths of the Senators duly cho- After much anticipation, we finally
programs, and transit programs, and for sen and sworn having voted in the af- received the bill text earlier this week.
other purposes. firmative, the motion is agreed to. Of course, a lot of it was what we ex-
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Charles E. Schumer, Thomas R. Carper, The motion was agreed to. pected to see: funding for roads,
John Hickenlooper, Jon Tester, Rich-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- bridges, ports, waterways, airports, and
ard J. Durbin, Joe Manchin III,
Kyrsten Sinema, Jeanne Shaheen, ator from Delaware. broadband.
Angus S. King, Jr., Mark Kelly, Chris Mr. CARPER. Madam President, ear- Under normal circumstances, an in-
Van Hollen, Tammy Baldwin, Ben- lier today, I quoted Churchill actually frastructure bill would go through a
jamin L. Cardin, Margaret Wood Has- a couple of times. One of my favorite long and arduous committee process
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S5998 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 7, 2021
before ever coming to the floor. Mem- I have heard from my constituents in that purpose. There is no question
bers of the committees of jurisdiction Texas—State and local leaders—who about that. But we simply give leaders
would have an opportunity to debate are frustrated by this lack of flexi- the option to spend relief funds on ur-
and offer amendments and get votes on bility with the Federal funding that gent infrastructure projects that may
their proposals to try to improve the they have already received or which otherwise go unfunded.
bill at the committee level. This pro- they expect to receive. They simply Here is the other problem. I know
vides a very important part of the abil- like the option—not a mandate, but an that many of our State and local lead-
ity of everybody to be able to partici- option—to use this money when and ers are sitting on these huge amounts
pate in the process, one that is denied where it is needed most. of financial resources that we have ap-
members of their committees of rel- But as I say, right now, their hands propriated, and they are figuring out:
evant jurisdiction when a bill comes to are tied. Many States and localities Well, if we don’t spend it on something,
the floor already negotiated. have relief funds on hand but no nec- then the Federal Government is going
One of the challenges is when you essary qualifying expenses. They have to claw it back or it may not just qual-
have 20 people who agree on something to look at this big balance in their ify for the expenditures that are al-
and then they bring it to the floor, and, bank account knowing they can’t actu- ready authorized.
of course, then the 80 who have not ally spend it on some of their most ur- So they will be under a lot of pres-
been part of that discussion want to gent needs. That is especially the case sure to spend it on things that may be
participate and want to try to improve in rural parts of the country. simply operating expenses and may not
the underlying bill. In places where COVID numbers are, provide the long-term economic benefit
I hope that now that the cloture on thankfully, low, leaders don’t have the that an infrastructure project would.
the substitute has been invoked, there need or the opportunity to spend this That is another benefit of giving
will be an opportunity for us to vote on money which we have already appro- them this flexibility. It is that it will
some additional amendments. priated on the timeline set within that incentivize them to spend the money
I have been working with colleagues legislation. They simply don’t have a on the types of things we would hope
on both sides of the aisle to identify need for the full range of pandemic-re- they would spend the money on if they
new pay-fors that could be adopted as lated resources that might be nec- don’t need it for COVID–19.
amendments, and we have come up essary in some parts of the country Back in March, nearly three dozen
with some good ideas that I hope can with higher case counts. organizations wrote to Secretary
receive votes now, even postcloture. So the amendment that Senator Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, urging
But I want to talk specifically about PADILLA and I have offered would sim- her to make transportation infrastruc-
an amendment that I have worked on ply give leaders in rural and urban ture an eligible expense. They talked
with Senator PADILLA, the junior Sen- about the impact of COVID–19 on
areas alike, where appropriate, the op-
ator from California, to fund infra-
tion—the option—to spend the funding transportation revenue and noted that
structure projects in communities
on necessary infrastructure projects. last year, 18 States and 24 localities an-
across our country without increasing
That can mean widening a highway, nounced delays or cancellations of
the deficit. Our amendment simply
making safety improvements on a transportation improvement projects,
gives States and local governments the
bridge, or expanding broadband access. totaling more than $12 billion.
flexibility to use unspent COVID relief
Urban areas could even use these funds They also noted that the pandemic
funding on infrastructure projects.
Right now, there are limitations that for public transit improvement impacted every State and community
we put on that funding. Of course, at projects. State and local leaders know differently, something that should be
the time those limitations or guard- the needs of their community better self-evident, and asked for the flexi-
rails were put on that funding, we than any of us here, and they should bility, which they said ‘‘will be critical
didn’t know how long this pandemic have the flexibility to spend that to ensuring funds are used expedi-
would last or what the actual needs money where it is needed most. tiously and with maximum impact.’’
were of the various States and local ju- But, Madam President, I think we President Biden’s own Transpor-
risdictions. have had a recent bit of evidence of tation Secretary has also suggested as
So qualifying expenses include things how long it takes for Congress to act much. In his testimony before Con-
that are directly related to the pan- before the money that we appropriate gress, Secretary Buttigieg said that
demic, like COVID–19 testing sites, actually gets to the intended bene- the American Rescue Plan ‘‘has some
vaccine PSAs, and additional bed space ficiary. To me, nothing is more exem- flexibility in it’’ that he thinks could
for hospitals. But here is the rub: That plary of that than the eviction morato- be used to support road budgets that
funding cannot be used on expenses un- rium. Congress appropriated $46 billion have been impacted.
related to the pandemic or items that in rent relief, but if you look around States and cities shouldn’t be able to
were previously included in the budget. the country, many of the intended spend this money. They should be able
They must be new pandemic-related beneficiaries of that rent relief have to invest it and in the projects and re-
expenses. not yet seen that money, thus the sources they need the most. This is
In theory, and at the time, that made movement toward extending the mora- just simply common sense that I think
a lot of sense. After all, this funding torium. all of us can get behind. It ensures that
was meant to bolster the fight against I know just from my own experience money that has already gone out the
COVID–19 in our communities. But not in Texas, after Hurricane Harvey, door, which will not add to our deficit
every community has the same need. where Congress appropriated billions of or debt, will be used to the maximum
In many places, the most urgent needs dollars in relief, it has taken, literally, impact before the sunset brings that
aren’t related to the pandemic because years for the money that come from flexibility and that money, those re-
they have not been hit quite as hard as Washington, DC, to get to the intended sources, to an end.
others, unfortunately, around the beneficiary. And it puts decision making at the
country. Some of their most urgent One of the biggest benefits of the local level. Local officials understand
needs are what we are talking about amendment that Senator PADILLA and better than people in Washington, DC,
here today: infrastructure—roads and I have offered is that this money is what they need the most, and this
bridges and the like. readily available and does not, again, gives them the flexibility to put that
We all know that the pandemic has as I said, add to the deficit or debt, but money to the most efficient and most
interrupted infrastructure improve- merely provides them flexibility, which effective use. This amendment has
ments across the country and forced of- means they will be able to put that earned the support of a broad range of
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
ficials to put many of these projects on money to use more quickly on infra- organizations across the country, and I
the back burner. Maintenance, repairs, structure projects. am proud to work with Senator
and construction projects have been Again, this is not a mandate. This is PADILLA to craft an amendment that
put on hold, as you know, until there an option. Any place that has new both sides can get behind.
was enough funding to get things back COVID expenses to cover can and Today, I hope this will be one of the
on track. should use the money they have for amendments to receive a vote on the
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August 7, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5999
floor. We have to ensure that infra- was part of the urban legend around discharged if you haven’t paid it off.
structure investments are made fairly the National Defense Education Act. But if you are a student borrower who,
and paid for responsibly. A robust So, over the years, there were efforts despite your best efforts, falls on hard
amendment process and commonsense made to change the National Defense times—lured into debt, perhaps, by at-
bipartisan ideas like this one are the Education Act to avoid abuse, and one tending a worthless for-profit college—
only way to get there. of the things that was decided was that a fresh start is not in the cards for you.
I yield the floor. that loan to go to school would not be We had Diane Barta testify before
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- dischargeable in bankruptcy. the committee. She is from Richmond
ator from Illinois. You have to ask the basic question of Hill, GA, 50 years old, a mother of two.
EDUCATION how many debts are not dischargeable She has over $120,000 in student loan
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, it in bankruptcy. There are only a few: debt, much of it taken out for a worth-
was in 1957 that there was a world alimony, child support, criminal fines, less degree she received from for-profit
event that changed my life and the taxes, and maybe one other. But I school Ashford University. I mentioned
lives of many others. I was just a kid in think a student loan is the only one of that to Senator GRASSLEY during the
high school at the time. In fact, I that bunch that is a consumer loan hearing because Ashford University is
wasn’t quite in high school. But the that you can’t discharge in bank- a curious story.
Russians decided to launch a satellite ruptcy. A small Catholic college in Iowa was
called Sputnik, and that satellite, the Over the years, the terms of the about to go out of business, and the
size of a basketball, which emitted a loans and the number of years that you nuns were persuaded that there was a
tone as it flew through space, scared were held back from filing bankruptcy company that wanted to buy it. So
the world, all of us, to the point where changed. Ultimately, the decision was they sold the campus to this company
the United States of America did some- made that you could effectively never called Ashford University. Ashford had
thing that was controversial but we discharge student loans in bankruptcy. no intention of reopening the campus.
felt was necessary. We held a hearing on student loan What they basically did was start an
We decided that the Federal Govern- debt in the Senate Judiciary Com- online operation, claiming the accredi-
ment of the United States would loan mittee this week, and I am sorry Sen- tation and the worthiness and the
money to students like DURBIN to go to ator CORNYN has left the floor, but he credibility of the previous college.
college because we were afraid of the and I have introduced a bill which has Well, we looked into it. In fact, it
Russians, and we knew that, if they a good chance, I think. was Tom Harkin of Iowa, over 10 years
had the scientific advantage of us, it We know that student loans are the ago, who investigated it and found out
could mean we would lose a war, which fastest growing category of household that Ashford was a fraud. It was just
no one wants that to ever happen. So debt in America—45 million student generating huge profits for their CEO
we created here in Washington some- borrowers in our country. In a little and a few others, not providing any-
thing called the National Defense Edu- under a decade, student loan debt has thing nearly resembling higher edu-
cation Act. I am sure that was care- ballooned from $1 trillion to $1.7 tril- cation.
fully chosen to remind people that lion. The average student borrower Ms. Barta was a good person who
what we were doing was defending the now carries $30,000 in debt, and many, worked hard. She had two degrees—
country by loaning money to people especially those who are swindled by from a community college and then
like DURBIN to go to college, and I took the for-profit colleges, owe well over from another college—before she went
advantage of it. $100,000. for a master’s degree at Ashford Uni-
Those National Defense Education Americans of all ages are plagued by versity. That was her downfall. She
Act loans had terms that most of us the debt. We have heard cases of grand- talked about how she had to file for
from that era remember very well. You mothers who have said to their grand- bankruptcy in 2012 after her husband
didn’t pay anything on your loan bal- daughters, ‘‘Well, of course, I will lost his job as a commercial plumber.
ance for the first year you were out of cosign your student loan,’’ to learn She managed to get relief for most of
college, and then you had 10 years to that when the student, the grand- her debts but certainly could not get
pay it off at 3 percent interest. daughter, defaulted, Grandma was re- discharged from her student loans that
Of course, those of us who took out sponsible for it. For some, it is holding she had taken out at Ashford Univer-
the loans for college—in my case, for them back from buying a first home, sity, this notorious for-profit school.
law school as well—amassed this great starting a family, a business. For oth- Other student borrowers had their
debt and worried, when the day came ers, it means delaying retirement be- own stories. We have all heard them.
for graduation, whether we would ever cause of this debt. Angela, from Florida, wrote:
be able to pay it off. I remember saying This is not an individual misfortune.
I’m a single parent and was on a single in-
to my wife: Loretta, they have just got The student debt crisis is a threat to come living paycheck to paycheck. I’ve had
all the National Defense Education Act our economy. Federal Reserve Chair- the stress of these student loans haunting
loans. They put them all together, and man Jerome Powell has warned that me for well over a decade now. . . . I am still
I am afraid to tell you what has hap- student loan debt may be a drag on our being haunted.
pened. We have a debt of $8,000 for col- economy by preventing Americans Lisa, in Nevada, wrote that she had
lege and law school. from basic, fundamental consumer pur- given up her passion, teaching—I re-
Students today don’t believe that chases of cars, savings accounts for re- peat: teaching—because she needed to
number, but that was the number, and tirement—otherwise, the economic find a higher income job to pay off her
it scared us to death that we wouldn’t growth of our country. student loans.
be able to pay it off in 10 years. Natu- So we had a hearing in the Judiciary She wrote:
rally, we did, and many others did as Committee, and we examined how dif- It is absolutely disheartening that when
well, and the National Defense Edu- ficult it is for student borrowers to get you try to better yourself in this country
cation Act really became the pillar of financial relief. These, as I said, are you’re punished and not rewarded.
the emergence of higher education in one of the very few categories of debt One more story.
America. you cannot discharge in bankruptcy. Ann, from Washington State, de-
Of course, there were those who You see, if you buy a home or a car and clared bankruptcy in 2000 because her
cheated the system, and stories were you fall on really hard times, you can student loan payments were so high
rampant. Whether they were all true, I declare bankruptcy and have all those she couldn’t afford to pay her bills.
am not sure. There was the story of the debts discharged. If you like to gamble
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
She wrote:
doctor who graduated from medical and you are not very good at it and you
I never go on vacations. I never married or
school and, before he went into his lu- end up running up great debt on your
had children for fear of burdening [them]
crative practice, filed for bankruptcy credit card and you file for bankruptcy, with [my] debt. . . . I’m facing retirement
and discharged all his Federal loans, your gambling debts through your with [that] threat [still looming over] my fu-
Federal student loans. I don’t know if credit cards can be discharged. You can ture. . . . Social Security checks will be gar-
that ever happened, but it certainly even buy a yacht and have that debt nished for my student loan.
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S6000 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 7, 2021
This is clearly a crisis. Fortunately, ican high school graduates go to for- job to support their futures. Americans
both Republican and Democratic mem- profit colleges and universities? Eight will be able to obtain 2-year degrees or
bers of the Judiciary Committee agree percent. specialized certificates without taking
that we need to do something. Congress Next question: What percentage of on mountains of debt.
has a responsibility to solve this prob- student loan defaults in the United In the greatest country in the world,
lem. Wouldn’t it be worth a headline States are by students from for-profit a college education shouldn’t be a lux-
somewhere, on some website, that we colleges and universities? Thirty. ury; it should be guaranteed to every-
actually solved a problem like this? Eight percent of high school grads one. That is the only way we can
Before 1976, student loans were treat- and thirty percent of student loan de- launch a new dream of American pros-
ed like any other type of loan in bank- faults. Why? Because these notorious, perity and truly build back better after
ruptcy. If you were facing financial awful schools drag these young people this pandemic.
ruin, you could get relief. Congress got into debt they can never get out from I yield the floor.
the idea that student borrowers were under. If they so-call finish and grad- I suggest the absence of a quorum.
running to bankruptcy court right uate from these schools, they find that The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
after they had taken off their gowns they can’t get the jobs that were prom- clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to
and mortarboards and trying to wiggle ised. Their lives are virtually ruined.
call the roll.
out of their financial obligations. That So we are basically saying it is time Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I ask
is more anecdote than fact, but it was that these schools be held accountable. unanimous consent that the order for
prevalent. Still, Congress began pass- At this point, the FRESH START
the quorum call be rescinded.
ing laws that made it harder to dis- bankruptcy will provide a meaningful The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
charge student loans. timeline to student borrowers who KAINE). Without objection, it is so or-
Since 1998, student borrowers could have no other options. It is a break- dered.
only discharge Federal student loans through. Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I want
by proving they suffered from some- This is the first bipartisan bill the to take a moment to thank all my col-
thing called undue hardship. Well, you Senate has had, in my memory, to re- leagues on both sides of the aisle, in
would think the cases I just read to store student borrowers’ ability to dis- this great deliberative body, for show-
you would be undue hardship, wouldn’t charge their loans in bankruptcy. ing the United States and the entire
you, people so deeply in debt that they I want to thank Senator CORNYN, Re- world that the United States Senate is
can’t get out of it and are forced to publican of Texas. We kind of jokingly not broken. Actually, we are doing
make life choices that are terrible? say, you know, it is one of those situa- fine. We can work together and do
Here is the issue: It is nearly impos- tions where you are on stage, announc- much better. We can also come to-
sible to prove undue hardship and dis- ing your bill, and you turn to one an- gether and do big things, and we did
charge your student debt. That is your other and say: Have we both read this with this investment in American in-
only escape now. In fact, in 2017, the bill? Well, we have, and we understand frastructure.
Wall Street Journal found only four it. America has not seen this type of in-
cases—four cases—in the entire coun- We are also going to consider an ele- frastructure investment in the last 30
try of bankruptcy judges discharging ment that was raised during the hear- years—talked about it a lot and
student debt for undue hardship. ing by one of our expert witnesses of haven’t seen anything. The polls have
For years, I have asked the Depart- defining what ‘‘undue hardship’’ is. shown that the American people are
ment of Education, the collection Right now, it appears the courts overwhelmingly supportive of this in-
Agency, to change the way they chal- couldn’t recognize it in any form. frastructure deal. Americans of both
lenge these undue hardship cases. I am There certainly are cases. political parties know it is long past
still pushing on them, but Congress I talked about a quadriplegic vet- time to make this investment. And
needs to do its part. eran—disabled, unable to work—who once the roads are repaired so the chil-
Another witness who joined us on was lured into one of these for-profit dren are safe on the buses, they want
Tuesday was my State attorney gen- school scams and ends up in debt. better internet service so they can con-
eral, Kwame Raoul. He has been an ad- Shouldn’t they be able to discharge nect and compete in the 21st century.
vocate for student borrowers for a long that student loan? There is no question It is just unbelievable what we can
time. He talked about these students they will be able to find some great- do. This is about clean water and up-
being deceived and defrauded by these paying job in the future. They strug- graded sewer systems. You would think
schools, particularly the for-profit col- gled to basically face up to their ill- in the 21st century this all would be a
leges and universities. nesses, and we hope that they have the void anywhere in America, but it is—it
Well, we have decided to do some- very best future, but even then, it is really is.
thing about it. We have introduced a tough to get out from under the debt. This is the largest long-term jobs bill
bill called the FRESH START Through I hope this is a first of many steps in decades. It will create good-paying,
Bankruptcy Act. It will allow strug- that we will take in the committee and long-term jobs over the next 8 to 10
gling borrowers to seek a bankruptcy other places, on a bipartisan basis, to years. So if you want to basically make
discharge for their Federal student deal with this challenge. sure we don’t hit the highs and the
loans after a waiting period of 10 years. One other point. One way for stu- lows as far as the job opportunities, job
That is a long time. If you can’t pay off dents to avoid becoming buried in stu- markets, and the economy, this bill
that loan in 10 years and you believe dent loan debt in the first place is to be does that.
there is no other recourse, you could very careful, particularly of for-profit It is the largest investment in clean
file for bankruptcy and have it dis- colleges and universities, and secondly, drinking water and wastewater infra-
charged. take advantage of the affordable alter- structure in the history of our coun-
Our bill also includes another provi- native community colleges. Commu- try—in the history of our country. It is
sion. I want to thank JACK REED of nity colleges are an underused super- the largest dedicated bridge invest-
Rhode Island, our colleague here. He power of our economy. They help stu- ment since the construction of the
introduced the original bill with this dents gain the knowledge and skills Interstate Highway System.
concept. It includes important provi- they need to thrive, and they prepare It is the largest investment in energy
sions to hold accountable educational workers to compete in the 21st cen- transition in history, and puts our
institutions, particularly these noto- tury. money where our mouth is on tech-
rious for-profit colleges with consist- I totally support President Biden’s nologies that are critical for the fu-
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
ently high default rates and low repay- plan to build back better and provide ture. And it is the largest Federal in-
ment rates. every high school graduate to be able vestment in passenger rail since the
There are two numbers you need to to continue their studies through com- creation of Amtrak.
remember—and that is it—to under- munity college, without debt. The And our bipartisan infrastructure
stand for-profit colleges and univer- same goes for displaced workers who package does not raise taxes on every-
sities: Eight. What percentage of Amer- want to learn new skills to get a better day Americans. It does not. A large
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August 7, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6001
piece of this bipartisan infrastructure It also funds the demonstration of We will have a meeting. I want to talk
bill came out of the Energy and Nat- clean energy on the abandoned mine to you.
ural Resources Committee, which I am lands and authorizes grants for manu- He was kind. He drove over there
privileged and honored to chair. We re- facturers to locate in coal commu- with his staff. I said: Why don’t you
ported the Energy Infrastructure Act nities. These coal communities around call back to your office and ask if they
out of our committee with a bipartisan the country bear the scars of the work have any messages for you. I said: The
vote after—after—holding a legislative that powered our Nation to greatness, map here shows—your map shows—
hearing and a robust amendment proc- and this investment will clean up those that you are covered. And I said: You
ess. That is called regular order. It is areas and provide new economic oppor- can use any phone you want, any serv-
something we have heard about for tunities. ice you might have.
many years—we just haven’t seen it for The bill also shores up the reliability And he said: My goodness, I didn’t
a long time—and it is working. of our electric grid systems. Our grid know.
The Energy Infrastructure Act will has basically been around for a long I said: Sir, this is exactly what we
create good-paying jobs and dem- time, and with all the new technologies are dealing with. The maps are not ac-
onstrate the energy technologies need- coming on and all of the renewable curate, and West Virginians are getting
ed to reduce emissions while maintain- power, that is not always produced in left behind.
ing affordable, reliable, and dependable the area where we have the grid sys- There are 543,000, or 31 percent, of the
energy and our Nation’s position as a tem, and it is time for us to expand and people in West Virginia who will be eli-
global energy leader. make sure our grid system is able to gible for the affordability connectivity
I have said all along that the United deliver the energy our country needs. benefit, which will help low-income
States of America is now energy inde- The bipartisan Energy Infrastructure families. You can have internet serv-
pendent. We must fight to maintain Act authorizes $110 billion, much of ice, but if it is so costly that people
that position. We should not be held which is also funded and is a vital com- can’t afford it, then you have a prob-
captive by any foreign entity or any ponent of the whole infrastructure lem. This goes along with the same
foreign country where we are depend- package. So we are not just talking thing as LIHEAP, which helps people
ing on any type of supplies that the about it. We are putting a lot of money with their utilities who, basically, are
American people need—any type of into upgrading the grid system and the working hard and trying to make it
supplies—and energy is one of our reliability of it. but having a hard time. This makes
greatest, and we can do it cleaner and This bill will truly do much good sure that everyone can connect and ba-
better than ever. I have always said across the United States. Let me just sically benefit from this opportunity.
you cannot eliminate your way to a give you the historic investment in the West Virginia also has some of the
cleaner environment. You can innovate needs of our Nation: $110 billion for the worst roads in the Nation. This bipar-
your way to a cleaner environment, roads and the bridges; $65 billion for tisan bill will repair and rebuild our
and we have proven that, and we can do broadband access; $66 billion for rail- roads and bridges. In West Virginia,
an awful lot more too. roads; $25 billion for airports; $55 bil- there are 1,545 bridges—1,545—and over
It also builds off the great work al- lion for drinking water and wastewater 3,200 miles of highway in poor condi-
ready done in my home State of West systems. tion. Since 2011, commute times have
Virginia and your State of Virginia, I don’t know what infrastructure is if increased by 61⁄2 percent and, on aver-
Mr. President, to demonstrate ad- you don’t call that infrastructure. This age, each driver pays $726 per year in
vanced geothermal technology and es- is as good as it gets. It is something additional costs due to repairs by driv-
tablish a reliable, U.S.-based, rare- that we all have talked about for ing on roads that have needed repair.
Earth-element supply chain. many, many years. That is simply unacceptable, and it
I have had consideration and I have My State of West Virginia benefits truly, truly shows the deferred mainte-
had some pause on us moving so rap- from this bipartisan infrastructure bill. nance that we have let go for far too
idly into electric vehicles. My reason It will help expand broadband access long. Based on formula alone, West
for my pause has been this: We do not across West Virginia with a minimum Virginia will receive $3 billion for Fed-
produce the rare-Earth minerals—the allocation of $100 million to help pro- eral-Aid Highway programs and $506
rare-Earth minerals that are needed to vide broadband coverage across the million for bridge replacement and re-
build these batteries. And we have to State, including providing access to at pairs. We have the greatest need of
be very, very careful that we don’t put least 258,000 West Virginians who cur- bridge replacement.
our transportation system—our trans- rently lack it because of our terrain. The reason why is that, in the 1930s,
portation mode in America in the I think the Presiding Officer has been the constitution of West Virginia
hands of foreign supply chains. We there many, many times, and you un- changed during the Great Depression,
could be held very, very captive on derstand what we are dealing with. It and basically everything was put on
those. is really challenging, but if we take the State. Before that, local counties
I remember in the 1970s, when the oil just a commonsense approach—and I and communities were all responsible
embargo from the oil cartel—the oil have always said this: If during Frank- to a certain extent, but when the De-
embargo basically shut our businesses lin Delano Roosevelt, when he took pression hit, the Constitution was
down, and then we had rapid inflation over after the Great Depression, if he changed in 1932, at the height of the
coming after that. It was just horrible. could electrify America—rural elec- Depression, and everything was: This is
Importantly, the legislation also re- trification—if he could do that in the the State’s responsibility; we can’t pay
authorizes abandoned mine lands and thirties, surely and goodness, we can no more.
reclamation fees. In southwest Virginia basically make sure that every house- So the State has a tremendous obli-
and all of West Virginia, we have a tre- hold has fast, high-speed internet serv- gation here, and we want to make sure
mendous amount of mines that this ice. We can make that happen, and we we help them.
country needed to be the superpower of are going to use the same blueprint West Virginia can also compete for
the world. that was used many, many years ago, the $12.5 billion Bridge Investment Pro-
Now it is far beyond time for us to almost 100 years ago. gram for economically significant
clean that up, and this is something we We believe that number is much bridges and nearly $16 billion of na-
can do, and this bill does that. It is set higher than the 258,000. But, here tional funding in the bill dedicated for
to expire, as far as our AML reclama- again, I am urging the FCC to fix their major projects that will deliver sub-
tion fees in September. For an addi- coverage in the maps. The maps are stantial economic benefits to commu-
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
tional 13 years, we have extended that, not accurate. They haven’t been accu- nities.
while investing $11.3 billion into re- rate for years. I will never forget when And we have to address public trans-
claiming these abandoned coal mine I had one of the chairmen of the FCC in portation in the Mountain State. West
lands, which an awful lot of beach area my State one time, and we were talk- Virginians, who take public transpor-
and water and things were harmed for ing, and I said: Why don’t you meet me tation, spend an extra 77 percent of
a long time and needs to be fixed. at a certain place in my State? I said: their time commuting—commuting—
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S6002 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 7, 2021
and non-White households are five ple are special—very special—I have al- Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I sup-
times more likely to commute via pub- ways said. We all seem to rise always port hard infrastructure. It is in my
lic transportation. That is a fact, and for that. DNA. As a kid, I grew up shoveling as-
we have to address these facts and fix But now we have one other. We have phalt. My father and my grandfather
them. infrastructure, which unites us. I have were in the road construction business.
And 32 percent of the trains and never seen a road in my State, in the I served as the economic develop-
other transit vehicles in the State are Presiding Officer’s State, or anywhere ment commissioner in my home State
past their useful life. A third are past in the country that had a bad road or of Tennessee. I understand firsthand
their useful life. Based on formula a bad pothole that busted my tire that the importance of quality infrastruc-
funding, West Virginia would expect to had a Democrat or Republican name on ture. It was essential to attracting
receive $196 million over 5 years to im- it. It will get the Republican, as well as good jobs to my State. So I am in com-
prove public transportation, which is it will get me and the Presiding Offi- plete agreement that shoring up our
desperately, desperately needed. cer. hard infrastructure is a worthy cause.
These investments are vital to bring- So that is why this brings us to- This bill does some of that, and that
ing good-paying jobs to our State of gether. We all have these needs. As is good. But there are both good ways
West Virginia and the Presiding Offi- Governors, we had the same needs. We and bad ways to achieve noble ends.
cer’s State of Virginia and all of our used to talk across the board—whether And the question is, What is the best
States in this great country of ours, it be education, whether it be high- way to achieve this goal? And my frus-
and spurring economic development ways, whether it be different things tration is with the methods and with
like we have never seen before. This is that we needed in our State that we all the vehicle that is being used here.
solid economic development, not just had the same concerns and problems The first problem is that the bill
sending checks, not people just receiv- with. We never worried about whether sponsors repeatedly said it would be
ing checks but people receiving an op- it was a Republican or Democrat being paid for. In fact, it is not. And it is
portunity of the dignity of work and the Governor. The Presiding Officer more than a little bit off. It is over a
the ability to be able to do what needs had the same problems we all had, and quarter of a trillion dollars short. That
to be done in order for them to survive we shared successes and the challenges is almost seven times the budget of my
and sustain a quality of life. and how to overcome those challenges. home State of Tennessee.
I am incredibly proud of our bipar- This is who we are as Americans. We waited weeks for the text of this
tisan group of Senators who have And how we become so divided, I legislation. And before the text even
worked together day and night to ham- don’t know. It worries me, and the rea- existed, the Democrat leader forced the
mer out a compromise that will ad- son I say this is that this is probably Senate to vote on proceeding to it.
dress our infrastructure needs without the most important bill that we have There is absolutely no reason for rush-
going overboard. And I will remind ev- worked on in many, many years be- ing this process and attempting to
eryone that not one Senator got every- cause it is the most difficult, chal- limit scrutiny of this bill other than
thing they wanted, but we all got what lenging times of our lives. Our country the Democrats’ completely artificial,
we needed. This is how compromise has never been more divided than it is self-imposed, and politically driven
works. This is what this body was made today, and we need something to bring timeline. There will be more on that
for. This is why the Senate is called us together. later.
the most deliberative body. I am so thankful that President The text, all 2,700-plus pages of it,
It is hard, when you want to basi- Biden has taken this piece of legisla- was finally made available to us 6 days
cally take every opportunity to work tion as his own and gone around the ago. The Senate has been able to con-
with every single Senator here, to country on how important this piece of sider that this week, but the Senate
make sure you can help them with the legislation is for not just his adminis- continued to wait all week for the Con-
problems and needs they have in their tration but for the entire country. He gressional Budget Office’s analysis of
own States, and that is what we have has been able to identify that. Demo- what it would cost.
done. crats and Republicans—we are going to The CBO is the entity that Congress
I have always said: The best politics have 20 Republicans today get on the has agreed is responsible for
is good government. bill. Everyone was afraid that someone scorekeeping on what legislation will
Everybody worries about: Oh, I am is going to get mad and leave. We kept cost the American people.
not sure if that is good for my politics. gaining. And as they see the support Let’s keep in mind that meeting the
Let me tell you, if you do something back home, it will continue to create definition of ‘‘paid for’’ in the CBO’s
good for all, it is good for you. It will more momentum. That is what we eyes doesn’t always make sense to the
be the best politics you have ever done. need. This is extremely as important as average American. For instance, CBO
If we do something good, we all take anything we do from this day forward allows spending now to be offset by
credit for it. to pass a bipartisan bill—show the peo- projected savings that won’t happen for
I have seen people take credit for ple that basically, yes, we are all 10 years. CBO can allow savings that
things they voted against because it Americans first, and we are going to are already occurring naturally to
was good. It worked well. It didn’t take care of the deferred maintenance count, effectively, as new savings for
bother me at all. I am glad. Maybe we let go for far too long because of purposes of scoring a bill.
they won’t fight us as hard the next politics. We have set politics aside to The point is, this kind of scoring is
time. Maybe they might join us. Who take care of America. designed to make it easier for a bill to
knows? So I encourage all of my friends, be scored as paid for, at least on paper.
I look forward to passing this impor- please, look and see what this bill does As an example, the University of
tant legislation with strong bipartisan for America. Look and see what this Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget
support. I just think this is a moment bill does for your State. You will be Model estimates that this legislation
for our country. This is extremely im- surprised. And I think we have tried to would actually add $351 billion in def-
portant for our country to show that help everybody that we could, and we icit spending, an even higher total than
we can still work together and to show will continue to work together. the CBO estimate.
that we are united when it comes to I suggest the absence of a quorum. The point is, even using these
the needs. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The scorekeeping advantages, the CBO has
I have always said: There are a few clerk will call the roll. made it clear this bill isn’t paid for.
things in this country that basically The senior assistant legislative clerk I understand why the Democratic
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
unite us. One has always been our mili- proceeded to call the roll. leadership kept the CBO score under
tary. We want to support our military, Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I ask wraps until Thursday. It showed that
our law enforcement officers, our fire- unanimous consent that the order for the bill fell far short of ambitions. The
men, and all the people who run into the quorum call be rescinded. CBO said that it misses the mark of
harm’s way when everyone else is run- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without being paid for by a cool quarter of a
ning away from harm’s way. Those peo- objection, it is so ordered. trillion dollars.
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August 7, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6003
As an aside, I found it incredible that what I believe is the Democrats’ real then, Step 3, redefine the term ‘‘infra-
despite—or perhaps because of—getting ambition, which is their multitrillion- structure’’ to include government-de-
this news on Thursday afternoon, dollar march to socialism that they pendency programs. Really muddy it
Democrats tried to accelerate the pas- will unveil right after this infrastruc- up.
sage of this bill later that same day. ture legislation is passed. Democrats Step 4: When more reasonable Demo-
Instead of going through the normal have admitted this. This is their plan. crats in the Senate balk at some of
multiday process for debating and en- The far-left wing of the Democratic these more expensive or egregious
acting a bill, they tried to rush it Party, which is effectively calling the items, promise them a two-track proc-
through in the middle of the night. I shots these days, is demanding that ess—one for hard infrastructure and
objected to accelerating this process on Democrats here in Congress spend tril- one for social programs.
Thursday because the Senate must lions of dollars to reshape American so- Step 5: Negotiate as much of your so-
carefully consider what it is doing. ciety, to make American citizens more cialist wish list into the infrastructure
Now, the proponents of this bill dependent on their government. Their track as you can. They got some of it
claim that the CBO’s analysis is wrong. aim seems to be to turn the United into this bill, but not all of it. They
No matter how much explaining they States into a sclerotic, government- will just put the rest of it into the wish
do, the Senate agreed on the umpire controlled state, just like Western Eu- list and put that wish list into the gov-
before the game started. rope. ernment-dependency bill that is yet to
To this end, if this bill is paid for, The upcoming legislation that we are come.
why will we have to waive Budget Act talking about now is the third leg of Step 6: Pass the infrastructure bill
requirements later on in this process? the stool of the Democrats’ overall through the Senate as quickly as pos-
The Senate is going to have to pass plan. The first leg is to pack the Su- sible. Drop a nearly 3,000-page bill and
this bill by waiving the Budget Act or preme Court so the Constitution no demand that it be passed immediately
the pay-go requirements. That is not longer gets in the way of their plan. before we can even understand or scru-
‘‘paid for.’’ The second is to Federalize and take tinize what is in it. The Trojan horse,
Most of us probably won’t be around over voting laws and procedures, ensur- my friends, is through the gate.
when the bill comes due for this never- ing Democrats will never lose another Step 7: Hold that infrastructure bill
ending deficit spending here in Wash- election, propelling themselves into hostage in the House of Representa-
ington, but, sadly, our children and our perpetual power over both the legisla- tives until everything you couldn’t get
grandchildren will be. The politicians tive branch and the executive branch. into the infrastructure bill—particu-
in Washington spend now to buy votes And, third, they want to remake the larly meaning the trillions of dollars in
but, conveniently, won’t be around to U.S. economy and America’s relation- government-dependency programs—are
deal with the consequences. ship with government into one where passed through the Senate. Therefore,
We can do hard infrastructure— Americans begin to look to govern- NANCY PELOSI has promised that this
again, that is a worthy goal—but we ment for everything, from Green New bill will never become law until it is
can do it without shoveling more debt Deal programs to daycare. In this joined at the hip with the multitril-
onto the backs of our children and our world, American citizens will be less lion-dollar socialist bill.
free, less prosperous but more captive More on that in a minute.
grandchildren. Indeed, if we just lim-
and hooked on government programs. Step 8: Say that the President won’t
ited this bill to hard infrastructure, it
That means they will be more depend- sign the infrastructure bill into law if
would be paid for. As I said, there are
ent on Democrats and the institutions it is not accompanied by trillions of
good and bad ways to achieve noble
that they control. dollars in government-dependency pro-
ends. So far, Democrats have been unable
The second reason that I am opposed grams. President Biden already did this
to build legs one and two of the stool,
to this legislation is because of its Big before he clumsily walked it back, but
but they are actively trying. President
Government, top-down approach. It in- we saw and we heard what he was
Biden has a court-packing commission
cludes many half-baked components thinking.
ongoing, and the Democratic leader is,
that deserve far more scrutiny. Step 9: To get the government-de-
today, working on scheduling more
Rather than compete against China pendency programs part passed, cir-
votes on the election takeover. They
using our unparalleled innovation, our cumvent the filibuster in the Senate by
are desperate to appease leftwing ex-
ingenuity, our technology, we are sub- abusing an arcane loophole called rec-
tremists that have all of the energy in
stituting massive government control onciliation. Reconciliation was in-
their party because they need these ex-
to dictate, to fund, and to decide win- tremists’ support to win elections. tended to save taxpayer dollars and to
ners and losers. That is not the Amer- Yet they have stalled out on their assure passage of an annual budget for
ican way. first two goals, so they have come up the Federal Government. But now they
We are using the cryptocurrency with a scheme to build the third leg of are using this process—they are abus-
market as a pay-for. their stool. They previewed phase 1 of ing this procedure to pass trillions of
Have we fully vetted how this new the scheme in March, when they spent dollars of government-dependency pro-
regulation and taxation will affect this $1.9 trillion in the name of COVID re- grams with only 50 Democrat votes.
rapidly developing industry? lief. Of course, 90 percent of it had Step 10: Give reasonable Democrats
Will we wind up ceding this industry nothing to do with COVID. It was real- political cover to support the par-
to others because of this regulation? ly just a payoff to their most loyal po- liamentary trick and the government-
What is the point of even having litical supporters. dependency spending by saying it
committees in the Senate with exper- Sadly, it is now causing the highest unlocks the ability for their hard-
tise in certain matters if the most sig- inflation that we have seen in decades. fought infrastructure bill that passed
nificant legislation that passes this This inflation is a daily tax on every the Senate—and, by the way, is now
body doesn’t even go through? American who has to buy goods and being held hostage in the House—to fi-
The whole point of committees is to services here in America. nally get through the House and to the
use them—use these committees to But phase 2 of the scheme is even President’s desk.
carefully scrutinize and refine impor- more devious. Step 1: Change the con- Wait a minute. What just happened?
tant legislation, use committees to versation to trillions with a ‘‘t.’’ Make Abracadabra. The American people are
prevent unintended consequences that billions sound small. Condition the so confused by the Democrats’ sleight
result from rushed legislation. Yet this Congress, condition the media, condi- of hand that they don’t even notice
is a 2,700-page bill that is going tion the American public to these big that their wallet has been stolen and
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
through no committees. Once again, we numbers. that their country has been fundamen-
have to pass it to find out what is in it Remember, a trillion dollars is an as- tally changed.
and then learn what kind of unintended tronomical number, and our children My question is simple: If these poli-
consequences we can expect. are going to have to pay for it. cies and this spending is so good, why
The third reason I am frustrated with Step 2: Tell the United States that does getting it done take a parliamen-
this legislation is because it is tied to America needs infrastructure; but tary house of mirrors?
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S6004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 7, 2021
There can’t be a bipartisan deal on provided more freedom and oppor- Now, let me walk you back through
infrastructure if its enactment into tunity than any other. President Lin- the history of that debt. If we were to
law requires later tacking on all of the coln called it the ‘‘last best hope of go from the time that George Wash-
socialist wish list items that got ex- Earth.’’ Ever since, it has fulfilled that ington became President up until the
cluded from the deal. promise for countless generations. time that George W. Bush stepped out
Democrats have telegraphed these We must fight to preserve our Amer- of office, our Nation had accrued a
plans. You just have to pay attention. ican system and the American dream, total of $10.6 trillion in debt—too much
The President of the United States, not in a tornado of hurried legislative for me.
right after announcing the infrastruc- activity that will seal its decline. When I would go to the White House
ture deal, said it would be held hostage I am asking my colleagues to fight with President Bush, I would say: Mr.
on his desk without the trillions of dol- for this country’s future. Our children President, there are two things that I
lars of government-dependency spend- and grandchildren deserve to have the think need to be addressed. No. 1 is the
ing alongside it. same sort of wonderful opportunity out-of-control Federal spending, and
President Biden specifically said that our parents and grandparents gave No. 2 is the issue of illegal immigra-
this: us. We need to make certain that they tion.
I expect that in the coming months this have a future for them that is better Well, he left office $10.6 trillion in
summer, before the fiscal year is over, that than today, and we are duty-bound to debt, but still very mild compared to
we will have voted on this bill—the infra- make certain that it happens. That is what we are facing today, I think we
structure bill—as well as voted on the budget why I ran for office. would have to say.
resolution. But if only one comes to me . . . Let’s work together on infrastruc- Now, President Obama took office,
this is the only thing that comes to me, I’m ture, out from under the rapidly ap- and he and Joe Biden went to work. Do
not signing it. It’s in tandem. you know what they did in 8 years?
proaching cloud of socialism. Let’s
Later, in response to a question, make this happen a different way. They ended up just about doubling our
President Biden revealed: ‘‘Look, the Mr. President, I yield the floor. Nation’s debt—double.
bipartisan bill, from the very begin- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. President Trump came in, tried to
ning, was understood there was going REED). The Senator from Tennessee. pare back on regulations and cut the
to have to be the second part of it,’’ he Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I size of the Federal Government. And
said. ‘‘I’m not just signing the bipar- want to concur with my colleague from then we had COVID. That added to the
tisan bill and forgetting about the Tennessee in his beautifully stated re- debt.
rest.’’ marks and the way he has brought for- Then here comes President Biden,
Now, he has later tried to muddy up and it is as if the printing presses have
ward the frustration that Tennesseans
the waters on this because he said too cranked up on printing those dollar
have.
much. But if you read his cleanup You know, I had the opportunity to bills, running them through as fast as
statement carefully, he never took be at home yesterday. We have a great they possibly can, because what the
back his vow. He never said he would Biden administration and CHUCK SCHU-
event going on in Nashville this week-
sign the bipartisan bill without having MER and NANCY PELOSI had pushed
end. It is called the Grand Prix. I had
alongside it the partisan multitrillion- through was $1.9 trillion, saying that
the opportunity to be at the opening
dollar bill. was necessary for CARES, even though
event with a lot of women, small busi-
The Speaker of the House has said all that money that had previously
ness owners. I had the opportunity
the same thing repeatedly. On June 24, been spent had not been—or that had
later in the day to go cut the ribbon for
she said: There ain’t going to be a bi- been appropriated had not been spent.
a big county fair and see lots of fami- Now, here we have $1.2 trillion. As
partisan bill without a reconciliation lies and talk to families who were my colleague said, it has become this
bill. there. Do you know what? They are bill of, here is a little bit for infra-
She added again: completely confused with what is going structure, but, oh, by the way, over
Let me be really clear on this: We will not on. here, here is this great big downpay-
take up a bill in the House until the Senate See, Tennesseans are really smart.
passes the bipartisan bill and a reconcili- ment on the Green New Deal. Don’t
They watch what is happening in worry that we don’t generate enough
ation bill. Washington, DC. They are so concerned electricity for an electric vehicle fleet;
A month later, on July 22, Speaker about the future and about freedom we will figure that one out later. Let’s
PELOSI again said: and freedom’s cause, and they continue just put in subsidies for electric vehi-
We will not take up the infrastructure bill to say, as my colleague from Tennessee cles. Don’t worry about giving more
until the Senate passes the reconciliation stated, that they want the best for
measure.
power to the Federal Government; we
their children and for their grand- will give you back authority, local gov-
It only takes one Democrat to end children because they appreciate the ernments, if we think you need it. So
this insanity, to stand up and say he or American dream. $1.2 trillion in spending. Then we hear
she won’t participate in this scheme. Many of them have lived the Amer- that the bonus round in this
That would change the entire tenor of ican dream, whether they are a farmer lollapalooza is going to be $3.5 trillion,
this debate and this process. or a teacher; whether they are a law- but more likely, the realistic view is, it
So while I believe in hard infrastruc- yer, an accountant, a mom, a dad, is going to be $5 trillion.
ture, I cannot participate in doing it somebody who owns a small business So back to my point, people in Ten-
this way: first, by including in this bill on Main Street in one of our 95 coun- nessee are saying ‘‘What in the world
a bunch of things that aren’t hard in- ties in our beautiful towns. They have could you possibly be thinking? What
frastructure, and the result of that is lived it. They are living it every single could you possibly be thinking?’’ be-
throwing a quarter of a trillion dollars day—blood, sweat, tears, working long cause they know the history of this Na-
more debt at our children and our hours, investing. They look at what is tion’s debt.
grandchildren; and, secondly, and most happening here in Washington, and Do you know what? And this really
importantly for the future of this coun- they are saying: Why are you in such a relates to much of the work that we do
try, enabling this quadruple bank-shot rush to force us into bankruptcy? in SASC. They know that there is a
attempt by Democrats to thread their You know, July 6, 2010—I use this threat from the people who own or hold
government dependency fantasy statement all the time, Mr. President. our debt. Japan, our friend and ally, is
through a House and a Senate that are Someone you and I each know because at the top of the tier right now. The
divided by the narrowest of margins by of our work on Armed Services: Admi- last time I checked last month on who
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
holding this bill, once it passes, hos- ral Mullen. July 6, 2010, he was asked a owns our debt, you know, No. 2 is
tage in the House. question: What keeps you up at night? China. They own well over $1 trillion or
The stakes here are too high. Amer- What is the greatest threat to our Na- hold over $1 trillion dollars of our debt.
ica is an exceptional nation. We are tion’s freedom, our democracy? Do you If you put the OPEC nations together—
distinct from all others throughout know what he said? He said: Our Na- and, of course, after the Keystone Pipe-
history. We are exceptional because we tion’s debt. line, we are now dependent on OPEC
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August 7, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6005
and others for fuel. We were energy Now, I had about 30 amendments that project on our southern border. Amend-
independent thanks to President I had offered as improvements for this ment 2406 would redirect $1 billion
Trump and Republicans in the House bill. Rest assured, I am not going to from Amtrak. By the way, Amtrak is
and Senate. We were energy inde- stand here and go through each and getting many billions of dollars in this
pendent. But OPEC is there in that top every one of those amendments, but bill. And it would send that money
five, all those OPEC countries grouped there are some things that I thought over to the Department of Homeland
together. needed our attention in this bill. Security to finish the southern border
So people in Tennessee are really As many of my colleagues know, wall construction.
quite—they are miffed. They are put broadband is something that, whether I We all know what is happening on
off by what is going on. was serving in the House or back in the that border: record numbers of illegal
I was really surprised. I had a text State senate in Tennessee or before aliens coming in, many very sick,
this morning from one of my county that, going in and reorganizing the COVID-positive. We know that they are
mayors: I am all for infrastructure. I Tennessee Film, Entertainment and ending up—as are drugs, as are gangs—
am for the Cornyn amendment. But Music Commission for our Governor, in cities and towns across this Nation.
you know what, I am not for this bill broadband and moving from analog to Indeed, until we secure the southern
because you have got less—or about 25 digital, making high-speed internet border, every town is a border town,
percent of this that goes for something available all across our State, closing every State is a border State.
that we would deem infrastructure. that digital divide—I have spent so God bless our law enforcement offi-
Tennesseans love to talk about infra- cers who are fighting this every day. I
many hours working on this. I filed
structure as four things. They talk am hearing from them, and I want
three amendments that I felt like
about roads, river, railways, and run- them to know I hear them, and I under-
would really do some damage control
ways. And, of course, we are a logistics stand the pressures that they are
on these and help close the divide, get-
State. Everyone knows Memphis has a under.
ting to our rural and unserved areas, We also know that our communities
big port and a rail hub, one of two cit-
people who have no internet. are struggling trying to get back to
ies where all five class A railroads Amendment No. 2327 would have pro-
come into that city. They know that work and really move forward with re-
hibited the Federal Government from growing the economy, but inflation has
interstates are important. They criss- forcing municipal broadband provider
cross our State—indeed, Nashville, gotten in the way.
programs into States that have out- One of the big problems that people
where you have three major interstates
lawed them. point to with the high cost of fuel and
that crisscross right there in the mid- Now, Tennessee is one of those States
dle of that city. They know that Ten- logistics and the packing materials is
that say to municipalities: If you want the killing of the Keystone Pipeline.
nessee—so many businesses choose to to serve people within your city, that
locate there because we are within an Amendment 2298 would amend section
is great. You go ahead. But you can’t 4034 of the bill, which calls for a study
8-hour drive of a majority of the Na- go outside of your boundaries.
tion’s population. on job loss and impacts on consumer
There are other States that have had energy due to the revocation of the
Logistics require good roads and riv-
this issue. There is a reason they say: permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.
ers and rail and runways, but, you
If you serve your constituents, great, My amendment says that if the report
know what, they are not seeing it in
but don’t go outside that. It is because shows that killing the pipeline caused
this. When you, in the name of infra-
States that have allowed these schemes numerous job losses and an impact on
structure, spend this amount of
ended up banning them for a reason. consumer energy costs, that the Presi-
money—now, I have great respect for
Usually it is because these govern- dent should revoke—he shall revoke his
my colleagues on each side of the aisle
ment-run systems would end up im- Executive order and get out of the way
who have worked to produce a product,
to do it in a bipartisan way. That is ploding, leaving the taxpayers with a of the pipeline construction.
bill that they were going to have to Get people back to work and get the
commendable. It is commendable. For
pay. prices at the pump, get them down. Get
Tennesseans, the result is something
Now, another amendment, amend- them down to where they were when
that is frustrating to them.
You know, this is considered to be ment No. 2377, would have prohibited President Trump left office. I mean,
the world’s greatest deliberative body. the FCC, our Federal Communications what is the purpose of a report if it
Commission, from implementing price- doesn’t have any teeth? So let’s take
I always appreciated how our former
setting schemes on broadband pro- an action on that.
colleague Senator Alexander would
viders. Allowing the FCC to do that There is no bill that is ever perfect.
talk about the cup and saucer. The hot They all have to be worked on. Many
coffee gets poured into the cup. It spills rate-setting and price-setting would de-
stroy investment in rural broadband. It times, we come back a year or so later,
over into the saucer. It cools off. You and we do technical corrections on a
add some sweetener, and you get some- would destroy it. We know this. And it
would actually incentivize providers in bill. We make changes. And this is no
thing that you enjoy. People expect different. This bill needs time. It needs
more. They expect better of this delib- avoiding these unserved areas. Some-
times we talk about that as being that a thorough amendment process. It
erative body. needs to go back to the committees of
Tennesseans know that our Nation’s last mile that needs to get that fiber,
that last mile that needs fixed wireless, jurisdiction to work through these
freedom has been well-served by ro-
that last mile that is needing some issues.
bust, respectful, bipartisan debate. Are the American people for infra-
That is a good thing. It strengthens form of connectivity.
Amendment No. 2328—and we do hope structure? Yes, they are for infrastruc-
freedom. It brings people together. It ture. Tennesseans are for infrastruc-
brings them to the table to talk about this one makes it in the bill—would
strike language permitting regulators ture. I am for infrastructure projects.
what is their priority. Yes, indeed. Am I for this piece of leg-
Now, unfortunately, most of us in to allow these broadband grant recipi-
ents to use the money for—and I am islation? No, because it is a document
this body have not had the opportunity
that has misplaced priorities.
to be at that table. Amendments that quoting the language in the bill—‘‘any
I yield the floor.
we have worked on that we felt like use determined necessary . . . to facili- I suggest the absence of a quorum.
would have improved this bill are not tate the goals of the program.’’ Now, The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
going to be heard—not here, not in a this sounds vague. It is vague. If there clerk will call the roll.
hearing, in a committee. We are just is one thing that we learned prior when The legislative clerk proceeded to
not going to see that as a part of this we put a lot of money out during Presi- call the roll.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
process. That is unfortunate, and it is dent Obama’s time, it is that some- Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I ask unani-
going to be unfortunate if, indeed, that times this money ends up not being mous consent that the order for the
happens on the next bill or the bill targeted to broadband but ends up as a quorum call be rescinded.
after that or the bill after that. We slush fund. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
should return to regular order and go We also have an amendment that will BROWN). Without objection, it is so or-
through this process. deal with a shovel-ready infrastructure dered.
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S6006 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 7, 2021
H.R. 3684 manufacturers and distributors of cer- $3 trillion, spending about $4 trillion.
Mr. LEE. Mr. President, we are de- tain chemicals. The issue there is that This was inexcusable then. It would be
bating a bill that a number of us have this fee, while labeled as not a tax—be- inexcusable now, except that we are
spoken of on a number of occasions. cause, technically speaking, it is not a making it much, much worse.
Since my last address on the Senate tax—will end up increasing the price of Last year, we took in about $3 tril-
floor on this topic, we received a score basically every consumer good pur- lion, and we spent $3.6 trillion—bor-
on the bill from the Congressional chased by the American people. rowing and then printing close to 4
Budget Office. The way these things end up working trillion additional dollars. What does
Now, remember, it is the CBO’s role is that to the tune of about $15 billion this do? Well, it makes all Americans
to put together a score on legislation or so, Americans will find that pretty just a little bit poorer, especially those
we are considering. It is part of how much everything they buy, from ap- living on a relatively fixed income.
the system works in Washington so we parel to electronics, will get a little So this is troubling when we do that.
can assess what will and will not add to more expensive. They may not see it. We ought to be concerned when we do
the deficit and how it will do so if it In fact, the overwhelming majority of that. Inflation numbers that are com-
does. It is an important part of the them won’t even know to attribute it ing out all the time, including some
process. to this particular piece of legislation, that I have heard about the first time
When we finally received the CBO but it will have that effect. It will today, indicate that everything is get-
score just about 48 hours ago, we dis- make all Americans a little poorer. It ting more expensive. And what are we
covered a few things. We discovered will make all Americans face the very doing? Well, we are on track to spend
that, despite the representations we stark reality in which their already another $1.2 trillion, including $550 bil-
have heard by the bill’s staunchest ad- strapped dollars that they earn will go lion of new spending, which the bill’s
vocates to the effect that the bill just a little bit less far. proponents claim is paid for when most
would be paid for—that it is, that it We have to remember that from one of it isn’t paid for. And that portion of
would not add to the debt and deficit, year to the next, we don’t see dramatic it that is paid for is in one way or an-
and that it would not add to the debt fluctuations in the quantity of goods other often paid for in a way that will
and deficit in a way that also didn’t in- that the American people have access inure to the detriment of poor, middle-
volve raising taxes—it turned out that to that they may buy. In other words, class Americans. This is concerning.
the CBO rejected the claim that this the U.S. economy is capable of pro- It is also concerning that one of the
bill was paid for. In fact, the CBO con- ducing a relatively foreseeable, pre- other pay-for provisions is the one fo-
cluded that $256 of the $550 billion it dictable, somewhat finite supply of cused on cryptocurrency. It focuses on
claimed in pay-fors did not pay. They goods in a particular year. When that an industry that is rapidly devel-
are not paid for, and thus that they doesn’t change dramatically from one oping—rapidly developing within the
will considerably—I mean, we are talk- year to the next, as it almost never United States—that depends on a lot of
ing here about over a quarter of a tril- does, but you dramatically increase the innovation happening in the United
lion dollars that would go right on to money supply in the U.S. economy, States. One of these pay-for provisions
the debt and deficit. then what you see is that everything seeks to bring in more revenue to the
They also concluded that in the long gets a little bit more expensive. This Federal Government or at least to
run, over the next 10 years, we will be ends up hurting, in particular, Amer- promise more revenue to the Federal
looking at an additional $340 billion in ica’s poor and middle class. It ends up Government, with the promise of re-
cost to the Federal Government—a hurting, in particular, those Ameri- quiring those who spy and sell
cost that by some estimates could cans, including most Americans who in cryptocurrency to treat it the same
reach as high as $400 billion because of one way or another live paycheck to way as they would the exchange of se-
the spillover effect that this bill is paycheck, who in one way or another curities.
likely to have on future spending, con- depend on the income that they have, This is very different than securities.
tracting authority, and otherwise. and the income that they have is rel- These aren’t just stocks. It is some-
So this bill is not paid for. The pay- atively fixed. So, as a result of that, thing very different. It is a medium of
fors suggested by the bill’s proponents they don’t get as far. exchange that, if adopted more widely,
don’t get the job done. In fact, more Now, you have got some Americans, could facilitate a lot of economic activ-
than half of them simply don’t get including the wealthiest and well-con- ity and a lot of innovation within the
there. We do, however, see that there nected in our society, who may well United States of America. If, in fact,
are some of the pay-fors that create figure out ways to get wealthy off of we pass this bill, mark my words, it is
significant policy concerns. this bill. One way or another, they can going to have a chilling effect on inno-
One of the pay-fors that isn’t fake is play things to their advantage, and vation within this sector.
an extension of the so-called g-fees—g- they may make a lot of money off of it. And what you will see is that the
fees being imposed by entities like You have got another category of flight of innovation and investment re-
Fannie Mae that will inevitably in- very wealthy Americans—maybe, you lated to innovation to offshore loca-
crease the cost that home buyers will know, people in the top 1 or 2 percent tions around the globe, places outside
face when they go to buy a home. Now, of income earners—who might notice the United States, may well be the
why does that matter here? Well, we that the things they buy are getting ones to reap the benefit associated
have seen a startling uptick in infla- more expensive, but it might not affect with the loss here in the United States
tion—inflation across the board, every- them all that much. if we adopt an unproven, untested, un-
thing from gas to groceries and every- But then you have got everyone else, known strategy for dealing with some-
thing from healthcare to housing. We and I mean the vast, overwhelming ma- thing, trying to adopt many decades-
see that increasing stunningly in a way jority of all Americans, who, in one old regulatory policies to a completely
that a lot of people are pointing out, way or another, plan out each year new form of exchange; one that, by the
correctly, that first-time home buyers knowing that they have got a rel- way, values very highly the privacy of
are now finding it very difficult to get atively finite amount of money to those who exchange it.
into a home. This is something that is spend, and that money goes less far So if what you are going to do is take
going to end up affecting all poor and when we just print money to the tune away that value by requiring that all
middle-class Americans at a time they of trillions and trillions of dollars. of it be registered and publicly dis-
can little afford it. And yet we are in- Remember, the Federal Government, closed and by giving the Federal Gov-
creasing these fees—fees that are in ef- in recent years, has been spending ernment the ability to peer into it, you
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
fect a back-door invisible tax on a lot about $4 trillion a year. Tragically, are going to stifle innovation. You are
of those who are least in a position to even at the top of our economic cycle, going to make a lot of people upset,
pay. with record low unemployment and and you are going to make Americans
Some of the other non-fake pay-fors with record high growth, we were still poorer.
that actually do bring something in in- spending $1 trillion a year more than At the heart of a lot of this is a con-
clude an increase in the fees paid by we were bringing in—bringing in about cern that the Federal Government, as
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August 7, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6007
it takes more and more money, as it ability of the vehicle to operate if the hard-working American isn’t going to
prints more and more money, as it re- vehicle, in its infinite wisdom, was able be able to fix quickly. They won’t even
quires Americans to work weeks or to ascertain that the blood alcohol con- be able to see it. There again, they are
months out of every year just to pay tent of the driver was over 0.8. going to face more costs as they take
their Federal taxes, only to be told Now, look, we are all for stopping their vehicle into the shop to have it
that it is not nearly enough and it drunk driving. It is terrible. It results evaluated by a certified technician ca-
hasn’t been enough for many decades in countless lives lost. But we can all pable of dealing with that brandnew,
because we are nearly $30 trillion in see a lot of things that can go wrong very sophisticated, very expensive
debt—it is still not enough because we with that. Setting aside for a minute technology.
are still going to borrow and print the constitutional implications of the So with each of these things, we see
more. intrusiveness of putting technology in something of a common theme. The
It is insulting to them, and it is espe- every passenger vehicle that requires, Federal Government, which already
cially insulting to them when you tell at the outset, without any finding that plays too prominent a role in too many
them that in connection with the same anyone has done anything wrong, that people’s lives, which is already taxing
legislation that also includes other in- requires you to take a test mandated us too much, spying on us too much,
trusions into their privacy. by the Federal Government every time and considering everything under the
For example, there is a pilot program you want to do something as simple as Sun its business—we are making even
called for in this legislation that will turn on your car—then let’s consider more things its business, from
be created by this legislation that what happens when, with such a tech- cryptocurrency to where and how far
would be designed specifically to mon- nology, which to my knowledge doesn’t you drive your car, to whether you can
itor how many miles someone drives in yet exist—with such a technology, as- operate your car at all. We are doing
a year. Now, this has long been a fan- suming it is able to come into exist- all of this so that we can spend even
tasy of a number of people who would ence because of these burdensome regu- more Federal money on even more Fed-
like to see the Federal Government lations in a few years, that technology, eral infrastructure projects, which are
tracking miles driven by every motor- if they are able to develop it, is going even more expensive by virtue of the
ist in America. to be costly. Who does that hurt? Well, fact that we are dealing with Federal
Now, we all know that there is al- you guessed it. Poor and middle-class dollars, for the simple reason that com-
most no way to achieve this that Americans who will all of a sudden find pliance with all the Federal regula-
wouldn’t excessively interfere with the that every passenger vehicle will be- tions that accompany the expenditure
privacy rights of every man, woman, come a lot more expensive. It is just of Federal infrastructure dollars costs
and child in America. Look, the Amer- the way it works. a lot of money. In many States like
ican people are fine with a government When we mandate the creation of mine, it can cost 20, 30 percent, some-
that makes sure that we are safe from new Federal regulations, and those times even more, on top of what it
foreign aggressors, that regulates Federal regulations apply to any new would cost if these were just State rev-
interstate and foreign commerce, that automobile sold in the United States, enues that they were spending.
coins money and regulates the value the price of new automobiles goes up. So I would ask the question: Is it
thereof, that adopts a uniform set of And in the case of a particularly novel worth it? I would ask the question: Do
bankruptcy laws, immigration laws, and particularly sophisticated tech- we want Big Brother knowing our
protects trademarks, copyrights, and nology like this one, I suspect it will every move? I would ask the question:
patents. go up a lot. Do we want a government that is al-
What they do not want is a nanny. This may not be troubling to the mil- ready requiring you to work weeks or
What they do not want is a snooping lionaires and billionaires out there who months out of every year just to pay
device added to every car that will don’t feel the pinch of that, but to ev- your Federal taxes? Do you want it
track them; that will track where they eryone else, the 99 percent of all Amer- printing even more money, making
and their families are going. It is none icans—more than that, I suppose—this sure that the dollars that you spend,
of their darn business. Keep the Fed- hurts. Moreover, what happens when which are finite, limited, and sacred,
eral Government out of this. Look, that technology malfunctions? Not if will go even less far? I think not, and
whether you want more government but when. Look, we have all had cars I urge my colleagues who support this
spending or not, chances are, if you are that will malfunction for one reason or legislation to reconsider.
listening to this, you probably are con- another, and oftentimes it is basic se- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The sen-
cerned, regardless of what political hat curity devices, something as simple as ior Senator from Illinois.
you wear, regardless of whom you that annoying beeper that goes off ORDER OF BUSINESS
voted for in recent Presidential or con- until you put your seatbelt on. Some- Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, for the
gressional elections. You probably times some people will put their seat- information of Members, we are plan-
don’t want the Federal Government in belt on, and it still pings. That is a ter- ning to have a vote at 5 o’clock today
your car monitoring your every move ribly annoying nuisance when that on the confirmation of Eunice Lee to
knowing where you are going. happens. The consequences are much the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. I
We know that when governments do more deeply felt; they are much more wanted Members to make their plans
that, when they start to assume that severe if someone gets in the car, accordingly.
everything is government’s business, whether it is to go to work, to come Thank you.
bad things happen. It ends in tears and home from work, to take a loved one to The PRESIDING OFFICER. The sen-
wars. That is none of the Federal Gov- the doctor or the hospital, and it ior Senator from Maryland.
ernment’s darn business. We don’t doesn’t work. UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST—S. 2675
want the Federal Government even de- Look, glitches happen, and if you are Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise to
veloping technology to start snooping talking about adding an override to a speak about the Restaurant Revitaliza-
on every person’s every move. vehicle—you know, maybe that over- tion Fund, and then I will be asking
Which brings me to yet another in- ride to the vehicle mistakenly thinks unanimous consent to consider legisla-
trusion on personal privacy and liberty that it smells alcohol, maybe it doesn’t tion.
in this legislation. Section 24220 calls like the aftershave or cologne you are We included the Restaurant Revital-
for the development and, within just a wearing on that particular day, maybe ization Fund in our March legislation
few years, the formalization and final- the whole thing stops working, and on COVID relief. We did that because,
ization of regulations that would re- your car stops working with it. This of all of the industries affected by
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
quire passenger vehicles manufactured isn’t one of those things where you can COVID–19, restaurants have been some
and sold within the United States to just open up the hood and find the pres- of the most difficult businesses to sur-
have a device that would passively ence of an on-off switch, as Jerry vive COVID–19.
measure the blood alcohol content of Seinfeld might have put it many years They were ordered by government,
the driver and do so in a way that ago. No, this is much more sophisti- basically, to shut down at the begin-
would inhibit or at least impair the cated technology that the average, ning of COVID–19. Then, as we started
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S6008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 7, 2021
to make progress, they were at much by the rescissions that have been made cause they employ so many people,
restricted operations. And to this day, in this legislation that we are consid- contract with so many independent
restaurants are still not up to their full ering, that is before us today. So for all suppliers and others. It just makes
capacity. Their revenues have been of those reasons, this is a fiscally re- such sense.
very much decimated as a result of sponsible thing to do. It is almost cruel to tell these res-
COVID–19. Lastly, before I yield the floor to the taurants, ‘‘You are on your own now,’’
We came together in March with bi- majority leader, let me say that we when, through no fault of their own,
partisan legislation in order to do made a commitment to help our small they have suffered through with
something about that, and we included businesses. We did that—Democrats COVID.
that in our legislation—$28.6 billion of and Republicans—working together. In So I strongly support this proposal
relief for restaurants. Now, what it did some cases we overestimated the dol- by Senator CARDIN. We are going to
is cover some of their revenue loss as a lars that we need. In some cases we un- keep at it and keep at it and keep at it
result of COVID–19. It gave them a life- derestimated the dollars that we need. because our restaurants so desperately
line to be able to survive this pan- But we always came back and provided need the help.
demic. the full funding for the programs we It was bipartisan in the past. Let’s
We projected that $28.6 billion would have authorized, and, in total, it is not keep it bipartisan, but let’s get the job
be the need, but we were wrong. We much different than has previously done. Our restaurants need help, and
were wrong because COVID–19 was been authorized. our communities, our cities, our rural
more severe than we thought, res- This is a matter of fairness and a towns, our suburbs will be so rewarded
taurants were more badly damaged matter of absolute need that we pro- when these restaurants are allowed to
than we had anticipated, and there was vide the extra money now for the res- continue to stay open and to flourish.
a great deal of more demand and need taurants. I thank the Senator for his leader-
than the $28.6 billion. We are now being Before I make my unanimous consent ship.
told by the Small Business Administra- request, I would yield the floor so the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
tion that the right number was $71.3 majority leader can get the floor. ator from Maryland.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, let me
billion, or an additional $42.7 billion
jority leader is recognized. thank Senator SCHUMER for his com-
that is needed.
I have introduced bipartisan legisla- Mr. SCHUMER. Well, I thank my ments. I agree completely with every-
tion to provide this additional author- good friend from Maryland for offering thing the Senator said.
this UC, and strongly and fervently I would just make one additional
ity to the SBA to complete this pro-
support it. point before I make my unanimous
gram. It is bipartisan. My partner in
I have been proud to join Senators consent request.
this is Senator WICKER. We are joined What I am asking for now has been
by Senator SCHUMER, Senator MUR- CARDIN and SINEMA in leading the fight
what we have been following in regard
KOWSKI, Senator CANTWELL, Senator to provide direct relief to this industry.
to small business relief. Let me remind
ERNST, Senator SINEMA, Senator CAS- We all know restaurants were particu-
our colleagues that we work together,
SIDY, Senator STABENOW, and Senator larly hard hit during COVID, and the
Democrats and Republicans, to craft
HYDE-SMITH. And I might add, there idea that they have all recovered is
the programs that help small business
are many, many more Senators on both just so far from the truth.
and save so many small businesses in
sides of the aisle who very much sup- You know, any business where people
our community.
port our efforts to live up to our com- had to gather were hit hard—hit the
We misprojected the costs of the Pay-
mitment. hardest; restaurants at the very top of
check Protection Program, not by $30
Now, why do we need to take this up the list, and they are a lifeblood to our
or $40 billion, by over $300 billion when
right now? cities and our communities. They, of
we set it up. And we came back, Demo-
This is a matter of life or death for course, are a place where people get
crats and Republicans lived up to our
many restaurants in our community. food, but they get community. They
commitment and made the funds avail-
There is also a matter of fairness. join together. They feel roots. Whether
able that all small businesses could get
We have two restaurants, side by it is a small town or a large city, res-
fair treatment and equitable treatment
side, in the exact same circumstances, taurants in neighborhood after neigh-
under the Paycheck Protection Pro-
submitting their applications on the borhood, community after community,
gram.
same day, having the exact same need. are often the glue that make commu- I am asking my colleagues to do the
Both were advised that they will get nities tick; and they were hurt. exact same thing we did for the Pay-
funding. One got funding before the The funds that we provided, provided check Protection Program for the Res-
$28.6 billion was exhausted. The other a lifeline to 100,000 applicants across taurant Revitalization Program.
that was told they were going to get the country. In my State of New York, And as already has been pointed out,
funding, they won’t get funding unless $3.6 billion went to 9,775 restaurants. there have been funds taken away from
we act. That is not right. But the job wasn’t done. They ran out the small business programs under the
There is a matter of the credibility of of money long before restaurants were bill we are considering on the floor
the U.S. Senate and of Congress and of helped. today to almost the same amount that
government. We say we are going to do And anyone who thinks our res- we are asking in supplemental funds.
something. We should live up to our taurants are out of trouble, I just ate With that, Mr. President, I ask unan-
commitments. The urgency of getting at one last night—a Polish couple in imous consent that the Senate proceed
this done is now. Greenpoint—lovely little restaurant: to the immediate consideration of S.
I don’t think there is a Senator in Are you hurting? Yes; we might go 2675 introduced earlier today; that the
this Chamber who hasn’t heard from under. bill be considered read three times and
restaurants in their State about how And this story could be repeated in passed; and the motion to reconsider be
badly they need these funds and how restaurant after restaurant after res- considered made and laid upon the
they thought these funds were going to taurant. table.
be in their bank, and they are no In New York, 27,000 restaurants are The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
longer in the bank. I have heard from waiting in desperation. These are hard- objection?
so many Senators about this. The ur- working people—very hard-working Mr. PAUL. Mr. President.
gency is now. people. They struggle. They put their The PRESIDING OFFICER. The jun-
Let me just anticipate one other ar- all, their whole heart and soul, into the ior Senator from Kentucky.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
gument that I might hear, and that is: business and provide, as I said, often Mr. PAUL. The Treasury has been so
Well, where are we getting this money the glue for our communities. thoroughly looted that we are incur-
from? This legislation is fair. It is smart. It ring debt at a record-setting and
Well, legislation before us takes $36 is right. We will get economic payback alarming pace. Never in the history of
billion out of the small business pro- over and over and over again from our country have we incurred so much
grams—$36 billion. So this is paid for keeping these restaurants going be- debt so fast.
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August 7, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6009
Our national debt now exceeds $28 issue. I can tell you, it is urgent. We Again, I thank the Senator from
trillion. It is now at 128 percent of our really need to deal with this imme- Maryland for bringing this before us. I
GDP. And we are asked by the Demo- diately, and we will be looking for hope he will continue to offer it.
cratic Party to add $48 billion without every available opportunity to treat I yield the floor.
so much as a—could we have a debate our restaurants equitably and fairly The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
in committee?—so much as even a word and provide the money that is needed ator from New Mexico.
spoken over this. We are just going to to implement the Restaurant Revital- Mr. HEINRICH. I suggest the absence
add $48 billion with no discussion. It is ization Program. of a quorum.
a huge mistake. I regret that we are not able to act The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
Now, it has been alleged that, well, today because of the Senator’s objec- clerk will call the roll.
the thing is that the restaurants are tion. The senior assistant legislative clerk
suffering because of COVID. No. They I yield the floor. proceeded to call the roll.
are suffering because Democrat Gov- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The as-
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask
ernors locked them down. This is a sistant majority leader.
unanimous consent that the order for
manmade phenomenon. The economic Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I just
the quorum call be rescinded.
disaster that we are in, that res- would like to add a word and thank the
Senator from Maryland for his leader- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
taurants are in, is completely and en- objection, it is so ordered.
tirely caused by Democrat Governors. ship, and the Senator from New York
for supporting this, and to reflect for a NOMINATION OF EUNICE C. LEE
In my State, they are suing the Dem-
ocrat Governor because he won’t let moment on the comments of the objec- Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, in a
them open up. This is a manmade phe- tor, the Senator from Kentucky. minute, I am going to ask to vote on
nomenon. So if you reward a manmade His exact words were: We have got to confirmation for Eunice Lee to be a
phenomenon, you will get more of it. learn to live with this. U.S. circuit judge on the Second Cir-
You reward Democrat Governors who Unfortunately, people are not living cuit. She is an amazing person. I inter-
shut these restaurants down, guess with this; they are getting infected and viewed her and recommended her to
what, they will shut them down longer. dying. And to accept the status quo the President. She will be the only pub-
The longer you give money to Demo- and somehow make it a partisan lic defender on the Second Circuit. We
crat Governors for their lockdown poli- issue—that it is the Democratic Gov- have had very, very few public defend-
cies, the more lockdowns you will get. ernors who are responsible for what is ers on that circuit and largely on our
We need to open up the country. We going on here—is a sad oversimplifica- Federal bench. They tend to be pros-
need to learn to live with this disease. tion. In fact, it is tragic. ecutors, partners in big law firms. We
As tragic as it has been, we need to We know what is happening. We have are changing all of that and getting
learn to live with it. a new variant of this COVID–19 virus people who have different walks of
But the lockdowns have not worked. that has emerged because it is still on life—like public defenders, like people
Closing the restaurants did not work, the loose and it is changing by the day. from the ACLU, like people from dif-
did not change the trajectory of this We think the Delta variant is dan- ferent organizations—so we have a new
virus one iota. The only thing that is gerous, maybe dramatically more con- perspective on the bench. She is a phe-
changing the trajectory of this virus tagious than the original virus. nomenal person. I am so proud that she
now is the vaccine, plus natural immu- We know that even people who have will now get on the bench.
nity. Closing the restaurants did noth- been vaccinated can unknowingly I ask that the Senate now vote on
ing and is doing nothing, except for transmit this disease, the new Delta confirmation of the Lee nomination to
devastating the bottom line of res- variant, and we know that it has taken be a U.S. circuit judge.
taurants. a deadly toll on 90 percent of the pa-
So with that, I would object to the tients who were not vaccinated and f
unanimous consent. were subjected to the illness that came
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ob- about. EXECUTIVE SESSION
jection is heard. I just want to say, in general, I
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President. couldn’t agree more with Senator ---
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- SCHUMER and Senator CARDIN that res-
ator from Maryland. taurants in our cities are really the EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I regret lifeblood. Whether it is my hometown
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under
the decision of my colleague from Ken- of Springfield, IL, or Chicago, which I
the previous order, the Senate will pro-
tucky. am honored to represent, I will tell you
ceed to executive session to consider
I just really want to point out, we that these restaurants are still strug-
the following nomination, which the
have had hearings in our committee— gling, and as they struggle, our cities
clerk will report.
Small Business Committee—in which struggle.
the Restaurant Revitalization Act was And people that I know really meas- The senior assistant legislative clerk
very much brought up during the hear- ure where we are, as an American na- read the nomination of Eunice C. Lee,
ing. tion, recovering by the vibrancy of of New York, to be United States Cir-
We have been receiving timely infor- these restaurant businesses, the ones cuit Judge for the Second Circuit.
mation about this program and how it that are our favorites and bring us to- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
has been implemented and the need for gether. question is, Will the Senate advise and
additional funds. So our committee has They have done their part. We should consent to the Lee nomination?
had ample opportunity to question how do our part to give them a helping Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas
the program was being administered hand. Let’s get through this pandemic and nays.
and the need for different funds. together. We are certainly not going to The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a
I also regret that my colleague is do it by saying that we have to accept sufficient second?
holding the restaurants pretty much the Delta variant and that whatever There appears to be a sufficient sec-
hostage and saying it is all right for us else follows is just the natural course ond.
to give money to some but not others, of things. The clerk will call the roll.
when the administration of this was We have it within our power to Mr. THUNE. The following Senators
compromised because of a court case, change that. More vaccinations and are necessarily absent: the Senator
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
and certain restaurants are now des- more careful use of masks and social from Tennessee (Mrs. BLACKBURN), the
perate as a result of not having ade- distancing will make a difference—can Senator from South Carolina, (Mr.
quate funds. make a real difference in this country. GRAHAM), and the Senator from Florida
I am encouraged by the comments of Until we come to grips with that re- (Mr. RUBIO).
the majority leader, Senator SCHUMER, ality, we are going to continue to face The result was announced—yeas 50,
that we will continue to focus on this these devastating disappointments. nays 47, as follows:
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