Sarah's Law

Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to address the body today about the bill we are to take up and debate and advance this evening and about several different provisions that are of specific concern and interest to me, to the residents of the State of Delaware, and to our Nation.

Let me just remind all of us the moment that we are in. There are 26 million Americans who have been infected by COVID-19, a dread, deadly, global pandemic, and 445,000 Americans have been killed so far in this pandemic--far too many.

In my little home State of Delaware--just 900,000 people--we not too long ago passed 1,000 deaths, and, like many other States, we are racing to deliver vaccines and to address the economic and the human wreckage of this pandemic and the recession caused by the bungled mishandling of this pandemic by the now previous administration. I am encouraged because there is also a positive number: 34 million Americans have been vaccinated.

Delaware has been at the forefront of delivering vaccines quickly and safely, and now with President Biden and his team at the helm, they are pulling together the resources of our Nation--using the Defense Production Act to deliver needed PPE, testing capabilities, and vaccines to every corner of our country. They have a lot of work to do. They are behind because of some of the failures of the past, but I am excited by the promise of the future.

Yesterday, I had the honor of meeting with President Biden in the Oval Office for an hour first thing in the morning, and we talked about this pandemic and his plan, the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion in badly needed relief that will touch almost every American family and move us quickly out of this pandemic and back toward growth and security, health and

prosperity. And his determination, despite all the back-and-forth about numbers--his determination, at the very core of what we do, is to keep in mind the middle class of this country, the folks who have been overlooked, underserved, and most disadvantaged. He is passionate about seeing the ways in which this pandemic has revealed the deep inequities in our country and making sure of how we respond to educational needs, to housing needs, to transportation needs, and to healthcare needs, that we combat the profound inequalities of our society and Build Back Better.

As Senator Carper and I were sitting with President Biden, going over $1,400 checks and this many months of unemployment extension and this much for housing and homelessness or this much for transit, he said: Wait, wait. Just remember at the end of the day, keep in your mind's eye a family--a plumber and a teacher with two kids at home, one of them laid off, desperately trying to pay their rent, trying to figure out how to pay their bills, trying to figure out how they can keep a roof over their kids' heads. Remember the people we are trying to help and serve.

I am reminded of Mark from New Castle, who called my office to tell me he had been laid off, and he was desperately afraid, that he was struggling because he was fighting cancer, a health condition, and fighting homelessness, concerned about losing his home. Fighting housing and homelessness, combating homelessness and ensuring security of housing has got to be at the center of how we respond to this crisis.

Economist Mark Zandi says there is $57 billion in owed back rent unpaid. One of the best things we have done as a body is to extend the eviction moratorium that the CDC imposed last year. A key piece of the bill we are taking up and debating is to ensure that more Americans have an opportunity to safe, sanitary, decent, and affordable housing. Before this pandemic, more than 17 million American households spent more than half their money on rent or mortgage, unaffordable to any household--those 17 million households stretched to their limits. The pandemic has made the risk of eviction or foreclosure greater than ever.

Some know my early years were spent working around issues of housing and homelessness. I served with the National Coalition for the Homeless in New York and in five other States around the country, staying in homeless shelters in the late eighties, when homelessness was an explosion, a crisis across this country that impacted families and communities of all types and backgrounds.

People experiencing homelessness are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Homeless individuals infected are twice as likely to be hospitalized, four times as likely to need critical care, and three times as likely to die.

In Delaware, on Martin Luther King Day, as part of a service project, I got a chance to visit the Hope Center. The Hope Center used to be known as the Sheraton. It was a hotel in foreclosure, and an innovative county executive used some of the CARES Act money that we provided federally to the State and local governments to buy it at auction and to reopen it as a source of 192 emergency housing rooms that can have up to 400 people in it. It was great to tour that center on Martin Luther King Day, to be part of those delivering personal items and material for those who are now resident at the Hope Center. But it is just one of many examples of how Federal resources we provided last year have been used creatively to help keep people in rental housing, in emergency housing, or in their homes.

The CDC Federal eviction moratorium was extended in the bill we passed in December, but it runs out in March; thus, the urgency of our acting. And President Biden's American Rescue Plan includes $30 billion in emergency rental assistance and $5 billion to prevent further outbreaks of COVID-19 among America's homeless population. We need to make this a key piece of this provision, an important part of this bill, and it is my hope we can find support on both sides, but if we don't, we must move forward.

Let me speak to two other topics before I yield the floor, if I might.

Those of us on the East Coast, and my colleague from Maryland and my colleague from New Jersey are certainly among them, travel by Amtrak frequently. Before this pandemic, Amtrak carried a record 32 million passengers just 2 years ago. But just like the airlines when the pandemic hit, it lost the vast majority of their passengers. So, too, did Amtrak and commuter rail all over our country. It has been a key piece of our society, our competitiveness, our interconnectedness for over a century, and there are millions who depend on it as their way to commute up and down the East Coast corridor in particular.

My office recently heard from Ken Potts, the Delaware representative for the Rail Passengers Association, about the urgent need for funding; and, frankly, this is a warning notice for those of us who don't realize that I-95, right as it goes through Wilmington, DE, is about to be shut down for most of the next 2 years on a generational repair project. There is going to be 100,000 people deterred off of the highway, and hopefully onto rail, but only if it can keep running.

There are 1,200 furloughed Amtrak employees on the east coast and other places around the country. Those are the folks I interact with on the days when I commute from Wilmington to Washington. I get a chance to talk to the staff, the conductors, the people who work at Union Station or in Wilmington's Joe Biden Station. Twelve hundred furloughed employees and families struggling, just like the airlines, every bit as deserving of relief, and the budget resolution would allow for the $2 billion over the course of this pandemic that they need. We have provided relief before. We need to provide relief in this bill and going forward.

As I mentioned in my opening, getting the vaccine distributed as quickly as possible is the most urgent thing before us. Last Saturday, I had the chance to volunteer for several hours at a vaccination site with Drs. Coker and Hockstein, put together at ENT & Allergy of Delaware. They vaccinated over 150 people, and they had connected to and reached out to some churches that I am familiar with and fond of-- Seeds of Greatness, Bethel AME.

But we are under pressure because there are new variants of this virus emerging around the world. What viruses do is they mutate. Some of you know there are new variants from South Africa, from Brazil, from the UK that are more transmissive and, potentially, more deadly. So one of the things we have to keep an eye on is that we cannot close ourselves off from the world. Something that is missing from the Republican proposal and that is urgently needed that is in the Biden American Rescue Plan is $11 billion to help with global vaccination relief.

I recently spoke with Strive Masiyiwa, a dear friend from Africa who is leading the African Union's plans for how to vaccinate the 54 countries on the Continent of Africa Sure, the Russians have offered their Sputnik vaccine, which was not fully and transparently developed and tested. The Chinese are offering their vaccine. But what I believe the developing world would welcome with open arms, if we would just fund it and provide it, is the rapid scale-up, production, and manufacturing in countries like South Africa, India, and elsewhere of the tried, true, tested, scientifically sound vaccines made available by Pfizer, by Johnson & Johnson, by Moderna, by the Western companies like AstraZeneca and others that have shown that their vaccines are safe.

The United States has long been a leader in world health. We have inspired the world in the way in which we have brought our medical advances, our scientific capability, and our humanitarian commitment to the world. This should be another chapter in that long and great history.

And we must remember that no one in this world is safe from this pandemic until the entire world has been successfully vaccinated. If we do not contribute to the global vaccine campaign of COVAX, if we do not participate in the World Health Organization in meeting the needs of the developing world, it will simply come back to the people of the United States.

Of course, we must prioritize vaccinating our Nation, our people, Delawareans. But just as Joe Biden in the Oval Office earlier this week asked me to keep in my mind's eye that family sitting around a kitchen table, worried, struggling with finances, with their

health, with their future, we have to keep our eye on the horizon, on having passenger rail available to recover when our country recovers, on having housing and affordable housing options for families who are struggling with homelessness, and our eye on the horizon of the potential threat from the rest of the world of more dangerous variants, which is why we need to contribute to a global campaign to ensure that all of the world's people are safe from this pandemic.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to these three connected concerns, all of which touch on Delaware's families and our Nation.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I am really honored to follow my colleague from Massachusetts, Ed Markey, one of the premier founders-- the father--of E-rate, who knows better than anyone how investment in online learning and connectivity can make a crucial difference in all of our lives--in the lives of seniors, in the lives of people who live in communities of color, and in other underserved areas of our country. Most importantly, it can make a crucial difference in the lives of schoolchildren. Most crucially, right now, the simple, stark fact about this pandemic is that it has locked out of classrooms millions of students around the country. We need to get those students back into the classroom, and it has to be done safely.

In the meantime, online learning is going to be critical for them. Yet substantial numbers--most especially in communities of color--lack the connectivity and the devices they need to open classroom doors. In many of those households, working parents simply can't be around to supervise their children. It is more than just the nuts and bolts of devices; it is learning about how to learn online, but at the very least, the nuts and bolts have to be there, and that is why this American rescue program is so critical to the lives and learning of these millions of students.

The simple fact is that this homework gap is no longer a gap--it is a chasm. The homework gap has turned into a homework chasm and a homework crisis that threatens to set back students by months and even more. The fact is, right now, students are estimated across the country to have lost 3 to 5 years. In communities of color, that loss may be even worse, and once students have suffered that loss in learning, catching up, overcoming it, and bridging that gap is very difficult and sometimes impossible to do, which is a lifelong potential setback for them.

We are, in effect, disadvantaging American education by allowing this homework chasm to continue.

The American rescue program provides a model--it provides money but also a model in how the homework gap can be bridged and the chasm avoided.

We have made a promise. America makes a promise to its students that the basics of education will be provided so they can have an equal chance at the American dream. We are failing to keep that promise.

Now, there is really nothing mysterious about how to bridge this gap. In fact, I am proud to say that my State of Connecticut has done it very significantly--I am tempted to say ``has done it,'' but nobody is perfect.

Connecticut has built a program called Everybody Learns at the initiative of our Governor, Ned Lamont, who has used Federal money from the CARES Act. We have used significant private philanthropy--for example, from Ray and Barbara Dalio, great citizens of the State of Connecticut, and their foundation, which has contributed mightily, particularly in the Hartford area, where the leadership of Mayor Luke Bronin has been absolutely critical. What they have done, very simply, is provide tens of thousands of tablets, the kind of devices that are necessary for students to connect, and they have provided hot spots so that students have that way of reaching the internet. No mystery-- simply hard work and money. Most important, commitment.

I am asking my colleagues today for that same commitment to our Nation and to Connecticut, which needs to finish the job of connecting.

The Secretary of Education--or the nominee for that position--Miguel Cardona, knows very well the importance of online learning. He has championed it in Connecticut. Yesterday, he testified about it to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and he is going to be a very steadfast advocate, a trusted champion for online learning. But he, too, needs the tools and the resources.

Think of it not as a spending item, not as a funding measure; it is an investment. It is an investment in the basics of devices and connectivity. It is an investment in our young people.

Connecticut has made that investment, and we should not be skimping or cutting corners on our young people. We should not be, in effect, shortchanging them at this critical time when connectivity, broadband, online learning are really the lifeline for them.

Let's put them online with this lifeline and give them the ability to continue their education, even as the pandemic locks them out of classrooms. They may be physically no longer in person, but online, they can connect. If they are denied that online access, they will be truly locked out of learning, not just locked out of their classroom, and that would be a disgrace for this Nation.

I thank my colleagues for what I hope will be their commitment to continuing American teaching and education online during this unparalleled, uniquely painful and difficult time in our Nation's history. We can make it is easier for students. We can save them the homework chasm and the homework crisis.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Secretary of the Senate be authorized, in relation to the pending impeachment trial of former President Trump, to print as Senate documents those documents filed by the parties to be immediately made available to all parties, and that at the conclusion of the trial, those douments be printed together as a Senate document.

Mr. President, I am honored to follow my colleague Senator Brown on an issue that should be close to all of our hearts, which is strengthening our VA so that it can provide more assistance, more help, and more support for our Nation's heroes.

I had the great opportunity last Sunday to spend time at the West Haven VA Hospital, where literally thousands of vaccines are being administered hour by hour to our veterans. Around 25 percent of the veterans of Connecticut eligible to receive it have had vaccinations administered to them. That 25 percent is way above the 10 percent of the entire population of our State, and it is a great beginning. Under the leadership of Al Montoya at the West Haven VA and his remarkable team, our Nation's heroes are receiving the vaccinations they need and deserve. More than 8,000 already--and the staff of the VA, 2,500--have received vaccinations. Not all want it, but the VA is reaching out to them--literally, person by person--to ask them to come and ensure them that this vaccine is safe and effective. Most assuredly, it is.

So the VA is moving forward, but much more needs to be done. A lot of that VA target population is among the most vulnerable by virtue of age, by virtue of preexisting conditions, by virtue of their service and exposure and comorbidity. That is why this plan, the American Rescue Plan, in its distributing COVID-19 vaccines to veterans, is so critically important. There are 9,000 VA patients who have died of coronavirus. Although 1 million nationwide of our veterans have received vaccinations, there are many, many more who have not. These vaccines are reaching the arms of veterans, but the VA system needs support and the investment to do its job.

Likewise, this pandemic has imposed mental health burdens on our veterans. The veterans who are shut in--likewise, the veterans who have no homes and veterans in all parts of the country--have been stressed and strained just like everyone else--in fact, maybe more so. Medical health services available through telemedicine are more important than ever, but they alone are not going to accomplish this purpose. Again, what we have seen in Connecticut through the CBOCs, what is accomplished from telemedicine, and what is provided through counseling all show additional investment will produce even better care for our veterans.

A lot of our veterans have debts. Some of them are medical debts. They need help. This American Rescue Plan provides assistance for them. I have been a longtime advocate of extending VA healthcare to more veterans. I am proud this plan would allow struggling veterans to get more healthcare at the VA, but relieving veterans from the burden of medical costs is not enough. We need to deliver stimulus payments, unemployment insurance, and aid to small businesses so that we can lift the broader economic pain brought on by COVID-19. Veterans are part of our general population, and those general programs are part of what we owe them.

All of these programs need more oversight and more vigorous scrutiny as we go forward in order to prevent the kind of waste or delay that we have seen sometimes in veterans' programs. That is why the funds for the VA would be directed, in part, to oversight by the VA Office of the Inspector General. Through oversight by the inspector general, in combination with rigorous congressional oversight, we can ensure that these dollars are being spent effectively and in accordance with congressional priorities in a way that best supports our veterans.

A broader plan is also necessary, a broader infrastructure plan that will, for example, reconstruct and rehabilitate the West Haven hospital. It dates from the 1950s. It has a new shell, but its structure is aging and aged, degrading and sometimes, in some ways, decrepit. The VA has done a great job of sustaining and maintaining it, but this reconstruction is absolutely necessary. A capital investment must be made as our VA facilities, our ports and airports, roads and bridges all are in need of vital repair and reconstruction. That is part of the broader plan that must be undertaken. Priority must be given to those VA facilities.

Just a few months ago, we suffered in Connecticut a tragic accident when two workers at that VA hospital were killed while they were doing maintenance. It was unnecessary, avoidable, preventable, but it demonstrated the weaknesses and defects in the construction that remains in that hospital. It must be remediated and improved. The best way to do it is through a new building, not just a new exterior, not just cosmetic work but, truly, an infrastructure program that keeps faith with our veterans.

There is no excuse for delaying this COVID-19 rescue plan. Delay is unconscionable. Time is not on our side. We need decisive, bold, and big action to meet the needs that our veterans have and that all of the American people have in this time of unique, painful, and continuing crisis.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, as we all know, over the last year, coronavirus relief has dominated our work here in the Congress. To the surprise of some, Republicans and Democrats have worked closely together to bolster our response on both the public health and economic front so we can bring an end to this crisis as quickly as possible. Not surprisingly, there were some disagreements along the way--there always are--but both sides understood the importance of action and reaching a bipartisan deal.

Part of the reason was pure function. With a divided government, every piece of legislation involves compromise. You are forced to work with folks on the other side of the aisle to reach an agreement. That is a good thing because that is what it requires to reach the President's desk and earn the President's signature.

But the reasons for working together on COVID-19 relief are more than just the practical or functional requirements. Over the last year, I have spoken with countless Texans who have faced incredible challenges and dealt with unimaginable hardship. There are folks who have lost their jobs and have lost loved ones, who fought this virus on the frontlines in hospitals, and who have tried to support their communities throughout this crisis. I know

colleagues throughout the Chamber have heard similar stories from their constituents back home because every State and every community has been impacted by this virus.

Regardless of politics, we all realize this virus has taken a devastating toll on the American people, and we need to remain committed to providing relief. There have been big disagreements, of course, about the best way to do that, but in the end, if we share the same goal--to bring an end to this pandemic as quickly as possible and minimize the pain and suffering of the American people--we can figure out how to make this happen.

That common goal has led to five bipartisan relief packages that have represented the best ideas of each party.

None of these bills are perfect, but I am sure both sides will agree that, in the end, every COVID package that has been signed into law has received overwhelming bipartisan support. As a matter of fact, none of the bills have received less than 90 votes, and one passed unanimously. That is spending close to $4 trillion. That is a remarkable, remarkable accomplishment.

In the beginning, President Biden appeared to agree that a continuation of this bipartisan approach was the best for the country. After all, his campaign was built on a theme of unity, and he has consistently talked with great eloquence about the need to heal our divisions and work together and compromise.

To his credit, he has met with a number of our Republican colleagues at the White House earlier this week to discuss what a compromise package might look like. Ordinarily, that would be seen as an encouraging development. We have a Congress with a record of bipartisan COVID-19 bills and a President who talks about the desire to broker deals that could win the support of both political parties.

But, unfortunately, what might seem like good news and a positive development really isn't because in the mix you have the Democratic leader, who is not on board with the President's call for unity and bipartisanship.

Less than 24 hours after the bipartisan meeting at the White House and just 15 days after the President's inauguration, the majority leader laid the foundation to pass President Biden's massive $1.9 trillion package with zero Republican votes. They are not interested in doing the hard work it takes to build consensus. Rather than take the normal legislative process, which was used for each of the bipartisan bills that had previously passed, the Democratic leader is preparing to use the budget reconciliation process to pass this controversial legislation.

And please note: We passed a $900 billion bill in December, and only 20 percent of the money that we appropriated is even out the door yet.

This is not the time to try to make political statements. This is the time to try to parse where the needs are and to target those resources to the people who need them--not a time to pass your liberal outbox and agenda.

So, unfortunately, this reconciliation process is designed not to encourage bipartisanship, not to encourage negotiation, not to get bipartisan buy-in. In short, it is not designed to achieve unity at all--just the opposite.

Well, after spending almost a trillion dollars this December, just about a month ago--again, with only 20 percent of that money actually out the door and on the way to the people who need it--our Democratic colleagues are prepared to spend nearly double that amount when a huge portion of the previous funding hasn't even reached its intended target.

As of a couple of weeks ago, States had spent just $4 billion of the $68 billion we appropriated for K-12 schools--$4 billion of the $68 billion. And what do our Democratic colleagues want to do? They want to continue to shovel money out the door.

The CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, has distributed only about a third of the $9 billion we have already appropriated for vaccine distribution--only a third. And then there are tens of billions of dollars in unspent funds for everything from COVID-19 testing to the Paycheck Protection Program. So it is hard for me to see--and I am sure I am not alone--the justification for spending tens of billions of dollars more in places where previous funding is still waiting to be spent.

There is also the question of whether the current funding is even serving its intended purpose. Federal funding has helped K-12 schools prepare for a safe reopening, and in Texas these have been used to update the ventilation systems, purchase masks and personal protective equipment, and make other investments in classroom safety.

But there are other school districts across the country that have gladly accepted that funding but have zero plan to reopen their schools to in-person education. They have capitulated to the teachers unions that have demanded that schools stay closed. Some have said they refuse to go back until all students are vaccinated--not all teachers but all students. There is not even a vaccine approved for people under the age of 16, but that is the demand of the teachers unions, who have showed zero interest in their students but a lot of self-interest.

Some of these districts have gladly accepted the funding to prepare for a safe reopening and, in many cases, have put their teachers at the front of the line for vaccines, but somehow the teachers unions are appalled at the idea that schools would actually use these tools to get children back in the classroom.

Before we pass another multitrillion-dollar spending bill and add to our rapidly growing national debt, we need to determine where the needs truly are and whether the teachers unions are on board with our goal to get children safely back into the classroom, which is our goal.

I will not support a COVID-19 relief proposal that sends hard-earned taxpayer dollars to places where they already have billions that they haven't even spent yet. One great example is additional funding for schools. Our Democratic friends would provide $130 billion more for K- 12 education when there is still $64 billion remaining from the money we appropriated in December. They want to spend $130 billion more when there is still $64 billion available to be spent.

Well, even that is a high number because the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, estimated that schools only needed about $22 billion. In other words, they have almost three times more than they already need, according to the CDC, but our Democratic friends want to spend another $130 billion.

I will be the first person to advocate for additional relief when and where it i needed, but this massive relief package creates more problems than solutions. I continue to believe that targeted relief bills are the most effective way to support our country without driving up unnecessary spending.

Somebody is going to have to pay this money back, and we shouldn't be frivolous about the way we spend it. If there is a need, let's do it. But if there is not a need, it is reckless and irresponsible to continue to shovel money out the door. If there is a need to reinvest in critical areas like unemployment benefits, the reopening of schools, vaccine distribution, or the Paycheck Protection Program, we can and we should replenish those funds through targeted proposals; and I would hope, as before, we would be able to proceed on a bipartisan basis.

While Senator Schumer is clearly on the warpath to get this massive relief to the Senate on a partisan vote, at least one of our Democratic colleagues has shown some hesitation about going along with his plan. Senator Manchin, the Senator from West Virginia, said this week he wouldn't vote for a COVID-19 package that wasn't bipartisan. I hope he will stick by his guns.

Congress has passed five overwhelmingly bipartisan COVID-19 bills last year. We have overcome disagreements before, and I have no doubt that we could, if we were to try, do so again.

This crisis has affected Americans in red States and blue States alike. It would be a shame for the Democratic leader to shut out half of this Chamber in an effort to claim a reckless win for his party.

We need to remember, just like the teachers who teach our students, they need to keep their focus on the children and on their education needs and their safety, and we need to keep our attention on our constituents and what their needs are and try to be responsive to their needs--not try to gain some partisan advantage at their expense.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, in his victory speech and in his inauguration address, President Biden pledged to be a President for all Americans. He said:

I pledge to be a President who seeks not to divide, but to

unify. Who doesn't see Red and Blue states, but a United

States. And who will work with all my heart to win the

confidence of the whole people.

He reiterated that sentiment at his inauguration stating:

On this January day, my whole soul is in this: Bringing

America together. Uniting our people . . . uniting our

Nation.

It is a sentiment that I honor. As I said the day after the inauguration, if President Biden can truly be a President who governs for all Americans and who respects all Americans and who works to win the confidence of the whole people, he will have done our Nation a great service.

But it is not enough to talk about unity. It has to be matched with action. Too many of the President's actions so far have been more calculated to appeal to the far-left wing of the Democratic Party than to unite Americans. In his 2 weeks in office, the President has signed off on a long list of Executive actions, many of which read like a wish list of leftist priorities.

In a nod to the far-left environmental wing of the Democrat Party, the President issued a new moratorium on oil and gas leasing on Federal lands and called a halt to the Keystone XL Pipeline, even though we are a long way from significantly reducing or eliminating our need for oil and natural gas.

Domestic oil and gas production is essential to maintaining an affordable and reliable energy supply here at home. Halting new oil and gas drilling could jeopardize the stability of other affordable energy supply and will definitely jeopardize American jobs supported by this industry.

As for the Keystone XL Pipeline, stopping this project--which I would point out is well underway--is nothing more than a symbolic gesture. America will still need reliable sources of oil, and a modern pipeline is a cleaner way to transport.

Keystone XL has been through multiple exhaustive environmental reviews, and, on top of that, its builder has committed to fully offsetting its operations with $1.7 billion in renewable energy purchases. The oil trains, trucks, and other pipelines still moving crude oil today aren't doing that. In fact, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a staunch liberal, included the pipeline in Canada's clean energy plan.

It is also worth noting, in addition to eliminating an environmentally responsible means of transporting oil, canceling the pipeline project will cost thousands of jobs, which is particularly unfortunate given the many jobs that have been lost during this pandemic. On day one of his Presidency, President Biden effectively fired 2,000 pipeline workers and told another 9,000 never to show up.

Then, of course, there is the President's order halting construction of the border wall on our southern border. The Biden administration has plans for sweeping immigration reform but does not seem to be placing much of an emphasis on border security. Instead, they have reduced the wall to a symbol of the Trump administration and chosen to satisfy immigration activists by halting construction without offering adequate alternate ways to secure our borders against the flood of illegal immigration or drug and human trafficking and other criminal activity.

Then, of course, there is the President's decision to overturn the Mexico City policy, which prevents taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions in other countries. The majority of Americans do not believe in unrestricted abortion. A new poll released last month showed a majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars going to fund abortions, yet the President has acted to ensure that American tax dollars can go to fund overseas abortions whether Americans want them to or not.

In addition, this administration has given every sign that it intends to pursue a radically pro-abortion agenda that is out of step with the views of the majority of Americans.

Last week, the New York Times published an editorial urging the President to slow down the Executive orders and to embrace policymaking. The Times correctly pointed out that permanent legislation on issues like immigration is better for the country than wild policy shifts between administrations, and the Times urged the President to focus

less on Executive orders and more on legislating.

The editorial noted the President's pledge to seek unity and that on the campaign trail he ``often touted his skill at finding compromise, and his decades as a legislator, as reasons to elect him over Mr. Trump.''

Now is the time for the President to show that he does really mean to live up to his inaugural pledge and to unify our Nation. That means not just talk, but action. It means working with lawmakers of both parties to develop legislation, not pushing exclusively Democrat measures. It means urging Democrat congressional leaders to actually negotiate with Republicans instead of trying to force through an agenda that lacks the support of half or more of the country. It means focusing less on checking off the priorities of the far left and more on actually representing the views of the majority of Americans.

The President has a chance to genuinely unify our Nation, but he will have to decide whether or not he wants to take it.

S. Con. Res. 5

Mr. President, yesterday, I came down to the floor to talk about Democrats' decision to pursue a partisan budget resolution designed to pave the way for a partisan COVID relief measure, despite the fact that Congress has produced five--five--prior COVID relief packages and appropriated trillions of dollars on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis.

Republicans put forward several ideas to improve the measure: an amendment to protect small businesses hit hard by the pandemic from sudden tax increases; an amendment to ensure that schools actually open, especially after teachers receive the vaccine; an amendment to ensure that States deal honestly and transparently with the tragic COVID deaths that had happened at certain nursing homes; an amendment to protect healthcare workers who travel to other States to help during the pandemic from getting surprise tax bills from those State as a thank-you note.

I would like to think the Democrats would support some of these amendments. My amendment to protect healthcare workers is based on legislation I advanced that has received strong bipartisan support, although it has been opposed by a handful of States, like the Democratic leader's, that aggressively tax mobile workers.

So far Democrats have not shown much of an inclination to entertain Republican ideas, no matter how much they would help address the effects of the pandemic. Democrats have indicated that they may allow a handful of amendments that enjoy some Republican support, but that doesn't change the essentially partisan character of this undertaking, which is designed to allow Democrats to pass the legislation that they want on an entirely partisan basis.

Will we see political amendments on the floor during this process? Sure, we will, from both parties.

Democrats have chosen a political maneuver instead of seeking to replicate the bipartisan success we had with COVID bills like the CARES Act. We did five--five--COVID bills while we were the majority at the 60-vote threshold, which is required for most legislation here in the Senate, but with bipartisan support. Here we are in a purely partisan legislative exercise on the floor of the U.S. Senate. So yes, Republicans will offer some political amendments, but we will also offer COVID-related amendments the Democrats should support if they truly want to deliver help to those in need.

It is deeply disappointing that Democrats are heading down this partisan path. If they really wanted to govern for all Americans, they would work with Republicans to pass yet another bipartisan COVID bill.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that my amendment No. 52 be called up, as modified, and reported by number.

Mr. President, one significant thing we could do to provide genuine relief to Americans is to address the tax situation facing remote and mobile workers, like the medical professionals who travel from other States to help during the COVID crisis who now may be facing a surprise big, fat tax bill.

Mobile workers generally have to file tax returns in multiple States, as tax rules often differ, and with COVID, many employers had their employees begin working from home, presenting a possible tax problem for workers who live in a different State than the one they work in.

This amendment would address these challenges. It would create a uniform standard for mobile workers, codify the prepandemic status quo for remote workers, and establish a special 90-day standard for healthcare workers and others who traveled to another State to help during the pandemic and to ensure that these workers don't face an unexpected tax bill.

I would ask that we adopt the amendment.

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Ohio, and I would ask that this amendment be adopted by voice.

Vote on Amendment No. 52, As Modified

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

I yield back time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, the Federal Government has become too big and too expensive, and it has been this way for quite a long time. It is not without its impact. It has been borrowing and

spending far too much money and doing too many things even before the COVID-19 global pandemic, but this emergency has really shown how badly we need to return to some semblance of federalism, some semblance of Federal restraint with respect to what it does and particularly what it spends.

I say this because emergencies, national emergencies, will arise from time to time. It happens. And when those things happen from time to time, the Federal Government will need to expend some significant resources and borrow money. That is exactly why we should not be running multitrillion-dollar deficits at the top of the business cycle to begin with.

During a period of significant economic expansion, not a recession, we were already spending more than we had. It makes it much harder for us to respond, be nimble, and do the things we need to do. This has been a long-term problem because Washington, DC, has been centralizing political power and political decision making now for generations. It has not made the Federal Government more effective but, rather, weaker and less effective. It has made it slower, less nimble, more rigid, and inflexible.

We need to start turning policy in the other direction, localizing more decisions so all Americans in red States and in blue States alike, regardless of where they live, can live under policies that they are more likely to agree with. That is the beauty of federalism. It allows more Americans to have access to more of the kind of government they want and less of the kind of government they don't want.

That is the goal of the budget resolution amendments that I will be introducing this week. I will be introducing a number of amendments, and I will cite a few examples here.

First, I am going to propose an amendment to ensure that Congress's voice and the voices of our State governments are heard in the designation of national monuments.

Utah has been home to two significant, massive national monument designations over the last 25 years. One thing they both had in common was they were made contrary to the expressed will of local and statewide elected officials and Utah's congressional delegation at the time they were made.

These two monument designations in and of themselves are larger than two Delawares. Yet they were made without any input from Congress and without any input from the host State's legislature. The Antiquities Act currently allows this to happen. My amendment would propose that we allow the people's elected representatives in Congress and the affected State legislature to have input.

I will also be filing an amendment to ensure full funding for a program known as PILT. PILT is an acronym; it stands for payment in lieu of taxes. It is something very important to public land States like mine.

You see, the Federal Government doesn't pay property tax on land that it owns. In a State like mine where the Federal Government owns most of the land--two-thirds of it, in fact--it can be very difficult for many of our communities to survive because without that property tax revenue, they find it difficult to fund everything from schools to search and rescue operations, police and fire services, and so forth.

The Federal Government makes up for some of this through this payment program that is supposed to in some ways replicate the property taxes that the taxing authority would otherwise receive, and they call it payment in lieu of taxes. The problem is, they haven't accurately assessed the value of the land. My amendment would call for a more accurate assessment of the land so that these taxing jurisdictions can get what they need.

I will also be proposing a significant amendment to increase access of the American people to health savings account systems. HSAs, health savings accounts, do nothing to undermine the efficacy or the prominence of government-run healthcare systems. They do, however, do a lot of good for those who have them. They simply add a private option for American families who would like to make some of their own decisions about how they would like to spend their healthcare dollars. If they would like to spend more on nutritional supplements, they should be able to do that. If they would like to spend more on preventive care, they should be able to do that. HSAs give them the answer, and one of my amendments would expand their opportunities.

I will be offering an amendment to streamline the regulations under the environmental law known as NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA has achieved significant environmental gains in this country, but it needs to be updated and modernized so as to make i easier for us to complete infrastructure and construction projects, which have become too slow and too expensive.

I have a number of other amendments, including one that would increase the child tax credit significantly in order to further diminish a little-known but pernicious aspect of our Federal Tax Code known as the parent tax penalty.

I will be introducing another amendment to increase the recognition and the credit that Americans receive for making charitable contributions--especially important during a global pandemic like this one.

I have another amendment protecting Americans' Second Amendment rights, one protecting religious freedom, and one dealing with gasoline tax, which I don't think should be increased, especially during difficult times like these and especially given the regressive nature of the fuel tax.

I have another amendment dealing with some legislation I have developed called the PROMISE Act. This would help to make sure that interactive online providers--entities including but not limited to social media platforms--make clear what their standards are, what they will be doing to moderate speech on their platforms, for example, how they will be enforced, and gives them incentive, with possible penalties under law if they deceive their customers about what their policies are and how they will be enforced.

The bottom line here is that the Federal Government's size has not been making it stronger or more nimble or more effective; its size and its bureaucracy have undermined its work, from our COVID response to our entitlement crisis, to our dysfunctional welfare system, which, while intended to alleviate poverty and make it rare, has instead sometimes made it longer lasting.

Reform doesn't mean just doing the same exact things but spending a little bit less; it means modernizing and streamlining processes and devolving, where appropriate, certain government functions to State and local governments that are closer and more accountable to the people.

The way we serve the American people is not just by letting bureaucrats and politicians make decisions for them thousands of miles away in Washington, DC. The way we achieve true, effective government and fair government is by giving all Americans up and down the income scale and across the political spectrum the power to make their own decisions and to make them as locally as possible.

Thank you.

Mr. President.

Mr. President, with due respect to the majority leader, I understand what he is suggesting. But the Senator from Utah has made a motion which has absolutely nothing to do with the number of votes that we are going to be taking tonight.

Look, 365 days a year, we are told, as individual Senators, to wait our turn; we will get to vote on whatever we want to vote on if and when we vote on them. This is the one time, with budget vote-arama, where anybody can ask for a vote on anything.

Now, I don't see anything wrong with the Senator from Utah's request that we limit the amount of time it takes to vote to the amount of time it takes to call the roll and then to add to that any additional time that might be taken up by waiting for the Vice President in the event of a tie.

So I would like to resuggest what the Senator from Utah has asked. That is, I ask unanimous consent that we so limit the amount of time we take to vote to the time it takes to call the roll, subject to the need to wait for Vice President Harris to come and break any tie.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, this pandemic hit our Nation with compounding layers of crisis. American families have faced a health crisis, a jobs crisis, a small business crisis, an education crisis, and, frankly, a social

and community crisis--all piled on top of one another.

In response, Congress has built the largest Federal response to any crisis since World War II--by far. In the last 11 months, we have passed five major bipartisan rescue packages that sent about $4 trillion to fight the virus and to help American families.

For context, total net spending by the entire Federal Government back in 2019 was $4.4 trillion. We have borrowed and spent almost as much fighting COVID-19 as the Federal Government spent on everything in 2019. Our national debt is now larger than the size of our entire economy for the first time since World War II.

This crisis has been historic. So has the Federal response. The American people deserve for the conversation about the next steps to begin with them and their needs--not partisan rush jobs, not talking points. We need to start with the needs of our country. The most recent package, another $900 billion, was literally passed 6 weeks ago--just 6 weeks ago.

Let's talk about, then, where we are right now. On the health front, we have come through a terrible year. We have lost more than 450,000 Americans and counting. But our healthcare heroes held the line. The genius of science plus Operation Warp Speed produced vaccines in record time. The science and Operation Warp Speed produced vaccines in record time. This administration's stated goal of 1 million shots per day is exactly the pace they inherited from the prior team.

As we speak, nearly half of the money Congress has sent for testing and about two-thirds of our funding for vaccine distribution is still in the pipeline. That money has yet to be spent.

Let's talk about jobs. Last year, States had to take one of the best job markets in American history, with layoffs and firings at 20-year lows, and literally slam on the brakes to protect public health.

We spent historic sums to soften that blow. Two waves of direct payment hit families' bank accounts. Multiple rounds of the Paycheck Protection Program have helped small business workers stay employed. We passed and extended extra Federal jobless benefits. As a result, even as economic production fell last year, total personal income actually went up. We saw the largest annual increase in disposable income in almost 40 years. Household savings have shot up. Things are even looking up in the service sector, where literally yesterday a key measure of optimism hit a 2-year high.

There is no doubt that some families are still struggling. This isn't finished, but experts agree the remaining damage to our economy does not require another multitrillion-dollar, nontargeted bandaid.

Then there is education. Temporary emergency measures have sadly become an enduring new normal for our students, parents, and teachers as well, but, again, the horizon looks bright. Mounting evidence confirms that in-person schooling is remarkably safe with smart and basic precautions.

Let me say that again. The Biden administration's own scientists say school can be quite safe and kids should be back in person. Dr. Fauci says:

We need to try and get the children back to school. It's

less likely for a child to get infected in the school setting

than if they were just in the community.

The new CDC Director, Dr. Walensky, says:

I . . . want to be clear that there is increasing data to

suggest that schools can safely reopen, and that safe

reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be

vaccinated . . . [as] . . . a prerequisite.

These experts are not looking at hypothetical data conditioned on Congress pouring even more huge sums into schools. They are describing the science right now. They are describing the science right now.

Just 6 weeks ago, Congress sent another huge sum to help schools. It brought the total for K-12 to about $68 billion. As of the latest update, only $4 billion of the 68 had been spent. Ninety-four percent of the K-12 funding we have already provided is still in the pipeline, unspent.

So our Nation stands at a turning point on all these fronts. A dark year is in the rearview mirror. Brighter days are already starting to dawn, and much of the groundwork for a strong recovery is already in place.

It will not serve Americans to pile another huge mountain of debt on our grandkids for policies that even liberal economists say are poorly targeted to current needs. It will not serve Americans to ram through a one-size-fits-all minimum-wage hike that CBO says would kill more than a million jobs for the most vulnerable workers, affect States unequally, and already has bipartisan opposition.

This is no time to send wheelbarrows of cash to State and local governments that simply, factually, do not need it. Nonpartisan economists say States and localities are already ``well positioned to weather the storm,'' with ``additional needs that are far less than the $500 billion . . . in the Biden [plan].''

By the way, State and local tax receipts already fully rebounded-- fully rebounded--in quarter three to their highest level in American history.

This is no time to ignore the science on school safety in order to chase moving goalposts from Big Labor and pour endless sums into school districts that unions will not allow to reopen.

If you combine the Democrats' new proposal with what just became law 6 weeks ago, the Democratic law plus this new proposal would dwarf the size of the CARES Act, which sustained the country through months of lockdowns

This is not the time for trillions more dollars to make perpetual lockdowns and economic decline a little more palatable. Let me say that again. This is not the time for trillions more dollars to make perpetual lockdowns and economic decline a little more palatable. This is the time to focus on our smart, targeted bridge to the day when we end this chapter and win this fight.

Notwithstanding the actual needs, notwithstanding all the talk about bipartisan unity, Democrats in Congress are plowing ahead. They are using this phony budget to set the table to ram through their $1.9 trillion rough draft.

Last year, the Democratic leader kept saying we need a true, bipartisan bill. He said: ``Sitting in your own office, writing a bill, and then demanding the other side support it is not anyone's idea of bipartisanship.'' That was the Democratic leader last year. Well, that was then; this is now. Now Democrats reject the bipartisan approach that built all five of our historic COVID packages. All five of them were bipartisan.

So let's hope President Biden remembers the governing approach he promised and changes course. In the meantime, if we are to debate this phony, partisan budget, we will create some clarity for the American people. We are going to put Senators on the record.

Expect votes to stop Washington from actively killing jobs during a recovery, like terminating the Keystone Pipeline; that job-killing, one-size-fits-all minimum-wage hike; and whether to bar tax hikes on small businesses for the duration of this emergency.

Expect votes that would help target this plan towards Americans' needs, issues like stimulus checks for illegal immigrants, pouring money into schools where unions are blocking reopening, and the commonsense step of delaying new spending until existing funds have actually gone out the door.

We will see what this resolution looks like on the other side and what signals Democrats send to the American people along the way.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I joined some of my colleagues at the White House yesterday to talk with President Biden and Vice President Harris about what it will take to make real progress against the pandemic and to make a real difference in people's lives. Our country is in the middle, as we know, of a once-in-a-generation crisis, and this is our opportunity to deliver for them.

Yesterday, I came to the floor to talk about the need for direct stimulus checks and for rental assistance and tax cuts for working families and to use the Defense Production Act to get more people vaccinated more quickly.

Today, I am here to talk about the critical help in this plan, the Biden plan, for our Nation's veterans and their families.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 9,300 veterans have died of COVID-19. Right now, at least 9,000 veterans are sick with this virus. Our plan would ensure that frontline VA employees would have the protective equipment they need to continue to do their jobs every day as they care for our veterans. It would help us get more veterans and VA workers vaccinated. We know that nothing is more critical now than getting vaccines into people's arms, especially as we face new, more contagious variants. So far, the VA has provided some 800,000 initial doses of vaccines to veterans and employees. Additional funding would ramp up both vaccine distribution and COVID treatments for those who answer the call to service.

In order to continue to meet our Nation's and veterans' medical needs, the VA has shifted to new methods of caring, including expanded telehealth. We know the need for expanded capabilities will only continue to grow. The VA will need additional funding to meet veterans' needs where they are--so they can stay home and so they can stay safe whenever possible--and provide them with the healthcare they have earned.

In many cases, the VA was able to freeze bills, if you will, to veterans who accrued copayments and fees for care during the pandemic. That was the right move. In discussions with VA Medical Center directors in Ohio, I said we should use as much flexibility as possible to waive these debts. Some of these copays and fees amounted to $2,000 for some vets. For them to have the bills come due right after the holidays was cruel as we were seeing cases spike and uncertainty continue. We know that any large medical bill can be a shock, and during these uncertain times, we can work to lessen that burden and especially take away that stress on our veterans. That is why our plan would provide copayment relief to all veterans as the pandemic continues. If a vet were charged a VA copay, regardless of whether the care was COVID-related or not, that copay would be waived. It would reimburse veterans who have already paid their bills to the VA.

I thank Chairman Tester and Chairman Schatz for their work on this plan as many of our Nation's veterans have fixed incomes, and it will mean so much to them not to have to worry about another medical bill.

Last week, Denis McDonough came before our Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He is the nominee to be the VA Secretary. He was asked about a proposed program that would require military borrowers who are coming out of COVID-19 mortgage forbearance to pay back their missed payments with interest within 10 years. This VA program would be more expensive than what other Federal mortgage programs are offering.

Think about that. We charge veterans more than others through this program. It makes no sense. It would make it more likely that VA borrowers will fall behind on these new, higher monthly payments.

He gave me his word that he would look into the program and would work with me to ensure that no VA homeowner is left with a worse option than borrowers in other federally backed loan programs.

We are about to have new leadership at the VA, leadership that understands that the decisions made in Washington impact veterans in Portland, ME, in Cincinnati, OH, in Columbus, in Dayton, and in Chillicothe. Veterans in Cleveland and Toledo don't care how the Senate passes this. They don't care about regular order or reconciliation. They just want the help that they need. That is why we need to go big. Veterans care about when they get the vaccine, when they can get an appointment with their mental health professionals, and whether their VA providers have enough personal protective equipment so they can continue to do their jobs.

So I say to my colleagues of both parties: Let's get this done. There is no time for squabbling over Senate procedure. The Senate has used these fast-tracking budget measures over and over in times far less dire and far less stressful than what we face today.

That is why it is so important that we just go back and remember what Senator McConnell had no problem with in 2017 during the leader's first term. He had no problems pouring money into corporations' coffers with their tax cuts. There was no emergency. The only emergency was that lobbyists were lined up out in front of Senator McConnell's office, asking for

tax cuts for their corporations. Now Senator McConnell claims he can't afford to help everyone else.

We didn't win World War II by worrying about whether or not we could afford it. General Eisenhower didn't call President Roosevelt in early June 1944 and say: We have enough dollars for D-day. Of course not. Our veterans know that. They know we are in a global crisis. They know we have marshaled all of our vast resources and talent to rise to meet it. Then we grew the economy, after the war, from the middle class out, and we paid down the debt with rising wages.

This is a war too. Americans elected new leaders because they were tired of a President and a majority leader who refused to treat this war with the same urgency. People are tired of being told that we can't do it, that we can't afford it, and that we have done enough. Let's aim higher in this country. Let's deliver for the people we serve. Let's come together. Let's pass this. Let's make a real difference in Americans' lives.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, reserving the right to object, I would like to ask Senator Paul, in front of everybody, to start wearing a mask on the Senate floor, like the entire staff does all the time-- particularly the staff. And I appreciate now the Presiding Officer is wearing a mask, but I wish Senator Paul would show respect to his colleagues to wear a mask while he is on the Senate floor walking around.

I withdraw my objection.

Mr. President, I want to thank my friend, the senior Senator from South Dakota, for working with me on this. We have been working on this for a full decade now. We worked together in the Ag Committee to deliver for America's farmers. I want to take the same approach here.

Healthcare workers, as my friend from South Dakota said, have been on the frontlines of this pandemic going on for a year now. Not only are they combating this virus in their own community; many of them have traveled across State lines, obviously, to do this.

A surprise tax bill is the last thing they need. We should make it easier for these mobile workers to support themselves and their family.

This is important to a lot of my colleagues. Senator Hassan, Senator Shaheen, Senator Cortez Masto, and I just talked about it. I thank all of you for working to make this progress possible.

Mr. President, let me start by thanking my colleague from Delaware for outlining the urgency of the moment and reminding us that the United States is not an island; that we have to address these issues together. And I am pleased to see President Biden reasserting American global leadership on all sorts of fronts, including the healthcare front.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to support the budget resolution that is before us. As our country together fights the COVID- 19 health crisis and the economic fallout, more than 450,000 of our fellow Americans have died of COVID-19--200,000 more than the country that has experienced the next highest death toll. It is an unacceptable toll of suffering, and the economic fallout is painful as well.

Main Street is struggling. We have seen thousands of small businesses shuttered. Our students are facing an ever-widening education gap. Families are contending with mounting bills and food insecurity. It is a crisis that has upended every part of American life and which has disproportionately harmed working families, communities of color, our children, and the elderly.

I am glad that this Congress has been able to come together on a bipartisan basis before to deliver important emergency relief, but now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back and say we are done and throw in the towel. We need to go big, and we need to do it before it is too late, so we can beat this virus, get help to those who are hardest hit, and put our economy on the road to recovery. We must pass a package that meets the moment, and that is what the Biden proposal does: beating the pandemic by accelerating the delivery of vaccines and testing, helping to get our students back into school as fast as possible, and do it safely, and get our economy moving again--an economy that continues to suffer the wounds of the pandemic that has killed jobs and ballooned unemployment.

Right now, we are seeing a K-shaped recovery, a tale of two economies. Some people are bouncing back just great, like a V shape, but many others are flatlined or actually going further and further under. At the very top, the wealthy are doing just great. The stock market had a good year in 2020. The S&P 500 went up 16 percent. But it is no secret that stock holdings are concentrated among the very elite and that almost half of all American households have no stock holdings at all, including in 401(K) or other retirement plans. So don't tell me that the country is doing well because the stock market is up because the stock market conceals the whole other economy.

Here is a little story that illustrates the point, which is that in Baltimore City, per capita income is roughly $54,000, but if last year Jeff Bezos moved to Baltimore City, the average per capita income would be $175,000. People struggling in Baltimore City would be no better off, but it would appear that way if you simply look at the averages.

So, as we look at these economic figures, let's remember that averages conceal the real hurt being experienced by so many people. In fact, over 18 million of our fellow Americans are relying on unemployment benefits right now to sustain themselves and their families, and that relief will begin to expire in mid-March if we don't act.

Four million Americans have been out of work and looking for a job for at least 6 months. The harsh reality is that the longer someone is unemployed, the harder it is for them to get a new job, and when they do, it is often at a much lower wage, and that lower pay then follows them for decades. That is the story of countless American families holding on today against the torrent of financial hardship.

So to those who claim ``Don't worry. This is all going to blow over. Let's just delay our efforts to provide urgently required relief'' or ``Let's provide less,'' I say let's look at the hard facts.

If you look at the projections that just came out from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, they indicate that unemployment will remain above 4 percent until the year 2025 unless we do something different. That means that even after the last vaccine shot goes into the last arm, we may be caught in the wake of this economic down tow for years unless we act now.

So we shouldn't get complacent. We shouldn't look at those overall average numbers. We shouldn't look at the stock market. We should listen to the stories of people who are suffering, and if we don't act, they will be suffering for much longer than they have to. That is why it has been said that the risk is not that Congress might do too much but that we might do too little.

I remind my colleagues that we have been in this place before. Many of my colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle have scar tissue from 2009. Remember, we were facing a financial meltdown that was taking the entire economy under, and here in the U.S. Senate at that time, then-President Obama was working to get a big economic relief package through. They had plenty of Democrats--at least 57 Democrats were on board; a majority of this body--but needed just some Republicans to join in this effort. Well, what happened was that the proposal, the bold proposal, got negotiated down and down and down and then barely squeaked by the U.S. Senate.

Even after all that long, bipartisan negotiating, in the House of Representatives, not a single Republican Congressperson voted for that bill. So we ended up with a divided Congress and an inadequate recovery bill, and our Republican colleagues spent the next many, many years complaining that the economic recovery after the downturn had taken too long. It was the longest and slowest economic recovery in history, when if we had been permitted to go big and bold, we could have changed that trajectory.

That is why Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said that now we have to go all in. She said:

Neither the President-elect--

This was her earlier testimony--

nor I propose this relief package without an appreciation for

this country's debt burden. But right now, with interest

rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act

big. In the long run, I believe the benefits will far

outweigh the costs, especially if we care about helping

people who have been struggling for a very long time.

Even President Trump's former top economist, Kevin Hassett, supported that assessment and has said that if we don't act now, we could end up in a negative spiral for the economy.

The American public sees this very clearly. If you just look at recent polls, 70 percent of the American public is fully on board with President Biden's bold plan. That is reflected in a Quinnipiac poll that came out just today. The Navigator data said the same thing. The American public recognizes that we have to act big and we have to act now to make sure that we beat this pandemic and that we get our economy back on track just as soon as possible.

We all would like to have our Republican colleagues as partners in this effort. President Biden has made that very clear. But the overriding priority must be to meet the moment and take care of the needs of the American people. That is what the American people are telling us. I hope all of us will listen.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.