Floor Statements

Mr. President, first, let me thank Chairman Menendez, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for his advocacy in getting into this budget resolution the $10 billion for the global response to COVID-19.

I just want to underscore what Chairman Menendez said from the beginning: This global response will not only save lives around the world, it will save lives here at home.

In 1 year, 450,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19; 2.6 million worldwide. The United States has the distinction of having the largest number of fatalities and infections of any country in the world.

This is a challenge that requires the leadership of the United States of America. If we are going to beat COVID-19, America must be in the leadership to do this as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

So what does that require? It requires us to take the right steps at home, and the budget resolution before us gives us the resources to do that with the production and distribution--fair distribution--of vaccines and dealing with the needs for testing, dealing with the needs of those businesses and individuals who have been directly affected by COVID-19, all that is dealt with in this package, but we also need to work responsibly in the global community, and that is what this $10 billion will allow us to do--to be leaders globally as well as what we do at home.

President Biden has already taken the initial steps by rejoining the World Health Organization and joining the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility so that 190 countries in the world can join together to make sure that everyone gets access to this vaccine, particularly in low- and middle-economic countries that otherwise would be challenged. Why? Because those are our values--humanitarian concerns globally, but it is also in our individual interest because if this virus is not contained in a country, it will get to the United States.

And as Chairman Menendez said, the longer this virus goes globally, the more variants we are going to see and the tougher it is going to be for us to control the COVID-19 around the world and in the United States of America.

With 104 million infections globally, this is a global pandemic and requires a global response, and this budget resolution gives us the wherewithal in order to do that.

And as Senator Menendez has pointed out, it is not only to deal with the direct eradication of the virus, which we have to do, but the consequences of the virus in world poverty and hunger and those issues that are important for the United States to lead the global community in dealing with the aftermath of this terrible virus.

So I just really wanted to come to the floor to underscore there are so many reasons to support this budget resolution, but the one that I just really wanted to underscore today is that we are not only dealing with the issues at home, we are being responsible citizens of the world, leading by example and leading by engagement, which will help the healthcare of the people in America and our national security.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the rollcall be dispensed with and we use voice votes.

Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 716 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent that 30 seconds of my time be devoted to Senator Portman.

I thank Senator Portman and Senator Menendez for cosponsoring this amendment. Each of our States has challenges in the adequacy and fairness of vaccine distribution systems. This amendment would provide that there would be State and Federal support to the States for implementing a transparent and consistent vaccine administration program and bolstering States' awareness campaigns to increase awareness and knowledge of the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly among vulnerable communities, including ethnic minority populations.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the amendment. We all know about the inequities in our criminal justice system, and we have worked together to try to bridge some of those inequities. The SBA tools help to bridge the inequities in regard to the opportunities in America.

The Kennedy amendment would attempt to impose a lifetime prohibition for a conviction of a misdemeanor for a civil disorder. It may have happened 10, 20, 30 years ago. A person may have paid their price for that, but this is moving in the wrong direction, and I would urge my colleagues to reject this amendment.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Madam President, I will take this time, as the incoming chairman of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, to just go over with our colleagues the importance of this budget resolution as it relates to the small business community.

I think Members of this Chamber know that small businesses represent the growth engine of America. That is where job creation occurs at the greatest numbers. Almost half of the jobs in America are in small companies. Just as importantly, when we look for innovation, we see innovation in small businesses. They are the ones that figure out how to do things more efficiently and better, and that has also been true during COVID-19.

As we have seen small businesses around the Nation struggle, we have seen how creativity among small business has saved so many small businesses in America, where they figure out a better way to deal with the food service because they can't have in-restaurant service, in how they have dealt with the service industries generally, in how they have dealt with retail sales, safety with COVID-19 and delivery and internet. They have come up with better ways to do things, and that is why our economy is performing at the level it is--not the level we want it to be--because small businesses have figured out ways to do things better.

But there is another characteristic of small business I think we all understand. They don't have the same degree of resiliency. They don't have the deep pockets. They don't have the outside financiers. So they don't have the big reserves. So when we hit a bump in our economy, small businesses really suffer.

In every economic downturn, we know that small businesses are going to do worse than larger companies, and during this pandemic, it was particularly important for us to respond to help our small businesses so that when we get out of this pandemic, when our economy returns, the small business community is healthy and our economy can continue to grow.

This has been made even more challenging because we have imposed restrictions, as government, on the operations of small businesses during COVID-19. We have told restaurants they couldn't serve in- restaurant. We limited the number of people who can gather. All that has affected the economic strength of small businesses in America.

So Congress has responded. We have responded. We need to do more. Our first major response was in the CARES Act. Let me remind the Presiding Officer and the Senate and all that that bill was passed in mid-March. It was a bipartisan bill, and it was bold. It was a major effort to deal with the pandemic as we understood it in March of last year.

So we recognized that the first thing we had to do if we were going to help rebuild our economy, if we were going to help small businesses, the very first thing we had to do was get the virus under control. That is why the CARES Act in March had what we called the Marshall Plan for healthcare, to put money into the development of a vaccine, to put money into protective equipment, to put money into testing, to put money into public health--because we recognized that, yes, we have a responsibility as the Federal Government to control this pandemic, and by the way, it will also help our economic recovery because we knew that consumers could not go out until the virus--in right numbers-- until the virus was under control.

But we also knew we had to do things for small businesses directly, and we acted in a bold manner. We passed the Paycheck Protection Program, the PPP program, a new program. We did this in a bipartisan manner. We did it to keep employees on the payroll.

We recognized at that time that, yes, you can lay off workers and they can collect unemployment, but wouldn't it be better if we could keep them on the payroll? And the Paycheck Protection Program was an immediate influx of help for small businesses to keep their payrolls strong--and it worked--by these forgivable loans that, when used for that purpose, the entire loan could be forgiven.

In mid-March when we passed this, we didn't know the demand. We didn't know how much would be needed, and we certainly thought that by sometime, we hoped, during the summer of last year, the pandemic would have been behind us. Well, we were wrong on both accounts. There wasn't enough money in the program, and we needed to recognize that more help was needed than what we just did in the CARES Act. So we replenished money, put more money into the PPP program. We made it more flexible for small businesses, recognizing that it was going to be a longer period of time during the pandemic.

If you look at the numbers on how the Paycheck Protection Program has been used, through January of this year, 6 million loans--forgivable loans--6 million to the small business community, representing $595 billion of Federal help. That is a significant amount of funds.

But we recognized last March and we have continued to realize that one size does not fit all for all small businesses, and where forgivable loans work for some small businesses, they don't work for others. That is why we enhanced the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, the EIDL Program. The EIDL Program consists primarily of disaster loans that are given out during natural disasters.

The very first bill we passed after COVID-19, for the pandemic, was to make those who were suffering as a result of COVID-19--those businesses--eligible for EIDL loans. Normally it is natural disasters, but we included this pandemic. Now, why is that important? Well, yes, forgivable loans equal to 2 months of your payroll, plus some additional expenses, help keep your payroll, but small businesses need additional capital beyond just covering their payroll and some rent expenses. S the EIDL Program provides much more flexible funds, a larger amount of money, so that small businesses can get through this economic downturn. It is low-interest, 30-year loans with very favorable repayment schedules.

The good news about what we did in March is that we made the Paycheck Protection Program and the EIDL Program--you could do both. So you could get the influx to help you with payroll, and you could get the longer term financing. And the numbers are impressive here. There were 3.7 million loans under the EIDL loan program; $200 billion in loans was given out under EIDL. But let me point out--as I said, one size does not fit all. Loans work for some businesses but not all. So we wanted to do a grant program for those small businesses that are intimidated by taking out a loan because they said they can't even pay their existing loans; how could they take out more loans.

So we started a new program, an EIDL Advance Program, that provided grants up to $10,000 for our most vulnerable small businesses. This was a lifesaver for so many small businesses. This Advance helped businesses get the resources, the immediate cash, without having to worry about an additional loan on their books. Quite frankly, this program, along with strengthening the existing tools that were very important for small businesses, helped save a lot of small businesses.

We also created a debt forgiveness program. For a certain number of months, we would forgive your current 7a loan with the Small Business Administration, or 504 loan. Not just the interest payments but the principal payments were forgiven. And we strengthened the Microloan Program, and we reinforced the Community Advantage 7a Programs.

We did all that. We did this starting in mid-March with the hope that this pandemic would be over by last summer. We learned a lot from that bill after it passed.

The lessons learned we need now deploy in order to finish the job, to make sure small businesses are protected through this pandemic. So what were the lessons learned? Well, we first learned that the underserved and underbanked community had special needs. This is the minority community. These are businesses located in low-income communities, businesses that don't have traditional banking relations with a commercial bank. They all, in the beginning part of the PPP program, were left behind. Why? Because in order to get the help under the PPP program, you had to find a commercial lender who would make you the loan--100 percent guaranteed by the government, forgivable, so no real risk to the financial institution, but the financial institution wanted to protect their existing customers, and they wanted to make the larger loans because it was more lucrative for them. So the smaller of the small businesses and those that did not have a preferred relationship with bankers had a harder time getting that loan, and that showed up in the numbers we saw when the PPP program started last year.

Now, it is interesting--Senator Shaheen and I recognized this as we were crafting the bill, so we put a provision in the CARES Act that said that the SBA needed to prioritize loans for underserved small businesses. We knew that this was a likely thing to happen, so we asked the SBA to make a special effort to deal with the underserved community. They didn't do it. The SBA IG, in its report, said that the SBA did not fully align to congressional intent the way they implemented the PPP as it relates to the underserved community.

It is interesting--a group of stakeholders, of advocates on behalf of minority businesses, started what is known as the Page 30 Coalition. The provision I talked about was on page 30 of the CARES Act. They have been advocating for change ever since.

So starting with the replenishment of the PPP program and continuing in the omnibus bill we just passed in December, we have tried to build up the capacity for the underserved communities. We have done that by putting money aside for mission lenders. In the omnibus bill, there is $10 billion that was put aside to build up the capacity of CDFIs and minority repository institutions. I want to thank my colleague Senator Mark Warner of Virginia for his efforts in putting that together. That provided greater capacity for mission lenders, who are more likely to help in the underserved communities, to be there with the capital necessary to participate in the SBA programs.

We also decided that we had to do more than just that. We got set- asides for mission lenders in the act, and we had set-asides for the smaller of the small businesses because the smaller of

the small businesses are the ones that had the greatest need.

Lessons learned from what we did, and that was that the EIDL Program was not set up as Congress intended. When you look at the demographics as to what type of a company uses the EIDL Program as compared to the PPP, the smaller of small businesses, the more vulnerable small businesses, were more likely to use the EIDL Program.

So we anticipated, as I said, the EIDL Advance, which was so important to small businesses that really don't believe they can take out a loan--we anticipated they would get $10,000. Guess what. The average grant size, as implemented by the Trump administration, was between $4,000 and $5,000. The average size of the business that applied for an EIDL Advance was between four and five workers, the real ``ma and pa'' businesses. But they needed more than $4,500; they needed $10,000.

The EIDL loan program by statute could give you a loan up to $2 million, but the SBA, under the Trump administration, put a cap of $150,000 on those loans. Again, it compromised the effectiveness of those programs. We need to learn from what we did.

As I said earlier, more help is needed. The proposal that we are looking at in this budget resolution will provide that additional help, and that is why it is so important to pass this budget resolution.

Let me just give you a few of the details of why it is important to move this budget resolution. First, as I said in the onset of my remarks, we have to get this virus under control. The budget that is before us will provide substantial help for the vaccine distributions.

I don't know about what is happening in Minnesota, but I can tell you in Maryland, people are frustrated that we don't have a more efficient system on the distribution of vaccines. We have to answer that.

For the supply chain, use the Defense Production Act, use that in order to get the vaccine distribution done in a way that is fair to the American people. The budget before us will help us achieve that. It will provide the money for testing and protective equipment, which is desperately needed to get the virus under control.

The budget before us will allow us to open schools safely. We need that for American families. We need it for our children, and we need it for small businesses because when schools are closed and children have to stay home, our small businesses suffer. They suffer from their workers not being able to show up to work, and they suffer from the customers not being able to shop.

But we also need direct help for small businesses. In this legislation, there is $50 billion allocated to the Small Business Administration to deal with the hardest hit small businesses.

Let me just mention where we need to put our attention: in the hospitality industry. We did that in the previous legislation. In the CARES Act, we made special provisions in regard to the affiliation rules for restaurants. That was the right thing to do. In the omnibus bill, we provided some additional help over and above other businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program's second round, and that was right, but we need to do more.

The National Restaurant Association has informed us that 110,000 restaurants have either closed temporarily or permanently as a result of COVID-19. There are 2.5 million less jobs in restaurants today than at the pre-COVID level. And at the worst point, we were down 8 million jobs in that industry through layoffs and furloughs. So we need to take a look at a special way to help preserve our restaurants because they depend upon groups attending. They depend upon catering. They depend upon the restaurants being fully filled, and they can't do that under COVID-19. So we need to provide some help, and this budget resolution will allow us to do that.

In the omnibus bill, we provided money for shuttered venues. These are our entertainment venues, our museums which have been ordered to be closed. They can't operate because of COVID-19 and government orders.

I will give you one example: Merriweather Post Pavilion located in Howard County, not very far from here. One thousand jobs are impacted. Merriweather Post has not been able to have live entertainment since COVID-19 last March.

We passed legislation to provide help. We need to improve that legislation, and the budget resolution before us will allow us to get that done.

Let's talk about nonprofits for one moment. Johns Hopkins University has told us we lost a million jobs in the nonprofit sector as a result of COVID-19. We have nonprofits that have not been eligible that should be eligible to get help under these packages, and this budget resolution gives us an opportunity to take care of that need.

Then, lastly, let me talk about one of the priorities that President Biden has talked about, and that is getting the information out so small businesses can take advantage of these programs because so many have not taken advantage. They are the most vulnerable. He has what he calls the community navigators. We know from the Affordable Care Act how helpful they can be in getting information out, particularly in hard-served communities, so they understand the tools that are available. They can apply for the tools and get the help that they need.

We build on the community navigators with our resource partners--our women business centers, our minority business centers. Let's build on those centers--our veterans. Let's build on our resource partners in order to make sure that the help really is targeted to the small businesses of greater need.

This budget resolution is a bold approach because the problem is so great. I urge my colleagues to support the budget resolution for so many reasons, but as the incoming chairman of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, on behalf of America's small businesses, I urge my colleagues to support this budget resolution.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, today I rise to pay tribute to Barbara A. O'Malley, a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, dedicated public servant, and a veritable institution here in the U.S. Senate. She passed away last month at the age of 93.

Barbara Ann Suelzer, the daughter of Joseph and Martha Dix Suelzer, was born in 1928 and raised in Fort Wayne, IN. As a young woman, she was determined to learn how to fly. She obtained her pilot's license when she was 18, using $100 she received for graduating from high school to pay for the lessons, and later joined the Civil Air Patrol. She was also passionate about politics and especially about being a proud Democrat. She went to Washington to work for her local Congressman and met her future husband, Thomas Martin O'Malley, at the Young Democrats headquarters; they were married in 1954.

Over the next 30 years, Barbara O'Malley raised six children--one of whom, Martin J. O'Malley, became Governor of Maryland. She was a devoted mother, grandmother to 15 grandchildren, and great-grandmother to 8 great-grandchildren.

In 1986, with her children grown, Barbara O'Malley returned to Capitol Hill to work as a receptionist for another Barbara--Barbara Mikulski--who was elected to the Senate that year. She was ecstatic to work for a female Senator. At the time, there were just two female Senators: Senator Mikulski and Senator Nancy Kassebaum from Kansas. Barbara O'Malley stayed in the Senate for as long as Senator Mikulski did--30 years. During that time, she made the Mikulski staff, constituents, other Senators and their staff, and everyone else who visited the Mikulski office an extension of the O'Malley family. Everyone who knew her felt that bond.

Mrs. O, as everyone affectionately called her, had an unwavering cheerfulness, a graciousness, and an uplifting spirit that made her one of the most admired figures on Capitol Hill and around Maryland. I always looked forward to seeing her when I would visit Senator Mikulski's office, which was located just around the corner from my own office. Everyone who knew her treasured her political acumen and institutional knowledge, not just of history and politics and Congress but of the very buildings themselves here on Capitol Hill. Her genuine devotion to public service reflected her strong values and character, which her own children have carried on in their own careers and in service to our State of Maryland and to all Americans. Her legacy will live on in the hearts of those she loved, befriended, inspired, counseled, and mentored.

Mrs. O set so many fine examples for her family and everyone fortunate enough to know her. I work on retirement issues, and one thing experts recommend is for people to keep working if they enjoy their work and are able to continue meeting whatever challenges it presents. After Mrs. O spent 30 years raising her family, she returned to the workforce at an age when many people are retiring or close to retiring, and then she worked for 30 years, until she was 88. Mrs. O was a remarkable woman who gave enormously of herself. Myrna and I join the O'Malley family, Senator Mikulski and her staff, and so many other here in the Senate and across our State, in mourning the death of this wonderful woman, but more importantly, we celebrate and give thanks for her extraordinary life.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ``To laugh often and much; to win the respect of the intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the beauty in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that one life has breathed easier because you lived here. This is to have succeeded.'' At home with her family, in her community, and here in the U.S. Senate, Mrs. O certainly succeeded.

Mr. President, I am not the only person who would like to pay tribute to Mrs. O. Senator Mikulski, who served in the Halls of Congress for 40 years--30 years in this body and 10 years in the House of Representatives--has provided a tribute. She is not only the longest serving woman in all of Congress but also the first Democratic woman elected to the U.S. Senate in her own right, the first woman to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee, an inductee into the National Women's Hall of Fame, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom award from President Barack Obama. As we remember Mrs. Barbara O'Malley, this great public servant and longtime staffer to Senator Mikulski, I thought it would be appropriate to share Senator Mikulski's heartfelt tribute. I also have tributes from former Majority Leader Harry Reid; Senator Mikulski's chief of staff, Dr. Shannon Kula; the Acting Administrator of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration, Steve Jurczyk; and a statement from the Civil Air Patrol. I ask unanimous consent that these statements be printed in the Record following my remarks.

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

Madam President, today the world comes together to remember the horrors of the Holocaust. We honor the 6 million Jews and 5 million others--Roma, Afro-Germans, gay men and women, people with disabilities and more--whom the Nazis brutally murdered. And we stand in awe and celebration of those brave souls who managed to survive.

It is difficult to comprehend the terror that took place in Europe between 1939 and 1945, but we carry on an obligation to those who perished and those who survived to prevent further genocide and mass atrocities. It is critical that we understand what happened to them so we can prevent it from ever happening again.

One of the most important things to understand about the Holocaust is that while a limited group of particularly evil monsters orchestrated it, they could not have succeeded without the active or tacit support of millions of average people. Men and women agreed to turn over their neighbors, patrol the ghettos, drive the cattle cars, guard the death camps, and line people up to shoot them down. Men and women decided to avert their gaze and do nothing to stop the atrocities.

I don't believe that all those people were born villains. I think they were taught by their communities to adopt a level of anti-Semitism and prejudice that likely would have been recognizable to many of us today and that the Nazi propaganda masters exploited those feelings. That terrifies me because it means that the Holocaust was not an anomaly. It means that under the right conditions, a similar atrocity could happen again.

The hatred that gave rise to the Holocaust is still very much alive. The Anti-Defamation League's 2014 Global Index of Anti-Semitism found that more than 1 billion people--nearly one in eight--around the world harbor anti-Semitic attitudes. Over 30 percent of those surveyed said that it was ``probably true'' that Jews had too much control over financial markets, that Jews think they are better than other people, that Jews are disloyal to their country, and that people hate Jews because of the way that Jews behave. Such sentiments often translate into violence, leading 40 percent of European Jews to report in 2018 that they lived in daily fear of being physically attacked.

Sadly, these trends bear out closer to home too. Jews make up fewer than 3 percent of the American population, but the majority of reported religion-based hate crimes targeted Jewish people or institutions. In 2019, the ADL reported that anti-Semitism in America had hit a four- decade high. According to the 2020 survey by the American Jewish Committee, more than one-third of American Jews say they have been verbally or physically assaulted during the past 5 years simply because they are Jewish.

I believe that the world looks to the United States for moral leadership. When we allow anti-Semitism or racism or other kinds of intolerance to flourish here, other countries take that as a license to do the same. Moreover, we need to recognize the nexus between and networking among those who traffic in hate and conspiracies in the United States and other like-minded individuals and groups around the globe. Combating the most dangerous forms of this bigotry will require understanding the ways in which such groups are reinforcing and learning from each other.

Unfortunately, the last 4 years--beginning with White nationalists chanting ``Jews will not replace us'' in Charlottesville and ending with an insurrectionist wearing a ``Camp Auschwitz'' sweatshirt while storming the Capitol--are a dark stain on this country's record. By allowing such vicious hatred to take root and to grow, we fail ourselves, and we fail the rest of the world.

Now we have the opportunity to redeem ourselves--to become leaders once more in the fight to eliminate anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred around the globe. It will not be easy, but it is something we have to do, and it starts with education.

In the ADL's 2014 global survey, 35 percent of the respondents had never heard of the Holocaust, and 28 percent of those who did know of it believed that the number of Jews who died in the Holocaust had been greatly exaggerated. Meanwhile, the AJC's 2020 Survey of the General Public found that nearly one-quarter of Americans know nothing or not much about the Holocaust, and nearly one-half are not even sure what the term ``anti-Semitism'' means.

How can we hope to learn as a society from the horrors of the Holocaust if so many people do not know or do not believe that it happened? How can we root out anti-Semitism if almost half of us don't understand what it is?

We must educate the next generation on the horrors of the Holocaust and the dangers of intolerance. I am proud to have led efforts to provide the full funding of a bill, which our Presiding Officer was very much involved with, the Never Again Education Act, and I thank our Presiding Officer for her leadership on this issue. That bill expanded the reach of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's world-renowned education program. This will allow educators across the country from K- 12 through college to access age-appropriate curriculum on the Holocaust. It will also bolster the Holocaust Memorial Museum's continued collection and use of survivor testimony so that tomorrow's leaders will see and hear for themselves why we must never again allow hatred to thrive.

At the same time, we must fight against Holocaust denial in any form in any part of the world. As the Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly's Special Representative on Anti-Semitism, Racism and Intolerance, I am committed to countering attempts to erase or revise the events of the Holocaust, such as Poland's efforts to punish those who speak the truth about the 3 million Jews killed there. I am deeply disturbed, for instance, by the news of a slander lawsuit against two Polish scholars for their writings on Jews forced into hiding during the Nazi occupation. I am also appalled that Hungary's Viktor Orban has erected a monument that tries to whitewash Hungary's wartime role in the murder

of more than a half-million Hungarian Jews. On a day we remember the liberation of Auschwitz, I remember, too, that one out of every three Jews who died there were Hungarian.

The Holocaust happened, and it can happen again. It can. We made a promise to our grandparents and to our grandchildren that it would never happen again. I believe that we are all each responsible for keeping that promise. So let us heed the lessons of the past in order to build a more peaceful, just, and compassionate future for all.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I have 5 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations.

Committee on Foreign Relations

The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations.

Committee on Veterans' Affairs

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 3 p.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations.

Select Committee on Intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 2 p.m., to conduct a closed briefing.

Mr. President, not liking whom the voters choose to vote for in an election does not mean it is a fraudulent election. Enabling such talk and actively working to disseminate false information that cripples our government is in itself a fraud committed against the American people and our Constitution.

This past November, the American people voted in the highest numbers we have seen in our Nation's history. More than 155 million Americans cast a ballot in what was a free and fair election.

A clear majority voted for former Vice President Joe Biden over President Donald Trump. This was not the closest election in our Nation's history by a long shot. President-Elect Joe Biden won by more than 7 million votes. He and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris won 306 electoral votes. Donald Trump and Mike Pence received 232 electoral votes.

Given the tremendous impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our country, everyone should be overwhelmed that Americans turned out in such strong numbers for this election. People should not have to choose between casting their ballot and protecting their own health and their family's health. The pandemic wreaked havoc in so many of our lives for much of last year, which is why our election officials in most States responded by taking special measures and precautions to protect the right to vote while safeguarding the health and well-being of voters and election judges alike.

Election security officials, Federal and those in all 50 States and the District of Columbia--Democrats, Republicans, and Independents-- have all certified that we held a free and fair election despite these extraordinary circumstances. The Department of Homeland Security, DHS, stated that the November 3 election was ``the most secure in American history'' and that ``there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.''

President Trump responded how we would expect a would-be autocrat to respond, by firing the head of the DHS agency overseeing election security, pursuing baseless and groundless lawsuits, and promoting wild conspiracy theories about a rigged election. These lawsuits repeatedly have been dismissed as frivolous by both State and Federal judges appointed by both Republican and Democratic Chief Executives.

There is simply no evidence of widespread voter fraud claims in this election that can credibly affect the outcome of the election, which even former U.S. Attorney General William Barr--speaking on behalf of the Department of Justice--acknowledged. In December, the electoral college met to certify the results, and all of the States and the District of Columbia have now regularly reported their results to Congress, pursuant to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution.

In Pennsylvania, a panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected President Trump's lawsuit making claims that a State court had already dismissed. Stephanos Bibas--a judge whom President Trump appointed--wrote, ``Free, fair elections

are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.''

On Monday, January 4, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, James Boasberg--whom George W. Bush originally appointed to the bench--dismissed yet another frivolous lawsuit seeking to stop Congress from certifying President President-Elect Joe Biden's victory when it meets in joint session to tally the electoral college votes on Wednesday.

In a 7-page opinion, Judge Boasberg noted that the plaintiffs had filed in the wrong court; did not have standing to sue; and had made no effort to serve defendants with the suit, a legal requirement. He indicated that he was contemplating referring the case to the Court's Committee on Grievances ``for potential discipline of Plaintiffs' counsel.'' More importantly, he wrote, ``the suit rests on a fundamental and obvious misreading of the Constitution.'' He concluded, ``It would be risible were its target not so grave: the undermining of a democratic election for President of the United States.''

After being shut down again and again by the courts and State election officials--the people who run the elections--President Trump has continued his sordid campaign to undermine the rule of law in our Nation. He continues to fan the flames of division in our Nation, including encouraging fringe elements seeking to declare martial law or have the military intervene to overturn the election results. This demagoguery led all 10 former Secretaries of Defense who are still living--Republicans and Democrats alike--to warn against any attempt to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud, arguing that it would take the United States into ``dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.''

President Trump and his enablers' ceaseless provocations call into question whether we can have a peaceful and orderly transition of power in the United States. This concern is not theoretical, as we saw today, as a lawless mob encouraged by the President temporarily took control of our sacred Capitol.

President Trump's recent phone call to pressure the Georgia secretary of state to ``find'' the votes he needs to win the State is his latest failure to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

Historically, American Presidents have understood that America is a democracy and not an autocracy or a cult of personality. I find it unfathomable that we even need to say that out loud.

Elected legislators cannot, in good conscience, allow President Trump to continue to act like a dictator by trying to undermine valid election results and trash and burn our Republic on his way out of office.

If a foreign leader acted in such a blatant way to overturn legitimate election results, the full U.S. Congress would forcefully condemn such autocratic and undemocratic moves.

My congressional colleagues who are objecting to the electoral college results without any evidence or legal basis must stop coddling President Trump's insatiable ego. They must remember their oath is to the Constitution and not the President.

Sixty years ago, John F. Kennedy warned that people who foolishly seek power by riding the back of the tiger ultimately end up inside its belly. People should heed that advice. It is time to put country before personal ambition.

Mr. President, America's strength is in our values. In that vein, I rise to talk about human rights and America's historic role as a defender of universal human rights for all peoples.

I have been a member of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe for many years. It is also known as the Helsinki Commission. The Helsinki Commission is an independent entity that brings together lawmakers and members of the executive branch to represent the United States at the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which was created to explicitly promote human rights, democracy, and economic, environmental, and military cooperation among its 57 member nations, including the United States and Canada, all the countries of Europe, and the former Soviet Union countries.

When the Helsinki Final Act was signed in Finland in 1975, it enshrined among its 10 Principles Guiding Relations between Participating States a commitment to ``respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.''

Few people have predicted the sweeping, largely unforeseen consequences of the adoption of this document. From this one provision, among the 10 that focus on human rights and fundamental freedoms, there were movements sprung that embraced the Helsinki process as a sword and as a shield. Independent civil societies coalesced around this basic principle and used the followup processes that were set in motion by the Helsinki Final Act to hold their governments' feet to the fire.

In 1976, Congress established the Helsinki Commission with the mandate to monitor and report on compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and, most importantly, to press successive administrations to make human rights and democracy priorities in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy.

In the subsequent years, Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia, Solidarity in Poland, and Watch Groups in Moscow, in Kyiv, and in Vilnius sprang up to push for the release of political prisoners and to defend the rights of those who wanted nothing more than to worship and to have the freedom to advocate for refuseniks and others who sought to reunite with their families across borders.

Through what became known as the Helsinki process, Congress and previous administrations supported the rights of Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Natan Sharansky, and countless others who emerged as leaders in their supporting of the historic transitions to freedom 30 years ago with the fall of the Iron Curtain, the end of communism, the unification of Germany, and as President Bush proclaimed, a ``Europe whole and free.'' The Helsinki process of monitoring, reporting, advocating, urging, meeting, and witnessing was a catalyst for these historic changes.

Most importantly, at a time of historic transition, the countries participating in the Helsinki process all acknowledge that democracy was the only form of government that we could accept and that issues related to human rights and democracy were never matters of internal interference but were matters of direct and legitimate concern to all participating states. This means, quite frankly, that we have, under the Helsinki Accords, the legitimate right--I would say the obligation--to challenge the failure of any one of those 57 states in its meeting of its Helsinki commitments. That is why it is right that we in the U.S. Senate speak out against Russia or speak out against Turkey or speak out against any member state in the OSCE when it violates these basic principles.

Over the July 4 work period, I was proud to participate in the largest delegation we have ever had to the annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The Parliamentary Assembly--facilitating lawmaker-to-lawmaker interactions and discussions--was established to complement the intergovernmental work being done. One of the OSCE's strengths is that there is a parliamentary dimension. It is not just government officials; it is also parliamentarians who meet to implement these commitments to human rights and good governance.

The OSCE and its Parliamentary Assembly have been used to advance U.S. interests, including their support for human rights, free elections, combating anti-Semitism and human trafficking, and other initiatives that have come from the U.S. Congress that have then served as the foundation for U.S. positions and, ultimately, agreements that have been adopted by all 57 states that have participated in the OSCE.

I remember discussions in the Congress that dealt with fighting modern-day slavery and trafficking and fighting anti-Semitism. We initiated them in the Congress. Through the Helsinki Commission, we raised them in the Parliamentary Assembly. They then got raised in Vienna, which is where the Ambassadors who represent all of the states meet, and they were adopted as policy in all 57 states. We have had a very positive impact.

During this recent Parliamentary Assembly, I hosted an event called ``Countering Hate: Lessons from the Past, Leadership for the Future.'' As I stated during the event--and I will underscore now--we have observed an uptick in hate-based instances across the OSCE region and beyond--from Pittsburgh and Poway to Christ Church. When we fail to act, we endanger not only the most vulnerable within our societies but the very foundations of our democracies.

Given how much has been accomplished by the United States and others through the OSCE over the past 30 years, it is deeply concerning to see our own American President embrace a drawback of universal human rights in our own country and embrace dictators around the world, who rule by promulgating fear and hate.

President Trump has called Turkish President Erdogan a ``friend'' and has shared love letters with the very brutal Kim Jong Un after calling him ``very talented.'' Turkey, which has been a member of the OSCE since its inception and a member of NATO, has witnessed a dramatic acceleration in President Erdogan's efforts to consolidate power and hobble his political opposition.

His unrelenting pressure on the judiciary and purges of its ranks of judges and prosecutors have left respect for the rule of law and due process in crisis. Tens of thousands have been detained in sweeping dragnets following the failed coup, including independent voices from virtually every sector of society--opposition politicians, civil society activists, journalists, academics, and many more. These vast purges have had a chilling effect on the free press and the freedom of expression.

The Committee to Protect Journalists considers Turkey the world's worst jailer of journalists, with 68 documented cases, although a local Turkish press freedom organization lists more than 130 who have been detained. Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey as the 157th out of 180 countries for press freedom--its lowest ranking ever. Under emergency powers assumed by President Erdogan after the coup attempt, the Turkish Government closed around 200 media outlets.

As for North Korea, Kim Jong Un has one of the most deplorable human rights records in the world.

According to Human Rights Watch:

Kim Jong Un--who serves as chairman of the States Affairs

Commission and head of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea--

continues to exercise almost total political control. The

government restricts all civil and political liberties,

including freedom of expression, assembly, association, and

religion. It also prohibits all organized political

opposition, independent media, civil society, and trade

unions.

President Trump has been repeatedly willing to take the word of former KGB agent Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence services.

On March 3, 2018, in speaking about Chinese President Xi during a private fundraising speech at Mar-a-Lago, he said:

Xi is a great gentleman. He's now president for life--

president for life. No, he's great. And look, he was able to

do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a

shot someday.

That is not who the President of the United States should be embracing.

He has repeatedly praised Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. This is the same leader who independent press, civil society groups, foreign governments, and international organizations have all confirmed is engaged in the extrajudicial killing of his own citizens--work that President Trump praised as doing an ``unbelievable job on the drug problem.''

Mr. Duterte himself, as a former mayor, has admitted to murdering people. That Mr. Trump would laud Mr. Duterte for his barbaric atrocities is outrageous and is another indication that instead of standing up for America's values, President Trump continues to endorse leaders around the world who violate the very principles that America's Founding Fathers enshrined in our Constitution.

I mention our Founding Fathers not in passing, but as we recently celebrated our Independence Day on July 4, I quote from the Declaration of Independence, which set our Nation on a path with the ideal that we hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

So I was particularly troubled that within days of July 4, the Trump administration, through Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, unveiled what he referred to as a Commission on Unalienable Rights. In his announcement, Secretary Pompeo called this new Commission ``one of the most profound reexaminations of the unalienable rights in the world since the 1948 Universal Declaration.''

I, along with many colleagues in the U.S. Congress, fear that this Commission, whose purpose it is to advise the Secretary of State based on the principles of natural law and natural rights, will undermine or curtail State Department advocacy in critical human rights arenas, including women's health as well as LGBT rights.

For 243 years, with all of her imperfections, America has been a beacon for peoples around the world. Those who have embraced natural law have not been welcoming. They peddle in hate and division. The ACLU notes that references to ``natural law and natural rights'' are code words often used to undermine the rights of women and the LGBT community. This is just the latest in a string of attacks on women and the LGBT community by this administration. If the President and the Secretary of State want to build on protecting human rights, they will work within the framework that the United States helped to establish, not question the definition or universality of human rights.

Mr. President, on immigration, during his first days in office, the President began his administration by signing an Executive order that attempts to impose travel bans on Muslims and to ban refugees. He signed an Executive order that greatly expanded the number of people who were subject to detention and deportation, and practically speaking, he eliminated the focus on the most dangerous, violent criminals in our communities.

The President has tried to deny sanctuary and asylum to those refugees who legally seek protection in our country as they flee violence and persecution in their homelands.

He rescinded protections for the Dreamers and those with temporary protective status, which cast a cloud of uncertainty over the futures of these individuals and their families. It basically put an expiration date on their backs.

In our communities, I think we all know that the Dreamers and those with temporary protected status now have a fear as to whether their futures will be here in the United States. They have been here for a long time, and as we all know, they are part of our communities. The American values of empathy and compassion seemingly no longer find a champion in the White House.

Mr. President, on voting rights, the Trump administration has rolled back the clock by creating a so-called Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity--designed to suppress the vote--under the guise of trying to prove the problem of nonexistent voter fraud.

The Justice Department changed its position and supported the use of voter ID laws. It backtracked from its earlier position that such laws were intentionally racially discriminatory and designed to suppress minority votes. One of the principles of a democratic state is to get the maximum participation in elections.

The Department of Justice has tried to make it easier for States to purge voters from their rolls, as well as to make it easier for States to make voting changes that could disenfranchise minority voters without there being the proper Federal review or oversight.

Madam President, Sunday morning, I did what I think most people in this Nation did if they were not in France. I turned on the television to watch the women's national soccer team perform in an incredible showing of talent and commitment on the soccer field. It was an incredible victory for the women's national team, and we are all very proud of what they were able to accomplish. This has been an incredible streak.

Since the Women's World Cup was established in 1991, there have been eight competitions. The United States has won four--and the last two consecutively--beating the Netherlands on Sunday by a score of 2 to 0.

We all congratulate the team. We are very proud. They represented our Nation extremely well. Each of us shares that pride.

As a Maryland Senator, I want to acknowledge Rose Lavelle and Mallory Pugh, who are from the Washington Spirit, which is based in Germantown,

Mr. President, today I wish to discuss Americans' access to healthcare and patient protections that are carelessly being threatened by President Trump and his administration, specifically, his decision to not uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ACA, which is the law of the land.

This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the fifth circuit began reviewing appeals to a December decision in the case Texas v. U.S., in which the entire ACA was ruled unconstitutional. Republican attorneys general from 18 States argue that the ACA is unconstitutional because our Republican colleagues repealed the individual mandate as part of their 2017 tax bill. Instead of defending the ACA and fighting for Americans with preexisting health conditions, President Trump took the unprecedented step of not defending current law, and the Department of Justice revised its position to support full repeal of the ACA, continuing the administration's sabotage of affordable access to healthcare through all avenues of Executive action.

If Republicans successfully overturn the ACA, hundreds of millions of Americans will lose access to affordable healthcare and the monumental consumer protections created through the ACA. This includes the 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions, 17 million people who gained insurance through Medicaid expansion, 12 million seniors who pay less for prescription drugs, and over 2 million adult children who will no longer be able to stay on their parent's health insurance.

I am particularly worried about the 2.5 million Marylanders with a preexisting condition, 320,000 of whom are children. Before the ACA, insurers denied health coverage to Americans with preexisting health conditions.

The most common preexisting conditions are pregnancy, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, behavioral health disorders, high cholesterol, asthma, and heart conditions. Patients with preexisting conditions must know their health insurance coverage is there for them when they are healthy, but particularly when they become sick. The ACA took the important step to ensure this, by protecting all patients against arbitrary, sudden loss of insurance. This security would, of course, be eliminated if the ACA is overturned.

In addition to these important consumer protections, the Affordable Care Act increased access to care for millions of people who previously were uninsured or underinsured. Through Medicaid expansion, 13 million low-income Americans now have dependable, comprehensive healthcare, including 300,000 Marylanders. We must protect the Medicaid expansion population and other uninsured or underinsured populations from the Trump administration's efforts to eliminate their access to affordable care.

The numerous reckless attempts by the Trump administration to sabotage the ACA disregard how much good healthcare reform has done for all Americans. Before we passed the Affordable Care Act, too many people fell through the cracks with inadequate insurance coverage, annual and lifetime coverage caps, or limits to preventive health services. Too many declared bankruptcy because of high healthcare costs or skipped prescribed care or medications because of the costs.

The ACA ensured that many of those people now have access to higher- quality coverage. Core elements of the law require companies to cover adults and children with preexisting conditions, prevent insurance companies from setting annual and lifetime limits, and

allow young adults can stay on a parent's health plan until the age of 26.

If the Affordable Care Act is struck down, insurers could bring back annual and lifetime limits on coverage, adults covered by Medicaid expansion would lose vital health services, young people would be kicked off their parent's insurance, and issuers could sell skimpy plans that don't cover essential health benefits like prescription drugs, emergency room visits, mental health and substance use, and maternity care.

The unprecedented actions by the Trump administration to not defend the ACA jeopardizes the healthcare of all Americans. I believe that accessible, affordable healthcare is a human right. Securing this right has always been a challenge. Democrats will continue to fight for consumer protections and increased access to care that have been guaranteed through the Affordable Care Act. As President Trump refuses to defend the Affordable Care Act, he risks the health and well-being of millions of Americans.

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

Mr. President, I would like to call the Senate's attention to the Youth Summer Jobs and Public Service Act of 2019 that I am introducing today with my colleague from Maryland, Senator Van Hollen. This legislation authorizes the Department of Labor to award Summer Employment for Youth grants to connect youth with jobs that serve their local communities and private businesses over the summer months.

Since the mid-1990s, my home city of Baltimore has organized the Youth Works program out of the Mayor's Office of Employment Development. The Youth Works program provides individuals between the ages of 14 to 21 with a summer job with employers ranging from private businesses, local community nonprofit organizations, to city and State government agencies throughout the City. At these summer jobs, participants are provided with meaningful work experiences, are able to learn to develop the attitudes and grit necessary to compete in the workforce, gain exposure to a variety of career fields, and have a safe, stable environment over the summer months during the day. For the 2019 Youth Works session that begins next week, Baltimore youth participating in the program will have a job for five days a week, five hours per day from July 1st through August 2nd and be paid a minimum of $10.10 per hour for their service.

This program has grown to be one of the largest youth summer employment programs in the Nation. After the unrest in my home city in April 2015, the Federal Department of Labor provided the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and the Baltimore City's Mayor's Office of Employment with a $5 million grant to develop innovative job training strategies and work opportunities for youth and young adults across Baltimore. This Federal grant increased the number of individuals able to be served by the Youth Works program from an historic average of 5,000 participants to the more than 8,000 served today. Last year, Youth Works provided 8,600 Baltimoreans with jobs at more than 900 different worksites across my home city. I'm proud to say that some of those individuals who participated in the Youth Works program over the course of multiple summers while in high school have recently graduated and were hired by State agencies such as the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Baltimore youth and their families clearly see the value of this program, with more than 14,000 individuals applying for Youth Works slots this upcoming summer.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of funding between the partnership between the City, State, private business, and philanthropic ventures, more than 5,000 Baltimore City youth who sought summer employment will be denied the opportunity to gain experience in the workplace, foster confidence that they are capable of being successful in a new environment, and lose the security of a safe environment over the summer. We can and must do more to help individuals willing and eager to start their careers.

The Youth Summer Jobs and Public Service Act would seek to eliminate the waiting list for Baltimore students seeking to participate in Youth Works or other summer employment programs around the Nation. If enacted, my legislation would allow States to compete for Summer Employment for Youth grants to serve communities like Baltimore that have high concentrations of eligible, low-income youth. The grants would be utilized by local communities to carry out programs like the Youth Works program that provide summer employment opportunities that are directly linked to academic and occupations learning by providing meaningful work experiences. States competing for grants would be required to partner with private businesses to the extent feasible and to prioritize jobs and work opportunities that directly serve their communities, such as through summer employment with local community nonprofit organizations and city and State government agencies. This additional Federal funding can boost existing programs such as Youth Works and allow other communities across Maryland to establish their own programs and develop Maryland's next generation of workforce.

I am proud to lead this Senate effort with my colleague from Maryland and appreciate the work of Representative Cedric Richmond of Louisiana who initially led this effort in the U.S. House of Representatives and will shortly introduce companion legislation this Congress. I urge my Senate colleagues to join with me in this effort to connect youth with summer employment opportunities and start their journey towards fulfilling, successful careers.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Congressional Record following my remarks.

There being no objections, so ordered.