Floor Statements

Mr. President, we begin this week on a joyful note: welcoming an outstanding individual to serve as the new Secretary of the Senate, Ann Berry from the office of one Senator Patrick Leahy.

The position of the Secretary of the Senate dates back to April 8, 1789, just 2 days after the Senate achieved its first quorum. Today, 1 day after the conclusion of Black History Month and on the first day of Women's History Month, Ann Berry was just sworn in as the first Black woman to ever serve as Secretary of the Senate--another glass ceiling broken.

It is a testament to her outstanding career as a public servant of the highest caliber. Over her 40 years in Washington, Ann has come to know the ins and outs of the Senate better than just about anyone else who works in the Capitol Complex. She came to Washington, a proud native of Birmingham,

AL, and a graduate of the University of North Alabama, to work for Senator Howell Heflin.

Clearly, word got around about her talents because, over the course of her career, she went to work for Senators Carper, Edwards, Moynihan, Jones, and, most recently, as Senator Leahy's deputy chief of staff, where she was an indispensable resource not only to Senator Leahy's office but to my team and to countless other Senators.

I want to thank Senator Leahy for parting with Ann and lending her considerable talents to the full Senate. He told me he regretted her going, but he was so glad that the Senate had seen her talents.

And thank you, Ann. Thank you for accepting this incredible responsibility. Congratulations on beginning your historic tenure, and we all wish you the best as you work to bring this great institution to life.

As we all welcome Ann to her new role, the Senate bids a fond farewell to Julie Adams and Mary Jones. Over the last 6 years, Julie Adams and Mary Jones have served as Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Senate with impeccable skill and unflappable professionalism.

Both are longtime veterans of Washington. Julie worked for many years under Leader McConnell and First Lady Laura Bush, while Mary served in the White House under President George H. W. Bush and, as I remember, because I was, I guess, chairman or ranking member--I can't recall which, maybe both--as staff director of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, where she did just a great job.

Both of them are friendly and familiar faces around here in the Senate. Both have earned the respect here in the Senate of just about everyone who has worked with them.

Of course, Julie and Mary deserve special praise for their leadership over the last 12 months. As a global pandemic forced the Senate to adapt to new ways, they kept the Senate functioning in the midst of this historic crisis. And in the wake of the horrific attacks on January 6, Julie and Mary were heroic--heroic--in getting the Senate back on its feet only a few hours after the violence had been quelled.

To Julie and Mary, thank you. Thank you for all you have done. The entire Senate wishes you and your families the very best, and we look forward to seeing what the road ahead holds for both of you.

Mr. President pro tempore, now, on Senate business, the Senate will have a busy week ahead of it. Today and tomorrow, the Senate will confirm two more members of President Biden's Cabinet: Dr. Miguel Cardona to serve as Secretary of Education and Governor Gina Raimondo to serve as Commerce Secretary.

The Senate will also confirm Dr. Cecilia Rouse to serve as the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, another history-making pick who will be the first Black official to head that Department.

All three nominees are exceptionally well qualified. All have received bipartisan support in their respective committees, including a unanimous vote in favor of Dr. Rouse.

As we continue the fight against the pandemic on all fronts--in particular, the damage it has caused our schools and our economy--these nominees will have a difficult and important task ahead of them. It will be very good news once we have them confirmed and on the job.

The Senate will then return to the American Rescue Plan, comprehensive legislation that will help us crush the virus, recover our economy, and get life back to normal.

(Ms. HIRONO assumed the Chair.)

Defeating the pandemic is national priority No. 1: getting our schools to reopen as safely and quickly as possible; helping small businesses hang on until the economy can come roaring back; keeping teachers and firefighters and other essential employees on the job; providing aid to the jobless, food to the hungry, direct cash payments to millions of Americans struggling--struggling--for the cost of rent, groceries, medicine, and utilities; speeding the distribution of the vaccine, which is the cornerstone to ending this awfully dark chapter in American history.

That is what our country needs, and that is what the American Rescue Plan will achieve. To paraphrase Franklin Roosevelt, we must do the first things first.

Last week, the legislation passed in the House of Representatives. This week, the Senate will take up the measure. Let me say that again. The Senate will take up the American Rescue Plan this week.

I expect a hearty debate and some late nights, but the American people sent us here with a job to do: to help the country through this moment of extraordinary challenge; to end, through action, the greatest health crisis our country has faced in a century. And that is just what we are going to do.

Madam President, on another matter entirely, voting rights, the story of American democracy is a long and messy one, full of contradictions and halting progress. It was a century and a half after our founding before women got the right to vote, another half century before African Americans could enjoy the full rights of citizenship. It took mighty movements and decades of fraught political conflicts to achieve even those basic dignities and establish the United States as a full democracy worthy of the title.

But any American who thinks that today, in 2021, that fight is over-- that the fight for voting rights is over--is sorely and, unfortunately, sadly mistaken.

In the wake of the most recent election, an election that the former President has repeatedly lied about and claimed was stolen, more than 253 bills in 43 States have been introduced to tighten voting rules under the pernicious, nasty guise of election integrity.

In Iowa, the State legislature voted to cut early voting by 9 days. Polls will close an hour earlier. And they voted to tighten the rules on absentee voting, which so many--the elderly, the disabled, the frail--depend on.

In Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers have proposed limiting ballot drop boxes to one per municipality--a municipality of hundreds of thousands, and a tiny one gets the small one. I wonder why. I wonder why.

In Arizona, one Republican legislator wants to pass a law allowing the State legislators--listen to this--to ignore the results of the Presidential election and determine their own slate of electors. One legislator in Arizona wants to pass a law allowing State legislators to ignore the results of the Presidential election and determine their own slate of electors. That doesn't sound like democracy. That sounds like dictatorship.

The most reprehensible of all efforts might be found in Georgia, where Republicans have introduced a bill to eliminate all early voting on Sundays, a day when Black churches sponsor get-out-the-vote drives known as ``souls to the polls.''

We have, supposedly--supposedly--come a long way since African Americans in the South were forced to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar in order to be allowed to vote. But it is very difficult to look at the specific laws proposed by Republican legislatures around the country, designed to limit voter participation in heavily African- American and Hispanic areas, to lower turnout and frustrate election administration in urban districts and near college campuses, to gerrymander districts to limit minority representation ``with almost surgical precision,'' to specifically target and thwart Black churches from organizing voting drives--it is difficult, very difficult not to see the tentacles of America's generations-old caste system, typically associated with slavery and Jim Crow, stretching into the 21st century and poisoning the wellspring of any true democracy--free and fair elections.

We see a lot of despicable things these days, but nothing that seems to be more despicable than this. When you lose an election in a democratic society, you update your party platform and appeal to more voters. You don't change the rules to make it harder for your opponents to vote, especially not African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and other voters who have

been historically disenfranchised. That response is toxic to democracy and, indeed, is the very opposite of democracy.

Make no mistake, these despicable, discriminatory, anti-democratic proposals are on the move in State legislatures throughout America. They must be opposed by every American--Democrat, Republican, Independent; liberal, conservative, moderate--who cherishes our democracy.

This is just incredible what they are trying to do--incredible. We must do everything we can to stop it.

Madam President, I understand there are two measures at the desk due for a second reading en bloc.

Madam President, in order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceedings en bloc.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, now, the Senate is laser-focused on confirming President Biden's impressive Cabinet while paving the way for another round of urgent COVID relief. The two tasks will remain the top Senate priorities over the next several weeks.

By the end of this week, the Senate will have confirmed three Cabinet-level officials--the U.N. Ambassador and the Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy--and will have set up confirmation votes early next week for the Secretaries of Education and Commerce and the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.

This week, Senate committees also held confirmation hearings on scores of other nominations, including the President's candidates for Attorney General, HHS Secretary, Interior Secretary, CIA Director, Surgeon General, and U.S. Trade Representative

At the same time, Democrats are preparing to proceed with the urgently needed President Biden American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion lifeline that will lay the foundation for economic recovery and a return to life as normal.

We have come a long way in our fight against COVID, but we still have a long way to go. Over 60 million vaccinations have now been administered across the country. Death rates are finally, finally declining. But while the trends are headed in the right direction, more Americans are still dying per day than at any point during the worst weeks of last summer.

The same goes for our economy. While there are green shoots, our country remains 10 million jobs short of where we were last February-- 10 million jobs short. That is nothing to trifle with or pass over. Today's report on new jobless claims was the 49th week that the number was higher than at any point during the great recession.

Let me repeat that. Today's report on the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time was the 49th week during the COVID pandemic that new unemployment claims were higher than at any point during the great recession. In the words of Fed Chairman Powell, hardly a big liberal, ``The economic recovery remains uneven and far from complete, and the path ahead is highly uncertain.''

That is from a very serious, staid man not prone to any hyperbole at all. But what he is telling us is simple: We cannot take our foot off the gas. We cannot slow down before the race is won. We must proceed boldly and decisively.

Senate Democrats will move forward on the American Rescue Plan as soon as possible. The bill will erase any doubt that the American people, businesses, families, workers will have the resources that they need until we can defeat the virus and our economy comes roaring back. The American people should expect nothing less.

Just yesterday, over 150 executives from the Nation's business community said that taking action on the American Rescue Plan is the right thing to do. The business community is firmly lined up behind this plan. Earlier this month, 400 mayors from both parties, Democratic and Republican, sent a letter to Congress supporting the plan and the help it provides to keep teachers and firefighters and other essential public employees on the job.

In poll after poll, the American public overwhelmingly supports congressional action on a bold COVID relief package, a majority of Democrats and a majority of Republicans. As many as 7 in 10 Americans support the American Rescue Plan. There is a clear, bipartisan, nationwide mandate to act, and that is just what the Senate is going to do--a clear, bipartisan, nationwide mandate to act, and that is what we will do.

Now, from the start, we had hoped this effort would be bipartisan. As I said before, there is nothing about the budget process that precludes bipartisanship. The same process has been used no fewer than 17 times to produce major bipartisan legislation. But it seems that despite the historic nature of the crisis, despite the clear and pressing needs of the country, despite the support of mayors and Governors and economists and business leaders from across the political spectrum, and

despite the popularity of the legislation with the American people, my Republican colleagues are organizing to oppose the next round of COVID relief.

A report in CNN suggested that Republican leaders were ``maneuvering'' to keep every single Republican from supporting the American Rescue Plan, an exercise in pure partisanship. We have started to hear the same predictable objections in almost the same exact words that Republicans use in response to nearly every piece of Democratic legislation: ``a liberal wish list''; ``socialism.''

One Republican Member said that the American Rescue Plan was ``to the left of Lenin.'' Seriously, to the left of Lenin? Money for schools, vaccines, direct checks to struggling American families--checks that nearly every Member of the Senate supported just a few months ago--now it is to the left of Lenin?

This kind of reflexive partisan opposition is not going to wash with the American people. It wouldn't wash at any time, but it especially doesn't wash during this time of crisis. The American people have all heard it before, and they know the country needs help.

All week our Republican colleagues have been raising concerns about school closures. Well, I will tell you what, we all want to open schools. We all want them to reopen. We are all concerned, though, about the cost of remote learning on children and parents. So are the teachers. So are the children. So are the parents.

But how about we actually give schools the funding they need to reopen as quickly and safely as possible? That funding is in the American Rescue Plan. While our Republican colleagues are cynically attacking teachers--something they have done for decades--the school districts in their States are telling them they need more funding. Their school districts are telling them they need more funding to hire extra teachers and reduce class size, to change the infrastructure of their schools to increase social distancing, to hire tutors for summer school and the fall to help our children make up for lost time.

The education commissioner for the State of Nebraska, hardly a Democratic stronghold, put it simply: ``There's a lot of damage to repair.'' Our Republican colleagues want schools to reopen. So do we. But what about actually doing something to make that happen as safely and as quickly as possible?

It seems my Republican colleagues have even taken issue with the tiny amount of funding in the bill that goes to a bridge in New York. They say: Look, a pork-barrel earmark from the Democratic leader, totally non-COVID-related. The truth is, this is one of the only bridges operated by the Federal Government. Its revenues for operating expenses have collapsed because of COVID. No one is using the bridge.

Ironically, the bridge is located in a district represented in the House by a Republican. And the request for this funding wasn't made by me or any Democrat, for that matter. It came from the Trump administration 5 months ago. I learned about it being in the bill when I read about it in the newspaper.

That is how silly the talking points of the other side have gotten. Republicans are not happy about a small provision in the bill requested by the previous Republican administration, so they are going to oppose direct checks to struggling families, another round of assistance for small businesses, and money for schools and vaccinations. The argument is absurd and, we know, a total excuse.

Look, we Democrats would prefer to work with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to pass this bill. We had an open, bipartisan amendment process on the budget resolution. We have already included many bipartisan amendments the Senate adopted into this new reconciliation bill. The first amendment we put on the floor for the restaurants was bipartisan, and that was the first amendment I put on the floor as majority leader, showing my intent to be bipartisan.

But, at the end of the day, we cannot let obstructionism stop us. At the end of the day, the American people sent us here with a job to do.

The bottom line is simple: We are still in a historic crisis of the health of the economy. The American people know we are in a historic crisis. And the Senate will soon take action on our plan to solve this crisis, a plan with overwhelming public support. Our Republican colleagues will have to decide whether they will work with us to approve the legislation or obstruct it to the bitter end

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I thank my friend from Louisiana for his erudite remarks, much of which--at least the last part I heard--I agree with.

Mr. President, even now, even as we continue to confirm President Biden's nominees here on the floor, the Senate Democratic majority is busy working on the American Rescue Plan. The country has just suffered from a once-in-a-century event that shuttered thousands of businesses, sapped more than 10 million jobs, and, according to CBO, left a $17 trillion hole in our economy.

As the distribution of the vaccine finally begins to accelerate under the Biden administration, there is certainly hope on the horizon. But we are a far way off from a full recovery, and it is our job--our job-- to help millions of Americans--struggling Americans--through the next several months of difficulty and hasten the day when our country can finally return to normal.

The American Rescue Plan is designed to do just that--keep American families and businesses and schools and workers afloat until they can get back on their feet. And there is a broad consensus that our country needs more support to get through this crisis. Mayors and Governors from both parties support the plan. The Republican Governor of West Virginia told Congress: ``[W]e need to go big.''

Economists from across the political spectrum say that our economy needs further support. The Chair of the Federal Reserve, appointed by President Trump, just told us that ``the economic recovery remains uneven and far from complete, and the path ahead is highly uncertain.'' Chairman Powell, hardly a raving liberal, concluded: ``There is a long way to go.''

And it has broad support in America. Seven in 10 Americans approve of the American Rescue Plan. In some polls I have seen, a majority of Republicans approve of this plan--Republican voters, not Republicans here in the Senate.

Now, it is easy to see why there is such broad support. The COVID pandemic is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the worst public health crisis our Nation has faced in 100 years. But our Republican colleagues say all these groups demanding the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan--business leaders, government officials from both parties, economists from across the spectrum, and 7 in 10 Americans-- Republicans say all of them are wrong.

According to a report in CNN, Republican leaders are maneuvering to get every single Republican Member to oppose the emerging legislation-- every single one.

Make no mistake, Republicans oppose the American Rescue Plan to the detriment of the country, and they do so at their own political peril. If our Republican colleagues want to oppose direct checks to struggling families; food assistance to hungry Americans; keeping teachers, firefighters, and essential public employees on the job; providing another round of support for small business; helping schools reopen as quickly and safely as possible; speeding vaccinations around the country--well, if congressional Republicans want to oppose all that, my response is, good luck.

The country needs this final push. It is overwhelmingly popular. A new analysis this morning showed another vaccine produced by a U.S. company is safe and effective, which only underscores the need for Federal dollars to accelerate its distribution. It will help millions of American families survive the ongoing crisis, recuperate from the economic hardship of the past year, and set our country on a firm path to recovery.

That is why Senate Democrats have made it the first legislative item on our agenda. By stark contrast, the first action item taken by the Republican Senate majority when they got the majority in 2017 was an attempt to repeal our Nation's healthcare law and rip health coverage away from millions of Americans. Republicans followed it up with a giant tax cut disproportionately aimed at rich corporations and the uber-rich.

The Democratic Senate majority is going to start on a much different note. This week, the House--and soon thereafter the Senate--will start working on President Biden's American Rescue Plan to deliver desperately and urgently needed assistance to the American people.

One final note on this topic--the minimum wage. As it has been reported widely, the Senate Parliamentarian is hearing arguments today on the $15 minimum wage policy included in the House version of the bill. According to the Congressional Budget Office, raising the Federal minimum wage to $15 an hour has a significant budgetary impact, which should make it permissible under the Senate's reconciliation rules.

I want to thank all of the hard-working Senate staffers on my staff, Senator Sanders' staff, and many others in participating in these arguments today.

Mr. President, on another matter. Everyone knows our country and our economy face daunting challenges beyond COVID-19. While our two parties don't agree on a whole lot, both Republicans and Democrats know that one of the main challenges of the 21st century will be competing with and confronting China.

The roots of this challenge go back decades. When I was first elected to the Senate visiting all corners of New York, I saw entire industries going under as a result of unfair Chinese competition and the manipulation of the currency by China. For decades, China has effectively cheated and stolen its way to economic growth, engaging in brazen theft of American intellectual property via cyber operations, forced technology transfers, the dumping of cheap goods in our economy, and for a while, the pernicious manipulation of its currency. American workers, academics, and businesses of all sizes have paid the price to the tune of millions of jobs and trillions of dollars of wealth.

More recently, China has directed its energy and mercantilist policies toward beating the United States and like-minded countries to the pole position on all leading technologies in the 21st century.

When I say ``China,'' I mean the Chinese Government and the China Communist Party. The American people have nothing against the Chinese people.

I have made no secret of America's failure to hold the Chinese Government accountable, and that has been a failure of both parties-- both parties in the past. After another bout of tough talk, we are not much closer to reining in China's predatory behavior than we were 4 years ago. That is why yesterday, I asked the chairs and members of our relevant Senate committees to begin work on legislation to enable the United States to outcompete China and create American jobs.

At the core of this effort will be the Endless Frontier Act. This is a bipartisan legislation that Senator Young and I sponsored and drafted together over a year ago. It would surge resources into the National Science Foundation and the Department of Commerce to advance American innovation in a number of critical technologies.

We must also consider significant investments, even through emergency appropriations, to rebuild the capacity of the U.S. semiconductor industry. This, too, is a bipartisan effort that Senators Cotton and Cornyn joined Senator Warner and I, and we placed the original authorizing legislation in the Defense bill.

Right now, semiconductor manufacturing is a dangerous weak spot in our economy and in our national security. Our auto industry is facing significant chip shortages. This is a technology the United States created, and we

ought to be leading the world in. The same goes for building out 5G, the next-generation telecommunications network. There is bipartisan interest on both these issues.

Overall, the new legislation must achieve three goals: one, boost American competitiveness by investing in our economy and our workers; two, leverage our alliances abroad; and, three, stop once and for all China's predatory practices. A number of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have strong bipartisan ideas on these issues, including Senators Menendez and Risch, Brown and Toomey, Cantwell and Wicker. I hope we can all work together to craft a bill that meets that moment.

It is my intention to put this legislation on this topic on the Senate floor for a vote this spring. I urge the committees to continue their work in a bipartisan way so we can have strong legislation before us.

It so happens that today, at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, significant work will be done on the same issues. President Biden has invited a bipartisan group of lawmakers to the White House to discuss concerns with the U.S. supply chain, particularly the semiconductor shortage, and will sign an Executive order aimed at plugging the holes. I applaud both the meeting and the Executive order. The new administration is taking a strong first step in shoring up America's critical supply chains and putting a spotlight on American competitiveness

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 8.

Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion be waived.

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 13.

Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion be waived.