Floor Statements

I announce that the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) and the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, last week, something happened here in the Capitol which was unique. I am not sure it has ever happened before. It was reported that an anonymous group of Capitol Police officers published an open letter to Members of Congress.

I have been here a few years. I never heard of anything quite like this. Here is what these Capitol Police officers, who are entrusted with the responsibility of keeping us safe in the Capitol, wrote: ``On Jan 6th where some officers served their last day in US Capitol Police uniform, and not by choice, we would hope that Members whom we took an oath to protect, would at the very minimum support an investigation to get to the bottom of EVERYONE responsible and hold them 100 percent accountable no matter the title of position they hold or held.''

A challenge from the Capitol Police to the Members of Congress not to sweep under the carpet January 6 but to get to the bottom of it. Capitol policemen were attacked and died as a result of that insurrectionist mob on January 6, and these officers, who risk their lives every day for us, are begging us not to ignore what happened.

Yesterday, in POLITICO, the mother of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick wrote: ``Not having a January 6 Commission to look into exactly what occurred is a slap in the faces of all the officers who did their jobs that day.''

I met Gladys Sicknick when the memorial to her son was held in the Rotunda. I talked to her and her husband about their son, how they were worried when he decided to become a policeman, but they thought at least if he worked in the U.S. Capitol, it is a pretty safe assignment. Well, he died the day after January 6, many believe from complications which occurred in the attacks of that day.

To Gladys Sicknick, to the Sicknick family, to all of our Capitol Police officers to whom we entrust our lives every day, and to the members of the DC Metro Police and the other heroes who defended the Capitol on January 6, I say: We hear you, and you deserve justice.

It is hard to believe that before we adjourn today, we are likely to consider a January 6 Commission proposal that is doomed to fail. Imagine, the worst attack on this building since the War of 1812, and sadly, it has become a

partisan issue. It is my understanding because of his public announcement that Senator McConnell is going to oppose it, and I understand that his caucus will follow his lead.

It is hard to imagine what is going on in the U.S. Congress these days.

Earlier this week, a Member of the House of Representatives--I am afraid she is already notorious for her inflammatory rhetoric--likened coronavirus masking guidelines to the Holocaust--the Holocaust. I feel no need to point out the absurdity, if not the anti-Semitic nature of such a comparison, but I do want to point out that that comparison was made by one of the lawmakers who were party to the January 6 insurrection attack on the Capitol.

The day before the insurrection, that same Congresswoman, a Republican Congresswoman, tweeted: ``Tomorrow is an important day in American history. The people will remember the Patriots who stood for election integrity. Let's go #FightForTrump!''

And fight they did.

I remember being in the Chamber that day. I still remember the sound of rioters banging on the doors and windows of this building, the sight of hundreds of them lined up outside, the disgusting display of Confederate flags. And the violence we saw that left 5 people dead and 139 law enforcement officers attacked.

So many shocking sights on January 6, 2021--a gallows was erected on the Capitol lawn and rioters attacking police officers with flagpoles bearing American flags or Trump flags.

One of the most painful images--and I am sure it was more painful to some than even to me--is a photo of a middle-age White man standing in the halls of our Capitol wearing a sweatshirt that read ``Camp Auschwitz.'' Below those repugnant words was another set of words: ``Work makes you free.'' That cruel slogan was emblazoned atop the black iron gates in Germany leading into the Auschwitz concentration camp. And one of the rioters--mobsters--on January 6 in the U.S. Capitol boldly wore that shirt.

These are the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6. They weren't Patriots by any measure. Included in their ranks were neo- Nazis, White supremacists, and clear enemies of the United States. They were incited by the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, at a rally earlier that day, and his allies in Congress, like that Congresswoman I mentioned earlier, were party to the incitement as well.

I agree with those who have said that an insurrection without consequences--without even an examination--is a dress rehearsal for the next insurrection. That is why we cannot sweep January 6 and the events that led to it under the rug.

Incendiary rhetoric, especially from the mouths or the keyboards of elected officials, has a cost.

Comparing mask requirements in a pandemic to the Holocaust has a cost as well. It belittles the worst genocide in the history of the world. And it encourages the kinds of anti-Semitic attacks we have seen in recent days and weeks, like the vandalism in my home State at the synagogue in Skokie, IL.

Baselessly claiming that the Presidential election of last year was stolen and repeating that lie has a cost. It undermines the faith in our government and legitimizes a radical, anti-government movement that aims to overthrow this government.

It is time for us to tally up the costs, understand how the January 6 attack on our democracy happened and who incited it, and that investigation should not be a matter of controversy. It is part of our obligation, is it not? By our oath of office to defend this Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic? Future generations are counting on us to record in detail what did happen on January 6. And we ought to do it on a bipartisan basis.

But why is it necessary? With all of the videotapes and all of the photos and all of the statements of 400-plus people already arrested, why do we need to keep asking questions about that day? Because just 2 weeks ago, two different Republican Congressmen proclaimed that those who were in the Capitol that day were somehow peaceful patriots. That was the phrase that was used--peaceful patriots. Another one talked about them and believed the videotapes proved they were just orderly tourists--orderly tourists. Attacking police officers; five people died; crashing through the windows and doors; breaking down offices; desecrating this Chamber with their antics captured on videotape, and we have all seen them. Orderly tourists? Not by any measure.

We ought to investigate this on a bipartisan basis. Several Republican Senators have agreed. Thirty-five Members of the House Republican caucus thought so as well. Surely, all of us can appreciate the importance of working together to investigate why, for the first time in history, America was challenged when we were in the process of the peaceful transfer of power.

Here is the thing that I don't understand. Several of us in leadership were asked to leave the Capitol complex and go to a separate place. The identity of that location is kept confidential and private. But it was an interesting gathering of Democratic and Republican leaders in the wake of the January 6 insurrection which was underway as we were taken to the separate location.

And I looked around at the Democratic as well as the Republican leaders from the Senate and the House who were gathered, and it was clear to me--they say they felt the same feelings of anger and outrage that this mob had desecrated this building. And they were determined-- we were all determined--that the mob would not have the last word. We were determined to return to this Capitol that same day and finish our work counting the electoral college votes that declared Joe Biden President of the United States.

Calls were being made in every direction to police, to the military, to political leaders: Resecure this Capitol. Make certain that you remove those people who were responsible for the violence and insurrection we have seen. Let us get back to our work. Let us prove to the American people that the mob didn't have the last word.

I saw that bipartisan determination, and I felt damn good about it. Of all the differences we have had, of all the debate we have had, January 6, that afternoon, Democratic and Republican leaders were standing shoulder to shoulder, passing cellphones back and forth, and speaking to our leaders, talking about getting back into this Capitol and throwing that mob out. And it happened.

By 8 o'clock that evening, we were back on the floor of the U.S. Senate. By 2:30, we were gone, racing through the exit doors. At 8 o'clock, we were back to prove that they didn't have the last word. But, sadly, we know now they may have the last word because the call for a bipartisan commission to investigate this January 6 event and to put on the record exactly what happened is being opposed on a partisan basis.

There ought to be 100 Senate votes for investigating this attack and making a clear record for history so that those who mock the danger of the moment by calling this mob a peaceful, patriotic mob, or calling the members orderly tourists don't have the last word; yet we may not even have 60 votes today when the measure is called. Why? Let's get down to basics here.

Many of the Republican Members are afraid of the man who incited this mob. They are afraid of the former President and what he will say of them if we call for an investigation. They are afraid of Donald Trump. As a result, they are refusing to let this Commission move forward. Are they worried that this investigation into what happened on January 6 will hurt Republicans in next year's election? I think the position they are taking opposing an investigation will hurt them.

The events of that date are not fodder for political campaigns, really. They are a stain on our history. If we ignore them or allow the history of that day to be rewritten by deniers, shame on them.

The events of January 6 deserve and demand careful, thorough, and principled examination. That is why the independent Commission we are proposing is modeled after the same investigatory body that was created after 9/11. It will be led by 10 commissioners, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Together, they would be called on to produce a definitive account of what happened and led to January 6, 2021. This is not an opportunity to score political points; it is an opportunity to score national unity and reconciliation.

When Senator McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, announced his opposition to this Commission last week, he said: ``It's not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation yet another commission can lay on top of the existing efforts by law enforcement and Congress.''

My response to Senator McConnell is this, respectfully: The public servants who lead this Commission will be charged with a different set of responsibilities than law enforcement and Members of Congress. The investigations being led by intelligence officials and members of law enforcement are criminal investigations. They will determine how the individuals who participated in the insurrection should be held legally accountable. And the ongoing investigation in Congress have largely been focused on our government's response to the violence of January 6, not to what provoked it.

The Commission we are considering today is different. It will be comprehensive by design, evenly divided on a partisan basis. It will examine all of the factors that inspired that riotous mob. And this Commission isn't just about uncovering truth. It goes back to the point I made opening this statement. This Commission is designed to honor the police officers who defended us and defended this Capitol on January 6, some of whom gave their lives in the process.

That letter from the police officers to us is a reminder that we owe them the same loyalty and the same dedication they give to us every single day. Dismissing this January 6 Commission and the gravity of this responsibility, sadly, does not honor the police officers who are prepared to give their lives for us every single day.

Here is a chance for my Republican colleagues to prove that they really care about law enforcement. So many speeches on the floor of the Senate in the last several weeks have derided and criticized people for calling on defunding the police. Well, I would tell them that the failure to create a Commission to objectively determine what happened when so many of our police officers were attacked on January 6, that doesn't defund the police; failing to create that Commission, sadly, defames them. And that is unacceptable by any standard.

Isn't it time we stand with the police officers and their request for this Commission? Isn't it time we make sure that heroes like Brian Sicknick and his family know that he did not die in vain? He paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect us. Let's honor it by supporting the creation of an independent Commission. His family, and all of America, deserve nothing less than the truth

Memorial Day

Mr. PRESIDENT, this Memorial Day weekend, we pause to remember and honor the patriots who paid for our freedoms with their lives. They fell in battles from Bunker Hill to the Bulge to Baghdad. Today, they are laid to rest throughout the world--from national cemeteries and other hallowed grounds in America to the cliffs of Normandy and far beyond.

Nearly 20 years ago, a new generation of American service members went off to fight a war in an ancient land. They traveled to Afghanistan to hunt down the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and the government that had given him sanctuary. Few imagined then that Afghanistan would become America's longest war.

There are Americans serving today in Afghanistan who were not yet born on 9/11. There are veterans who served in Afghanistan in the early years who have seen their own children go off to fight in that war.

President Biden recently announced the last U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be home by September 11th--the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America that spurred the war.

I support the President's decision. While there are legitimate concerns about protecting social gains made in Afghanistan, and we must bring home Americans detained in Afghanistan, like Mark Frerichs from my State, it is time for America's longest war to end.

On this final Memorial Day with U.S. troops in Afghanistan, we remember especially the 2,312 U.S. servicemembers who died in that war and the families they leave behind.

SSG Jacob Frazier is one of those fallen heroes. His friends called him Jake.

He grew up in Ohio, and in St. Charles, the son of a Marine who fought in Vietnam, and the eldest of five siblings.

He was 18 years old in 1997--just a few months out of high school-- when he enlisted in the Illinois Air National Guard and was assigned to the 169th Air Support Operations Squadron of the 182nd Airlift Wing in Peoria.

In 2003, he was in Afghanistan, working alongside Army Special Forces. His job was to call in air cover to protect troops on the ground. On March 29th of that year, Jake Frazier and Special Forces soldiers were returning from a meeting with Tribal leaders in the Helmand province when their convoy was attacked by Taliban fighters. Staff Sergeant Frazier and a Special Forces solider were killed.

Jake Frazier was the 75th American service member--and the first Illinois service member--to die in combat in Afghanistan. He was 24 years old and engaged to be married.

I want to tell you, also, about another fallen hero from an earlier war. Army CPL Asa Vance grew up in Decatur, IL, one of 14 siblings. His friends called him Bud.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1950 at the age of 18 and was sent to Korea. On November 24 GEN MacArthur ordered what would become known as the ``Home by Christmas'' offensive. U.N. forces, he said, would push Chinese troops out of Korea, reunite North and South Korea, and be home by Christmas. What happened was very different. Three days after MacArthur's pronouncement, 120,000 Chinese troops surrounded 30,000 U.N troops near North Korea's Chosin Reservoir. The next 2 weeks brought some of the most brutal combat in modern warfare history. On December 2, at the height of the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, CPL Asa Vance was killed. He was 18 years old. For nearly 70 years, his remains stayed in North Korea.

Following a 2018 meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the United States, however, North Korea returned 55 boxes of remains of U.S. servicemembers killed during war. DNA tests ultimately proved that Corporal Vance's remains were among them. Two weeks ago, this son of smalltown Illinois finally returned home. All 13 of his siblings had already passed on. But Asa Vance was not alone.

As an honor guard of police officers, sheriffs deputies, State troopers and members of the Illinois Patriot Honor Guard led his remains from St. Louis's Lambert International Airport to a memorial service in his hometown of Decatur and onto his final resting at Camp Butler National Cemetery in Springfield. Hundreds of folks who never knew CPL Asa Vance came out to pay their respects. They stood on street corners and highway overpasses with their hands on their hearts. Many held small American flags, some wiped away tears.

Archibald MacLeish was a son of Illinois, a poet laureate of the United States, and a soldier in World War I. Decades after that war, he wrote about the soldiers who do not come home:

The young dead soldiers do not speak.

Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:

Who has not heard them?

They have a silence that speaks for them at night and when

the clock counts.

They say: We were young. We have died. Remember us.

They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours,

They will mean what you make them.

We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.

SSG Jake Frazier's father, Jim Frazier, honors his son's sacrifice by working with other Gold Star families who have lost loved ones in wars.

On this Memorial Day, we would do well to ask: How can we honor those who gave all for our Nation? How can give meaning to their deaths?

In addition to keeping our promises to their families and to the veterans who returned home, let us honor our fallen heroes by never taking for granted the freedoms for which they died. Let us also remember that our political differences must never make us enemies, and let us search together in good faith to protect this Nation we all love.

Economic Recovery

Mr. President, let's turn the clocks back to the end of 2019. A novel

coronavirus is detected in the city of Wuhan. Little is known about the pathogen, aside from the fact that it is highly contagious and magnitudes more lethal than the flu. In just 3 months--3 months--that virus causes a global pandemic, the likes of which none of us has seen in our lifetimes. It grinds the global economy to a halt. Stay-at-home orders become the new normal, and supply chains are disrupted at nearly every stage in the production process.

Tragically, because of delay and denial by the former administration, the United States experiences the world's highest rates of COVID infections and deaths for all of 2020. Then comes a new year and a new administration. Today, thanks to the Biden administration's competence and the scientific community's relentless pursuit of a vaccine, America is finally turning a corner in the fight against COVID-19. But the damage was deep, and our scars are still fresh. While the coronavirus raged, people lost their loved ones, and millions lost their livelihoods.

Now, as we restart the engine of our economy, our Republican colleagues would have you believe that the reason America's economy hasn't bounced back fully is because American workers are lazy; they would rather collect unemployment benefits than work. Republicans would have you believe that the American people would rather binge-watch ``The Office'' than return to it. They must not know many American workers well--because Americans work longer and harder than workers in nearly every advanced economy. And for the workers who have been laid off over the past year, unemployment assistance has been lifesaving.

Here is what enhanced unemployment benefits have meant for my constituents in Illinois. One Chicago resident reached out to my office, saying that ``my sister has been out of work since the pandemic hit Chicago . . . her husband works a full-time job during the day five days a week and cleans offices three to four nights a week just to make ends meet . . . unemployment assistance is essential.''

That constituent wrote to me out of concern for her family, not herself--her sister, her brother-in-law, and her nieces and nephews. Tell me, does that father--working a full-time day job and cleaning offices at night--sound lazy to you? Does that family sound like they are coasting through this pandemic on Easy Street? Not to me, they don't.

Another constituent wrote to me out of concern for his wife. Because of the pandemic, she was laid off from the job she had for 20 years. He wrote, ``She is actively looking for work but so far there are hardly any openings in her field.''

That sentiment was echoed by another constituent, who wrote, ``My 35 years of experience and outdated master's degree in marketing mean nothing in this job market.''

I also heard from a single mother of three who lost her job as a banquet server due to the pandemic. She has emptied her savings and is 3 months behind on mortgage payments. She worries that at 58 years old, it will be difficult to find new work.

And one more story, my office received a letter from a 63-year-old woman living with an autoimmune disease. She thought the job she had before COVID-19 would be her last job ever. But then she got laid off. Now, she relies on SNAP benefits to put food on the table and on Medicaid for the doctors and medicines she needs to control her disease. She wrote, ``What a horrible thing to rely on the government, but we have no choice.'' Let me say that again: ``We have no choice.''

Do these sound like calculating con artists or loafs trying to scam Uncle Sam for a quick buck? These are Americans, our neighbors, and they are barely making their way through an unprecedented public health crisis. And they made it because of unemployment assistance. And jobless benefits don't just help the workers and families who receive them. They help communities. They keep money circulating during hard times. People are spending their enhanced unemployment benefits on groceries, rent, mortgage, and other necessities.

Now, as we begin to recover, let's not bash the workers who have borne the brunt of this pandemic. Let's focus on what is actually holding our economy back. Let's look at the facts. On Thursday, the Department of Labor published a report showing that new claims for unemployment insurance have fallen to their lowest level since the pandemic began. As more and more people get vaccinated, as we start bringing this virus under control and the world starts opening up, it is clear that Americans want to get back to work. They want to earn a living. So what is preventing more Americans from returning to the workforce?

For one, people are still concerned about safety. It was only 2 weeks ago--May 13, to be exact--when the CDC announced that it is now safe for fully vaccinated people to take off their masks and resume activities that they had put on hold--May 13. The jobs report that our Republican colleagues have been so eager to cite as proof that unemployment benefits are keeping people from working was based on data from early April. Remember what was happening in April? Lethal new COVID variants were tearing through the U.K., India, and other nations, and they were starting to show up in this Nation, too. Scientists weren't yet sure whether the COVID vaccines would protect against the new variants. Thankfully, we now have an answer. But back in April, is it any wonder that some workers might have been uncertain about returning to work under those conditions?

And then there are the continued challenges facing caregivers in America.

Many parents--especially mothers--of young children still can't return to work because so many schools and childcare programs remain closed. You can't leave little kids home alone. Harry Truman used to say that what he really needed was a one-handed economist because all of the economists he knew told him, ``On one hand, this . . . and on the other hand, that.'' A new report coauthored by an economist who formerly worked in the Obama administration questions to what extent the lack of childcare is preventing parents from returning to the workforce. I expect to hear a lot about this report from our Republican colleagues.

So I would point out that Mr. Furman and scores of other economists continue to warn that our failure to invest in high-quality, affordable childcare will undoubtedly impede America's future economic growth and global competitiveness. There is no ``other hand'' about that. If we want to cultivate the world's most educated, skilled workforce--a goal I am sure we all share--we need to ensure our children are cared for-- because cultivating that workforce begins before kindergarten. Yet the United States is the only advanced economy in the world that doesn't guarantee parental leave for working parents.

And we are one of the only advanced economies that doesn't provide some form of universal early childhood education. If you want to have a child in America, guess what? You are on your own. This is a structural problem in our economy that has existed for decades. The pandemic just brought it into sharp relief.

The pandemic has also highlighted another structural problem for our economy. While last month saw big job growth in the leisure and hospitality industries, as restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops started opening back up, those gains are just one part of the story. Jobs in manufacturing declined. Supply chain disruptions may account for some of these losses.

But there is a bigger problem. Employers in high-skilled manufacturing companies have had difficulty for years filling positions. As a nation, we simply are not doing enough to train American workers for the manufacturing jobs of the 21st century, jobs like assembling electric car batteries or wind turbines. Workers who want to make a career change and learn these skills often have to take on thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars in student debt. We treat worker training as a personal problem rather than a collective good from which we all benefit.

As I said, America's childcare crisis and a shortage of high-skilled workers existed long before COVID. Enhanced unemployment benefits have been an economic lifeline for millions of Americans families during this pandemic.

Severing that lifeline prematurely won't solve the long-term structural challenges facing our economy. It will only make things harder for already struggling families.

But we can address the challenge of childcare and take steps to help workers develop new skills. In fact, President Biden and Senate Democrats have a plan to do it. It starts by investing in our children.

With the American Families Plan, we can make childcare more accessible and affordable, like nearly every other advanced economy in the world.

With the American Jobs Plan, we can invest in workers. It would direct billions of dollars toward helping dislocated workers develop new skills and secure stable, well-paid jobs building wind turbines or electric vehicles or making other American-made goods that will be in high demand for years to come. The American Jobs Plan and the American Family Plan are blueprints for building a sustainable, prosperous economy that will create good jobs for decades to come. I commend President Biden for meeting with my Republican colleague in hopes of moving the country forward and urge Republicans to work with Democrats to achieve these shared goals instead of rejecting our proposal immediately.

We can remain the strongest, most dynamic economy in the world and make the 21st century another American century, but we have precious little time and a lot of competition. We can't waste that time wagging our fingers at Americans who are struggling or ignoring the structural challenges that have existed for decades and have only gotten worse during the pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan saved our economy. Now, let's build it back better than ever before with the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) is necessarily absent.

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

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

Mr. President, I have 8 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 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

The Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on a nomination.

Committee on Armed Services

The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Subcommittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 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 Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 9:45 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 Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 11 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 10:15 a.m., to conduct a hearing on a nomination.

Committee on the Judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it recess until 9 a.m., Friday, May 28; that following the prayer and pledge, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; and finally, that all recess count postcloture on the Schumer substitute amendment No. 1502.

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand in recess under the previous order.

Madam President, I rise at this moment to oppose the amendment that is going to be offered by my colleague and friend from Louisiana Senator Kennedy. This amendment would endanger the lives of thousands, if not millions, of innocent people and prolong this terrible coronavirus pandemic. I am sure that is the not the intention of the Senator from Louisiana, but that is what his effort would do. His amendment would gut a critical tool to help stop the spread of the pandemic globally, as well as stem the economic fallout that would hurt us here in America.

The International Monetary Fund has a fund with the ability to release money in what are called Special Drawing Rights, foreign exchange reserve assets that it maintains. This can be exchanged by member nations for hard currency in times of crisis. This is exactly what was done in 2009 amid the global economic crisis and what is being considered now amid the pandemic and related economic downturn.

The amendment, which I am going to offer, has the support of American business, labor, and global health, and poverty groups--for good reason. The Special Drawing Rights are a no cost way for Americans to help poor nations buy the vaccines they need to save lives and to stop the spread of this coronavirus. And it would also help aid in economic recovery.

Isn't that exactly what we should be doing at this moment?

This pandemic doesn't know any boundaries. This virus doesn't pick and choose good nations and bad nations. Our ability to protect the hard-fought gains against the pandemic here in the United States, after all that we have been through, ultimately depends on getting it under control around the world so variants and strains don't attack us anew.

I know what we have been through. If we ignore the reality, the fact is, this pandemic came roaring at us from a city in China that most Americans have never heard of, and now we have to decide whether we are going to take it on directly.

You don't tell the fire department to not help with the fire at your neighbor's house at a time of crisis. Sadly, that is exactly what the Kennedy amendment would do.

And the one part that he is missing that is so critical is to take it or leave it on the Special Drawing Rights. You can't pick and choose the Nations that might or might not receive the benefits to buy vaccines.

We can use other mechanisms and persuasion to achieve that goal, but I am sorry to say that Senator Kennedy's approach would cut off the Special Drawing Rights for friendly nations as well as those who are not friendly. And that to me is shortsighted.

The way the IMF Special Drawing Rights process works, we cannot dictate which countries will receive the benefits. Because of our majority position at the IMF, we either stop the Special Drawing Rights completely or let them go forward.

So the United States should stand for public health, stand for people to be spared the suffering and death of this coronavirus, and move forward with humanitarian aid that will help the world.

The Treasury Department is working with our allies to halt the ability of any rogue nation that might want to exchange Special Drawing Rights for hard currency and pushing transparency measures for how any Special Drawing Rights are spent.

As such, I am offering a substitute amendment that makes it clear that we want to make certain that nations do not misuse these funds. But unlike the Kennedy amendment, it would move forward and provide resources for countries desperately in need of vaccines to save lives.

I further support the Treasury's efforts to make sure that the SDR allocation is used to help to stem the pandemic.

I urge my colleagues to vote for my substitute amendment and to oppose the amendment being offered by the Senator from Louisiana.

Madam President, do I have 1 minute?

These Special Drawing Rights of the International Monetary Fund are the only way the poorest nations on Earth could have the money to buy vaccines to save their people. That is what it boils down to.

But Senator Kennedy says: Well, some of this money might get into the wrong hands.

I pray that it doesn't. I pray that they administer it properly, and I think they will. But how would you like to have on your conscience the fact that our amendment vote on the Senate floor is the end of the funds for vaccines for some of the poorest countries on Earth? I would not want that on my conscience.

Support my amendment, which makes it clear where the Americans do stand when it comes to this issue.

Vote on Amendment No. 2014

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, there is one fundamental flaw in what you have just heard from Senator Kennedy, and let me read it to you:

The United States retains the right to refuse to purchase

special drawing rights from any [country].

It is voluntary--it is up to us to do it--and we don't purchase them from a lot of countries because of that.

Let me tell you further that all we can do is stop the special drawing rights which are providing our currency to countries to buy vaccines. Why do we care whether some country far away had a vaccine? Well, how far away was Wuhan, China?

We have to be in this together to try to put an end to this pandemic crisis. Vote to defeat the Kennedy amendment.

Vote on Amendment No. 1710

I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin) is necessarily absent.

Madam President.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the remaining votes tonight be 10-minute votes.

I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin) is necessarily absent.

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

Mr. President, I have 10 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 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Environment and Public Works

The Committee on Environment and Public Works is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 9:45 a.m., to conduct a hearing nominations and pending legislation.

Committee on Finance

The Committee on Finance is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations.

Committee on Indian Affairs

The Committee on Indian Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on the Judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations.

Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 1:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Veterans' Affairs

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations and pending legislation.

Select Committee on Intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a closed hearing.

Subcommittee on Strategic Forces

The Subcommittee on Strategic Forces of the Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 4:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Subcommittee on National Parks

The Subcommittee on National Parks of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business.

Mr. President, when I listened to the speech by Senator McConnell, the Republican leader, about Afghanistan, it transported me back in history to October of 2002, when I was a U.S. Senator representing the State of Illinois, just days away from a reelection campaign, and we faced a historic vote here in the U.S. Senate. The vote was whether or not we would invade Iraq; whether the United States would give the President the authority to send American forces to Iraq. There were 23 votes against that invasion. I was 1 of them, 22 Democrats and 1 Republican.

I can remember that night so well. It was late, past midnight, when the vote was finally taken. But we had previously taken another vote, and although I had voted against the invasion of Iraq, I saw the invasion of Afghanistan as a different story. We believed that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, responsible for 9/11, were in Afghanistan. And the story was--the story line, and I bought it completely--if we don't tell people like Osama bin Laden that there is a price to pay for attacking America and killing 3,000 innocent people, who are we, and who will be the next attacker?

So I voted. I voted for the invasion of Afghanistan and believed that was the right thing to do at that moment in history. That vote passed unanimously here in the Senate. There was only one dissenting vote in the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California. Virtually everyone else--everyone else, both political parties--voted for the invasion of Afghanistan.

I will tell you, there was not a single Senator or Congressman who would have stood up that evening on that vote and announced ``I am prepared to vote for the longest war in American history,'' because that is what we ended up voting for.

It was our belief that if we came into Afghanistan, we could stop using this country as a haven for terrorism and we could help escort them into the 21st century.

Well, after 20 years, after thousands of Americans gave their lives and thousands more were critically injured, after the spending of trillions of dollars in Afghanistan, we learned a bitter lesson. Our willingness was not enough. The people in Afghanistan have to be prepared to embrace change for it to happen.

We had to create an army in Afghanistan, a security force. It virtually didn't exist. The warlords had their military, and they were for sale, usually, to the highest bidder. And we were trying to create a national security force. We were trying to create a nation, which was quite a challenge.

I am not going to dwell on what happened, the bitter disappointments. But when I hear Senators come to the floor saying, ``Isn't it a shame that we are leaving Afghanistan? They are going to descend into chaos and many, many problems,'' my question to them is: So what would you have us do? Continue

with the troops risking their lives in Afghanistan for another 20 years, for another trillion dollars?

Not me. I believe we have reached a point where we have to do everything we can to help Afghanistan really progress into the 21st century. Yes, I feel a personal obligation to the men and women who risked their lives for our troops.

For those who are opposed to or unaccepting of the notion of refugees coming to the United States, for goodness' sake, let us have the character to stand behind those Afghan men and women who risked their lives for our soldiers and who are now probably marked by the Taliban for death themselves. Yes, I would open our doors to them. They gave their lives for our men and women, and we should never forget it. I hope my friends on the other side of the aisle who have strong feelings about immigration would at least realize that these individuals are critically important to our role in history and our message to the rest of the world when we seek their assistance.

Mr. President, are we now moving to a cloture vote on Kristen Clarke?

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes equally divided for debate in support and opposition to Ms. Clarke.

Mr. President, it is significant that on this day, this anniversary of the death of George Floyd, that we are considering one of the key appointments in the Biden administration to be Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to consider the historic importance of this moment and to support this well-deserving and experienced person to serve our Nation in this capacity. I urge my colleagues to vote aye.