Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 471.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 487.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration and that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 488.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, that the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 497, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, that the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn to then convene for pro forma sessions only, with no business being conducted on the following dates and times and that following each pro forma session, the Senate adjourn until the next pro forma session: Monday, January 24, at 1 p.m. and Thursday, January 27, at 10 a.m. I further ask that when the Senate adjourns on Thursday, January 27, it next convene at 3 p.m., Monday, January 31; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Brennan nomination--I would add that Brennan is from Ohio--and that the cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m.

Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of Senator Merkley from Oregon.

Madam President, I would like to go back a little further in history than last year's warmed-over conspiracy theories that we just heard my friend from Iowa talk about.

I so appreciated Senator Bennet's discussion of sort of the history of voting rights and the history of this body. The American public certainly doesn't know what cloture means. The American public really doesn't know all that much about the filibuster either.

But go back a few decades. The filibuster was used to suppress the vote. The filibuster was used by many people in my political party-- back when too many Democrats were on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of civil rights--was used by southern segregationists. It was finally overcome by some northern Republicans, with a whole bunch of northern Democrats.

But think about what else the filibuster has been used for. The filibuster was used in the 1970s and 1980s to protect Big Tobacco in Kentucky. The filibuster was used to protect Big Oil. Now, it is used to protect Wall Street. The filibuster is used to protect big tech companies. The filibuster is used in case after case after case to protect big drug companies. So we know that the whole purpose of the filibuster has been to protect the most affluent, the most privileged, the wealthiest corporate interests in this society that just get their way in this body day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Now, this weekend--and many referred to this--we honored Dr. Martin Luther King. We heard a lot of words extolling his legacy. Those words from many who are for whatever reason not supporting voting rights today--those words sounded pretty empty.

Few people told the story of Dr. King in Memphis, why Dr. King was in Memphis.

In early February of 1968, sanitation workers in Memphis--some of the most abused, taken-advantage-of workers in our country; mostly Black workers doing a dirty, difficult job in a segregated city with a very racist mayor, who let that be known in the ensuing months--these sanitation workers were not even given rest periods, particularly when they were in White neighborhoods. There was nowhere to go when they were picking up the garbage in White neighborhoods. There was no place to go for the rest periods.

Two workers in early February, in a rainstorm, got in their garbage trucks to protect themselves from the rain for a few minutes. The garbage truck malfunctioned. Those two workers--underpaid, with no real benefits and no insurance and no help for their families--those two workers were killed.

Dr. King went to Memphis the first time to help lead that strike, to join the striking workers. The second time he went back, that is when he was assassinated.

Dr. King understood that the dignity of work was intertwined with voting rights. Worker rights and voting rights always went together. Dr. King insisted that no job is menial if it pays a decent wage. Those sanitations workers, as I said--low wages, no benefits, no health insurance, no retirement--none of that--and few days off.

Dr. King said:

What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an

integrated lunch counter if he doesn't earn enough money to

buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee?

He talked about the dignity of work--a term mostly popularized by him--and he said no work is menial if it pays an adequate wage.

Until all workers have dignity in the job, Dr. King's work will remain unfinished. We can't get there if workers cannot vote. I don't mean just workers who put on a tie and sit at a desk; the vote should be open to everyone--I mean all workers, whether you punch a clock, whether you swipe a badge, whether you work for tips, whether you are on salary, whether you are raising children, whether you are taking care of aging parents.

We know who powers our economy. It is workers. It is not the rich donors and the corporate contributors who fund the politicians who are pushing for gerrymandering and voter suppression in the takeovers of local election borders; it is workers.

I think about what we did in the Senate last week--with some difficulty, but ultimately, it worked. We unanimously passed a resolution honoring the custodians and the maintenance workers. We had talked often about the police officers, some of whom gave their lives and dozens who were injured, all who were courageous. We honored them, as we should. We also, last week, though, passed a resolution honoring custodial workers and maintenance workers. They get little recognition. They work for too low pay.

Last January, 1 year ago, these workers--largely Black and Brown workers, many of them immigrants--were forced to clean feces off the wall, clean up after the destruction of the White supremacists, and restore dignity to our Capitol after domestic terrorists ransacked it. The insurrectionists destroyed; the Black and Brown workers cleaned up. The carpenters and the maintenance workers and the painters union members all rebuilt. Last week, we came together to honor their service. They deserve more than words, more than gratitude.

So often, they and other working people don't have much of a voice in this country. They don't have the high-priced lobbyists who come here. Many of you have looked down the hall and seen, in front of Senator McConnell's office--you have seen the lobbyists lined up, who always seem to get what they come for. Workers don't have corporate lobbyists. They aren't going on campaign donor retreats. But workers have the vote or should have the vote.

The voting booth is where all of us are supposed to have an equal voice. The voting booth is where workers are supposed to be able to go to hold the wealthy and the powerful accountable. So it is not surprising that politicians who pass corporate tax cuts--the same politicians who do the handouts for the wealthiest 1 percent--don't want lots of workers to vote.

We know whom voter suppression and election subversion is aimed at. It is at the parents working two jobs to pay the rent and make sure their kids have a decent meal, with no control over their work lives and their work hours if they don't have a collective bargaining agreement. It is students. It is people who don't get a day off. It is seniors in nursing homes. It is home healthcare workers who care for them. So often, these are women of color, working the graveyard shift after coming straight from their second job.

We know whose votes these politicians want to throw out after they are cast. We know which cities the former President went after. One is Philadelphia, PA, Senator Casey; and Atlanta, GA, Senators Ossoff and Warnock. What do they have in common? They are diverse places with a whole lot of Black and Brown workers who cast ballots that the rich and powerful don't like.

Ultimately, as others have said, it comes down to this: These politicians want to cherry-pick their voters rather than the voters picking their elected officials. Through gerrymandering, through voter suppression, and through meddling in local election boards, politicians want to pick and choose whose votes are counted.

President Trump carried my State twice by 8 points. My State, though, is about a 53, 54, 46, 47--slightly Republican State now. For the last decade, the Members of Congress in my State--12 Republicans and 4 Democrats in 2012, in 2014, in 2016, in 2018, and 2020. None of that changed. Not one of those districts changed because Republicans, with their corruption and with their skill at drawing maps, drew those maps in ways that there were no real fair elections.

We know whose votes they don't want to count. It is the votes of the low-paid and the overlooked; the votes of workers who power this country yet don't have much power; the votes of people who might hold politicians accountable, who might demand fewer tax cuts for rich people and an increase in the child tax credit and the earned-income tax credit, the largest tax cut for families in our Nation's history.

Ninety percent of families in Colorado, in Georgia, in New Jersey, in Ohio, and all over this country--90 percent of families with children get at least a $3,000 tax cut because of what we did in this body when we said: No more Republican freight trains carrying tax cuts down the track. We are going to give tax cuts to moderate-income people and working families.

The votes of people who hold politicians accountable, the votes of people who understand the dignity of work--if you say you support American workers, you support their right to vote.

I ask my colleagues of both parties to come together to protect the right of every American to have a voice in this country no matter who you are, no matter where you work, no matter where you live.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to print the following letters into the Congressional Record.

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

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

I thank the Presiding Officer from Minnesota.

Mr. President, I appreciate my friend from Texas and his comments, but I have trouble following some of them.

When he came to the floor after the deserved credit for the Trump 2017-2018 tax cut for the rich--70 percent of the benefits went to the 1 percent--he did take credit for his work in the Finance Committee. He should take credit for that, but that is what drove this hole in the deficit where the rich got richer.

I remember during that--and the Presiding Officer was not here at the time, but he can still see it here.

You can look out the window, and you can see Senator McConnell's office there and the lobbyists lined up. You should have seen it back when Senator Cornyn was talking about this tax cut--this tax cut for the rich--when they made these promises: You know, if you give tax cuts to really rich people and corporations, it will trickle down, and we will all do better. They will hire more people, and they will raise wages.

Well, we know what they did. In fact, they just announced another round of it--a whole bunch of stock buybacks for the executives. So we know what happened during those years. Profits went up for corporations, and stock markets soared. Executive compensation exploded through the roof, and wages for most people in Mansfield, GA, and Mansfield, OH, and Marietta, GA, and Marietta, OH, stayed flat. We know that. That is why Build Back Better makes sense. It begins to put money in people's pockets.

And what my friend from Texas--and we sit across from each other in the Finance Committee and work together on some issues, and I appreciate what he has done on some other bills. But what he didn't explain is why every one of them opposes the child tax credit. On the child tax credit, we know a number of things. I have been working on this since 2013. It started with not a lot of support, but it built huge support by this year, early this year. Sitting at this desk, on March 6, I voted--as did the Presiding Officer from Georgia in the first really big vote he cast as a Member of the Senate, in the majority--for the child tax credit.

Two different times, every single Republican voted no. Every single Democrat voted yes. Do you know what that meant? It meant that starting in July, when we got it set up, 90 percent of the families in Georgia, 90 percent of the families in Ohio who have children under the age of 18 got at least a $3,000-a-year tax cut.

Think about that. There are families who struggle with paying rent. Twenty-five percent of renters in this country before the pandemic paid more than half their income in rent. Think of the pressure those families are under if, at the end of every month, they cobble together $700 to pay their rent. They get a $3,000 tax cut. The family who is struggling to pay for diapers or childcare, especially--the cost of childcare has exploded.

Whether it is Metro Atlanta or Metro Columbus, OH, or whether it is smalltown Milledgeville or smalltown Shelby, OH, families struggle with childcare, and this $300 a month per child--or $250, depending on the age of the children--makes a huge difference in those families.

One father said: You know, for the first time, I have money now to buy my daughter fast-pitch softball equipment.

A mother said to me: I have money now. For the first time, I can send my son for a week to summer camp and buy school supplies in the fall.

And, as I said, for diapers and other expenses for infants, it makes all the difference in the world.

I expect the Presiding Officer, I hope, has a long career in this body. I don't know if he will ever get the opportunity to vote on anything as big as what we did in March with the recovery act and what we are about to do with Build Back Better. For me, they are the highlights of my career.

I hope the Presiding Officer has a lot of years in front of him, but this is the most consequential thing this Congress has done, not just to fight poverty, lift poor kids and struggling parents who are working so hard to raise kids and balance two jobs and all that, not just to help kids get out of poverty but to make life easier.

As I said, 90 percent of the families who have children under 18 in Georgia, in Ohio, and every State in between are going to get a $3,000- a-year tax cut. That alone is so important.

I wish my colleague from Texas would address why they all vote no. They have had two chances. It sounds like they are going to take their third chance and vote no again.

I don't understand it. Is it that the lobbyists who line up in Senator McConnell's office have some weird philosophy that markets always know better? Is it just that they don't really care about helping kids? I don't know what their logic is. I just know what our logic is, and it will make our country better.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Will Sheehan, a fellow in my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the 117th Congress.

Madam President, I learned a long time ago, I never want to give a speech after that, but certainly I agree with what Senator Warnock said, and the Senate schedule kind of made me do this.

I want to thank Senator Warnock, who is one of the principals in our legislation, Senator Bennet, Senator Booker, and Senator Kaine for their leadership and their work to deliver what is, pure and simple, the largest tax cut for working families ever.

Tomorrow, for the sixth month in a row--July 15, August 15, September, October, November. Tomorrow is the sixth month in a row that Ohio parents, 92 percent of parents in Ohio with children under 18, will again see $250 or $300 in their bank accounts or in their mailbox per child. If they have two infant children, they will get $600.

This is the most consequential thing we have done in decades to make people's hard work pay off. We know how hard parents work at their jobs, at raising kids. Any parent knows how much work it is to take care of children, especially young children. It has only gotten harder over the last couple of years. Often, that hard work doesn't pay off like it should. We have seen what has happened over the past decades. Productivity has gone up; the stock market has soared; executive compensation is stratospheric; but wages have been flat.

Workers' paychecks are finally--finally, during this administration and this Senate, this Congress--finally, because of the work we are doing, workers' paychecks are starting to go up. But after decades of stagnation, we have a long way to go.

Meanwhile, parents know how expensive it is to raise kids. Healthcare, school lunches, diapers, clothes, school supplies, braces, sports fees, camp fees--the list never seems to end.

Of course, one of the biggest, if not the biggest expense for so many families is childcare. Parents feel like they are trapped. They can't keep up no matter how hard they work. They work more hours to provide for their family. They have to put their money right back into childcare. Sometimes the extra money in their paycheck doesn't even cover the extra daycare costs.

That is why Senators Booker and Kaine and Bennet and Warnock worked so hard to enact the child tax credit. As I said, the largest--it is a $3,000 tax cut so 92 percent of the families in my State with children get at least a $3,000 tax cut. It is the same in Virginia, same in New Jersey, the same in Georgia. It is about finally--finally--making parents' hard work pay off so they can keep up with the costs of raising a family.

I was talking to Senator Kaine, and I know he is going to say some of the same things. Let me share a handful of some really quick stories or comments that people have gone on our website and posted at the 15th of the month.

Kristen from Columbus says she is using this money to pay for ``daycare. For two kids it is $600 a week.''

Alex in Cleveland:

Every penny is going to daycare. 4 kids in daycare is

around $800/week.

CeCe said her tax cut helps her pay for daycare. She said:

Daycare is the same amount as my mortgage payment for 4

days a week! So this is so, so helpful!

Courtney from Southeast Ohio in Athens:

[S]lightly more than half the cost of part time daycare

tuition per month here in Athens--much appreciated help

getting kiddo back into childcare . . . keeping me and my

husband in the workforce.

Brittany said:

Daycare.

Ellie said:

Daycare.

They also mean parents can afford to work and can afford to keep up with all the extra costs of raising kids.

Katie in Akron:

Help[s] [to] pay for school supplies.

Caitlin:

Pay for preschool for my son.

Lyndsay:

Back to school clothes.

Fern:

It will pay for preschool for both of them and the rest is

going in a savings account for them.

Jennifer:

Put away for college tuition.

Melissa:

I used part of it to buy school uniform pieces for my 4-

year-old.

Maia:

Food and school supplies.

These parents are all working hard to provide for their families and raise their kids. They are working a whole lot harder than the CEOs and the hedge fund managers who it looks like, under Build Back Better, may continue to get some of their tax cuts--their tax preference, if you will. It is a lot harder for these workers than the CEOs and the hedge fund managers and the Swiss bank account holders who are always getting tax cuts from politicians in this building.

We all remember what happened. We can look down the hall. We have done that before and seen the lobbyists line up in front of Leader McConnell's office and line up in front of the politicians who always do their bidding with their tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations that outsource jobs. You know what they told us 4 years ago, when those tax cuts for the rich passed. They said: It is going to trickle down and help everybody else. We will hire more people, raise wages.

Of course, corporations didn't spend the money to raise wages. Of course, they didn't spend the money to lower prices. And then they blame everybody else for inflation. Of course, they spent it--no surprise here--with stock buybacks, and they are still at it today.

This year, without a single vote, not a single vote from Republicans in Congress--twice, every Democrat voting for it, a 51-to-50 vote-- twice we passed the child tax credit. It is a simple contrast: Whose side are you on? Do you want tax cuts for billionaires and corporations or tax cuts for working families?

We want tax cuts for working families, Americans from all over the country, from all kinds of backgrounds. Let's deliver that for them. Let's keep the largest tax cut for working families ever so that parents can have that peace of mind, can relieve some of their anxiety they face every month to pay the rent and pay the bills. They can have the peace of mind that the child tax credit will keep delivering money in their pockets through the holidays this year, into next year, into next year's holiday.

I yield the floor to Senator Booker.