Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print the following letter in the Congressional Record.

Mr. President, I have 9 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, March 10, 2021, at 2 p.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations.

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

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

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, March 10, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Foreign Relations

The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 10, 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 Wednesday, March 10, 2021, at 9:45 a.m., to conduct a hearing on a nomination.

Committee on Indian Affairs

The Committee on Indian Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, at 2:30 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, March 10, 2021, at 3 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Select Committee on Intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a closed briefing.

Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal

Courts

The Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and

Federal Courts of the Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, at 3 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Mr. President, today, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting another dedicated and talented public servant and a great Ohioan--my Congresswoman for the last 12 years--Marsha Fudge, to be our next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Congresswoman Fudge is a proud daughter of Ohio. She was born in Cleveland, grew up in Ohio, and graduated from the Ohio State University and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Congresswoman Fudge has a long and distinguished career serving our State in the Cleveland and Cuyahoga County courts and Cuyahoga County prosecutors' office, as chief of staff to the trailblazing Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and as mayor of Warrensville Heights, OH.

At HUD, Congresswoman Fudge will work to help protect our kids from lead poisoning, to restore the promise of fair housing, and to give communities the help and the resources that they need. It is a tall order. It is one she is poised to meet.

She brings to the job the unique and critical experience of serving as mayor for the kind of community that is either overlooked or outright preyed upon by Wall Street and by big investors. She understands we can't write off entire swaths of the country--whether it is a coal town in southeast Ohio or a historic industrial city like the one I grew up in, in Mansfield, or whether it is farm country around Lexington, OH, or whether it is an urban neighborhood on the East Side of Cleveland.

This champion of Cleveland understands that. She saw up close how lenders preyed on families and the foreclosure crisis that followed. My colleagues have heard me talk about ZIP code 44105, where Connie and I live, which had more foreclosures in the first half of 2007 than any ZIP code in the United States

At the time, Congresswoman Fudge was serving as mayor of a city fewer than 20 miles away. Today, she represents this ZIP code in the United States Congress. Those families are more than just a statistic to her. They are her constituents. They are her neighbors. They are her friends. She knows their story. She knows how, for decades, communities have watched as factories closed, investment dried up, and storefronts were boarded over. She knows how many neighborhoods and towns have never had the investment they should--from Black codes to Jim Crow, to red lining, to the discrimination that President Trump's regulators locked into place. She understands how decades of policy funneled resources and jobs away from Black and Brown communities.

A few years ago, I was talking with local health department officials in Cleveland. I asked them what percentage of the older homes that make up the bulk of Cleveland housing have dangerous levels of lead, those homes built right after World War II or before that. They said 99 percent of those homes have high levels of lead--dangerously high levels of lead.

The families in those homes are Congresswoman Fudge's constituents. She knows what lead poison does to kids. She knows the local efforts that Ohioans are leading in Cleveland to take this on. She lifts up their voices, which have been drowned out or silenced for too long. She will be a champion for families all over the country who want to be able to afford a home without crippling stress every single month and to be able to build wealth through home ownership to pass on to their children and grandchildren.

Congresswoman Fudge has dedicated her career to fighting for Ohioans. I am excited she is now going to use all that talent and all that passion and all that empathy to fight for her whole country. I ask my colleagues to support her confirmation to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Mr. President, every time banks need help and every time large corporate interests need help, this body rises to the occasion, but when it is a bunch of workers or a bunch of small businesses, we are going to turn our backs? Unions, chambers of commerce, and small businesses--pretty much everyone--agree we need to get this done.

I have listened for years to my colleagues' speeches extolling the value of hard work and the virtues of small businesses. This is your chance, my friends, to live up to your own words and help these workers.

In collective bargaining, they negotiate at the bargaining table. They gave up money today to put money in pensions for the future. If you support working Americans, vote no on this motion. Let's pass a solution which actually honors the dignity of work.

Mr. President, I oppose the amendment. Don't believe the false argument that most of the funding goes to New York. In New Jersey, they get the same treatment as everyone else.

The alternative formula offered by the amendment is indefensible. One small city would get 2,400 times their annual transit budget.

And think about the workers. Think about the drivers and the clerks who put themselves dealing with the public every single day and the anxiety coming home at night about potentially having COVID. The way we treat essential workers is crucial in this bill. If you care about workers and if you care about the dignity of work, vote no on this amendment.

Mr. President, may I ask unanimous consent for 15 seconds also?

Thank you. The transit formula in the American Rescue Plan Act is the exact same formula developed with Republicans, some of that coming out of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee for the relief bill we passed in December. This formula uses data and not politics to allocate funds.

Vote on Amendment No. 944

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

Thank you, Madam President. This week, we have an opportunity to finally deliver for millions of retirees and workers and small businesses by saving America's pensions. The multiemployer pension system is on the verge of collapse, threatening the livelihoods of more than a million Americans and thousands of small businesses from New Hampshire to Ohio, across the country. This affects more than 100,000 workers and retirees in my State alone and millions more around the country. These pension plans were in danger before. Now the economic emergency we are in has accelerated the crisis even further.

Multiemployer pension plans receive contributions based on the hours worked. As workers have been laid off during the pandemic, their employers no longer contribute to the pension plans, while current retirees continue receiving their earned benefits, making the plan even more likely to fail. And if that happens, it won't just be retirees feeling the pain.

Current workers will be stuck paying into pension funds for benefits they will never receive. Small businesses will be left drowning in pension liability they can't afford to pay. Small businesses that have been in the family for generations could face bankruptcy, and workers will lose jobs in businesses which have been forced to close up shop. The effect will ripple across the entire economy at a time when we can least afford it.

The Chamber of Commerce has said:

The multiemployer pension system is an integral part of

[our] economy.

It is not only union businesses that participate in these plans that will close their doors. This will devastate small communities across the industrial heartland. Small businesses in these communities are already hurting because of the virus. That is why we have to get this done.

After a lifetime of hard work and service to our country, these workers and retirees have already waited far too long for Congress to do the job we should have done. We have been trying to solve this for years. Unions, the Chamber of Commerce, small businesses pretty much agree we need to get this done.

The House has done its part. They have passed a solution multiple times. Every time it stopped because of Mitch McConnell and the U.S. Senate. He has deliberately blocked it. We have continued to try. The House does it year after year. People like the Presiding Officer and others have fought for this in the Finance Committee, have fought for this on the Senate floor, and we simply haven't been able to move it.

Now that Senator McConnell is out of the way, we can finally keep the promise to these workers and their families. They spent years working on assembly lines, bagging groceries, driving trucks, working to keep our economy going, and money came out of every single one of their paychecks to earn these pensions.

People in this town don't always understand the collective bargaining process. People give up dollars at the bargaining table today for the promise of a secure retirement with healthcare and a pension. That is what collective bargaining is. Union workers sit down with each other and their employer, talk about giving up wages. They are willing to give up wages today to have a more secure future. What is more American than that?

For years now, they have lived in fear of drastic cuts. One retiree from Michigan told us he would lose two-thirds of his income and that ``at 71 years old, there's no jobs out there that we could get to recover what we'd lose.''

He said:

Pass the Butch Lewis Act so . . . we can take this weight

off of us, and retire with the dignity that we earned for 30,

40, 50 years of hard working labor.

It is always the same story. When Wall Street is in trouble, there is a bailout. When corporations need something, the stock market is in trouble, the Washington elite drop everything to help. But these workers, they are not asking for a bailout; they are not asking for a handout; they are just asking for what they earned.

These workers have been in the fight for years. Their activism has gotten us this far. They have traveled all day and all night on buses. They have rallied outside in the bitter cold, in the hot DC summer, all trying to get people in this town to listen.

Let's finally deliver for them. Let's give them peace of mind. Let's keep this promise. It comes back to the dignity of work. When work has dignity, we honor the retirement security people earned. When work has dignity, we honor their retirement security that they gave up at the bargaining table in collective bargaining.

I urge my Republican colleagues in this body--colleagues with healthcare and retirement plans paid for by taxpayers, including these taxpayers that have been paying into their own pension funds for years. I urge my Republican colleagues to think about these retired workers and think about the small business owners. Companies like Smucker's-- there is a baker in Navarre, OH. Think of the candy company, Spangler, in Bryan, OH--companies like that. Think about these retired workers. Think about these small business owners and think about the stress they are facing.

I have listened to my colleagues' speeches for years, extolling the values of hard work and the virtue of small businesses. This is your chance to live up to your own words, to show Americans if you work hard all your life, your government will, in fact, be there for you.

Join us, and let's pass a solution that really indeed does honor the dignity of work.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, a month after Janet Yellen made history as the first woman to serve as Secretary of the Treasury, today we are about to confirm another woman to step into a leading role in our economy, Cecilia Rouse.

When she came before the Banking and Housing Committee, Dr. Rouse's knowledge of our economy and her passion for service and her commitment to the people who make this country work were obvious to all of us--to the Presiding Officer who is on the committee, to Republicans, to Democrats alike.

After a year when Black Americans have endured so many painful reminders of the yawning gap between the promise of our founding ideals, it is meaningful that our committee's first nomination--our first nomination committee hearing in the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee--consider the nomination of two outstanding Black women who will take leading roles in our economic recovery: Dr. Rouse, and my Congresswoman, my Congresswoman in Cleveland, Marcia Fudge.

This matters on so many levels. It is important for our future that little girls, including Black and Brown girls, see themselves in our leaders, from the Vice President to our economic leaders. It matters because of the perspectives and the life experiences these two women-- these two Black women--bring to these jobs.

Dr. Rouse has family ties in my State, roots deep into the Mahoning Valley and Youngstown, and a real understanding of the people who make this country work--all people.

The Council of Economic Advisers will also play a key role both in helping our economy recover and in building a better economic system out of this pandemic. Dr. Rouse is exactly whom we need at the helm. She will help direct our Nation's economic policy to put Americans back to work at better jobs with higher wages.

Millions of Americans are still out of work. Those job losses have disproportionately fallen on low-wage workers, Black and Brown workers, and women. Three million women--three million women have been forced out of the paid labor force. At the same time, essential workers are risking their health to go to work, while corporations still refuse, in far too many cases, to pay them a living wage.

The minimum wage hasn't been raised in 14 years. Year after year-- year after year, Republicans in this Senate and the White House profess to care about the working people in the heartland of this country, but they refuse to give them a raise while they funnel tax cuts to the CEOs.

My first speech in this body was in January 2007. Sitting in the chair that Senator Sinema now sits in was Illinois freshman Democrat, Barack Obama. He was not even running for President at that point. Since we last raised the minimum wage, he was President 8 years and out of office for more than 4. That is how long. So while Republicans refuse to give raises, they funnel huge tax cuts to CEOs.

It is part of the same corporate elite mindset that treats American workers as expendable instead of treating them as essential to our country's success. And we have seen the results: The stock market goes up, corporate profits or executive compensation explodes, and wages stagnate, and the middle class continues to shrink.

Building Back Better--that is what Joe Biden is about, building back. That is what Cecilia Rouse is all about. Building Back Better means taking on that system. It means creating an economy, creating an economy where hard work pays off for everyone, no matter who you are, what kind of work you do, with a growing middle class that everyone can aspire to; everyone has a chance to join.

This won't be the first time Dr. Rouse has helped us weather a crisis. She served on the Council of Economic Advisers in 2009, after the George Bush recession, during the Great Recession

Dr. Rouse has spent her career focusing on workers and ensuring that this economy works for everyone. Her expertise, her leadership will guide this administration and Congress, as we get to work not only to recover from this pandemic but to build a better--just a better economy for the future.

For too long, American workers haven't had anyone on their side in the White House. That ends now. We saw it on Sunday night, with the strongest statement from a President of the United States in support of union organizing that we have seen in my lifetime. We see it in President Biden's choice of Dr. Rouse to help guide our economy and guide this rescue.

Cecilia Rouse understands we have the power to change how the economy works. It rewards work instead of rewarding wealth. We create more jobs at middle-class wages. We expand economic security and opportunity for everyone. And we create a better system that honors the dignity of all workers.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has adopted rules governing its procedures for the 117th Congress. Pursuant to Rules XXVI, paragraph 2, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, on behalf of myself and Senator Toomey, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the committee rules be printed in the Record.

Mr. 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.

Mr. President, today, Amazon workers in Alabama will begin receiving ballots that will give them, finally, a real voice in their workplace by choosing to join a union.

Amazon would not be the massively successful company that it is and Jeff Bezos wouldn't be a multibillionaire without the hard work and the dedication of its hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers. They have put in long hours and risked their own health during this pandemic to meet the increased demand that we all know.

As of October, 20,000--think of this--20,000 Amazon workers, 20,000 workers at one company, Amazon, had contracted COVID-19. That is as of October. We know those numbers would be much higher today.

Because of their hard work, Amazon's profits have soared by more than 70 percent. The company's workers deserve to share in the success that they made possible.

Amazon claims to recognize the value of its workers. They call their workers ``heroes fighting for their communities and helping people get critical items they need.'' Heroes, they call them.

If the company truly believed and appreciated that they were heroes, Amazon might back up its words with action. That means letting these workers organize. It means stopping the corporate union-busting tactics that they have deployed against these workers.

Amazon, one of most powerful corporations in the world, unleashed all of that power to fight their own workers who are just asking for a voice on the job. They have harassed employees with anti-union propaganda, misleading text messages, websites, and fliers.

One Washington Post headline really said it all: ``Amazon's anti- union blitz stalks Alabama warehouse workers everywhere, even the bathroom.''

Workers have reported they don't get enough time for bathroom breaks in the warehouse. That is how intense the company's pressure is. When they are able to use the restroom, even there, workers are hit with anti-union propaganda fliers on the stall doors.

Amazon has repeatedly tried to block mail-in voting and force workers to hold the union election in person, putting its workers--remember, 20,000 already have been diagnosed back in October--putting its workers' health at even more risk, just to suppress the vote. It is all part of a pattern for Amazon.

In 2019, Amazon fired a Staten Island warehouse worker who called for unionization. They monitor employees' online communications. Last fall, we learned the company planned to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on new software to monitor, their words, ``threats'' like unions.

It is little wonder Amazon is afraid of workers getting more power. So much of their business model is built on top of exploiting workers, often Black and Brown workers and women.

Instead of employing many drivers directly, they use what they call Amazon Flex drivers. Just like with other gig economy jobs, ``Flex'' is corporate PR speak for denying workers their rights as full employees.

They have failed to provide complete data on COVID-19 spread in the workplace, so we really can't find out whether the company is protecting its workers' health.

Amazon rolled back its tiny $2-per-hour pandemic raise in June. It announced a $2-an-hour bonus pandemic raise with great fanfare many months ago. Then they rolled it back in June, and then they announced a one-time bonus of $300 per worker, not $3,000 per worker, $300 a worker from a company that brought in $200 billion in revenue the previous year. I am sorry, $280 billion--280,000 million--$280 billion in revenue; they gave workers a bonus of $300.

And Amazon is not alone. The Washington Post looked at the 50 biggest corporations and found that between April and September, these companies handed out more than $240 billion to their stockholders through stock buybacks and dividends.

Companies like that are making more and more and more money. They are giving it back to executives and stockholders in huge dividends and stock buybacks. Yet their workers are exposed to these health hazards at work, exposed to this virus. They come home always anxious and scared about infecting their families.

The workers risk their own health, often at rockbottom wages, to make those companies so profitable.

If even a global pandemic, where America's workers have been on the frontline, if even that will not get corporations to rethink their business model that treats workers as expendable, then we have to give workers more power on the job.

A grocery store worker said: You know, they say--told me, they say I am essential, but, really, I feel expendable because they don't pay me much, and they don't protect me on the job.

PRO Act

Mr. President, so what do we do?

It should mean collective bargaining. It should mean unions. It is why I joined Senator Murray and many of my colleagues last week to reintroduce the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, the PRO Act.

It is a comprehensive overhaul of our labor laws to protect workers' right to stand together and bargain for fair wages, fair benefits, safer workplaces.

We know corporations have attacked and undermined worker protections for decades, made it harder and harder for workers even to stand a chance in organizing a union when they choose to.

And look what has happened to our economy, as corporations take away workers' power: Productivity goes up, corporate profits soar, executive compensation explodes through the roof, but wages stay flat, and the middle class shrinks

Just go over that again. Corporate profits, workers' productivity goes up. Workers are working harder and more efficiently. Productivity goes up, corporate profits soar, executive compensation explodes, but wages stay flat, and the middle class shrinks.

Our bill would work to level the playing field, finally give workers a fighting chance against corporate union-busting tactics like we see right now today, last week, the week before, and today at Amazon.

It would strengthen the punishment against companies that violate workers' rights to organize and the companies that retaliate against union organizers.

It would restore to an economy rigged against workers by closing loopholes that allow employers to misclassify their employees as supervisors and independent contractors so they don't have to live under labor law.

We can't in this country, whether it is in Las Cruces or in Dayton-- we can't have a strong, growing middle class without strong unions.

Union members earn 19 percent more, on the average, than similar workers in nonunion jobs. They have better healthcare. They are better able to

save for retirement. They have more predictable hours--talk to the Amazon workers about their hours--and they have more control over their schedules and more economic security.

At a time when this pandemic reveals so much about inequality in our society, it is more vital than ever that we empower all workers.

It is not a coincidence that so many of the workers, at corporations like Amazon, whom they exploit are workers of color. It is true at the Amazon Alabama facility. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, organizing in Alabama, has made respect and dignity central to its campaign.

It comes back to the dignity of work. Remember what Dr. King said. He said:

No labor is really menial unless you're not getting

adequate wages.

The president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Stuart Appelbaum, said:

We see this as much as a civil rights struggle as a labor

struggle.

We know where Dr. King was assassinated and what he was doing. He was fighting for civil rights. He was fighting for worker rights, fighting for sanitation workers in Memphis, some of the most exploited workers in America.

A union card is a ticket to the middle class, and we fight for economic justice by making it available to all workers. We just need corporations just to get out of the way, let workers organize, let workers take control over their careers and their futures.

When you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work, whether it is in New Mexico or Ohio or all over this country.

That is what the Amazon workers in Alabama are doing. It is what unions have done throughout our history in this country. It is what we can do in the Senate by passing the PRO Act.

I yield the floor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

I withdraw my objection.

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

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

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

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

Madam President, it is an honor to speak after Senator Leahy, who has served his country and his State for over four decades.

This debate is really about one simple question: Are we going to do whatever it takes--whatever it takes--to get our country through a once-in-a-generation crisis?

We did that in March, a year ago. We haven't done it since. Now is our opportunity.

I joined some of my colleagues today at the White House to talk with President Biden about the urgency--the urgency--to get this done, to go big, and his plan that will finally start to make real progress against the pandemic and make a real difference in people's lives.

The American people made it clear in this election: They want a government that is on their side. It is our chance to deliver for them.

We know we can. As I said, we did it last spring. We came together across the aisle. We passed the CARES Act. We expanded employment insurance, and we provided direct stimulus checks. We kept--and this is remarkable in the midst of a pandemic--13 million people in this country out of poverty. It gave tens of millions more peace of mind with a bit of a cushion to weather this crisis.

Think about that. Congress came together. Government did the right thing, and 13 million people were prevented from falling into poverty.

But then, as you know, what happened is, because we didn't act in May and June, in July and August, that help started to fall away, and thousands of people every single day in Milwaukee and in Cleveland and around this country, in Racine and in Dayton--thousands of people a day fell into poverty.

So my colleagues now say we have done enough. Well, tell that to the 92 percent of Americans who haven't gotten a vaccine yet. Tell that to the parents who wonder when it will finally be safe for their kids to go back to school. Tell that to the laid-off restaurant worker in Madison, wondering if she will be able to pay rent and pay the electric bill. Tell that to the busdriver in Columbus, wondering if she is going to lose her job.

We are the wealthiest country on Earth. Doing the bare minimum simply isn't good enough.

Slowly vaccinating people--when we know we are facing a new, more contagious virus variant--isn't good enough.

Letting our economic recovery limp along instead of roaring back isn't good enough.

Luckily, we have real leaders who aren't willing to settle for less. President Biden is already doing everything possible to ramp up vaccine production, to get new COVID tests on the market. He promised 1 million vaccines a day for the first hundred days of his Presidency. We are exceeding that number. It will help keep people in their homes. It will help keep workers from losing their jobs.

We need to give the President and our leaders in States all over the country every tool we can. Our plan puts money directly into people's pockets with the expanded stimulus checks, with tax cuts for workers and families, and through the expanded earned income tax credit and child tax credit.

As chair of the Banking and Housing Committee beginning tomorrow, I am committed to keeping a roof over people's heads, giving a lifeline to small businesses, keeping our buses and subways running, keeping workers on the job, and giving President Biden every tool possible through the Defense Production Act to get more vaccines to more people.

Our plan will help us dramatically expand American manufacturing. The

Presiding Officer has led the Senate on ``Buy American.'' We will do more of that through the Defense Production Act. We will produce vaccines and PPE and more and better tests. We will help State and local communities and prevent layoffs and service cuts.

Essential workers--and a grocery store worker in Southwest Ohio told me several months ago: You know, they call me an essential worker, but I feel expendable because they don't pay me enough and they don't protect us on the job.

That has to change. Essential workers need help. They need buses and subways to get to work, to hospitals and grocery stores. We need those transit systems running and running safely. We need to keep busdrivers and construction workers on the job and on the job safely.

Our plan will give more support to small and minority-owned businesses. We know the biggest corporations have done better than ever during this pandemic. Amazon, Walmart, Comcast--all the big guys are doing just fine. They pretty much always do no matter what is happening with the rest of the country. They have paid their shareholders. They have done stock buybacks. But we have seen restaurants close in our neighborhood, some that have been operating for decades. We watched corner stores and drycleaners shut their doors. Small businesses are hurting. Our plan will not only keep PPP going, it will expand access to capital for the small entrepreneurs fighting for their dreams now.

Our plan will keep families from losing their homes. It will help them pay their bills and keep the heat on and the lights turned on. In December, 1 in 10 homeowners reported being behind on their mortgage. For Black, Latino, and Asian homeowners, that number is one in six. One out of every five renters in this country is behind in their rent. For Latino renters, it is one in four. For African-American renters, it is one in three.

Think about the daily stress that puts on people. They go to work every day. They are not paid enough. They are not sure they are safe at work. They come home, anxious about passing on this virus. They have to worry about paying their rent. They have to worry about food for their kids. They have to worry about whether the schools are open so kids can go there while they are trying to balance their workload. We have to do everything we can to alleviate that stress.

A moratorium on evictions and on foreclosures helps keep people safe in the short-run, but there is simply not enough for all the people who are behind with no way to catch up. Thankfully, we have had moratoriums on evictions. They haven't always worked. They work most of the time. But every month that moratorium stops you from being evicted is another month that you owe rent when the time comes. We know that.

Economists estimated that renters already owed $57 billion in back rent by the end of January. That is twice the aid we provided for renters in December. So the package that most of us voted for helped a lot in December, but it is clearly not enough. That is why President Biden, the Senate, and the House have to go big. How could we let millions of families lose the homes they love or get trapped in a downward spiral of debt, all because of a virus far beyond any one person's control

So I ask my colleagues of both parties--I just ask this: What do we do? Let's get this done. There is no time for quibbling over Senate procedure. Working families don't care about Senate rules. They care about when they get a vaccine. They care about when their kids get back to school. They care about keeping their jobs. They don't care how we get it done. They care about results.

The Senate has used these fast-track budget measures over and over in times far less dire than the ones we face now. Minority Leader McConnell had no problem using these fast-track procedures that they now oppose to pour money into corporations' coffers with their tax cuts.

In fact, the last time--I was at the White House today with President Biden. The last time I was invited to the White House was President Trump inviting a group of us on the tax-writing committee to try to sell his big tax giveaway to corporate America and to the richest people in the country. We sat around the table in the President's Cabinet Room with two, I believe, of his billionaire Cabinet members who benefited handsomely, as did his family, from this tax cut. It was a big, big giveaway to the largest corporations in this country and a big, big giveaway to billionaires and the richest people in the country but so little for the economy and so little for workers.

So Senator McConnell, whose office, we know, is just down the hall-- you often see lobbyists lining up. Back in the tax-cutting days, you saw lobbyists lined up out there outside his office waiting to get in to find out what tax break they could get. That was then. We used this fast-track procedure to get it done as if it were an emergency. Now it actually is an emergency. We just can't wait and negotiate and negotiate and negotiate and take forever to get this help.

You know, someone came to our Banking and Housing Committee and said: You know, before D-day, they didn't have a meeting at the White House and with the Congress saying: Can we afford this? Can we afford this war? Can we afford equipping our troops in Normandy?

Of course we could because we had to win the war. We are in a global crisis now. It is a war. We marshaled all of our vast resources and talents to rise to beat the global crisis in World War II. Then we grew the economy from the middle class out. We paid down the debt with rising wages.

Americans elected new leaders now--last November--because they were tired of a President and a majority leader who refused to treat this war against COVID with the same urgency. People are really sick and tired all over this country. They are sick and tired in Dayton and Akron and Canton and Mansfield of a President--of people or a President saying or then-Majority Leader McConnell saying: We can't do it. We can't afford it. We have done enough.

Let's aim higher. Let's deliver for the people we serve. Let's raise the stimulus checks to $2,000--money that will make a difference for so many families. Let's cut taxes for working families. Let's keep people in their homes. Let's keep small businesses open. Let's give every American a vaccine--a vaccine that will save their lives. That is the decision before this Senate.

Do we just say ``We can't do very much. We ought to wait a while. Let's see if the last thing worked''? Let's come together. Let's pass this. Let's make a real difference in the American people's lives.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, it is good to see the Senator from Hawaii as the Presiding Officer.

Madam President, I rise today to honor workers in this building-- something that Senator Hirono does every day of her life in this job-- workers in this building who are too often overlooked but whose work is essential to the functioning of our government: our Capitol custodial staff.

In the days after the January 6 insurrection, when domestic terrorists stormed this building, we rightly honored Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman and many other Capitol police officers who put their lives on the line to protect all of us, to protect our democratic process, and, essentially, to protect our democracy.

Last week, I joined a bipartisan group of colleagues in introducing legislation to award Officer Goodman the

Congressional Gold Medal. He and others may well have saved our lives and protected our democracy. They did it without the support they needed from their leadership. They did it without the support from the Trump White House on down.

But those officers aren't the only ones who deserve our honor and our gratitude. They are not the only ones who put their lives on the line serving our country on January 6 or over the past year during this pandemic.

Every day, Capitol custodial staff do their jobs with skill, dedication, and dignity. They showed up for work during this pandemic even when many in this building didn't take it seriously and put those workers' health at risk by not wearing masks.

Capitol custodial workers were here on January 6, doing their jobs, when White supremacists stormed this building, barging into this Chamber, acting as though no one could ever possibly hold them accountable. Because the President was on their side, they thought they were invulnerable.

And when their rampage was over, it was largely the Black and Brown custodians who were left to restore dignity and respect to the Capitol. Their work allowed us to continue ours that night: certifying the electoral votes, securing the election and our democracy.

Many Americans were so moved to see those workers still doing their jobs. That is what service looks like. That is what love of country looks like. That is what the dignity of work is all about.

Unfortunately, it tells you a whole lot about the problems that have been allowed to fester for too long in this country: White supremacists make a mess; Black workers clean it up.

We have a lot of work to do to fix that and to ensure that hard work pays off for all workers in this country. We simply don't value and respect all work the way we should.

I think of the words of Dr. King, who, as you know, died fighting for workers, sanitation workers in Memphis. He said:

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep

streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed

music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so

well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to

say, ``Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job

well.''

Dr. King said:

No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity

has dignity and importance.

No work is insignificant. All labor has dignity. We ought to treat it that way, starting with honoring these workers.

In the days after January 6, pictures of Capitol workers cleaning up after these terrorists were reported on the news, captured by dedicated journalists who also risked their lives to do their jobs that day. These photos struck a chord with so many people. Americans began writing thank-you letters, sending them to the Architect of the Capitol to pass on to custodial staff, to police officers, and to others.

Many of these workers are represented by AFSCME Local 626, which gives workers a voice on the job and is also working on ways to honor its members.

Members of Congress should do the same. In the coming weeks, I will be introducing a Senate resolution to recognize the Capitol custodial staff for their bravery and their service to our country on January 6. I hope my colleagues will join me--all of them--not as Republicans or Democrats but as Members of this body, as Americans all.

This Capitol is the people's House. The insurrectionists ransacked it. The Capitol custodians picked up the pieces. They deserve our eternal gratitude. To all the Capitol custodians who come to work in this building each day to ensure our democracy functions, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor a great Ohioan and transformational civil rights leader, Marian Spencer. Born in Gallipolis, OH, as the granddaughter of a slave, Spencer honored her grandfather by dedicating her life to fighting for a more equal and inclusive country. Spencer became a member of the NAACP at the young age of 13 and is best known for leading the fight to integrate Coney Island and its swimming pools in the 1950s.

After graduating from high school, Spencer attended the University of Cincinnati, where she made Cincinnati her adopted home and campaigned to integrate the university's Whites-only college prom. From there, she chaired the education committee of her local NAACP branch and helped raise $30,000 to desegregate Cincinnati Public Schools, before becoming the chapter's first female president in 1981.

Spencer believed in the power of activism as a means of social change, and her efforts led her to becoming the first African-American woman elected to Cincinnati City Council. Spencer gave a voice to the disenfranchised and underrepresented, and she will be remembered as trailblazer for civil rights, women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and the environment.

We lost Marian Spencer this July, but her legacy will live on for generations. Her leadership and progressive ideas had a profound effect on our city, our State, and our Nation, and her work will remain a source of great pride for Ohioans. I am proud to honor Marian Spencer for her contributions to making our country a little freer and a little more just.