congressional_record: CREC-2020-12-30-pt1-PgS7972
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-2020-12-30-pt1-PgS7972 | 2020-12-30 | 116 | 2 | LEGISLATIVE SESSION | SENATE | SENATE | SLEGISLATIVE | S7972 | S7973 | [{"name": "Mitch McConnell", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Charles E. Schumer", "role": "speaking"}] | [{"congress": "116", "type": "S", "number": "3985"}, {"congress": "116", "type": "S", "number": "5085"}, {"congress": "116", "type": "S", "number": "5085"}, {"congress": "116", "type": "HR", "number": "9051"}, {"congress": "116", "type": "HR", "number": "9051"}] | 166 Cong. Rec. S7972 | Congressional Record, Volume 166 Issue 222 (Wednesday, December 30, 2020) [Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 222 (Wednesday, December 30, 2020)] [Senate] [Pages S7972-S7973] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] LEGISLATIVE SESSION ______ JUST AND UNIFYING SOLUTIONS TO INVIGORATE COMMUNITIES EVERYWHERE ACT OF 2020--MOTION TO PROCEED Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 480, S. 3985. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion. The legislative clerk read as follows: Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 480, S. 3985, a bill to improve and reform policing practices, accountability and transparency. Measures Placed On The Calendar--S. 5085 and H.R. 9051 Mr. McCONNELL. I understand there are two bills at the desk due a second reading en bloc. =========================== NOTE =========================== On page S7972, December 30, 2020, third column, the following appears: Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 480, S. 3985, a bill to improve and reform policing practices, accountability and transparency. MEASURES PLACED ON THE CALENDAR--S. 3985 AND H.R. 9051 Mr. McCONNELL. I understand there are two bills at the desk due a second reading en bloc. The online version has been corrected to read: Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 480, S. 3985, a bill to improve and reform policing practices, accountability and transparency. MEASURES PLACED ON THE CALENDAR--S. 5085 AND H.R. 9051 Mr. McCONNELL. I understand there are two bills at the desk due a second reading en bloc. ========================= END NOTE ========================= The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the bills by title for the second time. The legislative clerk read as follows: A bill (S. 5085) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the additional 2020 recovery rebates, to repeal section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934, and for other purposes; A bill (H.R. 9051), to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase recovery rebate amounts to $2,000 for individuals, and for other purposes. Mr. McCONNELL. In order to place the bills on the calendar under provision of rule XIV, I object to further proceedings en bloc. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection having been heard, the bills will be placed on the calendar. Recognition Of The Minority Leader The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized. Electoral College Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I was prepared this afternoon to speak about the business the Senate must address, and I will do that, but, first, I must respond to the recent announcement by the junior Senator of Missouri that he intends to contest the certified votes of the electrical college when Congress meets to count those votes next week. The process for electing American Presidents is provided in our Constitution and laws. The process has been followed fully, fairly. The results have been duly certified by the Governors of the States, and they have been reviewed and confirmed by the courts many times over. The result is that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election by overwhelming margins in both the popular vote and the electoral vote. The Biden-Harris ticket received more than 81 million votes, more than any ticket in American history. That was over 7 million more votes than Trump-Pence. The Biden-Harris ticket won the electoral college 306 to 232, the very same total that President Trump called a landslide for himself then just 4 years ago. Since the election process, President Trump and his acolytes have lost more than 50 lawsuits, falsely claiming fraud or other irregularities in the conduct of the 2020 election, including the unanimous decision by the Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the attorney general of Texas and more than half the Republican Members of the House. Today, we heard from the junior Senator from Missouri that he intends to object to the election results, particularly in Pennsylvania--a State where [[Page S7973]] the Trump campaign and its allies have brought no fewer than 13 lawsuits and lost every single one, many with Republican judges ruling. There have been only three individuals--three--charged with voter fraud in Pennsylvania, and in each case, the person voted for Trump. The effort by the sitting President of the United States to overturn the results is patently undemocratic. The effort by others to amplify and burnish his ludicrous claims of fraud is equally revolting. This is America. We have elections. We have results. We make arguments based on fact and reason, not conspiracy and fantasy. On January 6, Congress will meet to formally recognize the electoral college result. There is a very clear process to handle and dispense with the objections of Members of Congress to the counting of the result, and that is just what we will do--dispense with them. On January 6, Congress will ratify the electoral college's decision that Joe Biden will be President and Kamala Harris will be Vice President. Make no mistake about it--Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as President and Vice President on January 20. National Defense Authorization Act Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now let me return to the matters at hand. Today, the Senate will begin the process of overriding the President's veto on the annual Defense bill. The House has already overridden the veto by a comfortable margin. I expect the Senate to follow suit and enact the NDAA into law over President Trump's evolving and ridiculous objections. Congress has passed the annual Defense bill for 59 years in a row. It is an important opportunity to ensure our defense and security policies reflect the evolving challenges of our world and provide our servicemembers and their families, as well as Defense Department civilians, the support, resources, and training they need. The particular legislation includes a pay raise for troops and provisions that will allow the executive branch to be better postured to identify and deter breaches to America's cyber security. In the wake of the SolarWinds hack, that might be a good policy to enact. Nonetheless, President Trump vetoed this legislation because it provides for renaming military installations that honor Confederate military leaders or, maybe, because it doesn't address an unrelated social media issue. Think about it for a moment. The President vetoed a pay raise to living American soldiers in order to defend the honor of dead Confederate traitors. Well, the Senate will soon have an opportunity to override the President's objection and do right by those brave Americans who wear the uniform. As I said yesterday, there are two major issues before the Senate right now--the annual Defense bill and the vital and important effort to send $2,000 stimulus checks to American families. There are only a few days left in this session, and the Senate should consider both issues before adjourning. There is a very simple solution to this dilemma: Leader McConnell should bring both measures up for a vote and let the chips fall where they may. I believe both measures--the defense override and the $2,000 checks to American families--will pass, but at the very least, the Senate deserves the opportunity for an up-or-down vote on increasing the individual payments to the American people. At the end of my remarks, I will ask the Senate to set a time tonight for a vote on the House bill to provide $2,000 checks. The Republican leader objected to a similar request I made yesterday, and it appears he may be considering a different bill that packages stimulus checks with other unrelated and partisan policies. I want to be very clear about one thing: There is no other game in town besides the House bill. The only way to get the American people the $2,000 checks they deserve and need is to pass the House bill and pass it now. The House has recessed for the year. Any modification or addition to the House bill cannot become law before the end of this Congress. It is a way to kill the bill. Make no mistake about it: Either the Senate takes up and passes the House bill or struggling American families will not get $2,000 checks during the worst economic crisis in 75 years. Over the past few days, the idea of increasing direct payments to the American people has united folks from all points of the political spectrum. I salute the Senator from Vermont for the good job he has done in bringing this forward to the American people's attention. An overwhelming bipartisan majority in the House supports the $2,000 checks. Senate Democrats strongly support these $2,000 checks, and our unlikely ally, President Trump, this morning, tweeted: ``$2000 ASAP!'' For once, the Democrats agree with something on President Trump's Twitter feed. Let's send $2,000 ASAP to working Americans who are facing the hardest and darkest days of the pandemic. After all of the insanity that the Senate Republicans have tolerated from President Trump--his attacks on the rule of law, an independent judiciary, the conduct that led to his impeachment--is this where the Senate Republicans are going to draw the line--with $2,000 checks to the American people? That is a bridge too far? Please. For the awareness of my colleagues, we can have this vote tonight and send the bill directly to the President's desk for his signature. We can vote on the NDAA bill tonight and finish the Senate's business before the end of the year. All it takes is our Republican colleagues to consent to a simple vote on the House bill to provide $2,000 checks to the American people. Yes or no, up or down, do you support sending $2,000 to the American people or not? Let's have the vote Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 9051 I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 9051, a bill received from the House, to increase recovery rebate amounts to $2,000 for individuals; that the bill be read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. Reservation Of Leader Time The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. ____________________ |