{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2020-12-30-pt1-PgS7977", "2020-12-30", 116, 2, null, null, "CORONAVIRUS", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S7977", "S7979", "[{\"name\": \"John Cornyn\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "166 Cong. Rec. S7977", "Congressional Record, Volume 166 Issue 222 (Wednesday, December 30, 2020)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 222 (Wednesday, December 30, 2020)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S7977-S7979]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                              CORONAVIRUS\n\n  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I wanted to come to the floor and talk\nabout what strikes me as something akin to Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day\nis only the day I was born. It is something I feel like we are living\nthrough here as we debate the same points over\n\n[[Page S7978]]\n\nand over and over again, forgetting what it is we have already done--\nthe good things we have done together on a bipartisan basis.\n  We have already appropriated roughly $4 trillion in response to this\npandemic, and it is appropriate that we have done so because this was a\ntrue public health crisis. But now this is--we are seeing politics\ncreep back in in an attempt to send money in an untargeted and wasteful\nsort of way to people who have suffered no financial loss.\n  These relief packages that we passed together have provided hundreds\nof billions of dollars to support our hospitals and healthcare workers\nwho are on the frontlines. I voted for it, and I think we were right to\ndo so.\n  We have thrown small businesses and their employees a lifeline\nthrough the Paycheck Protection Program, and we were right to do so. We\nhave invested in research, development, and manufacturing of\ntherapeutics and vaccines that are currently being administered--thank\ngoodness--throughout the country and, indeed, around the world. And we\nhave sent unprecedented assistance to workers, families, and\nindividuals whose livelihoods have been upended by this crisis.\n  Thanks to President Trump's leadership, Congress has stepped up and\nmet this unprecedented challenge to deliver relief bill after relief\nbill for the American people. If you had told me a year ago I would\nhave voted this year alone for roughly $4 trillion worth of spending in\nthis pandemic, I would not have believed you. But I do believe this is\na domestic equivalent to World War II, where we have to do everything\nhumanly possible to try to help our fellow man, woman, and child during\nthis pandemic.\n\n  The latest round of relief came, of course, just this week, when\nPresident Trump signed the $900 billion rescue package into law. While\nI am glad Congress was able to send more relief out the door at the end\nof the year, I am disappointed that it took so long to do so. It is\namazing the sense of urgency our Democratic colleagues have today,\nsince at least three times--maybe four times--they blocked our attempts\nto pass half-trillion-dollar relief bills during the course of the\nsummer.\n  In July, our colleagues introduced the HEALS Act, which would have\nprovided just under a trillion dollars in relief, covering the same\ntypes of policies included in the most recent relief bill--direct\npayments, unemployment benefits, funding for schools, vaccines, and a\nhost of other priorities.\n  Our Democratic colleagues not only complained about the bill, but\nthey called it weak, little, pathetic, and unserious. They refused to\nengage in the sorts of negotiations that are customary around here when\nyou actually want to solve a problem or consider anything short of the\nHouse's multitrillion-dollar bill, which they knew had no chance of\npassing in the Senate because of things like tax cuts for millionaires\nand billionaires, which had nothing to do with COVID.\n  So our Democratic colleagues dragged their feet--July, August,\nSeptember, October, November. Months went by, and the cases soared, and\nthe economic squeeze tightened, and our Democratic colleagues refused\nto accept any sort of compromise.\n  That was until a few weeks ago, when they finally changed their tune\nright after the election. I am sure it comes as no surprise that once\nthe holdout agrees to negotiate, things can move pretty quickly, and\nthat is what happened here after the election. Democrats, Republicans,\nand the administration agreed to a $900 billion package, which looks\nvery similar to the one they dubbed pathetic just a few months ago.\n  In recent days, the President has expressed an interest in doing\nmore, and I have no doubt that we will do more in this area, but\nSpeaker Pelosi's bill goes far beyond what the President is talking\nabout. For one, it would dramatically widen the pool of recipients,\nenabling wealthy households to qualify for relief checks. This is\nunacceptable and wasteful.\n  When Congress provided the first round of direct payments through the\nCARES Act, we did so in a way that sent relief to the hardest hit\nAmericans. Individuals who made up to $75,000 received the full $1,200,\nand the amount gradually declined as income increased and completely\nphased out at $99,000. We kept the same formula for the $600 payments\nprovided for under the omnibus and further targeted the relief. Once\nagain, those who made up to $75,000 will receive the full amount, and\nthe amount phases out completely at $87,000.\n  Under the CARES Act, a family of four earning up to $150,000 received\n$3,400, and in the most recent rescue bill, the same family would\nreceive an additional $2,400. This was the most effective and targeted\nway to ensure that assistance goes to those who actually need it while\navoiding sending taxpayer dollars--borrowed, I might add--to those who\ndon't.\n  The House-passed legislation would provide $2,000 payments, but it\ndoesn't have a similar structure to keep these payments targeted. Let\nme give you an example.\n  If this bill were to become law, a person making $100,000 a year\nwould receive a $750 check from the Federal Government, whether or not\nthey lost income during the pandemic. This isn't someone who used to\nmake that much but was laid off or had a reduction in their income.\nSomeone who is currently earning a six-figure salary would receive an\nadditional $750 from American taxpayers.\n  For families, the income barrier goes higher. As I mentioned a moment\nago, if you have a family of five with an annual household income of\n$350,000 a year, that family would receive a stimulus check under the\nHouse-passed bill. Now, that is not being smart with taxpayer dollars,\nand that is not targeted at the people who actually need it. That is a\ngiveaway to people who have not suffered any financial losses during\nthis pandemic and clearly not targeted at those who need the most help.\n  I mentioned a moment ago that the median income for households in\nTexas is $60,000 a year, so this family of five is earning nearly six\ntimes as much and would still receive a check from taxpayers. That\ndefies all common sense. Even the Washington Post editorial board\ndubbed this policy as wasteful because of the huge amounts destined for\nwhat they call ``perfectly comfortable families.''\n  Even though Congress has already provided roughly $4 trillion in\nrelief to the American people, our Democratic colleagues are acting as\nthough this is the first and only way to help our country.\n  Like I said, for them, every day is Groundhog Day. They ignore\neverything we have done in the past and act like this is the only thing\nwe have or could do. It is just not true\n  This debate isn't about whether or not Congress should help families\nwho are struggling. We have. And there is no question we will continue\nto do so where needed. That is why we provided $1,200 in direct\npayments to the hardest hit Americans through the CARES Act and an\nadditional $600 through the most recent relief bill. That is why these\nbills also bolstered State unemployment benefits and expanded them to\ninclude independent contractors and the self-employed. That is why\nCongress passed legislation to provide food assistance to families,\nkeep more hard-working Americans on payroll, and ensure our economy is\non track for a strong recovery.\n  Again, we did this thanks to the leadership of President Trump and by\nworking together in a bipartisan way.\n  Countless Texans have told me about the impact of this relief on\ntheir businesses and their families, and we can't lose sight of the\nprogress that has already been made. But future relief must be\ntargeted. We need to support those who need it and avoid sending\nhundreds of billions of dollars, as this proposal would, to those who\ndon't need it.\n  Throughout the year, I have been an advocate for an incremental\napproach to these relief bills because I think it is hard to spend $3\ntrillion and know exactly how that bill is going to work. And, indeed,\nwe found out through the CARES Act that the mainstream lending\nfacility, which we funded at roughly half a trillion dollars, wasn't as\nuseful as we would have hoped.\n  Conversely, the Paycheck Protection Program was more successful than\nour wildest dreams. So I think by seeing what works and what doesn't\nwork, we can be better stewards of taxpayer dollars by spending the\nmoney more efficiently and in a more targeted way.\n\n[[Page S7979]]\n\n  This isn't like highway bills or farm bills or defense spending bills\nwhere we have an idea about what is needed for individual programs.\nThere was no precedent for this pandemic, no handbook, and no clear way\nto gauge how long this crisis would go on or what would be needed to\nsustain our response.\n  After the CARES Act passed, we knew it made the most sense to hit the\npause button and see what worked well, what didn't, and where more help\nwas needed. As I said, there were certain programs like the Paycheck\nProtection Program that almost immediately dried up. If I am not\nmistaken, in 2 weeks, roughly $350 billion was obligated under the\nPaycheck Protection Program--a strong indication that we really hit the\nsweet spot when it came to helping those small businesses. That is why\nwe added more funding in April, another $320 billion, and we extended\nthe program in July and reinvested in the Paycheck Protection Program\nagain in the omnibus.\n  As I said, there were other places where the money went unspent. But,\nfortunately, in the most recent bill we were able to repurpose hundreds\nof billions of dollars in unspent funds, again, to target it to where\nthe need was greatest and where it could help the most.\n  There is no question that tens of millions of workers and their\nfamilies have been hurt by this virus. We all know that. And I think we\nhave all acted together, by and large, responsibly, in trying to\nrespond to that. No one will be left out if we have a means and method\nof targeting this to those people--whether it is direct payments,\nenhanced unemployment benefits, incentives to their employers to\nmaintain them on payroll. And now that we have the beginning of the\ndistribution of the vaccine, my hope is that in the coming months we\nwill get back to, if not the new normal, whatever the next normal will\nbe.\n  But we are just a few days from kicking off the new Congress, and I\nhave no reason to believe that our coronavirus relief work is finished\nhere today. As a matter of fact, Vice President Biden said that he\nexpects to send us an additional request for help once he assumes\noffice.\n  Once the legislation we have passed has a chance to benefit the\nAmerican people, we will see if more relief is needed, and then, if it\nis needed, we should absolutely do more.\n  I still believe in the wisdom of the incremental approach, and I\nbelieve our Democratic friends will join us in responding to the true\nneeds of this crisis without monthlong delays or irresponsible\nspending.\n  Countless Texans have told me about the importance of the relief we\nhave provided through direct payments, unemployment benefits, food\nassistance, and other forms of support by the laws we passed throughout\nthis year. I was proud to support each of those policies, which have\neased the financial strains on millions of Texans and other Americans.\nI will continue to work with our colleagues to provide assistance as\nour war on COVID-19 rages on.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2020-12-30-pt1-PgS7977"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 6.756098009645939, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}