{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2020-12-30-pt1-PgS7979", "2020-12-30", 116, 2, null, null, "CORONAVIRUS", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S7979", "S7980", "[{\"name\": \"Sherrod Brown\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"James M. Inhofe\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "166 Cong. Rec. S7979", "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 S7979-S7980]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                              CORONAVIRUS\n\n  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, we have heard a lot of revisionist history\nthis afternoon.\n  Look back in March, when Congress did the right thing and the Senate\nvoted unanimously. Because of our efforts, 13 million people were kept\nout of poverty--we know that--because we provided relatively generous\nunemployment insurance. We did the direct payments. We helped with\nsmall business loans. But then this Senate thought its work was done\nfor the year. We begged Senator McConnell month after month after month\nto come back and help.\n  As I said, 13 million people were kept out of poverty because of the\nwork this Congress did in March of this year, but now, since--many of\nthose benefits, especially the unemployment benefit and the direct\npayments, were not continued, of course. Those benefits expired in\nAugust, and we have seen 8 million people drop into poverty in this\ncountry since. Yet Senator McConnell refuses and refuses and refuses\n  I hear this revisionist history that Democrats just want to help\npeople who are already affluent and give them more money. Well,\nremember back in March, the only amendment that we considered, the only\namendment that Senator McConnell allowed on the floor of the Senate to\nthe CARES Act, the only amendment was to take away the $600-a-week\nunemployment insurance. The only place Republicans fought was the $600-\na-week unemployment insurance. That more than any single thing we did\nis why people were kept out of poverty. Now the best we could do was\n$300-a-week unemployment insurance--the best we could do. In spite of\nSenator Cornyn's and others' comments, Senator McConnell waited,\nwaited, waited, and waited. Finally, we were able to do that.\n  The President of the United States threatened to veto it, causing\nmillions of Americans to fall off their unemployment insurance. We know\nall that. It is just important to remember all that.\n  But there is one simple question before the Senate this week: Are we\ngoing to put more money into people's pockets? The American people made\nit clear on election day that they want a government that is on their\nside. This is our chance to deliver for them, to show people whom we\nserve that we can make a real difference in their lives, which we did\nback in March.\n  It is pretty simple. The best way to help Ohio workers and families\nis to put more money in their pockets, not in the bank accounts of the\nlargest corporations and biggest banks, hoping it will trickle down. We\nknow it never does. The CEOs just pay themselves instead.\n  We know that just recently there was more good news for American CEOs\nwho are able again to do stock buybacks, more dividend distributions. A\nlot of corporations have made a lot of money--more power to them--\nduring this pandemic, but those are the corporations that continue to\nget the big tax breaks.\n  We need, instead, to directly invest in people who make this country\nwork. It helps people pay the bills and stay in their homes and get\nthrough this downturn. It injects money into local economies that\nreally need it. The more money people have, the more they spend in\nsmall businesses that are hurting.\n  We know this works. It did in the spring. We came together. We\ncrossed the aisle, passed the CARES Act, expanded unemployment, and\nprovided direct stimulus checks, keeping 13 million people out of\npoverty. The bill we passed last week was a good step in that\ndirection, but we should make it stronger.\n  Back in March, my original plan that I tried to negotiate as I sat\nwith Secretary Mnuchin and a handful of other Senators was $2,000 per\nperson, adults and children. We called for it to be sent automatically\nthroughout the year, every quarter, as long as we remained in a public\nhealth emergency.\n  It is clear now what we could have done and should have done. No one\ncould predict how long this crisis would last. Today, we still aren't\nsure when everybody will be vaccinated and when the economy will return\nto full strength. We don't want to sit idly by. We don't want to wonder\nhow bad it could get. We are the strongest, richest country on Earth.\nWe have the resources to do something about it; we just need leadership\nwilling to use every tool we have.\n  If they refuse to support this $2,000 per person, if they refuse to\nsupport these direct payments, Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans\nwill again make it perfectly clear to the American people whose side\nthey are on.\n  Every time there is a fork in the road and Senator McConnell and\nSenate Republicans have to make a decision--either go with corporate\ninterests or go with working families--every single time, they choose\ncorporate interests. They had no problem pouring money into corporate\ncoffers with their tax cut and blowing up the deficit.\n  Just down the hall here in Senator McConnell's office, I remember\nlobbyists lining up, looking for those tax cuts back 3 years ago, and\nthey got those tax cuts. They didn't say anything about government\ndeficits back then--$1.5 trillion added to the deficit. They didn't\nmind that because that was money going into their contributors'\npockets, into big corporate coffers\n\n[[Page S7980]]\n\nfor the wealthiest people in this country. They were all too happy to\nlet the government shovel loans to the biggest banks and companies. But\nin the middle of the worst crisis of our lifetime, faced with the\nchance to give money directly to ordinary Americans, my colleagues\nclaim we can't afford it. That is just simply a lie. We are the richest\ncountry on Earth.\n  I remember Bill Spriggs--an economist at Howard University--told the\nBanking and Housing Committee in September: We didn't win World War II\nby worrying about whether or not we could afford it. We were in a\nglobal crisis. We marshalled all our vast resources and talents to rise\nto meet it. We grew the economy from the middle class out. We paid down\nthe debt with rising wages.\n  If we have learned anything from the crisis, it should be that we can\ndo the same again. Americans are tired of being told we can't. It is\nthe only answer that Senator McConnell and Senate Republicans ever have\nfor most people's problems: We can't help you. We can't solve your\nproblem. You are on your own.\n  Let's aim higher. Let's deliver for the people we serve. Let's put\n$2,000 into their pockets--money that will make such a difference for\nso many families. It will help a mother worried about how she will pay\nback rent. It will keep a laid off restaurant worker from turning to a\npayday lender. It will allow a father to buy a new computer so his kids\nare better able to learn online. These are millions of real people--\npeople we swore an oath to serve who would breathe a little easier this\nnew year if we pass this.\n  So let's be clear about the decision today and this week before the\nSenate. Are we going to give the people we serve $2,000, or are you\ngoing to stand in the way? It is that simple. Let's come together.\nLet's pass this. Let's make a real difference in people's lives.\n  I suggest the absence of a quorum.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.\n  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.\n  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for\nthe quorum call be rescinded.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.\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-PgS7979"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 7.6262070797383785, "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"}