{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2020-12-31-pt1-PgS7986-2", "2020-12-31", 116, 2, null, null, "UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 9051", "SENATE", "SENATE", "SCONSENTREQUEST", "S7986", "S7987", "[{\"name\": \"Charles E. Schumer\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Mitch McConnell\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", "[{\"congress\": \"116\", \"type\": \"HR\", \"number\": \"9051\"}, {\"congress\": \"116\", \"type\": \"HR\", \"number\": \"9051\"}]", "166 Cong. Rec. S7986", "Congressional Record, Volume 166 Issue 223 (Thursday, December 31, 2020)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 223 (Thursday, December 31, 2020)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S7986-S7987]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                  UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 9051\n\n  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the Senate today meets for a rare New\nYear's Eve session for one reason and one reason only: The Republican\nleader has refused to allow us to vote on legislation to provide the\nAmerican people $2,000 checks. He has twice objected to my requests to\nset a time for a vote on the measure, claiming yesterday that direct\nstimulus checks were ``poorly targeted,'' bemoaning the idea that some\nof these checks might go into ``the hands of Democrats' rich friends\nwho don't need the help.'' Senator Toomey said much the same thing.\n  Well, funny, I don't remember the Republican leader and Senator\nToomey complaining about how a $2 trillion across-the-board corporate\ntax cut was ``poorly targeted'' because some large companies didn't\nneed the help. No, when corporations get a blanket tax break, that is\nfine by the Republican majority. When the average American gets a\nlittle help from their government, it is ``poorly targeted.''\n  I hope that every American heard the objections by these Republican\nSenators. I hope every American who has their water or heat or\nelectricity shut off or had eviction notices stapled on top of one\nanother to their door or had to choose which meal to skip on a given\nday--I hope they all heard the reason they will not receive $2,000\nchecks is because Leader McConnell thinks it could wind up in the hands\nof ``Democrats' rich friends.''\n  Let's be very clear. There is one way and only one way to pass $2,000\nchecks before the end of the year, and that is to pass the House bill.\nIt is the only way to get the American people the $2,000 checks they\nneed and deserve.\n  The House is gone for the session. Any modification or addition to\nthe House bill can't become law. Either the Senate takes up and passes\nthe House bill or struggling Americans will not get $2,000 checks\nduring the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.\n  Leader McConnell knows this. So he has said that the Senate can only\nvote on a bill that combines the checks with other unrelated partisan\npolicies: a repeal of section 230 and an investigation into the\nPresident's dishonest and bogus claims of election fraud.\n  The Republican leader claims that President Trump insists that all\nthree issues must be addressed in one bill, but, of course, the\nPresident has made no such demand. President Trump couldn't care less\nabout how the bills are packaged in Congress.\n  So the Republican leader has invented an excuse to prevent a clean,\nup-or-down, yes-or-no vote on $2,000 checks from coming to the floor.\nThis maneuver to combine all three issues is intended to kill the\npossibility of $2,000 checks ever becoming law.\n  Just to prove it, let me make this offer to the Republican majority.\nWe are willing to vote on the other issues that President Trump\nmentioned--all the issues the Republican leader says must be\naddressed--so long as we vote on them separately. That way, $2,000\nchecks could become law, and we could debate all the President's\nsupposed concerns.\n  We can vote on setting up a commission to look at the President's\nroundly rejected claims of voter fraud. We would also have the\ncommission look at voter suppression and gerrymandering. That is\ncompletely unrelated to helping Americans pay their bills, but we are\nwilling to take a look at the whole picture. Just give us a vote on the\nHouse-passed bill so we can get help now for people who desperately\nneed it.\n  Heck, we can also have a vote on repealing 230. We can do it today.\nWe will use Leader McConnell's exact language. He wouldn't agree to\nthat because he knows his caucus wouldn't actually support such an act.\nUnlike the President, some Members of this body understand what 230\nmeans. They understand that section 230, which certainly needs change,\nactually enables the President to spew his lies.\n  We all know the 117th Congress will have to take a close look at the\nrelationship between liability and reckless speech on the internet. But\nif Leader McConnell wants a vote on these issues, we are here for it.\nJust give us a vote on the House-passed bill, and we can vote on\nwhatever rightwing conspiracy theory you would like.\n  We can even vote to set up a special blue-ribbon commission to\ndetermine whether Georgia's secretary of State has a brother named Ron,\nif that would make our Republican friends happy.\n  Just don't let these conspiracy theories and Presidential fantasies\nget in the way of helping actual people--people whose livelihoods have\nbeen torn apart by this pandemic, people whose lives have been torn\napart by the administration's mismanagement of this pandemic, people\nwho need just a little direct assistance.\n  The President's term, thankfully, will end in 20 days. It is a term\nthat has been marked by hate and division and turmoil. He has so far\nused his term to enrich himself and the wealthy.\n  Let's close out the term on a good note. For once, he wants to help\nregular people, to give Americans a leg up. Let's allow him to do that.\n  We have a chance at the end of this painful year to give Americans a\nreason to have some hope in 2021. The only\n\n[[Page S7987]]\n\nthing standing in the way is the Republican Senate majority. In a\nmoment, I will, once again, ask consent that the Senate set a time for\na vote on the House bill to provide $2,000 checks to the American\npeople. Remember, the Democrats are willing to vote on all of the other\nissues that the Republicans say the President supposedly cares about.\nJust let us vote on a clean bill with the $2,000 checks.\n  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to\nthe immediate consideration of Calendar No. 645, H.R. 9051, a bill to\nincrease the recovery rebate amounts to $2,000 for individuals; that\nthe bill be read a third time and the Senate vote on passage; and that\nif passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon\nthe table with no intervening action or debate.\n  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?\n  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I object.\n  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.\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-2020-12-31-pt1-PgS7986-2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 59.81325916945934, "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"}