On cspan. Org. The senate is weighing in on defense policies for 2021. And now to live coverage. Senate here on cspan2. To or. The chaplain, dr. Black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal god, thank you for the gift of this day. Open the minds of our lawmakers and give them a vision of the unlimited possibilities available to those who trust you as their guide. May our senators embrace a hugh millty embrace a humility that seeks first to understand rather than to be understood. Inspire them to seek your wisdom as you sustain them with your grace, mercy, and peace. Lord, remind them that you will judge their fruits, productivey and faithfulness. We pray in your strong name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Grassley madam president. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley one minute for morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley the u. S. Mexicocanadian agreement entered into force july 1, and im eager to see the modernized agreement deliver on its promises to spur job growth for american farmers, workers, and businesses, and even help our innovators, and also at the same time it will create new opportunities with our north American Trading partners. The u. S. Mexicocanadian agreement fixes many problems that we had for 30 years under nafta, and it also creates several new modern trade provisions for our 20th century economy, things that were negotiated that werent even thought of 30 years ago when nafta was negotiated. However, even with this agreement going into effect and being a tough agreement to negotiate, it isnt going to be simple from here on out. Theres plenty of work remaining to ensure that the agreement is implemented fully and properly. So i urge the administration to be expeditious in addressing any enforcement issues or noncompliance from our trading partners under the dispute mechanism. I also encourage close consultation between congress and the administration so that we may continue to be successful in the u. S. Mexicocanadian agreement implementation efforts, allowing americans to reap the benefits of this agreement. Now i raised questions with the administration, but i have no doubt that theyre going to be on top of it, because i remember for President Trump as a candidate 2015 to 2016, running on a platform to get rid of nafta. Trump was elected. By may of his first year in office, trump started negotiations. They were successful negotiations. Nafta is now gone. Now usmca is going into effect. Trump delivered on his campaign promise. I have no doubt that he will see that the u. S. Mexicocanadian agreement is properly implemented. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Mcconnell madam president. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell madam president , our nation stands at a crucial midway point in our battle against this terrible virus. The heroism of health care professionals, essential workers, and families from coast to coast got our nation through a springtime like no other. Communities across america put normal life on pause to buy breathing room for our medical system. We essentially had to winterize the Worlds Largest economy for weeks on end and spare our people as much of the resulting pain as possible. The task was historic and so was the senates response. We wrote and passed a cares act, the largest rescue pablg in american history. Our legislation helped pull both our Health System and our economy back from the brink. Tens of millions of jobs were saved. The hallways of our hospitals did not become italy. The senates leadership helped the nation endure the first phase of this, but this crisis is far from over. The virus that has claimed 140,000 american lives has not gone anywhere. As some places step back toward normalcy, infections are climbing again in hot spots across our country. The start of our economic recovery has been sharp and impressive, but in absolute terms we still have just begun to pick up the speeses. Our the pieces. Our progress so far has been encouraging but it remains fragile and far from sufficient. I would argue that our countrys job now is even more complex than it was back in march. Now as then, we need to keep our Health System robust. But now instead of locking down the country to do it, we want to stand up a society that functions somewhat more normally at the same time. The American People cannot completely stop building their lives until a vaccine is available. The United States of america was not built for a defensive crouch. We need to stand up an educational system and an economy that works for workers and families in the meantime. We need to find the right sort of middle ground, middle ground that is smart and safe but also more sustainable. So another historic set of challenges, madam president , and another opportunity for the opportunity for the United States senate to deliver. For weeks now i have made it clear that further legislation out of the senate will be a serious response to the crisis. We wont be wasting the American Peoples time like the House Democrats with their multitrilliondollar proposal to hike taxes on Small Businesses and send diversity detectives into the cannabis industry. Ive said we will start with the facts and develop real, targeted solutions on the subjects that matter most to American Families. Well, madam president , it turns out that means three things. Kids, jobs and health care. Kids, jobs, and health care. Surveys show the American Peoples Top Priorities for reopening are child care and k12 schools. This country wants its kids back in the classroom this fall learning, exploring, making friends. Their educations depend on it. In some cases their safety depends on it, and so do the livelihoods of american parents. The American Academy of peede i peede pediatrics stated our goal must be inperson instruction, but of course parents, teachers, and doctors all agree that it has to be as safe as possible. Thats where the senate comes in. And this majority is preparing legislation that will send 105 billion so that educators have the resources they need to safely reopen. That is more money than the House Democrats set aside for a similar fund, by the way. And thats in addition to support for child care needs. Its amazing how you can find room to find serious priorities when you take a pass on the far left daydreams. Second, the economic slowdown that has hurt millions and millions of americans. Before this crisis we had never had seven million americans receiving unemployment at the same time. Today we have 17 million. More than a Million People have filed new unemployment claims every single week for more than four months now. The american job market needs another shot of adrenaline. Senate republicans are laser focused on getting American Workers their jobs back. Our bill takes several specific incentives to hire and retain workers and turn the dials on those policies way up. The legislation will help reimburse for safe workplaces so that main street can afford the p. P. E. , testing, cleaning, or remodeling to protect workers and entice customers. The ingenuity and spirit of americas Small Business is impossible to overstate. They still face a tough road. With the majority of businesses expected to exhaust their initial paycheck protectioning funding this summer, well also be proposing a targeted second round of the p. P. P. With a special eye toward hardhit businesses. And speaking of building on what worked in the cares act, we want another round of direct payments, direct payments to help American Families keep driving our national comeback. Helping to create more american jobs is an urgent moral priority, and these are just some of the policies were discussing that will help that happen. In addition to kids and jobs, our third major focus is health care. The reason is obvious. If we lose control of the virus or if research stalls, then Everything Else will be window dressing. Our proposal will dedicate even more resources to the fastest race for a new vaccine in Human History along with diagnostics and treatments. Our bill will also protect seniors from a potential spike in premiums. And the federal government will continue to support hospitals, providers, and testing. These are just some of the elements that Senate Republicans are discussing among ourselves and with the administration. But there is one more central proposal that ties kids, jobs, and health care all together. As i have said for months, the next recovery package will include strong Legal Protections for the Health Care Workers who save strangers lives and the schools, colleges, charities, and businesses that want to reopen. The American People will not see their historic recovery gobbled up by trial lawyers who are itching to follow the pandemic with a second epidemic of frivolous lawsuits. Gross negligence will still be actionable, but we are creating a safe harbor for institutions that make goodfaith efforts to follow the guidelines available to them. Doctors and nurses clearly deserve this protection, and school districts, universities, nonprofits, and Small Businesses will need it as well. If we want any genuine reopening at all. The legislation that i have begun to sketch out is neither another cares act to float the entire economy nor a typical stimulus bill for a nation thats ready to get back to normal. Our country is in a complex middle ground between those two things. We cant go back to april, and we cant snap our fingers and finish the vaccine overnight. We need to carve out a new normal. So Senate Republicans are continuing to discuss these and other ideas among our conference and with the administration. The majority will be laying down another historic proposal very soon. But here in the senate, an outcome will require bipartisan discussions. I do not believe there will be anything in our bill that our democratic colleagues should not happily support, but we will stand ready and eager to Work Together and produce a bipartisan outcome. As i said yesterday, in march, the senate gave an historic master class in how to pass major bipartisan legislation. The cares act, the largest rescue package ever, was drafted by republicans, promptly negotiated across the aisle with democrats, and then passed urgently without a single dissenting vote. But last month, in june, we recorded a master class in how not how not to make a law. Instead of amending senator tim scotts justice act, our democratic colleague flatout blocked it. They filibustered the issue of Police Reform all together. Well, for the sake of americas kids, jobs, and health care, madam president , lets hope our democratic friends bring their bipartisan urgency and good faith to the process and leave the partisan poses behind. The senate has led every step of this crisis. We need to rise to the task one more time. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s. 4049, which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 483, s. 4049, an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for military activities at the department of defense, and so forth and for other purposes. Mr. Schumer madam president. The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer are we in a quorum . The presiding officer we are not. Mr. Schumer madam president , our country faces the greatest Health Threat in 100 years, the greatest economic crisis in 70 years, but here in the republicanled senate, you would hardly know it. Over the past several months, even as covid19 surged through the country once again, even as our states hit new records of infections and hospitalizations, the republican majority in the senate dithered and delayed on the next phase of major emergency relief. In may, sorry, in april, in may, in june, democrats tried to jolt the senate into action. But almost every time we tried to pass muchneeded legislation by average americans, our republican colleagues objected. Unemployment claims reached 50 million. The number of cases topped 3. 8 million as the virus resurged over the past several weeks. More than 140,000 americans have died. Still, Senate Republicans wanted to, in the orders of their leader, quote, hit the pause button and, quote, assess the conditions in the country before providing any more relief. The country was burning. Senate republicans, led by leader mcconnell, said lets wait a little longer and see how this goes. Like President Trump, they were hoping it would go away. Ignoring all of the scientific evidence, but paying obeisance to the hard right which didnt want to spend money, no matter what the cost to america. Now, it seems our republican friends have finally found the motivation to do another emergency relief bill. Even they, with their heads still half in the sand, have to see the crisis the country is in. But instead of working with democrats in either the senate or the house, leader mcconnell has decided to write the bill behind the closed doors of his office. The same partisan, onesideonly process that has failed time and time again to produce successful legislation in the senate. Mcconnell talked about how the senate led in the last three bills. I would add a word to that. It was Senate Democrats that led. Republicans put a small, stingy, corporateoriented proposal before the senate. We said no, and they were forced to add provisions friendly to workers and average American Families. Thats what happened. History knows that. Yesterday, leader mcconnell once again called for the same spirit of bipartisanship that helped us pass the cares act. Well, leader mcconnell, writing a bill in your own Office Without any input from democrats, dropping it on the floor, and demanding that democrats support it is no ones idea of bipartisanship. You cant fool the American People with these words that just dont ring true. Even worse, the republican proposal appears destined to fall drastically short of whats required. From all indications, the bill will prioritize corporate special interests over workers and main street businesses. It wont provide hazard pay for essential workers. It wont provide new funding to state, local, and tribal governments. Or enough investments in communities of color that have been ravaged by the virus. Enhanced Unemployment Benefits will expire at the end of the month. According to reports, the republican bill will not do nearly enough to aid the 20 million to 30 million americans currently unemployed. Weve heard republicans debate a credit for americans who are going back to work, but those are the very same americans who will be getting a salary again. What about americans who remain unemployed and actually need the help . The moratorium on evictions expires this week. According to reports, the republican bill wont do anything for the millions of americans who cant afford the rent and could get kicked out of their apartments. So after all the hemming and hawing and the delay which cost america so much, months of delay, it appears the next republican proposal on covid wont even come close to meeting the moment. It has become clear over the last few weeks that the reason our republican colleagues have taken so long to put even this inadequate proposal together is because they are paralyzed by internal divisions among themselves and by division with the president. According to reports in the press, even after all these months, our republican that our republican colleagues spent assessing the conditions in the country, the white house and Senate Republicans are starkly divided about what to do. The Trump Administration is fixated on a payroll tax cut, an idea that will not only harm those who rely on Social Security but will do nothing for the tens of millions of americans who have lost their jobs during the crisis. Many republican many of my republican colleagues arent too keen on that idea, with good reason, and yet it still may be in mcconnells proposal. Because he and the other republicans are afraid to tell President Trump no, even when they know hes wrong. Recent reports also suggest that the administrations trying to block billions of dollars from going to the states in order to improve their testing and Contract Tracing capabilities. Can you imagine . Republicans are arguing about whether to block funds for testing and tracing, the two most important tools in our arsenal to manage this crisis right now. Its amazing. Americans are hanging their heads in some degree of shame at the president s actions, because every other country, developed country, just about every other one in europe and east asia doing much better than us because they had leadership and their leadership provided above all testing and tracing. This president refuses to do it