night at midnight. talks beginning with house democrats and the white house on a covid-19 relief package, it's possible that the senate could be in session this weekend as they try to finish up their work. now live to the floor of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the chaplain: you desire to give us a future and a hope. today give our senators the power to do your will as they realize more fully that they are servants of heaven and stewards

of your mysteries. lord, inspire them to seek your best for our nation, repeatedly requesting your guidance and following your leading. may they help people maximize possibilities for your glory. we pray in your sacred name. 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: i ask for one minute in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: we're getting perhaps close to a new presidency and so there's a lot of talk about how the senate might handle new cabinet people. democrats are always lecturing republican senators about approving future biden cabinet nominees even if we don't agree with them. now, that's pretty darn rich. in other words, they are saying

something like this. don't follow our example from the past four years, or another way to put that is, don't treat biden nominees to the cabinet like we treated trump nominees to the cabinet. so they seemed to want two sets of rules for republican and democratic cabinet nominees just like they want with judicial nominees. president obama had six cabinet secretaries approved by the senate on his inauguration day without even needing a roll call vote so that president obama could hit the ground running. president trump had none by voice vote and only two were approved by roll call votes before the nominee was -- or

before the president took over. trump cabinet and subcabinet nominees, even ones that have been easily confirmed in previous republican administrations, faced obstruction and partisan nay votes. many democrat senators who aspire to be president voted virtually against every single trump nominee no matter how well qualified. now, my position has always been that a president should have the ability to choose his own cabinet people that he gets along with and who agree with him on policy provided, of course, that they are qualified and will follow the law, and that's the way it should be. it is how i have approached nominees to date. but can senate republicans be sure that if we employ that

standard democrats will play fair with the next republican president? i don't want retaliation for its own sake, but the threat of holding democrat senators to their own standards has been our only means of deterrence of obstruction. i want to hear from democrats why we should not now adopt their standards and vote down nominees based on politics. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the

judiciary, charles edward ashley, jr., of tennessee, to be united states district judge for the eastern district of tennessee. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: madam president, i'm sorry that the senator from iowa who spoke before me left before i could get his attention. senator grassley is my friend. we served together for many years. we worked out a lot of things together and i bet we will in the future. i like working with him. he shoots from the hip, tells you exactly what he thinks. he's got -- i know this sounds a little vain, but a little midwestern approach to him that i like a lot. he just gave us a reminder here of the difficulties that faced some of the trump nominees on the floor of the united states senate. i remember that. there were some that were delayed because of very basic things. they had not filed their

financial disclosure forms and the ethics reports which were expected of all cabinet nominees. i don't expect president-elect biden to cut any corners. i expect his nominees to follow the rules and the law and i'm hoping that they will have bipartisan support when they come to the senate. i want to give this president a chance to get off to a good, solid start and he's going to need it. we are in the midst of this pandemic. the numbers roll in every single day are frightening. even in my home state of illinois where the governor and the mayor have worked hard to establish standards of conduct which will keep people safe. we know that the numbers are just unacceptable in terms of infections and hospitalizations, and sadly, deaths as well. over 300,000 americans have died. we want to make sure that

president biden and vice president heiress have -- harris have the -- have their cabinet when they take over. they have every right to expect their nominees to answer the basic questions in a are required, but i hope that they'll also do their best to expedite that process so that those going into critical positions to keep our country safe from this pandemic are in place as well as those who are going to serve our nation in critical capacities, whether it's secretary of state or attorney general or department of homeland security. but i look forward to working with my friend from iowa, and i take heed of his warning that we will hold these nominees to the same standards as we held president trump's nominees. madam president, we are at the

11th hour before a funding deadline for the -- where the budget of the united states is at stake. tomorrow the continuing resolution expires and we are facing the prospect of another continuing resolution. i pray that we don't do that. this has been a very disappointing year for the appropriations process. historically the process begins with the president's budget and then comes a budget resolution passed by the house and the senate for the spending priorities in the next fiscal year. we didn't do that. then there's an allocation usually after the passage of a budget resolution of how much each subcommittee of the appropriations committee can work with in total amounts of dollars. we didn't do that. then the subcommittees have hearings and some of these subcommittees of appropriations,

many hearings, to explore whether the dollar amounts that are allocated for a certain purpose really are well spent and serve their purpose. we didn't do that. then the subcommittee is supposed to meet and vote out an appropriations bill at the end of that process, reporting it to the full committee, and we didn't do that. and then the appropriations committee is supposed to take up the subcommittee's product, debate it, subject to amendment, and pass it out for consideration by the full body. we never did that as well. the matters that are supposed to come to the floor of the senate be debated as well, perhaps amended, pass the senate if it has the right necessary vote. we didn't do that. and then it's supposed to go to the house of representatives and to see how it matches up with their similar work product. we didn't do that either.

ultimately it may result in a conference report, according to the rules between the house and the senate, and that never happened. so the entire budget and appropriations process was completely avoided and we find ourselves extending a continuing resolution for the spending of the united states government for weeks at a time until after the election. so now we face the prospect of the eleventh hour to finish the work we were expected to do or simply to delay the situation again. well, we need to do our job and do it now. we need to pass our annual appropriations bills and to keep the government running. cannot imagine the unforgivable and embarrassing tragedy it would be if the government is shut down for our failure to reach a decision.

we need to pass a covid relief bill. i was happy to join a group of 10 senators, five democrats and five republicans, three weeks ago we metaphor dinner one -- met for dinner one night, safe social distancing in one of the member's houses and spoke our frustration that we hadn't passed a covid relief bill since march when we passed the cares act. we know that things have gotten worst in this country not only from the pandemic but the state of the country, but for some reason we couldn't reach an agreement, the two parties. well, this mixed group of senators of both political parties had a bold idea, let's try to do it ourselves. so we sat down and in the course of three weeks, i cannot tell you how many hours we spent on the phone, zoom calls, other conference calls, calls were

even taking place on thanksgiving day talking about what a covid relief bill might look like. some of the items we debated long and hard, most of them we agreed on. this last tuesday, this week, we reported our bill to the united states senate to the floor of the senate and to the leaders and we didn't just give them a memo with concepts, we gave them an actual bill that could be introduced today. the bill itself is significant in that it has $748 billion in spending. the areas of spending are fairly predictable, extending unemployment insurance benefits with $300 a week federal supplement, $300 billion for business loans, an additional $13 billion for snap so that

people who are relying on that perhaps in the midst of unemployment will have enough to eat. $13 billion for our farmers, $25 billion for emergency rental assistance to avoid evictions, $34 billion to hospitals, clinics for help as well. a portion of that set aside for rural hospitals. $16 billion for testing, tracing, and the logistics of delivering the vaccine across america. $12 billion for a cd-5 project for minority businesses. $5 billion for additional help of mental health counseling. and we know that this pandemic and the economy have taken their toll on the mental health of america. $82 billion for education. $20 billion of that for higher education. school districts and schools, universities, too, have spent a lot of money because of covid-19, and we want to help get them back on their feet.

$10 billion for child care, a critical element for many families. if they can't find child care, many people can't go back to work. we want to give them help. $10 billion for broadband. expanding broadband became critically important when kids relied on it to continue their education and remote learning. $45 billion for transportation. everything from the airline industry to amtrak to transit to buses, they've all been hit hard, and we need them to come back with our economy. $10 billion for our postal service. boy have they worked hard during this pandemic to keep up with the demands. and extensions of opportunities to use cares money into the next fiscal year, next calendar year, i should say. and there were more. we reached agreement on all of these and came up with a bill that we presented to the leadership of both the house and the senate, both parties.

the good news is they didn't ignore it. they embraced it and started their own negotiations at the very highest levels of leadership in the congress. fingers crossed, we may come up with a bill today, covid relief. so from the time of our press conference on tuesday to the delivery of a product as soon as today is an amazing accomplishment when you consider all the time that we have spent waiting in hopes that we could find that solution. we have made significant progress. funding the government is basic to our work in congress, and this covid relief bill is essential as well. now, i'm disappointed in our work product -- there is pride and disappointment. the disappointment is the fact that we didn't reach an agreement on state and local government assistance. i favor that strongly. and i hope we turn to that issue as soon as we return in january. also, there was a tremendous of

liability and lawsuits during the time of covid-19. we offered several alternatives that republicans countered with theirs, we never had a meeting of the minds on that issue. i hope that we do return to it at some point soon. we need to put spending on a course that makes sense for the next year that we're going to be tackling as soon as january. for the military and the f.b.i., public housing and transportation, medical research, cybersecurity, governing is the worst in any way that we approach it, governing by c.r. is the worst possible way to do business. continuing resolutions impede our government's ability to operate efficiently and frankly waste money. taxpayers deserve better. the continuing resolution would leave us operating under funding levels which before we faced this national emergency, which

is in every part of america today, it would restrict agencies from shifting dollars around to meet the challenges, and it would hurt -- it would hurt their ability to plan ahead, hire and train new employees, start new projects. continuing resolutions cause delays in contracts and grants when we need them the most. there are many examples of these. funding for medical research. i don't think there is an american alive today who doesn't value medical research more today than they did a year ago. the warp speed project appears to be a dramatic success. i pray that it will be. although i have been a frequent critic of this administration, i want to give them credit for organizing this effectively and delivering a vaccine in a timely way, almost amazing timely way in this pandemic that we face. i thank all who were involved in

it, especially the scientists and researchers who didn't give up until they found these vaccines. we know that fema has been prohibited -- would be prohibited from awarding homeland security grants to state and local governments unless we do our business of passing a budget. safety and efficiency improvements in our transportation programs such as bridge repairs need to be timely and implemented. states and cities would not receive their community development block grants which they desperately need. the list goes on and on. our constituents elected us to do a job, and part of that job is to create a budget for this government. months of bipartisan committee work and weeks of bipartisan negotiations should not be cast aside. i -- i am hopeful that we finalize a deal today and vote on it as early as today or tomorrow at the latest. we can't expect people to wait with any patience. we have waited too long ourselves.

let me close on a topic that is related to this, madam president. the press reports of russian hacking into the security systems of the united states are as troubling as can be. this is nothing short of a virtual invasion by the russians into critical accounts of our federal government. it is possible that they have compromised some of the most important and sensitive information that this government owns, information that we rely on to keep america safe. of course vladimir putin denies it, but we know better. it's not the first time, but i hope it's one of the last times. we need to make it clear to mr. putin, to china, to iran, to north korea, and to any nation that would compromise and breach our security that there is a price to pay. no, i'm not calling for an invasion myself or all-out war. i don't want to see that happen, but it's no longer a buddy-buddy

arrangement between the united states and vladimir putin. we have to take this man very seriously because he is a serious threat to the united states when he captures this kind of information which we use so that our troops are safe in the field and that we're safe in our homes. we thought we had a defense mechanism established. it turns out that it failed and compromised the integrity of our security and cyber world. we need to do better. through the department of homeland security and the department of defense dedicate the resources and say to mr. putin and others like him around the world, we're not going to stand by and let you take advantage of us. there will be a price to pay for this. frankly, if we do anything less than that, it is hard to imagine we are doing our best to protect this great nation. there will be more. i'm sure there will be secure briefings for members of congress going into detail here, but the news that is coming out

in the media is very troubling. we need to do all that we can to keep america safe. when adversaries such as russia torment us, tempt us, breach the security of our nation, we need to respond in kind. madam president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip.

mr. thune: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, i am encouraged that we are making progress on coronavirus relieve legislation, but we need to finish up and get this bill out the door. the virus is surging around the country, and we need to get help to struggling americans as soon as possible. the time for debate is over. let's get this done. madam president, we started this week out with a tremendously hopeful moment in our covid fight, the first vaccinations against this virus. it's incredible that barely a year since we first learned about the virus we have a vaccine, with more vaccines likely on the way. and i've been thinking a lot this week about the people who volunteered for vaccine trials. we gained a new appreciation this year for a lot of people whose work we might have taken for granted in the past. the farmers and grocery store

workers and truck drivers who kept food on our grocery store shelves. the delivery drivers whom we have relied on so heavily this year who have brought our packages to us so we can minimize our time at the store. all the workers whose jobs can't be done from home, from electrical workers to trash men to pharmacists, who get up every day and put on their mask and go out and keep our country running. and of course our nation's medical professionals who have faced down this virus with courage and determination and with great compassion. there have been a lot of quiet heroes this year, madam president, and the people who volunteered for vaccine trials should be high on that list. a lot of courageous people stepped forward when we needed them, and we would not have a covid vaccine today without their willingness to help. madam president, monday was the beginning of what will hopefully

be a decisive victory in our covid battle, and we owe that to the hard work and persistence of medical researchers. but we owe it also to the vaccine trial volunteers who enabled researchers to complete the process of developing a safe and effective vaccine. it's no exaggeration to say that the braver of vaccine volunteers could end up saving hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives. i doubt we'll ever know most of the volunteers' names, but they are heroes of this battle just the same. and i am very grateful for the opportunity that they have given us to defeat this virus. madam president, before i close, i'd like to take a moment to pay tribute to one of my staffers, johanna joblansky.

she is from the small town of exi'an, south dakota. is a -- -- ethan, south dakota. she joined our team working in sioux falls. a little over six years ago she moved to washington, d.c. and became a permanent member of the office. she started out as a staff assistant and worked her way up to become my scheduler and our starting softball pitcher, i mite add, here in d.c. when johanna first came to my office she intended to move back home after a year or two but god had plans for her here in dz. -- d.c. a few years ago she met her husband anthony at a fish fry her on capitol hill. johanna regards that as a blessing for her but a blessing for us too because we got to keep her around longer than she

originally anticipated. but now in a couple of week johanna will move back to south dakota, and we are all very excited for her. but she will be sorely missed. madam president, i know i don't have to tell you or any other senator here just how important the role of a scheduler is in any office. the days here on capitol hill are busy. our schedulers are the ones who bring some semblance of organization to an otherwise chaotic day, making sure that we get to connect with our constituents in town to make it to committee hearings and votes on time, get the briefings we need on legislation, and much more. johanna is not only a good scheduler, she is a great one. i will miss her patience, her professionalism, and her herunparalleled ability to keep

the trains running on time. but what i and i think the rest of my staff will miss the most about johanna is her kindness. johanna has had a positive impact on pretty much every staffer who worked for me during her time here, taking the time to get to know each of them on a personal level. whether she's interacting with an agency head, a constituent or fellow staffer, she is always the same -- unfailingly gracious, patient, and kind. no matter how busy or chaotic the day, johanna can be counted on to bring a steady hand and a positive attitude. she is a woman of deep faith, and it shows. and i am sad to see her go. but i want to wish her the very best of everything as she embarks on this new chapter in life. johanna, thank you for all your

hard work on behalf of south dakota. you will be missed. madam president, i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. 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: well, we in congress are no strangers to december funding deadlines or the occasionalpre-christmas

cliffhanger. in that respect, the situation we face now is familiar. funding for the federal government is hanging in the balance, and in the next few days, congress will either succeed or fail at providing secure and stable funding for our military commanders, our federal departments, and key investments for our future. fortunately, our colleagues on the appropriations committee and their house counterparts have been on the case. bipartisan, bicameral committee work has full-year government funding legislation on the one-yard line. i'm optimistic that if we can close out our other parallel business, we should be able to fund the government and move forward together. but that brings me to the way in which this year is unlike anything we've seen before. it's been more than nine months since our nation began to feel the full force of the covid-19 pandemic. the american people have done what americans do when crises come knocking.

essential workers have kept our nation running. health care professionals have worked day and night to care for strangers. heroic american businesses have adapted, reinvented, and obeyed the advice of medical experts. now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, mr. president. operation warp speed has given us safe and effective vaccines in record time, but the american people need another bridge to those better days that are not so far off. the country needs congress to come through with another targeted rescue package. they have waited months. they have waited and suffered, and some have died while needless political games have played out. the american people wait for more emergency assistance ought to be over. for months, i've called for a targeted bipartisan package that will put hundreds of billions of dollars into payroll support, testing, vaccine distribution, extended unemployment aid, safe schools, and other essential

priorities. so i'm encouraged that our democratic colleagues have now embraced this framework that has been the right solution for our country all this time, and a bipartisan bicameral agreement appears to be close at hand. the outline that i have been discussing with democratic leader pelosi and leader mccarthy would get another huge dose of bipartisan support out the door as fast as possible. we have yet to nail down every detail, but in broad strokes, we have been discussing the targeted second round of job-saving paycheck protection program that republicans have sought since last summer. we are discussing many tens of billions of dollars for distributing vaccines, covid testing, and equipping safe schools to get our kids' educations back on track. we're discussing extended and important unemployment programs. at the particular urging of president trump and secretary

mnuchin who have continued to be the champions of cash relief for american families, we are discussing more direct impact payments for individuals plus the bonus for families with children. these are just some of the major pillars, and equally important, mr. president, we are agreeing to be smart about financing these extraordinary policies. now, listen to this. we intend to repurpose more than $400 billion in unspent funds which we already allocated in the cares act. it turned out these funds did not need to be tapped to restore basic stability to our economy. it's time we put that money to urgent use. like i said at the time yesterday, i'm heartened by our discussions and our progress. i believe all sides are working in good faith toward the shared goal of getting an outcome. but i will say this, mr. president. in my judgment, we are very close to a point that arises in every major negotiation. it's the point where each side faces a fork in the road. do we want to lapse into

politics as usual and let negotiations lose steam? do we want to haggle and spar like this was an ordinary political exercise, get wrapped around the actual language or policy riders that we know are controversial? or on the other hand, after months of inaction, do we want to move swiftly and with unusual bipartisanship to close out our issues, seal the deal, and write text that can quickly pass into law? in short, we're near the point in this process where we decide if we're going to stay on the fast track or drift back towards business as usual. i say the answer should be obvious. after all these months, struggling americans don't just need action. they need action fast. fast. so i continue to appreciate our productive discussions, but i hope we also remember just how urgent the situation is for millions and millions of our fellow citizens. so for the information of all senators, we're going to stay

right here, right here until we are finished, even if that means working through the weekend, which is highly likely. and if we need to further extend the friday funding deadline before final legislation can pass in both chambers, i hope we will extend it for a very, very short, short window of time. our citizens can't afford for us to get bogged down in the back and forth. let's finish up our bipartisan framework. let's make law as soon as possible. that's what our people deserve. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum? the presiding officer: yes. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, we continue to move closer to a final agreement on an omnibus appropriations bill and a package of emergency federal aid to provide the country relief from the continued impact of the covid-19 pandemic. yesterday house and senate leadership worked well into the night. we resumed first thing this morning, while many if not all of the difficult topics are mind us a few final issues must be hammered out. we're very close to an agreement but the details really matter. when it comes to unemployment benefits, stimulus checks, aid to small businesses, and so much else, we have a responsibility to get this right. people's lives depend upon it. i will note that had the republican majority joined in negotiations any time in the last six months as we had requested, we would not be in the unfortunate position of

negotiating against the government funding deadline. leader mcconnell kept calling for a pause, and here we are. and i also note that we would have a much larger bill that met crucial needs of so many americans if republicans had not about so intransigent. but we're all eager to conclude our work and deliver the relief that the american people have been waiting for. everyone wants to see this get done and soon. it's not an easy feat or process. we're talking about providing relief to a country hurting from coast to coast, a country with tens of millions of unemployed workers and more slipping into poverty every day. a country with businesses of all sizes and varieties struggling in different ways, and more in danger of closing for good every week. a country that just yesterday suffered the worst day of the entire pandemic, the most cases, the most

hospitalizations, the most deaths -- more than 3,600 american lives. already we know that the size of this emergency relief bill would be the largest stimulus in the history of our country, if not for the other covid relief bill, the cares bill which i negotiated with secretary mnuchin and we passed earlier this year. let me say again we are putting the final touches on what would be the largest stimulus in the history of the country with the exception of the cares act. larger even than ara, the stimulus bill congress passed in the wake of the financial crisis in 2009. none of the remaining hurdles cannot be overcome. everyone is committed to achieving a result, and we will not leave until we get the job done. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: all postcloture time is expired. the question occurs on the

atchley nomination. is there a sufficient second? appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: any members in the chamber wishing to vote or change are their vote. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion is to -- under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is made and laid upon the table and the pred will be immediately notified -- the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. tester: i ask that the mandatory quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of zachary somers of the district of columbia to be a judge of the court of federal claims. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call has been waived. is it the sense of the senate

that the nomination of zachary somers of the district of columbia to be a judge of the court of federal claims shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, on this vote the yeas are 52, the nays are 42. and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination.

the clerk: nomination. the judiciary. zachary m. somers of the district of columbia to be a judge of the united states court of federal claims. the presiding officer: the senator for iowa. mr. grassley: in late june i came to the floor to speak about the need for multiemployer pension estimate and how that system is failing its employees

and retirees. i spoke about the need to secure retirement benefits for the millions of americans who will start to see plans fail and benefits cut in the coming years if congress doesn't fix this problem. for the past two weeks chairman alexander and i were negotiating with our democratic colleagues to do just that -- fix the system so future retirees and retirees now would not lose out on what they were promised. those negotiations were very constructive, and i believe that both sides worked in good faith. while both sides agreed to make significant changes in the end, we weren't able to find a compromise that satisfied our

respective principles and objectives for resolving this situation. here's the hangup -- time, now at the end of the session, the end of the year agenda and adjournment of the congress, we just ran out of time. so in the midst of year-end appropriations and covid relief negotiations, there simply wasn't enough time to reconcile our differences on how to fix this failing system. my hope had been to use the last eight months to negotiate a solution and a thoughtful and measured manner instead of like now in the heat of a complex year-end bill. but sadly, those eight months didn't produce results, and so

the last two weeks was a near-death opportunity to get something done. from the beginning we have agreed that federal funds will be needed to solve the crisis in the short term. yes, money from the treasury for pension plans that are in trouble now. but we've been equally resolute that reforms are essential to ensure the systems can be self-sustaining for the long term. so we were trying to find a short-term solution that would involve the injection of federal dollars, but we wanted a long-term solution that would make sure that private pension plans were self-sustaining and

not relying upon the federal treasury. are and it would be wrong to have the taxpayers perpetually subsidizing a private-sector system of employee benefit promises. last november chairman alexander and i presented our comprehensive approach to, first of all, rescue and, second, reform the multiemployer pension system which we have been working on and improving the proposal ever since. the product was improved with an amazing amount of input from workers, retirees, unions, employers, actuaries, academics, plan officials, and even members of the general

public. and something as big as this needed to involve all those people being at the table. today chairman alexander and i will introduce a revised version of that plan, the chris allen nullity employer pension -- multiemployer recapitalization and reform act. this legislation serves as the basis for our recent negotiations and is the product of years of work with chairman alexander to produce a very serious, a very responsible plan that can provide relief to failing plans and to protect retirees' benefits. it's also designed to ensure that the long-term solvency of the pension benefit guaranty corporation multiemployer insurance fund, based on the

many comments and proposals we received to the original grassley-alexander plan released last year, in november. we belive that this legislation would ensure that the pbgc's multiemployer insurance fund remains solvent over the long term after the initial rescue of the current failing plans. and as i've said, that initial rescue involved federal dollars being put into the system, but not for the long-term viability of these plans. but most importantly, this legislation would reform the system to prevent this from happening. in other words, the pbgc would be sound just in case an emergency comes up and one of these plans had to go to the

pbgc. i would also like to note that the bill is named after chris allen, who was a dedicated member of my finance committee staff who passed away nearly one year ago at a too young of an age. chris poured thousands of hours of work into the developing, drafting, and perfecting the grassley-alexander plan. i'm grateful for all the work that chris did, and i'm proud this legislation bears his name. i'm also grateful to andy vendushy, who helped us continue chris' work while on detail for the committee for the pbgc for several months earlier this year. his expertise and commitment especially during the pandemic were essential to bringing this

legislation to completion. lastly, mark warner of the finance committee staff had led my team on this very important issue with the help of jamie cummings. this bill would not be possible without their efforts. so i thank mark, jamie, andy and chris for their dedicated service. let me close by stressing two points for my democratic colleagues who have really gone overboard to help us reach something that we would hope would pass yet this year, which will not pass. i appreciate the democrats' professional and good-faith effort to try to find an agreement to this important issue. although we were not able to reconcile our differences before the clock ran out, reneed to

carry that work forward and i remain ready to continue that discussion. but i want to make clear that while the last two years i've been chairman of the finance committee, i won't be chairman the next two years and will be working under the leadership of the next chairman, senator crapo, if republicans continue to be in the majority. these issues are not simple. and as i said in june, delaying the solution is only going to make the whole effort more costly. we should continue to work together to find a solution for the ten million workers and retireeers in these multiemployer plan. america's retirees deserve it. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. mrs. blackburn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for tennessee. mrs. blackburn: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mrs. blackburn: i ask that the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you,

mr. president. i have to tell you, when i am back home, i am struck by one of the things i'm hearing in tennessee, and it's this odd mix of optimism and also of concern. and tennesseans are very concerned that we are not going to pass another round of covid relief in time to help save their businesses, in time to help people who lost their job through no fault of their own. and, on the other hand, they're excited about the fact that we finally have vaccines that are going through the process, that are getting to communities. there are vaccinations taking place. and i have thought, you know, this is really an interesting mix of emotions, especially

with christmas right around the corner. sunday, after i had visited with some folks, i thought, you know, this, i think, is where people are going to be for awhile. some are very optimistic. some are incredibly worried. but there is one thing that is a constant, and i've really watched this grow over the last several months. it is the confusion and the anger that is directed at the chinese communist party. and, quite frankly, this is something that i fully believe has reached a boiling point with tennesseans and with the american public. tennesseans were familiar with the tense relationship between

china and the u.s. well before they found themselves in the middle of this pandemic. here's a good example. at this point most everyone is familiar with china's notorious disregard for intellectual property rights. but when i first started working on this issue in the house with songwriters back in tennessee, it was in the early 2000's, we felt like we were fighting that battle all alone. we had to fight with chinese officials and eventually were able to establish some initial royalty rights payable to u.s. copyright owners whose sound recordings are broadcast in china. that was a solid win, but the fact that we had to fight so hard for something so simple

really was frustrating. and people in tennessee have not forgotten that frustration. before this year they were painfully familiar with the chinese government's abysmal human rights record. that initial footage of massive protests in hong kong have resurrected memories of tiananmen square and reminded everyone that the chinese government still uses political violence, speech suppression, and torture to silence dissent. the people i talked to had read about diplomatic tensions in trade deals, and they could sense that in spite of all those optimistic perspectives on the nightly news, our biggest rival in asia had become our adversary. so they weren't at all shocked when news reports started

rolling in that the chinese communist party officials in new bay province in beijing had done nothing, not one thing to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. is since then, tennesseans and indeed most americans have received a valuable education courtesy of xi jinping and the chinese communist party. we learned the chinese's failure to sound the alarm wasn't an anomaly. it was intentional. neither was their strong arming of the world health organization or the incarceration and torture of doctors and journalists who defied gag orders to blast out warnings to anyone who would listen. they tried to tell us this was reaching a pandemic, and they were punished.

and as they look around at the economic ruin in their communities, as small businesses are shuttered and independent music venues are boarded up for the long haul, all those puzzle pieces are falling into place. and, quite frankly, they are justifiably upset. i would venture to say many of them are absolutely furious with what the chinese government has done. by now, we understand this is what the chinese communist party does. as a government, as an all-powerful political organization, and as a group of rabid i had i don't ideologues s of genocide flow as easily as the propaganda posted to their many official twitter accounts, this is all a part of their

quest for global dominance and their success depends on gaining complete control over speech, thought, resources, and their relationships with other nations. this is the chinese communist party's master plan. when -- thought that he would embrace transparency and liberal economic policies but oh, my goodness have they ever been wrong. in fact he styled himself in the image of moo mao creating a personality cult with challenges to the legitimacy of party rule. it's all about him. anyone who is open to history -- anyone who has opened a history book knows this doesn't bode

well this isn't my political opinion. this is the reality that members of the defense community and policy experts seas a matter of fact. the senate armed services committee accepted this reality when we drafted the bipartisan 2021 ndaa. this year's bill contains the most substantial action we've ever taken to counter great depression and great power competition. it establishes the pacific deterrence initiative, which will help the military enhance defense capabilities in the region and reaffirms our commitments to taiwan, india, vietnam, and japan and other allies and partners geographically near china. we drafted numerous provisions

to keep u.s. intellectual property, technology, and data out of beijing's grasp by limiting funding for universities that host confucius institutes and restricting defense industrial base employees from working for chinese-owned companies. why did we do this? because we have learned, not only is this part of china's propaganda, this is where they are embedding their spies. in 2021, we'll take major steps to secure our supply chain and invest in american innovation to maintain our technological advantage. we paid particular attention to accelerating the development of 5g networks that are needed by our troops in the field. and to complement that

expansion, enhancing our nation's cybersecurity strategy. the chinese communist party isn't just playing politics on twitter, their tactics pose a very real threat to our nation's security and that of our allies and our partners. i've spoken at length about how badly we need to unravel our relationship with china. i've accepted problems related to our medical supply chains, security issues and the building blocks of popular technology and sourcing for rare-earth elements. reclaiming these critical resources will take time and investment, but it can be done and i will continue to fight for this as we move into the next congress. but i want to consider just for a moment a few examples of this entanglement that hit particularly close to home and really give a sense of how much

private companies and organizations compromise just to maintain access to the chinese marketplace p earlier this year, the p.r. professionals at the nba worked some serious overtime after an investigative report published by espn showed that the chinese communist party affiliated coaches at the league's training facilities in jingsheng were abusing players. that is correct. abusing players. initial reports of this abuse were ignored by nba officials. keep in mind that these training facilities existed in the same region as those concentration champs used to imprison the uighur muslims and others guilty

of thought crimes against the chinese communist party. so what was the nba doing there in the first place, how could something like this actually happen? here's the reason. communist china plays host to an estimated $4 billion nba market. they say that china is basketball obsessed, and nba ex-he cans have used -- execs have used ever avenue they can to take advantage of that $4 billion market, and they jealously protect those relationships, even if it means using skyrocketing sales numbers to explain away the blind eye they've turned to the c.c.p.'s crimes against humanity. they're not alone. walt disney. this fall disney released the

live-action version of mulan and caught some well-deserved hell after sharp-eyed rights activists combed through the credits and discovered that filmmakers chose to shoot scenes for the movie -- where? -- jingsheng to go that they'd have to cooperate with, who -- the communist communist party's plop began did a to get the kind of footage they wanted to play to their desired chinese audience. netflix also run afoul of human rights activists when they inked a deal with an author who parrots chinese party propaganda and made racist comments about the persecuted uighur muslims in jingsheng. none -- none of these scenarios involved high-stakes negotiations. no one involved was on a mission

to balance the geopolitical scales at all costs. they did, however, stand to net a atain me profit by maintaining friendly relations with the chinese communist party. but did they ever stand up and defend the uighur muslim minority? no, they did not. when faced with such manipulation on a global scale, tennesseans expect accountability. they want news reports and hearings and absolute condemnation. but that's not what they get. instead, they get regurgitated propaganda transmitted frommed c.c.p. peppered with media buzzwords and distilled into sound bites. our attempts to hold the chinese communist party available for covering up the origins of the

pandemic were met with baseless accusations of citizen phobia, of racism. i've met similar resistance when speaking truth to power about the c.c.p.'s aggression in tibet, mongolia, the concentration camps in jingsheng and the arbitrary detention of the hong kong freedom fighters. prominent members of the press, pundits, and even members of congress who have access to more than enough information to know better -- all provide cover for the chinese communist party at the expense of american lives and livelihoods. it's all there in black and white. they're failing an open-book test because they are refusing -- refusing -- to admit that their coziness with china does

not serve the american people or our allies well. this situation will not evaporate with the start of the new congress. vaccines and defense funding and new technology will solve some immediate problems. they're not a strategy. those are action items. we must all commit right now to an aggressive strategy that leaves a whole of government approach to protecting american intellectual property to the securing our critical supply chains and bringing our manufacturing back home. we must assert our role as a leader on the global stage and stand between the chinese government and leadership roles in international organizations. how is it -- how is it that

china could have a seat on the human rights council of the united nations? look at what they're doing to the tibetans, to the uighur muslims, and we should continue to provide support for hong kong and for taiwan, build a strong network of allies and partners across the indo-pacific. and we should increase our defense investment in the indo-pacific command. i laid out more items in a white paper i released earlier in year. it's online -- blackburn blackburn.senate.gov. it's time to pay attention to everything the c.c.p. doing. in today's "new york post," i had an op-ed that lays out how they're using twitter to troll and intimidate the rest of the

world into staying silent. and you know what? they're having, unfortunately having some success with that a world leaders, powerful corporations, celebrities are all scared into silence by online propaganda campaigns. and, mr. president, i would ask that a copy of my op-ed be included in the record with these remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you. if they can do that with a hashtag, all of that suppression, all of that intimidation, then think about what they'll do in the real world. if we stand down, the chinese government is going to keep pushing to stand up. they will fill a power vacuum because their democrat nation is to be -- determination is to be

the leader, the global dominate -- the global dominator. it is their strategy. it is what they do. so now is the time to act. and i would encourage my colleagues to remember this as we begin a new congress. i yield the floor. and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you. this spring i was talking with a grocery store worker in ohio. they call me ception, but i feel spendable. that grocery store workers, thousands of others on the front lines of this pandemic, they risk their lives so that americans can keep food onary table and get their -- on their table and get their packages delivered. they change linens in hospitals, they drive buses, they stock shelves in supermarkets. when these workers go home at night, having been exposed to the public pretty much their whole workday, they're worried they'll bring the virus home and infect their families. it is essential workers keeping our society going. a number of american corporations claim to recognize this. they've run feel-good ads -- at least they did early in the pandemic -- saying thank you to essential workers, claiming these workers were the heart of their companies. but saying thank you is not

nearly enough. workers don't need a p.r. campaign. they need fair pay and protections on the job. these corporations get positive press off their workers while too often paying them poverty pages-and-, in too many cases failing to protect their safety in the workplace. i wrote a letter this summer published -- an open letter to corporate executives published in their paper of record, the "wall street journal." i said to these corporations, you say these workers are essential, treat them that way. with that's what we're all taught, that's what you always tell us, right? these workers' skills keep our economy going, their paychecks should reflect that. it's been six months since that letter was published. it may surprise no one to learn my phone has not been ringing off the hook with calls from c.e.o.'s who want to discuss renewed efforts to invest in their workers.

all that has changed is that corporate profits has gone up, hazard pay has disappeared and more workers have died. profits are up at most of the largest companies, especially the largest retail companies. the brookings institution studied the 13 biggest retailers in this country and found that their stocks are up. guess how much wages have gone up, $1 an hour. "the washington post" looked at the 50 biggest corporations between april and september. these companies handed out more than 240 billion -- 24,000 million -- $240 billion to their -- through stock buybacks and dividends. it's workers making the companies successful, it's workers risking their lives. look at nawz, the company's

quarter profits increased by a staggering 200%, but that same amazon rolled back its tiny $2 an hour raise in june. it announced a bonus of just $300 per worker. you heard that correctly. not $3,000, but $300 from a company that brought in $280 billion in revenue last year. if even a global pandemic where american workers have been on the front lines, even that will not get corporations to rethink their business models that treats workers as expendable, then it's time -- my colleagues should hear this, it's time to stop letting them run this economy. they had their chance, they failed. if corporate america won't deliver for its workers, it's time we step in and create a better system centered on the dignity of work. the american people have made it clear they want a government that's on the side of workers. 81 million voters gave joe biden a decisive victory of more than

seven million votes. that's a mandate for change. in june i laid out actions that corporations could take on tear won't like raising base pay to $15. we should raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. workers are not save on the job, so president biden can immediately issue, the office of safety and health, osha, forcing corporations to protect their workers. many companies still deny their employees paid sick leave so we have to have a national family leave plan. corporations are expanding their than ending the exploitive independent contractor business model. so we will have to have a mod -- have to have a model that will treat the employers. they will contract out custodial

work, food service work in their company cafeteria. they contract it out to a provide company who pays less than a corporation pay, often wages barely above the minimum wage. they should be treated like workers under american labor law. they continue to coerce workers out of unions, we should have the pro act to empower workers with a voice in their workplace. the economy isn't physics, it's not governed by a scientific law outside our control. it's made up of people making choices about our values and what kind of society we want to live in. that's the reason we have an occupational healthy and safety administration. we have the power to change how the economy works so that it rewards work instead of greed. we can create more jobs with middle-class pages, we can give

employees with power over their schedule. americans voted for this change, mr. president. americans aren't going to wait for corporations to reward -- to reform themselves on their own, that's for sure. never have, they never will. it's up to the rest of us to deliver for the people whom we serve and create a country where all work has dignity. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: