mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. thank you, my good friend from pennsylvania, and i yield the floor. mr. casey: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, madam president. i will continue my discussion about home and community-based services. it is critical to have these services available for seniors and people with disabilities, and it's also relevant in the life of a child. we know, as the presiding officer knows well in her efforts to provide these services to those in the disability community and among seniors, we know it's important to children as well. medicaid home and community-based services provide over $4 billion right now in support so that children can receive therapy and other

necessary services to participate in school, and as i mentioned earlier, we know the impact upon seniors and people with disabilities. so that -- that's the reason why we're emphasizing, among many reasons why we're emphasissing the investment in this bill for home and community mf based service -- home and community-based services. in the context of the pandemic and the devastation of the virus. the second issue i'll raise because i know we're short on time, in addition to home and community-based services, this is an issue that relates to the family's ability to pay for child care so it affects the parents as well as the children. and it's the child independent care tax credit. it's a tax credit, a credit that parents have been able to rely

upon, but it is nowhere near robust enough to make it possible for parents -- more parents to afford child care. here's the reality when it comes to what happens in the midst of this pandemic. we know that -- that families have many reasons why they -- they can't make ends meet but also many families who have -- have a member of the family that wants to get back to work. we're told that about 20% of working adults said the reason they were not working was because covid-19 disrupted their child care arrangements. and so it's both child care access and affordability question. we also know the bureau of labor and statistics tell us that women -- women accounted for all jobs lost in december of 2020. not most jobs, not some jobs,

all jobs lost in the united states were among women. women loss 156,000 jobs. their labor are force -- their labor force participation rate is at its lowest point in a third of a century. one of the big reasons is child care. we need to expand the child and independent care tax credit to give parents the ability to to recoup thousands of dollars in child care expenses, and that's what my legislation will do. that's what the new administration wants to do and that's what we should do in this next covid bill. there are a lot of reasons for it, but i'll end with this. last year the national academies of science released a road map to reduce child poverty. we heard the good provisions in this legislation on the child tax credit and the earned income

tax credit and the substantial impact they have on lowering child poverty by one estimate by half. also contributing to this to lower child poverty even more would be to enhance the child independent tax credit. here are the numbers, 9.2 and 512. what do i mean? the national academies of science said that if you have a robust child and independent care tax credit, you can reduce child poverty by 9.2%. guess what happens to wages? raised aggregate earnings across the country is also by 9.2, but it happens to be billions, $9.2 billion and the 518 refers to jobs. increased net employment by more than 518,000 jobs according to national academies of science. so we need to do, among many,

many things we're doing in this bill, invest in momentland community- -- homeland community-based services and invest in a much more robust child and independent care tax credit. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 75 and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the

senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. reserving the right to object. this measure essentially is a pretextal and ideological extreme step that really detracts from what should be our primary purpose at this moment in our history. literally we are fast approaching 450,000 deaths in this country and people continue to die at the rate of more than 3,000 per day. our economic progress continues to be stalled. in fact, it is declining with joblessness increasing across connecticut and the country. people are struggling to stay in their homes, put food on the

table, pay for the medicine they need. our goal should be making sure people have vaccines and economic support that they need and instead we are here on a measure that would essentially take away rights, burden right for people, women, who need that right. we ought to be focusing our energy and attention on winning our fight against this pandemic but instead we're here debating an ideological bill, another antichoice bill, yet another attempt to restrict a woman's right to choose about when and whether to have a child. this bill purports to be about

protecting individuals with down's syndrome, but it is merely a pretext for requiring health care providers to scrutinize women for their decisions to seek an abortion. the pretext is to take away those individual rights. now, as a matter of fact, this bill has nothing to do with protecting people with down's syndrome and it has nothing to do with addressing discrimination. if my colleague would like to genuinely help people with down's sin dream, he would ask -- down's syndrome, he would ask for unanimous consent on legislation that the disability community actually has supported. the national down's syndrome society wants increased finding for medical research at the

national institutes of health. it wants better occasional opportunities and set -- educational opportunities and settings for parents with down's syndrome and people with it. it wants laws and policies that ensure economic self-sufficiency and better work places and the fight against discrimination. those are the legislative priorities of this disability community, but what this bill actually does is essentially require health care providers to interrogate women about their decisions to seek an abortion, health care providers who might violate this bill, if it ever became law, would incur fines, imprisonment, or both. so, in conclusion, people have a right to make these kinds of

deeply personal decisions. those rights are protected under our constitution. we should be protecting people with down's syndrome and we should be expanding their opportunities and fighting discrimination, not using them as a pretext for restricting and burdening a woman's right to choose, and therefore i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. inhofe: you know, madam president, i ask that be i recognized. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: i have a hard time with that, i say to my friend from connecticut. somehow protecting those with down's syndrome, you're killing those with down's syndromes. you know, right now i'm really shocked at -- that people would talk about protecting children,

the previous speaker was from pennsylvania and he had a bill on child care and taking care of kids and yet now we're talking about the fact that having a baby and diagnosing -- and that baby is diagnosed as having down's syndrome somehow should be aborted. you know, i don't know -- i can't think of how anyone could oppose this bill, especially because american people overwhelmingly -- 70% of them opposing -- oppose aborting a child on the basis that a child would be born with down's syndrome. that includes 66% of the people who consider them pro-abortion people, 56% of the people who support abortion that oppose this on the basis of down's syndrome diagnosis.

in the united states over two-thirds of babies diagnosed with down's syndrome are aborted right now. why? instead of receiving information, mothers often feel pressure to abort. justice clarence thomas put it a little more directly and this is a quote from justice clarence thomas. he said, quote, i am deeply concerned that for babies with down's syndrome, abortion has become a tool of modern day eugenics. that is a united states supreme court justice. my bill would protect these innocent lives from systemic discrimination through abortion. it says we support equality in the united states, yet countless babies lives have been stolen because of their chromosome count. so i'm surprised my colleagues

can object to this commonsense bill and that they reject protecting the most vulnerable among us and certainly those who are born with down's syndrome are among the most vulnerable among us. i just want the people to know out there that our friends in the down's syndrome community, and there is a community, a lot of people are concerned about this. i'm going to keep fighting for you even though some are using any kind of excuse that i can think of to protecting these babies. with that, i yield the -- i won't yield the floor yet, but i'll respond to any comments from the senator from connecticut. hearing none, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. lee: madam president, the whole point of american foreign aid is to assist countries in times of need. and in support of a common interest between us and them.

and yet, for many years, our foreign aid dollars have been used to impose violent cultural imperialism by promoting and providing for the practice of abortion. tragically, instead of helping to preserve, strengthen, and sustain the lives of women and children abroad, our taxpayer dollars have been used to harm women's lives and to end the lives of their unborn children, especially baby girls. in some of these countries, girls are disproportionately aborted, precisely because they are female. u.s. aid is used not to affirm the equal dignity of girls and women but to violently deny it. and in some of these countries, abortion has been forced on women who don't even want

abortions. women in countries like vietnam or peru, for instance, who were forced to endure the coercive abortion and sterilization campaigns of the 1990's, just to name a few examples. madam president, what kind of aid does violence to women and girls? what kind of help is it to impose u.s. abortion extremism on countries that culturally and democratically reject it? or contribute to international organizations that allow regimes to use abortion as a tool of oppression? what kind of progress is it to encourage sex-selective abortion and the denigration of human dignity for both the baby and for the mother? this cultural imperialism is not pro-woman. it is not pro-child. it is not pro-health care.

it is pro-sexism and pro-violence, and we must end it. according to the latest maris poll, the american people overwhelmingly agree nearly 60% of americans oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions, and more than 75% of americans oppose using tax dollars to support abortions in other countries. 75%. now, thankfully, president ronald reagan first took steps to reverse this kind of support in 1984. instituting what became known as the mexico city policy to prohibit foreign aid from going to organizations that provide for or promote abortions or that advocate to change abortion laws within a foreign country. since then, the policy has

unfortunately been rescinded and restated again and again between changing administrations, between republicans and democrats, it's been moved as a sort of political football. but, madam president, the lives of babies and the dignity of women, these are not political footballs. women and children everywhere have immeasurable, innate, inherent dignity and worth, regardless of where they're from, and they ought to be entitled to the right to life and protection from harm, regardless of who happens to be in office at any given moment. the protecting life in foreign assistance act affirms this very truth. this bill would permanently stop the use of our foreign aid money from funding or promoting abortions overseas. i also defend the women and babies everywhere and value the

women and babies everywhere by supporting two other measures introduced by my friends, senator inhofe and senator blackburn. senator inhofe's bill, the protecting individuals with down's syndrome act, would affirm that disability does not determine or demean the dignity and worth of a human life. and senator blackburn's bill would ensure that taxpayer funds under the title 10 family planning program do not go to any facility that performs or provides referrals for abortions. in our laws and throughout our lives, we ought to uphold the dignity of each and every human person, regardless of the race, sex, appearance, abilities, or age of the person in question. the measures before us today do

just that, and we should support them. and now, madam president, i'd like to yield time to my friend and distinguished colleague, the senator from montana. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. daines: i thank my colleague from utah, senator mike lee, for his remarks. last week, with the stroke of a pen, president biden eliminated critical pro-life protections. he reversed the mexico city policy and began the process of dismantling title 10 protections against abortion. i'm glad to join senators lee, senator blackburn, along with several other pro-life senators, fighting back and calling on the senate to pass important bills today to reverse president biden's pro-abortion actions. the bottom line is president biden's actions were basically a

handout to planned parenthood. it's no surprise as planned parenthood spent millions to get the president elected. now they are simply cashing in, this time on the taxpayers' dime. the united states should not spend taxpayer dollars to support a radical abortion agenda throughout the world. and we should absolutely not allow a slush fund of taxpayer dollars to line the pockets of planned parenthood. mr. president -- madam president, i also want to thank my colleague, senator inhofe, who urged the senate to pass his bill today to protect babies with down's syndrome from being targeted for abortion. now, i watched it happen here just minutes ago. the democrats objected. it's truly astounding. this bill should have passed unanimously, and it really exposes a terrible hypocrisy. most republicans and democrats today in congress are unified in

support for the special olympics , we're unified in protecting those individuals with disabilities. yet my colleagues across the aisle today oppose this commonsense legislation that would stop the most lethal kind of discrimination, the most lethal kind of discrimination imaginable, and that's being singled out and brutally killed simply because of a down syndrome diagnosis. last week, i toad right here to bring attention to this very chilling issue. today, babies with down's syndrome are the most endangered on earth. in fact, sadly, in the united states, 67% of babies diagnosed with down syndrome are aborted. that's two out of three. and for me, this is personal. last week, i shared the story of a sweet baby boy named andrew. he is the son of some of my very good friends.

andrew has down. he brings light and joy to his family's life every day. he has an older brother, an older sister, and i can tell you this world, their family would not be the same without him. i am deeply concerned that for babies with down syndrome, abortion has become a tool of eugenics. it is the duty of this body to end this lethal discrimination. it is our duty to protect every innocent life, no matter how small, no matter how many chromosomes they may have. i believe every human being is created with god-given dignity and god-given potential. no court, no legislature, no law can take that away. i will not give up this fight, as i know many of my colleagues standing here today will not give up as well. i want to thank senator lee, and i yield the floor back to

senator lee. mr. lee: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on foreign relations be discharged from further consideration of s. 137, and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. i further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: madam president, my colleague from utah tells a nice story. but it's not accurate. he's not being honest about what's going on with the global gag rule, and i'm really disappointed that he is once again trying to push this dangerous legislation. as i pointed out when i objected to the same bill less than a year ago, the policy in question poses -- closes health clinics, decreases care, and needlessly

puts the lives of women, children, and families at risk. and in fact, instead of protecting life, the global gag rule erects new barriers to critical health services, including reproductive health services for people in communities who already have limited access to affordable quality health care. and let's be clear. america's taxpayer dollars do not go to fund abortions overseas. what my colleague is objecting to is funding for family planning services, to help women protect their families, and the policy that he wants to codify into law is dangerous in the best of times, but during a global pandemic when care is already stretched, it is downright deadly. the guttmacher institute estimates that a 10%, just a 10% decline in family planning services, including reduced

access to reversible contraception and pregnancy and newborn health care results in 49 million more women with unmet contraceptive needs. 15 million additional unintended pregnancies. 1.7 million women and 2.6 million newborns who experience major complications due to not receiving the care they need. and most, unfortunate and sad, 28,000 more maternal deaths and 168,000 more newborn deaths because of this policy. and that's just a modest 10% reduction in family planning access. so if you really care about families and new borns, you will -- newborns, will you ensure they have access to critical services they need so they don't have those unintended pregnancies. it's safe to say that the covid-19 pandemic which has

diverted care and shut down access to family planning clinics across the globe is greatly exacerbating the situation. so now is not the time to place draconian limits on family planning dollars. in fact, we need a renewed commitment to comprehensive family planning. that's why last week along with 47 of our colleagues, we reintroduced the bipartisan global health empowerment and rights act. this bill also known as global her would ensure cares is not limited based on the president in the white house. and because if we're going to actually get serious about improving the lives of women and girls, we should be working to end the global gag rule, not to expand it. so for all of these reasons i object to my colleague. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. lee: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: madam president, 75% of americans, regardless of how

they feel on other issues -- i understand my colleagues take different positions on issues related to the sanctity of human life. i understand that as much as i disagree with them. i respect their right to hold that opinion. this bill is about something much narrower, something on which americans, 75% of them overwhelming will i agree, and that is that we shouldn't be using u.s. foreign aid money to fund or promote abortions overseas. if we can't accept that, it's terribly disappointing and would be news to most americans. thank you, madam president. mrs. shaheen: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: again, i would just like to correct what my colleague is saying. we do not use foreign aid money to perform abortions overseas. and in fact, a poll conducted by the center for gender health and equity demonstrates 59% of likely voters, if we want to talk about polls, 59% of likely voters in america oppose banning u.s. global health assistance

going to organizations and other -- in other countries that provide legal and safe abortions or ■abortionreferrals. only 30% support this policy. research published in the lancet medical journal last july found that the global gag rule under president george w. bush which was implemented on an exponentially smaller scale than what was done by president trump and what is proposed in the law that my colleague from utah is asking for unanimous consent to put forward, that kind of reduction in access to services increases a country's typical abortion rate by 40% while reducing the use of modern contraceptives by 3.5%. see, this is what happens when you don't base policy decisions on scientific data. you get these kinds of narratives that are absolutely

inaccurate. what we know and what is repeatedly evident through the research is that the global gag rule or as my colleague calls it, protecting life and global health assistance, actually increases abortions. it's unfortunately simple logic. decreasing access to family planning methods like modern contraception, counseling, and the health spacing and timing of pregnancies directly leads to more unwanted pregnancies. but because this policy also limits abortion services that organizations provide with other non-u.s. fund, women with unwanted pregnancies are forced to seek out unsafe abortions. that's why we see the abortion numbers increase. so it's a lose-lose policy. and of course it is women and children who pay the price. the foundation for aids research

found that a third of 286 programs implementing partners who were surveyed had altered their services or organizational operations in response to the global gag rule under former president trump. a great program pet far under george w. bush that has saved millions of lives and yet what we saw under the trump implementation of the global gag rule is that they had to alter the services that they provided, including reducing sexual and reproductive health and pregnancy counseling, youth outreach, contraception services, and h.i.v. counseling, testing, and treatment. the policies that might colleague is advocating for make the situation worse for women and families. and if he would look at the scientific data, he would understand that. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. since 1976, federal law has prohibited the use of federal funds, taxpayer dollars for abortion. section 1008 of the public health service act explicitly states that title 10 funds -- and i'm quoting -- shall not be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning. but as often happens in federal law, there's a loophole. federal regulations do allow abortion facilities to be colocated within clinics that are following the title 10

rules. and those rules are providing health care to women. the title 10 abortion provider prohibition act would close that loophole by prohibiting the awarding of these funds to entities that perform abortions or that provide funds to entities that perform abortions. the bill allows for exceptions to be made in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of a mother. it would also require h.h.s. to provide an annual report to congress listing entities receiving grant funds and specifying which of those grantees performed abortions under the exceptions. this is not a big change. as i said, this is a simple change. it is one that would add to the

protections of women and their unborn children. it's a statutory fix that will redirect tens of millions of dollars in funding to providers, our community care clinics that are offering comprehensive health care services for women. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on help be discharged from further consideration of s. 88 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, reserving the right to object. we are in the middle of a pandemic. families are struggling and we

should be doing everything we can to make it easier for them to get the care they need from providers that they trust. the title 10 program has been incredibly helpful to people seeking all kinds of health care from cancer screenings to s.t.i. screenings to birth control and more. and before the trump administration's gag rule slashed the capacity of the title 10 network in half by cutting out trusted health care providers, over four million patients a year turned to title 10 funded providers for their health care. these patients are disproportionately young people, women who have low incomes, and women of color. an overwhelming majority of them have historically turned to providers like planned parenthood which would be permanently kicked out of the program by this bill.

we need to be tearing down barriers like former president trump's gag rule that are jeopardizing access to care for patients, not reinforcing them, and we need to be focused on addressing the pain of this pandemic and on taking steps to finally end it, not wasting time with blatantly ideological bills that appeal to the far-right base at the expense of our families. while republicans seem intent on keeping patients from getting the health care they need, i'm glad we finally have a president who is listening to women and men across the country who's made clear he wants health care to be a right, not a privilege, and who has already directed his administration to review the damaging title 10 gag rule that has been so harmful to so many people, an important step towards rescinding the rule that i continue to push for. so i urge my republican colleagues to stop these attacks

on women's health care and turn their attention to something families actually want, which is serious action to end this pandemic. i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mrs. blackburn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. i appreciate the opportunity to respond. and much of what my colleague had to say about we are in the middle of a pandemic. families are struggling, yes, indeed. that is very true. and if you want to talk about making health care services more available to more women, then yes, indeed, what you want to do is make certain that these taxpayer funds are not used to provide abortion services, that these funds are going to the community clinics that are the

ones that are providing the screenings. many of the planned parenthood clinics do abortion. they refer women to the community clinic around the corner for the cancer screenings, for the breast exams, for the pap smears. so there should be agreement that, yes, individuals should have access to this health care. and if you say if you perform abortions, you cannot have these title 10 dollars, then the hundreds of community clinics that are access points to health care for women and underserved communities, these funds would be made available to them. madam president, i think we also have to talk about rights and

privileges and touch on that for just a moment. and i fully appreciate we all have different opinions and it is wonderful that we live in a country that allows freedom of speech where we can express our difference of opinions. what we do have to realize is this. that we have in this country 1,700 lives lost every day to abortion, 1,700, voiceless and vulnerable. and to me that is just an absolutely heartbreaking stat, that these unborn children do not have the opportunity to enjoy that right to life. i find that very sad. as i said, this legislation

would make certain that all of this money goes to these health clinics but not to a clinic that provides abortion service. this is the kind of access that yes, indeed, many families would appreciate having more access and more services available to women at their community clinics. the presiding officer: the snore from iowa. mr. grassley: thank you. the actions of my democratic colleagues this week make it clear that they do not have any attention of -- intention of working with republicans on a bipartisan covid package. there's no other explanation for the budget resolution that was

introduced this week. we're not considering this budget resolution for the usual purpose of establishing overall spending and revenue -- at revenue levels for the fiscal year. that has already been done. the sole purpose then of this budget is to establish reconciliation instructions whereby the majority can pass a partisan covid package on a party-line vote. quite contrary to the inaugural address of president biden, where he saidest going to be reaching out to republicans. i know there's been some discussion with republicans, but not a serious effort to compromise. embarking down this inherently

partisan path of going the budget reconciliation route now.sons the well -- now poisons the well for any fruitful bipartisan negotiations. and you can't say it too many times -- that it's completely at odds with president biden's call for unity and bipartisanship during the campaign and told to the people of united states in the inaugural address. but it doesn't have to be this way. my republican colleagues and i stand ready to engage in bipartisan discussions to reach an agreement to provide targeted covid relief. a consensus package could be done very quickly, just as happened with the bipartisan cares package back march last

year. the relief package congress passed in december came together very quickly once both sides agreed to set aside partisan poison pills. republicans did that for things we wanted. democrats did that for things they wanted. now, hardly six weeks later, here we are back on a partisan approach to helping the needy people because of the pandemic, helping the health care crisis because of the pandemic. in the past year or so, we've done a lot. we've been able to come together in a bipartisan way to pass around $4 trillion in covid-focused relief, and we did that all -- can't say it too many times -- with strong

bipartisan support. why not now? there's no reason we can't come together for the american people and do it once more, then probably have to do it again after something would be passed this early part of this year. instead of wasting our time with a weeklong partisan exercise, we could be working together today to forge a bipartisan compromise. if this was the course that the majority were to take, i think there's much that we could agree to with near universal support and do it in a short order. everyone recognizes we need to get control of the virus as a first priority. that's necessary to save lives and get back to anything close to resembling a normally

functioning economy. rapid deployment of the vaccine is the best hope for our getting there to get economy functioning. i doubt a single member of this senate body would object to additional funding for vaccine distribution if it will get more people vaccinated sooner. i'm also confident many on my side could agree to additional relief for individuals and small businesses that have been hardest hit by the pandemic, and i'm sure of that because we've done it twice in the past. we can have a discussion on unemployment assistance, rental assistance, funds for reopening schools, and arizonadditional grants -- and additional grants to small businesses to help them keep the lights on. i can say that very positively

because we've done it twice in the past. but any relief from our point of view ought to be targeted and focused on the task at hand. the $1.9 trillion in the president's proposal is far from being targeted, far from being focused. it includes permanent liberal structural economic reforms. this is then using a crisis to enact long-term democrat policy priorities rather than addressing the immediate needs of the day. it also includes a bailout of fiscally irresponsible states at the expense of states that have managed their budgets very wisely, like my home state of

iowa. this is fundamentally unfair to the taxpayers and responsibly governed states. the president putting forward his proposal should have marked the beginning of the discussion, not the end. if my democrat colleagues would abandon this partisan exercise, bipartisan discussions could start in earnest. in fact, 10 republicans made an attempt to do that by spending two hours with the new president biden at the oval office. they reached out obviously. president biden listened and discussed in good faith, but it doesn't seem like anything can come of it. this may mean that you have to

compromise on some priorities, but that is a simple part of life here in the united states senate if you want to get anything done. the excuse that there isn't enough time or the need for relief so urgent, that's bipartisanship must go out the window is just that. nothing but a simple excuse. by following the current path, this entire week we're being wasted on partisan theater with no tangible benefit for the american people. at the end of this week, the senate will be no closer to drafting actual relief legislation. we should instead be working together to iron out our differences to get bipartisan relief to the american people, and that can be done sooner than

use i.g. the reconciliation -- than using the reconciliation process that turns out to be a partisan approach, that is needless to do based on the fact that twice in the last 11 months we have passed bipartisan virus relief packages to help fight the pandemic, to help people that are hurt by the economic consequences of that pandemic, and also to give confidence to the american people. let's move in a bipartisan way. i yield the floor. i guess i'd suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: will the senator withdraw?

mr. grassley: yes, i will withdraw. mrs. murray: madam president, are we in a quorum? the presiding officer: no. mrs. murray: thank you, very much. madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i rise today to discuss the urgent challenge our nation is facing and the urgent response that it requires. i'm always willing to work across the aisle to look for common ground and commonsense solutions. i think my colleagues know this and my record shows it. and i'm going to keep talking to my republican colleagues in hopes that there are areas where we can find common ground to help our workers and our families and get our arms around this pandemic. but what we cannot do is allow the possibility of further delay or weaken our response efforts. with the resources in this resolution, we will be able to reinforce our public health workforce, our community health

centers, and our supply chain, all of which are stretched incredibly thin. we'll be able to scale up testing and tracing and vaccinations and genomic sequencing. we will be able to provide needed support to our students, our educators, our public schools, and those in higher education as they grapple with this crisis and work towards safely reopening for in-person learning. to parents in need of quality, affordable child care, and to a child care sector staring down mass closures and layoffs. we need to help workers who are struggling today to make ends meet, who are unemployed, who are worried about their retirement being thrown into jeopardy. would end to help families across the country who are

struggling today to make ends meet by providing them with direct financial assistance. and we need to help states and tribes and cities and communities whose budgets have been stretched dangerously thin by providing needed funds. i see no reason why pursuing this path has to be partisan. after all, if republicans can use budget reconciliation to give huge tax breaks to the wealthiest corporations, surely they're willing to use it to give relief to communities and families who are struggling in this economic crisis. if they can try to use reconciliation to cause a health care crisis by taking health coverage and health care protections away from hundreds of millions of people, surely they can support this process to use to fight a health care crisis that has claimed over 440,000 lives in our country and counting. but if they do not, if they insist that using this process

to provide relief during an historic pandemic is a partisan move or that the amount of the relief is too much, i think they're going to have a tough time explaining what and who they stand for. madam president, democrats have no problem going on the record as the party that fought for people during this pandemic. because when your house is in flames, you do not argue about how much of the fire to put out or how much water to use or how many lives to save. you do whatever it takes until the crisis is over, everyone is safe, and you do it as fast as you can. this crisis is not over. everyone is not safe, not from this virus and not from this economic crisis. 440,000 people have died. we are still averaging 140,000 new cases a day. new strains are presenting new

challenges. underlying disparities are growing deeper, and we are already seeing the vaccination rates that communities of color are being left behind. we do have to take action, and that is exactly what democrats are doing today. thank you, 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:

the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: i ask that we suspend with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. i'm here to speak in favor of the resolution and asking my colleagues to support it. i will be very brief. i'd like to tackle three topics amongst many in this package. i'd like to talk a bit about the crisis that stands ahead of us with respect to summer learning

and summer programming for kids all across this country. i'd like to talk a little bit about the importance of expedited the pace of vaccinations and then lastly about the global fight that lays ahead of us to make sure that we are building a pandemic response infrastructure around the world that makes sure this never ever happens again. before delving into those three topics, let me just say that we have an opportunity to pass programming to meet this moment that is wildly popular. there's a poll out yesterday that suggests that many of the most important programming in this package enjoy 70% support amongst the public. the relief checks which will total $2,000, $600 from last year, $1,400 from this

package, have 74% support amongst the american people. only 13% of americans oppose those checks. increased federal funding for vaccinations, 69% favor that increased funding, 17 l% opposed. -- 17% opposed. those are difficult numbers to get on any major area of policy in the united states today, to have 74% in favor of anything is pretty impressive. but it speaks to the moment. it speaks to the expectations that americans have. but it also speaks to the fact that there is a unity in the american public about what we need to do. president biden rightly talked about unifying the country around an agenda to build back this country better, and these polling numbers show that he's done that because you don't get to 74% support for an initiative without a whole bunch of democrats, independents, and republicans supporting that measure. and so we hope, we want to get to a place where we have

bipartisan support in the senate. but we know we have bipartisan support for this agenda out in the american public. these l polling numbers and polling numbers to come will prove that. and the reason is that the crisis we're trying to address, they don't really care what your politics are. and let me talk about these three distinct areas. first i want to talk about what's happening in our schools, and others have done that in a far more articulate way. so i want to drill down specifically on what's going to happen this summer. schools are in crisis right now. i know that because i've got two kids in public school, in a big urban public school. they haven't been back in the classroom at all. they've continued to learn from home the entire time. but they have all the supports that they need around them -- two loving parents who are

willing and able to help in any way that we can. not every child has that. and so schools have been scrambling just to make sure that they are doing instruction right, that they are opening schools safely, they're building support systems around students. but come this summer, you are going to have all sorts of kids that aren't going to have programming ready for them, aren't going to have a safe place to go, and are going to have tremendous amounts of learning lost. you're going to also have kids that are in need of a really healthy, safe place to be this summer. some kids will need deep academic experience, but other kids are just going to need some emotional growth, are going to need something fun to do so that they get an ability to restart and be ready to reenter what will hopefully be a much more normal-looking classroom. in this bill is over $100

billion for schools, to support the safe reopening of schools. and what we do in this plan that the president is proposing to us is to allow for some of that money to be used for summer programming. i'm going to make a pitch to, you know, have a set-aside, a portion of money dedicated to summer programming. but what we all agree on, those of us who support this package, is that the challenge ahead of us is not just how we keep schools open and open those that have had their doors closed, but what we do to support kids for 12 months of the year, not just nine months of the year. this is going to be a tough summer for a lot of kids. we have to have a specific focus, as this plan does, on meaningful summer programming for kids, programming that's emotionally healthy, that addresses some of this learning

lost. in a typical year middle-class kids, kids with families that have some means, are five times as likely as those living in poverty to attend a summer camp, twice as likely to visit a museum or go to a performance. we can't allow for that disparity to be present this summer. not this summer. we've got to have funding in this bill. we've got to pass funding through congress to make sure that every kid in this country, especially kids coming from limited means backgrounds, can get into quality summer programming. this summer we have to make that promise to them. second, let me talk about vaccines -- and i know my colleague from connecticut is going to talk about this as well. we did well this past week. 1.36 million doses were administered. i say well because that's 20% more than we did the following week, but it's not good enough. and in this plan from president biden is $10 billion to op --

operationallize the defense production act. if you want to produce more vaccine, if you want to produce more testing equipment, more p.p.e., you have to organize america's industrial base better than what was happening under the trump administration. you have to find every potential manufacturing partner who can help pfizer, moderna and johnson&johnson. we're doing well, number three nationally, in terms of the numbers of shots we get in people's arms. but we can do a lot more. we need that production to be ramped up. in this bill is specific money to operationallize the defense production act so we can make more vaccine. that's one of the most important parts of this bill. finally, mr. president, i wanted to talk about the global challenge that we have ahead of us. this virus didn't start in the

united states, but, man, it moved quick from a wet market in china to the west coast to the united states to today with 400,000 lives having been lost. and the question is why? why was this virus able to move so quickly? why weren't we able to contain it? why didn't we learn more about it earlier? why wasn't the world ready for this moment? now, china has a lot to answer for, but, frankly, the whole world has to understand that we didn't allocate resources properly. the united states didn't allocate resources properly. we spent last year $740 billion on hardware for the department of defense and $12 billion on global public health. nobody today living in the united states would tell you that that was the correct allocation. so inside president biden's

package sl -- is funding to start to rebuild the global pandemic prevention infrastructure. now i won't go into the details of how we do that today, but there are estimates suggesting that we're going to need over $20 billion globally in order to stand up greater capacities. that means more resources at a rereformed w.h.o., more diplomats working in the public health space. that means partnerships with developing nations in which we put money on the table in exchange for public health reform so they can strengthen their own systems of pandemic protections and prevention. but even if you drive this thing down in the united states, so long as there are outbreaks that exist on the other side of the world, we are still at risk. and there may come along a virus down the road that is even more contagious, that spreads even

faster than this one. and so shame on us if we don't at the same time lock down this virus domestically and set up a system of defense internationally to make sure that we're ready for the next one. we can walk and chew gum at the same time, and president biden's focus on rebuilding our alliances, it comes at the right time because we're not going to be able to do this by ourselves. we've got to meet the moment. we can't go small right now. the problems are too big. senator blumenthal and i spend lots of time at food banks in connecticut. we have never ever seen the desperate need that exists today in our state. shame on us if we don't use the power that has been granted us to both take on this virus and deliver economic prosperity to people who have had it robbed

from them through no fault of their own. i urge my colleagues support for the budget resolution. i yield the floor. mr. blumenthal: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: i'm really pleased to follow my colleague senator murphy after that very articulate case and to build on the case for keeping our promises to america. and the presiding officer knows that promises made must be kept, including another $1,400 in stimulus payments to every individual, bringing that total to $2,000, which is what we promised to make sure that vaccines are available broadly across this country, and that schools become places of learning again in person for

students and teachers in a safe learning environment. what we're doing in this package which is big and bold -- it has to be -- is to put money in people's pockets, put vaccinations in people's arms, and put children back in schools safely. and i emphasize safely. now i was very excited over this past week or ten days to travel throughout the state of connecticut and visit clinics where vaccinations are being provided to thousands of people in connecticut, raising our rate to one of the highest in the country, about 10.3%. i saw nurses and doctors at danbury hospital led by don murphy, making promises real for people. i visited a former runway turned into a vaccination site for

people receiving those shots in their arms from the community health center, headed by mark meselly. i saw vaccinations at griffin hospital, a wonderful team headed by pat shramel. but here's the story of griffin hospital. last week, they did 6,000 doses. this week, it will be 2,000. not because of any lack of skilled vaccination person power, not because of any lack of determination. because of lack of vaccine. shortages in connecticut and around the country are impeding and setting back our efforts. they are lengthening the tunnel. there is light at the end of the tunnel, but it is longer as we

delay the vaccine that is necessary to do the job. there is not enough. it's not reaching the people who need it in enough supply, and it's not being delivered equitably. the numbers in connecticut show that people in communities of color are nowhere near as likely to receive that vaccine. in fact, perhaps three times less likely. and we need to make sure that delivery is fair and effective in this country. or we will never conquer this pandemic and put america back to work. using the national defense production act is absolutely necessary, but so is the commitment of $160 billion in this big and bold relief program, and it has to be big and bold. it also has to be done now. time is not on our side.

i have no tolerance for delay or dithering. i have no patience for cuts in this package. $1.9 trillion ought to be our floor, not our ceiling, and if there are a need for targeting those stimulus payments, the money ought to be reallocated to vaccines and to creating safer environments to work and to learn. now, vaccines are important to our schools. teachers are essential workers. they're on the front lines. they are putting their lives at risk. they have been demonstrating the courage and conviction to come to school. but they should receive this vaccine, and a safe learning environment means also personal protective equipment.

barriers such as we're seeing in restaurants and other public places, plexiglass and other kinds of dividers. and these kinds of essential equipment are the reason that we are advocating $130 billion for our schools. there are many other steps that must be taken to assure not only that our learning environments are safe but also that students have the connectivity they need to learn remotely, because for some period of time, that will be the way they learn. and more than a third of communities of color in the state of connecticut, which is thought to be a very sophisticated and advanced state, still lack that connectivity. a third of our seniors. safe and fair learning

environment mean broadband. that is also another reason for that $130 billion in this package. many of these students face serious gaps. one to three months, and even longer for some students who have lacked that connectivity. up to six months in basic skill, arithmetic. these kinds of gaps have to be filled. we need a major effort to focus on our students who have been left behind. and that is why this kind of package is a moral imperative. it is a social obligation. we will lose talents and skills, but students will also lose their futures.

we should come together on a bipartisan basis. there is nothing wrong with cooperation. and i hope that my colleagues across the aisle will join with us as we move forward, but we will move forward. we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past when efforts to wait meant unconscionable delay. we have no such luxury in this humanitarian crisis. we must move forward, and we will. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. a senator: mr. president, the american people need our help and they need it now. far too many families are struggling just to get by.

ms. rosen: my home state of nevada has been hit especially hard during this pandemic. before covid, nevada was stable. nevada was thriving. but since the pandemic began, our industries, especially our travel and tourism, key economic pillars of our state, were devastated. in fact, countless nevada businesses have struggled, and unfortunately many have had to close their doors permanently. this is forcing nevadans out of work and putting their financial well-being in jeopardy. now, during this public health and economic crisis, nevada is close to having the highest rate of unemployment in the nation. here in congress, we passed stopgap packages to try and help all those that are facing these tough times. the relief measures we've delivered for the american people have been a good start, but they're not enough to safely

see our country through this pandemic. small business owners risk losing their businesses if they cannot access the full loans and grants that congress promised them but that the last administration failed to deliver. our state and local governments have exhausted their budgets responding to this public health crisis, and as a result, they face looming cuts to essential support and services that our communities are relying on. and this isn't something that's just happening in my state. this is the common experience across our country. the people of nevada, the american people, they are desperately calling out for a lifeline, and we must deliver a real one, and as soon as possible. covid-19 is a global public health emergency, and it requires the full force of the united states government we must

act boldly and efficiently as we work to overcome this crisis and meet the needs of this moment. we need real relief, real relief for families that are struggling to pay their bills, for those that are struggling to afford basic necessities. for parents, they are struggling just to feed their kids. we need real relief. we need real relief for our travel and tourism industries. we need to ensure they can make it through this turbulent time. we need a fame work for ensuring health and safety standards were met. we need a path for restoring consumer confidence. we need real relief. real relief for our small businesses, including tax credits to help businesses get by and full loans and grants without arbitrary caps. we need real relief, real relief for our workers, including increased unemployment benefits

and proper i.t. infrastructure to get those benefits out faster to americans in need. we need real relief, real relief for state and local government so that they can continue working tirelessly to save the life of americans in every corner of our nation so that they can continue testing and tracing in our communities, so that they can continue to provide child care for essential workers, so that they can continue to provide p.p.e. and things to limit the spread of covid-19. and we need real relief, real relief that supports a greater vaccine distribution and accelerates vaccine sploiment, including to our communities of color and rural areas where health care access is too frequently a challenge. senator cortez masto and i have been working with our governor.

we have been working with our governor, working with all of our local governments to get more shots in arms across the state of nevada. but we need more. when so many in our country are hurting and are struggling, we must ask ourselves why american families, why families of our communities, why would they deserve any less? it's time for a comprehensive relief package that truly provides relief to the american people. i urge all of my colleagues to join me in this effort to help see our nation through this challenge. lives are depending on us. our states, they are counting on us. the whole country is looking to us, looking to us to show leadership to stand up, to save lives and livelihoods. so let's ensure that we don't

let them down. let's pass that real relief, thoughtful and targeted relief, and do it now. mr. president, i yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. lujan: more than 3,000 of my fellow new mexicans have lost their lives to covid-19. they were new mexicans like teresa, an essential medical worker from springer, new mexico. she bravely went to work to test patients for covid-19 and stop the spread of the disease.

tragically, teresa contracted covid-19 and passed away over the christmas holiday. leaving behind her husband roger and their three children. but congress has another chance to spare other families the pain that teresa's family is experiencing. the very thing that drove teresa every day to go and save others. this resolution will allow congress to mount an aggressive public health response and prioritize resources where they are needed most for vaccines, testing, and public health programs that fight covid. funding included in this package will be aimed at dramatically increasing rights of testing, bolstering the supply chain to increase the availability of

testing supplies and personal protective equipment, hiring and training public health workers to administer the vaccine and increasing vaccine production. as congress focuses on getting vaccines into every arm as quickly as possible, strong federal funding is especially critical for states like new mexico where vaccines as medical supplies must travel longer distances to reach the communities that need them. we know we have the capacity to get these vaccines in people's arms. we need more vaccine. vaccines are essential to the priorities i've heard from many of my constituents. safely opening schools as soon as possible because this pandemic is widening the achievement gap that already existed. to meet this goal, congress must

invest in safely reopening schools and make facility improvements to ensure every educator, the people who prepare the food, drive the buses, keep the schools looking clean, social workers and nurses, and every student is safe to return. america must provide quality distanced learning to those that are not yet ready to return. and to work to address widespread learning loss that exacerbates the achievement gap. it's also clear that the toll of covid-19 on students' learning and mental health will last for years. meaning investments are necessary well beyond this academic year. the senate must act for the families who have lost loved

ones. for roger and teresa and their three kids, and for parents struggling to keep their students safe and healthy. the senate must act to defeat this virus and to rebuild our nation's economy. it must pass this budget resolution. mr. president, 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 vermont. mr. sanders: thank you, mr. president. as the new chairman of the senate budget committee, i wanted -- the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call, senator. mr. sanders: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, as the new chairman of the budget committee, i wanted to take a few moments to talk about the $1.9 trillion budget resolution that i hope will be passed late tomorrow night. you know, i think sometimes our friends in the media make the

political process much more complicated than it is. in real politics in a -- and real politics in a democracy is not that complicated. what it is about is assessing the problems facing a nation and coming up with solutions to those problems. and one of the great tragedies that has occurred in my view in recent years is that for working-class people, middle-class people, lower-income people, these are folks who, in a variety of ways, are hurting and have hurt for many, many years. wages in this country have been stagnant, for decades young people are finding it increasingly difficult to go to college. 90 million americans are uninsured or underinsured. we have a political system which is significantly corrupt because big money can buy elections. and people look around them and they say, who cares about me?

who's worried about me or my parents or my kids? and when that happens, that kind of political alienation happens, people can become prone to conspiracy theories and all kinds of big lies and everything else. and here is the simple truth -- not complicated. right now in this year 2021, we face more crises than in country has faced certainly since the great depression and maybe going back to the civil war. when the very existence of this country was at stake. as we speak right now, whether it is in your state of georgia or my state of vermont, all over this country there are tens of millions of working families who have lost their jobs, lost their incomes, and they are worried tonight as to how they're going to be able to feed their families. they're worried about the back-rent that they owe. we have a moratorium on evictions, about you that

moratorium someday is going to end. people are saying, how am i going to pay thousands of dollars in back-rent? i am going to be evicted, i'm going to be out on the street. and people in the midst of this terrible, terrible pandemic, where we have lost over 400,000 lives, well over 400,000 lives, there are over 90 million people who are uninsured or underinsured, having difficulty affording going to the doctor, and on and on it goes. kids -- i have set ofen grandchildren. -- i have sechin grandchildren. kid -- i have seven grandchildren. kids have had their education interrupted as a result of this pandemic. people have become isolated from their friends and families. mental illness is soaring. increased numbers of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation. i think we can agree that the year 2020 was the worst year in

so many ways in our lifetimes, the modern history of this country. and now, right now, it is absolutely imperative that the congress of the united states understand that reality and keeps faith with the american people. and one of the reasons, by the way -- and i say this to the presiding officer who recently won his election in georgia. it is important that we keep faith with the american people. the georgia race was more of a national race. leading democrats were involved and we said to the people of georgia and we said too the people of america, if -- and we said to the people of america, if we gain the majority, we are going to significantly improve the lives of working people all over this country. those are promises that have to

be kept. i want to spend a few moments to talk about what is in this bill. we throw out numbers -- $1.9 trillion. who knows what $1.9 trillion is? what does it mean? who knows? who understands that? but i want you to understand what is in this bill. for a start, what i believe -- and i know you believe, mr. president -- is that when people are hurting, when they owe back-rent, when they can't afford to feed their kids, when they can't afford to go to the doctor, we need to get cash into the pockets of those people as soon as we possibly can. i was one of the people here a month ago -- there weren't a lot of people talking about it. i said we need to get cash into the pockets of people. we ended up with just $600 in the last bill. it wasn't enough. we said our goal was $2,000.

in this bill, there will be an additional $1,400 for every working-class man, woman, and child. so if you are an individual, a single person, making $75,000 or less, when we pass this legislation, you're going to get a check for $1,400. if you are a couple earning less than $150,000 and let's just say you have two kids, each person in the family -- the husband, the wife, and the two kids -- are to get $1,400 apiece. that's $5,600. and let me tell you something for a struggling, working-class family, that $5,600 is going to mean an enormous amount. it will allow people to pay the rent, allow people to pay off their debts, allow people to go to the doctor. so that's what this legislation

is about. we made a promise. some of us made that promise. i did -- that we would make sure that working-class families, each individual gets $2,000 and we're going to keep that promise. $600 then, $1,400 now. as a result of this pandemic, we have seen an horrific increase in unemployment. unemployment is soaring all over this country. millions of workers have lost their jobs. they've got no income coming in. the extended unemployment benefits that were previously passed are going to expire in mid-march. what this legislation does, very importantly -- if you are unemployed right now and you're going to lose your unemployment, when we pass this legislation, your unemployment is going to be extended through the end of september. and on top of the normal unemployment benefits you get

from your state -- and they vary state to state -- you're going to get an additional $400 a week. we will not turn our backs on the millions of unemployed workers in this country. included in the legislation that we are fighting for is the need to raise the minimum wage in this country from the starvation wage that currently exists of $7.25 an hour to a living wage of $15 an hour. now we understand that restaurants and small businesses are hurting, and in this legislation there will be a significant amount of money to make sure that small businesses will be able to afford that wage increase. but you know, when we talk about the economy, the media very often focuses on the stock market. that's important. we can focus on unemployment, terribly important. but what we don't focus on

enough is that half of our workers in this country are living paycheck to paycheck. they have nothing in the bank, and they have to live off the paycheck they make. and if they have an automobile problem, car breaks down, somebody in the family gets sick, they're in deep financial trouble. and it seems to me that in the richest country in the history of the world, it is not too much to demand that if you work 40 hours a week, you don't live in poverty. $15 an hour is not going to make anybody rich. i have seen workers and talked to workers all over this country trying to raise their kids on $10, $12 an hour, and you can't do it. so $15 an hour is an important start in making sure that all working people in this country can live with dignity. mr. president, this legislation

will expand the child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,000 and to $3,600 for families with kids under the age of six. now what is not talked about very much in america, not by politicians, not by the media, is the fact that we have one of the highest rates of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth, and that is a terrible, terrible thing. you know, politicians give speeches, the future of this country is with our children, so forth and so on. we've got millions of kids living in poverty. millions of families can't afford to send their kids to decent-quality child care. so expanding the child tax credit will go a very long way to reduce child poverty in america, and that is something that we must do.

mr. president, it's no great secret that as a result of the pandemic, revenue coming in to state and local governments are in significant decline, and the result of that is that in the last year well over a million state and local employees have been laid off. we're talking about teachers, we're talking about firemen, we're talking about police officers and other municipal and state employees. and when you have those layoffs, not only is that a crisis unto itself for those workers, it means that is state and local government cannot provide the services that are needed to be provided in the midst of this terrible crisis. so this legislation would provide $350 billion to state and local governments, many of whom are facing bankruptcy.

now obviously the crisis that we're facing today ?olt -- is not only an economic crisis, it is clearly a health crisis. and the good news is that in a relatively short period of time at least two manufacturers in this country -- and more i think are coming on board -- have introduced and created vaccines which are now being distributed. that is the good news. the bad news is that we need to significantly increase the production of those vaccines. we don't have enough. and even more importantly, we have to do a heck of a lot better job in distributing those vaccines and getting those vaccines into the arms of people this legislation will provide billions and billions of dollars to do just that. at a time when we are looking at the highest level of hunger in this country in decades, many

billions of dollars are going to go to making sure that our children and our families do not go hungry. clearly one of the major crises facing this country is that schools in every state are either not open or they're open in irhours. kids are -- in irregular hours. kids are trying to get an education online. sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. but our goal is to make sure that we can reopen schools and expand after-school and child care programs for working programs and do it in a way that is safe. we want parents to feel good and know that the facilities they're sending their children to are safe. and we've got a whole lot of money in this bill to do just that. in this bill, in order to protect workers, there is a sizable sum of money to protect the pensions of millions of

workers and retirees from being slashed by 30%, 40, 65%. a number of years ago in the middle of the night, language was put in that was, that would destroy the promises made to millions of workers in terms of the pensions that they were guaranteed, and we rectify that in this bill. right now in america, as i mentioned earlier, some 90 million of our people are either uninsured or underinsured, which speaks to the need, in my view, to major health care reform. my own view is that we need to move, go to medicare for all, single-payer program so we're not spending twice as much per capita on health care as any other country on earth despite so many people being uninsured or underinsured.

medicare for all is not in this bill but what is in this bill is a significant amount of money to expand health care, and we're still looking at the best ways to do that. one of the ways will probably be expanding medicaid and also investing significantly in community health centers and the national health service corps. we have a crisis in terms of the number of doctors and nurses that we need, and national health service corps is a program which will forgive debt for doctors and nurses if they practice in underserved areas. so, mr. president, i know sometimes we get consumed by numbers. it's going to be $2.1 trillion, $1.9 trillion, $1.7 trillion. that is not the issue. the issue is whether we are prepared to address the crises

facing the american people. will this bill solve all of the problems that we face? no, it will not. will it go a long way to addressing many of the crises and easing the anxiety that so many working families have? yes, it will. but this should not be the end of the process. as soon as we pass this, we're going to come back with another major piece of legislation, and that is that deals with some of the long-term structural problems our country faces in terms of a crumbling infrastructure, in terms of the need to deal with the existential threat of climate change. we need to create millions of good-paying jobs, and that is something that this congress has got to address. too many of our people are unemployed, too many of our people are underemployed, and that we will be dealing with in the next covid reconciliation bill. now there has been some

discussion here, and the media seems fixated on the issue of partisanship. oh, my god, we're being so partisan here. so let me remind everybody is that under the trump administration, massive tax breaks were passed that went to the top 1% and large corporations. 83% of the benefits in the trump tax plan went to the 1% and large corporations. and you know how bipartisan that bill was, passed in reconciliation? there was not one democrat that voted for that bill. it was voted just with republican votes. and outrageously, as part of reconciliation, republicans came forward and said we think it's a brilliant idea to repeal the affordable care act and throw up to 32 million people off the health care that they have. i don't know what people are thinking about when they propose to throw tens of millions of people off the health care they have, but that was their idea,

to repeal the affordable care act. and by one vote the late john mccain, that did not happen. but not one democrat voted for that. but my point is it's one thing for my republican friends to be talking about the need for bipartisanship, which all of us support. but the reality is they used exactly the same process to pass or at least try to pass major, major pieces of legislation. so, mr. president, all that i want to say is that we are living in an unprecedented moment in american history. and again, it is quite likely that this congress today, president biden are facing more serious crises than any president certainly since f.d.r., maybe going back to abraham lincoln. we've got a health care crisis, we've got a pandemic, we've got an economic meltdown, we've got an education crisis, we've got an infrastructure crisis, we've got a criminal justice crisis,

we've got an immigration crisis. you name it, we've got it. and either we're going to have the courage to address those problems or we're not. and i think now is the time to do it. so we certainly look forward to support from our republican colleagues. but what is most important is that at a time of massive pain and anxiety, this congress acts boldly on behalf of working families. for too long we have seen the congress give tax breaks to billionaires. we have seen lobbyists work to get hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare for people who don't need it. we have seen a tax system in which major corporations like amazon, maybe the most profitable corporation in america, or one of the most profitable corporations, home of the wealthiest guy in america pays zero in taxes, and right now the very rich have an

effective tax rate which is lower than the working class. i know it may sound like a radical idea, but the time is now for the united states congress to begin to represent the vast majority of the people, the working class of this country, the middle class of this country, lower-income people who are struggling. let us work together. let us crush this terrible pandemic. let's get our kids back to school. let's reopen our economy. and let us create a government that works for all of us and not just the very few. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor.

ms. stabenow: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: are we in a quorum call, mr. president? the presiding officer: we are not. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. mr. president, it's wonderful it see you in the chair. mr. president, one thing you can say about americans, we know how to meet the moment. when the world was upended by a great depression and a quarter of our people were out of work,

we took bold action. a brand-new president, franklin delano roosevelt, and large majorities in congress ushered in a new deal that put folks back to work, stabilized our economy, and invested in america's future. when freedom abroad was threatened by fascism, we again took bold action as a country. we used american ingenuity to build an arsenal of democracy, which by the middle of 1944 was churning out b-24 bombers every 60 minutes at ford's willow run plant in michigan. now is the time again to take bold action on behalf of the american people. we're now a year in to a pandemic that has claimed the

lives of nearly 450,000 americans. 450,000 americans. parents and grandparents and friends and neighbors and cousins and co-workers and community leaders. almost 15,000 lives have already been lost in michigan. dear souls lost to us. and it's not just lives that have been lost. businesses have closed, workers have been laid off, folks have been without paychecks for months and months. parents are struggling to keep food on the table and the heed on while trouble shooting the spotty internet their exirn depend on to keep their classes going on zoom. and grand mass and grandpas are missing out on -- grandmas and grandpas are missing out on seeing their families grow up.

families born last march are already learning to walk and talk and too many have not had a chance to be with them in person. americans know how to meet the moment, and it is time for us to do it again. it's time to pass a rescue plan bold enough to stamp out this pandemic, get families the immediate help they need to weather the economic crisis and get our children safely back in school. that's just what our american rescue plan will do, and we need to get it done as soon as possible. american families have waited long enough. there are a lot of good things happening right now. a home covid-19 test was just approved. soon we'll have three effective vaccines available. we know that we can't get back to normal, though, or revive our battered economy unless we get vaccines off shelves and into

american arms. that's why our plan will increase the number of people being vaccinated, boost our testing capacity, and ensure that our health care professionals and other frontline workers have adequate protective equipment. the plan will also provide additional funding for rural health infrastructure through the agriculture portion of our bill which i am so pleased to lead. our rural hospitals are struggling to survive right now like places where i grew up in northern michigan. this funding will help them keep their doors open, purchase necessary supplies, vaccinate more people, and treat more patients via telehealth which has become so important. in the meantime, we know that american families need help to survive during this pandemic.

they need help. they need to know we have got their backs. they have got to know that in all of this, somebody has got their back. the american rescue plan will give working families direct checks, extend crucial unemployment insurance programs, boost the child tax credit, and earned income tax credit which will lift half of american children out of poverty this year. can you imagine? we have an opportunity here in congress working with our wonderful new president and vice president to pass a policy that will lift half the children in poverty out of poverty, not ten careers from now, not five years from now. this year. what an exciting prospect, and we need to get it done. this means struggling families will, with all of this help, be

able to cover the rent or the mortgage, pay their bills, keep food on the table. and keeping food on the table is especially crucial in a time when so many of our neighbors are going hungry. in fact, we know that 50 million of our americans across the country, moms and dads and children right now are facing hunger every day. we're better than this as a country. we've all heard stories about seniors waiting hours in lines for a box of food or parents skipping meals so their children can have a little more to eat. the agriculture and nutrition funding in this american rescue plan will tackle hunger head-on by extending pandemic e.b.t. for

the duration of the pandemic. cha does that mean? that is about children, it is about feeding children, children who otherwise may get fed at school but aren't able to do that to be able to have the resources they need from moms and dads to feed them while they are not in school, as well as in the summer. it will also provide more fruits and vegetables for moms and babies and make sure that families who are eligible for help are getting it. people who need help in this country need to get that help. they need to know we have their back. we know that two-thirds of snap benefits, the supplemental nutrition assistance program, two-thirds of it goes to families with children. by extending the bump-up in snap funding through the end of september, we can make sure families aren't running out of food and going hungry at the end of the month.

that's especially important for children because it's hard to learn, it's hard to learn how to read and write. it's hard to focus when your stomach is rumbling. when you have a headache because you haven't eaten. our children need to be fed, and they need to be back in class as well. we can't get our economy moving again if parents can't return to work and parents can't return to work if they are worried that their children aren't safe at school or one of the parents or the only parent has to be home with the children. what do they do? so all of this fits together. the american rescue plan will provide the support needed to safely reopen the majority of k-12 schools within president biden's first 100 days. how important is that?

what a great goal for us to have. and we can do that. we are just days away from working together, being able to get that done. and it will serve all students, no matter how or no matter where they learn. and for our farmers, speaking as the chair, incoming chair of the agriculture and nutrition and artestary committee, our farmers who have been directly affected by the ups and downs of the pandemic, the plan addresses the break in the food supply chain, and it enables us to buy and donate their products to food banks. you know, we have had so many selling to restaurants and big enterprises that food supply chain stopped. they have excess food. i know dairy farmers in michigan find it hard to think about the idea of dumping milk when we need that. so the efforts that are in this bill will help them be able to move from a bulk supply chain to

be able to get gallon jugs, put the milk into the hands of families and stop the wasting of precious, valuable foods that our families need. this is going to help farmers' bottom line, and it feeds families in need. our agriculture provisions also provide critical funding for p.p.p., for farm fearks and workers who labor every day in food processing plants so we have the food that we need, protective equipment that they need and that they deserve. the plan also targets help for farmers of color who have been hit especially hard by the pandemic on top of the historical challenges and discrimination they have faced in accessing land and capital. the plan provides critical debt relief to help them weather the storm and keep their operations going until the next growing

season. vaccinating americans, providing economic help for families, getting our children back to school safely, those are the three main goals of this plan. all of these goals have one thing in common. it's about investing in people. it's about putting people first, the american people first. over our nation's history, the policies that have truly lifted people out of poverty and moved them forward have invested in people from our land grant universities to social security and medicare and medicaid to the civil rights act of the children's health insurance program to increasing the minimum wage. and these are all policies, i'm proud to say, created and

supported by democrats. investigates in our people helps american families, and it helps our economy, too. we've seen these democratic policies create more jobs. when you look at the numbers, mr. president, just when we look at the numbers, under which policies and which presidents have we seen more good-paying jobs? and over and over again, it's democratic presidents because of the way that we invest. it's what we do, how we invest to create opportunity to get everybody a fair shot to succeed, to invest in people and opportunity. those things have created better economies and more jobs. so broadly, we are committed on making sure everyone shares in the prosperity of our country, and these policies create the

conditions necessary to help people dream big dreams and actually achieve them. it's a new year. it's a new congress. time to act. time to end this pandemic, give families the economic support they need, and get our children safely back to school. this is the moment. this is the moment we need to think big. we need to be bold. we need to lean in on policy that we know work because they have worked before. americans know how to meet the moment, and our moment is now. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

ms. stabenow: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. a senator: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lujan: mr. president, 50 million americans, including 17 million children, are facing food insecurity because of this public health and economic crisis with black and latino families more likely to go hungry. in new mexico, one in three children and one in five adults are at risk of hunger.

in the wealthiest country in the world, this is simply unacceptable. the budget resolution focuses on getting relief to the people who need it most beginning with an extension of the 15% increase in supplemental nutrition assistance benefits through september of 2021. increasing snap benefits has proven to be one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus, and it has the dual benefit of allowing families to purchase the food that they need to stay healthy as well as supporting businesses that accept snap dollars. the budget resolution also bolsters the w.i.c. program to ensure that children and their mothers have access to a nutritious diet necessary for healthy development. it is an important investment in

the future of our country. this funding increase is especially significant for states like new mexico, where nearly a quarter of children are born into families with incomes that fall below the federal poverty line. in addition to addressing hunger, this resolution includes critical support for the people who grow our food, produce our food -- our farmers and ranchers. in new mexico, farmers and ranchers who were already struggling due to drought conditions face new challenges due to covid-19. shuttered restaurants left chili growers without their customer base and scrambling to find new markets. ranchers experienced long delays at meatpacking plants where workers were hard hit by covid-19. those workers need help, too.

the pandemic also made it harder to find workers to cultivate the land and tend to the animals. this resolution also supports a provision i advocated for to provide debt relief for minority and disadvantaged farmers and ranchers who did not receive their fair share of covid relief under the last administration. it is sad that societies are judged by how -- it is said that societies are judged by how they treat their most vulnerable. it's sad because not everybody opens their eyes to see how we should be measured. the senate must act for the families and children facing hunger and for our hardworking farmers and ranchers, those that are producing food, picking food, preparing food, and getting it to market and stocking the shelves. we must pass this budget

resolution. i thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. and i note 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 majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, pursuant to the provisions of senate resolution 27, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 32 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 32, to constitute the minority party's membership on certain

committees for the 117th congress or until their successors are chosen. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding with the measure? without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m., thursday, february 4. further, that following the prayer and pledge the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. further that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate resume consideration of senate conres. 5, the concurrent resolution on the budget. further, that the time r from 2:00 to 2:30 p.m. be equally divided between senators graham

and sanders and that following their remarks all time on the budget resolution be considered expired. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection,so ordered. mr. schumer: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. >> the u.s. senate gasoline out for the day lawmakers continue debate on a budget resolution in response to the coronavirus pandemic president biden $1.9 trillion covid-19 plan has another direct checks to americans, weekly unappointed benefits and the increase of minimum wage to $15 an hour. debate on the budget resolution is expected to continue tomorrow. watch live coverage when they return on