good evening. and welcome to "politics nation." tonight's lead, help could be on the way. but it's been a long time coming. after months of bickering, at this very moment on capitol hill, congress is reportedly close to a deal on a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill that would include another round of stimulus checks and additional unemployment benefits. it will be the first federal aid

package passed since march, which means in the past nine months. singers like beyonce and dolly parton have done more to help those suffering during the pandemic than your elected representatives in washington. but with so many americans in dire straits during these holidays, especially communities of color, we'll take it. there are also signs of hope today coming from the aptly named city of olive branch, mississippi. you're looking at a distribution center there where the first batches of the second fda emergency authorized vaccine made by moderna are being loaded onto trucks be shipped to hospitals across the country. of course, getting the money and the shots to the people that need it the most calls for close

coordination between the outgoing and incoming presidential administrations. and that is where one area where hope does not spring eternal. with just 31 days to go until inauguration, president trump continues to demonstrate a resistance to the transition and antipathy toward all manners of governing not related to overturning his election loss. his behavior that would be shocking from any other president, and yet somehow we have come to expect this from trump. and if we are to believe some of the increasing alarming reports from the sources inside the white house, the president may not be just acting out. he could be digging in. joining me now is senator chris

van hollen, democrat from maryland, member of the appropriations committee. let me go right to the point, senator. at this hour, what are your thoughts on this much needed covid relief bill? >> well, receive rverend al, goe with you. it's way overdue, it's not enough, but it is desperately needed and important assistance. and i am optimistic, very optimistic that congress will finally come together and get something done. people are hurting desperately out there. we couldn't go away. we should never leave without finishing this, and i think we'll get it done. >> so you think we will finally get there, even though it may not be all we want. it gives something. and for people that are in dire needs all over the country, i mean, for them to be on like the edge of a cliff right around the

holiday is heartless enough during normal times. it almost seems like salt in the wound that we're this close to the day after christmas unemployment insurance runs out for many. that's right, and that's why it would be unconscionable for congress to leave without getting this done. this will extend and expand the unemployment insurance. it will be an additional $300 a week. we will provide the individual payments you talked about, $600 per adult and child. it will include importantly rental assistance because so many people are stretched thin and at risk of eviction, and it will extend the moratorium on evictions, includes food assistance. the ppp program, that's the small business program, has been significantly improved. it will be targeted to truly needy businesses, and there's very important relief for

minority-owned businesses and minority-owned banks and other financial institutions. >> there's been a lot of us that's been fighting and raising that because of the disproportionate impact on minority communities where the small businesses there, we have had many discussions with mnuchin, the secretary of the treasury on this, and others. so i'm glad that the democrats were able to get that in the package and maintain it. let me go to this. one of the outgoing president's closest advisers told "the washington post" that trump is just done with covid. he put it on a timetable. it just exceeded the amount of time he gave it. i mean, how dangerous is that for the country in the next 31 days? how does the president tune out a pandemic that is causing 3,000 plus lives a day and people on the verge of economic collapse, unemployment insurance, like i

said, people are broke. businesses closing, many of them never to open again. none of this caused by the citizens. how do you just tune out and you're the president of the united states, and chase all of these hallucinations about how you were robbed of an election that has been settled, even recognized by the leaders of his party, and he's tuned out? >> well, reverend al, when it came to fighting this pandemic, he checked out a long time ago. but you're right. even since the election, we have seen more of that. he's spent more time on the golf course than worried about the pandemic. and when he's not on the golf course, he's trying to overthrow the results of the election. and we now have over 315,000 americans who are dead, which is more than 100,000 dead compared to the next highest country with the next highest death toll.

so this is a president who didn't care from the beginning. he said he wanted to, quote, downplay this virus, and the result has been devastating for the american people. >> now, earlier today, in a radio interview, president trump said he has been in touch with alabama senator-elect tommy tuberville, who claims to be considering objecting to the results of the presidential election on january 6th. given that even the majority leader mitch mcconnell said it is time to move on. do you think it's appropriate for the president to be lobbying individual senators, your colleagues, at this point? >> well, nothing the president has done is appropriate because he's been trying to overturn this election, the first through the courts, that was a dead end strategy. then he tried to get members of the electoral college in different states to overturn it. that was a dead end, and it will

be another dead end in congress. there's no way the strategy can win, but i can tell you, reverend, that tuberville will make himself the least popular republican member of the senate because if he does that, it's going to force republican senators to choose between their fawning allegiance to donald trump or the political reality that trump lost the election. so they really don't want to have to go down that in the united states senate. i'm sure they're going to be working very hard, mitch mcconnell and others, to persuade tuberville not to do it even as trump tries to get him to do it. >> now, i'm out of time, but i must ask you before you go, about your new legislation to honor henrietta lax, to improve equity in cancer research. >> yeah, thanks for mentioning this, reverend al. this was a priority of our dear friend, elijah cummings. and we want to make sure that

when we have clinical trials for cancer drugs, that underrepresented populations are able to participate, because we want to make sure that the treatments that come out of those clinical trials can help the african-american community and other minority communities. so we got this bill passed. it's on its way to the president's desk. it's important that it be signed. and as you say, it was named at henrietta lax, whose cell wine helped save the lives of millions of people in the united states and around the world, even though she was never informed about it at the time. so it's fitting that this is named after henrietta lacks. it's a fitting it was a priority of elijah cummings. i was proud to be able to introduce the bill in the senate. it's passed. this is all about health equity and one step toward ending those disparities in health care and

treatment. >> well, i think it's a great thing, and i'm sure that elijah cummings' family and all of us that loved and supported him are glad you're doing it in his name and doing it, period, for those underserved communities that have some equity here. thank you for being with us tonight, senator chris van hollen. >> thank you. >> let's bring in our political strategist who is, of course, chris lue, who is a former deputy secretary of labor in the obama administration, and elise jordan, who is a republican strategist. let me go to you first, elise. what do you make of a variety of reports published just in the past couple days which describe not only trump's selfish state of mind but his concrete plans to hold on to power and destroy our democracy? i just have to put it that way. >> you know, rev, i can't say i

was the least bit surprised. i think the problem the entire time with so many of us looking and assessing donald trump's rise to the presidency and presidency is a failure of imagination. and the fact that donald trump is being completely delusional and speculating about appointing sydney powell, who already was fired once from his legal effort to be some kind of special prosecutor and pursue this fake mission of figuring out, you know, some way to salvage the vote for donald trump. it's just absolutely crazy. and we have to call it what it is. it's crazy. donald trump is more delusional with every passing day. the fact that he even thinks that there is an iota of a chance that he will still be president come january 20th shows just how delusional donald trump is at this point in the game. >> you know, chris, the same for

you. we hear trump was thinking of appointing one of his former lawyers as elise just referred to, the election conspiracy theorist sydney powell, as a special counsel to investigate his debunked accusations of election fraud. we hear he pushed america's second highest ranking official at the department of homeland security to seize state voting machines. we hear he wanted to possibly impose martial law and deploy the military to, quote, rerun the election. and all of that while the united states is dealing with a foreign cyberattack and a pandemic. i mean, how do we -- this would be like a reality show if we were not talking about he's still in charge for 30 more days. how do we deal with 30 more days like this? >> well, rev, imagine what we would be saying if we saw this

happening in any other country. imagine frankly if this were a democrat that was saying it, and all we hear now from the president's allies is silence. but look, this is what we have seen over the last four years. this is a president who has coddled dictators overseas. this is a person who before the 2018 midterm elections conjured up images of invaders so he could send troops to the southern border. this past summer, he used the national guard to create a photo opportunity for himself in lafayette square. you're exactly right. even while he continues to push these false claims of voter fraud as he files frivolous lawsuit after frivolous lawsuit, as he threatens state election officials, our country is under attack. and even his own secretary of state mike pompeo said this is coming from russia. this has caused significant breaches within major federal agencies including the ones that oversee our nuclear arsenal, and you have a president yesterday

who again said this is fake news, who continues to deflect blame from russia. he's not taking this seriously, and he's continuing to undermine and delegitimize our elections. >> now, let's turn to georgia, elise. vice president-elect kamala harris is going to campaign there tomorrow. meanwhile, the republican candidates are both now running solely on false claims of voter fraud and other baseless arguments, which often have more than a tinge of racism attached. your thoughts. >> it is completely unsurprising, the behavior of these two senators in the runup to this special election. they're trying to both placate trump and deny the election, the previous result. it is just absolutely crazy to me that you have so much chaos right now going on in georgia, such a republican party that has no unity.

you have governor kemp and donald trump having their spat. you have kelly loeffler and david perdue not really willing to recognize joe biden. this is not great for turning out the republican base in a special election that's right after the new year, as the pandemic is spiraling into a new dangerous space. >> and you know, chris, all of this confusion in georgia and nationally, with a president who is just floating hallucinations after hallucinations and even talking about bringing in someone to be assigned special duties whose claim to fame is conspiracy theories out of thin air. in the middle an unprecedented pandemic. i mean, even those of us who have fought with donald trump down through the years, that know him well in new york, would

not expect even he could be this insensitive to the times we're living in. we're literally talking about over 300,000 americans have died. and 3,000 plus a week, including this week that we just are ending, over 3,000 people died a day. and they're running around doing all of these things in the middle of this. it is unbelievable. >> well, just take a look at the president's twitter feed any day, and all you see are dozens of false claims that are being flagged as being untrue. there's not a lick of sympathy for the 3,000 people. who are dying every day, and the irony, rev, is this was actually pretty good week for the president. the vaccines started with the pfizer vaccine. there was a second one, the moderna one that was approved. this is a time if the president wanted to take a victory lap, he probably could take it. instead, what he continues to do is push these conspiracy theories. he continues to give support to

people around the country who don't want to follow public health guidelines and he continues to be absent from the negotiations happening on capitol hill right now to provide economic relief. there are 12 million people who going to lose their unemployment benefits next week. millions who are facing eviction, and the president is sitting on the sidelines and not getting involved at all. >> how does, elise, the republican party put humpty dumpty back together again after this president? >> rev, i don't see how you do. i see a lot of republican leaders right now who are trying to be versions of donald trump. you look at so many politicians who want to capture some of the magic that donald trump had with the republican base. and no one does it with the authenticity, and it just is, you know, seems to be a flop. i wonder how with donald trump, who could care less about the republican party, as he

demonstrates in his willingness to fund-raise for his own pac over the georgia special election, and his willingness to, you know, basically tell republican voters that he doesn't care all that much about what happens down there, you see how this isn't going to be a strong legacy of the republican party that donald trump is promoting. it's always, always going to be about donald trump himself. >> all right. chris lue and elise jordan, thank you both for being with us this evening. coming up, a message for the outgoing education secretary. so take a seat, betsy devos, and some notes. as i school you on your failed legacy. but first, my colleague richard lui with today's other top stories. richard. >> good day to you. some of the stories we're watching this hour. a second coronavirus vaccine has begun shipping this weekend. moderna receiving fda emergency

authorization friday. the first doses are expected to be administered as early as tomorrow. this second vaccine follows last weekend's pfizer vaccine's first shipments as well. the federal government hopes to distribute 5.9 million doses of the moderna vaccine this week. >> as of today, there have now been over 17.7 million cases of covid-19, the death toll now surpasses 317,000 americans. tennessee governor bill lee on that topic is expected to address his state this evening. this comes as the cdc this week stated tennessee had the highest number of covid-19 cases by population than any other state in the union. it averages over 129 cases per 100,000 residents. more "politics nation" with reverend al sharpton right after the break. aging is a journey. you can't always know what's ahead.

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for this week's gotcha, i want to turn my attention to the soon-to-be unemployed secretary of education, betsy devos. you might be in charge of our nation's schools for a few more weeks, but this week, i have a lesson for you. this week, political reported that you encouraged the career employees of the department of education to, quote, be the resistance when president-elect joe biden takes over. this would be breathtakingly arrogant coming from any political appointee. but it is especially rich coming from a trump loyalist who has been in place since the very beginning of this presidency. back when members of the administration were bashing the so-called act of resistance from your idealogical opposition such as civil rights marches and environmental marches and the

women's march, for somehow undermining our democratic process. in fact, madam secretary, it seems as though you don't even grasp the concept of resistance. those protests you didn't like back in 2017 were exercises of free speech and assembly. rights enshrined in our constitution. what you seem to be advocating is for idealogically minded government employees to burrow themselves into the bureaucracy and try to undermine the next president, serving as saboteurs or to put it into right-wing vernacular, you might better understand, agents of a nefarious deep state. while you encourage your agency's employees to resist the incoming president, the schoolyard bully in chief has been busy installing other

forever trumpers into leadership positions throughout the government, including the pentagon and department of justice. it seems like you and your boss only disapprove of shadowing kabul of politically motivated government operatives when you think they align with the other side. now that your time in government is running short and the incoming administration appears poised to unravel some of your most egregious abuses of power, suddenly a deep state doesn't sound so bad. does the word hypocrisy mean anything to you, secretary devos? i gotcha. the perfect last minutt from your walmart store. really fast. really perfect. let's end the year nailing it. ♪

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the act of recorded hate crimes in this country has been on the rise. last saturday, the far-right group the proud boys took to the

streets of washington, d.c. and attempted to terrorize the black community by causing violence and destroying several black lives matter flags from two historic black churches in the area. the proud boysleader this week even took credit for defacing church property, saying he was responsible for burning a black lives matter banner. but in the face of this hatred, it begs a question that my next guest asked in an op-ed published in "the washington post." in resmauns ponse to the violen inflicted on the black community. will america replace its racist myth? with me now, the reverend william h. lamar iv. he's the pastor of the metropolitan african methodist episcopal church in washington, d.c. thank you for being with us, reverend lamar. i want to read a passage you

wrote in response that was in "the washington post," quote, the mythology that motivated the perpetrators on saturday night was the underbelly of the american narrative that white men can employ violence to take what they want and do what they want, and call that criminality justice, freedom, and liberty. so why can't white america come to terms with this racist myth and how can it be replaced, reverend lamar? because they call that patriotism. and they call that, as you said, many things. i can only think of just in august when we had the big march in washington, over 200,000 people and no violence, if we had one, just one person throw something, a piece of paper across the lincoln memorial reflecting pool, they would have called it a riot and everything

else. but these people are patriots, not condemned by the president. i mean, how do we deal with this myth and this language change that's so conveniently done? >> reverend sharpton, thank you for having me. on people of the behalf of metropolitan, we thank you because years ago when we needed you, you came and preached and helped us in our time, so we thank you. as far as your question, it is because nothing in a sustained way within the white community, within the community of the evangelicals has interrupted the narrative. persons from outside the narrative have interrupted it, but their churches have not interrupted it, the myth of white supremacy. the myth of white settler colonialism. the politicians by and large have not interrupted it. you go back to what dubois said, how does it feel to be a problem. we're not the problem.

the problem is white supremacy and what it does to human beings, what it does to comeentcomeent communities, what it does to people black and white. what we need is a concerted effort from people within the white community to turn this page on this narrative, to say this truly will be a democracy that is multicultural, multifaith, multiethnic, and really frrx me, democracy in america is aspirational. it has not yet been realized because of what we saw on saturday and because of what we continue to see in our policies at the federal level, state and local level as well. >> the white community should be led by the white church. i note that six seminary presidents in the southern baptist tradition said they don't want to even have taught in their seminaries a critical race history. and reverend ralph west and others protested this and left

the gathering of that denomination in terms of their association because of not only are they not responding in a way you're saying. they are in effect saying we're not going to allow the discussion in some elements of the white church. >> what's fascinating, too, about that, is critical race theory is 30 years old. derek bell, who taught constitutional law, was one of the founding head of that movement, and essentially critical race theory says we will read america through the lens of our experience as a people. we will call out where race has shaped law, economics, politics. if you read the color of law by hig higgenbotham, if you read the work that shows us that you have no capitalism without enslavement, those things are linked together, they are unraveling the myth and telling the story from our perspective,

and essentially, what those six seminary presidents are saying is we refuse to see history, economics, and politics from anyone's perspective other than our own white perspective. and you cannot have any kind of a sustainable community where people in power refuse to even hear criticism. these are the same people, reverend al, you go to their church, they will lambaste you about your individual sin, but they have no reason or no desire to recollect the sins that gave us what we now have. so they want personal repentance, but they do not want corporate repentance, political repentance. you and i know that every progressive move we see politically is always met by a huge counterforce to turn things back to the status quo. >> that's right. >> they have the religion of the status quo. ho ours is the faith of interrupti interruption, the faith of

justi justice, and we don't want anybody to not enjoy god's abundance, but they want to restrict it to the moneyed few. they're oligarchs, they're plutocrats. >> if we were to read others that dealt with this kind of immoral society while you deal with personal morality, they're sinning, but there's also been a push from black clergy leaders across the country like myself to educate and advocate for black americans to get covid-19 access to vaccine as soon as it's readily available. how are you reassuring your congregants that help is on the way while also insuring that this vaccine rollout reaches our community for those that want it in dealing with the skepticism of those that don't? >> two things, reverend sharpton. i want everybody to read medical apartheid, which talks about how black women and men were experimented upon.

all of the challenges we note. we need to name that, but we also need to be clear that as i was speaking with my supervisor earlier today, 300,000 people have died, and people are dying daily. no one yet has had true adverse effects as far as death is concerned with the vaccine. so what our church is doing at it denominational level, we did this thursday night. we had a conversation with black medical doctors, with black health care physicians who are rooted in the community, when we trust, who have advised us as to the best way to make ourselves available to the vaccine. so we're having the kinds of conversations that will make for our health. let's be clear the deleterious effects from this virus are really resonating in our communities because for years, they have kept health care away from the masses. now is a time for us as you are leading us and others, to organize and put pressure.

you see what's almost happened in georgia. when we organize and put pressure on the systems, we can make a difference. but we cannot sit back. that has never been the best of our tradition. so we're educating and encouraging people to go forward and take advantage. >> and in light of 3,000 people dying a day, we cannot not do anything. we have to listen to the health experts we trust. and the fact that dr. korbut was one of those in the vaccine weighs heavily on me. dr. william lamar iv, we thank you and we're praying for your congregation. >> coming up, a health crisis even the covid vaccine can't cure. racial inequity. that conversation is after the break. stay with us. 7 moisturizers 3 vitamins 24 hours hydration gold bond champion your skin

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some breaking news today out of mississippi. where nearly 6 million doses of the moderna vaccines are being shipped to thousands of locations nationwide. all of this while in washington, congress is working into the weekend in an attempt to pass some long overdue coronavirus relief. and we wait to see if this latest covid legislation will allocate sufficient funding for a full-scale vaccination and outreach effort. health care workers are still on the front lines administering

and receiving the first round of covid vaccines. many of them are happy to pose for the cameras to help persuade the public that the vaccine is both safe and necessary. joining me now is dr. lisa cooper, founder and director of the johns hopkins center for health equity, director of johns hopkins urban health institute, and a bloomberg distinguished professor at johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health. let me thank you, dr. cooper, for being with us. and let me ask you, this disease has been devastating, particularly to black americans and other communities of color who are nearly four times, black americans are nearly four times more likely than whites to be hospitalized. and nearly three times more likely to die. how did this federal and state

covid response fail black americans so specifically? >> yeah, i mean, what we know is that when the funds were allocated, they were allocated according to previous revenue from health care institutions, so we know that minorities tend to go to institutions that are in neighborhoods that don't have the same resources as other larger institutions. and so as a result, if you base the funding on past revenue, that doesn't really, you know, allow the institutions to receive funding based on need. so it really showed that the funding that came out actually went to hospitals that maybe didn't even have the burden of illness in the patients they were seeing and a number of patients they were seeing with the severity of illness. so the funds didn't get to the places where a lot of minorities were being treated. we also know that there were lots of other barriers to

certain african-american owned businesses being able to obtain funding because the law required theme have past relationships with banks. so there are all kinds of logistical obstacles that were embedded within the legislation that perpetuate the inequities we have in our society. >> now, one of the biggest hurdles is distrust from the community. while nearly two thirds of white and latinos say they're definitely or probably going to get the vaccine, only 42% of black respondents agreed. given the history of medical exploitation of black americans, what kind of outreach needs to be done, doctor? >> well, so much outreach, and you heard from the reverend who was on just before me talking about working with african-american physicians and other health professionals that are embedded within communities. so i think public health officials, local and national leaders, are going to have to

work very closely with black community leaders, other minority community leaders, faith communities, businesses, such as, you know, salons, barbershops, schools, sororities and fraternities. they're going to really use trusted agents to get out and communicate, learn what people's concerns are so they can address them appropriately, and not expect that it's going to be one of these things where it's build it and they will come, because as you know, the mistrust is well founded. i think the conversation really needs to be shifted from the fact that there's mistrust in the african-american community to the fact that institutions need to become more trustworthy. >> yeah. and we, you know, just this week with the group that we talked about on this show two weeks ago, choose healthy life, had a meeting with clergymen all over the country, and dr. fauci moving in that direction.

and i'm certainly committed to that project along with also the conference of national black churches. dr. richards and others. we must do that. and this week, researchers from seven universities urged the cdc to prioritize vaccination, vaccinated incarcerated people, for example. massachusetts has already moved them up to the front of the line following health care workers and residents of long-term facilities. should other states follow that lead in terms of those that are incarcerated becoming or getting vaccinated first? >> i think they should. i think it's an issue of equity. again, our incarcerated population has a much higher percentage of people of color, unfortunately, in those institutions. a lot of those individuals have chronic medical conditions and at risk for being infected. they're living in group settings

where they're crowded and they don't have the option to engage in social distancing. so they're a high-risk group. we have seen a lot of outbreaks among inmates already. they're at high risk of getting infected, of getting seriously infected and dying at much higher rates than a general population so they definitely meet the criteria for that. we need to care for the most vulnerable in our society, and our incarcerated population is among those. >> we are in a situation that is not of the making of the citizens, but it is going to take all of us to really do what needs to be done. i can't stress enough on this show and every other platform i have that this is beyond theorizing, philosophizing. we're talking about 3,000 plus dying a day. and disproportionately in our community. but i don't care what community. this calls for everybody to do

what everybody should do and could do, doctor. >> i couldn't agree with you more. i mean, i think that it's a problem that belongs to all of us, as we can see when we don't care of those care of those that are most vulnerable, our elderly in nursing homes, our front line workers, people who are not being paid very well, don't have a lot of benefits. we don't protect them. they get sick. it spreads to the rest of our society and it affects everyone. it shuts our economy down. and so it's not one person's problem, it's all of our problem and our responsibility and, you know, if we work together, we are going to be able to get through this. but as long as we think it's one group against the other, we're never going to get through this. so we have to remember that, to take care of the most vulnerable. >> absolutely. well, thank you for being with us this evening. thank you for being with us this evening. i must ask you this, dr. cooper.

that as you look at the information that you have as a health expert and clearly, as one that has become that as a black woman, you recommend that all of us move forward on this vaccination? >> i definitely do. i have a lot of confidence in the vaccine. i was actually involved in one of the data, safety, and monitoring boards. i know how they work. there were a lot of health professionals and -- >> i'm going to have to cut in to you there, because we've got some breaking news. but thank you for being with us again. we've got some breaking news from capitol hill. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says the senate has reached a deal on the covid relief bill. has reached a bill. some breaking news today on that -- the majority leader of the senate said they have reached a deal. i had to interrupt to give that

breaking news. it is so important to so many americans. now, dr. cooper, how do you respond to that? i had cut you off on the vaccine. how do you respond to the news that now they have come forward and made a deal on the $900 billion coronavirus relief? oh, i think i lost dr. cooper. let me go to richard lui. >> yeah, rev. we're just getting the news in, as you're reporting there. 5:52 p.m. on capitol hill in the senate chambers, mitch mcconnell, senate majority leader, as you were saying, rev, announcing that they had reached a deal. he had said earlier in the day that they would have one in a matter of hours. the question was, in process, rules committee issues, approvals, back and forth bargaining. what were going to be the details? now, as leage ann caldwell has

been reporting to us, we don't necessarily know what is exactly going to be in the letter of this law, but more broadly speaking, there have been certain details that you have been discussing during your program that this bill will have. the concern is that it doesn't go far enough. so senate majority leader mitch mcconnell saying they have reached a deal on the covid relief plan. of course, this was tied into also the budget and keeping the government open. they had up until midnight. this was a cobbled together, if you will, extension for about two days. and that deadline and that time frame was to expire tonight at midnight. you can see the outside of the capital. the senate minority leader chuck schumer also working with pat toomey. and that discussion was on the fed and then emergency lending.

that was -- okay, looks like schumer is speaki ining live ri now. >> after a long and arduous year, after a year full of bad news, finally, we have some good news to deliver to the american people. make no mistake about it, this agreement is far from perfect. but it will deliver emergency relief to a nation in the throes of a genuine emergency. it should have the votes to pass the senate, the house, and reach the president's desk to become law. we should make that happen as soon as possible. as soon as possible, even tonight, if we can. by all rights, a bill of this urgency should have passed eight months ago, should have passed months ago. the country needed it. but we all know what happened. the republican majority caused more than eight months of delay and gridlock. 20 members of the senate majority wanted no money.

and when the republican leader simply forgets, for months he said, let's examine the crisis. let's put it on pause while democrats were demanding more action. and then when he produced legislation, it didn't have what was needed and had poisoned pills. a provision that would give all corporations, no matter how egregious their behavior, immunity. and nothing to help the unemployed. no direct checks. so the idea that this delay was caused by democrats was alice in wonderland history. it was caused by a republican majority that didn't want to vote the misunderstand desperately needed by the american people. the significance of this package, even though it's not as large or robust as it should be, should not be underestimated. we will deliver the second

largest federal stimulus in our nation's history. only the cares act, will have been bigger. only the cares act, which i was proud to negotiate with secretary mnuchin, in size and scope, this bill will exceed the recovery act passed in the aftermath of the financial crisis. and once this federal relief bill is signed into law, congress will have allocated well over 3 trillion in relief this year alone. and that is an historic figure to match a historic crisis. it will give the new president a boost, a head start, as he prepares to right our ailing economy. the economy is in a deep, deep hole because of president trump. and the republican senate's failure to act in a timely manner. but this at least begins us getting the relief the american people need.

so that when president biden takes over, he can do more and help us dig out of this deep hole. and the good news, too, the poison pills that so stopped any progress put in by the majority leader are not in this bill. it won't include any provision to limit the legal rights of workers who are put in harm's way, or any provision to gratuitously limit the authority of the fed. now, it's remarkable how far we have come. as i mentioned earlier, this summer, the republican leader admitted 20 members of his caucus didn't want to vote for another dime in covid relief. before negotiating with democrats, the majority offered a package of $500 billion that contained poisoned pills designed to doom the thing from the start. that way, republican senators wouldn't be forced to approve any new spending. here at the end of the year,

reason has prevailed, sweet reason, and we'll now deliver a package of almost $1 trillion. and that matters. not for any one party. it matters for the american people. because we increase the size of this bill, expanded its reach, more americans will receive assistance before the holidays. for americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, this bill will throw out a safety net. initially, republicans were ready to let enhanced unemployment benefits expire. they were ready to move on without help for renters. they opposed another round of direct payments. their starting offer for uni rent relief was zero, zero, and zero again. but the good news that transcends any of the obstacles that we faced is that in in the final agreement, we will extend all three federal unemployment programs created under cares.

we will provide $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits for the next ten weeks. for families struggling to make ends meet, this bill will cushion the blow. a new round of survival checks will soon be on the way. $600 per adult, another $600 for every dependent in the household. many of us would have liked that to be higher, but at least this is the way -- the quickest way to get money into the pockets of the american people. sending their tax dollars right back where they came from. of course, as i said, it's not as much as many democrats and some republicans would have liked, and we hope that next year, the same bipartisan support that emerged behind $1,200 stimulus checks will prevail even more assistance to working families. for the first time ever during this pandemic, congress will provide $25 billion in direct rental assistance to help reduce the burden on americans who have

fallen behind on the rent. we also extend a moratorium on evictions to give our fellow citizens more time to get back on their feet. for small business owners, we are providing businesses the opportunity to take another draw of the popular paycheck protection program. crucially, this bill will provide $12 billion for minority-owned and very small businesses, who struggled to access financing during the earlier rounds of ppp. local newspapers and local broadcasters will have access to this assistance. nonprofits, i worked very hard to see that that happened. and our nonprofit religious institutions, our churches and our synagogues and our mosques, no collection plate, no income. but so vital to social services and so needed during a time of crisis, will once again get the help they need, something that i offered in the cares bill. i'm especially pleased that this