mr. warnock: i ask the quorum call be set aside. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warnock: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia is recognized. mr. warnock: madam president, i believe health care is a human right, and with all the incentives on the table for georgia to expand medicaid, it is past time to do so. my home state of georgia, where state leaders have refused to expand medicaid, has the opportunity to provide affordable health care to 646,000 people who could qualify. i refuse to allow georgians to suffer and be cut off from care while politicians play games. this is why i introduced recently the medicaid saves lives act. this is legislation that would allow people in states like mine who haven't expanded medicaid an alternative path to health coverage. because for far too many, access to be affordable, reliable health care is the difference between life and death. madam president, i agree with martin luther king jr., who said that of all the injustices, inequality in health care is the most shocking and the most inhumane. so i'm

mr. chairman. sen. brown: thank you, senator reed. thank you for presiding. senator warnock from georgia is recognized for five minutes. sen. warnock: thank you, chairman brown and chairman powell. i'm a strong advocate for working families and have successfully pushed, along with senator brown and senator booker and others an expansion of the vital child tax credit program and the american rescue plan. the expanded child tax credit provides a tax-cut for middle-class families, cutting childhood poverty nearly in half nationwide, and is generally available to most american families with children, including families with little to no income. today is a great day because many of them will see that tax-cut in there account today. i am happy to see hard-working families across georgia and across the country see the benefit of this to help with the rising costs of raising our children. in my state of georgia alone more than 1.2 million families will receive payments providing much-needed relief to over 2 million children across the state. in previous remarks, chariman powell, you

mr. chairman. i yield back. >> thank you, senator. i recognize myself and at the conclusion of my comments, i will yield to senator warnock, and by thatime, i presume senator brown will be back to conclude the hearing. first of all, thank you, mr. chairman for your remarkable service over these challenging months. i appreciate it very much. one of the aspects of the pandemic has been an indication of the potential for technological displacement of workers. i think we are all now familiar with zoom, infected is a blessing and a curse simultaneously. as you look forward, how are you factoring in this notion of technological displacement in terms of the workforce and employment? chm. powell: we began hearing very early in the recovery period that companies were looking at ways to use technology really more aggressively in the business models. a lot of the people who lost their jobs during the pandemic of course were people in service industries relatively low paid, public customer facing businesses, hotels, travel entertainment, stuff like that. i think we will see more technology and fewer people i think we need to work as a society to

mr. chairman, i yield back. >> thank you, and i recognize myself and at the conclusion of my comments, i will yield to senator warnockand at that time, senator brown will be back to conclude the hearing. i will ask first. so, first of all, thank you, mr. chairman, for your remarkable service over the many challenging months and i appreciate it very much, and one of the results of the pandemic has been a displacement of the technological workers, and we are all familiar with zoom, and it is blessing, and a curse simultaneously. as you are looking forward, how are you focusing in this technological deterrence of the workforce and employment? >> we have begun the hearing very early in the recovery period that companies were looking at ways to use technology to really more aggressive and people who lost their jobs were in service industries and relatively low paid customer facing businesses and travel and entertainment, and thing likes that, and so we are going to see, and that is by the way, the technology coming into the industries has been a trend, and we will see it accelerated and more technology and fewer people, a

mr. garza, because i met today with a number of texas legislators along with senator warnock and senator merkley, because senator merkley and i lead the for the people bill. which provisions of the build being considered in texas are you most concerned with question mark --? mr. garza: it's a bad bill all the way around. there are provisions limiting the timeframe for when people can vote. i think that is bad. there was a misstatement made about how local elections -- elected officials are prohibited from sending ballots to voters. actually, they are prohibited from sending applications for mail-in ballots. those actions are crucial, there are efforts than -- then that intimidate local election officials from trying to help people vote. assist people in voting. >> isn't there also the fact that if you have more than three people you're taking to the polls you have to -- ? >> there are restrictions on assisting voters to the polls and assisting voters at the polls. >> and defining your disability? is there something in there on that? >> yes, there are additional affidavits that need to be

mr. warnock: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. warnock: mr. president, since my first day here in the senate -- the presiding officer: we're in a quorum call. mr. warnock: i ask that the quorum be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warnock: mr. president, since my first day here in the senate, and even before that, one of the issues i have been working to address is how my own home state of georgia, where state leaders have been digging in their heels, refusing to expand medicaid, how it is that citizens can somehow provide affordable health care to their families. nearly 500,000 georgians who are uninsured. they are in the medicaid gap. and that's why last week i introduced the medicaid saves lives act, legislation that would create a program almost identical to medicaid that is administered by the federal government. it would allow people in states like georgia who have not expanded medicaid an alternative path to health coverage. because we know that medicaid literally saves lives. i was proud to introduce this legislatio

warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. schumer: mr. president, for decades, both parties have shared a desire to invest in our nation's infrastructure. it's one of the few issues here in washington where our two parties can consistently work together. and it's been years since congress passed a significant stand-alone investment. we're hoping to change that this year. nearly a month ago, a month ago, a bipartisan group of senators came together, along with the white house, and agreed on a framework for a bipartisan infrastructure bill. so last night, i moved to set up a process for the senate to consider that bipartisan framework. on wednesday, the senate will take the first procedural vote on a shell bill. merely a vehicle to get the whole process started. it is not a final deadline for legislative text. it is not a cynical ploy. it is not a fish or cut bait moment. it'