control of the senate. and i'm asking this question because we have a question from pennsylvania, from kathryn, and she asks point blank, what are you doing to help flip the senate? senator harris: yeah. so kathryn, you're absolutely right. that should be one of our main areas of focus because right now we as democrats are not in the majority. and it is really basic about what happens around capitol hill in the senate. if you're in the majority, you get to write the rules. you get to decide what bills are going to come up for votes. you get to decide who will end up serving lifetime appointments on the federal courts, including the united states supreme court. there's a tremendous amount of power in who has the majority in the senate. so you are right. we are now in the minority, which means that we don't have control over these things. and we need to flip the senate so we can get in the majority so we can have legislation on the floor for a vote that is about meaningful police reform, so that we can have l

question to you, senator.t would she say about all the her daughter could be tapped to be joe biden's runningmate and possibly the vice president of the united states? senator harris: you know, my mother was always -- and i, torefore, i believe you have focus on what's right in front of you instead of looking to the thing over there because the right in front of you needs your attention. and right now my focus, on what we need to do around addressing the impacts f the coronavirus, in terms of the public health impact, economic impact. focus is passing the justice in policing act. hese are the things front and center. these are the things causing people to stand in bread lines marching in the street. that's what i'm focused on. jonathan: that's what you're focused on. question is, your mom was always very proud of you -- enator harris: and my mother was very practical. you've not met a more practical life. in your she was a fighter and she was practical. and she would say, baby, just what's right in front of yo

schumer, senator shaheen, senator coons, senator rosen, and senator collins. i also want to acknowledge that this is bipartisan. i have talked to senator rubio. he has informed me that this has cleared the hotline. so we are hopeful that we'll get this u.c. done today. but as we're waiting for the paperwork to get to us, let me just explain what the u.c. does before i make the u.c. request. the authority of the small business administration to approve any more paycheck protection program loans expires at midnight tonight. that was the deadline we established when we passed the cares act in march. that was a reasonable assumption in march. we thought by the end of june that our economy would be back on track and we would not need to have additional applications after that date. well, a lot has changed since march of this year, and we recognized that when we passed the partisan flexibility act. it changed the time period for use of p.p.p. funds from eight weeks to up to 24 weeks and changed the allocation that treasury had established of using 75% of the funds f

and the senate for a democratic takeover. what are the maps in the house for a republican takeover? >> guest: at the end of the day it's not at play in the current national environment. republicans would need 18 i believe seeds to flip the chamber give or take a few vacancies and in the current environment it just does not appear that there are enough competitive republican candidates and enough competitive districts held by democrats to make that a reality. now there are certainly plenty of folks on the republican side who believe they will be able to get to that point later in the cycle however where the presidential race currently stands and where it fund-raising situation currently stands for so many are public and candidates and where the underlying questions remain makes it very very difficult to see out any way back from a republican majority and in fact if the election for the house were held today we would just as likely see democrats expand their majority and pick up another handful of seeds if they lose any of thei

senator, you go first, senator markey. our country is on fire.our country.ce in we need medicare for all so there is healthcare justice for everyone. green new deal so we have environmental justice for everyone. overhaul our criminal justice system so that black and across our es all country know that there will be justice for them. pathway to citizenship for every immigrant in our country so there is justice for them. we have to overhaul our sac care system. we have to overhaul our system, so there is family.for every martin luther king said that the rc of the universe is long but bends toward justice. all of our hands have to be on to bend it towards justice. we need to do that now. we can do it. senator? thank you so much. >> i ask for your vote. >> thank you very much. >> congressman kennedy? you larks toy yeah. la toy yeah, i've spent the last the al weeks crisscrossing state listening to the concerns of people across our commonwealth. restaurant owner in springfield who literally cut a hole in her wall so she could a new takeout business. i

i'll be a senator for arizona. i'm mark kelly, and i approve this message. >> jacob, the focus there on health care in those two ads. >> exactly, john. it is pretty fascinating to see, despite the events of the last a couple months, between the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic fallout and the nationwide reckoning on issues of race in america, m th despite allel of that, the throh line from the election of 2018 is still so present in so many of those races. and that is health care. that health care is really the reason why democrats were able e to seize back control of the united states house of representatives innso m 2018.iee and so many in the party still believe that health care is the way that they will be able to regain control of the united t in 2020.natehe this is the defining issue for in many ways for this cycle as it was in last cycle. so what we saw there was martha mcsally, the incumbent senator,o he wasns appointed to that seatc not elected, defending her ld aa record onin pre-existing c

the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. a senator: mr. president, today i introduce legislation that provides $306 billion in additional resources to fight the coronavirus and to mitigate its impact on american families, schools, and businesses. mr. shelby: i want to briefly highlight some of the main provisions and they've been talked about probably this afternoon already. first, $16 billion goes for states to ramp up testing with a particular emphasis on schools, employers, child care facilities and nursing homes. secondly, $26 billion goes for the development and distribution of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. we've made meaningful progress on each of these fronts but we haven't gotten there yet, as we all know. third, there's $105 billion for the education stabilization fund to help schools adapt to the circumstances they face which is extraordinary. the c.d.c. emphasizes the importance of getting kids back in school and has issued guidelines on how to do so safely. that is why this legislation provides additional funding for

we'd like to start with senator markey. he served massachusetts in the senate since 2013.efore that, he served massachusetts seventh district in the house of representatives since 1976. we also welcome congressman joe kennedy. he's served since 2014. before that, he served as assistant district attorney. we are following social distancing guidelines, as you can see. everyone, including the candidates, are spread out more than six feet apart, and our panelists are not in the studio with us. they are in different locations. there's a news anchor for boston, a newsmaker for nesn, and a local reporter for nbc 10 boston. here are the rules. both candidates get one minute of questions, rebuttals at my discretion. 45 seconds for individual questions, with a 30 second rebuttal with a rapidfire around. they will both have one minute for closing statements. you can join right now. use the #masenddebate, senator markey will get the first question. the past two weeks, the campaign has turned ugly. they called off a fundraiser when they were scheduled to appear canceled after called ou

senate. we are living through one of the greatest failures of presidential leadership in our countries history. did you hear that donald trump? you have created one of the greatest failures of presidential leadership. >> we are going to this last portion of the conversation because the senate is about to gamble back in after their weekly caucus meetings. senators continue work on the 2021 defense authorization bill with votes scheduled later this afternoon for five senate coverage on c-span2 a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: madam president, i rise today to discuss our federal finances and the need to address our unsustainable fiscal debt and deficit. the federal budget has already been on an unsustainable path before covid-19 reached our shores and before the pandemic and our government's response to it, which has accelerated what i believed is a coming day of reckoning. i recognize the unprecedented crisis presented by the covid-19. i sup

senate. sen.arkey: again, i just went to say, i bring the kitchen table where i learned the lessons from my mother and father. i bring those values to the united states senate every single day. that is why i can see the families across the commonwealth struggling to pay their bills right now. it is the same kind of struggle i saw my mother and father were going through when they were trying to pay the bills for their three sons. that is what i channel everything will day on the floor of the united states senate, fighting for every family. latoyia: senator, thank you. congressman, i saw the eye roll. rep. kennedy: no, look. senator markey's story is well known. the issue is not whether or not he went to boston college or lived in malden at one point. the issue is whether he is giving adequate representation to people across our commonwealth. when i got into this race, i had no desire to take on an entrenched incumbent inquiry suicide. but when i called around when you go to chelsea or springfield o

here i want to salute a group of bipartisan senators who back in 2016 -- senator wicker, senator schatz and others -- saw the importance of telehealth and have introduced a number of provisions for expanding telehealth services. and then step three would be to pass the bill i'm introducing today, which will go further than either of those first two steps and would make permanent inhome visits and the rural telehealth access and also make permanent the authority for the secretary to make the changes that the secretary has made over the last several months. my speech specifies what those provisions are. they came following a hearing in our help committee on which experts testified. this recommends what all of the experts said we ought to do. there were 31 temporary changes in the telehealth policy of the government. this makes many of them permanent. the best result for the american people would be for congress to approve all three of these steps that i've described. the changes in the heals act that was introduced monday, the connect act for health that many senators have worked on since

senator blunt: thank you, senator murray. senator shelby. senator shelby: thank you. i'll address this to all three of you. where are we today? the american people are watching this hearing. we believe that we have sent you enough money. if we haven't, tell us why not. but tell us where we exactly are, if you can be exact, on coming up with a vaccine? i know the vaccine, i know you're trying every approach in the world. you know, logical approach. you got a lot of people working on it. but the american people are dying and getting sick and they're looking for results and we know you can't wave the magic band. dr. collins, i'll start with you. what do you say to the american people today where we are and when the timeline and what do you think we will be where? dr. collins: mr. chairman, this is the right question and something i think all of us working on covid-19 are obsessed about night and day because this is one of those crises where science is not only important, it's crucial, and ever mistake we make would set us back and every wasted opportunity would have a co

the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until senators today have been working on nominations including the white house budget office deputy director and member of the national labor relations board. in the meantime of the four, negotiations continue with the republicans 1 trillion-dollar coronavirus response plan in the second package says that covid-19 pandemic in the u.s. live coverage of the debate when the senate returns here on "c-span2". this is a republican 1 trillion-dollar coronavirus response plan was unveiled on monday and includes a second round direct cash payments of $400 and continuous extended unemployment benefits starting the last plan for reducing the additional payment from $600 to $200. the republican plan includes business owner tax credits and liability protections for covid-19 issues. the republican and democrats senate leaders exchange accusations today over covid-19 response negotiations. we start with senator mitch mcconnell. when the senate passed the care zach back in march, we were trying to prepare the nation for

this is a potential catastrophe and why senate democrats including senator warren and van hollen and senator brown couldn't be with us today that is leading efforts on the senate floor on the issue tomorrow and other leaders and elsewhere have introduced bills that would provide an extension of the protections in the rental assistance necessary to keep people from their homes. you throw someone out of their home, their whole life gets disrupted, their healthcare other job opportunities, their kids educational abilities. housing is fundamental and it's been ripped by this crisis. leader mcconnell and the senate republicans have a blocked introduction of the bill refusing to act on the house passed he rose bill passed within two months ago and they assisted me on a three-month pause while they assess the conditions in the country and that is their words. the delay has protested this moment we are about to see these critical protections expire. if they've sat down with us, speaker pelosi and i sent a letter three weeks ago that said let's sit down and start talking, we wouldn't be here.

we put the president on with senator urban and senator baker. they said he should honor the subpoena. they did not even talk about the subpoena at that time. that he should turn over the tapes voluntarily. and of course he said no. that is when the committee voted they would have to subpoena the president. since there was no procedure for delivering a subpoena because it the had never been done before on president. as the chief operating officer, i chose myself. if you want to know the truth, i chose myself to deliver the subpoena. i thought, well, you have got to have a couple of exciting rings things to do. so i got in the back of a police car and went down pennsylvania avenue. there must have been 200 news people following. there was another crowd of reporters there. we had already called to make arrangements for leonard garment, mr. nixon's current counsel, because he had the habit of having different counsels when they would not do what he wanted, he would fire them. so he delivered it. i did this little sneaky thing. i had one of those bab

on - - has senator mcconnell forgotten? senator stab and output the list together. 400 pieces of legislation passed by the house deemed ignored by senator mcconnell he wants the house to produce more legislation 400 and what is included in this package? . . . about the urgency of the current health care crisis and the urgency of the current economic crisis. the kentucky hospital association, hospitals in kentucky have lost $1.6 billion since march. only 53 out of 118 hospitals in kentucky have received enough federal aid to cover the losses. 18 hospitals are financially vulnerable and at risk of closing. you know what would help them, the heroes act that passed the house of representatives on monday go would provide 100 billion in relief for hospitals. that would help my hospitals in illinois. it would also help in kentucky. how about the aid to state and local governments. as that's needed in kentucky? they expect to lose between ten to 17% of the revenue because of this crisis. without help from the government, the govern

next, a democratic senate primary debate from massachusetts, where incumbent senator ed markey is being challenged by representative joe kennedy. this is the first of three scheduled televised debates ahead of this of timber first primary. ♪ >> live from the boston media center, the race for the senate. debate, senator ed markey. >> my advice today. >> congressman joe kennedy. >> our country deserves the best. >> face to face and on the record from issues that matter to you, from covid to classrooms , to police reform and immigration. it's their chance to speak directly to you. now your moderator, boston anchor latoya edwards. latoya: welcome to this primary debate, we are at the boston media center, home of nesn and nbc sports boston. we'd like to thank our guests for taking part. we'd like to start with senator markey. he has served since 2013. before that, he served massachusetts seventh district in the house of representatives since 1976. we also bracket -- all come congressman joe kennedy. he's served since 2014. before that, he served as assistant dirt -- assistant district attorn

he gets a significant chunk of senate republicans. 19 senators who were signing on to this statement. remember, we have 11 senators. 10 of whom are democrats. on paper, we have almost 30 senators who seem to be skeptical about a possible johnson nomination. the johnson white house staff does not detect this. just at the time as the griffin round robin is coming out. johnson's liaison team in the white house that basically counts votes in congress prepared these documents for lbj. they say this is a shoe in. we have roughly 70% of the support in the senate. we have a handful of opponents but you don't need to worry. fortas is going to get confirmed. on paper, from the president's standpoint, this nomination seems to have gone very well. in reality there are big problems emerging that they do not seem to be detecting. johnson privately in late june and early july of 1968, is telling his aides that griffin is bluffing. yes, there are 19 republicans who have signed this letter, but in reality all of them will not vote against fortas and thornberry. they will back down when the nominees ge

senator. i think i have it on. thank you senator. i want to highlight why the thrill was for senator grassley to make those opening comments. i was a little bit worried but i'm sure my sister helped them out. my uncle floyd moved and at arlene -- i know who are smiling down who are huge supporters of senator grassley. when i was 14 years old i went to an event at their farm. it meant that i did not hear his remarks. that was on the fast line 40 might be begun but it was awfully special. senator warner with the highest regards, i am now a citizen of commonwealth but when people ask me where i am from i proudly say that i am from iowa and words can't describe how honored i am in all the work that senator grassley has done for the state of iowa and by his leadership. acting chairman rubio, vice chairman warner and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for taking the time of day to consider my nomination to be the director of the national counter terrorism center. i appreciate the oppo

i want to submit a letter by myself, senator alexander, senator wyden, senator barrasso, senator risch and senator sanders from vermont. we object. we're members of the committee we are senior members of the committee. we understand the d.o.e. budget and the d.o.e. responsibilities and we don't think it's right for somebody to mark up in a closed-door session in the middle of the national defense act a taking of money basically neutering the secretary of energy, basically saying, you only have half of your budget because we're going to dictate over at the department of defense exactly how you're going to spend those dollars. so that is a big power grab by a very few people and certainly deserves a vote by the united states senate. it certainly deserves a bright light by the american people. because not only are we talking about this from the perspective of the taking away d.o.e. resource and focus from the secretary of energy, we're also talking about putting into the hands of the department of defense what has been civilian oversight, civilian oversight of the production of our nuclea

in capitol hill and the senate. in the majority you get to write thee rules and decide what will come up for vote. you decide who will end up serving on the federal courts in this debate co. including there is a tremendous amount of power in who has the majority in the senate. they are in the minority which means we don't have control over these thingsin and we need to twist the senate to get the majority is we can have the legislation on the floor for the vote for a meaningful police reform to have legislation for a vote addressing thee climate crisis, so we can have legislation on the floor for a vote of the passage of creating a pathway to citizenship for our immigrants. these are the things we need to do.im how do we do that? one of the things we need to give his support to senate andidates that are going to turn the -- as a way to introduce back because the challenge that is a new, they are campaigning in the midst of the pandemics they cannot travel so it is important to seek them out but let's recognize we ta

it will include liability insurance, which senator -- liability protections, which senator cornyn's goingdescribe here shortly. but let me just make it clear there won't be a bill that passes the senate that doesn't have this in it. there have already been 3500 lawsuits filed. the country cannot stand an epidemic of lawsuits on the heels of the pandemic. we're already working our way through. so with that, i'm going to call on my colleagues who have developed the various component parts of our proposal, and i'm not certain who comes second. do we know who's next? [inaudible conversations] >> bob, who's second? senator grassley. >> number one, we're going to continue the economic impact payments that were made in april and may. that means that the average family of four will get another payment of $3400. it includes just a few people that were unintentionally left out of the last one, mostly dependents, college and adults that are somebody else's depen dent. we extend additional unemployment insurance, and remember, that's on top of whatever the different 50 states give and on top of the e

in a few minutes myself, the senator from oregon, the senator from michigan will ask unanimous consent to pass the heroes act. we have a lot of glyphs. as of thursday, hundreds of thousands and saving millions could be evicted from their apartment. this bill does nothing about that cliff. as of this week, state and local governments will be running out of money 1.5 million state and local workers have been laid off laid off.ill be what are we doing about that? testing. you call any place in america including the states we're talking about here, people have to wait days, weeks and some never get their test results back. we are not going to solve this problem until we solve the corona virus problem. we all know president of trump and this administration has failed on testing. every other western country, almost every other western country that still t put this issue in western europe for east asia. we should be ashamed the president that isn't taken seriously the testing regime. the heroes act fixes that ecproblem. we are not going to fix our economy until they fix the health care proble

chairman. >> i understand the senate senator grassley is here to speak.enator grassley, please proceed. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman and mr. vice chairman for the opportunity to introduce to the committee in native of my home state of iowa, mr. christopher weller. i congratulate both of the nominees for their appointment. it is not everyday that an ilm with such a distinguished service record comes before the senate for consideration. so it is a special privilege for me to give this introduction. chris's parents and much of his family still live in iowa city and/or eastern iowa. i'm sure his family is very proud you will be testifying before this committee today into the recognized a process of publishing the surface to the country. chris was raised in iowa city after graduating from city high school he attended north washington university, where he majored in history and enrolled in the rotc program. he graduated from george washington in 1987, and then immediately accepted a commission in the u.s. army as an infantry officer. in the army, chris

senator. since an editorial staffer resigned from the paper because even senator's left opinions were not liberal enough and led to her constant harassment. that was a recent editorial staffer resigning from "the new york times" because her center left opinions were not liberal enough and led to her constant harassment at the "times." you see, the safe spaces only go in one direction. on elite campuses such as princeton, we see faculty turning on their tenured colleagues and even administrators weighing in to chastise people with unpopular views at princeton. we see online platforms such as facebook threatening to ban political advertising altogether, chilling our democracy because far-left employees and outside pressure groups berate them for letting diverse speakers use their platform. even at a time when there is significant appetite in congress to take a second look at the legal protections afforded to those supposedly neutral platforms, they still contemplate giving an angry minority of a

senate makes clear which side we are on. at this point i would like to yield to the senator from maryland. >> mr. president >> the senators recognize. >> thank you mr. president. i want to salute my friend and colleague the senator from pennsylvania mr. toomey for his remarks and for his leadership on this very vital issue of standing up for the rights and freedoms of people in hong kong and as he said sending a signal to others around the world who would seek to stamp out human rights and political freedom. when senator toomey and by saw the chinese communist party was taking its more recent staff to crack down on freedoms in hong kong we introduced the hong kong accountability act. that act to just pass the united states senate unanimously last week and was sent to the house of representatives. this is a very fast turnaround from either of the chambers here in the united states congress. i want to thank speaker pelosi and her republican partner and all the democrats and republicans in the house of representatives for comin

>> senator grassley. >> senator grassley. >> okay. number one, we're going to continue the economic impact payments that were made in april and may. that means that the average family of four will get another payment of $3400. it includes just a few people that were unintentionally left out of the last one, mostly dependents, college and adults that are somebody else's dependent. we extend additional unemployment insurance and remember, that's on top of what ever the different 50 states give. and on top of the economic impact statement, i just gave. so we want to continue to help the unemployed, but we want to encourage work and we've learned a very tough lesson, that when you pay people not to work, what do you expect? and so this payment will be adjusted so that we have additional payments to help people for approximately 70 to 75% of their income. that's not me. i don't think so. [laughte [laughter] >> well, it sound just like mi mine. >> we're going to have further tax relief for businesses to encourage hiring and rehiring and we

that's why senator merkley and i are calling for the senate to act. i thank my friend and colleague for his leadership. he's made it clear that 100% of oregon's united states senators are going to keep pushing and fighting until this chaplains. madam president, i yield the floor. -- until this changes. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. merkley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: the support is felt throughout oregon to stop secret policing in america. but it is a coast-to-coast feeling, and i yield to my colleague from connecticut to speak from the other side of the country. mr. blumenthal: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: i want to thank from my heart our two colleagues from oregon, who are standing up and championing not just their hometowns, not just the constituents of their state. they are speaking for every hometown, every citizen of our country from every party from every corner of our great nation. and met me just say -- and let me just say ve

so a few senators put in this one, a few senators put in that one, a few senators put in another one. not only do we not know if the president supports any of these proposals, we don't even know if senate republicans fully support them. yesterday the republican chairman. judiciary committee said half of the republican caucus will vote no on any additional stimulus. the greatest crisis america has faced in close to a century on health, 75 years on economy, and our republican colleagues can't even agree among themselves about what to do, and have put out a few piecemeal pieces that don't come close to doing the job. we've waited months, months for the republican covid relief bill and it turns out we won't even get a bill and republicans probably won't support it. worst still, based on reports on leader mcconnell's bill just now, the response to covid-19 is totally inadequate. it won't include food assistance for hungry kids, kids whose parents can't feed them. they say no relief. how hard-hearted, how cruel. is it that those wealthy right wing people who don't want to pay any taxes shou

long past the house and senate. it is a stunt rated even if the white house would agree to another extension of enhancement employment at its current level. which many of the most senate republicans will refuse to support, just to make things left out. opening up our schools safely in healthcare to think about and reducing weight to get test results pretty state and local governments and so much more. and even if the white house finally comes around to this position, we should extend a moratorium on evictions. that would not be enough. it makes no sense to extended without helping americans actually afford the rent. we can prevent banks from taking americans out of their homes for another few months. but then what. same americans would be six months behind in the rent and have no of making up the difference. so let's look with where we are. americans are worried is this awful enemy courageous on. the lifelines we passed here in congress to protect families, small businesses, renters, schoolkids and so many more are

senator reed, i have to say something about senator reed. sure, we differ on some things, but we've reached agreement on virtually every issue. i was glad we've been in agreement on amendments of --. we were pushing hard to have more and. we wanted to consider as many as possible and we wanted every member to have a say in this bill, and that's exactly what happened. i'm glad we were able to reach a bment path forward to complete consideration of this bill right after the recess, and that's exactly what we're going to do. going over a lot of reasons this bill is so important over the past week, so i'll keep it simple. here's why we need to pass this bill. first of all, it gives our troops the needed and deserved raise. it authorizes more than 30 kinds of special pay for our troops at various levels of hazard, things that haven't been done before. it makes sure our military family -- this is a big thing. i hear people, and i have a very close friend in here that was talking about the fact on the floor that while our main problem we are facing

senator chuck grassley. >> -- senator duckworth. are we able to be joined remotely by senator duckworth? >> hello. can you hear me of? >> was yes. glad to hear your voice. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i apologize. administrator dickson, i apologize i can't be an video right but it is good to see you again. i have several questions for you, so in the interest of time please limit your answers to yes and no. given that the faa was responsible for aviation safety and the united states come your agency can take measures including legal enforcement action for violations of federal aviation regulation, is this correct? >> that's correct. >> it is faa policy to investigate complaints of low-flying aircraft that endanger persons or property, is that correct? >> yes. any kind of reckless operation of the aircraft is the responsible of the pilot in command, and that is something we would want to investigate and look into. >> hanky. with some flexibility for helicopters, and my manual is from 2018, so maybe some things have changed but i doubt

that's never going to pass the senate. what we are going to do until we come back here is continue to assess the return of the economy and looking for the best way to help america resumed their normal life safely, smartly, wise he and with an additional amount of money that is going to need to be spent to allow that to continue. >> i think on that topic we will be putting together a bill so a month from now we should be in the final stages of getting the bill together. we will have more information than we have right now. i've already asked my subcommittee to put a package together to ensure we have more testing and we continue to work on therapeutics and have the money that we need to move forward on the vaccine. i know doctor barrasso said a couple of times in the meetings he and i were in and as well as the others here behind me that the most important thing we do to resume normalcy is to get people back to school. we've got to do that in a residential setting without millions of tests people can take conclusion to see

senate. some of you will remember that when i first ran for office, i was the first female senator. rob can attest to this. for example, the bill that would cause wasteful -- which would include a lot of the swag and government mascots that are out there. you would think that this is an easy lift, but i've gotten so much pushback on that particular bill. immediately, democrats started hammering me. -- you should stop with smoky the bear. so we cut back on smoky the bear. there are a lot of mascots that exist out there. we spent a quarter of 1 million dollars on a mascot and nobody knows who they are. that is the perspective from the democrats. but we also get pushback from our republican members as well. so many of them will come to me and look at the efforts that i have, the bills that i have. they're like joni, that's just a drop in the bucket. why even bothering? folks, that drop in the bucket adds up. if we cannot come together and eliminate those small areas of waste, how can we be expec

again, i want to thank my colleagues, senator marco rubio, senator ben cardin, senator jeanne shaheen, for their dedication and good faith efforts to reach an agreement, and i yield the floor. thank you, madam president. mr. leahy: independent? the presiding officer: officer the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, yesterday i came before the chamber. again i made the case for why congress needs to begin negotiations on another covid-19 emergency supplemental bill. and do it now. the needs are real. they're immediate. in fact, when the house passed the heroes act, we should have begun those negotiations the first week after they passed it. we didn't. we should have begun the second week after they passed it. we didn't. we should have the third week after they passed it. we didn't. and the forum and the fifth and the sixth. -- and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth. now every day i talk with vermonters, sometimes hundreds at a time in statewide conference calls, and i hear their urgent needs, from small businesses to families to schools to hospitals to federal employee

senator mcconnell: good afternoon, everyone. we just had a fulsome discussion of the proposals that were developed over the last two weeks by various republican colleagues in conjunction with the administration, including the presence of secretary mnuchin and the president's chief of staff, and we are now in the process of absorbing all of this, and we know that the process of reaching out to the democrats has begun. obviously, that will be led by mark meadows and steven mnuchin. today to underscore again that no bill will be put on the senate floor that does not have liability protections. and i want to make sure everybody understands here we are not talking about for businesses. please do not write to, because that is not the entire story. this issue is our callee, senator cornyn, and i will ask him to come forward now and explain exactly what the liability protection is about. senator cornyn: well, it strikes me as a crude joke to send essential workers in to treat patients at our hospitals and then to tell them that after th

. >> senate republicans have their proposal. that includes another round of stimulus checks, additional benefits, and an extension of the paycheck and ction loan program funding for schools. news apitol hill, this conference is 30 minutes. >> good afternoon, everyone. last acted with back in marchd-19 and april, at that point we had about $3 trillion to the national debt. ended up f course, with a debt with the size of our economy for the first time since which is in and of concerning. we needed to push the pause button and look at what passed. the ee how we did when economy began to reopen and take another look at what the country in july. many senate republicans and the dministration have been consulting over the last few weeks to come up with a what we proposal with an appropriate amount of additional debt to be added to the economy at this time. think it's about a trillion dollars, and we've allocated in a way that we think akes the most sense for the country at this particular time. here won't be a bill that passes the sena

senate. >> thank you, senator. >> senator, of course they endorse you.t of them endorsed you before i got into this race and that's fine, that's the way this goes. this race is not won because of endorsements, because there's a candidate challenging in our country and do something about it. >> so don't say, don't say. >> we have to do something about it and-- >> don't say i'm not doing the job and those endorsed me in this race. what you said is not accurate. those do have my back in the race and know i have done the job and saying to you, they're not with you, they're with me because i have been and continue to do the job for the people. >> endorsements don't win, endorsements do not win senate races. >> they're with me and had a choice to go with you, if what you say is true and i'm not doing the job. what-- >> 15 seconds. >> 10. >> 10, i'm take it, look it, this is why we need change because it is a washington thing to think that endorsements of elected officials means credibility and means success. that is the politics of the past and it does not wor

senator wyden. sen. wyden:: thank you, senator schumer, and particularly for doing this in such a timely way to read finance committee has been looking at the republican upposal, and if i can sum it in a sentence, the republican ofposal is a textbook case total indifference to human suffering. and with respect to the unemployment issue, which, of course, has been a lifeline for millions of americans, the americans who walk this economic tight rope, always trying to balance the rent bill against the grocery bill, the grocery bill against the cost of their reality, here's the those people face. say you were a server in a restaurant that, for years, has done pretty well. thegot laid off, but then restaurant said, you know, we are going to try to make it, and you got called back to work, but you got laid off the second time when virus cases exploded. said, we areaurant closing for good. seeing small business after small business across america closing their doors for good. thatis republican argument all thes

i see senator josh hawley, senator rick scott, and others as well. some more who will be coming physically as well. there are also many other members whose pictures i can't see, but who have joined us at the hearing. but i wanted to explain that this is one of only three hearing rooms that is configured to allow us to hold hearings. i see senator blumenthal has arrived and i want to acknowledge him as well. we're now going to move to our witnesses. our first witness is joining us from new york university. dr. mulligan is the director of infectious disease at the nyu school of medicine and director of the university's vaccine center. he has a professor of medicine and a professor of microbiology at nyu. as the chief infectious disease specialist for nyu, he oversees the treatment of covid-19 patients at the university's health system hospitals in brooklyn, long island, manhattan, bellevue and the va. next we will hear from a doctor of professor health services research at the department of health sciences at the university of chicago. her research foc

we seven siding among senate republicans unnecessary marvel delays. instead of presenting a single unified bill, republicans release several separate drops last night and might be more today. they can agree on one bill. they can't get 51 points for anything. let's comprehensive in the deals pwith the problems very real problems the market people face. and even before republicans announced their bills, senior republican senators admitted that they lack full support of the republicans. to republican chairman have said that probably half of the republican senate will vote against their own proposals. worst of all, republican plan falls dreadfullyre short. it is an unified, and he serious and completely unsatisfactory. my republican friends, this is the greatest crisis america has face in generations. one hundred years since the last health crisis of this magnitude pretty 75 years since the great depression. and you are paying attention to your corporate friends and not answering the needs of the people. we democrats want to have answers to the people's n

senate republicans are not. so next, it's clear senate republicans don't have a unified position on anything. the main thing we hear is that he would appeal all relief americans are counting on unless there is a giant corporate t.immunityac provision attachedd he says they won't even negotiate on it. who is building things up and standing in the way? leader mcconnell and his republican caucus certainly at the top of the list. and president of trump is all over the lot. he himself called the republican senate proposal semi-irrelevant. when your own president says that it's semi-irrelevant is trump has said that senate republicans, you know that they are tied in the not and can't get anything done. the president seems to endorse a different policy everything he finds a microphone. the one thingor we are sure he supports is spending taxpayer dollars to boost the value of his hotel and yesterday we learned the president asked for nearly 400 million in renovations to the white house in the republican proposal. seriou

>> yes, senator, agreed. >> yes, senator. >> yes, senator. >> well, good. thank you all very much. >> thank you, senator sanders. senator paul. >> thank you. fatal deceit is the concept that can never fully grasp the millions of complex individual interactions occurring simultaneously in the marketplace. it is a fate tall conceit to believe any one person or small group of people has the knowledge necessary to direct an economy or dictate public health behavior. i think government experts need to show caution in their prognostications. it's important to realize that if society meekly submits to an expert and that expert is wrong, a great deal of harm may occur when we allow one man's policy or one group of small men and women to be foisted on an entire nation. take for example government experts who continue to call for schools and day care to stay closed or that recommend restrictions that make it impossible for a school to function. for a time there may not have been enough information about coronavirus in children, but now there is. there are examples fr

senate. he spoke to a group of supporters in montgomery, alabama for about 10 minutes. >> congratulations on a hard-fought campaign. being a coach, you get into a game and you lose -- 20 loses, the other doesn't. -- one team of loses but the other doesn't. you both reach out after that. this is a great country we live in. i talked to senator sessions, he was awesome. he said, i'm all in. [applause] i think his service and what he has done for many years for the state and country. it is hard being in the public life that long. but i know that jeff sessions and his supporters are behind us. we will need everybody on deck. this is going to be hard. but we appreciate your support and we are all on the same team. [applause] the past year and a half, what is the hardest thing i've ever done, i traveled to every city, town, and crossroads in alabama. i have listened to stories, i listened to it all. i have listened to the concerns of everybody, there are a lot of people hurting. i have been listenin