MIDDLE CLASS HEALTH BENEFITS TAX REPEAL ACT OF 2019--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. COTTON. Madam President, the United States is in the middle of a global pandemic, probably the worst public health crisis in over 100 years this country has faced. Every minute matters, every hour, every day. I have been saying this for 2 months now. Yet where are the Democrats? There is not a single one of them down here right now. Where have they been all afternoon? There was maybe one, two, or three. Probably every Republican over here has spoken because twice in less than 24 hours, the Democrats have refused to even start debate on legislation that would help the American people and our economy survive this crisis; that would provide over $3,000 to your average working family in just the coming weeks; that would provide extra unemployment benefits to the millions of Americans who already lost their jobs and regrettably are going to lose their jobs; that would provide loans to our small- and medium-size businesses so they won't have to lay off those Americans as they struggle to pay the bills; that would help industries that have been devastated, like the hotel industry. Thousands and thousands of hard-working Americans clean the rooms, make the beds, cook the food--all of whom desperately need help. The Democrats won't even start debate on that legislation. That is what they have done twice. They have not voted to defeat any legislation; they have voted to not even start debate.

In fact, earlier today, Susan Collins--probably the kindest, most decent, most bipartisan Senator--took the floor to speak, and Chuck Schumer blocked her. He refused to allow her to speak, probably because he was scared of what she had to say and probably, just like there are no Democrats here right now, because they know they don't have anything to say. They have no case to make.

Earlier today, Sherrod Brown was accusing us of not acting quickly enough on Nancy Pelosi's legislation that the House passed, popped smoke, and left town for more than a week. I asked a simple question: When did the House bill arrived in the Senate? He refused to answer. I asked him again that simple question. He refused to answer and rather engaged in ad hominem attacks, which is his weak and sad way of saying he has no answer, which is so often the case with the Senator from Ohio.

They come down here and they attack the Republicans for wanting corporate bailouts. They say we want to bail out corporations. Nothing could be further from the truth. Any large company that borrows money from the Treasury or takes advantage of Federal Reserve programs will have onerous terms attached to it and will have lots of strings as well. We insisted that only loans be available, not grants, not cash handouts.

Do you know what the Democrats are advocating for behind closed doors? Behind closed doors, the Democrats are demanding free cash handouts for the airlines. Right through that door right there is Chuck Schumer's office. They are demanding free cash giveaways for major corporations, and they have the nerve to come down here and accuse us of bailouts? Go right through that door and ask Chuck Schumer what he is demanding in secret behind closed doors.

Don't forget about all of their cities and all their States. Dick Durbin represents one of the most bankrupt States in America and the most bankrupt city in America--Chicago. Behind those closed doors, they are demanding straight cash bailouts for States and cities that have been fiscally irresponsible for years. Yet they come down here and accuse us of bailouts. We are willing to help these cities and States. They are overwhelmed by this pandemic. Yet we simply say they have to repay the money on the back end. That is not what the Democrats are asking for behind those closed doors over there. They want straight cash payments.

You ask yourself, why would they not even start debate? Remember, that is all we have been talking about here over these last 18 hours. Why would they risk your life and your loved ones' lives and your job and your lifetime of retirement savings? Now we know.

Nancy Pelosi is circulating a 1,400-page bill that she wants Congress to pass that she claims will help save this Nation from this terrible crisis. It is 1,400 pages. It is almost three times longer than our legislation, by the way.

To give you a sense of what might be in that bill, because, let me tell you, she is not hiding the good stuff in her bill--I don't have 1,400 pages here, but I have a few pages. Let's just go through what is a priority for Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats as they dither while Americans die.

Corporate board diversity. The Democrats want to impose quotas for race and sex on corporate boards. I know they have wanted to do that for a long time. Is that going to stop anyone from getting sick from the coronavirus?

Here is another one: bailing out the Postal Service, wiping all the debts that the post office has towards the Treasury. That is another issue we have been debating for a long time. The Postal Service needs relief. I greatly respect and praise the hard work of the men and women who are still delivering the mail, but is a survival package for the coronavirus the right time to be talking about Postal Service debt to the Treasury?

Here is another one: a $10,000 minimum of student loan forgiveness across the board. That is another ideological wish-list item for the Democrats. What does it have to do with stopping a pandemic, especially when Donald Trump has already waived student loan payments for Americans who are affected by this terrible pandemic?

Early voting mandated in every single State. That is the same kind of early voting that almost doomed the Democrats' favorite Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, for whom Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer worked tirelessly to beat their colleague Bernie Sanders.

Combine that with same-day registration. Every single State has to register voters on the same day. Now they want to pile election rules on a bill that is designed to stop a pandemic. Let me remind you, these election rules were written by the same partisan geniuses who couldn't even count their own votes in the Iowa Democratic caucuses.

Here is a good one too: airline carbon emission offsets. Every airline that benefits from these programs--which is probably going to be all of them--has to go carbon neutral by 2025. Gee, it is going to be a pretty amazing feat of engineering to get jet engines you can plug into the wall and fly across the continent. Democrats have a lot of faith in American ingenuity. I wonder if that will apply, by the way, to the private planes that Nancy Pelosi and her family fly in or all their buddies in Hollywood.

What about this one: Every airline has to tell you on every single flight what the greenhouse gas emissions of that flight are. You get your departure time and your seat number and your gate number and, oh, by the way, how many greenhouse gas emissions your plane will have. What will that do to help a vitally important and devastated industry get back on its feet?

Subsidizing retirement plans for community newspaper employees. Look, this has been a longstanding debate in Congress. It almost sank the retirement reform bill last year, and here it is again in a bill designed to stop a pandemic. Are you kidding me?

There is a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Unfortunately, millions of Americans are learning that the true minimum wage is zero when you lose your job because of a global pandemic that is killing your fellow citizens and our elected leaders won't even have a debate on the bill.

Here is a beauty too: mandating that Federal public employee unions get paid for the union work they do. That means you, as a taxpayer, will pay Federal bureaucrats when they are doing work not for you, the taxpayer, but for their unions. Again, is that going to stop the pandemic?

I could go on and on and on. The Democrats' bill is 1,400 pages, after all. But the point is this: There is a good bill that was negotiated in good faith over the weekend with many Democrats--no matter what they say--that they are now blocking, that they will not even start debate on because of ideological wish-list items like those. It is disgraceful and it is dangerous to the lives of our people and to their economic well-being. It is time for the Democrats to get serious and to do their job.

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