Coronavirus

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hold our Nation on high alert.

More than 1.4 million Americans have been infected; more than 80,000 lives have been tragically lost; and the livelihoods of tens of millions of working families have been turned upside down in what seems like the blink of an eye. Our Nation's healthcare system has not been stressed by contagion on this scale in over a century, and unemployment has not been this high since the Second World War.

A new generation of American heroes--from medical professionals, to lab researchers, to grocery store workers, to custodians and janitors, to community volunteers--has been called up to the frontlines to serve its neighbors and our country. So, for several weeks now, the Senate has counted ourselves among those ranks of essential workers. They are showing up for our country, so we are showing up for them. With respect to the pandemic itself, we are conducting rigorous oversight of the Senate's historic CARES Act rescue package and are helping to plan the pivot toward reopening.

Last week, Chairman Alexander and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions engaged with Dr. Fauci, Dr. Redfield, Admiral Giroir, and other top experts to discuss paths for schools and businesses to reopen, and numbers of our colleagues are joining me and Senator Cornyn in thinking proactively about the issue of legal liability that could crush the recovery on the runway. We need strong legal protections to ensure that our historic recovery efforts are not drained away from healthcare workers, schools, and universities or small businesses in order to line the pockets of trial lawyers.

At the same time, we have kept our eye on the ball on other significant global challenges. Last week, on a bipartisan basis, the Senate reauthorized critical surveillance authorities for our national security professionals. We also made sure to include important new reforms to begin to address the abuses that marred the 2016 election, the disturbing details of which are continuing to come to light every day. Our action on that subject is not finished.

Thanks to leadership from Senator Rubio, we passed legislation to continue ratcheting up the pressure on the Chinese Communist Party. In this case, our bill will shed new light and impose new consequences for the egregious abuses against the Uyghur people and other Muslim minorities. We also confirmed well-qualified nominees to important roles at the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In other words, we have done more for the American people in 2 weeks on this side of the Capitol than the House of Representatives has done in the last 2 months. In the two months that the House Democrats have spent away from their duty stations, they have seemingly given themselves just one assignment--to draft an enormous political messaging bill and brand it as coronavirus relief.

Yet, even on this basis, they have failed. The 1,800-page doorstop that Speaker Pelosi dropped last week was appropriately greeted as the legislative equivalent of a standup comedy. There were tax hikes on small businesses in the midst of a small business crisis, and there were targeted tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the bluest States. There were two separate taxpayer-funded studies on diversity and inclusion in the market for marijuana. In sum, it was a $3 trillion wish list slapped together in a clumsy effort to never let a good crisis go to waste--serious work here in the Senate and partisanship pointlessness over in the House.

The Senate will stay on course and continue our serious work at this serious time. Tomorrow morning, our colleagues on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will hear from Secretary Mnuchin and Fed Chairman Powell on the latest status of the CARES Act implementation efforts. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will meet this week to consider the nomination of Brian Miller to serve as Special Inspector General for the pandemic recovery programs. The Special Committee on Aging will be examining the challenges facing American seniors during this pandemic as both the virus itself and the social distancing measures take a heavy toll on older Americans. Of course, we will continue to uphold our responsibilities beyond the scope of COVID-19. We will consider more nominations to the Federal Election Commission and to the Federal bench.

Tomorrow, our colleagues on the Intelligence Committee will vote on reporting the nomination of John Ratcliffe to serve as Director of National Intelligence. This role is essential for monitoring and countering evolving threats from Russia to China, to terrorist groups, and for ensuring the intelligence community's important work is not tainted by partisan bias or political weaponization.

We have a busy week ahead of us. This pandemic is not going to defeat itself; a careful reopening will not plan itself; and our Nation's other challenges are not about to politely step aside in the meantime. All kinds of American heroes across the country are tackling the coronavirus head on. We are going to do all we can to keep them safe and supported while they do.

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