Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, first I want to thank my friend and colleague, the senior Senator from the State of Illinois. He is always on the money, pushing this country to do what its better angels recommend, and I hope America listens to his floor speech today and every day because what he is doing would make America a better, stronger, more unified, more humane, and more compassionate place.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to inflict our country, businesses are suffering, families are struggling to pay the rent, millions of Americans are filing for unemployment every single week, and tens of thousands of Americans are dying.

Every aspect of American society has been changed by this crisis-- except, perhaps, the Republican Senate. Here it is business as usual.

Leader McConnell has spent 3 weeks of the Senate's time largely on nominations, only one of whom is directly related to COVID-19. There is not one bill on the floor of the Senate having to do with COVID in the entire month of May. The leader has put none on the floor.

Democrats have had to relentlessly pressure our colleagues to hold even the most routine and needed oversight hearings on the coronavirus. Coronavirus is raging, and people are upset about how the administration is implementing it. We don't have hearings until we push, push, push for them, and then they happen few, far between, and too late.

It would be one thing if the Republican majority were doing this other business while negotiating with Democrats on the next phase of emergency relief, but Republicans are not negotiating about the next phase of emergency relief. Many of my colleagues on the other side have said that more relief just isn't necessary.

The Republican leader rejected legislation from the House of Representatives before the bill was even drafted--a knee-jerk partisan response at a time when we should be working together to help our suffering constituents. For the life of me, I don't know why it has been so difficult to get our friends on the other side to focus on the ongoing national crisis, and it appears that the lack of focus, the lack of urgency, and the lack of compassion from the Republican majority are about to get even worse.

Today, in the Homeland Security Committee, the Republican chairman has convened a hearing that slanders the family of the President's political opponent. Believe it or not, this powerful Senate committee, with broad jurisdiction over so many aspects of the government's response to the ongoing pandemic, is prioritizing yet another attempt to smear Vice President Biden. The committee could be holding a hearing today with the FEMA Administrator to discuss disaster assistance. But, no, the highest priority of Senate Republicans lies in promoting conspiracy theories that have already been discredited on numerous occasions--conspiracy theories, which, by the way, are known to be part of Russian disinformation campaigns. Our Republican majority is using Russian propaganda to try to damage a political opponent. Is that a disgrace? Is that a disgrace?

The Republican chairman is pressing forward, without Members even receiving a briefing from the intelligence community. Even more shameful, the company my colleague from Wisconsin wants to subpoena is cooperating with the committee in providing documents. It appears this subpoena is just for show--a way to create the false impression of wrongdoing. It is like in a Third World dictatorship, a show trial with no basis in fact, with no due process, and with no reality.

Not to be outdone, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee has asked members of his committee to consider subpoenas related to yet another conspiracy theory pushed by President Trump--a theory that attempts to rewrite the history of Russian interference in the 2016 election to match the fiction in President Trump's head. It seems Republicans want to dive into the deepest muck of rightwing conspiracy to invent scapegoats for the President to use in his reelection campaign.

The conspiracy caucus is back. It reared its ugly head in December and has been on a simmer ever since. Now it is boiling over once again, shamefully, in the middle of a public health crisis and an economic disaster that require all of us to focus on the problems at hand.

Senate Republicans aren't drafting legislation to help the unemployed. They are holding sham hearings about the family of the President's political rival. Senate Republicans aren't debating measures to increase testing. They are turning Senate committee rooms into the studio of ``FOX & Friends.'' Senate Republicans are not just ignoring the coronavirus. They are practically sprinting toward a partisan election, making this Chamber part of a reelection campaign-- not what it was ever intended to be by the Founding Fathers or anyone else, until this fever to bow down to President Trump's wild conspiracy theories that has overtaken just about every Senate Republican.

Here is what Chairman Graham said about his ``investigation'' yesterday. Here is what he said:

I want to get all the information out there. I want to do it before the election.

Well, there is a Republican intention right there--``do it before the election.''

Leader McConnell says that Republicans have not felt the urgency yet to act on the coronavirus, but it sure sounds like there is some urgency to get these phony investigations going before November. A fever is raging in the conspiracy caucus. They are worried about the outcome of the election. They are worried that President Trump--they know--has done a very poor job in dealing with this crisis. So they turn to wild conspiracy theories and turn the Senate, which should be debating and discussing coronavirus relief, into sort of a partisan sham Chamber. It is disgraceful.

Now, Leader McConnell gave a lengthy speech on the floor of the Senate yesterday giving cover to many of the President's crackpot theories about what transpired in 2016. I will just say this: Leader McConnell reportedly watered down a bipartisan warning about Russian interference in the fall of 2016. He stalled for years on election security funding, and still, to this day, is blocking election security funding. If Leader McConnell wants to look back at the history of Russian interference in the 2016 election, he should look in the mirror. He might not like the way his own role is viewed.

The American people should be just furious with Washington Republicans, and so many are--more and more every day. Americans are waiting in modern-day breadlines, jammed into municipal buildings, and cars snaked around parking lots and city blocks. It is so sad to look at these pictures. Doctors and nurses and other caregivers have been working nonstop to save American lives, often without the proper equipment. Millions of American workers are sitting at home, having lost their jobs, through no fault of their own, dreading the day the next rent payment comes due. Here in Washington, Senate Republicans feel no urgency to help these Americans. They are too busy touting conspiracy theories and electioneering for the President.

Speaking of the President, he was here yesterday on the Capitol to have lunch with Senate Republicans. They had a giant pep rally. They got all fired up to do nothing. That was the conclusion. On the way out of the Capitol, the President was asked about the fact that the United States leads the world in confirmed cases of coronavirus, and here is what President Trump said--amazingly. Listen to this. Asked about leading the world in confirmed cases of coronavirus, the President said:

I don't look at that as a bad thing. I look at that in a certain respect as being a good thing because it means our testing is much better. . . . So I view it as a badge of honor.

Really? First of all, our testing is not much better. States are struggling to get people tested due to confusion and a lack of national leadership. Many experts believe we are far short on what we need on testing. None of these experts, who actually understands the testing and this virus, would say the President deserves a badge of honor for his work. But even more galling is the idea that lots of cases of coronavirus is ``a good thing.'' That is what the President said: Having lots of cases of coronavirus is ``a good thing.''

A lot of cases is not ``a good thing,'' Mr. President. It means people are sick and people are dying. A lot of cases means more Americans are in the hospital, more Americans in ICU struggling to breathe on ventilators. A lot of cases means Americans will die as a result of the virus that has already claimed the lives of nearly 100,000. A lot of cases means a lot more Americans are seriously ill. Mr. President, that is not ``a good thing.'' Even your mind, which seems so warped at times, cannot really believe that.

There is no ``honor'' in leading the world in the number of people infected with coronavirus. For the United States to have 1.5 million cases is nothing to celebrate. It is something to be ashamed of.

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