Coronavirus

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCONNELL. If Senate Democrats were half as concerned as they say about America's family healthcare, they would not have filibustered a multihundred-billion-dollar proposal for more coronavirus relief just a few weeks ago.

A Senate minority that was focused on America's health would have let us fund more tests, treatments, and vaccine development, like Republicans tried to do just a few weeks ago. A Senate minority that was prioritizing wellness would have let us spend more than $100 billion to make schools safe for students, like Republicans tried to do just a few weeks ago. A Senate minority that sought to protect citizens with preexisting conditions would have let us reaffirm legal protections for those Americans, like Republicans had in our bill just a few weeks ago. A Senate minority that was serious about economic recovery would have let us fund a second round of the Paycheck Protection Program and continued the expanded unemployment checks, like Republicans tried to do just a few weeks ago.

The Senate voted on all of this 3 weeks ago. Three weeks ago, every single Senator cast a vote on preexisting conditions, money for testing, money for vaccines, money for safe schools, money for small businesses, and money for unemployed workers--just 3 weeks ago. Fifty- two Republicans voted to pass all of these policies and every single Democrat who showed up voted to filibuster it dead.

The Democratic leader and the Speaker of the House were determined that American families should not see another dime before the election. This week, Speaker Pelosi is finally caving to months of pressure from fellow Democrats who argue that her stonewalling is hurting our country. House Democrats are trying to save face by introducing yet another multitrillion-dollar far-left wish list with virtually all the same non-COVID-related poison pills as their last unserious bill.

Speaker Pelosi's latest offering still does not include a single cent of new money toward the Paycheck Protection Program to help small businesses that are going under. It does nothing to help schools, universities, doctors, nurses, or employers avoid frivolous lawsuits. But the House did find room to provide special treatment to the marijuana industry. Their bill mentions the word ``cannabis'' more times than the words ``job'' or ``jobs.''

They still want to send taxpayer-funded stimulus checks to people in our country illegally. They still want to hand a massively expensive tax cut to millionaires and billionaires in places like New York City and San Francisco, a pet priority of the Speaker and the Democratic leader that would do nothing to help working families through this pandemic.

All of these far-left poison pills are still in their recycled bill. They have no intention of making bipartisan law for American families, but there are a few changes from the last bill.

So get this. Now that supporting law enforcement has become less than fashionable on the far left, the Democrats have actually taken out hundreds of millions of dollars for hiring and assisting police officers. Let me say that again. In this latest version, there were at least some changes. Now that supporting law enforcement has become less than fashionable on the far left, the Democrats have actually taken out hundreds of millions of dollars for hiring and assisting police officers. Their so-called sequel to the Heroes Act has decided that cops are not heroes after all. Apparently, cops are not heroes after all. The House Democrats couldn't miss a chance to defund the police.

This latest bill from the Speaker is no more serious than any of their other political stunts going back months. If they continue to refuse to get serious, then American families will continue to hurt. Less than a month ago, every single Senator voted on providing hundreds of billions of dollars for kids, jobs, healthcare, and reaffirming protections for preexisting conditions. There were 52 Republicans who voted to advance all of these things, but every single Democrat who showed up voted to block them.

The American people are still hurting. The layoffs are still mounting. Families still need more help, and the healthcare fight needs more resources. One side voted to supply all of that help. The other side decided to block it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source