Coronavirus
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, when I opened the Senate on Monday, I repeated something Republicans have stated for months now. We need to put partisanship aside and get more bipartisan, targeted coronavirus relief out to the American people.
Dating back to the summer, and all fall, Senate Republicans tried repeatedly to advance hundreds of billions of dollars to prevent layoffs, protect small businesses, fund vaccine distribution, and continue assisting workers who have already lost their jobs due to the crisis. Every time, the Speaker of the House and the Democratic leader blocked our efforts. It had to be the entirety of their leftwing wish list or nothing at all.
Finally, this week, we are seeing cracks starting to form in the Democratic leaders' stone wall, and thank goodness for the country that that is finally happening. In the last several days, the Democratic leaders have signaled a new willingness to engage in good faith and, yesterday, a number of Senate Democrats proposed a different compromise.
But at the risk of repeating something we all know, making law will not just require the Senate's approval but also the signature of the President of the United States.
So, after several conversations with the Secretary of the Treasury and the White House Chief of Staff, I put forward yesterday another proposal reflecting what the President is ready to sign into law. What we have proposed would give universities and nonprofits the legal certainty they need. It would create a second draw on the job-saving Paycheck Protection Program to prevent more layoffs, and it would extend two important emergency unemployment benefit programs that were created by the CARES Act and which will expire in December without action. These programs have been championed by our Democratic colleagues, particularly the senior Senator from Virginia, and we made sure they were included in the framework.
I hope our Democratic colleagues will finally let Congress pass a bipartisan bill that the President will likely sign into law and do so soon
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