[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1697-S1700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Coronavirus
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I am an unabashed optimist. I am a glass-
half-full not a glass-half-empty kind of guy, and I tell my staff that
I am like the little boy who goes down on Christmas morning and looks
under the Christmas tree and finds a pile of manure and wonders where
my pony is. That is how much of an optimist I am.
So I am optimistic about our progress made in the war against COVID-
19 after this long year that we have all endured. So far, a quarter of
Americans over the age of 18 have received at least one dose of the
vaccine. More than two-thirds of people over 65 have gotten their first
shot. In my State, they have recently said everybody 50 and up can get
a shot. Now, very soon, any adult person over the age of 16 will be
eligible to get the vaccine. That translates into good news across the
board. New cases, deaths, and hospitalizations are all declining. Over
the last week, the 7-day positivity rate in Texas dropped to the lowest
point since last May.
While we continue to follow the public health guidelines to slow the
spread of the virus, it is clear we are moving closer and closer to an
eventual end of this pandemic, and there are a million reasons to be
optimistic.
Despite the narrative pushed by some, all of this hope isn't the
result of just the last couple of months, and it certainly is not the
product of the partisan bill that was passed just 2 weeks ago. These
efforts have been underway for more than a year now, and we owe a great
deal of credit to Operation Warp Speed, the initiative set up by the
Trump administration to accelerate the development of vaccines,
treatments, and therapeutics.
Last summer, when President Trump speculated that we would have an
effective vaccine by the end of the year, he received some serious
blowback. One media outlet published a fact check saying it would
require nothing short of a ``medical miracle.'' Well, thanks to the
leadership of the previous administration, thanks to the great
scientists, pharmaceutical companies, and others, that so-called
miracle has come true not just once but twice. Both the Pfizer and
Moderna vaccines received emergency authorization last year, and
Johnson & Johnson's vaccine was authorized last month.
Rather than setting ambitious goals to bring an end to the pandemic,
the Biden administration has embraced a different approach. An
Associated Press headline in January evaluated the situation pretty
well when it said that Biden's early approach is to ``underpromise''
and ``overdeliver.''
Well, in December, President-Elect Biden announced his
administration's vaccine goal as 100 million shots in the first hundred
days. That announcement came about a week before the first doses of the
vaccine were distributed, before we had a real-world test of the
processes that had been in the planning stages for months. But it
quickly became obvious that we were on a pace to meet that goal before
President Biden even took the oath of office on January 20. The week of
the inauguration, we averaged 1 million shots a day. On January 20, 1.5
million Americans received the vaccine. One physician and public health
expert described the President's goal as a ``disappointingly low bar.''
To no one's surprise, the administration met that goal well ahead of
the deadline.
Last week, the President claimed a victory for hitting 100 million
vaccines in 58 days. Well, so did he follow up with a new goal, a truly
ambitious one that would get us shots in arms even faster? Did he set
up a new benchmark to encourage States to make their vaccination
efforts more efficient and effective? Well, not yet. Maybe he will.
Maybe he will announce a new goal this week. For the sake of our
country, I hope he sets the bar high.
Given the fact that we are now vaccinating about 2.5 million
Americans per day--a staggering number, really--it is time for the
administration to take a truly bold step. The goal here isn't to set a
target you are almost certain to meet. After all, you didn't see the
previous administration set a target of a successful vaccine by the
summer of 2021, which is what many experts believed at the time.
Unfortunately, the underpromise, overdeliver strategy doesn't end
with vaccinations. Just look at the President's latest comments about
small outdoor gatherings. In the same speech where he tried to take a
victory lap for the ``disappointingly low bar'' set for vaccinations,
he made a rather confusing promise to the American people.
He said:
If we keep our guard up, stick together, and stick with the
science, we can look forward to a Fourth of July that feels a
little bit more normal with small groups able to gather for
cookouts in backyards.
Well, that was a little bit of a head-scratcher, when President Biden
said that he anticipated that everybody who wanted the vaccine could
get it by May, and now he is talking about having outdoor gatherings on
the Fourth of July.
I can tell you, these small outdoor gatherings have been a part of
many Texans' routines for almost all year now. Families and friends
have spent time in driveways, backyards, open-air spaces, parks. They
follow the public health guidelines to keep themselves and their loved
ones safe while managing some sense of normalcy
The Centers for Disease Control has said it is safe for fully
vaccinated individuals to gather not just outdoors but indoors as well.
But based on the President's remarks last week, he is trying to frame
these gatherings as a reward if things go well over the next few
months. If you do everything right, then you might be able to hang out
with your family in the backyard in 3 months. Well, the
administration's own Centers for Disease Control has already told us
that these gatherings are safe. Your current public health guidelines
can't also double as a goal for 3\1/2\ months from now.
Then there is another big inconsistency between what the experts are
telling us and what the administration is doing, and that has to do
with reopening schools. Some children have now hit the anniversary mark
of virtual learning. Studies have shown consistently that this is
having a huge negative impact on America's kids academically, mentally,
socially, and emotionally.
We need our schools to reopen, and, of course, we need that to happen
safely, which they can. Back in December, then President-Elect Biden
seemed to share that goal. He promised to safely reopen the majority of
schools within his first hundred days in the White
[[Page S1698]]
House, another hundred-day goal. The experts tell us it is not only
possible, but it has already been done across the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report in
January that said:
There has been little evidence that schools have
contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission.
In short, the schools are not a breeding ground for COVID-19, and as
long as proper precautions are taken, schools can reopen safely. In
fact, it has already happened across most of Texas. Nearly two-thirds
of Texas schools are fully in-person, and just 3 percent of districts
are still fully remote. Two-thirds are fully reopened, and 3 percent
are fully remote.
Unfortunately, in this case, the science is at odds with a key
supporter of our Democratic colleagues, and that is the teachers
unions. For months, teachers unions have fought a safe return to in-
person instruction even though the experts and real-world evidence tell
us that it is safe. It has gone so far that they have now gotten into
some pretty sticky situations.
A leaked post from a private Facebook group for the Los Angeles
teachers union warned teachers not to post pictures of their spring
break photos because it makes it difficult to argue that it is unsafe
to return to school. Well, it is tough to tell parents that it is not
safe for their kids to go to school and then turn around and tell
teachers it is fine to go on vacation; just don't post pictures.
Trusting science and listening to the experts means doing so all the
time, not just when it is convenient or politically expedient.
We are seeing progress every day in our fight against COVID-19. That
is the light at the end of the tunnel that is getting bigger and
brighter, and the question is not if we get there but when. How quickly
can we get more vaccines into arms? When will our children--all our
children--return safely to the classroom? How long until families can
hug one another without fear of spreading the virus to someone they
love?
We all know this is a community effort. It is a team effort. It is a
personal responsibility effort. Each of us has a role to play in
stopping the spread of the virus. But leadership matters too. The goals
and benchmarks set by the administration will determine how quickly all
of these things can happen. Now is not the time to walk back goals, set
low bars, or bow to unions and political supporters. The administration
needs to set clear metrics and targets for how we reopen and find our
new normal, and these goals should be based on the science and the
advice of the experts--nothing less.
So we are getting close to safely crossing the finish line, and we
shouldn't let politics or any other consideration slow us down.
I yield the floor.
I would suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 928
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, in a moment, I am going to propound a
unanimous consent request. But before I do so, I want to make some
brief observations.
Earlier this month, Democrats passed their extreme partisan
reconciliation bill--a bill that President Biden signed into law. When
the Senate was considering the bill, I introduced an amendment to
ensure that illegal aliens would not receive the $1,400 taxpayer
payments provided in the bill. Every single Democrat in this body voted
against that amendment. It failed by a single vote. If even one Senate
Democrat had voted for that amendment, it would have passed.
At the time, Senator Durbin incorrectly told this Chamber that no
illegal aliens would receive stimulus checks under this bill. It was
clear then, and it is even more clear now, that that statement was very
much in error, as even Senator Durbin has admitted.
Last Thursday, I gave my Democratic colleagues a chance for a do-
over, once it became clear that there was a very substantial number of
illegal aliens who would be receiving these checks. Unfortunately, the
Democrats objected again and put themselves on record that they are
just fine with millions of illegal immigrants getting taxpayer stimulus
checks.
There has been some debate as to the exact number, but, just this
week, the Center for Immigration Studies released an economic report
that catalogued that we are indeed talking about millions of illegal
immigrants who are receiving these checks.
At the same time we were debating this partisan reconciliation bill,
the Senate considered another amendment, which I had introduced and
Senator Cassidy had introduced, to prevent the payments from going to
criminals currently incarcerated in prison. Again, unfortunately and
astonishingly, every single Democrat in this Chamber voted against it.
It failed by a single vote. If even one Democrat had demonstrated the
common sense to say violent criminals who are currently in prison right
now, today, shouldn't be getting $1,400 taxpayer stimulus checks, that
amendment would have passed. But every Democrat lined up in a party-
line partisan vote to say no.
Today, I am going to give Democrats another chance at a do-over to
recognize that that extreme position is a position, frankly, none of us
could go home and explain to our constituents without being laughed at,
even in the bluest of States. And I am going to give an opportunity in
this instance for Democrats to vote on stopping the funds going to
criminals currently incarcerated and sending those funds instead to the
Crime Victims Fund, a program that is run by the Department of Justice
to compensate victims of crime.
So this is a choice the Democrats have: Do you want $1,400 checks
going to criminals in prison, or do you want instead to direct those
funds to the victims of crime that have suffered at the hands of those
criminals?
Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 928,
introduced earlier today. I further ask that the bill be considered
read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be
considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. WYDEN. Reserving the right to object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, just two quick points. First, this is not
really about prisoners. This is about disrupting payments to families
all across the country who need the money to make rent and pay for
groceries.
Here is why. The IRS administers the tax system for millions and
millions of Americans. The Cruz amendment has the practical effect of
keeping these folks who are hurting from getting that check that they
are going to use to pay for essentials. That is because their check
would be on hold while the IRS sets up the system envisioned by this
amendment.
Now, I guess that is what my colleague from Texas wants. After all,
he opposed the bill. He opposed these payments from the get-go. So if
he passes this amendment, he gets what he wants, but for all those
folks who are hurting, their checks are on hold.
The last point I want to make is that it wasn't always this way for
Republicans and our colleague from Texas. Republicans were for these
payments before they were against them. They voted for two rounds of
relief checks going out to all the people who are being discussed here
when they controlled the White House and the Senate.
Senator Cruz voted for the CARES Act. It passed unanimously. There
were 44 Republicans for the December relief bill, with no exception
like the Senator from Texas wants.
Donald Trump was so happy with the checks going to prisoners that he
put his name on them. The only difference between the CARES Act relief
checks that Republicans unanimously supported and America Rescue Plan
relief checks is the party in the White House.
Mr. President, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
[[Page S1699]]
The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, the Senator from Oregon, I guess,
demonstrates the principle that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays
to virtue, because the Senator from Oregon suggests that somehow
payments to people who are not criminals will be delayed if we don't
pay criminals in prison. That claim, on the face of it, is absurd.
The Federal prisons are administered by the Bureau of Prisons.
Government may not be good at everything, but I feel quite confident
that the Federal Government can produce a list of currently
incarcerated prisoners. I know the States can
The IRS, likewise, is perfectly capable of recognizing whether it is
mailing checks to prisoners in prison. This is not whether you have
ever been convicted of a crime. It is, Are you sending the checks to
Sing Sing? If so, don't send it.
The claim that somehow Joe Six-Pack at home is not getting his check
because we don't want to send checks to prisoners is demonstrably
untrue.
The Senator from Oregon also claims Republicans oppose stimulus
checks, when he knows that is simply not the case. As he noted, this
body overwhelmingly passed bipartisan COVID relief five times last
year. It is only when Senate Democrats took the majority that
bipartisan legislation ended because the Democrats decided to push a
hard partisan bill instead.
A clean bill providing relief checks would have passed with an
overwhelming bipartisan majority in this body, and the Senator from
Oregon knows that.
We have now discovered, though, that given a straight-up choice
between sending checks to criminals in prison versus sending checks to
the victims of crime, Senate Democrats stand with the criminals.
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 929
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I am going to suggest an even narrower
situation. Perhaps we can't agree on victims of crime. How about
murderers?
We just had a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on gun
violence. We saw a horrific mass murder in Colorado. Can't we agree
that murderers shouldn't get checks--$1,400 stimulus checks--from the
taxpayers? Let's take the money going to murderers and put it in the
crime victims task force fund instead.
And so, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous
consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S.
929, introduced earlier today. I further ask that the bill be
considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Reserving the right to object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.
Mr. WYDEN. Thank you very much.
Mr. President, there isn't information about this crime or these
crimes at the Federal, State, and local levels. So, again, we are back
in exactly the same place.
The Senator from Texas wants to hold up the checks to millions and
millions of people in spite of the fact that he voted--he voted
earlier--for a system that got the checks to everybody in a timely way.
And when you don't have the information about the specific crimes at
the Federal, State, and local levels, it becomes impossible to carry
out what the Senator from Texas seeks to do. And the net effect is,
again, that millions and millions of Americans aren't getting the funds
that they need to pay for essentials, rent and groceries.
I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, you know, it could be hard in these partisan
days to know what the truth is. Both sides yell at each other. They
insult each other. It is hard to know who is telling the truth.
I ask the folks at home who are listening to this debate to exercise
a little bit of common sense. The Senator from Oregon just told you the
Federal Government has no idea who are murderers currently in prison. I
want to suggest that doesn't make any sense.
I feel quite confident the Department of Justice could produce a list
of currently incarcerated murderers in Federal prisons within 24 hours.
I am absolutely certain the State of Texas could produce that list. I
am confident the State of Connecticut could produce the list of the
murderers currently in Connecticut prisons. I am even confident the
State of Oregon could produce a list of the murderers convicted of
homicide currently incarcerated in the State of Oregon.
The claim that we don't know who the murderers are who are in our
prisons serving time for murder--it doesn't pass the laugh test.
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 930
Mr. President, so let's see if we could agree in a different area--
rapists, those who committed sexual assault.
Again, these are public records and the Department of Justice and
every State criminal justice authority have a list of all the rapists.
How about let's not send $1,400 checks to rapists? Take the money and
give it to the Crime Victims Fund so it can go to victims of rape.
Here is a choice for Democrats: Do you want to send money to the
rapists or the victims of sexual assault? This ought to be a hundred-
or-nothing choice.
Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 930,
introduced earlier today. I further ask that the bill be considered
read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be
considered made and laid upon the table.
Mr. WYDEN. Reserving the right to object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I want to read, specifically, what the IRS
has told us, because I gather my colleague would like to just continue
this for some time. But here is what the IRS says:
In the information the IRS receives from the Bureau of
Prisons and State prison systems, we do not get the crime for
which the person is incarcerated.
So we can have a host more of these amendments, if my colleague wants
to do it. But I get why he is so anxious to have his amendment passed--
because he was always for keeping people from getting checks, and his
amendment, if passed, would put those checks on hold. So that is why I
have objected, and we will put this into the record as well.
I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). Objection is heard.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, once again, the Senator from Oregon has said
something that is demonstrably false and that he knows is false, which
is that he has suggested that I opposed sending stimulus checks to the
American citizens, to law-abiding citizens. I not only didn't oppose
it, I voted for it. Republicans supported it. He knows that. That is a
red herring.
He just read a statement from the IRS Agency saying they get a list
of prisoners from the Bureau of Prisons, and he said: But we don't know
the crime.
The first unanimous consent request I put before this body is,
everyone on that list in the Bureau of Prisons, don't send them a
check. That doesn't delay your check. If you are not looking at bars,
if you are not in a jail cell that is 5 feet by 10 feet, this doesn't
affect you. This only affects criminals currently in prison.
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 931
Mr. President, let's try one more time. The Democrats have objected
to not sending checks to criminals in prison. The Democrats have
objected to not sending checks to murderers in prison. The Democrats
have objected to not sending checks to rapists in prison.
Let's try a group that I think may be the lowest of the low, which is
child molesters. I spent a lot of years in law enforcement, and I think
there is no more horrific offense than those who commit crimes of
violence and sexual assault against kids. When I was solicitor general
of Texas, the cases where people sexually abused kids I thought should
be in Dante's Ninth Circle of Hell.
So here is a chance for some bipartisan agreement. Can't we all agree
that the Federal Government shouldn't send $1,400 checks to the child
molesters in prison right now for molesting
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kids? And before the Senator from Oregon says, ``Who knows who the
child molesters are,'' well, the Department of Justice and every State
department of justice knows who the child molesters are in their
prisons.
Let's take the money that the Democrats want to send to child
molesters, and let's take it from the child molesters and give it to
the victims of crimes, the kids who have been molested. This is as
simple a legislative choice as I can imagine.
Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 931,
introduced earlier today. I further ask that the bill be considered
read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be
considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. WYDEN. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, once again, our colleague from Texas is
offering an idea that would disrupt the system in a way that would keep
millions and millions of Americans who are hurting from getting help in
a timely way. He has come back with, essentially, one version after
another because he thinks that, somehow, this is the kind of
sensational idea that will cause people to rally to his side.
I believe what he has been proposing--now, I gather, four times--is
so disruptive, so unworkable that it is going to hurt the millions of
people whom this Congress wanted to help, and that is what the Senator
from Texas has sought to do from the very beginning. I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, there is an old saying that you don't learn
anything from the second kick of a mule.
The first time the Senator from Oregon said that I sought to disrupt
stimulus payments, perhaps he did so because he didn't know my views on
that topic, but he has since been corrected that I voted for stimulus
payments to American citizens in the time of economic crisis and didn't
oppose them. So he is now repeatedly stating falsehoods, knowing that
they are false.
You know, all of us were there when Joe Biden gave his inauguration
speech making a call to unity, making a call to healing, and there was
a chance we could have done that. On COVID relief, you don't have to
ask theoretically. Last year, when Republicans had control of the
Senate, we passed five bipartisan COVID relief bills, coming together
with overwhelming bipartisan majorities.
The Democrats decided, when they took control, they didn't want to do
that. You want to know just how far out of touch and how radical
today's Democratic Party is? We have seen the Democrats now say we will
send taxpayer stimulus checks to millions of illegal immigrants. We
have seen Democrats say we will send the taxpayer stimulus to criminals
in prison. We have seen the Democrats say we will send the taxpayer
stimulus checks to murderers in prison. We have seen them say we will
send the checks to rapists in prison. And we now just saw them say we
will send the checks to child molesters in prison.
It should be the essence of common sense to say don't give this money
to violent criminals; give it to victims of crime instead. In a sane
world, that would be a hundred-to-nothing proposition.
I challenge any one of you in the brightest of blue States: Go home
and explain to your constituents that you refused to take the money
from child molesters and give it to the victims of that crime. That is
the position of every Democrat in this Chamber because every single
Democratic Senator was the deciding vote rejecting the amendment on the
floor.
It is unfortunate just how extreme the hard left is right now, but it
is far out of touch with the American people, and it has long abandoned
any semblance of common sense.
I yield the floor
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Here is what we are for. We are for making sure that needy
people get help to pay for groceries and make rent rather than have one
of our colleagues come out with something that is unworkable and
disruptive and is going to keep those people from getting help. That is
what this debate is all about, something that is unworkable.
I read the direct comment from the IRS with respect to not having the
information or getting help to people who are hurting.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, the Senator from Oregon suggested that the
concern of the Democrats is to get taxpayer funds to needy people.
People currently incarcerated are not needy. The Senator from Oregon
said we need to help Americans struggling with rent. You know what?
People currently incarcerated pay zero in rent. They don't have rent
costs.
So the argument of the Democrats is: We don't know who the criminals
are who are currently in jail. That does not comport with reality, and
any fairminded person watching this knows that.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.