On the recordMarch 2, 2021
well, I want to thank my colleague from West Virginia, Senator Capito, for clearly laying out her concerns with this COVID package. I think about where we were a year ago. We were right here in this Chamber. It was March of 2020, and we were debating, working together in a bipartisan fashion to come up with a major--over $2 trillion-- COVID relief package. In fact, if we look back over the course of the last 12 months, Congress passed five bipartisan COVID-19 relief packages--five of them. During that time, as we know, the Republicans were in the majority in the Senate, and we believed it was very important--we were dealing with COVID challenges in our country--that we come together in a bipartisan way to address this horrible pandemic. It didn't stop us from working with our colleagues across the aisle to reach a compromise in order to get needed relief for Montanans and the American people who were struggling because of the pandemic. Bipartisanship--it takes work. It takes both sides coming together. It takes a little more time as well. But for the good of Montanans and for the good of the American people, they expect that of us here in the Senate. Unfortunately, what we are witnessing today is that ``bipartisanship'' is no longer in the vocabulary of President Biden and the Democrats. They have taken this bipartisan process that we have had over the course of the last 12 months and they have taken it hostage. It has become their way or the highway.…
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