On the recordNovember 17, 2020
on COVID, by all rights, the Senate should not be spending its time this week on so many nominees, especially such unqualified nominees, while COVID-19 is surging throughout the country. The urgent need for another relief bill has been confronting the Senate since March of this year. The Republican leader put the Senate on ``pause,'' as he said, all summer, while the virus got worse and worse. And when he finally decided it was time to do another bill, he crafted a partisan, emaciated proposal that fell drastically short of what was needed to address a burgeoning health and economic crisis. Now, President-Elect Biden has urged the Senate to pass a comprehensive bill that actually meets the needs of the American people. He pointed to the HEROES Act, and that is the right focus. We need a comprehensive bill that meets the needs of the American people, but, of course, we would want to sit down and negotiate with our Republican colleagues. The Republican leader should come to the table and negotiate with Democrats on a bipartisan COVID relief bill with a bipartisan process that addresses all of the challenges we now face. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
