On the recordFebruary 2, 2021
I will be responding to my good friend Senator Sanders. Apparently, I will be the ranking member on Budget; he will be the chairman. And I look forward to finding some common ground where we can. Today is not that day, but hope springs eternal. There are things I think we can do on the Budget Committee that will be good for the country. Here is the other side of the story. About a year ago--a little over a year ago--the pandemic coming out of China was detected, COVID, on the west coast of the United States. It has just done a number on us as a nation. Over 440,000 people have died from COVID-related infections. We finally got vaccines. They are in the pipeline. We need to get them out quicker, but I do believe that the vaccines are going to help us a lot. To the American people who have been suffering, I think better days lie ahead, but we are not there yet. But here is what is different. February 2, 2021, things changed. Up until now, we have been able, as a Congress and with the White House, to pass things together regarding COVID. We passed over $4 trillion of COVID relief in a bipartisan fashion up until today. Now, how was that done? You had a Republican President--President Trump--working with a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-controlled Senate beginning of January--I guess, March of last year. Here is what we were able to do together.…
