Floor SpeechNeutral2024-12-20

AMERICAN RELIEF ACT, 2025

EnvironmentForeign PolicyTradeSocial SecurityAgriculture

Context

On 2024-12-20, Senator Susan M. Collins (R-ME) delivered a floor speech titled "AMERICAN RELIEF ACT, 2025" in the Senate. The speech addressed the environment and also covered foreign policy, trade policy. It referenced legislation including HR10545, S7306, S7307.

Full Text

AMERICAN RELIEF ACT, 2025

Congressional Record, Volume 170 Issue 190 (Friday, December 20, 2024) [Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 190 (Friday, December 20, 2024)] [Senate] [Pages S7306-S7307] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] AMERICAN RELIEF ACT, 2025 The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of H.R. 10545, which the clerk will report. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: A bill (H.R. 10545) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be up to 30 minutes for debate, equally divided. The senior Senator from Washington. Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I will not use 15 minutes, but I do want to just let our colleagues know that I am very pleased that we are on the verge of passing long overdue relief desperately needed by communities that are recovering from disaster, as well as avoiding a damaging shutdown. The only reason it took so long and this much chaos to get here is that House Republicans chose chaos and chose to follow the whims of the richest man in the world. Needless to say, that is not how this should work. But I am glad that at the end of the day, we will avoid a shutdown and get disaster relief out to families and communities that are struggling after being hit by hurricanes and fires and floods and so much more. I worked hard with Members on both sides of the aisle to finally get this aid across the line and to make sure we did so in a comprehensive way that meets the wide range of critical needs in the country, because it is painfully clear there are so many communities that are still reeling from hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, flooding, and more that really do need this support. So, despite all the unnecessary chaos and delay, I am glad we are finally here, getting this done. This relief will make a critical difference for folks who have lost it all and are simply working to get their feet back underneath them. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in passing this package so we can get this over the line and avoid a needless shutdown as we head into the holidays. Finally, one last important thing. I want to recognize my colleagues who helped pull this relief package together, especially my vice chair on Appropriations, Senator Collins, who has been a critical partner, and our House counterparts, Congresswoman DeLauro and Congressman Cole, who have pushed so hard to get this disaster relief done. Of course, I want to thank all of our staff, especially Evan Schatz, our staff director, who worked so hard around the clock to pull together not just the disaster relief in this package but so many other critical funding packages and proposals over the last 2 years I have been chair of the Appropriations Committee. The work is never easy, and I am incredibly grateful to our entire team and to all of our colleagues who have been working so hard. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Maine. Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise to urge the passage of the American Relief Act. This bill will avert a costly government shutdown. Although it is after 12 midnight, we are going to avert it. It will deliver much needed assistance to individuals, small businesses, and communities working to rebuild and repair in the wake of natural disasters. It provides much needed aid to our farmers across the country, who have been hit by a tidal wave of harmful economic conditions. I want to thank the many Senators who have contributed to this legislation. In particular, I want to recognize Chair Murray for her leadership of the Appropriations Committee during this Congress. I hope that in the next Congress, we can bring appropriations bills to the Senate floor in a timely fashion to avoid this kind of end-of- the-year pile-up. I do urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I, too, want to recognize and thank my outstanding staff for their hard work. Social Security Fairness Act Finally, Madam President, I do want to say that it is a great accomplishment that tonight the Senate passed the Social Security Fairness Act, which will be sent to the President for his signature. This is long overdue. I want to share with my colleagues one really important fact, and that is that 83 percent of those who are affected by the government pension offset, which we repealed tonight, are lower income women. So this is a great accomplishment to eliminate these two inequitable, unfair provisions of the Social Security Act. It is going to make a big difference. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader. Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, this is the last vote not only of this evening but of the 118th Congress. We yield back all time. (Applause.) Vote on H.R. 10545 The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back. The bill was ordered to a third reading and was read the third time. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the question is, Shall the bill pass? Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll. Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin) and the Senator from California (Mr. Schiff) are necessarily absent. Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance). The result was announced--yeas 85, nays 11, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 339 Leg.] YEAS--85 Baldwin Barrasso Bennet Blackburn Blumenthal Booker Boozman Britt Brown Budd Cantwell Capito Cardin Carper Casey Cassidy Collins Coons Cornyn Cortez Masto Cotton Cramer Cruz Daines Duckworth Durbin Ernst Fetterman Fischer Gillibrand Graham Grassley Hagerty Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Hoeven Hyde-Smith Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lankford Lujan Lummis Markey Marshall McConnell Merkley Moran Mullin Murkowski Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Ricketts Rosen Rounds [[Page S7307]] Schatz Schumer Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shaheen Sinema Smith Stabenow Sullivan Tester Thune Tillis Tuberville Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wicker Wyden Young NAYS--11 Braun Crapo Hawley Johnson Kennedy Lee Paul Risch Romney Sanders Schmitt NOT VOTING--4 Manchin Rubio Schiff Vance The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kaine). On this vote, the yeas are 85, the nays are 11. The 60-vote threshold having been achieved, the bill is passed. The bill (H.R. 10545) was passed. ____________________

Referenced legislation: HR10545, HR10545

View original source →

AMERICAN RELIEF ACT, 2025 Congressional Record, Volume 170 Issue 190 (Friday, December 20, 2024) [Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 190 (Friday, December 20, 2024)] [Senate] [Pages S7306-S7307] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] AMERICAN RELIEF ACT, 2025 The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of H.R. 10545, which the clerk will report. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: A bill (H.R. 10545) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be up to 30 minutes for debate, equally divided. The senior Senator from Washington. Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I will not use 15 minutes, but I do want to just let our colleagues know that I am very pleased that we are on the verge of passing long overdue relief desperately needed by communities that are recovering from disaster, as well as avoiding a damaging shutdown. The only reason it took so long and this much chaos to get here is that House Republicans chose chaos and chose to follow the whims of the richest man in the world. Needless to say, that is not how this should work. But I am glad that at the end of the day, we will avoid a shutdown and get disaster relief out to families and communities that are struggling after being hit by hurricanes and fires and floods and so much more. I worked hard with Members on both sides of the aisle to finally get this aid across the line and to make sure we did so in a comprehensive way that meets the wide range of critical needs in the country, because it is painfully clear there are so many communities that are still reeling from hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, flooding, and more that really do need this support. So, despite all the unnecessary chaos and delay, I am glad we are finally here, getting this done. This relief will make a critical difference for folks who have lost it all and are simply working to get their feet back underneath them. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in passing this package so we can get this over the line and avoid a needless shutdown as we head into the holidays. Finally, one last important thing. I want to recognize my colleagues who helped pull this relief package together, especially my vice chair on Appropriations, Senator Collins, who has been a critical partner, and our House counterparts, Congresswoman DeLauro and Congressman Cole, who have pushed so hard to get this disaster relief done. Of course, I want to thank all of our staff, especially Evan Schatz, our staff director, who worked so hard around the clock to pull together not just the disaster relief in this package but so many other critical funding packages and proposals over the last 2 years I have been chair of the Appropriations Committee. The work is never easy, and I am incredibly grateful to our entire team and to all of our colleagues who have been working so hard. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Maine. Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise to urge the passage of the American Relief Act. This bill will avert a costly government shutdown. Although it is after 12 midnight, we are going to avert it. It will deliver much needed assistance to individuals, small businesses, and communities working to rebuild and repair in the wake of natural disasters. It provides much needed aid to our farmers across the country, who have been hit by a tidal wave of harmful economic conditions. I want to thank the many Senators who have contributed to this legislation. In particular, I want to recognize Chair Murray for her leadership of the Appropriations Committee during this Congress. I hope that in the next Congress, we can bring appropriations bills to the Senate floor in a timely fashion to avoid this kind of end-of- the-year pile-up. I do urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I, too, want to recognize and thank my outstanding staff for their hard work. Social Security Fairness Act Finally, Madam President, I do want to say that it is a great accomplishment that tonight the Senate passed the Social Security Fairness Act, which will be sent to the President for his signature. This is long overdue. I want to share with my colleagues one really important fact, and that is that 83 percent of those who are affected by the government pension offset, which we repealed tonight, are lower income women. So this is a great accomplishment to eliminate these two inequitable, unfair provisions of the Social Security Act. It is going to make a big difference. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader. Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, this is the last vote not only of this evening but of the 118th Congress. We yield back all time. (Applause.) Vote on H.R. 10545 The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back. The bill was ordered to a third reading and was read the third time. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the question is, Shall the bill pass? Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll. Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin) and the Senator from California (Mr. Schiff) are necessarily absent. Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance). The result was announced--yeas 85, nays 11, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 339 Leg.] YEAS--85 Baldwin Barrasso Bennet Blackburn Blumenthal Booker Boozman Britt Brown Budd Cantwell Capito Cardin Carper Casey Cassidy Collins Coons Cornyn Cortez Masto Cotton Cramer Cruz Daines Duckworth Durbin Ernst Fetterman Fischer Gillibrand Graham Grassley Hagerty Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Hoeven Hyde-Smith Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lankford Lujan Lummis Markey Marshall McConnell Merkley Moran Mullin Murkowski Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Ricketts Rosen Rounds [[Page S7307]] Schatz Schumer Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shaheen Sinema Smith Stabenow Sullivan Tester Thune Tillis Tuberville Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wicker Wyden Young NAYS--11 Braun Crapo Hawley Johnson Kennedy Lee Paul Risch Romney Sanders Schmitt NOT VOTING--4 Manchin Rubio Schiff Vance The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kaine). On this vote, the yeas are 85, the nays are 11. The 60-vote threshold having been achieved, the bill is passed. The bill (H.R. 10545) was passed. ____________________ Referenced legislation: HR10545, HR10545