A couple of my tennesseans last night as we were talking and discussing this, what their thoughts and their questions to me went to is the relationship that we have with china, and how can we trust that we know what china knew, that we know when they knew it, and their lack of transparency around what happened with covid19. Now as weve gotten a couple of months past the start of this, really these questions are unanswered. And as i was telling our tennesseans on the phone last night, even as this virus that came out of wuhan, china, they had it in december, it has now touched six continents, and we know that people are dealing with containment, theyre dealing with mitigation, theyre dealing with having, going through the process of getting the antivirals, getting the vaccines that are necessary to deal with covid19. And the questions that people have around this are compounded by the growing realization of how china has chosen not to be honest and not to be transparent in their dealings with the rest of the world. The way beijing handled its initial response to the coronavirus was nothing new. In fact, deflection and lies meant to protect the communist party is part of their standard operating procedure. They have defied norms governing the protection of human rights. They embrace innovation by incursion, defy property rights, and steal intellectual property as a matter of course. We have u. S. Companies that have suffered for decades by what china has done to steal their intellectual property, to infringe on their intellectual property. They defy the sovereignty of other nations and territories, and they defy what should be their role as a leader in the Global Economy. Certainly they want to be a market economy, or so they say, but look at their behavior. And it is this act of defiance that makes them just incredibly dangerous. And i have to tell you this has been something thats been going on for quite awhile, but we only need to go back a decade to place a flag marking our owe wairns of what has our awareness of what has become a very familiar story. And over the decades as china started to manufacture and started to pull u. S. Manufacturers there, and then started to mistreat their intellectual property rights, people became aware of what was going on, and it was right at ten years ago when i was a member in the house that we were doing much of the same work that we are doing right now in the u. S. Senate. We were preparing a Defense Authorization bill. And, mr. President , even then we realized the threat that china and chinese stateowned companies posed to our National Security. We drafted amendments to that years ndaa blocking the purchase of huaweisupplied equipment. Indeed were still hearing about the need to block the purchase of huawei equipment not only for us, but for our allies. Now that action was ten years ago, but chinas influence has continued to grow. What we have done is pretty much our part here in the senate to expose those bad actions, even as the rest of the world has allowed beijing to coop the trappings of capitalism to perpetuate totalitarianism. Last year we saw the people of china rise up. Indeed to this day that fight goes on, even though the threats and fears of covid19 have caused those protesters to have to protest in a different way. I cosponsored the hong kong human rights and democracy act and sponsored legislation prohibiting the commercial export of covered munition items to the Hong Kong Police force, but the world moves on even as that standoff in hong kong continues. The senate was forced to pin to pen a resolution asking the International Olympic committee to rebid the 2022 winter games to a country that respects human rights. Really quite a bold move, and it leads me to wonder why was china given this honor in the first place. And i have to tell you, nobody seems to really know the answer to that question. The aggression that they display toward taiwan and tibet and the outright repression of the uighurs, this is something that has gone unchecked, and many times it is due to fear of economic retaliation. Ive addressed this body several times on the subject of huawei and chinas leveraging of the impending 5g rollout to create National Security vulnerabilities in our network. Their efforts to undermine our sovereignty are not limited to hightech espionage. Indeed, their goal is to place their equipment thats why it is so incredibly affordable to so many countries and so many of our allies. And in placing this equipment, what are they seeking to do, mr. President . They are seeking to establish their own hightech cyber spy network. We know what theyre up to. This month, i introduced a bill to temper the influence of china confucius institutes on American College campuses. Weve all read the stories lately of how they have infiltrated some of our institutions of higher learning, how they have coopted some of the staff or professors. This is something that needs our attention, and its followed on the heels of the stop Higher Education espionage and theft act, another effort to prevent beijing from increasing its hold on the minds of our younger generations. Time and again, we have called Chinese Tech Companies like ticktock, we have called them on the carpet for their censorship, their Data Collection and privacy collections or lack of privacy, yet content from their popular apps still dominates social media headlines. Chinas hold on the Global Economy has never been more apparent and now there are reports that beijing used the media and key word censorship to suppress information about the coronavirus, and yet beijing remains defiant, attacking President Trump in tweets and accusing Everyday Americans of racism for daring to suggest that covid19 originated in . Where . Wuhan, china. They are, as many younger people like to say, theyre gaslighting us, and its madness. So it brings us to ask when will enough be enough . We must not let our present concerns about the response to coronavirus deter us from thinking long term. This pandemic will change our relationship with china in every single way. It is inevitable. Starting now, we must take advantage of this knowledge. As we think about an exit strategy from the coronavirus crisis, we have to think about this. As we think about a way forward to bring manufacturing back to the United States, we need to remember this. Ive spoken several times about the vulnerabilities in our pharmaceutical supply chain, and i again encourage my colleagues to support the bipartisan securing americas medicine cabinet or samc act, which im sponsoring alongside my colleague from new jersey, senator menendez. Without intervention, the f. D. A. Expects the pharmaceutical industry will continue to rely on Chinese Companies to make the active pharmaceutical ingredients or vapis that are necessary for so many of our prescription and overthe counter drugs. This threat it poses to our supply chain is real. On february 27, 2020, the f. D. A. Announced the shortage of one drug that is used to treat patients with coronavirus. They attributed the shortage to difficulties obtaining the a. P. I. From a site in where . China. That site has been affected by guess what . Coronavirus. We do not need to remain vulnerable. We need to realize that we are dealing with someone who has not been transparent. They have Hidden Information from us. They are causing shortages of drugs and vaccines and antibiotics, and it is time for us to learn from these lessons. If we ignore them, we will do so at our own peril. I yield the floor. Mr. Jones mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from alabama. Mr. Jones i would also i appreciate my colleague from tennessee there talking about the supply chains. I completely agree with her. It is something that we are going to have to seriously look at in the as we get through this process. We have become too dependent, and i appreciate her efforts in that regard. I want to talk today i know we have got a lot going on up here. For those that are watching and the american people, you need to understand that while this gallery may be empty and this floor may be empty, theres a lot going on in the United States senate right now. There is a lot happening to try to make sure that we save this economy, that we do those things necessary to try to make sure our businesses, our workers, our economy from all sectors is saved. And again, i want to go back to the things that you can do as americans, and that is to stop the spread of this virus. Do those social distancing, do those things that we have talked about now for several weeks to try to get folks to do your part, because were trying to do our part. We are doing this in an incredibly bipartisan effort. I think you will see a lot of things coming out of the senate and out of the house, along with the administration, to try to make sure we do those things for americans. Over the past few weeks, i have talked with countless business owners, local and state officials. Ive heard from a lot of folks who are scared to death, working folks that are now at home. They are not they are not telecommuting because their jobs are not like that. All of which are alarmed about where we are today, where were going to be tomorrow, and next week and over the coming weeks and even potentially months. Businesses are having to lay off folks. Theyre having to furlough workers, sending a surge of folks to the unemployment line. We have seen that just in the last few days. Which is something that as we were moving, we just thought we would not see. Small businesses like restaurants, main street retailers will go bankrupt if were not careful. Theyre going to go bankrupt without customers as folks stay home and practice the social distancing that we know we have to do. And as states start enacting forced closures of schools and events, those businesses shutter and hopefully it will only be a temporary shuttering. First and foremost, these are steps we can all take again to stop the spread of the virus and begin to get the economy on the right track. It is up to us individually. But in the meantime, we have got, as members of congress and Public Officials across this country, from local county officials and city officials to the governors and state legislators and members of congress, we have got to do all that we can to make sure that our businesses and particularly the Small Businesses which make up an overwhelming amount of business in the state of alabama in particular can continue to meet payroll and keep workers paid so that they can then continue to make their obligations. So thats where my proposal comes in that i talked to a number of colleagues. So in addition to providing the same kind of direct assistance payments that is being kicked around now, whether its through checks or in some form or another that people are widely talking about right now, id also like to see a new fund that is created to quickly get cash into the hands of Small Businesses so they can make their payroll and not have to lay off workers. Im calling this the Small Business lifeline fund. It would provide a nointerest bridge loan for up to three months to be paid back over five years with no interest. And this is a work in progress so there are even proposals to make sure that this loan can be forgiven in certain circumstances. It would be administered through the Small Business administration. It would offer loans up to 75 of a business last three months of payroll with no one employee receiving more than 5,000. Now, i want to repeat that because it would affect so many people in this country. It would offer loans up to 75 of a business last three months of payroll with no one employee receiving more than 5,000 per month. Now, this fund, the key is this, it would pass directly through the Payroll Companies. Payroll companies around this country are used by about 40 of american businesses. They mostly cater to the Small Businesses, with fewer than 500 employees. Payroll companies are in the best position to do this because they have already got the infrastructure in place. Theyre a smart choice because they have got payroll history. They have got the Employee Data that makes this quick, it makes it efficient. It uses the infrastructure and the pipelines that already exist without having to go back and reinvent or create a new whole set of dynamics that could may or may not work. We know the Payroll Company system in this country works. Again, 40 of folks using it. Now, this process would help to alleviate the strain on our unemployment program. It would be a seamless way to continue to pay workers, while also ensuring payroll taxes can continue to Fund Important programs like medicare and medicaid, Social Security. Now, i want you to think about this. What were talking about doing is not just a onetime 1,000 check or twotime 1,000 check. Its literally funding the payroll the way it exists. Maybe only 75 of it, but people that are used to getting those payroll checks through a payroll processor, have their taxes deducted, they have their Social Security deducted, they have their medicaid and medicare expenses deducted. Those things would still come in. Its just that we have created a fund from the federal government to do that. So part of what we are fronting comes straight back to the federal government. Now, i think as part of this, we would also like to offer assistance to folks who are selfemployed, who run microbusinesses. According to i. R. S. Data, in 2017, there were some 26 million Sole Proprietorships in the United States. Thats a lot of folks who are out there working hard, hustling every day to make their businesses, their little piece of the American Dream successful. But they dont have the cash reserves to fall back on in times like these. We could carve out and make sure that they are taken care of in the short run. This is not the time, in my view, to shortchange the economy. This is not the time to send out just a check here and a check there, especially for those who are the most vulnerable to cataclysmic shocks that we have seen in recent weeks. We have got to be bold, we have got to be big. We need to act fast. We need to cut the bureaucracy. Thats why using these Payroll Companies makes so much sense. Now, again, i want to emphasize that this is not this is only one piece of this overall puzzle. It doesnt cover everyone. It will not cover folks in the gig economy. It will not we have to do other things to make sure Unemployment Insurance and other things are available to them in a similar fashion. But this is a big piece of this puzzle that can get money directly to folks. Their wages can get to folks. Their wages can get to them right now so that if we also have to do things like forbearance on mortgages and rents, we dont have to do it across the board because these folks will have the money to pay those mortgages, pay those rents to help those businesses stay afloat as well. The Ripple Effect of doing Something Like this, i believe, would be enormous. With this Small Business lifeline fund, we can send a message to folks on main street who are the lifeblood of our communities. We can take this idea up, keep them afloat so they can right back on track as soon as we can get things back to normal. Right now, they need us. They need us in congress, they need us at the local level and they need us at the state level. So i urge my colleagues to look at this very seriously for this package that we are putting together, that hopefully we will get done in the next day, hopefully hours, so that we can all get back to our states and our families to do those things necessary, but keeping in mind that whatever we do this week, i think folks understand whatever we do in the next day or so is only going to be the next step. I dont want anybody who is listening to anything any of us say to think this is the end of it and well finish our work and go home. Well have to constantly monitor this. We dont know what the future holds in some aspect. We will be back if necessary and do things differently if necessary. Two other things i want to mention before i yield the floor. Ive talked about this for my state for a long time. That is the need for Medicaid Expansion. Alabama is one of those few states, i think 14 or 15 states that did not expand medicaid. Now, as part of the package were talking about now, were talking about increasing the federal government portion of that, adding additional medicaid funds. But for those states like alabama, we will get those the extra benefits for sure but we wont get as much as we should because we havent expanded medicaid. Senator warner and i have a bill thats called the same act. States achieving Medicaid Expansion. Its not mandatory, doesnt make the states achieve Medicaid Expansion. It doesnt make them do that but it gives them the same inning centives they had a incentives they had a number of years ago. In a state of alabama, some 300,000 people can get access to medicaid that do not have insurance right now, that cant get that and wondering in our Rural Communities and everywhere in the state of alabama what in the world am i going to do if i catch this virus . Where am i going to go . Ultimately our hospitals, our doctors, our safety nets that were putting in part of this package, were going to have to cover it anyway. We all know that. Sooner or later were going to have to cover it. So i would love to be able to see the same act, the states achieving Medicaid Expansion act get out there and be part of this package. Let states have the opportunity. Its a states right issue. Not a single state would have to expand medicaid if we pass this bill. But we at least let those local leaderleaders decide for themses whether it is time that we give this opportunity to so many of the people in our states that are caught in between medicaid and a job in which they are eligible for Health Insurance benefits. It would be a quick, easy way to make sure were doing our part. And i would urge that that be put in there. Finally, today has been a really today has been the day that ive heard from so many people where in our underserved communities in alabama. The African American community, the poor communities in alabama, where the preachers are calling, the mayors are calling. Ive been on the phone all day because they are concerned. And its not that theyre concerned because they dont believe the state has them in mind because ive talked to state officials in alabama and there are plans. But the fact of the matter is we have still in this country across the 50 states, we dont have enough tests. We dont have enough personal protection equipment. My hospitals, my testing labs, everybody in alabama is just like every other state. Were hurting. We need those supplies. Were giving the money where the states are doing a good job. I want to make sure that in alabama and across this country we dont leave out the poorest of the poor. We dont leave out the underserved communities, that we just dont put Testing Facilities in the big urban areas that the mega churches or the big hospitals like ive got in birmingham which are awesome but that we also make sure that weve got these clinics set up around the state. In the black belt of alabama and the poorest of alabama counties where people cant drive an hour and a half or two hours to get a test. Weve got to make sure that we spread this out because this disease is going to spread out. This disease is not going to just be concentrated in our urban areas. It is going to continue to spread. And in these underserved areas in particular, families live together. Grandmothers take care of their grandchildren. The aunts and uncles take care of their nieces and nephews. And theyre all there together. And weve got to figure out a way to protect them. Weve got to figure out a way to get those tests to them and to make sure that they are treated just as if they are part of this urban areas that we have that are that have easier and ready access. You know, i want to end where ive talked the other day and where ive ended so many of my talks and that is back to the people in alabama and the american people. I can assure you were doing a lot up here. I see my friend from alaska who is presiding here. I know shes been working. Ive watched her back here working the phones, talking to people. Everywhere i go where i do see senators and most of us are doing things by phone and remotely, everybody is working the phones back to their state to make sure we do the right things. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day this is about you. This is about the people of america because everyone in this country, everyone, to use a phrase from the old civil rights days in birmingham, alabama, everyone is a foot soldier in this movement. Everyone can do their part. We can put money, we can appropriate money, we can designate, we can give tax breaks, we can do those things necessary that we as a federal government can do but we cant stop the spread of this virus. A u. S. Senator cannot stop the spread of this virus. We can only stop it among ourselves. We cant stop it across this country. Only you can do that. Only the foot soldiers in america, the hundreds of millions of people that weve got in this country can stop the spread of the virus but heeding the warnings and doing the things necessary with social distancing and washing your hands. My hands are about raw, ive washed them so much. We are the foot soldiers. You are the foot soldiers. You can stop the spread. You know, the other day when i was here on the floor, i pulled out a picture of my old friend from my childhood, smoky the bear, talked about the fact you can prevent forest fires. The covid19 is a forest fire across the country. You can help stop the spread. Today i want to be a little bit more patriotic about it. I want to i want to invoke, you know, one of my heroes who used this desk at one point, john f. Kennedy. It was john f. Kennedy 59 years ago when he was sworn in as president of the United States, uttered the famous word that sent such an emotion throughout america, that really got so many in this country, patriotic, standing up for what we do when he said ask not what your country can do but what you can do for your country. Thats what every american has to ask themselves today. What can i do for my country . Its not like days where weve where weve got a tornado thats ripped through and you can go out and get a chainsaw and help your neighbor. Its not like days where a hurricane has come through and you can go get bottles of water and diapers and send to folks. What you can do for your country today is to stop the spread of this virus. What you can do for your country is to try to stay home as much as you can, to social distance and work those things. Thats what you can do for your country. And if you do that, yes, businesses are going to have problems. We know it. Thats what we are trying to work on. To make sure we provide that safety net, that we provide the necessary tools so that if we can blunt that curve and we can get past this, then we will come back even stronger. But to get there weve got to have you. Weve got to have you standing up and speaking out to everyone to do your part, to do those things necessary, to make sure you do for your country what you should be doing and help everyone in this country, help everyone around you. And when we do that, we will blunt this curve. We will make this as least severe as possible. And we will move forward stronger and better because at the end of the day, were the United States of america. Madam president , i yield th con. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to calendar number 157, h. R. 748. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk mot t