Here on a saturday which is not typical for the United States senate, but these are not typical times. More than a month before cases popped up in every state across the country, some of the first coronavirus patients who were evacuated from china arrived in san antonio, texas. They were quarantined at Lackland Air Force base and treated by the dedicated Health Professionals there. At that point things looked a lot different. Outside of those evacuees, known texans were known to have acquired the coronavirus and for the most port the virus didnt impact peoples daily lives. Theyd see updates on the news about the growing number of cases in china, read about the people being evacuated from cruise ships and other countries. But there was no evidence the disease was spreading through our communities. Schools were filled with children, restaurants with customers, and arenas with sports fans. But as we know now, it didnt take long before the situation took a quick turn. Once new cases began popping up, it was clear that our communities were exposed. Over the last few weeks, the virus has spread across the country and our Health Officials and Community Leaders have taken every precaution to keep their people safe. Theyve canceled inperson classes, emptied office buildings, called off large events, and encouraged folks to stay home and avoid close contact with others. On thursday in texas, Governor Abbott issued an executive order adopting the standards set out by the president and the center for Disease Control to further slow the spread across the entire state. Among other measures, this executive order closed schools, required all restaurants, bars, and food courts to put a stop to dinein options. They have to move to drive through or carryout Delivery Service only. I believe these precautions are in the best interest of the Public Health. Certainly we hope they dont have to last long but they are necessary now, and i want to thank the governor for taking these steps in the interest of public safety. As cities across the state and across the country have taken similar precautions, weve seen the economic consequences that these difficult decisions have brought about. Our local restaurants, hardware stores, gyms dont have the money to keep paying their employees wages and expenses without anything coming in the front door. Through no fault of their own, many of these businesses suddenly find themselves without customers to serve. But the bills are still coming in. Expenses continue to pile up, things like rent, utilities, other things you cant avoid even if youre not paying payroll. And then there are the employees wondering how long theyre going to have to be off the job and how long before theyre able to apply for Unemployment Compensation or otherwise pay for their expenses. This is different from any crisis since ive been in the senate. I got here shortly after 9 11. We know what that was like. About a trillion dollar hit to our economy. Obviously it was a National Security incident. 3,000 americans killed here in the United States. And that started the war on terror which weve been fighting ever since. 2008, the great economic meltdown on wall street because of all of these exotic mortgage products that the banking and mortgage industry had created. We remember what happened there. Unfortunately it became necessary for us to take extraordinary measures to help the very same industry that caused the problem back in 2008 as distasteful as that was, i believe it was in the best interest of the country and our ability to recover from that disaster. This is different. Nobody in in country caused this problem. We were we are all equally victims of this virus. And so i think as we look at how we should respond to this epidemic or pandemic as now its been called because its global in nature, i think we need to look at how we can target the help to the people who need it the most in order to bridge this gap between a lack of paycheck, unavailability of unemployment insurance, ho how do businesses small and large burn through their cash or reserves but still stay alive so that they can rehire the same people theyve laid off once this crisis passes. Because what im hoping happens is that after this crisis passes that we learn some important lessons, things about the supply chain for our medication, supply chain for medical equipment and the like. And what we need to do to protect ourselves and the rest of the globe against pandemics like this. Because there has been in my lifetime nothing quite like this in terms of the fear its enjenner engendered and the reaction of both the markets and economy and Public Health concerns. So we need to learn the important lessons from that. In the interim, we need to do everything we can to lend a helping hand to those who need our help. The senate has already passed two bills as part of what we all know will be a long recovery process. The first focused primarily on our Public Health system by sending vital funding to health care providers, investing in the development of vaccines, possible treatments, and more diagnostic tests. Something i hear from my governor and our local officials, something they need the most, they ask me about the most is testing. So most people who develop symptoms, they can figure out is this the seasonal flu, allergies, something else, or is this the covid19 virus . Because if its the covid19 virus, they need to be isolated either at home under the watchful eye of their Health Care Professional or in some cases if they become seriously ill, if their breathing becomes compromised, they need to go to the hospital. So the first bill focused primarily on the health care aspects. The second bill that we passed signed by the president just a few days ago i think it was on thursday focused more on the Small Businesses and individual workers who have been impacted. And of course as we all know, were now working on the third installment. We dont know how many installments will be required, how many chapters are in this book that were in the process of writing. But we know that this is important and its important we act with effectiveness but speed at the same time. This is the largest of the bills so far. Were talking about amounts of money that stagger my imagination. But i believe this emergency requires bold action to address this pandemic from every angle possible. As i said, once this passes, we need to learn the lessons that this virus is trying to teach us and to make sure we never find ourselves in this sort of vulnerable position again. But in the meantime weve got other work to do. As the leader has previously outlined, the coronavirus aid relief and Economic Security act, acronym is cares act, will take action on four major priorities. Well see for people through no fault of their own dont have any money coming in, direct financial aid, something many of us never would have contemplated under nonemergency circumstances. Of course, relief for the Small Businesses i mentioned, people like the restaurants, hotels and others. They have no customers because their business is shut. Again, not through any fault of their own but because by order of their governor or local government official, for Public Health purposes, they are shut down so we need to find a way to throw a life line to those Small Businesses. Then i believe for those large employers that hire tens, maybe hundreds of thousands, probably millions of americans, we need to find a way to help them obtain loans that they will pay back with interest but will bridge this period of time while theyre burning cash and wondering will i still be around, will i still be viable as a business once this crisis passes. Because what we need to happen is once we defeat this virus, we need to make sure that america goes back to work and our economy which was incredibly strong until this virus hit is restored. And im hopeful that some of the projections that weve seen by people like j. P. Morgan and others which unfortunately show a dramatically negative impact of the virus during the first and Second Quarter, Second Quarter probably be the worst, we need to make sure this is a vshape recovery. In other words, when we hit bottom, we need to make sure our economy bounces back and that means these businesses need to remain intact and they need to be prepared to rehire their employees if theyve laid them off. And we need to make sure that our economy is restored by a rapid recovery. Thats why i think this bill is so important. And of course the fourth is more support for our Health Care Professionals. On the first point direct aid, we know many workers have lost their jobs or had their hours seriously cut down. As we all know, thats especially true for the service and Hospitality Industries which have been the hardest hit. Think about your local waiter, somebody working for tips, somebody working for hourly wa wage, bartenders, hairdressers, house keepers, the ones who only a few weeks ago had jobs and steady paychecks and are now without any income with which to sustain themselves or their families. Theyre wondering how theyre going to pay the rent before the first of the month, cover their electric bill, buy groceries to feed their family and keep things afloat until life returns to normal. Were working to get that money into the hands of texans and americans who need help now as fast and efficiently, effectively as possible. No paperwork to fill out, just direct aid from washington to middle class americans. Again something i never would have contemplated in a nonemergency situation, but i think under in situation under this situation, we need to act quickly and we need to act effectively to get money into the hands of those who through no fault of their own dont have any money coming in. This could help cover expenses while their income is short, perhaps provide a little extra stability and inject a little extra money into our economy when its desperately needed. On Small Businesses other than the ones ive mentioned, ive heard from a number of them who are worried they wont be able to weather the storm without significant and immediate Financial Assistance in some form. Well, with this legislation it would provide new Small Business interruption loans through their local financial institutions, the banks, their Credit Unions. These businesses can turn to those banks and Credit Unions and whoever their preferred lender might be for a federallybacked Small Business administration loan. Qualifying businesses can use this money to cover the rent and core expenses and payroll. In fact, thats what we want them to do. We want them to continue to keep their employees on the payroll if they can so as soon as people start showing up again to patronize their business, we can see the economy take off as these people are restored to their former jobs. Were hoping to minimize the disruption that this virus will have for our main street businesses and do as much as possible to avoid layoffs. But we also need Financial Assistance, i would call it Economic Stabilization for some of the largest employers in the country, including our airlines that our economy depends upon. Now, i said loans because this money will be repaid. Those people who claim that somehow we are bailing out large american corporations, thats not what were proposing here. Were not giving companies a free pass for their own bad decisions. Again nobody here in america contributed to this condition we find ourselves in. That was the virus that emanated in wuhan province in china. But if were going to have any chance of rebounding in the long term, weve got to ensure that these businesses can survive. No American Business from your local Sandwich Shop to a Major Airline asked for or expected this turmoil and needs our support now. Well, the final pillar of this bill will hit at the causes of this crisis, the virus itself. Supporting our Health Care Professionals and First Responders and ensuring they have the resources and equipment they need is priority number one. We also need to continue investing in the development of a vaccine, although we know that will take months. In the interim, possible treatments, including drugs that are already on the market that are being tested by the food and Drug Administration to see whether this new application combating the correspondent rowia had the 19 virus is safe and effective for people to take and of course more testing and diagnostics. One of the things that distinguishes america from the rest of the world is not only how resilient we are but how quickly we innovate our way out of problems. As the presiding officer knows, we were just a at a meeting where senator alexander from the health, education, labor, and pensions committee, the chairman, said that soon he anticipated that the a new f. D. A. Approved testing kit for the coronavirus will be widely available. And so people now who dont cant get access to the test will be able to use the test based on advice from their medical provider and gain the confidence of knowing, hey, im negative. I dont have anything to worry about personally. What i need to do is to continue to do what the center for Disease Control told us all we need to do, which is to maintain good personal hygiene and social distancing, a new phrase that weve all become acquainted with. But as long as youre negative and you do those things, then youre likely going to be healthy and not be affected directly by this virus. So thats one of the things that is happening in realtime now, development of the new test, the proliferation of these inexpensive and quick testing will allow for not only people who are positive to be identified so they can be treated either at home or in a health care facility, and the truth is, most of us, if youre otherwise healthy, if you get the coronavirus, you may experience some minor symptoms. One of the biggest concerns is people who got the virus and are asymptomatic or presymptomatic and whether theyre affecting other people. But for most of us youll be nine after you recover. But you need to be isolated so you dont infect others. And some people, particularly the elderly and people with comorbidities, underlying illnesses or medical conditions, who are the most vulnerable, some of them will have to be hospitalized for sure. So we this is one of those allhandsondeck moments, unlike ive ever experienced before in my service in the senate. But i appreciate the response from the administration and the president on down. I appreciate the Cooperation Among our colleagues here whove worked to prepare not only the initial proposal but who are working now on a bipartisan basis to come up with a package that we can vote on quickly. And i hope negotiations with our democratic colleagues will move smoothly and meet the majority leaders target of having a package that we can vote on on monday. Will this be the last bill we pass relative to this crisis . I doubt it. But we dont know for sure, because that, i think, is what is driving so much of the volatility in the markets and the uncertainty and fear that some people feel is its the unknown. So as we work our way through this, well be able to adapt additional legislation, if required, to meet with the needs at that time. As i said, this has been a moving target. But i appreciate the cooperation weve seen so far. I think, as we all realize, theres some things that transcend politics. Every time weve had a national crisis, this one included, i think its all called the better angels of our nature and resulted in our ability to Work Together to produce our best efforts to help address the crisis, to solve the problem, and to help the american people. Each day we waste debating this bill further by talking about other ideological goals that people want to accomplish and take advantage of this emergency to try to pass things that are unrelated to dealing with the virus, every day we waste with those sorts is of things is a day that our health care providers, Small Businesses, and constituents are spending without the help they need and deserve. So, mr. President , the time to act is now. Theres no question that this pandemic will have a Lasting Impact on our country. I believe one of the things we need to do is figure out how we can prevent this sort of thing from happening ever again. But i believe a major investment by our government will now allow us to weather the storm together and to come out with the best possible result on the other side. Mr. President , i yield the. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Barrasso thank you, mr. President. I come to the floor today to provide an update on the bold, bipartisan action that congress is now taking to respond to the pandemic that we have with the coronavirus. First, we are all deeply saddened by the loss of life due to the outbreak here in this country and globally. I know, mr. President , it has affected your state in terms of disease as well as death. In my state, disease not yet death and were hoping to prevent that. But all of us remain very concerned about the great loss of life and the suffering that is happening as a result of this. These are extraordinary times. We are
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