The senate is in the personnel business and the house is not. We are working diligently on getting nominations out of committee. That are important for the country, that have been languishing for six weeks. Oversight is beginning already. Senator alexander is going to have dr. Fauci and others before his committee next week, related to the coronavirus epidemic that we are all working our way through. We will continue to discuss with the administration a way forward. I know that many people are asking for additional legislation. I think i can speak for our conference by saying, we are not ruling that out, but if i could pause here do a good job of evaluating will we have already done. It was encouraging yesterday that the secretary of the treasury issued a guidance that provides some flexibility on the state and local front, where we 150already allocated billion. So with that, let me yield. Thank, leader. I think the leader covered well what the senate is doing. Obviously to the past several iterations of relief, done a lot of coronavirus legislation, much of which is now being implemented. I think part of our job is to make sure it gets implemented in the right way. And so a lot of our committees will be conducting oversight hearings and looking at various aspects, not only the health care aspect but economic aspect of it. I think that is critical work for the senate to be involved with. As the leader mentioned, the Important Role the senate has constitutionally of advise and consent when it comes to executive branch nominees. There are critical ones in National Security roles that we need to be dealing with and confirming here. That will occupy a good amount of the senates time as we had forward. It is important, based on what has already been done and the fact that we have flooded the zone with about 2. 7 trillion in assistance, that we look at what is working and what is not working and get a good evaluation, assessment, push the pause button. There is going to be a lot of interest among democrats about new spending programs, much of which they have already delineated. I think it is important for us to take a pause, look at what is working and what is not working and make sure we are getting a good maximum return on the taxpayer investment and at the programs we have already authorized and funded are having the desired effect. Those are things were going to be working on in the days and weeks ahead. I would also say that one of the issues that is personal for many of us in the midwest is the issue of securing the Food Supply Chain. We had a number of packing plants across the country that have closed up. I think it is critical that we work in a way that provides safety for workers, but in a way that allows these critical chains, Critical Links in our Food Supply Chain to get up and working again. So im going to be supporting our producers, our farmers and ranchers of south dakota and trying to strike the balance that is important for people who go shopping, that the critical Food Supplies are there. I will yield to senator barrasso. Senator barrasso the senate is here working. The house has decided to stay at home. We think there is important work to be done on behalf of the american people. There are 30 million americans out of work right now. The senate has an obligation, a responsibility to be here. When you listen to nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, you will see they are almost trying to exploit the situation. You look at their list of liberal demands, it reads like a ransom note. They have already held hostage momandpop Small Businesses by blocking the paycheck protection plan, the refunding of that for over a week. What republicans want to do is get moms and dads back to work. They want to get momandpop Small Businesses to be able to stay viable so they can open again, as states are beginning to reopen. To me, any additional funding needs to be targeted, temporary, and focusing on the men and women in this country and getting them back to work. There is no place at all, in my opinion, for a blank check or bailout for the things the democrats are talking about. I think in both the fight for the economy and the fight against the virus, time matters. What we have tried to do in the cares act and the followup of the cares act is to create incentives to speed up everything we can speed up. Whether it is the shark tank, the idea that we put in our bill with senator alexander and senator shelby very involved in that coming up with the idea that people bring concepts to, as far along as they can get them, on diagnostics and other things. Then, the shark tank will try to figure out the handful that are more likely to work than not. Fastforward as much as we could the idea to get it into production. The white house, with their warp speed on vaccine bringing the same concept and i said at the lunch today to our members that with this concept, if some of the things we advance into production, underwritten by the federal government dont fail, we are not trying hard enough. That the whole idea is to try to buy time, to move forward a couple of steps beyond what you would normally be and because you would do that, you would have vaccine, an easy to take and quick responding test 30 to 60 days sooner than if you had done this the traditional way. If we do that on all of these fronts, on testing, on therapeutics, on vaccine, hopefully in all three cases, we will get we want to get quicker than we would otherwise get there and believe me, whatever we invest in that will be worth it if we are successful in buying that time in the fight against the virus and for the economy. 99 of iowas businesses are Small Businesses. As a member of the Small Business committee, the Paycheck Protection Program was very very important to me. I worked quite heavily on that program, and we have seen Great Success in iowa. The first round of funding that was available, we saw over 30,000 loans for Small Businesses in iowa approved at about 7. 3 billion. The second round of funding, which was delayed by the democrats for almost one week, we have seen iowans take advantage of that program to the tune of 20,000 loans. We have seen Great Success with that program. We are very glad to have it in place. I have heard from a number of those Small Businesses that are still out there supporting their employees because of the program. One of those is Grace United Methodist Church in glenwood, iowa. Because of that program, they have been able to keep their employees paid. They have paid their mortgage interest with that loan. I have also from other organizations like Iowa Behavioral Health association. They have been able to keep their Staff Members on board, to keep their doors open and to make sure they are supporting iowans who really need Mental Health support. Overall, it has been a very Successful Program for iowa. I would also stress that as we move forward, we need to continue to support those Small Business activities in our recovery. I am proud to say that as iowans, were going to pull through this. I would just encourage everyone to remember, we do have folks out there that do need folks checking in on them. Whether they have Mental Health concerns, or they are an elderly neighbor, we need folks to remember to please reach out to them and check on them during this tough time. But overall, we are going to get through this, we just need to stay safe and stay strong. Over the last six weeks, i have had the opportunity to connect to roughly 22,000 hoosiers. This of course is an anxious time. This is a time when people want their Public Officials to be accessible. And we have listened. We have done a lot of listening, a lot of information sharing. The thing i have most consistently heard is that the Paycheck Protection Program was the right program at the right time. I know we will have important conversations in coming days and weeks about our next steps in washington. But we know in the state of indiana, this program has worked. To date, hoosiers have received roughly 10 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans. That will enormously benefit and is enormously benefiting rank and file hoosier workers and their employers. Disproportionately smaller employers. I thought i would give you a sampling of some of these businesses. Troyer products is a manufacturing enterprise located in elkhart. They were able to keep 21 employees on their team. Families first, in indianapolis nonprofit that provides Mental Health counseling and other services to at risk individuals, they received a loan. A medical device distributor in n valparaiso saw sales fall 90 when elective procedures were put on hold. Ppp helped them keep all of their employees. A Financial Services firm in indianapolis with 80 employees went forward with their plans to hire eight College Graduates thanks to assurance that they had with ppp. Immanuel Lutheran Church loan thata lo that enabled them to keep their church staff and make sure their important childcare staff was attended to and taking care of. Lastly, a business in noblesville that employs eight people changed hands on february 15. That was the cutoff date you will recall for the ppp program. They were denied a ppp loan, they got in touch with our office and we worked with the Small Business administration and we were able to help them resolve the issue to ensure their employees got paid and were made whole. So the bottom line is, this program has worked. I am proud of my colleagues on the Small Business committee that have worked with me and others to develop this program. I am proud we got it done expeditiously and took care of our Front Line Health Care workers. We will continue to be responsive to the needs of hoosiers and all americans and very thoughtful as we consider potentially spending more resources here until we get to the other side of this virus. Based on the information you have seen so far, where did the Novel Coronavirus originate . Sen. Mcconnell based on conditions i have seen so far . Placed on the evidence, where did the Novel Coronavirus originate . Was it in a lab . In the wild . Sen. Schumer i dont think we know, other than we know it was in china. I think the lack of chinese transparency is the real story. It clearly exacerbated the problem, and made distribution around the world dramatically more likely. The president says there is tremendous evidence that it originated in a chinese lab. Have you seen any . Sen. Schumer we know it originated in china and her lack we know that their lack of transparency certainly contributed to it spreading around the world at warp speed. The chinese system clearly failed by not warning the rest of the world what was happening. There is a question, the president has said that he sees the payroll tax cut as a redline for him in the next round of negotiation. Do you see it that way as well . Sen. Mcconnell we have had a lot of discussions about suggestions from the administration and the democrats. I can safely say from our team, the republican senate, if there is any red line, it is on litigation. The litigation epidemic has already begun. As of the end of last week, one report had it at 771 lawsuits had already been filed. This is going to impact our ability to get back to work. And so we are working on a narrowly crafted Liability Protection to target healthcare workers and others who have been on the front lines here, with something brandnew that people were unclear with how to deal with. It will not protect someone from gross negligence, but narrowly crafted, to keep us from having an epidemic of lawsuits, which has already begun, which will dramatically slow our efforts to get back to normal. And we know we have to get the economy up and running and the baby steps are being taken in various states around the country already. What should congress do, assuming the paycheck protection money runs out . You urged taking a bit of a pause. Does that mean youre willing to see there would be no money in the ppp for some time . While you consider the next bill . Sen. Mcconnell all i can safely say is that we are monitoring the developments on a daily basis on all fronts. For those who have been anxious to do additional state and local , treasury guidance has already provided some more flexibility for the money we have sent out to state governments. Was reminding us at lunch that the fed is setting up a new facility related to state and local government. So we have a brandnew program. Senator thune pointed out. We spent roughly 2. 8 trillion. We want to measure its effectiveness on virtually a daily basis. I am not ruling anything in or out except to say if there is another bill that passes in the senate, it will include Liability Protections. The house leadership is indicating they will move forward with their own bill as soon as next week. The speaker is talking about state and local funding in the trillion dollar range. Would you rule out the Senate Taking up another bill of the size of the cares act . Is that not going to be possible . Sen. Mcconnell you all know i am pretty good at staying on message. Were going to look at this on a daily basis and react to the needs that need to be met. And look at mistakes we have made in the previous legislation and think about correcting them. I dont think there is a particular sentiment among Senate Republicans for a vast new rescue package for state and local, before we figure out exactly how the previous money we have allocated for state and locals are. The way that you pass a law, it pass the house, past the senate and signed by the president. The senate and president are not irrelevant in the process. Were going to keep talking to each other and decide to act when and if it is appropriate to act again. You said mistakes need to be corrected. Which mistakes . Sen. Mcconnell im sorry . You said mistakes from the previous bill need to be corrected which mistakes were first. You referring to . Sen. Mcconnell i think every day we are looking at adjustments. The treasury is trying to make adjustments on their own. Some may require legislative activity. We have heard from a lot of the governors who would like to add more flexibility to use the money we have already sent them. We are looking at that. So, i am not going to make any big predictions about what happens here in the future. We may act again. And if we do, it will be because we are taking a measured response first to what we have already done. And then we will see whether we need to do a lot more. Thanks a lot. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its
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