Debate. Phones on silent. Everybody have their phones on silent all right. Let me welcome all of you. Thank you for being here. This has been a group that has been in labor of intense ever intense. Bicameralbipartisan, group of people working diligently for the last 30 days trying to get to a conclusion and a framework. This is covid emergency relief. That is exactly what it is. You cannot hear me . Ok. Back off. Let me say that this is intense amount of work that the staffs has been doing for quite some time. Every senator, every congressperson here has been an enormous amount of time on this fund. This is a covid emergency relief framework. We have worked more on the best interest of what we believe is great for our country, our state and we can go home knowing that we have worked diligently to make sure that the unemployed, the Small Businesses, the state and local findings, student loan forbearance, everything is going to come to a halt in december because of the timing, that is not going to happen. Covid19 moreg fiercely now. It is inexcusable for us to leave town and not have an agreement that we can come together and not show that we can work, roy in a way that the senate and congress are on a bipartisan way. It is not the time for political brinkmanship. You will not see that here on this stage. We intend to move this forward after months of failing to act for one reason or another, we are not blaming anybody for why they have not come to an agreement. We know what is necessary right now in a timely fashion. Our bipartisan Bicameral Group has worked over the past month. We are pleased to present to you today a template or framework that was put together by senators and representatives from their respective caucuses. Our action to provide emergency relief is needed now more than ever before. The people need to know that we are not going to leave until we get something accomplished. This group has worked together diligently. Virginiaof west depends on it. Everyone in the country depends on it. This is going to get us through difficult times. We will run up to the end of the First Quarter, april 1, we hope we can get the relief needed. Without further ado, i will call on my dear friend Susan Collins for a few words. The charts are being printed and they will be here in a few minutes. We will come back and make sure and make sure you all get a handout before you leave. Susan . You. Collins thank i want to salute everyone who has joined us today. We have worked very hard to put together a 908 billion framework for covid relief. We have worked night and day throughout the thanksgiving recess because we recognize that families all across america are struggling, businesses are closing, hospitals are overwhelmed. As we deal with the second wave or third wave of this pandemic, it is absolutely essential that we passed emergency relief. I am particularly pleased that the package includes 228 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program that has helped keep our Small Businesses afloat and paying their employees, that is the most important part. Has helped sustain the jobs of 250,000 workers. This will be particularly helpful to those businesses that have received the first ppp loan that has kept them alive and paying their employees but find that they need additional thattance in particular, includes our restaurant and hospitality industry. Again, i want to thank all of my colleagues for their very hard work and it gives me great pleasure to introduce another leader in this effort, senator mark warner. Thank you, susan. Let me echo what has already been said, this 908 billion framework which will take us to march 31. There has been an enormous amount of work done. I want to thank the Senate Colleagues who have spent every day but thanksgiving either over pizza or pasta, at people is lisas. Ike there has been enormous give and take. I came to this with the notion that i had hearing from virginians and i borrowed the term that it would be stupidity on steroids if Congress Left for christmas without doing an interim package as a bridge. I think we have laid out that package which will appear. I want to touch on two items briefly. For all of us who live in the metro area, we saw an editorial today that short of some relief, metro will have to lay off close to 4000 workers over the coming walks months. It will end service at 9 00 every day. That will have a dramatic effect on the function of federal government and constituents across the tristate area. We made the right kind of investment in public transit. Secondly, susan has been the leader on this, support for Small Businesses. We have literally hundreds of thousands of Small Businesses across virginia that are struggling. We have seen those businesses that have been affected have been minority businesses. 440,000 blackowned businesses across america, literally destroying generations of wealth creation. In this package we have allocated 11 billion for cfis ands in cfi other institutions that will lend to these communities. Will offend some folks, we think it is a good framework and we are all committed to doing what it takes to get it done. With that, let me turn it over to somebody who has been a constant effort at bridging the gap, maybe that is because he is a doctor as opposed to the lawyers. That is our friend, bill cassidy. Sen. Cassidy thank you all. Today is a victory for the American People. It is a victory for common sense. It is a bipartisan, bicameral effort which creates a pathway forward to bring relief to the unemployed, the Small Business woman, businessman struggling to hang on, to the doctors and nurses on the front lines with a third wave of disease wondering if they are going to get the relief they need to effectively address this third wave. On a louisiana note, if the hospitality workers from the casinos down to the hotels of new orleans, for the recently laid off refinery workers, the oil and gas workers in the bayou and in lafayette parish, as a republican by the way, let me ,ay, republicans and democrats we almost got everything we wanted. Both of us got much of what we wanted. I think that combination reflects what congress is supposed to do. Reconciling different priorities what ultimately do something good for the people. As a republican i will say, it builds upon President Trumps commitment to get something done. And for my fellow republicans, if you care about the effort that President Trump and his administration made, you should support this bill. To give aor, i want shout out to the Problem Solvers Caucus on the house side, part of the larger no labels effort. My staff and i have a meeting with their staff and them for months on some of the policies contained here and the strategy to get it through, they have been fantastic partners, bicameral, bipartisan. I will conclude by saying once more, this is a victory for the American People, this is a victory for common sense. It gives me great pleasure to introduce one of those leaders in the Problem Solvers Caucus, josh gottheimer. [laughter] really funny. Excuse me. Today is a win for the American People, common sense, and problem solving. I am proud of the hard work at made this happen across the aisle and across the chamber. Im grateful to the senators with us and all the members of the house and Problem Solvers Caucus. I would like to thank the cochair of the caucus, tom reed and our covid team leaders, johnson, phillips, Abigail Spanberger, they are all here. Im grateful for them. The Problem Solvers Caucus proudly voted to endorse this package, meaning it has the support of 50 members of congress, 25 democrats and 25 republicans, who represent millions of families and businesses who need action. They want to get help and they are dead and tired of waiting for covid relief. Spiking,s fighting winter around the corner and Small Businesses closing every day, far too many families hurting right now, we cannot leave town and leave anyone in the cold without getting something done immediately. We cannot allow some to prioritize politics ahead of the pandemic. This package will help get us through the hardest months of winter and into a new administration. It is an essential down payment and what are communities need. This package is consistent with the values of the Problem Solvers Caucus and what we have been fighting for since the summer. It will help families across the country with unemployment, childcare, rental assistance and resources for all of those families who may be visiting food pantries for the first time. It includes investment for state and local governments of all sizes with revenue loss, covid19 expenditures, food insecurity, mass transit and education. Also getting a second round of ppe to Small Businesses and sure they will not be taxed on the first round and simplified forgiveness for loans of 150,000 or less. We are giving investments to our hospitals and frontline workers so we can continue working to keep our communities safe including more resources into the deployment of a vaccine and more testing and tracing. As was said, this was a heck of a down payment and what are country needs desperately. We all can agree america simply cannot wait any longer. I know that here in the greatest country in the world, working together as we are today, we can find light through this darkness. Thank you and god bless. And now introducing senator mitt romney. Sen. Romney thank you, congressman. Crisis andreated a in a crisis the people expect congress to act and this group has come together to propose action to respond to this crisis. We have people unemployed, businesses shutting down, states and localities getting ready for layoffs of large numbers, it is unacceptable for us not to respond in the circumstance. Hawk, i to be a deficit do not like borrowing money, i dont like spending money we dont have. The time to borrow money, may the only time to borrow money is when there is a crisis and this is a crisis. We want to help people at this time. We have come together and we have been very careful. This is not a 1. 8 trillion stimulus bill. This is a relief measure, half of that amount. 908 billion. Fund,d note that of that 560 billion is money repurposed from the first cares act so the amount of new money is actually 348 billion. I also make this note and that his Liability Protection is critical. You will see in the chart, if it ever gets here, that we did negotiate a liability provision that provides a temporary suspension of any liability related lawsuits at the state or federal level associated with covid, giving states enough time to put in place their own protections. Let me note, any state that does not put in place protections has not been thinking this through. If i were a ceo, i would never think about putting a new business in a state that did not have Liability Protection for covid. Utahstates already have, has. We are giving states the time to put in place their own provisions in a way they think is best to protect their businesses, schools, hospitals, universities, and to make sure the people are also protected. I am very pleased to be part of this effort. It has been a long and arduous process but one which i believe has great merit. With that, i am happy to introduce my fellow senator from New Hampshire, senator shaheen. Thank you. I am pleased to join my colleagues in the senate and the problem solvers folks from the house who are here to endorse a framework that we believe makes it possible for us to move forward to provide emergency aid to the people who are hurting in this country. To date we have lost almost a quarter million americans to covid. Over 13 million americans have been affected in some way. As i traveled around New Hampshire, what i heard everywhere i went was that people were hurting and they need help. Whether it is the Small Business people, those unemployed, cities and towns who are worried about laying off frontline workers, hospitals who are in financial distress, they need help from the federal government and we are here to say we think there is a pathway to an agreement that can provide that help for a temporary period. Number of my is, calls have talked about this being a victory, if we passed it, it is a victory. This is step one. We have a lot of steps going forward. To provide help for people in need, that is why we are here and that is why what we try to get done and i am pleased to be part of this effort. Representative read is here reed is here. I do not need the school, thank you. Thank you and thank you to the senators for such great work. I wanted to take a moment to thank the leadership of the Problem Solvers Caucus that worked on this effort. I wanted to specifically recognize Abigail Spanberger from virginia, phillips from minnesota, dusty johnson from south dakota, my good friend jersey,theimer from new Anthony Gonzalez from ohio. We worked tirelessly with arsenic partners our Senate Partners to bring together a proposal based on the principles of the Problem Solvers Caucus. We are proud republicans, proud democrats, proud house of representative members and proud senators. At the end of the day, we are fundamentally first and foremost proud americans and our job here in this great capital and in the dome is to listen to the American People and the American People are suffering. It is time to deliver these results for them. It is time for this package of 908 billion of emergency relief that just got delivered from the printer [laughter] to be delivered to the American People. I cannot think of a better time than the Christmas Holiday to honor the call of the American People, listen to that voice, and just ask those in these chambers and the 50 members of the Problem Solvers Caucus to pass this bill and join us and get it to the finish line it to law for the people who are suffering. With that, i would love to introduce a good friend who has become a very good friend during this process, senator king. Well, as everyone else has, i want to thank the people who are standing here for the work that theyve done. Its a remarkable moment when you have members of both parties, both houses, an independent, all standing here talking about moving the country forward. This is an opportunity. Its first and foremost an opportunity for the American People to have some relief for this horrible pandemic that has struck our people so in such a devastating way. In every state, in virtually every community in the country. Its an opportunity to deal with the principle issues. Not every issue, not every comprehensive thing that various people have proposed, but what we have tried to do as you can see from the chart is to talk about people, talk about people who are unemployed, Small Businesses that are struggling, those lines that youve seen on television at food banks. Theres a substantial amount of nutritional support in this report. Frontline workers and communities across the country whose jobs are in danger because of the shortage of funds for state and local communities. So this is an opportunity for the American People to have relief. It is also a profound opportunity for this institution to show the American People that we are able to rise to the occasion, that we are able to respond to a crisis, that were able to respond in a way that is not partisan, that is not political, but is simply aimed at dealing with this catastrophe that has struck the American People. Im delighted to be here, to join my colleagues. Modesty forces me to mention, however, that a disproportionate number of the senators here are from northern new england. Two from maine, two from New Hampshire. So, you know, for what its worth, i thought id mention it. Thats ok. But seriously and i particularly want to thank the members of the house to have the 50 members of the Problem Solvers Caucus support this gives it a huge head start. And a huge amount of credibility, both in both houses, and in the country. So i want to thank everyone for their work on this. For their willingness to come together. For their willingness to make concessions. For their willingness to try to solve problems. Thank you all, and we look forward to the next steps over the next week, or so, in the congress, to turn this the beginning, the first step as Jeanne Shaheen said into the reality of relief for the American People. And i want to call on my good friend from alaska, the bookend of the other bookend of the united states, maine and alaska, lisa murkowski. Thank you for acknowledging the other side of the country. I am, indeed, very pleased and honored to have been working with an Exceptional Group of senators and working with colleagues in the house to respond to the crisis at hand. I think its important as we look to not only the men and women that are assembled here, but recognizing who we represent, where we come from, and what has happened in our parts of the country. In my home state this morning at 8 00 in anchorage, we are going into our third round of hunker down. Basically were shutting down the businesses, the restaurants, the bars, the hair salons, the gyms, basically what happens in a daytoday life for the people of anchorage. And what that then means to them. Theyre going into a pretty dark and cold time of year, with job loss, with insecurity as it relates to food, with insecurity as it relates to not only their schools and their jobs, but whether or not theyre going to be able to stay in their home. Our response, our responsibility is to come together, not as republicans coming up with a plan, not as democrats coming up with a counterplan, but coming up with a proposal that will provide for targeted emergency relief. And its been said that this is not what everybody would wish. People are going to look at these buckets and theyre going to say, well, wait a minute, my bucket isnt there, or my bucket is only half full. Well, this is this is emergency relief. This is designed to get us through this next quarter. We know that we have more to do. But we cannot leave. We cannot abandon the American People, the families who are suffering at this time, and waiting and begging for congress to act. So today, a solution, a proposal to move us forward is what we have in front of us. What we need now is more than this tight group of friends that have spent thanksgiving holiday together by phone. We need more to come together to act to provide the relief for the country that is needed. Im pleased to turn to my colleague, once again, from the other side of the country, senator hassan. Thank you, senator murkowski, and it is great to be here with my colleagues in the senate and the house. Republicans, democrats and, yes, an independent. It is extraordinarily american to have strong opinions and vigorous disagreements. Thats what we all sometimes bring to this work. But it is equally american to come together after the arguments and find a way forward, to unite around the common purpose and to remember that when america unites there is nothing we cant do. And we are in a moment where we are hearing from our constituents from all walks of life about the importance of coming together to get people the relief they need, to get through this winter at a time when we are seeing cases spike, hospital beds full, our frontline workers especially in Health Care Facilities exhausted, frazzled, and worried that somebody will come in for care and there will not be room for them, and they will not be able to do the jobs that they are trained to do. We are at a time when a Restaurant Owner in New Hampshire have the guts and determination this summer as our case loads were going down and everybody was outside to open up a new restaurant, who said to me at the same time, senator, please dont forget that its going to get cold in a couple of months and were not going to have all of this outside dining. And people arent going to come in and our businesses are going to suffer, and even successful restaurateurs like me are going to have difficulty. You need to do something. The weekend before thanksgiving i was up in a very small town in the Mount Washington valley to help distribute thanksgiving food boxes and packages in an outside Food Distribution center. None of the volunteers that identified as republican or democrat to me. They were just neighbors trying to make sure their neighbors had what they needed to get through the next couple of weeks. And one of the things that stuck with me was one of the organizers of the food drive said to me, senator, please dont judge the people who come here by the cars they were driving. They came up in cars, the food was being handed out. He said, we go out of our way to keep the clients confidentiality because people are proud and they have never been in a food line before. And he said, you cant judge them by the car theyre driving because this pandemic has hit everybody in unexpected ways. I think thats what we need to remember right now as we come together to do the will of the American People. This pandemic has hit everybody in unexpected ways and our job is to come together, in congress and as a people to make sure that we can get through some very dark days ahead with the understanding and hope that were going to get through this pandemic and be stronger on the other side. Thanks, all. Let me just say that the charts have arrived. Were happy about that. I want to reiterate everything thats been said here because i can tell you, we have an awful lot of our colleagues, not just in the senate and not just in our respective caucuses of democratic and republican, that have a deep, deep desire of getting something done and get something done before we leave. This is just a Representative Group that we have here. I know congress has many mores many more in congress both on the democrat and republican caucuses, that have a desire to get something accomplished. This is a framework, as you can see. We have tried to address every need of the neediest in our country. And all of our states have it. You can see the categories weve gone over. Well be working diligently now to put something together as quickly as possible. I remind you that basically within the next two to three weeks people start losing that life line. And no fault of their own. Were going through the most difficult time i believe weve ever, ever had in this covid pandemic, and thats the next quarter. The First Quarter of next year. With that well open it up for questions. You can ask yeah, real quick. Sometimes an image is better than what people say. Im standing back here, and i saw a bunch of mardi gras beads. Mardi gras is canceled in new orleans. Im told theyre considering canceling in mobile. Think about how many people make their living off of that threemonth period of parades. Thats when our unemployment lists for. By the way, its not just the person who has the airbnb shes invested in new orleans, its the airline folks sending people into new orleans. Its the seafood folks, the lobster people shipping it down to louisiana in our wonderful restaurants. Did i mention k. Pauls closed its doors forever . If you will, this is almost a metaphor for what were talking about. Mardi gras is canceled. We must do something to support those folks whose livelihood has been at least temporarily destroyed. Go ahead. Senator, how quickly do you want to move here . When could we see a bill thats ready for a vote . Well, well weve worked diligently on that and we would have one ready very soon. I mean, we can put one together. We have to do something before the next two weeks. We have to. Have you gotten any assurances from Speaker Pelosi or leader mcconnell they will put this on the house and Senate Floors for a vote . We have not had assurances from them on that for a vote, but i think the American People will put the pressure, showing there is a group of us coming together at this needs to be done. This is the only group thats made an effort. This is the only group thats come together in such a large gathering, and many more people involved. So, we know the needs there. Were determined not to go home until we do something. Its up to them to work with us. We want to work with them. If they have other priorities, please let us know, but right now we think weve covered an awful lot of areas of concern. Ill go here and back here. [indiscernible] does somebody want to speak about the white house . I would not be the best person to speak on that. Mitt, do you want to speak on that, mitt . [laughter] i wish i were there, but thats [laughter] we have communicated with secretary mnuchin about our negotiations. He has not waited on if he agrees or disagrees. He has offered advice in terms of figures. We have wondered for instance what was the right number for airlines, what did they need, what do Bus Companies need and so forth. He provided some of the information for some of the negotiations he had with Speaker Pelosi, but i do have any prediction on how the white house would react. We also communicated with the Majority Leaders Office with what were working on. But neither has described whether they would support or not support what weve put together. Let me just say one thing. Minority leader schumer is also being kept up to speed on this. And with that, hes encouraged for us to continue to work in a bipartisan way, bicameral way to come to an agreement. Im not going to speak to the omnibus bill. Weve been in touch with our leadership as well mask off, please. Sorry. Weve been in touch with our leadership as well in the house. I know tom has as well, on the republican side. And i think whats critically important, were hearing from members across the spectrum they want to get something done before we go home and i think that pressure is really going to get this to the floor for a vote. Senator collins has to preside. We want to thank her. Yes maam . Do you think democratic leadership has been too rigid in their 2 trillion demand for legislation . And on the republican side, is Liability Insurance demand, is that were not putting blame anywhere. Basically, we know they all have theres a much need out there. The needs been identified by so many different organizations, from all economists, to every organization that has put something out there. Weve hit a spot to where we know can give us emergency relief. Thats all this is about. Emergency relief going through the First Quarter, which ends on april 1. President elect biden will be coming in. Hell be able to determine if theres more that needs to be done. This is an emergency that gets us through from this holiday season. People that are losing in december. And we just cant leave without that being addressed. Thats do you have buyin from team biden and the president elect . I think team biden has been buying in, we need to do something. Youve seen that publicly. Something has to be done. To get a big package or whatever that may be, this is an emergency package which i think theyd be very pleased with. I dont know for sure. [indiscernible] do you know anything about that . I have to rush back to a Banking Committee hearing where secretary mnuchin is appearing. Ive had a number of conversations with secretary mnuchin and i note in a number of these areas hes not saying anything for the administration but hes helped us drill down on some of these numbers. A lot of work has been put into this. Were working diligently to have a bill ready as quickly as possible. Unemployment 300 a week . Oh, yeah, you saw the unemployment, right . Per week . Let me make sure you understand. Well go down the chart real quick. You have state, local and tribal governments, 160. You have additional unemployment insurance, thats 300 for 18 weeks, 10 billion a week, thats 180 billion. That includes gig workers. That includes all the gig workers and everybody we covered under the first cares act. Retro active december 1 if we dont get it done the first or second week of december. And Everything Else as far as the money we have for Paycheck Protection Program, and you see idle restaurant stages, deductibility, everything weve been trying to make sure we didnt miss anyone. Transportation, airlines, airports, buses, amtrak, vaccine development, distribution, testing and tracing and thats going on now. If more is needed there, well make sure theres enough sufficient amount to take care of that. Health care provider relief fund, our hospitals, especially rural hospitals, we have said aside rules so they dont get left behind. Education, we have a tremendous need in education. Student loans, forbearance on student loan. Housing assistance and rental. We know what theyre going through there. And nutrition, feeding people that dont qualify for snap. Feeding people you see in line now, not judging them by the cars they drive but the mouths they need to feed. We are looking at everything we have. Childcare. Broadband is a tremendous challenge for all of us, and opiate addiction is rampant in my state. Unbelievable is happening. We hit everything there be knowledge it has to be one of the things we consider and do it right. I want to thank all of you. You can ask any questions you want. Some of us will hang around. Thank you, all. Thank you very much. [crowd talking] i did not know what they were doing down there. Thank you so much. Have a good time. Senate leaders are holding back to back news briefings this afternoon. Live coverage starting at 2 00 p. M. Eastern when Mitch Mcconnell comes out to talk to orders. He will be followed at about 2 45 eastern chuck schumer. Coming up this afternoon, a discussion on fiscal policy under the incoming biden administration. The Brookings Institution is the host. Watch live after the briefing with senator schumer. Also watch all these live events online at cspan. Org, or listen live on the free cspan radio app. Youru are watching cspan, unfiltered view of government. Created by americas Cable Television companies as a public service. And brought to you today by your television provider. Host we are going to talk about the Social Security program with the president of Social Security works, nancy altman. Works Social Security and how are you funded . Guest we are a Nonprofit Organization that is designed and determined to protect and expand Social Security. Comes from income small contributions online. We also have some Foundation Money as well. Host it is the end of the year and the end of a