Everyone here . Thank you for joining us. And im proud to be joined by my colleagues who are here for leading the charge to help deal with this crisis. And get the support they need to whether the Public Health crisis. So Senate Democrats today are introducing a series of measures congress can take up to provide immediate relief and Economic Relief to working americans during the coronavirus outbreak. We are just appalled at the administration really has had no plan. Here we are, its close to two months since we first knew about coronavirus. They have all kinds of problems obviously with testing. They also have not come up with a plan to help peoplewho need help. We believe the help should be aimed at people, not corporations. We believe the health should be targeted at the people who have suffered from this coronavirus problem. The directly or indirectly. We dont think they should just throw money out of an airplane and hope some of it lands on the people who are affected. So we have targeted our relief. We make it, its aimed at people, not at big corporations. Not some kind of general longterm economic plan that the president might want other purposes. It seems the president s seems to be more worried about the health of the big help americans. It seems the president is more eager to help the Oil Companies and help the person who lost his job because of corona. We dont believe that works. So the administration is proposing tax cuts and bailouts for the airline industry, the oil and gas industry. Thats just out of touch. The bottom line, we need to put people first so what we are proposing today is in two parts. One goes to the immediate needs of people who are suffering from this illness, directly or indirectly. The second goes to the kind of Economic Relief which could be dealt with a little further down the road. That can help get our economy going but it is targeted and targeted at the people who are hurt and the places and people that need help and thats ourmessage to the administration. Focus. Focus on the problems and focus from the people whoneed help , not on your big cronies and political friends and other kinds of things you want to try to do. So on the first part of it, the immediate help, paid sick leave. We think theres a growing consensus that there should be paid sick leave. Unemployment insurance. If youve lost your job it should be much easier and quicker to get Unemployment Insurance. How are you going to feed your family . Increased snap out of it. What about families you need to eat . And school meals. Many of the kids whose, who will have to stay home, their best meals are the breakfasts and lunches they get in the schools so those are immediate relief to the people who need help. So that they can either take care of their families for make sure that they get the help they need. Another part of that of course which relates directly to health needs is we think all the testing should be made free of charge though nobody wanders around spreading the illness because they cant afford it. But then there are other kinds of longerterm Economic Relief is far better than a payroll tax cut or relief to the industries. We are focused on. And they would be improving Community Development grant disaster relief. Small business disaster grants. Federal Transit Administration support for public transportationagencies. Emergency mortgage relief which might include some forbearance and rental assistance. More federal Housing Support and emergency grant aid to help schools and childcare facilities stay clean and safe. Were telling President Trump and were saying to the country, the best way to deal with the economic problems is focused on the people who have suffered from this virus. Not some scattershot approach at the ideologues in the white house might want. And i do believe that the house will pass some of these more immediate provisions that nancy and i talked about sunday. But many of these otherthings on the economic side , we will try to figure out the best way to get those done, to get the economy moving again. Those needs are very, very important and immediate but not quite as immediate as some of these health needs so each of my colleagues will talk about different parts of this proposal and their views and were going to hear from centers very, brown, durbin, leahy, wyden, horner and cardin. Thank you senator schumer. Families in my home state of washington are scared. They are frustrated they are angry so mi. New reporting now makes clear that even after researchers in seattle raised serious concerns about the possibility of Community Spread in Washington State and tried to work with federal agencies to conduct testing, the administration did not work with them to let the public know how serious this was. You can be sure that imgoing to get the bottom of this and make sure it never happens again. I am furious that instead of acting with urgency, they did nothing. Instead of acting with transparency, they kept quiet. Instead of working to keep families safe, they wasted valuabletime. And now, over 24 people in my home state have died. Over 1000 across the country are now confirmed to be infected and experts are telling us that many more will will likely become ill. Im hearing from people in Washington State are worried about their older relatives who are now dying alone. Theyre worried about having to miss work , there being, worried about being unable to pay rent. Theyre worried about how to keep their children safe at school and how to care for them and make sure they get a nutritious meal if their school is canceled. Im hearing from Small Business owners. Theyre worried no one is coming through their door and their unsure how to support their workers goingforward. Im hearing from communities who are worried about how they protect people who are experiencing homelessness area i have seen a lot in my years as a us senator but i am not exaggerating when i say that this is one of the most trying times ive seen mystate experience. So im absolutely going to be holding this Administration Accountable for missing so many opportunities to get ahead of this but im also going to be doing everything in my power to make sure we do not miss significant opportunities, we still have to slow this down and manage it as best as we can. And that means doing every thing we can to focus on the workers and families on the front lines of this crisis. And how to slow the spread of this virus in areas where there are already outbreaks so we can buy time needed to repair in areas where the situation isnt so dire. Right now, experts are telling people stay home if youre sick. That for too many people, staying home from work means losing a paycheck or losing their job and that has to change and it has to change that. Thats why ive introduced legislation that would require employees to provide employees 14 days of paid sick leave available immediately in the event of a public emergency like this outbreak. I am disappointed that republicans just block this legislation on the floor but i am not going to stop pushing to them to join us and get this to the president s desk. We are also working with them on other steps to start, we got to make sure that everyone can get quality affordable healthcare so that cost is not a barrier to anyone seeking medical advice or for any Healthcare Professionals who need to seek treatment for testing. We need to make sure our schools have plans for everyone, that will be impacted by the difficult decisions they may have to make and many are now making in my state. And we have to make sure those plans address Food Insecurity and make sure students who rely on their schools for their only nutritious meals are not overlooked. We also have to make sure we are supporting communities and addressing the needs of the people experiencing homelessness. And we have to reckon with the Economic Impact this crisis will have in our community. Which is why democrats are putting forward this economic package to start addressing this crisis that focuses on Small Businesses and workers and we need to make sure that no one loses a paycheck as a result of this crisis. No one struggles to make rent or keep the heat on or forage for groceries and we need to make sure that none of our children miss out on a nutritious meal. No Small Business after Shutter Stores waiting for this crisis to end and no community struggles to care for the homeless. This is a frightening time, there are a lot of unknowns but we do know the steps outlining would help to save the lives, slow the spread of this virus and reduce its impact on our communities. So we as democrats are going to keep pushing for action now to support our families and our communities and slow the spread of thisvirus. We will continue working to address new challenges in the months ahead and we will not forget to look at that and find out why this crisis was not addressed thoughtfully, smartly and with what we needed when it began. Senator brown. The president had chance after chance to get ahead of this and he failed. Im angry on behalf of millions of ohioans and americans are scared right now. One of the most important things we can do is to stop the spread is to ask paid sick leave today. We need to get help for the people who need it now. Parents whose kids schoolsare closed, people who are getting paid , have trouble making rent, trouble making their mortgage payment. No one should be evicted or foreclosed upon during this crisis. Paid sick days are one of the most important ways we can do that, thinkabout the restaurant workers, the people who prepare our food. Think about what you do at your Childs School if it closes down for a week, for so many people taking a sick day means going without pay and even in some cases essentially losing your job. It hurts everyone, even if youre lucky enough to have paid time off, everybodys risk when more people are out and about, when they are sick. Our office is the offices of all of us. Our office has been getting calls from dozens of people saying whatcan i do, what if i come down with something, what if i have to choose between my 12an hour job with no real benefit going to work sick or losing that hundred dollars or the day . I pay my 700 a month rent. Itsunacceptable millions of people our faith with those impossible choices. Promises are not, we need to pass this paid sick leave legislation, sick days legislation. People need be able to stay in their homes during this crisis. Our plan gets help rectally to people struggling to pay rent to pay mortgages, so theyre not foreclosed on in these difficult all times. The dignity of work issue, a Public Safety issue. Senator durbin and standout were part of this but couldnt be here for the obligations. We do have a serious crisis and im afraid if the white house believes in using rhetoric and not facing reality. What were doing is trying to substitute reality for their rhetoric. The americanpeople are looking for leadership. I believe its up to us to provide leadership. What were doing is, if not the corporations, ifthe people we respond to in our state. Its been said of paid sick days so peoplecan stay home to protect their health and the health of others. Thats critical. Its critical may be able to stay home but its critical that they are not fearing that they are going to lose their property or their house or their ability of their children to go to school. Small businesses and communities, we are trying to help them in vermont and i applaud our governor is doing that. Safety nets, those who cant pay their rent or a for their mortgages but also the American People have to know they are getting more than rhetoric. Theyre facing reality. It does not help at all when the president comes in wearing a campaign hat at a meeting of the cdc, says that he understands its probably better than thedoctors doing and besides he wrote a perfect letter to the ukraine. Come on. That just frightens people thats why i talk about the rhetoric. Democrats and republicanscame together and ill give you an example we can do it. The white house proposed a fig leaf appropriation, a couple billion dollars, taking it out of lower income seating. Republicans and democrats came together and put together the 8. 3 billion supplemental. In both the house and the senate, i think it was only two or three votes together. By republicans for whatever reason, but virtually every republican and every democrat voted for it and the president said great idea. I want to thank republicans. We didnt do it in a partisan way, we worked together because we want to make sure our Health Agencies had the money to address it. I hope we can do this onthe same bipartisan bicameral way we did for the emergency supplemental. I mentioned that the white house should have applauded that but he sat on his board andsaid we will work with you. The virus doesnt say are you a republican or democrat . Are you from a red or a blue state . The virus is affecting the United States of america. Its affecting all americans and we ought to be standing up, put the record rhetoric aside, face reality and stand up for america. Senator wyden area. Iq leadership and let me talk briefly about some of the matters were working on at the senate. Finance committee and im going to start briefly by saying what would be a huge mistake to do and then talk aboutwhat were trying to do thatwould actually make sense. Yesterday , larry kudlow seeking for the Administration Proposed a massive reduction in Social Security payroll taxes or big corporations. What amount to hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts for big corporations. So what youre talking about is in the middle of this huge health challenge, what i think Many Americans see as a pandemic, what they want to do is hit Social Security like awrecking ball. With a massive tax cut for the countries biggest corporations and we are going to oppose this with everything we have. Ill just tell you, with respect to the Senate Finance committee and are democrats, this will not happen. Period,. Now lets talk a little bit about what we want to do because as we have consistently said, we are going into this this kind of laser light approach to get help quickly, to folks who are hurting. Folks who are walking that Economic Growth i described trying to balance the rent bill. Against the fuel bill. And fuel bill against some other critical cost like outofpocket medical. Center murray and i see on our committees so the other part that we are working on in the finance committee is trying to make sure that we improve the unemployment system so that workers lose their paychecks, because of the coronavirus and have asked access more quickly to unemployment if its to help them make ends meet until they are back at work. So what i have been working on with my colleagues and i got several here from the finance committee. We worked out with the leadership something along the lines of a temporary, fasttrack coronavirus unemployment assistance program. We are trying to pick up on some ofthe principles of disaster , Unemployment Insurance. I would note that the finance staff that i did look into the history, this would be based on everything weve picked up. The first time Unemployment Insurance has been expanded in response to a public crisis. And its in my view one of the most central things we can do to help working families. We have the unemployment numbers across the country but weekly, families that are hurting get a few hundred dollars. We can do better by them. The senate is dabbling in today, lawmakers worked on President Trumps nominee of republican james hanley to the number of the military Commission Later this afternoon confirmation vote for his nomination. In the House Democrats filed a bill to providefunding for the federal governments response to the coronavirus pandemic. Livecoverage of the senate on cspan2
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