Public Health Threat to the United States of america. Were in the midst of not just a threat in our own country, but a global coronavirus pandemic. More than 173,000 cases nationwide and more than 7300 people have died. What you see today on the floor of the United States senate is exactly the opposite of what were being advised as a nation we need to do. What you see today on the floor of the United States senate are staff people, thank you for being here, protective forces outside the chamber, and others who are invisible to those coming and going that are part of the ordinary business of the United States senate. You see, we did today what the president has told america we should not do, what medical experts have told us we should not do. We have taken unnecessary Airline Flights to come here to washington d. C. I was on the plane this morning from springfield illinois to chicago, there were six passengers on the plane. Most people are listening to the advice of the medical experts and avoiding unnecessary travel, but unfortunately, we were required to come back today from across the United States. Some members stayed over the weekend because their homes are too far away. Some decided to drive this morning just to be extremely safe, but the fact is, we were asked to take unnecessary Airline Flights to come back here today and this week, and frankly, expose ourselves to the possibility of some Public Health risk and ask our staff to do the samement in addition to that, we have been counseled by the leaders, both at the state and federal level, know the to gather in groups of more than 10, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, it looks like were breaking this rule here on the floor of the senate and the obvious question is why . Why would we put ourselves at risk and our staff at risk and their families to come back here . Well, there are two issues, the first issue was the foreign Intelligence Surveillance act, which was brought up on the floor of the United States senate last thursday and senator lee and senator leahy offered the extension of this act for a period of time in return for a few amendments to be debated on the floor. That was rejected. Just minutes ago what was rejected last thursday was accepted. We made this trip back here and it was not necessary. You have to ask yourselves, are we being respectful of ourselves, our family, our staff, are we being respectful of our responsibility as setting a model for the rest of america . Im afraid not. Now that is remaining this bill that just paused the house of representatives, the family first coronavirus legislation, could i ask that the senate be in order . The senate will be in order. Go ahead, sir. Thank you, mr. President. The coronavirus act was one that was negotiated by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the president of the United States through mr. Mnuchin. That negotiation went on for a week and a bill was agreed to and supported by both. The president even tweeted his support for it, that just shows his level of commitment, i suppose. And Speaker Pelosi supported as well. It was a measure that should have passed by a voice vote in the United States senate over the weekend and instead were still talking about it today. There are measures included in that that are critical for Public Health. May i give you one example . When the state of illinois and the city of chicago asked for protective masks for Health Care Workers so that they could avoid infection, they sent us an allotment of 25,000 masks, a state of 12 and a half million people, 25,000 masks. Those would protect the people working at one Major Hospital in chicago for a month. Totally inadequate. The last time we faced any kind of epidemic threat like this, we received a million and a half masks from the stock pile. Whats holding up the masks . Whats holding up the test kits . Those are legitimate questions. One of the provisions in this bill that is still sitting here somewhere in senate limbo would authorize new masks to be released across the United States, to my state and others. So while we talk, the masks are not being delivered. Why then arent we taking up this bill tonight . The coronavirus bill should be taken up at this moment by unanimous consent. Let those who object to it come to the floor if they wish and object and explain why. If they have an amendment to offer, so be it, but if its just to let the ordinary course of things work through and maybe get to this by wednesday 0 are thursday, shame on us. This is a matter of National Emergency and Public Health crisis in this country and what kind of example are we setting by coming back to this chamber at risk to our staff and the people and ourselves and our families. We have members of the senate going in and out of quarantine, selfquarantining themselves, and were acting like its business as usual, well get to this sometime later this week. What are we waiting for . This is a health care emergency. Its time for both Political Parties to come to the floor, not this empty chamber and do our job tonight. There is no excuse for it. If someone has a substantive objection to the bill, state it on the floor. Youve got plenty of chance to do it. Offer an amendment if you wish or just vote no, but for goodness sakes the American People expect us to do our work, were here at risk to ourselves and others, we should do our work and do it quickly and if this is going to end up in some voice vote thats quietly registered tomorrow, a number of us are going to be very upset because weve made this trip here because we had to to represent our people, elected us, sent us here, thinking that we would have to vote. If we can do this without a vote, so be it, but couldnt this have been done without exposing all of the staff people and all of the protective forces and everyone else to the obvious pandemic that we think is threatening our country in a massive way . I take this very seriously because i love my family and friends, i wouldnt want any of them to be hurt because of something that i have picked up, some virus that i have picked up. Ive increased my exposure today to be here on this floor and tonight were going to quietly sneak away and maybe come back tomorrow and actually do some work. We should do it tonight. This coronavirus emergency should be taken seriously by both parties and taken serious by the United States senate. Its time for us to act. Thats what were sent here to do. Lets do it. Senator is recognized. Would the senator from illinois yield to an inquiry. Yield. Mr. President , good senator, im told that Speaker Pelosi has not sent the bill to the senate yet, is that your understanding . I understand the bill has been sent. Parliamentary inquiry, mr. President. Has the bill been sent by spoker pelosi to the senate yet . [inaudible] the chair is unaware that the bill has arrived. Well, probably pretty tough for us to vote on bill that hasnt arrived. Let me defer to the senator of idaho and explained by my staff, an enrollment correction supposed to be taken up and sent over by the bill. I dont disagree that we should take it up. I understand a republican member of the house has objected to the enrollment correction and held up there because of his objection. Thank you, mr. President. Gentleman from ohio. I think you watched whats wrong with this place. Senator durbin comes here and talks about the importance of doing something. Last thursday when Speaker Pelosi and secretary mnuchin were close to coming up with a deal about what we have to do, what we have to do to stop this virus, keep in mind, president of the United States first mentioned this in answer to a question about all the elites in davos, switzerland first answered a question saying, oh, this virus is nothing, it will mean nothing. Hes known it took him, one, two, three, four, five, six, i think eight weeks before he declared an emergency and then last thursday, we were supposed to start working on this, we should have i had senator mcconnell on the floor and i opened this door and pointed down the hall and said senator mcconnell shut come back here and work on this bill. Whether theyre finished in the house down the hall doing it or not we should be working this. Now weve had four more days, senator mcconnell had to go back to kentucky. I dont really know what he went back for. We asked him to stay and finish this, negotiate it and do it to take care of stopping this virus to take care of all the people in my state, in illinois, and senator markeys state and senator coons state and boozmans state and peoples jobs and senator mcconnell went back to kentucky, another day, to your days were wasting. Three more days of people worrying. Three more days of peoples selfquarantining. Three more days of businesses in columbus and dayton shutting down. Its the anguish that you feel if you think one of your loved ones is sick, all of that, empty airplanes, all the things that are happening and were wasting another day and i appreciate always the senator from idaho bringing a parliamentary technical question up, but why are we doing this. Why arent we listening to what senator did your ben said. Its been three days since the house passed the comprehensive package. Its three days and counting for people worried about how theyre going to take time off from work if they get sick. Look at all the people. Think about this, you know all kinds of Service Workers in arkansas. Senator durbin knows them in illinois, and senator coons and i know them they dont have sick days, do i go to work and get sicker maybe and maybe infect my neighbor or stay at home and give up the 12 an hour, 100 i need to pay my rent and the day after. Thats what were enforcing. Instead were playing games, three days we wasted and another waste another day. People are scared at home, looking for leadership. Leader mcconnell, President Trump failed the people they serve. We need to get help to people today. And let me tell you what the next round of support is. We should pass the bill today to help people with Unemployment Insurance, to help people with sick days, to help people with medicaid. We should do all that. It means putting our workers first. We shouldnt be bailing out wall street that will be you can bet senator mcconnell will hurry when the Airlines Come from their bailout packages and the hotels for their bailout packages, but weve got to put the money into theirs first. They need to send 2,000 for every working class family who dont get evicted or foreclosed on. We dont need a corporate middle man to do that. We need to make sure that every worker who needs Unemployment Insurance to get it. I spoke to my governor who served with senator markey with senator durbin, mike dewine, a republican, i talked to him three times this week, he will help us speed up the unemployment checks so they get to workers. We might need to make sure that all workers eligible, including independent contract and unemployed workers and the temporary expansion of the unearned income tax credit and child care tax credit. Third, we need to hold any Company Getting taxpayers dollars accountable. The airlines can do no stock buybacks, no sending jobs overseas, no outsourcing jobs to independent, usually low paid contract workers, food service custodial, security workers, it means no golden parachutes for executives, it means no using taxpayer dollars that were bailing them out with to bust unions trying to organize in the workplace. If they want taxpayer money you commit to using it to help people who make this country work. Fourth, we need to prevent evictions and disclosure and mortgage and rental insurance to make up for lost wages. Millions of americans are one lost paycheck to ericks and foreclosure 40 of americans dont have 400 extra to fix their car and if they lose their paycheck they cant pay their rent. Weve got to make sure weve got to look at canceling some amount of student loan debt. Millions of americans wont be able to make Student Loans on their own getting back on their feet. President trump since january 22nd has had chance after chance after chance to get ahead of the Public Health crisis. Two years ago i sent him a letter saying why did you fire admiral zimmer, why did you eliminate the office in charge, 40 people in the white house that was in charge of surveilling the world to look for potential pandemics . Why did you fire them . Please reinstate them. He ignored the letter, he hasnt explained why he eliminated that office. He would have known way before january about this potential pandemic and might have at the urging of that office, if it existed might have done something about it. The president failed at this, congress couldnt make the same mistake. We need to get ahead of the crisis facing Family Budgets before its too late. Id like to ask questions from the chair to the sna are the of ohio. The senator from idaho raised the parliamentary issue, youve gone to the heart of the matter, questions of how families survive the pandemic and what were going to do it. The senator from idaho raised the parliamentary issue and were guided by rules here. And not to the knowledge of ohio, has the senate entered into agreement on bills posed in the house before the papers actually arrived in the senate in the past . [inaudible conversations] mr. President , thank you, the senator from illinois. If we want to get something done, we find a way through unanimous consent, to all of us agree. Who can say anything, but this is a national crisis. Were going to lean were going to make our unwillingness to do anything contingent on some parliamentary trick . No, were paid to do this job. Just because senator mcconnell has taken to your days and not done it doesnt mean we shouldnt, we should work. Thank you. Thank the leader. I thank the senator from senator from massachusetts. Mr. President , thank you, mr. President. I just want to echo what the senator from illinois is saying, what the senator from ohio is saying. Were in a National Emergency. We should have already finish this stage of dealing with this crisis because there are many more phases to deal with. We should ensure as part of this debate that theres sick leave for every single worker in our country. Thats not in this package thats coming through right now. We have to make sure everyone is covered. We need Unemployment Insurance and we need to ensure that it extends to works in the gig economy, tip workers, domestic workers, contractors, weve got to cover people so they stay home. Weve got to let them know that Unemployment Insurance is going to extend to them during this crisis. We cannot allow our inaction, our thinking through of what we have to do to shut down any potential that this crisis grows to a level which were seeing in other countries and we can do it, but its the senate that has to be here. The senate that has to deliberate on these issues, find the solutions and deliver them to the American People. They are desperate for answers right now. Theyre being told to go home right now. Waiters, bartenders, contractors, theyre being told, just go home. Well, whats going to happen to them if they dont have sick time . Whats going to happen to them if they dont have Unemployment Insurance . What are they going to be doing in terms of caring for their families . We should be here this week. Taking care of the package thats already been agreed to and beginning to debate immediately on Everything Else we have to do. Ill give you an example. Lets just take the hospitals of our country. For most of the major cities in america are High Percentage of the revenue for those hospitals come from foreign patients who fly in from around the world into our major cities. That revenue stream is going to be cut off for an indefinite period of time. Hospitals depend upon elective surgery, thats going to be cut off for an indefinite period of time. Thats the revenue flow that goes into hospitals that then allows them to take care of the poorer people in each and every one of our communities. If they dont have that revenue stream, its going to place enormous pressure on them to lay off doctors, to lay off nurses, to lay off other key personnel because the revenue stream will not be there. We are the ones who are going to have to provide the revenue stream. We cannot have a Hospital System in crisis in our country at this time. We should be here deciding whether we are going to provide the funds of 100 billion or 200 billion, or 300 billion to ensure our Health Care System stays robust at this time of all times in our history. So were headed into issue after issue that this senate has to deal with. If were here and were back, we should deal with it. We should deal with it this week. We should deal with it on the emergency basis that were telling every family that they should deal with this crisis, but every other family is dependent upon us to provide the answers to them and their families. So i agree with the senators. This is something that requires our attention. Were here. We are the answers for them. And if we dont give them, then there will be no answers. We know that the first bill, the 8 billion bill was three times larger than the white house wanted, but we made sure that extra funding was going into each and every one of our states. We know that this bill that was just negotiated with the speaker and the president last week is just being held up by a republican on a procedural obstacle. We have to deal with this on a war footing. Were at war with an invisible enemy that is moving into every single city and town, every single part of our economy as we speak right now. And if we dont provide the defense for our families, then we are going to be looked at as those who failed the American People. We should already have robust testing. We dont. We should have to protect, the protective gear in the hand of every doctor and nurse across our country, our doctors and nurses are being told to reuse their masks, reuse them. The senator of illinois already talked about how hard it is to get those extra protective gear for his hospitals and the same thing is true across our country. All across our country. We know that there is a crisis, we know that theres a shortage, we know theres a huge gap that exists between what we have and what were going to need. And we dont have any more time we didnt use it in december. We didnt use it in january. We didnt use it for most of february, the warnings that were coming, but we now know its real and in every community already, every state already in our nation. So we should stay here. We should do this work. We should make sure our hospitals for sure know that theyre going to have the help they need. And especially the Community Hospitals because they are going to be very fragile, very, very fragile in terms of the revenue stream coming in and while Great Expectations will be expected from them in terms of what theyre going to do for their local communities. Lets debate this and make sure that the front line workers have the protective gear they need, have the testing equipment they need the guarantee that their salaries are going to be paid and theyre going to be taken care of because we need them to be putting themselves in harms way for months, potentially, in our country. So, this is the time for us to stand up to stay here, to get these issues resolved this week, we shouldnt do it next week, we should do it this week. Mr. President , i yield back. Mr. President. Senator from West Virginia. Mr. President , i agree with everything thats been said. I agree that basically we should never have left here thursday night. So many of us could maybe drive home. I drove home was able to drive back. So many people were put in harms way by getting on an airplane. We dont have the youngest crowd, i think our average age is 62 here to put their families and basically people they work would is a danger, also. Let me tell you what were talking about here. Were going to come to the aid of the economy of this state, of this country. I have no doubt. Democrats and republicans will come together to take care and help people. I hope they realize the people that really need help are the people that cannot make it from one week to the next, let alone one paycheck to the next. I was out last week just in d. C. And i talked to a young waiter, very, very nice man. I said what happens if you go home for two weeks . He says im finished, i cant make it, i cant make my house payment, i cant make my rent payment, cant make my grocery payment. He was done. Thats how worried he was. He was glad i asked, no one asked that question. These are the people were worried about. My state of 2 30 this afternoon didnt have one reported case, thats great. Thats wonderful. I pray to the good lord that that is the case that we have none, but let me tell you the thing that scares me. I have the most dangered population base in the nation, the report came out and showed the state of West Virginia the most dangered of allstate with the most vulnerable people. I have over 720,000 elderly. Ive got over 220,000 that are critically ill under 60 years of age. If you put all of this together, out of a million 800,000 people, i have over a million that could be absolutely totally devastated by this virus if it hits. And we havent shown one case yet. Out of 1,800,000 people ive told you about and the million in the vulnerable situation, weve only had 84 tests. 84 tests in my state as of 2 30. Now, 80 came back negative. Four is unknown as of 2 30. How can you tell me, i mean, this im surrounded by five states in this wonderful little state of mine, West Virginia, the most Beautiful People in the world and worked hard, but they have a lot of respiratory illnesses and they will be the first to be attacked. If it hits my state and we are not prepared for it because basically if we dont even have the tests to identify who is ill, who needs these treatments in these centers and needs the health care, the hospital care, what do we do . I dont have the ventilators, i dont have the respirators, i dont anything for people that vulnerable. What do we do . I know all the Financial Aid were talking about and help me need, we better concentrate how we find a cure, how we basically take care of the people most vulnerable and be able to protect the people of America First and foremost. Theyre scared to death. Im scared. Im concerned. Im afraid that my state of West Virginia is falling into a lapse where they might think were protected no cases reported were in good shape. I pray to the good lord thats the case, but my gut tells me its not. We just dont know. Senator yield to the chair, we have the Coronavirus Response act passed the house of representatives early on saturday morning which could consider and could in the past on parliamentary basis and i called for and others joined and we move on this and move on it quickly. Senator of massachusetts expanded to other areas, while were here lets get work done. Among things included in this is the testing and you said 82 tests in your entire state . 1,800,000 people, most vulnerable in america. And you cant say until you have enough tests of those suspicious, fever, cough. If you see the mask of the United States, mr. Secretary, you see the map, West Virginia doesnt show any. How could that happen . It happened because we think the same thing with illinois with 12 1 2 million people. Testing 360 a day, 360 a day for the entire state, ridiculous. And so, governors talking for a total. I know. But governors told me we really dont know how many people are infected. We dont know the rate, whether its going up or if its going up at what rate, whether its in certain areas in our state and not in others. So if you dont have testing, you dont have knowledge and you cant fight a pandemic. I would say to the senator it was the highest priority in this bill passed the house of representatives on saturday. We should have been here saturday. We should take it up today, what are we waiting for . For goodness sake. Food assistance and many people its not paycheck to paycheck, its week to week. Some qualify for snap programs. We sent a letter immediately to sonny perdue and we were able to get the kids and so many in West Virginia rely on breakfast and lunch, nutrition from the schools. Were going to be delivering, the state has taken steps to shut down. Schools shut down and said no more Community Gatherings whatsoever and done all the things theyre told to do. We just dont know where the virus may be if it is there and how its going to affect. So it starts with testing, starts with testing, its Food Assistance and additional medicaid money coming back to the state, im sure the state of West Virginia like illinois desperately needs it. I was surprised to learn today the capacity of hospitals in the United States is less than a million patients. Fewer than a million patients. The nation of 350 million people, we have Hospital Capacity of less than a million and when it comes to the intensive care units, much, much smaller number than that. So thats our fear. If this goes rampant, it could overwhelm our Hospital System, certainly medicaid money back to your state and mine, in this bill that passed the house should be authorized tonight. We should vote on this tonight. The economics of this whole thing, first of all, we know who is infected, where the infection is going and how rampant this would be. We dont know yet, next of all who is the most vulnerable economically, people who workday to day, paycheck to paycheck, week to week. Medical leave. Exactly. Weve got to do some things and do it quickly and we should test until it does come. Theres no reason we cant do it tonight. There is no reason. If the president was credible and i believe he was when he called this a National Health care emergency, we ought to act like it. Today he recognized it and came forth and basically said today in a press release that i listened to that basically acknowledged the threat of what were dealing with and enormity of what were dealing with. First time weve heard the concern that this is bigger than any of us, all of us together could fight this. Would i ask the majority leader, mr. Majority leader, we should have stayed here, we didnt, were here now, lets do it. No blame, lets just do it. Thank you, mr. President. Mr. President. Senator from delaware is recognized. Mr. President , i rise to speak briefly about hard decisions. There are hard decisions that have been made all over our country. In recent days and weeks, decisions by superintendents of school districts, whether to shut down their schools and send their children home. Hard decisions made by mayors, about how to provide for First Responders for those who run the paramedic and ambulance and police services, 911 and hospitals. Decisions by governors, when, where whether to declare states of emergency and weve seen decisions made by faith leaders, by sports leaders, by school leaders, leaders of all types and all levels. The most important decisions being made tonight are around americas kitchen tables where folks are looking at each other and saying, how much longer will i have a job . How much longer will we be able to put food on the table . How will we care for our kids that are unexpectedly home from school or college or overseas for days or weeks . How much longer can we stay in our home until we have to go see our mom, our grand many mo grand mom, our grandfather, who is in a facility alone. And this afternoon seven california counties announced a shelter in place order. Weve seen cities and counties all over gradually move from a relaxed and casual attitude to concerned attitude, to high alert to half a dozen counties looking more like italy than they do of america a month ago. Its been a slow rolling response. And we should have been here this weekend to make sure that the senate of the United States stepped forward and did our job and made our hard decisions. I take some encouragement from the work that the first round of support, 8. 3 billion dollars got cradrafted up, taken into l in a meter of matter of two weeks, long overdue, but 8. 3, to put a floor underneath the burgeoning Health Crisis thats covid19 thats spread to every state in our country. The next package already been passed by the house that should be considered by this body, we must take up and pass immediately and it directly speaks to those hard decisions. At homes all over our country. It speaks to folks who are concerned that they dont have health insurance. It speaks to folks who are concerned that they dont have Unemployment Insurance. It speaks to folks who dont know where their kids who used to get School Lunches are going to get their next good meal. It speaks to some. Challenges of the very most vulnerable in our country. I dont know about my colleagues, but i took a lot of phone calls this weekend from constituents who are concerned, who are anxious, who are angry, who want to know what were doing, at the federal level to provide backup. Folks who run nonprofits struggling to keep their Services Available and stay open under great pressure. Folks who run Faith Services in our community who canceled their services, closed their buildings and now have a half dozen organizations, communities rely on, whether its a food pantry, a clothes closet or a job training service. Folks anxious about what will happen to their staff and students at their school in particular, folks who are anxious about what will happen to the seniors in Skilled Nursing facilities and hospitals. As youve heard my colleagues speak to, our Hospital System does not have the capacity for thousands and thousands of newly diagnosed folks to present themselves to Emergency Rooms and hospitalizations around our country. We should act immediately to deliver the sorts of mobilized federal resources that the army corps of engineers, veterans administration, department of defense and state and local fema affiliates and agencies can deliver to scale up our response in a prompt and appropriate way. And we should not leave this building and session until we have taken up and put together a package that will provide an appropriate stimulus for working families all over our country, to provide a floor for Small Businesses and for working families who will be gravely concerned tonight about what will happen tomorrow. Weve got hard choices to make, but thats why people hire us. Instead of being here in a largely empty chamber will nothing on our agenda tonight, we should be taking up, debating, passing and sending to the president for signature bold strokes that will give confidence to the American People and address the concern that families all over our nation are facing tonight and then for our health and the health of our staff and our families, we should go into recess, but we should not do so as we just did for a long weekend until we take up and pass these pressing measures of national interest, thank you, mr. President. Mr. President. The senator from connecticut. Thank you, mr. President. Let me associate myself with the remarks of the senator from delaware and others that spoke before him. Were here, were all in town. We came back for an expected vote tonight that did not occur. There is no excuse for us not to be voting at this moment on an assistance package that is going to be dispositive on some of the toughest decisions that Many American families will make over the course of this year or next. Let me drill down on what those decisions are. Right now there are parents in my state of connecticut who have to go to work tomorrow, but have a child who is home from school and they have to make a decision as to whether they are going to forego tomorrows paycheck and stay home from work and possibly face termination or discipline or theyre going to leave their child at home alone or in an unsafe environment. There are thousands and thousands of families in my state who cannot afford to miss a paycheck, a paycheck. Thats the difference between being able to put food on the table or not. Thats believe it or not their kids have diapers. Whether the lights stay on. And thats the decision that many families are making tomorrow in connecticut. Here is another decision that many individuals are making in my state. Tonight, there are a lot of moms and dads who have a cough, who are starting to feel a little fever coming on, but they have work tomorrow and they have a paycheck that they need for their family and they dont have paid sick leave as part of their compensation package. Thats not part of their contractual deal with their employer so theyre making that decision, do i forego a paycheck, do i risk getting fired or disciplined or do i go into work even though im not feeling well . Even though i have symptoms that i know are problematic . Theyre facing those decisions tonight because we werent here this weekend because a bill passed the house that had in it an answer for many of those families, not all of those families, but had a guaranteed of paid sick leave for thousands and thousands of workers all across this country who were waiting for that assurance that if they stayed home with their sick their child home from school on decided to stay home with the beginning of symptoms that looked like covid19 that they would be protected financially. That bill was ready for action here in the senate and had we passed it on saturday or sunday, there would have been thousands of parents, thousands of workers who would have stayed home today, but they didnt. They didnt. I know this to be true. I know this to be true that there were many, many workers who went to work today, even though they might not have been feeling well. Didnt stay home with their kids because they didnt feel like they could go without that paycheck. And so this is about real life, minute by minute decisions that are being made by families in this country and i know sometimes it doesnt feel that important if we wait a day. I know sometimes it feels like a bummer if we have to miss out on a weekend, but not this weekend. Not today. These decisions that families are making are fundamentally different if we do it a day ahead of time. The epidemic has less of a chance at winning if we pass this today rather than tomorrow or thursday. And i worry about that because ive listened to some of my republican colleagues suggest over the last 24 hours that were not going to pass this bill that were going to change the bill, were going to amend it and were going to send it back to the house. This bill is ready. Its got bipartisan support. President announced on friday night he was for it. No reason to wait in order to give our constituents some assurances in order to make sure theyre making the right decisions to are their family and for their health and for all of our health, rather than decisions necessary in order to guarantee the next paycheck comes which is essential, essential for their familys financial health. Lastly, mr. President. I just i just dont want to let the president of the United States off the hook here. I watched yet another one of these press conferences yesterday in which he once again sort of glossed over the gravity of the moment in which he hinted that young people didnt have as much to worry about as older people, in which he once again savaged the press, attacking them, right at the moment when americans are relying on the media to give them information thats going to keep them safe. I talked to several of my Hospital Leaders today and they talked about the fact that, you know, not only do they need personal protective equipment, theyre running out. Not only do they need more ventilators, but some hospitals dont even have the swabs necessary to do the tests. Now, thats not an issue today because they cant get the tests processed, but once we get the Testing Capacity ramped up, theyre not sure theyll have the swabs necessary to do the tests. Its just inexcusable that we got caught this unready. It is unexcusable that many of us were sitting this in a meeting with the president s representatives in early february begging for a supplemental bill being sent to the senate and house then so we would be ready when the disease ramped up and told by the administration that they didnt need it that they had enough resources. It is unacceptable that to this day this president doesnt understand the urgency of this crisis. This is a crisis of a pandemic sweeping the country, but also a crisis of leadership. Its also a crisis of leadership. And at the very least, we need to keep the heat on this president to be accurate in his portrayal of the scope and the danger of this national Public Health emergency and on a daily basis he is failing even to just be honest with the American People. So, i really hope that we get this done tomorrow. It doesnt look like were coming in tonight. For my constituents in connecticut, they cant wait another 24 hours, they cant wait another 48 hours to know whether theyre going to have at least some modicum of protection if they choose to do the right thing by their family, do the right thing by their health. We need to provide them that assurance and we need to do it immediately. Mr. President senator from illinois. Im going to conclude for the sake of your staff and others and yourself who are here as i mentioned earlier at risk, were all at risk with this pandemic, but just to summarize as quickly as i can. We returned this week when we were supposed to be back in our states, we returned this week because there was pressing legislative business. One of the items before us raised by the senator mcconnell, the republican leader, with the foreign Intelligence Surveillance act reauthorization, there are some senators who have questions and objections to the bill that passed the house. Those senators on the republican side and democratic side came to the floor last thursday and said, we will agree to an extension of this law if youll give us a chance to actually debate our concerns on the floor of the senate. That request was rejected last week by senator mcconnell. So tonight were going to have the showdown street to see whether or not we move forward on this and lo and behold moments about of that vote, senator mcconnell agreed to what he refused to agree to last thursday. Yes, we will have a temporary extension, and well have the debate and amendments before that extension expires. So one of the reasons that we were drawn back to washington when we were counseled by all the medical experts not to take unnecessary Airline Flights, was for a matter that was resolved without a vote tonight. I came to the floor after that and said if thats the case, for goodness sakes the only matter currently pending before us is the Families First coronavirus act passed by the house in the early hours of saturday. Long measure, free testing for coronavirus. Strengthening Food Assistance, safeguarding medicaid benefits, enhancing Unemployment Benefits and paid lead. And why dont we pass by voice vote and lets do this. This is agreed to on a bipartisan basis by nancy pelosi and the president of the United States donald trump, if the two can come together and agree on it are you telling me we cant agree on it. If the senate wants to vote no to it place it on the record for some reason were not going to do that. Well sit around and do it tomorrow. Will we do it tomorrow . I dont know. Theres no sense of urgency in the senate and there should be first for the people across the country facing the virus and disruption to their own personal lives, some of those people are losing jobs, some of them are sick and should stay away from their jobs, they want to know what this bill says thats paed the house of representatives, that theres medical leave for them, if theyre sick and cant work, and if they lose their jobs, theres going to be some assistance for their family in this time of trouble. Those are reasonable requests by every family. Thats the highest priority. Why would we wait to take that up. Why would we delay that decision and leave more uncertainty among the people of illinois and across america . There is no reason and no excuse for that. Lets get that done and secondly, this measure also says that were going to continue to work on a bipartisan basis to solve this problem. Lets take this up tomorrow morning as was noted before, we raised in the initial bill to deal with this pandemic, the president s ask from two billion to 8 billion to put the medical and Health Care Resources to work across america. We should and we did and we did it with a minimum of debate on a bipartisan basis. This bill, the second bill in the package should have been treated exactly the same way. It should have moved through the Senate Without asking all of the senators to return, the staff to come here, the Capitol Hill Police and others to protect us and all the staff that supports what we do. We didnt have to go through this. We should have done this if senator mcconnell and Republican Leadership would have reached out, he would have found there was a lot of cooperation available on our side of the aisle again on a bipartisan basis. I dont disagree with what the senator from massachusetts said. Theres more to be done. A lot more to be done. Well discover it and move on it quickly, for the time being, pass this bill. Tell the American People we heard you and we know what youre up against and in it on a bipartisan basis. Lets not dream up some way in senate rules to drag this out day after weary day and expose one another to the viruses that are being rampantly crossing this country and threatening us every single day. We need to come together and do this work, get it done and get it done quickly. Mr. President , i yield the flo floor. Dick, dick mr. President. Senator from connecticut. Thank you, mr. President , i came here today from connecticut where i have been to hospitals and local Public Health departments, small and large businesses, places where health care is provided and where the backbone of our economy is done. And i came here to vote. I came here to vote on a package passed by an overwelcoming bipartisan majority in the house of representatives. And that overwhelming bipartisan spirit should be what animates us as we seek to save lives and livelihoods. Were on the cusp of an existential crisis in this country that will transform the lives of almost every american, of almost every age and background and religious and cre creed, and yet, in the face of that crisis, we will have no vote tonight. And that is disgraceful. It is shameful. In the course of travelling around connecticut i have visited hospitals in milford, and hartford, in other places around the state, local Health Departments and local officials who have said to me that there still is inadequate testing because the federal government still has failed to fulfill its promise to provide that testing. There are fears that the surge of health cases as a result of coronavirus will deplete the resources of hospitals and other Health Care Facilities because there are insufficient numbers of icus and ventilators and still the federal government has failed to provide them. There is fear and anxiety about the future of our economy when parents have to make decisions about whether to stay home now to take care of their children because they are out of school or because their families have one person who is ill from this virus and theyre all quarantined. Will they be able to pay their mortgages and put food on the table, literally, living from paycheck to paycheck . Theyre trying to make decisions in realtime right now. And likewise, i met this morning with Small Business owners and managers who are fearful they will literally become insolvent. They will go bankrupt. They will go under because they have insufficient resources to weather this financial storm. They are receiving no revenue, but they still have overhead and expenses, if theyre restaurants, they are now in effect closed. If they are retail establishments, most people are staying home. If they are Small Businesses, the backbone of our economy in providing jobs, they are challenged and they have to make real decisions in realtime right now. The package that is available for us to vote would provide relief to those families and those businesses to people who are anxious about the future of their lives and livelihoods, who have to make those hard decisions right now tonight about what they will do. It would provide paid sick leave and emergency medical and family leave, strengthen Unemployment Compensation as well as tax credits and for our state it would provide the kind of expanded medicaid support, 440 million for connecticut alone . Hundreds of millions for other states around the country. We need to embark on that program of massive support and sweeping International Cooperation and unsparing truth telling to the American People about the dimensions of this crisis. No more magical thinking or happy talk. We are about to see numbers soar and as Anthony Fauci says, were about to see americans hunker down as they must do and in that period, what we have before us in legislation will mean potentially, life and death decisions. Time matters. Ours a hours and days are profoundly significant when families have to make these decisions. We can delay but it is to the ultimate profound damage of those lives and we can make a difference if we act now. We could have acted by unanimous consent over the weekend. Im sorry that the senate went home and that there was no actions, but we need to act now, if not tonight, tomorrow morning. It should have been this afternoon. Because the loss of time is a loss of opportunity that we cannot afford. The Small Business people who met with me this morning, the Health Directors in new london and other cities like hartford, the hospital administrators in hartford and milford, the local officials, mayors around the state of connecticut who met with me and the Small Business people who were hosted today by the Metro Hartford alliance said to me, we need action. We have an obligation to act. We cannot allow time to pass without action. We owe it to the people of connecticut and the American People that there be action. To meet that surge and challenge for the hospitals, to provide that assistance in grants, not just loans on this package and then a next package, there must be additional steps and i support the initiative that i understand may be coming from senator schumer and others and join in that initiative for hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to meet this crisis on the health fund as well as in the economic arena. Truth telling for the American People means recognizing the extraordinary, unprecedented historic magnitude of the challenge before us, the scope and scale of potential suffering can be reduced. We owe it to the American People to act. There is no excuse for delay. The failure to act is unconscionable and inconceivable given the magnitude of challenge, but also given the resolute and resilient spirit that i have seen across connecticut, whether its with americans donating to people who need it, supplies and other kinds of necessities, or the spirit of giving that ive seen among faith leaders and public officials, the courage of police and firefighters and Emergency Responders and the dedication of health care providers, whether its in hospitals or at clinics like charter oak in hartford, across connecticut everywhere that i have visited, i have seen that american spirit coming forth, the great positive spirit of america and the ingenuity. That was a word that one of the Small Business people this morning used with david griggs and myself at the Hartford Metro alliance, ingenuity of meeting this challenge. Whether its in research for new vaccines or in devicing new ways to deliver the tests or providing for more ventilators and intensive care units, that ingenuity is truly american. And the dedication of those Health Care Givers and first pond responders and local Business People in the state and around the country ought to inspire us to do better and to take this vote and do our job. Thank you, mr. President , i yield the floor. Its easy to follow the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak at cspan. Org coronavirus. Track the spread throughout the u. S. And the world with interactive maps and charts. Watch briefings and hearings with Public Health specialists, anytime unfiltered at cspan. Org coronavirus. The u. S. Senate is about to gavel in. We could see debate and a vote on the house approved coronavirus economic aid package later today. Yesterday senators agreed to extend fisa surveillance authorities for 77 days. Now to live coverage of the u. S. Senate here on cspan2. The chaplain let us pray. Lord of majesty, in spite of our challenges, your glory and power continue to inspire us. We exalt your name even when we are overwhelmed by the problems we face