We lost thousands of people worldwide. The United States the numbers continueun to increase as we continue to increase number of people that we can actually test. Fortunately, the vast majority of the people will get this virus have little to no symptoms. Its a cold, a mild flu to them. But for a gullible population, our elderly population, those with heart issues, lung issues, smokers, diabetics, this can be a very, very serious thing. The challenge that we face in our health care is that for every person that walks in to get tested, they are facetoface with ones of her healthcare workers especially in rural areas ofy our state that may be the only healthcare professional for that entire county. And if the person who has not been vaccinated as well because there is no vaccine yet, if that person is not able to serve the rest of the population, and bad Health Situation becomes even worse because of diminishing care. We as americans have taken the seriously, as we should. We are paying attention. This younger population spending time trying to be able to get away from other individuals, to be able to self isolate, self quarantine, to be able to get social distancing is the new term. To be able to find some way to not be close to someone else plato axially pacifiers on. Though the virus may be with them and they are not personally physically affected much, the effect of someone else could be pretty dramatic. Out of respect for others to try to manage that distance, and to be attentive to that. Theres been multiple action from the government over the past several months, the travel bans with all of her much about starting with china and out multiple areas of the world. Lots of encouragement to be able to limit gatherings first 250 to and 50 and. Translator and now to ten. And now a series of just keeps social distancing to beoc able o make sure youre aware of that. Its been emergency declarations that have been done. Cms has changed coverage as recently as yesterday i did with issues like telehealth, making sure that individuals that may have other care needs dont have to actually go into a healthcare professional for their fearm. Of rules for sitting in the waiting room. But they can get access to telehealth, a much needed change. The fda has been aggressive in giving access to different states to be able to do their own testing regiments. Cdc has been active in trying to build the get to a point where they can get a testing system that can actually get up to the entire country. The challenge was early on many other countries did test and develop tests with a high false positive rate. Cdc was a folks i try to get as i could as he possibly could. That meant it took longer and we dont have thehe tests out. The tests are more accurate, but we dont have the testing numbers that we need at the moment that we needed it which was last week. So now were still struggling to be able to catch up on testing all over the country. Multiple other labs, multiple universities are also coming on board. Multiple other countries are also developing their own testing processes. In the days ahead we will be able to catch up on the testing that any american could be able to get testing, but for now its limited in states like my state in oklahoma, where the virus is beginning its acceleration, we were late to get to the virus coming to oklahoma, but now the virus is there. Starts to accelerate and testing is exceptionally important to us, as it is to everyone else. Department of transportation is engaged on things like waivers for hours of service to allow the movement of goods all over the country dealing with livestock and with food. Theres been a big push from just about every retailer in the country to make sure theyre clean facilities more and being open and t accessible, accessib, doing hours in the morning so that in a shop with people a the virus and dont even know it. Theres been as shift around the entire to encourage people to telework or to be able to find ways to build a separate out in their place of work. All of these things have occurred just in the last few months. Beginning again to say, three months o ago, none of us knew ts term or this virus existed. All this haspi happened extremey rapidly. Three weeks ago congress and the president agreed on a proposal, and wide bipartisan proposal. It would you with additional funding for testing, additional funding for the vaccine development, additional funding for state and local departmentse of health to be able to make sure theyre taking care of that. My own state in oklahoma has all received almost 7 million to build help in whats happening in our county and we are in desperate need of those dollars to be able to get that done. Vaccine department is already in human trials now. Its in phase one. It will take multiple months to go to get that done but we have already begun that process. Thats important to us. The bill that was on the floor today, built in multiple things. It expands snapped what some people still call food stamps but a supplemental nutrition. Its assistant for those families. Itsan an expansion of that. Also deals with Unemployment Insurance benefits to be ableblo make sure those are staying consistent and those get extended at people who were going to need it because in the past week unemployment has dramatically increased all over the country. And in the days ahead we will be able to see the numbers, we will see the difference of whats happened this week versus the week before versus the week before that. Struggle is my phones have been filled with one other element thats in that bill, and it deals with the mandate on Small Businesses for sick leave. Small businesses in my state are closed. Many retailers and restaurants, many Small Businesses are really struggling with how theyre going to pay for this when they have no income coming in right now. They are hearing the promise of a federal reimbursement coming to them but they dont know when thatre is coming and there literally teetering on the edge right now. And the struggle is, please dont do something that pushes us over the edge. We need help, but we dont need a bureaucracy thats going to be slow to respond or a way that will get us some help but help the comes to us too late. In these terrifying wordse thati prefer multiple employers, i cannot make it with that structure, and im going to have to lay people off and hope to be able to hire them back when this all ends. For those families, that are laid off and in unemployment now, this this is a very diffet day for them. Inho my theory is, some of what pushed some of those individuals over the edge into unemployment was an average to say were going to add one more mandate to you at your worst possible economic moment. The first principle that we should have as a congress is do no harm. We need to step in and help us folks that need help. Theres lots of ideas being bandied around from both sides of the aisle to try to figure how we can to help as rapidly as again to as many people as we can. This is a moment unlike what we have seen before. It is fear and panic thats global. That literally were struggling with what if, and the cdc and our own governments saying to employers, it would be best if you closed for a season. And they being good citizens and Good Neighbors quite frankly are complying with that, for fear of their own business and of their own employees. I finished myla day yesterday le last night talking to a Small Business owner in oklahoma. Who related to me what hes going through right now. And theug struggles that hes having keeping the doors open. And, quite frankly, he was fairly blunt with me to say, the things have been passed in the bill tomorrow will affect me, but my competitors that are big companies, it doesnt affect them. And so is already hard enough for me as a Small Business to compete with them, now i have a new mandate on me. Thats not a mandate on them. And it makes it even harder. And i dont think ill have the cash flow to be able to make this work. Towards the ender of the conversation he paused and literally began to cry, and he pulleded himself together and said, im having to call people and tell them i dont have hours for you next week. And these are people i care about. N we need to take action. But we need to take action that helps people keep their jobs, helps people stay employed, and helps us deal with the dip in the economy right now to help them pull back out. My fear iss we didnt do that just now. We might have just made it worse. There are important things for us to do, and many of those things we are working on this week. Weve got to get help to as many people as again as fast as we can. And it is my hope the senate will continue to stay in session as a leader has already sent and promised that it would actually actually come to some proposals where we have wide bipartisan agreement that get help rapidly to people that need to help the most, those workers, those individuals that are struggling, those folks that are hourly, those folks thatol are waiters d waitresses, those folks that work in the coffee shop and on the copy shop. Copy shop. Those folks in Retail Locations are shut down. They need us to stand with them and this is our moment to do it. Lets do it together. With that i yield the floor. Thank you, madam president. Madamid president , i want to stt my remarks by saying to the people of massachusetts and families all across the country. Many of you are making big sacrifices, quarantining yourselves, postpone or canceling major events, dealing with close to schools and day care. We a are grateful. Right now our primary goal needs to be to slow the spread of this virus. And we allt share in that responsibility, and so we thank you for everything you are doing to keep your loved ones and everyone elses loved ones safe at this time. We are at war with the coronavirus, and we need a massive wartime manufacturing mobilization for coronavirus testing kits and personal protective equipment, for medical personnel and emergency responders. That is why last weekend i was the first to call in President Trump to immediately use existing authorities under the defense production act to bring all of the power of the federal government to bear in mobilizing industry to make this crisis. Its what i had offered the Senate Resolution calling on him to do so. And its what i spoke directly to Vice President pence yesterday to urge the administration to take this critical action, and i am glad that they are doing so. The defense production act allows the federal government to direct supplies and Critical Materials and equipment that our hospitals and First Responders need. It allows us to mobilize industry to expand production, and gives us the power to coordinate industry to respond to this crisis. We need to fully use all of those powers that are provided under this law. And that is why i am so glad the President Trump invoke the power of the defense production act, to respond to the coronavirus crisis. Im glad that he is exercising it and im glad that after my conversation yesterday with Vice President pence that they decided to put this on the agenda for our country. We need to massively increase private production of the lifesaving or so protective equipment, medical supplies and devices, and diagnostic testing supplies. D we need to combat this bible enemy. We need to activate our capable intel at the domestic industry and bring the full weight of the federal government behind this effort. We are talking about gowns and gloves and face shields and surgical masks, n95 respirators, ventilators, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers. And we do not have nearly enough of this lifesaving equipment. Forr instance, the United States department of health and Human Services estimates that the United States could meet up to 3. 5 billion respirator mask. Let me say that again. Our own department of health and Human Services says that we could need upwards of 3. 5 billion respirator masks, our Strategic National stockpile, the countries emergency medical supply bank, holds only a tiny fraction of that. Just 12 million respirator masks. Notli 3. 5 billion, 12 million. The medical Community Calls this personal protective equipment ppe, that ppe also stands for a promise to protect everybody. And this is the promise we should make and keep for our hospital personnel, First Responders and patients. Invoking the powers of the defense production act will help ensure that we can keep this promise to our american heroes who are on the front lines of battling this epidemic. Ive beenh in regular contact with the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association and the massachusetts nurses association, and both have issued a terrible alarm. There is insufficient medical equipment and supplies to test and treat affected individuals, and protect healthcare workers and First Responders. For example, the berkshire hospital told me that they require 3500 respirator masks a day. Thats 35,000 in just ten days for the berkshire hospital out in the least populated part of our state. But just that one small hospital. Yet the entire state of massachusetts recently receivedo only 70,000 of these respirator masks. That is not nearly enough. We do not want our nurses and our doctors were using or rationing masks. Additionally, hospitals and labs across the nation are trying to ramp up testing capacity, but face shortage and test kits and supplies. But we need toic dramatically scale up of testing and ensurer continued ability to test. Our nation must be able to conduct tens or hundreds of thousands of tests daily. Ultimately testing millions of people over the course of our response. That means producing swabs which we are now running short of and at the testing materials. We have used the defense production act before during the korean war to mobilize defense infrastructure. And during the cold war. And make nod mistake, we are facing an equally deadly enemy in this virus, we need to bring all of our authority and resources to bear to defeat it. All of us owe a debt of gratitude to our Frontline Health and medical care work force. They dont have a roadmap for what is n happening right now. Its unprecedented. They just have skills, a commitment, and the hearts of heroes. And we owe them the resources they need to be protected in order to do their jobs. Sadly, this pandemic is going to get worse before it gets better. I had been calling upon the president to declare a national emergency, which he finally did last week. Now that he has done so we did massachusetts to get all of the funding that is due. I have been in regular contact with governor baker and maher walsh, and i will support his requests, their requests for federal resources. As the senate works on Economic Relief package that matches the scale of this crisis, we need to ensure that we put people and family first here no half measures, no hidden bailouts and giveaways, just to big corporations. Paid sick time for all workers. Unemployment insurance for all workers including for gig workers, contractors, home workers, expansion of snap and wic and School Lunches and other Food Security programs. No evictions, no cutting off of utilities, no cutting off of wifi. Halting all deportations and releasing of detained immigrants who pose no threat to public safety. Provide free wifi to low income households with students who cannot afford it but are going to be at home because of School Closures so that we dont have a huge homework gap that now explode in our country as poor children dont have access to the Wifi Technology at homehe o that they can learn at the same pace that kids who just happen to live in wealthier families have. We cannot allow that to happen. These kids should be able to learn at home, regardless of their income. We need free wifi for those kids. We have to reimburse our states and cities and tribes. They are bearing the brunt of this crisis and they need resources immediately. My commitment to protecting the health professionals, to ensuring that consumers and workers and families of massachusetts gets released from the impacts ofvi the coronavirus is my number one priority. We have to protect the Small Businesses in our country. We have to make sure that they received the resources which they need. Millions and millions of smallol businesses right nowre are feelg enormous stress. We have to make it possible for them to be able to receive the release, which they need, to help which they need in order to survive, and weut have to put up front whatever the capacity is to make sure that they get the resources which they need. Because if that system in our country, where 48 of all workers are employed, Small Businesses in our country, and they are living on the margin, then were going to have an economic catastrophe by august or september when millions of the Small Businesses will just the car bankruptcy. Thats just the bottom line economic fact of the matter. We have to give them the help and went to make sure with the resources inside of the federal government, the personnel that will ensure that we can deliver that relief to them. So for the people of massachusetts, i want you f to know that i am here for you and i will help any of you individually who need any assistance during this emergency. Thisen current moment may call r distancing and isolation, but we cannot and should not sever our basic human connections to one another because we are all in this together. And and i want to end with the t important reminder. The guidance of scientists and medical professionals. This pandemic is unprecedented. It will require an unprecedented mobilization and respond to every level of society. We can get through this, but it will require a commitment from every single one of us. We are one big family in the United States. Many families are going to be suffering. Its going to be our job to make sure that we protect those families and its the job of this institution to do so. We are the legislative First Responders. We are the ones that have to provide the resources that then allows the First Responders, the families in every Community Across our country, to have the resources to help everyone in our society. Thats our goal. I pandemic should know no partisanship. Let us come together and produce a big package that our country right now the despot needs. Madam president , that i yield back. Madam president . Senator cohen catches. Madam president , thank you very much. This has p been a trying a difficult challenging time in our country and my home state of kansas. F lots of conversations can compassion going on. We can give anybody a hug these days. We can extend a hand, at least literally over extending a hand to all of our friends and our neighbors, those across our community, those across our state and across the country. Im troubled of course by what circumstances americans find themselves in. And there are those who are poorly, in the four seconds in which they can recover from the circumstances that we face. I want to make sure that kansans know that we hear their cries. We know of the problems, and that work is afoot to try to make a difference. Just aou couple of examples, things that perhaps in the overall scale of where we are, presto seem significant enough but can make a difference in individualize and families wellbeing. Weve been successful to this point in getting the School Lunch Program available for students whose schools are no longer in session. Who dont go to the classroom and, therefore, are not in the schooltc lunch room. And usda and the School Food Program arele now available for those who are at home because their School Classes have been canceled as as a result of the virus. We are paying a lot of attention as hope kansans know, americans know to the veterans and the veteran community. And with a success in passing legislation on the senate floor waiting for house consideration that will allow those veterans who are no longer in the classroom in the university or in a Technical College and are now learning i distance education, byei technology to build its duty. To receive their g. I. Educational benefits. That requiredor a change in the law and its in the works so that those benefits continue, even though the student is now required in the classroom itself. We are trying to make certain the department of Veterans Affairs has resources necessary to meett the needs of our veterans. It is a vulnerable population because of age and existing condition of many of our veterans. And we are in Constant Contact that only withan the departmentf veterans themselves and with our veteran hospitals and clinics and other Healthcare Providers in kansas. Today, we arey dealing with Economic Relief for those who are losing their job, fearful of losing their job, or have already lost their job. Much of lise meany comes from our employment, from what we do come at i a job lice life e security for individuals also provides meaning and no one can understand unless they are without a job a devastating that can be. Im pleased by the number of business men and women who have called me to tell me the last thing they want to do is lay off anyone who works in their business. The circumstances at home in have been through economic difficulties before. We have seen the cycle of the economy, the ups and downs, the normal flows, but this is something totally different thae that. Oro and gas, the price of oil is such that keeping our oil and Gas Producers in kansas in business is a real challenge. Aviation manufacturing is an important component to the kansas economy, and today industries which manufactureon sussed aircraft and beechcraft announced they are furloughing 7000 other 9000 workers. Thats on top of other challenges in the Aviation Industry in which Spirit Aerosystems headquartered in kansas has already laid off 2800 employees. So from the oil and gas industry ofnd western and South Central d eastern kansas, to the manufacturing of of wichita in southcentral kansas, the consequences of the coronavirus are real and felt in the pocketbook, felt in the brain and felt in the heart. Our restaurants, hotels, our car rental agencies, those who serve others, ive been in circumstancesrk this weekend visiting with a person works, the people who work at a restaurant, the people who work at a cafe, the people who work here in washington, d. C. At the cafeteria where i had breakfast this morning. Those who have jobs what if they will have jobs tomorrow. Those have already lost their jobs wonder how theyre going to pay the bills. This morning a conversation with an optometrist telling me the circumstances am no longer being able to care for patients except in emergency setting which means that the business in the Optometrist Office and important healthcare provider, thehe business in the dental office, that that has been curtailed and the necessity of considering laying off the clinical workers is front and center in that conversation. Its at troublesome situation across kansas, doesnt matter what city or town you live in. If youre a farmer, the cattle prices today significantly depressed. Despite the fact that its still pretty expensive at the grocery store. I think about my hometown and the loss of a business. There are not many businesses in many Rural Communities in kansas. And many businesses dontea reay earn much of a living for profit. It could be a family circumstance. It could be this is what they did, this is what their parents did. This could be a service to the community, and to live on a lot less because that business is important to a small community. But this kind of challenge is such that if that business closes, the chances are that it doesnt reopen. The financial circumstances of smalltown america are such that there is little likelihood of recovery and reopening. I hope that the legislation that we passed today, its not on its way to the president , it included a few things that i was troubled by and think will create significant difficulties for some. We need to continue to work to change those provisions that are troublesome and cause problems, but it was important in my view to make certain that the things that were wrong in that bill didnt prevent us from passing something to help those with the things that are right. None of our economic efforts that we make to make certain that people feel more secure economically will work until they feel more secure in the health and wellbeing of themselves and their families. So even though you may get some assistance, a person may get some assistance, a family may be relieved of some of the Financial Burdens that they now face, a laidoff worker may get unemployment benefits, but your mind is always going to be on the issue of your health and the wellbeing of your children and your parents and your grandparents, those we know in the nursing home and those we know in the nursery. And asho long as we are troubled by what may happen to us in our health, no amount of economic stimulus can overcome the fear of ones wellbeing, and particularly the wellbeing of their spouse, their children, and their parents. So clearly, Economic Relief in and of itself, in my view, is insufficient. We need to make certain that our Healthcare Providers have the necessary tools to meet the Health Care Needs of american citizens. And front and center in that regard is testing. And we are woefully inadequate and undersupplied in what we need to test the necessary number of kansans and americans to know what they face, and to know that their circumstances are, and to respond in a medically required way. We are working to make sure there are more tests across the country and working to make certain that those tests are distributed in a in a way that kansans, the Healthcare Providers, can access them. Most recently we were successful in getting cdc to undo a problem that kept tests from being transferred to the Kansas Department of health and environment, in my home state. We were pleased to see the fda, for example, has modified the necessary steps it takes for a manufacturer of these caskets to be certified, to be qualified to manufacture them test kits. The amount of test, test kits and being produced, the meta manufacture has increased and were expecting significant improvements in the next couple of weeks. Yes, i wish they were here earlier, but can we fix a problem we face now and get them here soon, immediately. I said in the desk sit in the desk of senator bob dole, a predecessor mine in kansas. His name is etched in this desk drawer now known for his bipartisanship and health and Great Respect not only at home in kansas but across the country. I stand at the desk that is here in the place of senator john mccain, two people demonstrated the desire to Work Together. And while ive outlined a few things that are think are important at a wanted kansans to know, my mission in my remarks today may be the most important, is to ask my republican colleagues and my democrat colleagues to set aside the usual bickering and political posturing that takes place in the United States congress. No american can feel well, no american can feel that things are going to be okay if they dont see leadership and Cooperation Among us. And so while we today are preparing for the presentation of new legislation dealing with the challenges that businesses, employers, and employees face, trying to relieve the economic and financial burden that Many Americans are experiencing, and more will experience in the future, could americans please see that me and my colleagues are taking every step not to make this a political exercise, but to demonstrate our care and concern for those we represent. I mentioned a moment ago about veterans. This is the point in time in which, if you take a walk on the National Mall as i have often done, to walk to the lincoln memorial, i will walk by, now the world war ii memorial, i will walk by the vietnam wall, and on my return i will walk by the korean war memorial. As we try to address the changes ngs that america faces today. No person in those sacrificed their lives for a republican or a democrat. They sacrificed because they believed they could make life better for those back at home. They sacrificed because they thought they could make the world a more safe and secure place and i pledge myself every way possible to do things today, tomorrow, the future that means that this congress has come together on behalf of the american people, just like those who served our country did and now rest in peace. To the democratic colleagues here in the senate, please consider me open to their suggestions and to my republican colleagues, please know that im an ally in the things that we believe in, but we all may need to give a little so that america can return, americans can be safe, americans can be secure, our health is protected and our economy flourishing. I would ask god in this circumstances to bless this country, to bring us together, hold us in his arms in a way that we cant do today. And to make certain that this congress represents the will of the people know the will of any political party. Madam president , i yield the floor. Floor. Madam president. Senator from tennessee. Thank you, i request i speak with as much time as i may require. Without objection. I want to congratulate the senator from kansas for his medical remarks and those of mine and virtually every member of this body, that we are here not as democrats or republicans, but to Work Together to do whatever we can to address the concerns that are literally unprecedented. This is an unprecedented time in our country. I cannot remember a time in my li life, in our history when the government has literally closed down the country in order to contain a disease. Thats really what were doing, whether its the federal government by its travel restrictions 0 are or whether its the State Government suggesting that schools be closed or whether its mayors saying that restaurants must be closed. Were closing down the country to contain a disease. Madam president , because the government is doing that on behalf of all of the people, were going to have to pay the costs of closing down the country to contain this disea disease. Today the news is that the Auto Industry across the country is closing down, at least temporarily. There are layoffs. Ive watched over the last 40 years as tennessee has gone from almost no auto jobs to proudly calling itself in manile ways, the number one auto state. 140,000 tennesseans work in auto jobs in tennessee. Thats one third of all of our manufacturing jobs. Theyre spread through 88 counties and over these 40 years as textiles and other industries moved away from the United States and out of our state, the Auto Companies moved in virtually into every county, and our family incomes went up. So if we are in many ways the number one auto state, then we are the number one state to be hurt when the auto plants begin to close. Were also hurt, as are citizens in every state, when the restaurants shut down. 15 million americans work in restaurants. One of our largest industries, if not our largest industry, almost all of those workers are being laid off in tennessee and in many other places in the country, and even more will be. And not all of those affected are working for big Auto Companies or medium sized restaurants. I received an email yesterday from friends in tennessee who run a kennel. Well, you may say thats not so important. Well, it is important to a lot of us. They say were suffering a massive dropoff in our business as a result of the coronavirus, i fear we may have to close our doors for a month or two as our wonderful customers are forced to curtail travel. Im currently trying to secure around 50,000 in loans to supplement our dwindling reserves to see us through million until may or june. Im looking for Disaster Relief on the heels of major flood damage caused by recent floods, our Flood Insurance refuses to cover that. Were not seeking charity just a Business Loan for 40 to 50,000 to secure our business until this passes. We always pay our way. This couple has two Young Children and maybe a couple of employees in their kennel. Theyre awfully good people. Theyre salt of the earth tennesseans, theyre like americans suddenly confronted with this disease that came out of the blue and had as caused our government to shut our country down. Now, what shall we do about it . Well, a couple of weeks ago, congress reacted and the president with 8. 3 billion dollars to help beef up our Public Health system. We have the best Public Health system in the world and we wanted to help it get started. Today weve passed a bill that some people have estimated at 100 billion which includes a whole variety of other steps from democrats ap republicans that includes encouraging more testing, that encouraging that creates a new system of paid leaves for businesses of less than 500 employees and family leave, and as senator mcconnell said, were going to stay here this week until we take step three and step three, according to the president s proposal, would include direct financial payments to americans and it would include support for essential businesses that need stablization like the airlines. And it would include loans to Small Businesses so that they could keep their employees working. Perhaps that proposal would be good for that small kennel that i talked about. That is said to cost perhaps another trillion dollars. A trillion dollars is a lot of money even into the United States. Our Gross Domestic Product is about 22. 3 trillion. We have 25 of all the money in the world in this country just for 5 of the people, but the idea that we would have to spend a trillion dollars or more to contain a disease would be unthinkable a few weeks ago, but what weve learned very quickly is were going to have to pay the cost of containing the disease because the way were containing it is that the government is shutting down major parts of our economy. And i dont believe that what we do today or what we propose to do later in the week will be enough because as i look at the number of people being laid off in this country, our state unemployment agencies are not going to be able to deal with that. In tennessee, for example, where unemployment has been very low and where people have been found it easy to find a job, there were only 2,000 applications for Unemployment Insurance last week, but already this week, by 2 p. M. On wednesday in the middle of the week, there were four times that many applications, 9177. And if youre successful in Unemployment Compensation in our state you get 275 per week for 26 weeks. So were going to have to do even more than the congress has done, even more than the president has done, and i think we have to recognize that the president was wise on january 31st when we only had six cases of coronavirus detected in the United States to impose the strictest travel bans on people coming into our country in 50 years. Dr. Fauci who all of us respect said if he hadnt done that wed have many more cases today, but still, we have a disease thats causing the government, this one, the State Government, the local government to shut major parts of our economy down. Thats why i voted today for the legislation that was phase two in our effort to respond to that. Even though i have significant issues with the sick leave and family leave proposals that are a part of it, i believe those provisions, while wellintended by the administration and by the house of representatives, will hurt Many Employers and will short change many employees. First, to be fair, i want to try to make sure that what the treasury intends to do is on the record. Ive had several conversations with the secretary of treasury and with other officials to ask them just what they intended to do and to list the problems that i had, so, here is what they say and what im doing is characterizing the conversations and the writings that weve had. They pointed out that what many businesses have read is in this bill, what was in the draft of that the house passed on friday before technical corrections were made over the weekend. And that the technical corrections greatly improved the bill from the point of view of employers. This is what the Treasury Department says, under the legislation, employers receive a dollar for dollar refundable tax credit for the covid19 related sick and family leave payments made to their employees. As amended, they mean the technical corrections over the weekend, the credit is carefully calibrated, in the treasures words, to ensure theres no sick or family leave requirement in excess of the credit. The legislation now also includes explicit grants of Regulatory Authority to both the secretary of labor and to the secretary of treasury to ensure consistency between the leave requirements and the credit provisions. In addition, and this is what the treasury officials have been saying to us, over the last few days, the legislation now provides that the sick and family leave payments are not considered wages for tax employment purposes. The wages extend the employer credit to include costs for maintenance of Health Benefits paid by the employer, while employees are on leave. Lastly, the treasury and the Internal Revenue service are considering options to provide an advanced payment for the refundable credit to ease any tax flow burden that a small fraction of employers may experience. Ill have more to say about that in a minute, but what that means in plain english, theyre considering a way to make sure that before the employer has to pay this required family leave to an employee, that the federal government has given the money to the employer. Besides this, the legislation now includes explicit grant of authority, treasury says, to the secretary of labor to exempt Small Businesses from the only longterm leave requirements it contains, where those requirements would result in hardship. The treasury with me in the writings theyve sent out make the argument far from imposing special burdens, the net effect of this legislation is to provide an important benefit given that many already provide sick leave and many more will need to do so in response to the covid19 outbreak, moreover by structuring coverage by sick leave as a credit, the legislation ensures that employers generally receive relief immediately, rather than having to wait for a refund. In the event of amount of the credit exceeds an employers tax liability, the credit is made refundable to ensure that the employer is fully compensated for all payments made under the leave requirements. And the treasury goes on to say, treasury and irs are working on options to provide an advanced payment of the credit to get cash in the pockets of Small Businesses and their employees immediately. The intent of the legislation, the treasury argues, is to fully fund the payments employers make to their employees who experience employment interruptions related to covid19. In summary the amend legislation does not require employers, according to the department of treasury, to make payments in excess of amounts eligible for the refundable tax credit, nor does it require employers to pay employment taxes on those amounts. To the cop contrary, it provides an immediate benefit to Small Businesses and employees for whom Financial Assistance is needed as quickly as possible. That is the argument of the secretary of the treasury and his sub board subordinates. And i read that in detail, because in tennessee, and many places across it country, there are, if my figures are right, about 6 million businesses that could be affected by this mandate that employ 51 million employees. Or at least they did employ 51 million employees until all the problems created by this virus. Having tried to be fair and given what i understand the treasurys intense to be, which i think will be useful to owners of the Small Businesses and their accountants and lawyers trying to figure out the law that was passed today. Here are my problems with it. Number one, im not sure that treasury can live up to its promise to make sure that the employer has the money from the federal government before the employer has to pay the sick leave to the employee. Now, here is my principle. I believe, i think that sick leave and family leave in these circumstances is a good idea. I mean, if someones quarantined for two weeks, he think all of us should have to pay the cost of that. And for another 10 weeks, some of the costs of the medical and family leave. I buy that. I can support that. But i believe if washington d. C. Is going to require it, washington d. C. Should pay for it. If washington d. C. Is going to require a Small Business, many of which are struggling, many of which are going out of business to pay a new mandate, washington should pay for it. This is no time to be imposing on Small Businesses an expensive new mandate, unexpected new costs when they cant when they dont have money coming in to pay for the normal costs that they have. Now, i know that it is the goal of the secretary to let it work this way because hes told me this, hes told all of us this, he said it in public and he put out a statement. Under the sick leave proposal, every couple of weeks a business man will put aside enough money for withholding and Social Security taxes. And that adds up to about 15 of salary of an employee. What the treasury is saying is that the employer can use that money instead of setting aside for the government, you can use it to pay sick leave. Well, there are two problems with that. One is, i dont like the idea of the employer using the employees tax money. You usually get in trouble for that. If i if i set aside the senator from the dakotas tax payment and then i use it for some purpose, you can go to jail for that in some cases. At least its inappropriate im uncomfortable with that, the business might only have 7 1 2 of the salary set aside for that purpose, even at 15 , im not sure its enough. The treasury secretary says we understand that, well allow advanced payment and hope to come up with a system to get it there immediately. He hasnt promised it would come in one day, im sure his objective on the senate floor, id like to get it there the same day. Well, wanting to get it there the same day and getting it there are two different things. And if im a Small Business person in tennessee and i know that im going to have to cut a payroll check on monday and that i have no money coming in to pay for it, and theres not enough money in my escrow account for it, i want my money from the federal government before i cut the check and so, mr. President , i intend to try to amend the legislation that we passed this weekend to say that with sick leave and paid family leave, since washington is requiring it, and washington is paying for it, then washington will need to make sure the employer has the money before the employer has to pay the check. Thats number one. Number two, i want to make sure that the employer doesnt have to pay more on sick leave than the federal government cap. Theres a cap, i think its about 132,000 annualized pay on sick leave and an employee, if he makes more than that, that employees going to have to take a pay cut or he might use the or she might use the private right of action to sue the employer to say i want you to pay the gap between 132,000 and whatever i made. Well, you may say im not too sympathetic to the employee who makes that much money. Im not talking about being sympathetic to the employee, im talking about being sympathetic to the employer who may not have any money. Remember, this is a washington mandate and washington should pay for it. Now, the Treasury Department has amend through technical changes this past weekend, they said so in the information i just read. Theyve amended the bill to try to make that clear and i hope thats successful. Third, layoffs. I mentioned the restaurant industry. There are 15 Million People who work in the restaurant industry. If theyre not laid off now, theyre going to be mostly all laid off before very long. And unfortunately, mr. President , none of those men and women who have been laid off are eligible for this sick leave. Because youre going to have to, youre going to have to work for 30 days for this Small Businesseses, this company with less than 500 employees, in order to be eligible for the paid sick leave. So, im afraid as a result of this, Many Employers worried about this provision may have an incentive to lay off more of their employees. But the truth is, they dont need much more incentive because youre of a restaurant and youve been told by the local health board to close down, you dont have any money coming in, you cant pay your employees anyway and so, you dont have any choice. But my point is, if this is a very limited benefit, in the restaurant industry, and probably in many other industries because it does not help the laid off employee. And finally, theres been a lot said that, well, for the smallest companies, those with less than 50, that you can apply to the secretary of labor and hell make you exempt from the mandate. Well, i think thats a good idea because thats the small mom and pop diner, that might be the kennel i just talked about that might have three or four employees, theyre not accustomed to dealing with all of this washington legalese and requirements and regulations, theyre not geared up for that, but as i read the lang wage and the law its a much narrower than that. So im going to attempt to amend the law that passed today to broaden the exemption so the secretary of labor has more authority to waive the mandate for businesses with less than 50. So as ive said, mr. President , there are a number of important benefits in the bill we passed today, especially on testing. Weve seen a great increase in the number of available tests over the last few weeks. Governor of tennessee said yesterday that we have sufficient testing. Well, thats for today, maybe not for tomorrow or the next day. One of the greatest steps forward has been to finally allow commercial testing to be used. I mean, why shouldnt the mayo clinic be able to go ahead or Cleveland Clinic go ahead to be able to develop a test and move ahead with it. So now that they can. But while weve done a great deal, theres a great deal more that we must do. Im convinced that even if we do as senator mcconnell has said, and pass our phase three legislation this weekend, which would include loans to Small Businesses, direct payments to individuals, stabilizing payments to automobiles, i mean, to airlines, for example, and maybe other industries, that theres more to do and my guess is, that the next step after that, phase four, lets call it, its to look to our state employment compensation systems and make sure that theyre able to handle a large number of people who are losing their job because the government is shutting down the economy in order to contain the disease. I voted for the Johnson Amendment today to the bill that i later voted for because i thought it was headed in the right direction. Rather than washington issuing mandates, i would rather washington work with the states in existing programs, make sure states have sufficient funding on top of their own funds to deal with auto workers, restaurant workers and workers at the small kennel with two or three employees, make sure that they have sufficient funds and i believe in addition to that, the figure in the weekly fund is going to have to be higher than the 327 that it is in tennessee. This is unprecedented. Were closing down the economy in order to contain the disease and because were doing that, we governments at all levels, were going to have to pay the bill. I thank the president. I yield the floor. Senator from delaware. Mr. President the senate of the United States has just acted, has taken up and passed a roughly 104 billion package of assistance thats going out to american families, american workers, to our Health Care System, to our states and our community. And i just wanted to take a few minutes and talk about this important step weve just taken and where we have to go next. The delawarens ive heard from today and this month are worried, thr theyre anxious, theyre up all night figuring out how theyre caring for their Children Home from school and need support and instruction and education. How theyre going to care for their parents who are elderly, and vulnerable and sick and concerned about our hospitals and Health Care System in its capacity. They are he an anxious because their front line workers, First Responders, volunteer firefighters, nurses and orderlies, exposed every day and concerned, they are just average citizens, asking how can i get a test and where . Ive heard from the president s of our major universities, the head of our hospital system, our governor, my colleagues and our congressional delegation and talked repeatedly to our director of Public Health, secretary of health and Human Services and heard from Business Owners large and small who run everything from coffee shops and diners to restaurants and hotels in our state. Theres a lot of anxiety and concern. The folks in my state want to know we here in washington are going to put the bickering aside and get resources out to deal with his significant Public Health emergency and so, i hope folks take some encouragement from todays action. It passed 908, very little, mr. President , passes in this senate 908. And i have very rarely seen a bill of this size, scope and magnitude that goes from an idea to bill text, to enactment in such a short period of time, but this moment demands it. Let me talk through, also, the priorities that are reflected in the Families FirstCoronavirus Response act. Because the name reflects the priority. Hubert humphrey was a former leader in the United States in our Political Community and system once said, the moral test of our government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, children, those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly, the shadow of life, sick, needy and disabled and im pleased the package just passed here in the senate, takes important strides to take care of exactly those folks. Children home from school who need support for learning remotely and those in particular who rely on School Lunch Programs for their one good stable healthy meal a day will be able to continue to get School Lunches delivered, either through their schools or at home, there are significant resources in this bill for that. Those who are on the front lines of this crisis, the individuals who are cleaning offices and cleaning hospital rooms and cleaning amtrak cars and public buses, those who are putting themselves directly at risk by cleaning the spaces we all count on for our society, front line workers, people who are in our First Responder community, people who are working in our hospital emergency rooms, this provides support for them. And for anyone who is concerned about the cost and access to testing, this bill makes clear that testing for covid19, for this dreaded disease caused by the Novel Coronavirus will have a test for free, including those without health insurance. Theres some big pieces in this bill ill briefly mention. Paid emergency leave for workers at companies below 500 employees for two weeks of sick leave and up to 10 weeks of additional paid family and medical leave. We just had a disagreement over exactly how thats going to get paid for and how its going to get compensated and on one whatline a whatline what timeline and what details. My offices website will have an accessible, readable summary of whats in this bill up later tonight. The larger point was that we thought it essential that folks who we want to stay home, but who may be living paycheck to paycheck, know that they will get paid sick leave so they can stay home and we can slow the spread of this disease. Theres also an increase in funds from the federal government to states for medicaid because a lot of our states are going to see increased costs as folks move to medicaid at the place they get health care as they move to unemployment. 100 Million Dollars in Additional Resources will go to the state of delaware alone to provide support for those who may be newly dependent on medicaid. And then last is an expansion of unemployment benefits, 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, including temporary unemployment caused because of covid19. Theres more details to how this temporary Unemployment Insurance for work, but it will last longer and have a higher level of benefit and be more flexible than previous versions of federal Unemployment Insurance and its being delivered in partnership with states. So thats the biggest pieces of this bill. Its just 104 billion. The bill we are already hard at work on will be an order of magnitude greater, likely more than a trillion dollars. If what weve seen in terms of anxiety and concern of families up and down my state and our countries, any indication, we must take this up quickly and enact it. Small Business Owners ive heard from today who want to keep employing the folks who work for them, but have lost half their business, since our governor took the bold and necessary step of closing our restaurants and bars, to all except drivethru and delivery service, thats 10 of the folks who work in delaware work in restaurants and hospitality. Folks who want to keep their people on payroll, but have no work for them to do face a very hard choice and we need to find ways that we can both defer the payments that are necessary for students, for home owners for businesses, those who have outstanding payments on sba loans or on federally guaranteed mortgages or bank loans where we can work out to provide some temporary relief and individual payments that will help students, that will help heads of household, that will help individuals, so theres a lot of different pieces that are being debated and discussed here in the senate, support for amtrak, a priority for me because i commute by amtrak and it is one of the biggest modes of transportation on the east coast. Support for the airline and Hospitality Industries because they employ hundreds of thousands of people and have seen their business drop off sharply. Support for longterm structural changes, to how we provide access to health care, access to skills and training for our work force, access to higher education. Ive heard very concerning stories from the folks who lead some of the most important nonprofits and faith and educational institutions in my state and theyre looking to us for bold and decisive leadership. Last, we must not forget those on the margins of our society. People who are homeless, people who are incarcerated. People who are uninsured, people who are undocumented. If we want to make sure that we make our country safe, we need to practice not just good hygiene, not just social distancing, but we need to refrain from moral distancing. We need to remember the words of Hubert Humphrey and we need to be reminded that exactly why people look to this federal government, for prompt action, and for significant resources, is because they look for us to be able to make sure that we see all americans and that we know that we are all in this together. Thank you, mr. President , with that i yield the floor. Its easy to follow the federal government 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 general time unfiltered at cspan. Org coronavirus. Yesterday President Trump met with the heads of nurses organizations to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and the governments response. Well, thank you very much and today i welcome the great nurses of our country to the white house and express our gratitude for those