Capitol, i entered selfquarantine to protect my colleagues, our community, and their family, and that time has now expired as of this morning. I certainly regret the fact that i missed a vote that passed 908 to complete phase two of our help to address covid19. I wish i had been here because the vote would have been 918. But throughout that time that i was in quarantine, i had an opportunity to visit with thousands and thousands of coloradans. Telephone town halls and every Congressional District to hear from business leaders, to hear from business individuals who have lost their jobs, to hear from parents who are at home with their kids who are out of school, not knowing if they would go back at all to work. To figure out how zoom works, to figure out how skype works, to figure out how Technology Works to teach their kids at home. Throughout this process, i have adopted a threeprong approach to what we must do as a country to get through the crisis at hand. Number one, we have to address the Immediate Health epidemic. What we are doing to, as the experts say, flatten the curve to stop the spread, to provide the resources, the tests, the protective equipment that we need to our states to make sure that they can fight this invisible virus. What we can be doing to give them the tools, the skills they need for the heroic efforts of our Frontline Health care providers, the doctors, the nurses, the clerical staff, the janitors, the classified workers, all of the people who have been so heroic to provide health care to our people. Thats phase one, making sure that we stop this epidemic and address the needs of the American People. Prong two of this threeprong approach is about making sure that we provide individuals with immediate assistance, people who are terrified about what happens to their job, how theyre going to make ends meet, what theyre going to do to put food on the table, how they are going to pay their rent, how they are going to pay their mortgage, will they have a restaurant to go back to . Thats prong two of this approach. Prong three of course is to get our businesses up and running again to make sure that when this Health Epidemic is over, this Health Emergency is over, we can make sure we have an economy that snaps back and runs strong. And we will do that because we as a country will rise together. We will do it united. We will do it because we in this country know how to overcome great challenges. And were taking these measures to quarantine and selfisolate not because we are fearful of the virus, not because were afraid of what will happen if we dont, but were doing it out of love for each other. Were doing it out of love for our neighbors and our community and our parents and our grandparents and our children. We take the guidances of the Health Experts and the Public Policy experts seriously because we want to share that love with people to stop the spread so that we can avoid the surge that can overwhelm our health care systems. Because we know under the bestcase scenarios, bestcase scenarios, were looking at a situation that could utilize 95 of every hospital bed in this country. For the next year. We do this out of love for each other and for our community and to protect one another. In colorado right now, we have roughly a thousandplus confirmed covid19 patients. We have lost 12, perhaps more by the time im giving this speech today in colorado. These lives, those who have tested positive, their loved ones are all in my prayers today. The governor of colorado obviously issuing the emergency declarations. I just spoke with the governor a few minutes ago to talk about how we can continue to provide the resources that colorado needs. Over two Million People across the denver metro area are now in some kind of a shelterinplace order, ordered to stay at home. Our nation is uneasy. Our future is uncertain. And the level of anxiety that our country faces is the highest i have ever seen it. But we dont need to have uneasiness about our future because we will rise together. We will come together as a nation to overcome this. We know that our future the future of this nation will be prosperous again, that our economy will be thriving again, that our communities will be able to celebrate what we have overcome because thats what we do in this great nation. We rise. We rise together. We stand together. Coloradans have stepped up in every way possible. In a uniquely colorado way, you have hemp businesses that are now producing cotton swabs for medical needs. You have whiskey distilleries that are producing hand sanitizers for hospitals, for home health care. We have protective equipment thats being donated by the Denver Broncos and by Marijuana Industry and by so many other businesses across the state of colorado who are stepping up in ways that make all of us proud. Theyre checking on their neighbors. Theyre checking on their friends. Theyre making sure that elderly people in their church that they have met are okay, making sure that we check in with our loved ones and those around us. We have been able to get successful tests upped and running in different places across colorado, helping different organizations and Different Health care facilities find new ways to process this overwhelming burden. And as this place has passed phase one that gave millions of dollars to the state of colorado and so many states around the country, as we passed phase two which prepares additional testing and nutrition programs and other ways to meet this challenge, we now turn to phase three. Phase three addresses all three prongs of my approach. It addresses Health Emergency, assistance to individuals, and addresses the ability for our economy to snap back what we address this Health Emergency. It sheedz to pass now. It should have passed days ago. I dont think the American People give a hoot if it was a republican or democrat idea. I can tell you with my teletown halls, no one said, we hope the republicanonly version passes or the democrat versiononly passes. Thats not what they are saying. They are saying do your job because were scared about what happens next. Pass the relief that we need to get them back on their feet to make sure we know theyll be able to have food on the table to pay rent. I cant imagine what somebody who built for 50 years as a Small Business be going through every hour we delay wondering if that 50year dream is going to stand and survive. Shame on the people around here who said, you know what, lets have one more day of delay, one more hour of delay. Because a republican could get their way or a democrat could get their way. When i was at home not once did i hear anybody say, could you stall a little bit more for partisan purposes . The American People are rising above the fray. They are meeting this challenge in the spirit that i hear in every conversation i have. They are donating blood. They are sharing that love that i talked about with their neighbors, their communities. They are figuring out new ways to be together even when were supposed to stand apart. Thats what the American People are doing. And were bickering about phase three and well have phase four and phase five. You know what weve done instead of patting ourselves on the back, you know what weve done . We managed to get back, i hope, to the starting line. We didnt run through the tape. We havent finished the job. Weve made it, i hope, to a place where we can now know were back at the line and we can run together to fix what will be tremendous needs and to address tremendous needs of this country. To answer the anxiety that every single one of our constituents has. Thats what congress should do. Thats what that Congress Must do, and i am glad and ill be proud to vote for this bill today because we have to get this job done and theres more work to do. We have to make sure that people understand the recovery benefits that they are going to be receiving will help answer that anxiety to hopefully give them hope that the new categories of Unemployment Insurance that have been cede under this will also give them the ability to know it is going to be okay, to know that the Small Business loans that are being made available will help that restaurant stay in business. I talked to eve in aurora, and she didnt know how she was going to survive. She converted her whole business to takeout, but she didnt know how successful that would be. To roberta in plebo who had the same questions. This will help people to bring people back on payroll that they let go because they didnt know how to make ends meet. To pay their utilities, to pay their rent, to have their mortgages and have that loan given and make the economy vibrant again. Because thats what we do in this country. We dont look back, we look forward. And in colorado we look up to the Great Mountain horizon. We dont look down, we look up to see the next horizon and we strive for the optimistic next day. Thats what we do in colorado. And i know this country does the same. You know, i talked to a 70yearold coloradan in weld county, colorado who on a teletown hall. You could hear it in her voice, she didnt know what to do because she was old older than the experts say should be out and not following guidances. But she said, i cant find the the disinfectants and cleaners that i need. How do i find that . So we were able to find her leaf. And the Grocery Stores stepped up and provided special hours for people. And they are delivering to people like the woman i spoke to. They are providing information to their communities and theyve got clerks, theyve got cashiers, theyve got people stocking the shelves on the front line xeepg our communities safe. To all of them keeping our communities safe. To all of them, thank you for the work theyve been doing each and every day. Its important to recognize in this country that weve seen great challenges. I remember my grandmother who passed away this year talking about her experiences in the great depression. This countrys been through the great depression. Weve been through the great recession. We will make it through the great infection. Thats what we do as a country. Thats who we are as a people. The senate will approve this bill today and the house must approve it without delay, no excuses, no delay, pass the doggone bill now. The American People have expected this for a long time. It shouldnt have taken this long. Do your job. Do our job. Get this done. We will act out of love for our communities. We will act out of compassion, and we will rise to the spirit that has made this country great. Ive heard so many of my colleagues come together and talk about wartime footing or they talked about how we mobilized in a way that maybe the people have never seen in their lifetimes. Its reminded me, though, what thomas payne wrote in the crisis during our revolution, which actually George Washington read to his troops. And here is what thomas payne said. I call not upon a few but upon all not on this state or that state but on every state up and help us. Lay your shoulders to the wheel better here to to have too much force than too little when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter when nothing but hope and virtue could survive that the city and country alarmed at one common danger can forth to meet and repulse it. We were taught in sunday school that our struggles lead to perseverance. That perseverance leads to character, and that character gives us hope. We will get through this, america. We will start with this bill. Weve got a lot more work to do, but to my colleagues, do our jobs. Get it d call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Cardin madam president , the people in this nation are hurting. We know that. They are very concerned about their own health. Theyre worried that they may be carrying the virus and they take it home to their elderly parent who could be come down with the virus. They are worried about how long this social distancing and communicating from home and staying at home is going to be required in order to control the spread of the virus. Theyre worried about their economic circumstances, whether theyre going to get a paycheck. And i am pleased that today we have an agreement with our leaders to move forward on the third stimulus package to deal with this