Baltimore washington dc maryland corridor as a hotspot. There have been confirmed cases 1290 confirmed deaths in the state of maryland these are trying in unprecedented times for all communities in america and maryland is no different in this regard. So in times of crisis we should look for the helpers so to recognize some of the heroes helping communities and maryland i am very proud of the state hospitals and stories of manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies that have come together to perform their own testing with ppe and Hand Sanitizers. Of the freeware academic medical systems and to be critical to prepare the state for the pandemic i am particular proud of Johns Hopkins tracking system that Public Health officials worldwide have come to rely on for up today accurate information. I applied on applaud john hopkins officials to create that pool which has proven itself critical to fight the disease. What you speak about that when you cannot measure it and express it in numbers so in the early days of the pandemic state officials desperately searching for ways to have the Testing Capacity developing his own coronavirus test and it has been especially hopeful to combat the virus and Johns Hopkins has closely corroborated with Nursing Homes to train employees and residents for the most vulnerable populations i commend Johns Hopkins ingenuity which is critical to those afflicted with covid19 and affect the spread of the virus university of maryland medical system to address those devastating effects and the states minority communities which is likely due to those disparities the university has assembled of Public Health experts with the covid19 consortium to be critical to developde strategies to form the states response efforts to protect communities who are more susceptible to covid19. Despite the immense burden they have stepped up to help local hospitals and Nursing Homes and other frontline workers to completely convert the operation of corn ethanol to produce Hand Sanitizer taking corn from the maryland farmers a company on the Eastern Shore now produces sustainable face shields that can last up to six months. By the end of this week they were shipped out 1 million face shields to First Responders and others on the frontline against covid19. The demand for the face shield is so great it has hired 115 new employees providing Economic Relief to communities on the eastern s shore. Marilyns world leading biomedical and pharmaceutical companies are working tirelessly and astrazeneca with research and Development Facility partnered with the university of oxford already in training phase one Clinical Trials the collaborative with Johnson Johnson with the lead candidate and those solutions will be providing Contract Development and Manufacturing Services to promote Johnson Johnson commitment for 1 billion vaccines worldwide now with the Frontline Health care workers those with covid19 these physician assistants lab techs emt and others go to work day after day facing the imaginable stream of the deadly virus these are by no means exhaustive Law Enforcement agencies and Higher Education institutions to pitch in for covid19 now theyre stocking Grocery Stores and shelves delivering groceries to keep families and Young Children entertained as they continue to practice social distancing making homemade face coverings for those who need them i see my neighbors come together to make lunch packs for families in need mlk junior said be great because anybody can serve covid19 pandemic does not test our character but reveals it i am so proud to represent the great marylanders serving on the frontin line and i will continue working as hard as i can that we are doing everything we can to support them against covid19. Mr. President i yield the floor. The senator for louisiana. Thank you. 3 trillion as best i can tell, that is how much money the United States congress has appropriated, that is how much taxpayer money has appropriated to fight the coronavirus and its aftermath. 3trillion. That is 12 the rose. 3trillion is 3 trillion. These numbers take my breath away mr. President. I spent this money even though we dont have it. We dont even have 5 percent and then to be approximating exceeding 25 trillion. The last coronavirus bill that we passed was the cares act we passed a number of pieces of legislation for this virus and the covid19 that it caused and mr. President its very hard for me to vote for. Not because i care about the american people. We all do but it such a Staggering Amount of money. I spent my career in government for the State Government level than the federal government t level i spent my career in government being cheap when it comes to taxpayer money and it bothers me as it should bother all of us we spent money that we dont have. I have driven all over washington dc. I cant find the money tree but i voted for the bills because it was clear we had to do something. We appropriated money to fight the virus, help people and businesses to recover economically from the impact. We dont know what works in the cares act and what doesnt work. I suspect we will look back and say this measure was smart with hindsight but this one fell short. But already many of my colleagues and they say this with respect have other bills to spend even more money primarily to help state and local a governments. Like a labor day mattress sale. The number of bills flying around. Somebody was to spend another 250 million somebody was its been 500 billion Speaker Pelosi wants to spend 1 trillion. I think all of that is premature. I suggest that we pause once again and see whatt works to see what works and hasnt worked. Any fairminded person would have to conclude we should open up government to receive the Economic Impact and to make the mistake we will open up the economy again. I dont know why we cant save lives and save jobs. I will make it clear every single one of these 3 trillion is a precious commodity coming from taxpayers. The discussion that many of my colleagues have been having about spending additional monies specifically for state and local government and it seems to forget we already appropriated for state and local governments. In louisiana, my state, as a result of the cares act we will receive three. 5 billion and im very grateful for every single penny. This congress appropriated 287 million for Public Schools in louisiana, 190 million for universities, we have received extra medicaid payments and additionally we have received one. 8 billion for state and local government. View add that up it is three. 5 billion already appropriated just to louisiana. Some more. Some that less. We need to recognize weve done a lot and i have to leave votes for the bill it is a breathtaking amount of money. This doesnt mean our states and local governments dont have to sacrifice. Sacrifice. Se. I have a bill that i tk maybe its thmade me that the e. We make one mistake, we probably made others but in my judgment, i know we made one in the carers act when we put restrictions on the amount of money that we gave to state and local government. I understand why we did it and at the time i supported it. We do not want to bail out the states that have been mismanag mismanaged. If a state decides to give generous Retirement Benefits at an early age to its employees as far as im concerned, that is the states business but also as far as i i am concerned, the people in louisiana shouldnt have to pay for what in my opinion is mismanaged. And i think a number of my colleagues in the senate share that sentiment. But in hindsight, i use louisiana as an example, we put up 1. 8 million. There is a requirement in the legislation that says 1. 8 can only be used to divert the expenses of the coronavirus expended by State Governments, by the state of louisiana and by the cities. And thats what the statute says. And its the statute passed by congress that controls. Now the department of treasury, im not sure what they issued, but they issued something. The states cant louisiana for example has great flexibility to spend the 1. 8 that went to state and local government. They can spend it on First Responders, policemen, schoolteachers and i appreciate the department of treasury issuing whatever it was they issued a. Theres just one problem. The statute doesnt say that. And the United States treasury doesnt have the authority, nor should it change the bill passed by the United States congress. So im grateful to the secretary to try to help here, but i dont believe that what he is doing is legal, and it gives me great pause the State Government and d cities might act on a directive from the treasury that could change two weeks from now. I think the only way to address the issue is through a statute passed by congress. Let me say this again, my bill with not appropriate any new money. My bill would say with respect to the 150 billion that this congress unanimously has already taappropriated to help State Governments and local governments, that is the 1. 8 billion that i am referring to in the louisiana received, my bill with just say they can use that money for operating expenses. My bill would prohibit it to bail out of mismanaged retirement systems. They cant use it to bail out any retirement systems. Mismanaged or otherwise. But they can fill in the holes in their budget asr the resultf any revenue shortfalls. And my state for example, mr. President , we very heavily rely on the sales tax in on the personal incomed tax. I think that this measure may move the issue from having to appropriate brandnew money for the state and local governments. The governors i talked to a tony we really appreciate the money that you sent to the state and local governments. Theres just one problem. Our hands are tied. There isnt enough money. As a result of the shortfalls in the sales tax that is what my bill would do, mr. President. And for that reason, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on appropriations be discharged from further consideration of steps 3608 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask kennedy substitute amendment being considered and agreed to end the bill as amended to be considered ready for a third time and passed into to be laid upon the table. Is there objection . The senator from florida. Reserving the right to object. I clearly appreciate my colleagues remarks. State among local and tribal governments across the great country are working tirelessly during this difficult time and have received funding through the care act. I understand the spirit of my colleagues proposal, and very concerned that removing the important limitations related to thepp appropriate uses of the Coronavirus Relief fund in there carers act from the response effort that each of these resources. Further i am hearing from some states and localities would like to use federal dollars that fill the decades of fiscal mismanagement. Hardworking american taxpayers shouldnt be on the hook to bail out the state budget expenses that have nothing to do with coronavirus. With big budgets, high taxes and tons of debt contrasted with states like florida. But they made the hard fiscal positions to pay it off and live within ourt means. I have a chart here that shows what happened as a result of the three states in the fiscal mismanagement. Theres a significant population while the poorly managed states eeu can see we watched the budgets, didnt keep borrowing more money, we live within our means that we look at the debt, 27 billion in new look at california 155 billion at new york 148 billion you see what people are doing they are leaving because the personal income taxes and their attitude towards business. These are the worst states for business. The Foundation Shows how poorly they do with their tax policy. So, if you look at whats happened, people have left these states if moved their income to florida and others so im completely opposed. The difficulty in the proposal is difficult to decide what is going to be used for one expense in the state budget or another expense in the state budget. And lets not forget this years federal budget deficit will be the largest in the history of the nation of the largest in the history of the nation and access of the deficits for the first 200 years of the countrys existence. As my colleagues said, we will end the year with an excess of 25 trillion for the federal debt. We have to be focused and very careful with our taxpayer dollars. Im very supportive of a needed resource to the communities and First Responders. We need to maintain the guard rails to ensure they can continue on the path to recove recovery. For these reasons, i