This meeting to discuss something that were all thinking about , the answer to the question as everyone in america asks every day. How will this end . When will this end . This telephone conference with leaders from other nations was talking about the ending of the vision and discovery of an effective vaccine that canprotect people around the world from the surge of this coronavirus. Im not sure when that vaccine will be discovered. The sooner the better but the big question we need to ask ourselves at this point is where will it be discovered and what benefits will it provide for theUnited States . There was one major nation boycotted this International Telephone conference about discovery of the vaccine. With the United States. Resident from decided not tto side with the leaders of nations from around the world in this global conversation about finding a state safe and effective vaccine to fightthe coronavirus. Im not sure what his motive was but we know that at least 94 other vaccines are being explored and worked on in nations around the world. In england for example. In germany, and so motoking for the same and effective vaccine that we in the United States are looking for area i have great confidence in the men and women medical research in the United States and the production of facilities in our country. But i am yes to be so vain as to believe no other country and find a safe and effective vaccine and if they did, if they did, would we hesitate for a moment to turn to that country outo say the United States wants to be part of producing vaccine and receiving vivaccine for the people. So why, why would the president of the United States decided we are going to boycott conference, stay away from . Im sure he has a dozen reasons but they dont seem very convincing to me. We should be at the table whenever there is a serious runnable effort to discover a vaccine and the United States shouldbe participating. There were trying to raise 8 billion, thats a lot of money. Remember, we are dealing with an effort to rescue our economy from the coronavirus which isnow in the range of 2. 8 trillion. Were asking participants, norway said it would pledge 1 billion. The European Union that would pledge 1 billion to this global vaccine effort. The United States should have been at the table. We should be all in for any credible effort to find this vaccine as quickly as possible. I now is a resolution calling on the administration to reverse its position and to oijoin in this effort. I want to commend bill and Melinda Gates who participated in a telephone conference with 1 million of their own funds on behalf of the United States. I fumigate family for karen. Now mister president you should join area madam president , this morning the republican leader came to the floor and talk about the problems and challenges we face and the fact that there is another bill which is going to be offered publicly thisweek by speaker nancy pelosi. The next in a succession of legislation that weve considered overthe last several weeks. Weve seen dramatic investments in unemployment Record Number of unemployment, Unemployed People in this country. Weve seen dramatic investments in Small Businesses of america because of the fighting chance to reopen and prosper in the future. I enjoyed all of these on a bipartisan basis. I dont know the specifics of the growth of these proposals , senator mcconnell warned us not to think big, not to think about transformational things and of course he went back to his time honored chorus about the question of liability. Senator mcconnell has come to the floor repeatedly said that before he would consider another rescue bill, you would need to see what he calls a redline when it comes to liability lawsuits. What is being proposed by state employees is really an affirmation of whats been said by every one of us when it comes to our First Responders, police, firefighters , paramedics , healthcare workers and teachers. What she says in her bill is weve been hit and hit hard tstate and local government llevels by this covid19 and she is proposing as i understand a financial commitment to help those units of government have truly been hurt by this coronavirus. But shes asking for really whether or not all of our sieges about healthcare workers and police and First Responders and firefighters and teachers are really credible. And we will come up with the resources needed, senator mcconnell has said he will not support that legislation unless as he calls it his redline of liability is honored. What hes saying is he receives the fund of police, firefighters, paramedics and teachers unless they provide guaranteed Business Community from covid19 lawsuits by workersand consumers. Senator mcconnells guaranteed Business Community sadly is an invitation for irresponsible operations and businesses to cut corners when it comes to protecting workers and those customers and its such who would be by coronavirus. Mcconnell redlines would result in more people being infected by the coronavirus. More people getting sick area thats not what we want. Theres a better way. We should be talking about how to do this properly. One of the witnesses being called by the republicans is a man named kelly smart, chief executive officer and president of quick check food stores in texas texas. Hes testifying on behalf of the National Association of Convenience Stores on this question of liability. I read a statement this morning in preparation for the hearing and ive committed to my colleagues because i want them to listen carefully to what mister smart says he believes businesses need. Heres what he says. He talks about his own Company Quick pick, y quickbooks First Priority is the safety of our employees and customers. Daily protocol to mitigate the deadly spread of the virus. This was the challenge, this is what mister smart says. The guidance provided by the cdc, the artificial safety and Health Administration as well as state and local governments conflict in addition to being difficult to follow. Yet despite many uncertainties including the constant confliction of Public Health arguidelines we began to adjust to the pandemic. Mister smart is not saying businesses dont have a responsibility. He is accepting that responsibility to create a safe environment for workers and customers but hes saying to us when are you going to establish the standards mark why do you keep changing the standards . Here we are with mcconnell threatening to derail the next rescue bill for firefighters and teachers across america unless there is guaranteed immunity from lawsuits and heres one of the leading companies, the number one primary witness of republicans saying to the federal government and state governments established standards. Reasonable standards for us to live up to when it comes to conducting business and we will do it. I think thats a reasonable request by his business. Why arent we doing it . Why hasnt osha established standards for safety of workers . One of our other witnesses here is the hand of the united personal workers, mark karate. And i have a special fondness for this union because when i was a college kid, i spent 12 months working in a slaughterhouse in east st. Louis illinois and it was his union that i belonged to back in those days. It was tough, dirty, dangerous work. And i looked to it as an important chapters in my life when i saw how real people go to work every day. And many times their safety and their health. Mark perrone tells us there have been literally thousands of these big processing workers who have been infected by this virus in 85 avwho died as a result. What hes looking for, what were looking for is whether those companies to establish standards and safety for their workers so that they can go back to work in this important business. Some are doing just that and i commend them. Someone working with the union to find safe ways to test their workers and bring them back to the job site in a safe environment for them to work in but they dont have the National Standards to what we have not established a standard and we should , whether its through osha or through cdc, we ought to establish anders for businesses across this country to live up to. And i believe many mister smart, mark perrone with the commercial would applaud that. It would say at least we know what social distancing standards could be used in the workplace. At least we know what protective equipment is required to protect our employees. At least we know going into this exactly what the standards are we need to live up to. Senator mcconnells ask is Community Immunity from lawsuits. Dont hold anybody any standards at all. Thats wrong. People will be in danger, people will be infected, more people will die. That is not the right approach. But we need to do is to make certain that when this is all said and done we have a smart approach. In the business that is conscientious and cares for its customers has standards to live by, that they can thmeet reasonable standards that have been thought through from a Public Health viewpoint. Its no wonder that theres incendiary when you look at the situation today , controls suggest voluntary standards, suggestions. The white house accepts some and punishes some, stops at others, ignores others. Theres just no clear message to businesses and people of what the standard safety will be. So i would say that this hearing is important to hear from mister smart, to look for standards that he can live by. To hear from mark pelosi about the dangers that is workers across the workplace and dont believe for a minute that this caravan of lawsuits threats that we hear over and over again the whole story. When you look to the lawsuit, its not just the socalled caravan of trial lawyers that arejumping on this. T there are businesses doing business, there are lots of lawsuits that have little or nothingto do with personal injury. Also lawsuits involving workers compensation. Senator mcconnells suggestion is that we overturn the state laws that give workers the right to recover the workplace if their injuries or their health is apparent because of the ievirus. What a terrible outcome that would be, to walk away from decades of established protection for workers in every state in the union. For settlement mcconnells overall redline threat when it comes to the virus and that Speaker Pelosi is proposing madam president , theres a reasonable answer. You can say to these businesses across america, usstand together. You protectyour workers, you protect your customers. We will stand by you read we will establish a reasonable standard of conduct for you which will protect you from frivolous lawsuits. The approach by senator mcconnell is saying we are going to guarantee immunity ng against lawsuits is the wrong thing to do. We need a standard of safety that businesses can be proud of, that workers can respect and customers can count on so they can go into places, do their business, byproducts and know that theres a standard of good health being