Hundreds of thousands of americans have taken to the streets and courageously demanded an end to Police Murder and brutality and to urge us all tohe rethink the natureol of policing in america. In the midst of all of that, we continue to suffer from the covid19 pandemic which has taken the lives of over 115,000 americans and infected over 2 million of our people. And then on top ofop that, we are experiencing the worst economic meltdown since the greatov depression of the 1930s with over 32 million americans having lost their jobs in the last three months. Mr. President , and the midst of all of that, enough is truly enough. United States Senate must respond to the pain and suffering of our constituents. Let us begin work today, not next week, not next month. But right now in addressing the unprecedented crises our people are facing. Mr. President , if there is anything that the torture and murder of george floyd by Minneapolis Police has taught us, is that it is we have to fundamentally rethink the nature of policing in america and reform our broken and racist criminal justice system. And let us be clear and i think everybody understands this. The murder of george floyd is not just an isolated incident. It is the latest in an endless series of Police Killings of africanamericans, including sharad brooks, tamir rice, alton sterling, walter scott and many, many others that American People are rightly demanding more from justice and an end to Police Brutality and murder. We have got to hear that cry coming from all across this country from large cities and small towns and the Senate Must Act and act now. Now, here is some good news in the midst of a lot of bad news. That is thanks to a massive grassroots movement, the senate will finally begin to debate legislation dealing with the police. That is a good thing. The bad news is that the republican legislation, at least what i have seen this morning, goes nowhere near far enough as to where we need to go. Now is not the time to think small or respond with superficial bureaucratic proposals. Now is not the time for more studies. Now is the time to hold racist and corrupt Police Officers and Police Departments accountable for their actions. Now is the time to implement reforms in communities that have suffered Police Brutality for far too long. Now here is the time to boldly protect the First Amendment right to protest let me very briefly describe some of the areas in which i think congress should move with regard to Police Brutality and the whole issue of policing. First and maybe most importantly, every Police Officer in our country must be held accountable and those found guilty must be punished with the full force of law. That includes officers to stand by while brutal acts take place. Every single killing of a person by police or while in o r Police Custody, must be investigated by the department of justice must have a process in which Police Departments looked like the communities they serve. And be part of those communitie communities, not be seen as invading heavily armed Occupying Forces thats not what Police Departments must prohibit the transfer to Police Departments. Further we need to be able to abolish qualified immunity to Police Officers are held civilly liable forse abuses. Weha need to strip federal funds from departments that violate civil rights. We need to provide funding to states and municipalities to create a civilian call of un armed First Responders to supplement law enforcement. For so long we have asked Police Departments to do things which they are not trained or prepared to do. We have criminalized societal problems like addiction and homelessness and Mental Illness. Homelessness and Mental Illness. Severe problems that exist in every state in this country. But these are not problems that will be solved by incarceration. We are not going to solve the crisis of addiction or homelessness, or Mental Illness by incarceration buried we have done that for too long and it is a failed approach. S unchecked mr. President we need to make records of Police Misconduct publicly available so that an officer with a record of misconduct cannot simply move to towns over and start again. We need to require all jurisdictions that receive federal Grant Funding to establish independent Police Conduct review boards that are broadly representative of the community and have the authority to refer death at the hands of police or Police Custody the federal authorities for investigation. Ri we need to amend federal civil rights laws to more effective prosecution of Police Misconduct by changing the standard from willfulness to recklessness. We need to ban the use of facial Recognition Technology by the police. Finally, and certainly not least importantly, we need to legalize marijuana. In the midst of the many crises we face as a country, it is absurd that under the federal controlled substance act, marijuana is scheduled along with killer drugs. State after state has moved to legalize marijuana and it is time for the federal government to do the same. We can talk about a Police Department reform, we must and Police Officers continuing to arrest or jail the people of our country predominantly people of color for using. Marijuana. We need to ban the use of rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas on protesters. The right to protest, the right to demonstrate is a fundamental a constitutional rights, and a rights that must be respected but mr. President , let uscl be clear, the least violence is not the only manifestation of the systemic racism thats taking place in america today. Just take a look at what is going on with the covid19 pandemic. In recent months we have seen black and brown communitiesed disproportionately ravaged by this virus. We have seen workers who earn starvation wages forced to go to work day in and day out in on healthy workplace environments because without that paycheck, they and their families would go hungry. The working class families have with enormous courage kept our economy and society together in hospitals, and meatpacking plants, and public transportation, and supermarkets, gas stations and elsewhere. These workers again disproportionately black and brown have risked infection and deaths so that the rest of us can continue to get the llfood we need, get our medicines or put gasoline in our cars. Mr. President , and the wealthiest country, in the history of the world, workers should not have to choose between going hungry on one hand or getting ill on another. I mr. President , we talk about starvation in this country, i was happy to hear today that target has raised its minimum wage for its many, many thousands of workers to 15. Hour. That is something that i in many others here have long advocated for. It follows the decision to years ago by amazon to raise the minimum wage from their workers to 15. Hour. And the effort in seven states across this country to raise their minimum wage to 15 an hour. Now is the time for walmart. Thats the largest employer in america owned by the wealthiest family in america to also raise their minimum wage to 15 an hour. I should add mr. President that the Walton Family, the family that owns walmart, can more than afford to do this. Because since donald trump has been president , their wealth has increased by about 75 billion let me repeat their welfare has increased in the last three plus years, they are now worth 2 billion as a family. I think the Walton Family can of ford to pay their workers 15 an hour. And by the way, when we talk about racial justice, please understand that about half of black workers inea this country earn less then 15 an hour. Further mr. President , the house has done the right thing by passing legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to 15. Hour. The time is long overdue for the senate to do the same. Mr. President , despite what we hear from the trump administration, the covid19 pandemic is far from over. In fact as you may know, nine states today had record highs in a single day. We could continue to see unfold continues to have more in the organization. No one doubts anymore that masks a complaint and Important Role in cutting back on the transmission of the virus. We need to utilizeon the defense production act and manufacture hundreds of millions of high quality masks our people and our medical personnel needs part of the Defense Authorization act i will be offering an amendment to do justld that other countries around the world are spending masks on a regular basis to all of their people we can and should do the same thing. Not only do need to act boldly and aggressively, this horrific pandemic that we are experiencing not only do need to act r boldly to fix a broken injustice racial system that we need to respond with a fierce sense of urgency to the worst economic crisis and modern history of our country. Over the last three months over 30 million americans have lost their jobs, over 30 million americans have lost their jobs and because half of our people are paycheck to paycheck having virtually nothing in savings. Many of those people are now facing economic. Tens of millions of americans are growing hungry. And in vermont and states all across america we are seeing long lines of people lining up in order to get the federal government its not just food, millions of americans are frightened to death they have been evicted from their apartments will lose their homes to foreclosure. In the middle of an economic meltdown in the middle of a pandemic, millions of people are in danger of being thrown out onto the streets. Further, as part of the economic crisis losing over half of Small Businesses in this country. Impossible to comparably millions are threatened with destruction across america. I would say to senator mcconnell here in the senate cannot afford to wait not a month from now, not two months from now they need it now. We need to respond vigorously to the Enormous Economic pain suffering and anxiety that the americanri people today are experiencing what does that mean specifically . Bit the federal government must guarantee one 100 of the paychecks and benefits of American Workers up to 90000 a year to a paychecks security act which is legislation i introduced with senators warren, jones and blumenthal. Countries in europe who have taken this approach have not experienced the skyrocketing levels of unemployment we have seen here in the united states. Mr. President , as a result of the economic downturn, 16 millionre americans have already lost their Health Insurance there further estimates that number could go as high as 43 Million People losing their Health Insurance. That is on top of the 87 million americans who are already uninsured or underinsured before the pandemic. As it sense of urgency of the economic crisis means that in the midst of this horrific pandemic, every man, woman and child in this country must receive the healthcare they need, regardless of their income. Theis uninsured until the crisis is over. And if the crisis has taught us anything and has taught us we are only as safe as the leased insured among us. Responding with a fierce sense of urgency means every working clock person in the america with 2000dollar emergency payment each and every month until this crisis is over so they can pay the rent, feed their families and make ends meet. The onetime 1200dollar check does not cut it. And emergency 2000 Monthly Payment will serve also as a major stimulus and reviving the economy. Responding with a fierce sense of urgency means making sure that no one in america goes hungry which means weve got to substantially expand the meals on wheels program, the School Meals Program and snap benefits. You need to makece sure the Postal Service that desperately needs. To make if we could bail out large corporations if we could provide over 8 trillion in tech specs to the wealthy and powerful, please do not tell meng we cannot save and strengthen the Postal Service, an agency of huge importance for our entire economy. Acting with the fierce sense of urgency means extending the 600. Week and expanded Unemployment Benefits that expires in july. Failure to extend these benefits would the income of millions of americans by 50, 60 or even 70 . You cant do that in the midst of an economic crisis. So mr. President , here we are today we are in the midst of the worst Public Health crisis in over 100 years. And the Republican Senate is doing nothing about it. When the midst of the worst economic crisis since the depression of the 1930s people all over this country and every state in america are financially hurting and Republican Senate today is doing nothing about that. We continue to see africanamericans and rudely murdered and tortured by racist Police Officers and the Republican Senate leadership proposes a woefully inadequate solution. Now i understand that not everyone in america is hurting. E not everyone in America Needs help from the senate. Over 32 million americans have lost jobs 630 billionaires and americans in their wealth go up go up, amazing but true over the first three months of this horrific pandemic, america b top 630 billionaires have seen their wealth go up by 565 billion. That is hard to believe. In other words at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, which has already today worse than any time in 0the 1920s, a horrific situation is becoming much worse. During the last three months will the very, very rich have become richer american households have seen their wealth go down by six and a self trillion dollars. Billionaires see their wealth increased by over 600 billion american households either wealth go down by six and a half trillion. And Everything Else we are experiencing, wens are currently witnessing what is likely the greatest transfer of wealth from the middle class and poor to the very rich and modern history of our country. In the midst of unprecedented crises, it is time for the senate to act in an unprecedented way. That every state in this country our constituents are hurting and they are calling out for help. Let us hear their cries, let us hear their pain. Let us act and act now