Mr. Cassidy madam president . The presiding officer the senator from from louisiana. Mr. Cassidy madam president , i rise to address the issues i rise to address the issues matter president arise to address the issues regarding the covid crisis. It is a Public Health crisis leading to an economicsi crisis and in turn an educational crisis. Today i will speak of an aspect of the crisis specifically state and local government which had to shut down the economy and in turn lose the tax revenues they would receive and because they have lost the tax revenue of jobs and firefighters and Police Officers, teachers , sanitation workers and other essential frontline workers at risk. I will proceed they have unveiled a proposal for a support American Families and Small Businesses as a nation continues to combat the covid19 pandemic it is an unprecedented challenge but we lsshall overcome. The introduction of this proposal signals a republicans commitment to see america through the challenging time as well as the cares act. The safety of the people of louisiana are my top priority as with all major bills a starting point of negotiation to build a consensus among members of both parties for the best path forward. This act to support for Small Business billion to help schools reopen and while these are critically important to economic recovery, so too are the essential servicesy provided by states and local communities im talking about Police Officers, firefighters, teachern workers and other Municipal Workers and because of the economic lockdown, state and velocal government has seen the tax base the road which threatens their ability to keep these very peoplepe we need employed these people who keep our communities running for example i dont want to see a situation where cities budgets to force the layoffs for those who put their lives on the line to keep a safe thats why congress should include additional relief for state and local communities in this relief package. Senator menendez and his staff has been a Wonderful Team to work with i have offered a bipartisan proposal called the smart act to help communities to the pandemic and im pleased to be joined by ezsenator menendez and collins to speak on his behalf that calls for 500 billion in funding for state and local government and will be dispersed in thirds one third based on population clearly california needs more than alaska. One third based upon covid19 impact. My state has had one of the highest per capita infections and one third is based upon revenue loss which again my state has been very impacted. There is a formula that prioritizes funding to the hardest hit. The r need is great detailing the state susceptibility of the school distrust in a i covid19 recession 38 states have a high or very high risk of economic exposure s p findings echo of moodys report which alsoct predicted a dire effective nothing is done 34 states will see tax revenue followed by doubledigit points in alaska will fall 80 percent louisiana 46 in north dakota at 44 percen 44 percent. According to the National Association of counties local communities 202 billiondollar impact of budgets through 2021. And and 60 percent have cut or delayed and Human Services and Community Development support 25 percent have the county workforce abilities estimates one. 3 million have already been laid off and an estimated one. 4 million more state and parish and county workers will be laid off in the coming fiscal year. And 66 percent of counties of the release fund either indicate the funding will not cover the covid19 budget or the budgetary impacts will be covered. This is the impact. By the way we spoke earlier 202 billion and this is how the breakdown is with lost revenue and state funding et cetera. The impact is huge. All told the National Association of counties predicts a loss of two. 9 million jobs and 344 billion lost of gdp. It does not have to be that way. Police officers firefighters teachers and others by including state and local support in the acts we are considering louisiana is taking serious shortfalls and struggling with covid cases yesterday we had the number one per capita incident of coronavirus the state has to continue to lockdown because the revenue of the local communities where they would otherwise spend their money. Now back home no consequences if they dont receive support 22 parishes signed the act those ranging from 400,000 between 18000 and the covid19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges from local government that only within louisiana but nationally the tax revenues to provide for essential services coupled with unforeseen cost and responding to the covid19 pandemic has the potential of a detrimental effect on the role to provide for citizens of parishes i received a letter from more than 80 mirrors giving their strong support and thanks for efforts to pass the smart act because they know im working to deliver the support they need for their communities for mutual constituents ranging from cities as large asro shreveport the smart act would provide funding for municipal economic recovery to support the reopening of businesses and allow louisiana to move forward. We are grateful for the bipartisan efforts and Longstanding Partnership with the government. The same sentiment has been echoed by the chamber of commerce. Ai understand concerns spending money on state and local government. Some are worried it would be used to bailout poor management decisionso and overly generous and fun unfunded Pension Plans this is why it include specific provisions prohibiting spending in those areas it replaces lost revenue caused by covid19 and nothing more. As city or parish or county would have to show their books and show they lost revenue relative to one year ago before they are eligible to receivedi funding. Understand concerns about spending that the cost of doing nothing is worse. Federal reserve chairman powell said although costly, it would be worth it if it helps avoid longterm damage and leaves us with a stronger economy. Madame president congress should not allow policefire officers, firefighters First Responders, teachers sanitation workers and others to lose their jobs by the millions at a time when our country needs them the most. The United States cannot fully recover economically of local communities cannot provide basic services. Has a and i commend my colleagues in the work this far more work is yet to be done and also working with others in this chamber the coming days for this bill even further to find a common path forward with my democratic emcolleagues we cannot let americans down but by working together we can deliver the support they need to be stronger as aon nation i yield the floor. Madame president. The senator from new jersey. I arrived today to join my republican colleagues from louisiana and maine to make a plea for us to support bipartisan common sense and especially the command senator cassidy from the beginning has joined me in this effort and has been true to his commitment to the issue and his word engaging in a series of conferences with Major National organizations supporting the legislation. And i appreciate his leadership in this regard also senator collins who joined us from the very beginning in this effort. Exactly 76 days ago, two and a half months ago, we sat on the floor of the senate with our colleagues to talk about the challenges facing our state and local government and the need for congress to deliver robust flexible assistance to help deal with the pandemic and the economic fallout. In 76 days we have seen covid19 sweep across our land as it surges from the deep south to the upper midwest know community haspa been spare. Over the past 100 years we fight two world wars and face the great depressioned and confronted a Nuclear Armed soviet union and faced disaster natural and manmade and the terrorist attacks ondi 9 11 we live here many dark days of history. But no matter how steep the challenger how hopeless they appear at the moment we always came together as a country and saw ourselves as americans above all else. And proud to be from a state that invested in its people with a great educational system i and an innovative economy that my parents dream wasnt to move to any one state, no. They dreamed of moving to the United States of america to give me an opportunity they never had we are Data Collection of 50 states. We are one nation thdividually. Virginia a has said he refuses to support assistance because it will go to progressive states like new jersey, new york,e california. About the states over large annual budget deficits even though he must be well aware that states unlike the federal government must balance their budget according to the state constitution. Hes tried other states taking from florida even has his own state is the secondlargest taker. Indeed according to the latest estimates, florida receivesnt about 45 billion more than it pays each and every year. By comparison, new jersey actually pays a. Florida takes 45 billion out of more than they put in. New jersey puts 21 billion back in. Florida is a taker states quite simply because we invest in people and communities and florida ranked to the bottom half of the states. Better education leads to a better economy, so it is no surprise new jersey also has the highest per capita income among the states with 110,000 per ye year. By comparison fo comparison flos 35,000 less which puts its once again in the bottom half of states. If you want your children to have a quality education and want to work in a vibrant economy that creates highpaying jobs you should live in a state like new jersey. But new jersey like all states and through no fault of our own is facing a health and fiscal crisis of historic magnitude and because here in washington we failed to implement a National Response to a national emergency, our local towns, cities, counties and states have to deal with this crisis alone rather than united as a nation, and they are running out of money to combat this deadly disease. Running out of money to maintain the service of residents and businesses that they depend upon. Coming out of money to pay the First Responders, firefighters, police, emergency personnel, running out of money to make sure there are teachers in the m classrooms when our kids can safely have backtoschool and nurses and hospitals when a sick patient is brought in. Running out of money to make sure the trash gets picked up and trains run on time and the like o theyre on at city hall. Theyve been squeezed on both sides of the ledger spending billions in unforeseen costs on Emergency Response while watching the revenues dry up due to this loving it and he and necessary orders to contain the virus. Tewithout help from washington, municipalities have to swallow a toxic cocktail of service cuts and layoffs that will only place in our economic recovery. It would be the height of irony and horrible dot for the men and women weve needed the most to be the ones fired as a result of the economic distress but despite this has created. We need our workers on the job dealing with the pandemic, not on the unemployment line. Already nearly 1. 5 million state and local workers have been for or laid off and that is only sincend february and double that we lost a Great Recession that decade ago. If we fail to deliver the robust spending our states and communities need we are effectively sending pink slips to millions of americans saying to all of them were fired. Thats millions more who are not collecting a paycheck and cant afford to shop at the stores and eat at restaurants, pay their rent or mortgage. Economists respect to by both parties predict it would decimate the economy and send us on the path to another great depression. We cant allow that to happen. Thats why senator cassidy, senator collins, senator highsmith and i came together and saw the impact it was having on our states constituents so we came up with a recovery transition. As senator cassidy said iter delivers 500 billion in Flexible Funding to the states, counties and municipalities. It targets areas with the greatest need that unfortunately its a growing reality across the country. Every single town and county would qualify for f direct funding. No one is left i out. We built a Bipartisan Coalition with senators collins, hyde smith. Republicans and democrats from all walks of life coming across the spectrum. We knew that it wasnt enough to deal with the growing need and we want our colleagues what was happening in new jersey and louisiana eventually come to your state if we didnt get this pandemic under control. We havent and w its raging in our fellow americans are suffering and too many of them are dying. Weveay waited for 76 days. Whats now being offered is inadequate to address the needs of the American People. In colorado, for example the estimated state and local shortfall due to the pandemic is 10 billion counting to 2022. In alaska is expected to exceed 4 billion in georgia, 2. 5 billion in 2021 allowed. Kentucky could see a 20 drop in its revenues at a time when the states fiscal house is already in disorder but we are being offered not a dying to help cities, counties and states to confront the challenge. Zero. Nothing. That is not acceptable and that is the problem when we ignore regular order and let the leadership hijacked the process. We lose our voice and the needs of the constituents are left out. I for one didnt come to washington to sit onan the sidelines and wait for a handful of people to reach and deal behind closed doors or book mother without seeing it. Thats exactly what they have been doing here for far too long. We need to end this game and restore the senate back to the foundation as the greatest body pof the world. It would have been easier for me just to embrace the 900 billion in Fiscal Relief from the heroes act. It would have been easier for senators collins, expectant cassidy but we knew sticking to our respective corners wasnt going to help a single one of our constituents and its not too late for the senate to get back on track. Lets do our jobs and Work Together on a solution to deliver the federal support our states, counties and cities on the front lines need to defeat covid19 ands serve the American People. Lets bring it up in committee. Allow members to make the legislation even better because youll know what our state and local governments will get if we leave it up to the present status, absolutely nothing. Endquotes lucluck explainine people back at home. I hear some of my colleagues nocalling for unity, but for division. They ignored the plea of health from the americans covered by the belief that their communitiesth are immune to the fiscal armageddon facing our communities so let me be clear it doesnt matter how fiscally responsible when your revenue drops 30 overnight. It isnt a red or blue state issue, its an american priority. I believe we will look upon those that stood up for unity and compromise over demagoguery. Those who put the wellbeing of the country over partisan. Those who stuck their necks out and took a Political Risk for no reason other than it was the right thing to do and that is what i believe they are doing right now and with that i would be happy to turn to my friend, senator collins. The senator from louisiana. I askor unanimous consent to fill in my office be granted full defeat the floor privileges for the remainder of the congress. Without objection. The senator from maine. Thank you madam president. Ive listened to presentations of my two colleagues, senator cassidy and senator as and i couldnt agree more. We have an opportunity to solve a problem that is affecting each and every community in our country. With the covid19 pandemic continuing to devastate our Public Health and our economy, towns and cities across the country are facing increasingly significant new challenges and plummeting revenues at the exact same time. I urge my colleagues to to be problem solvers and address this crisis thats part of the relief package that is now being negotiated. We cannot wait. Ive joined with senators menendez and cassidy and others the smart act. It would provide much needed fifinancial assistance to state and local governments while providing safeguards to prevent wasteful spending. It is a lifeline to our Communities Just as the Paycheck Protection Program has been a lifeline to our Small Businesses and their employees. The consequences of local government shortfalls are dire. Without our providing them relief, communities face having to lay off essential employees and reduce services at the worst possible time for working families. What is their alternative. They cannot raise taxes. That would be the worst thing for them to do. They are already scaling back their budgets, burbling workers and postponing purchases and projects. Madam president , these cuts threaten the jobs of our Police Officers, firefighters, ems personnel, dispatchers, sanitation crew, public works employees at the time and their services are finally needed. They are the people that make our communities operate and livable. We need them and we already know about the stresses that our schools are undergoing. Do we really want School Budgets to be cut and educators laid off at this important time . The cares act did provide 150 billion to our states and a very large communities but they came with restrictions and they didnt require direct distributions to the municipalities with populations under 500,000. Mr. President , there isnt a single county in maine much less a city or town that has a population of that level. The National Governors association has called for 500 million in assistance to nations recovery. Organizations supporting our towns and cities and counties have all endorsed the smart act. Moodys analytics warned that failing to act coul to save thre Percentage Points from real gdp from our Economic Growth and resold in the loss of 4 million jobs. That is the worst thing to happen at this time. This week the Municipal Association of david released projections anticipating a combined 146 million lost revenue from maines cities and towns by the end of this year alone. We knew the revenues would take a while to recover and are goinc to affect next year as well. This though from the Forecasting Committee that expects 1. 4 billion state budget shortfall from Income Tax Revenues over the next three years. As people are driving less we are also seeing our gas tax revenues plummet. Mr. President , ive talked with town andag city managers, with mayors and members of Town Councils select men and women all across the state of maine about the difficult decisions they are facing as they attempt to balance their budget. These cuts are not theoretical. The harm is it just possible, it is occurring today. Lets look briefly at what some of maines communities are already having to do. The cities announced a hiring freeze affecting all city departments including the Police Department. The Police Department has five open positions that needs to fill and cannot do so. Auburn has had to bring six vacant positions because of expected revenue losses. Again, by all positions. Firefighters, Police Officers and three public works employe employees. These come as weve spent more than 200,000 in new expenses to respond to the virus. The towns eliminated for open positions including a Police Officer and can no longer go ahead with the purchase of a muchneeded new fire truck. At the town of london has kept seven needed positions open. These are not large communities. The large number of positions. Five are public works positions without which, how is the plowing going to get done this winter to keep the roads safe and clear . The town has also postponed 1. 6 million in capital projects. That has a Ripple Effect on the local economy. It means the contractors are not buying supplies were hiring employees at this time. In the northern maine town manager has shared that the town has had to scrap a 3 milliondollar growth paving project and will have to keep at least three this is a bit of positions vacant. This is what they are doing already. Its only going to get worse for these towns and cities as revenues continue to plummet. Senator menendez made an important point i want to reiterate and if that is the way the bill is structured. Every city, every town regardless of size will receive direct assistance. Every county will receive direct assistance. They will not be dependent on the largess of the state. The money will go to them to meet these essential needs. It is common sense to provide relief neededwi to avoid layoffs and cuts to essential services at the local level where they are most often needed. These are the Public Servants that keep our communities and citizens safe. They are the Public Servants who keep our communities and citizens healthy. They keep our communities and citizens educated. They are the ones plowing the roads and preparing the bridges. They are the ones that make the towns and cities and neighborhoods livable. Congress must act to provide assistance to every community. Mr. President , this is a problem that we can solve. Lets enact the act as a part of the next coronavirus package. Thank you, mr. President. Mr. President. The senator fro senator from. Im going to briefly remove my mask. We have about one weekend of baseball season. Some of us are baseball fans. Its the world championship. The best two pitchers come from the detroit vultures and for those who may not have been watching baseball for the weekend there was a young guy that is pitcher t for the tigers name is Tyler Alexander brought in and struck out nine batters, theut first nine batters. As we gather to figure out how to get out of this mess, my focus our efforts here in the house and senate and the white house will be as successful as his. Im happy to profile today our friend from maine, colleague from new jersey and you, mr. President as the senator from louisiana and painting something we can agree on. People are saying to me and our colleagues cant you ever agree on anything . A member of us agree state and local governments could use help and some a additional help beyod that which weve already provided. Thats a good thing. Wthey are blue states against rd states, in this case we are working together. Very few of us came here for the job serving as a u. S. Senator, some but not a lot. A lot of us were mayors, governors, representatives, but every now and then somebody slips through. I am a former state treasurer. People call me a recovering governor. I may recovering state treasurer i was electedas at 29. When i was elected and took my oath we had the worst Credit Rating in the country. Elected 76 the senior republican pete du pont was elected and turned out to be a great governor at the time when we needed one and a good mentor for me and someone i looked up to and i thought i was a good part with him to pull our state out of a mess. We have the worst Credit Rating to 1977 actually we have the worst Credit Rating, no Rainy Day Fund. We could balance the budget and in order to have money to spend we issued revenue anticipation notes and i got to the state Treasurers Office and said this iitis an anticipation note and y said thats the way the state owes money until tax money comes in the following april so we can pay payroll and pensions and stuff like that. I said you were kidding and he said we are not. That was then and this is now. When pete was our governor and i was treasury, split between senate and republicans but we created a rainy f day fund if er we needed it, we had no pension fund, the a amortized it about n years, we did all kinds of budget reforms in order to get us on the right track. Now, ive heard some of my colleagues say the state stopped in to msn have to get out of it filing bankruptcy. They are badly managed. Mine is a aaa state. We never lost even to this day. Most are betterte run fiscally than the federal government and you only have to look at the way we spend money around here not just in a pandemic but look at thehe year before and how much e deficit was in debt. But even fiscally responsible managed states are finding themselves in a situation they couldnt have imagined just a few months ago. Thats true but we have an administration asking state and ovlocal governments to shoulder the burden of responding to the growing virus. Leader mcconnell and the secretary say states dont need more money because they have infused the coronavirus release Funds Congress provided in the cares act. That isnt true. A survey can do by the National Association of state budget officers shows states have already allocated nearly 75 of these funds by the pandemic and help struggling families and Small Businesses through this crisis. States across this country resurgence and infection rates the cost of addressing the health and economic crisis are not going down, they are going up. At the same time the cost of addressing the pandemic has skyrocketed, businesses are shattered, tourism and commerce have come. That means hundreds of billions of dollars of lost revenue for states and local governments have occurred. Delaware is certainly not alone so let me be clear its not a red state or blue state problem. Its a united state problem. Over the past couple of months and weeks, ive had conversations with dozens on both sides of the aisle about with state and loca states and l communities are facing as a result of covid19 and those conversations with my democratic and republican friends ive heard its caused state and local government revenues to plummet in a way none of us have ever experienced or would have or could have foreseen. Income tax revenues are falling as our numbers reach unprecedented levels over the course of just a few months ended the fighting federal tax x deadlines while its the right thing to do its wreaked havoc on the ability of states to balance their budget. Sales Tax Collections in the revenue froandrevenue from tourd have gone up as the virus has compelled many people to just stay at home i and states dependent on oil and gas revenues have been doubly hit by the pandemic and turmoil in global markets. Unlike the federal government, state and local governments have to balance their budgets and this means governors, state legislators, local officials, city and county councils have had no choice but to make deep cuts that would inevitably hurt their communities to recover. Since the pandemic hit our country state and local governments alone have lost 1. 5 million jobs. Since the pandemic of the country state and local governments alone have lost 1. 5 million jobs. Thats not private sector thats just state and local county jobs, teachers, firefighters, police and more. The staggering statistic is bad enough on its own but what does it mean if you are not one of the one in every age and played by state or local government lacks heres what it means, cuts to education budgets and larger class sizes and fewer bus drivers and fewer custodians at the time schools are struggling to figure out how they will reopen safely this fall. I talked earlier this week to a number of f our finest superintendence in delaware and we talked about struggling to reopen schools and as it turns out they have to hire more bus drivers because kids are going to be sedated and they cant possess many kids on the school bus. The to come to works, theyre going to have to hire substitute teachers and pay for them as well. And nurses, its the same way, to be there to help administer whether its taking peoples temperatures or administering 92 test d. Administering tests and that kind of thing. Cuts to First Responder budgets means that people must wait longer for e. M. T. s and firefighters to arrive in emergency situations. Ment cuts in transportation budgets means canceled our delayed transportation Infrastructure Projects and fewer construction jobs, just as were in the middle of a summer construction season. These cuts impact all of us and create a really at Ripple Effect across the brought economy. Thats why economists can economic reports found every dollar cost50 economy 1. 50 between two dollars. Thats why the us chamber of commerce is called for additional federal aid for states and cities. The chamber also recognizes lost revenue at the state and local level and to make up the shortfall. We know this is impacting every part of the nation and the longer we wait to get much needed assistance for state and local government the more communities will suffer to put in our attireor entire economy we are here in fact we are in overtime when it comes to the supplemental Insurance Benefits but we dont have time to wait. Lets pass longoverdue assistance so the hometowns and states dont take a bigger hit that we cannot afford and with that i yield to my colleagues you are here from their own perspective the first one from the former governor of New Hampshire and i am happy to yield the floor to the senator from New Hampshire. Thank you to my colleague for the articulate overview of the challenge before us. And to provide aid in this relief package they have been at the forefront of the nations response to covid19 to provide people and businesses is vital support with personal protective equipment and to provide emergency relief for families and businesses. They also employee millions of essential Public Employees on the front lines of the crisis including firstnd responders, teachers, and many others. Unfortunately has this crisis rages on facing uncertainty of mounting cost and devastating loss of revenue. For too long the Senate Majority leader stalled action on the additional relief package which is only made matters worse. They get now negotiations are underway that next relief bill provide significant resources to protect the Public Health to keep the economy moving as a former governor understand the challenges the states are experiencing following guidance local and state officials took necessary steps to close down portions of the economy to save lives they are now feeling the impact of revenue shortfalls directly related to those actions. To provide the Frontline Services necessary and provide Economic Relief. Officials describe to me the dire situation they are up against the tsunami of lost revenue is on its way. Claremont mayor noted how budgetary strains are halting Infrastructure Projects with the added burden of loss of revenue into fall behind on Infrastructure Improvements the number of mayors explain their challenges with the Upcoming School year. As educators and parentsoner mae decisions to be in person or remote or a hybrid version they face uncertainty about what the operational cost will be. S mr. President situations like these play out in cities and towns all across the country. Without additional funding from the federal government , states will be forced to slash education and infrastructure and Public Health which would be devastating especially in the midst of a pandemic. Its not just the loss of Services Many of additional jobs would be lost as well that the private vendors who do this work thinking of construction workers moodys analytics reporting without supported one support from federal government 4 million more people could lose their jobs that would be catastrophic so we cannot let that happen. Senate democrats are focused on providing significant Economic Relief a to other countries because we recognize it is an essential economicy. Recovery in part of the efforts to support economic recovery that they have the flexibility to use this fundingve to backfill revenue loss due to covid19 and preserve jobs. Providing the spending would mitigate the terms of what is caused by the pandemic it is vital we provide separate funding for Schools Senate democrats have proposed 430 billion help schools implement to address the challenges of those who have fallen behind to provide quality education to all students regardless of how the schools reopen. Our approach stands in stark contrast to the inadequate proposal put forward by senator mcconnell to provide too few resources it would actually withhold aid if schools dont fully reopen a person even as the administration has failed to provide supplies and a strategy to support such efforts to reopen. Mr. President , we need republican colleagues to work with us without any further delay. Te we need to provide state and local governments as well as school, First Responders, teachers with bipartisan support from the federal government. Mr. President i know right now in New Hampshirene even as teachers face uncertainty there making lesson plans how they will make sure their children engage in remote Remote Learning while providing services to their students as well all across the state i know if the rain causes flooding the Public Workers would be out there around the clock protecting w communities i know Law Enforcement our firefighters will continue to respond to callsey whether or not they have ppe because that is what they do they protect and serve they do it dedication and commitment to provide services to keep communities safe and healthy. Its never been as important as it is now all were asking is that we come together across party lines with the white house in the time of need so we can continue to mitigate the harm that is ravaging our country that is the state and local aid to provide to the people of New Hampshire and of our country that is what this moment of the worst healthcare crisis we have seen in 100 years and the worst since the greats depression is what this moment demands the likelihood of millions of americans and lives of millions of americans depend on taking action right now. Thank you mr. President i yield the floor. The senator from ohio. Thank you for your leadership she speaks about state and local government so well because shes governor of New Hampshire not only one of two when an American History to be a governor and a senator so thank you for your leadership thank you for leading the effort. For months we have been begging senator mcconnell and President Trump to do something and let us do our jobs we want to legislat legislate. Im not really sure how Mitch Mcconnell has spent his summer but i do know that it may the house of representatives passed the heroes act it helped people stay in their homes so they would it be affected and helped the School System to provide 600 to unemployed workerss what is remarkable about that even during the pandemic we havent seen that poverty rate because of the 600 per week i dont know what senator mcconnell has done through may or june or july and august but finally he comes up for something we ask him to extend the m Unemployment Insurance the thousands of workers in nevada and louisiana and we asked the president when the majority leader to extend Unemployment Insurance. But its pretty unbelievable to have people making 175,000 a year most of my colleagues are millionaires and that they complain the unemployed workers are getting 600 a week. They complain they are getting too much money but we are in 175,000 per year. Last week senator mcconnell came up with a p plan that does nothing to extend the 600 per week or does nothing to help them keep them in their homes the last thing we should want is a tidal wave of evictions to go into a homeless shelter it does nothing to help state and local government they have zero dollars for communities they know how hard the budgets have been hit including education and medicaid cities and towns are facing similar impossible choice we do with hundreds of thousands ohioans out of a job if they dont get thaton 600 per week have trouble feeding their families it will only get worse if we dont step in what does it mean if we dont get more funding . Lay off of teachers and firefighters and Services Workers and less money w for schools they have to make the buses safer and the cafeteria safer and the technology for the Remote Learning and fewer resources for schools to expand broadband and critical Infrastructure Projects on hold and property tax hike i talked to mayors and teachers and School Board Members a good chunk of my time on roundtables and Conference Calls chambers of commerce and University College president s i was on the phone yesterday with 100 county commissioners most of them republicans. And my own chamber of commerce. Ohio College President s everyone i hear the fear in their voices with the demand that we do something you dont just walk away my President Trump and Mitch Mcconnell are doing they will lay off workers and cut services that people rely s on. One issue that comes up over and over is the fear that communities are set back against addiction that doesnt go away is just with this catastrophe if we dont get additional funding they will cut mental healthut services and clearly the number of child abuse cases has gone up during this but not reported because we dont know about themus because kids are not going to school or church to have teachers and parents report in the community and those that report it and the workers have been laid off that go into the homes. We need to be clear of mass layoff the county in ohio cut staff for schools is not just the individual educators it means longer recession and a deeper recession senator mcconnell says 20 people on his side of the aisle will away theyre not even willing to vote for help for schools for people about to be foreclosed on local governments but the stock market is doing okay we will have a real economy until we invested communities in ohio nevada and arkansas we shouldnt have to fend for ourselves in the middle of the once of the generation crisis thats the top mcconnell plan to tell the ohio communities you are on your own you must pass the recovery bill with Flexible Funding dont trust local communities they spend a few dollars here and there they dont trust local communities. I trust my county community on dash county commissioners. They know whats best for their community let them do their job let us do our job i yield the floor. I rise today because states cities and tribes are in trouble and need her help they are on the front lines we have seen and local leaders in each of the state step up in this difficult time to do what is necessary to mitigate the spread of thehe virus to protect the health and wellbeing of their residents and Critical Industries and institutions prevented fromil failing their goal is the same as ours, to protect the lives and livelihood of the people that they represent. I know this to be true in nevada where heroes are working to combat thevi19 pandec in every corner of the silver state. However is so active in necessary response has not come without a cost in addition to coronavirus to deal with and alarming by jet shortfall with a struggling economy before the crisis began, nevada had not mismanaged the states finances with a record low Unemployment Rate of three. 6 percent and a Rainy Day Fund for emergencies. We needed to use his of millions of dollars from the Rainy Day Fund to address the budget shortfall. Nevada has a tough road ahead and difficult choices to make and is not alone states across the country are in similar situations red and blue that are facing this challenge due own. Fault of their cities and towns are struggling to contain the fiscal impact ofem the pandemic during a special session of the Nevada State Legislature overwhelmingly approving the resolution asking the Trump Administration for funding state local and tribal governments to help offset the one. 2 billion dollar budget shortfall caused by this pandemic and we need the flexibility to spend that based on local needs nevadas governor offered a stern warning one that applies to the whole nation. Without additional federal support for state and localin funding states will be forced to make it possible decisions regarding funding critical Public Health, education and more. Without additional state and local funding from congress our state budget shortfallak will make it overwhelmingly difficult to provide healthcare to everyone who needs it to find the local School System and pay First Responders to leave countless nevadans in distress. They care is act establish the Coronavirus Relief fund to support the local governments the funding has helped to provide support for medicare providers to allow continued care for seniors and treatment for the high risk patients providing enhanced testing and with essential workers in home delivered meals and Home Healthcare in support for families and ppe and critical supplies does this sound unnecessary to you . This crisis isnt over i spoken to mayors and county commissioners across nevada and they are worried. They must make it through the other side of the crisis they are counting on us and counting on congress to have their backs. Congress must ensure all the support reaches all americans and every kind of community. The tears act s relief short shortcoming gives no relief for cities under 500,000 that means except for las vegas every other city was excluded from direct funding from the federal government that is why in april we introduced the Coronavirus Community relief act legislation to provide 250 billion in a new Stabilization Fund directly to cities and counties populations under 500,000. We know state and local leaders are best able equipped to respond that they are desperate they desperately need the resources to do this unfortunately leader mcconnell has refused to allow the senate to take up the heroes act but to provide continued support for state and local and tribal governments including the cities and counties with under 500,000 residents to recognize the pandemic continues to damage communities and this recovery time. The heroes act allows states to pay for frontline care workers and to continue to provide essential services to all residents. The house past the heroes act 80 days ago. And majority leaders will propose legislation does absolutely nothing to address the critical issue of state and local funding without action they will face consequences with a devastating impact on countless cou lives. History will judge the way we treated each other during this pandemic each of us in the United States senate is in a position to do something and i employee one of where my colleagues to really hear vlad is happening in communities across the nation in town after town in city after city and i want them to remember we are all in this together. I yield back to senator cortez musto. As you can hear the passion not only in my colleagues who i am proud to stand sidebyside in nevada about all the passion i have heard from the senators today on the floor about this particular issue mr. President. Families are sitting down pouring over their budgets. Too many are trying to figure out how to stretch theudf budget and making difficult decisions on which bill needs most urgent attention state and local and tribal governments are doing the same thing that the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic state and local governments have less revenue had a time when they need the resourcess to keep nevadans safe. Thats why when Congress Passed the cares acted march democrats were fighting for the funding to make sure state and local governments had enough cash on hand to cover the urgent cost of the dpandemic to Keep Services running and expand their response to the crisis. We needed to guarantee they could cover the cost of emergency shelters in frontline responders had enough equipment on hand for them to do their jobs we allocated 150 billion that was a compromise we came together and we Work Together to solve the problem i heard on the floor of the senate today there is bipartisan support for this funding as well. That we know we werent sure but now we know its not enough and we have to do something about it. We see across the country how local government and states are dealing with the pandemic senator rosen just noted we are in the middle of a special session. The governor had to call a special session because of one. 2 billion dollars related to the pandemic and the impact that it has had we are in the middle of the Health Crisis and until we had a vaccine we have to keep people safe we have said if you shelter in place, if you go home, if you shut your business and help stem the spread of the virus we will take care of you and help you put food on the table and help you pay your rent make sure you have a roof over your head and put money in your pockets and make sure those Small Businesses have access to liquidity so when we can come outside again safe and secure our economy will spring back at much quicker. Unfortunately asking people to follow that advice and stay safe we made a commitment to themtm as well. That we will work in a bipartisan way to solve this problem to make sure people and individuals have money in their pockets to liquidity so we can get through the crisis together. In nevada schools are opening in just a few short weeks and then the leaders in my state look to washington for help. Most states are not allowed to borrow to meet these expenses in our esteemed majority leader thought bankruptcy was an option but i can tell you this is not an option. It just cannot happen most states are required by law to balance their budgets. Tribal council and county commissioners they are coming together to ask themselves how do they pay the most urgent bills in that bigil stack that can do right now . They are working around the clock t to deliver the services they expect from fighting wildfires and to rethink how we address and open the School Safely for our kids and staff in the administrators. But those repairs, the work is still has to be done on a daily basis has to continue so they continue to juggle those needsm we want them to securely hold 2020 elections. We want to make sure that families are connected to school and work and there is no homework gap medicaid benefits to those in need are available and to keep emts on the job during the middle of tthe pandemic. I will tell you this when we go home we make sure we are communicating with people across the state. In nevada we had beautifully Diverse Communities with urban and rural areas i talked to the leaders of all counties , city governments whether republican or democrat are independent theres one thing in common that they want us to come together to find a solution to help and support them during this time when there is no revenue coming in because the economy has been ground to a halt as we address the Health Crisis please continue to fight for us and make sure the money is not only there and available to make sure it is flexible to make sure we have the opportunity that the money goes directly to local governments. So i have found the many we do give from the cares act puts it to good use because local state governments and tribal governments know what the Community Needs so they want to use the money that help people with rental assistance . If they want to use that money to put food on peoples tables because theyre not working isnt that what this is about all of us working together to help families across the country to still pay the bills and still keep our families safe and make sure the businesses are taken care of. But i now at the end of the day in the middle of a crisis our government has a social safety net what your constituents go when they need that help so we have an obligation of the federal level to continue to work with state and local governments and tribal governments to provide the necessary resources that are needed with the pandemic because the economy has been ground to a halt i think its time for our body to come together and do it American People expect of us to solve the problem and really look at how we continue the funding that is necessary for state and local governments families not only in nevada but across the country expect that others now i hope the majority leader would be willing to bring to the floor whatever bill is appropriate to have this discussion. There is three out there that he was acting on the smart act and corona virus Community Relief act. There are three bills lets send them to the floor and have a discussion. With the focus to state and local governments and tribal communities. I yield the floor. Mr. President. We are on the precipice of the depression because of politics. Right now every single state in those counties and cities are experiencing a budget crisis like they havent seen it generation and tax revenues are down due to high Employment Unemployment and emergency relief cost continue to skyrocket cities and towns have run out of money or are quickly running out of money for the latest proposal republican delegate nothing at all to state and local government. You heard thatf correctly in the midst of the biggest Health Crisis they will not spend a single dollar in emergency aid to state or cities or counties. Economically this is ridiculously bad costing roughly 4 million jobs with a direct impact on a gdp and programs and services we need to come out on the other side of theand pandemic. Its approaching half a trillion dollars already and from my home state of hawaii we are confronting 1 billion of losses. Unlike the federal government state and local governments are operating with finite amounts of dollars without a edlimited line of credit. To require a balanced budget by the end of the year its one thing for states and counties and municipalities to juggle and survive a few months using cash Flow Management relying on a Rainy Day Fund but they cant do that forever by now many have burned up their reserves and the bill is due and the decisions they are making akffright now, the official poly is to force millions to be laid off in the worst pandemic in 100 years its not just cruel that bad Economic Strategy as much as 34 Percentage Points from real gdp. There are some things that are not within the United States and its control as it relates to gd gdp. But this is a choice we are about to make to lay off Public Service workers. We passed the ppe program keeping people employed and expanded Unemployment Insurance we said stay home and we will take care of you and now the official Public Policy of the republican conference is to lay off firefighters and nurses k and teachers and accuse the other side in ways that are unfavorable but i want to point out this is the official Public Policy states and counties and cities get zero firehouses get zero Public Health nurses, teachers, zero. If they had their way to pass a coronavirus aid package that forecasts on post forces us to lay people off with sanitation workers and teachers in the middle the situation when the virus is much worse than it was three months ago so i reject the premise its a democratic ask i go the National Conference of mayor the National Governor association, all of those organizations on a bipartisan basis to represent government they all want state and county relief to come into the package i could go to that but i reject theha premise that we have to demand like a wish list its not criminal Justice Reform but allowing firefighters to stay employed or Public Hospitals not to laye off people in the middle of the pandemic and allowing the School System not to lay off teachers. This isnt democratic ask its american but i reject the leader will treat this as something to be traded for. We dont trade to keep our firefighters employed or the nurses because we do that is the right thing toy do and in the worst publicor Health Crisis in almost a century i reject the idea leader schumer have to cut a deal in state andat local funding every member of the United States senate as soon as this and said that the bill will take credit for it i got you many. But let the record reflect that the proposal from the republican conference state counties municipalities get zero and that is not tenable i yield the floor. Mr. President. I went to join my colleagues on the floor to support legislation to address the needs we are hearing from state and local governments to support Bipartisan Legislation to address the pandemic theres no reason why we cant get there this time as you know so well the United States crossed a devastating glestone more than 150,000 americans have died due to complications of covid19 and sadly those numbers keep increasing. The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on our economy the Commerce Department that Gross Domestic Product shrank to 33 percent the sharpest decline in history from once we have been coming to the floor week after week urging the majority to take up proposals to provide critical changes to our Healthcare System a comprehensive relief for our economy that we got a package of bills that failed to address many concerns i have f heard the bill presented to the senate by the republican majority doesnt have dedicated funding to help longtail longterm care facilities which are the most vulnerable and in fact in New Hampshire 80 percent of deaths of him coronavirus has been to people in longterm care facilities. The highest percentage in the country. Inadequately signs schools if they open to receive assistance. And it lacks any support for state and local governments struggling to maintain services while also on the front lines battling the pandemic every day or me every day bears and Community Leaders increased cost due to effort these challenges have left the straits i would like to read an excerpt from a letter that i received from the mayor of New Hampshire largest city. She says prior to the pandemic of the past two years we saw over 250 million of new private investment and Economic Development we were seeing a continual decrease the opioid overdose. It now due to the covid pandemic we have grown foggy and i am concerned about what lays ahead for my city since the pandemic began manchesters revenue is down by over three. 5 million including one. 6 million decrease in property taxesax that are collected. In total the state of New Hampshire will experience a budget shortfall of 540 million thats a 20 percent drop in revenue. I ask unanimous consent the letter that i quoted be entered into the record. Today i also spoke in the secondlargest city that he expects to lose between ten and 20 percent of the revenue base has between seven and 15 million that services would be affected and workers have to bee laid off and in fact if you take all the savings he would need to achieve the revenue losses from Just One Agency that would result in laying off half of the entire Police Department of 150 or 200 teachers. Obviously that is not tenable i heard from the mayor of New Hampshires northernmost city that because of the impact the state is also facing revenue shortfall they are expecting 540 million in revenuet 5 loss. And if the federal government doesnt provide help to state and local communities and they eare expecting to learn that the federal level but is anticipating it would get state funding as it usually does. Losing help from congress has a double impact on other cities and municipalities across New Hampshire i heard from mayors and town administrators and local leaders and republican governors. They are all grappling if they could find services they have committed to if they have to lay off First Responders areol firefighters if federal assistance does not arrive soon and New Hampshire is not alone. We just heard the senator talking about the impact on hawaii and senators Cortez Mastro talking about the impact on nevada everyone talks about what will happen in their state if we dont do something to hel help. No state could have anticipated that economic fallout from this pandemic thats why it is essential congress provide federal support as they respond to the crisis. We have done that before New Hampshire could receive one. 2 5 billion to help reimburse theor state for its covid19 response these funds have been used to create relief programs for county and municipal governments and Small Businesses and nonprofits of all sizes and frontline workers in Healthcare Providers. Healthcare of course as we know that money is running out and more needs to be done we need state and local funds to provide Additional Support for families experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. Minority and women owned businesses are in need ofw services. New hampshire has been severely affected by the Opioid Epidemic in people who has Substance Abuse disorders are feeling the impact of the coronavirusor perhaps more than their neighbors and other people in our state. In addition to providing dedicated funding, the next relief package should remove bureaucratic restrictions from emergency relief funds. And unlike the cares act, congress should provide dedicate dedicated funding for municipalities with fewer than 500,000 residents. They need access to this funding because they are just as much on the front line as the biggest cities in the b nation. Communities of all sizes are facing substantial losses of tax revenue due to covid19. And they need our help. Local leaders are coming out for help. We cannot sit idly by and let the government go bankrupt as the majority leader suggest. This should be a partisan issue. We all have a common interest to preserve as much of our economy as possible. Severe position for a full and robust recovery oncesi we get the coronavirus behind us. I would help all my colleagues in the senate would recognize the urgency of the situation that were in to take up and pass legislation for assistance to state and local governments to provide the relief americans are calling for. The house passed legislation more than two months ago it too muchnd time has been lost in a tie for congress to act now. Thank you mr. President. I yield the floor. The senator from rhodery islan island. More than 155,000 americans we have lost in this pandemic we are grateful to those on the front lines of doctors and nurses and healthcare workers who have served and sacrificed and committed to finding a better way forward. There is no excuse to how the virus is spread we have the capacity and the expertise. But we have not demonstrated the coordinated strategy or president ial leadership to overcome this pandemic and economic disaster. Instead the president engages in denial and delay to downplay the scope of the crisis and the failed approaches led to thousands of prematureea deaths doubledigit unemployment, shuddering businesses and spiking infection rates throughout the country. The economy wont snap back until we get covid19 underco control and states and communities have the resources they need to get a handle on the Public Healthcy emergency. The cost of fighting covid19 is raising. State and local budgets are now under severe straind while demand for essential Public Services including medical ancare, safety and sanitation is going up and up. Moreover, schools need Additional Resources to support students in the revenue coming in is insufficient. Without help they will be forced to make drastic cuts which in my state could mean cutting critical funding in the state with one of the oldest populations in the country zero out the states job training program, closing a prison facility, caddying Medicaid Eligibility and reducing child care reimbursement rates impacting working families and childcare providers throughout the state. Was state and local governments forced to lay off more workers the Unemployment Crisis worsens. The Customer Base from main street shrinks and the economy slides even further away from rebuilding. Indeed United States economy shrank add 32. 9 percent annualized pace between april and june. We must break this vicious cycle by passing another emergency relief package that is the right size to the challenge. The cares act was about one one. 7 trillion. A huge number thats difficult to fathom but it wasnt enough. Not even close. In fact the price tag was the smaller than the republican tax bill and now we cannot help the unemployed and the communities throughout america to quickly approve that tax bill in 2017 which largely benefited big businesses in the very wealthy at the expense of the average taxpayer who need to help now. If there was a will then to spend so much on illconceived and misdirected taxil bill, the majority should have no qualms about spending whatever it takes now to beat this virus. For starters we need improved testing and contact tracing. More support for hospitals and Healthcare Providers in the effective approach to Vaccine Development and distribution all while preserving as much of our economy as we can to have a Strong Foundation from which to rebuild and rebound. As Federal Reserve chairman said last wednesday, the path of the economy will depend to a very high extent on the cost of the virus. On the measures that we take to keep it in check. We cannot say it enough. Thats why we need additional and federal assistance for state and local governments fighting the virus on the front lines while also trying to keep their local economies afloat. Before the cares act passed i said we needed 750 billion to pay for local governments to do both. They cares act included 150 billion. And i have new legislation to provide 600 billion more. We should support our state and local governmentsnm because they support our economy and just as importantly protect our constituents from covid19. Standing in the way of additional federal funds a state and local government republicans can force these to raise taxes uncontested joints make additional cuts or do both lets avoid more selfinflicted playing on pain. This also means keeping families in their homes to avoid waves of addictions and foreclosures with a major spike of homelessness which isy xpre infection so at the same time we should continue expanding Unemployment Benefits n and nutrition assistance so people in desperate circumstances through no fault of their own to pay their bills and eat we must provide relief many of which will continue to be shut down including relief for the transportation sector. Any agreement should include more hell on the shelf for childcare providers and College Campuses to safely reopen to keep communities connected. We must do all of this so once we have gotten a better handle on the coronavirus, we have enough workers and businesses what to build the economy and to safeguard our election infrastructure and it cant even h take uncertainty. Hand in hand the u. S. Postal service and employees who play the integral role to deliver mail ballots and continue to provide a lifeline to america. Democrats and republicans have come to gather to strengthen the National Security with the National Defense authorization act i hope you can carry the same spirit of urgency and cooperation as we craft the next Fiscal Relief package. Our National Security depends on the critical pillar of a strong and vibrant economy. We need to act sooner rather than later on a robust fiscalge package so with that mr. President i yield the floor in the hope that we will move to the legislation to help all americans so we can move forward together