Firsthand how the laws and programs that we enact here are working and to receive the feedback on legislation being considered by the congress in the future and what i can do to better help the folks back home. Now, a typical state work period involves dozens of facetoface events from every corner of my state covering all ages, professions and walks of life. Last august i spent time talking with my constituents about everything from the smith act and g. I. Benefits from student veterans to project safe neighborhood grants and the u. S. Mexicocanada trade agreement, but as we all know, 2020 has been anything, but typical and this august was no exception. These big inperson events have been replaced with virtual ones but face to face meetings which now involve wearing masks, social distancing and a heavy dose of hand sanitizer. Instead of the broad range of policies we might normally discuss, almost every one of them centered on the impact of covid19. No big surprise there. Ive heard from mayors, teachers, food bank employees, health care workers, Restaurant Owners energy workers, and countless others about how the resources that we have been providing them have helped them through this pandemic. From the Rio Grande Valley to amarillo, opposite ends of our state. From tyler to orange in the east, eastern part of the state and all points in between, i masked up and met with texans who are working overtime to keep their Community Safe and to provide for their families. All the while, i continued to hold virtual conversations at Television Town halls to hear from my constituents and share information about what we are doing to be helpful to them. These conversations, as i said a moment ago, always helped me better understand the effectiveness of the legislation weve passed and provide valuable feedback about what is needed in the next Coronavirus Relief bill. With the school year now officially underway in most of texas Additional Support for our students and teachers is one of my top priorities. Ive had the chance to speak with kthrough 12 students and teachers in odessa, lubbock, and canyon and College Students and administrators at Angeles State University in st. Angelo, as well as texas tech, university and Texas Tech Health Science Center in amarillo. Some joined us socially distanced on campus and others connected virtually. I was able to hear from both students and teachers about this Unprecedented School year and the challenges, the extra challenges brought on by covid19. Whether inperson, online or some combination of the two, education looks a lot different this year and we need to provide schools with the funding to keep kids in the classroom safe and those at home on track for a great education. Congress has already passed 30 billion dollars in emergency relief for education, including more than 2. 6 billion dollars for texas. This funding has helped our districts, colleges and universities prepare for the fall, but to be honest, more is needed. For those learning in person, additional funding can cover cleaning services and equipment to prevent children from catching and spreading the virus, and internet hot spots, so they can do their studies online. I visited one school in odessa, texas where theyre using a blended, hybrid, inperson and online instruction model. Hector county isd began this year about online instruction for students who have Internet Access at home and inperson instruction for those that did not. Of the roughly 33,000 students in the district, about 4,200 were in the classroom on the first day. And i can assure you its not the only School District in texas whose students have difficulty accessing the technology needed to learn from home. More than two million texas households dont have reliable Internet Access and its leaving our students on the wrong side of the digital divide. Internet access is no longer with a luxury or a convenience, its becoming necessity and we need to do more to ensure that students across texas and across the nation have access to reliable broadband. Now, the cares act, which we passed in march provides some relief on this front. It gave libraries 50 Million Dollars in grants for digital connections, the demand for these funds was much higher than was available and it became obvious we need to do more to help those who are on the wrong side of the digital divide. Senator from west virginia, senator manchin, and i teamed up to include the Access Internet act which provides funding to both the department of education and libraries to make reliable internet a reality. In addition to supporting virtual learning, this would also make access to telehealth more available to families. This has really been one of the most surprising positive developments out of this pandemic and that is actually greater access to health care through telehealth. Both physical and Mental Health services online. Our bill includes funding for health care providers, including the department of Veterans Affairs to get more patients connected so they can utilize these telehealth services. As we make a push for progress on the next relief bill, ill continue fighting for resources for our students and teachers and that includes reliable access to the internet. Despite this august work period looking much different from years prior, i was still able to connect with tens of thousands of texans virtually over the phone and meet many in person. As i traveled i was able to see how schools, our health care facilities, our food banks, local governments and more have been able to use the federal coronavirus funding provided for in the cares act. The feedback and insight that i received was invaluable to my work here in the senate and its more important than ever as we continue negotiations on the next Coronavirus Relief bill. This is going to be a busy month in the senate. We need to pass legislation to bolster our response to this virus, support our students and teachers, help those in need of Financial Assistance and ensure that our Health Care Response remains robust. Were just three weeks away from the end of the fiscal year, including a Government Shutdown unless we can reach an agreement on a funding bill. And complicating matters even further, were at the peak of Hurricane Season, which may not seem like as big a deal here in d. C. , but i guarantee we have our eyes on these tropical storms out in the gulf of mexico that could well end up on shore. Hurricane hannah, for example, struck south texas in july and hit our farmers and producers hard as well as flooding out many, many homes and displacing families and then a couple of weeks ago hurricane laura tore through the gulf of mexico. Though the brunt of laura hit our neighbors in louisiana for which we are very sorry, we are very glad that it did little damage in southeast texas, but it still did some significant damage. I was able to join the governor, lt. Governor and snort senator cruz to survey the damage with local officials on the impact of the storm. Madam president , im committed to providing my constituents in texas with the resources for whatever this Hurricane Season may bring. Ill be keeping a close eye on the Weather Forecast as we move through what has already been an active Hurricane Season. So, madam president , we have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks. So we werent able to make a lot of progress on the bill in july, i was looking at secretary mnuchin and that we could ultimately reach an agreement. I hope my colleagues have heard how important relief is and that we can come together in such a critical point in our fight against covid19. Madam president , i yield the floor and i would note the absence after quorum. Yesterday, dr. Anthony fauci says hes optimistic there will be a vaccine by the end of the year, but unlikely we will have it by election day. And he talked about return to school, public trust in a vaccine. Here is a brief portion of his remarks. Lets turn to the big question, the vaccine. As you know, theres a big question when were going to have a safe and effective vaccine available to everyone who needs it. What do you know about it right now . Right now there are six or seven candidates that the u. S. Government is helping to facilitate by helping pre purchasing dosages or clinicals trials available to them. Three of his candidates are already in phase three trial which means youre going to enroll tens of thousands of people, volunteers, to determine if its safe and effective. The phase three trials that got started, the first two got started on july 27th. Its a prime and a boost dose. You prime and then 28 days later you give a boost. Right now the trials are about twothirds enrolled. We prnlg that by the end of september they will be fully enrolled. Then you add another month to month and a half to get that second dose, so thats the reason why i have been projecting, judy, that by the end of the year, by november, december, we will know whether we have a safe and effective vaccine. I feel cautiously optimistic that we will, given the preliminary date that that weve seen. Then there are a couple of other vaccines that are going to go into phase three trial at the end of september and then october. So, sequentially, you have a lot of candidates in play which really is the reason why were optimistic that well be successful with one or more and that will likely start to take place by the end of the calendar year 2020. But the idea that were going to have a vaccine by november 3rd, how realistic . Well, i think thats unlikely. I mean, the only way you can see that scenario come true is if there are so many infections in the Clinical Trial sites that you get an efficacy answer sooner than you would have projected. Like i said, its not impossible, judy, but its unlikely that well have a definitive answer at that time. More likely by the end of the year. The u. S. Senate is about to gavel in to start the day. Judicial nominations are on the calendar with votes starting at 11 15 eastern this morning. Lawmakers will recess at about 12 30 for weekly party caucus luchls. Yesterday majorit l
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