158 billion. Following open remarks, lawmakers offer amendments focusing on high speed rail authority, face mask requirements for mass transportation, and Disaster Relief funding. Our third order of Business Today is consideration of the transportation housing and urban Development Appropriation bill for fiscal year 2021. I will now recognize mr. Price to present the bill. Thank you. Thank you, madam chairman. I guess we can assume everyones now ready for the main event. Im proud to present the fiscal 2021 transportation housing and urban Development Related agencies appropriations bills. Before i mention a few of the bills highlights i want to once again thank our Ranking Member and former chairman of this subcommittee for his unfailing good humor and cooperation and collaboration. Hes a pleasure to work with. I also want to thank full Committee Chairwoman nita lowey for her steady leadership, kay granger for her leader and the committee. Finally i want to recognize our accident staff
So many other innocent black men and women violently taken from their families and loved ones. This is a pain all too familiar for too many black americans. And this is a moment of reckoning for our mom nation blk americans have borne the front of the systemic racism as has native American Communities and hispanic to mexico and across the nation. So many of our officers protect and serve with honor and integrity. But we cannot continue to sweep Police Brutality and racial inequality under the rug to ignore the painful legacies until the next tragedy. There are thousands of americans of every political strife across the nation who have come out in peaceful protestan a demanding change. Now, we know there are a small field exploiting our nations pain, and using violence to disrupt. We unequivocally condemn all acts of violence and call for nonviolence and urgent action. By calling for the us military to quell protest has on as the president has done that crosses the line between civilian
Departments especially in the counties experiencing the highest growth. Lee, mecklenburg and weick are our particular concern. D over the weekend i talked to Vice President depends about North Carolinas concern in numbers and i asked him in the federal government to help us with increasing our testing sites and his capabilities, especially focused on these counties. Another focus will be testing all nursing home residents and staff and this testing is ongoing. I now will ask our secretary of health and Human Services doctor mandy to share an update for us. Doctor cohen. Thank you, governor. Slowing the spread of the virus early on has allowed us to build our capabilities to be ready to respond to this surgeon covid19 cases that we are seeing. That included building up our inpplies of protective equipment, strengthening and expanding our hospital capacities, expanding our ability to test people for covid19 and staffing up our Contact Tracing. We are now drawing on these capabilities as
Because they dont know who is a citizen without the virus and who is a citizen with the virus. The most basic decisions have become a distraction across the country as americans have become afraid of a stranger and of a friend. This is a huge shift in where we are as a country. And what this demands is immediate action. Three weeks ago this senate and the house passed 8. 3 billion, and we did it with overwhelming bipartisan support to be able to add additional funding for diagnostics, for testing and for rapid work on a vaccine. All of that work is advancing quickly. We have human trials in a vaccine happening right now. Weight came together and there werent extra things added to it we focus in on the virus. Theres no question theres lots of moments to be able to debate the things we disagree on. But this is a moment we understand to focus in on what is the problem. The problem is zealing with covid19. There was a bipartisan bill put together in the senate. A week ago today, senator sc
Lord, give our law lawmakers aing this upper for your words and a desire to apply your knowledge in their daily work. We pray in your merciful name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in the please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell the eyes of the nation are on the senate. For days now weve been engaged in intense, bipartisan talks to build emergency relief legislation on an historic scale to push resources to our Health Care Heroes and American Workers and families. Democrats and republicans sat down together. We crafted this version of the proposal together. This compromise package would push tens of billions of dollars to hospitals and Health Care Providers. It would send direct checks to