Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. Senate Sen. McConnell - Close To

Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. Senate Sen. McConnell - Close To Deal 20240713

Roughly 40 of our population is under stay at home orders from state leaders. Employers across america are wondering how theyll keep the lights on. Doctors, nurses, and Health Care Professionals are literally crying out for support. We literally have Army Field Hospitals on the way to being set up in our major american cities. In the space of just a few weeks this has become, unfortunately, our new normal. This is a national crisis. Its the most serious threat to Americans Health in over a century and quite likely the greatest risk to americas jobs and prosperity that weve seen since the great depression. Hundreds of thousands of americans have already lost their jobs because so much of our commerce has been put on pause. Families are wondering how they are going to pay their rent or mortgage. In eight days rent is due on april 1. People dont know how they are going to pay bills or make their car payment. Any other many other hardworking americans are still employed for now but fall asleep every night wondering if it will be there when they wake up to that email or phone call tomorrow. American seniors have seen decades of savings cut down in the space of days as markets literally tumble. Our National Life has literally and transformed in less than a month. The urgency and the gravity of this moment cannot be lost on anyone. Every day, every hour the congress delays in passing a significant package, we risk more american livelihoods and the safety of more Health Care Professionals. Thats why right after i fasttrack the democrat house relief bill in the senate, i immediately turned the senate toward developing an even bigger and bolder relief package for the American People. Nine days ago i laid out the key objectives of our work. We had to send direct Financial Assistance to americans direct . Assistance to americans. We had to help main street Small Businesses. We had to act to stabilize the foundation of our economy for workers and we had to send more resources to medical professionals and our health care system. Five days ago Senate Republicans released our initial framework for the cares act. We put forward bold policies like sending cash directly to americans. Pouring money into Small Businesses, lending to National Industries to prevent mass layoffs and surge resources to doctors, nurses and patients. We knew we need a proposal to address our nations pain at literally every level. Now, in the past few days some voices have tried to pit some americans against other americans and argued that directly helping workers and strengthening businesses are somehow conflicting priorities. That is utter nonsense. American workers need paychecks. They need jobs. The working men and women of this country do need direct relief from government in this crisis, but for goodness sakes, they also need their paycheck. They need to be able to resume their lives and their jobs once this is over. The two things cant be separated. Theres a term for when you separate employees from employers. Theres a term for that. Its called unemployment. Let me say that again. Theres a term for when you separate employees from employers. Its called unemployment. Thats what were trying to avoid. So this is no time to point fingers or stoke these culture wars. This is a time to unify. Perhaps now more than at any moment in living memory, all of us americans are in this together. This pandemic is not the fault of the American Workers who make this country run. Its not the fault of Small Business owners. Its not the fault of Major National employers. Everyone needs help. Were all in this together. We need an alloftheabove approach, and thats what our framework put forward, help for workers and families and employers and health care providers. As soon as republicans put out a draft proposal to treat every aspect of this crisis, i immediately called for bipartisan talks. Thats not something you see often in washington. As soon as i released our first draft, i immediately invited the other side, these folks over here, to make their suggestions. Thats what you call urgency. We set up bipartisan working groups. I asked negotiators to Work Together to turn our rough draft into something that could pass the senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. Republicans and democrats traded ideas. Democrats asked for many changes to the initial draft and received many. The updated text released a few days ago included proposals from the other side. And, of course, as our colleagues have dragged out the last several days, even further changes have been made at that request. This majority has gone out of its way to out of its way to make this as bipartisan and open as possible. The administration has bent over backwards to work with democrats and address their concerns. Now, at least i believe were on the 5yard line. Its taken a lot of noise and a lot of rhetoric to get us here. And, of course, that, of course, sometimes happens in this country. At different times we received democrat counteroffers that demanded things like new emission standards or tax credits for solar panel. We saw the speaker of the house release an encyclopedia of demands as though it were like a coronavirus proposal somehow. In spite in spite of all of that, we are very close. We are close to a bill that takes our bold republican framework, integrates further ideas from both parties, and delivers huge progress on each of the core priorities i laid out a week ago. So today, madam president , today the senate has a chance to get back on track. Today we can make all of the washington drama fade away. If we act today, what americans will remember and what history will record is that the senate did the right thing. That we came together, that we took a less sorn from the way lesson from the way that americans are uniting and working together all across the country that we combined ideas from both sides and took a bold step to help americans and protect our nation through this crisis. Im not sure how many ways to say it, madam president , but the clock has run out. The buzzer is sounding. The hour for bargaining as though this were business as usual has expired. The American People need our democratic friends to take yes for an answer. Now i hope that will happen today. Doctors and nurses need masks. Families need help. Small businesses need cash. Hospitals need funding. Their Senate Majority is ready to deliver those things. Weve been ready to deliver those things for awhile. I hope today is the day this body will majority leader mcconnell from earlier today. Senate ew moments ago, minority leader Chuck Schumer said democrats are close to an greement with republicans on a third economic stimulus bill responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Sing football terms, he described the situation as being on the 2yard line. Reminder to watch the senate the coronavirus bill on our companion network cspan2. Rob hio republican senator portman and illinois senator dick durbin have written an todays iece in washingtwashington post sugg the debate allowing senators to vote remotely. During specifically these national crises, be it pandemic or other situation its impossible for senators to vote in person, their resolution gives the minority leaders joint authority to allow secure voting. Oting remote it would be allowed up to 30 days and the senate would have renew remote voting every 30day period afterwards. This limitation would ensure voting remotely cannot become the norm around the emergency. Of an read the entire washington article at washingtonpost. Com. Follow the coronavirus at reak cspan. Org coronavirus. Watch congress, white house updates from governors. Track the spread throughout the. S. And the world with interactive maps. Demand at anytime at cspan. Org coronavirus. And now from geneva, its the World Health Organizations director general and others. Start, the joint Awareness Campaign with the orld Health Organization aimed at combating the coronavirus. From yesterday, this is just over an hour

© 2025 Vimarsana