Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate Senators On The SMART ACT

The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Menendez madam president , i rise today to engage in a colloquy with senators cassidy, collins, and my fellow senator from new jersey, senator booker, and i ask they be acknowledged in that order and they be allowed to complete their remarks. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Menendez as our nation grapples with the covid19 pandemic, our state county and miew in municipal governments have been on the front lines taking the lead role. They have been squeezed on both sides of the ledger, spending billions of dollars in unforeseen costs on Emergency Response while watching as revenues dry up due to necessary stayathome orders, and the closure of nonessential businesses. The emergency protective measures have been effective at flattening the curve and have no doubt saved thousands of lives but they also came with a cost. All Revenue Sources are down. Sale tax revenue has plummeted with businesses closed. Highway trus funds wont have the trust funds wont have the resource to do maintenance. Building permits and Municipal Court fees have fallen. Unless we act soon, we will see mass layoffs, devastating tax increases and a breakdown in Public Safety and essential services. Already the bureau of labor statistics reported that state and local governments have laid off one million Public Employees in april. And this challenge is true for every state, county, city, and town in the country. The state of municipal assistance for response and transition, or smart act, is the bold, bipartisan, and commonsense solution we need to give our communities a fighting chance and stop the economy from free falling. It provides 500 billion in flexible dollars that will help our communities expand the testing and Contract Tracing we need to contain the virus, a necessary step in restoring Consumer Confidence and restore the economy. It will help stave off massive layoffs, tax hikes and deep, painful cuts to essential services. It will keep our Police Officers, firefighters, Public Health workers, teachers, and the other essential please on the job during this critical time. Because i. T. Not just because its not just about defeating covid19. We still need to keep our streets safe, our children learning, the trash picked up, the roads maintained, the buses and trains running on time. I hear some of my colleagues speak on this floor calling not for unity but for division. They cal callously believe that their communities are immune to the fiscal armageddon facing our communities. Let me be clear, when your revenues drop 30 overnight, it really doesnt matter how fiscally responsible for conservative your state budget is. No one can prepare for that. Moodys just reported that states like ohio and arizona are facing a fiscal shock of losing 20 of their entire budget. West virginia, 40 . This is not a red state or blue state issue. This is a red, white, and blue issue. Its an american priority. In december of 1862, during the height of the civil war, president lincoln wrote the followings message to congress. In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not be responsible through time and eternity at this moment i believe that history will look kindly upon those who stood for unity and compromise over demagoguery. Those who put the wellbeing of the country over scoring partisan points, those who took a Political Risk for no other reason than it was the right thing to do. Im proud of the Bipartisan Coalition weve built and i want to thank each of my colleagues for your work and your commitment 0 to rebuilding our communities. To senator cassidy, who has led this issue with me, to senator hydesmith, senator collins. I yield to my partner in crafting this legislation and building this coalition over the past month, senator cassidy. Mr. Cassidy thank you, senator menendez. Weve worked through a lot of issues to the find a bill that can pass on a bipartisan basis and in both chambers. So i thank senator menendez for working with me on that. Madam president , the title of this bill is the smart act, but in retrospect, i wish we had named it the thin blue line act because this is about helping cities and states preserve essential services such as police, fire, education for the reopening of our economy. Lets just kind of review. The federal Government Asks that states and local governments shuttle down their economy in order to control the coronavirus and just like those Small Businesses closed at the behest of the government authority, so state and local governments closed, if you will, at the behest of the federal authority. What that did is it devastated tax bases. Moodys, the independent agency which looks at the finances of cities and states, has said that if your state is dependent upon income tax, upon sales tax, upon tourism, upon proceeds from energy, youve been hammered. Your tax base has fallen dramatically, and with the dramatic fall of that tax base becomes a dramatic fall in the ability to support the thin blue line, the educators, the firefighters, the you name it, the essential services essential to the reopening of our economy when we come out of the back side of this epidemic. Now, its already happening. Moodys predicts that three million of these essential workers will be laid o i of off. Im told that the one million already have been. Lets go back to the thin blue line. The city of shreveport, louisiana, just put out a budget in which there is a ads 20 million to their city overall, 3. 9 million was unfortunately laid upon Law Enforcement, 54 positions eliminated. I am a told that some federal dollars came through and allowed the restoration of some of those positions which is is a proof in concept that if theres help from the federal taxpayer to the state and local taxpayer, then these essential services can be preserved and we know that if those police positions are preserved, then that downtown in shreveport is more likely to safely reopen for commerce. Now, we talked about moodys predicting loss of revenue. Louisiana is predicted to lose 45 of its revenue, but theres other States Affected nother, maine, florida, oklahoma, michigan, alaska, arizona, illinois, all predicted to lose large sums of tax revenue. Let me speak specifically about the smart act, as i would call it the thin blue line bill. It is a reasonable, bipartisan, this is how we go forward in both chambers. Now, we picked 500 billion. Some would say, well, thats too much. Actually, that is the amount of money that moodys predicts state and local governments will lack over the next year and a half. So we actually kind of nail where the independent agency puts the need for our state and our local government. And its targeted. One, theres been a lot of concern that this would be used to bail out states, quoteunquote. That those whove a large uncredited liability in their Pension Funds would use that money for those Pension Funds. We specifically do not allow that. So that has been addressed. But what do we do . Well, first, a third of the dollars can go out now, because its based upon population. This recognizes that if california has 31 Million People and wyoming has 500,000, then there needs to be some accommodation. The next third will go out at the end of the june, based upon how hard a state was hit in terms of health from the coronavirus. So if your state was slammed from coronavirus louisiana was, nother was, other states have been then thats where you get the help. Frankly, it is unfortunate that youre getting the help. It would be a lot better if your state had not been impacted. But if it has, it is there is to support your state through the health aspect of this crisis. The last third will go out at the end of this calendar year. That is based upon the financial hit that your state has taken. And so if your states tax base has been decreased by 459 , then you would d. By 45 , then you will get additional money. At the end of this calendar year is almost beyond the fiscal year for most states. That would place the dollars at the states disposal for the next fiscal year. In that way we cover this period that mooteddies say that states and local governments will be out. Theres one more concern that is, whether or not all this money will go to a Governors Office and none will go to counties or pair issues in louisiana and parishes in louisiana. Onethird will about go directly to municipalities and counties, those local governments that are on the forefront of providing services to those who are being affected by the coronavirus epidemic. So we think that weve got something which balances the needs of stakeholders. The most important stakeholder being the american citizen. That both addresses the need for fiscal accountability but the need to preserve those essential Government Services to get our economy going once more. So again im going to ask all my colleagues to support the thin blue line bill, otherwise known as the smartage of i think it is the smart way to go forward to make shoe h. Make sure we dont slip into a recession but return with as robust a economy as we had before entering the crisis. With that, i yield to my colleague from maine. Ms. Collins madam president . The presiding officer the senator from maine. Ms. Collins i am pleased to be a cosponsor of the smart act and i want to commend senator menendez and senator cassidy for their tremendous leadership. Our bill would help us set the collapse of state and local revenues resulting from the covid19 pandemic. The coronavirus has already claimed the lives of more than 90,000 americans, and the as the virus damages our health and deprives us of our loved ones, it is also it has also devastated our communities and our economy. As of last week, nearly 20 of maines total civilian workforce had filed for unemployment. The Tourism Sector has been particularly hard hit, and this is so important to my state. But the fact is the that no industrial sector has been immune from this disease. Restaurants and hotels in Southern Maine face uncertainty not knowing when or even if they will ever reopen. As a result of having to cancel nonessential surgeries, many hospitals are struggling to stay open. Lobstermen and fishermen have lost major markets. Potato farmers may be unable to sell more than 22 million worth of their 2019 crop. The motorcoach industry has been devastated. In short, madam president , working families and communities across the state of maine have been hit hard. Moodys forecast that maine may face one of the worst impacts in the entire country in terms of lost revenues. 85 of maines state revenues are from income and sales taxes. They have plummeted. Gas tax revenues have tanked. These projected shortfalls threaten vital state and local services. Madam president , one in six mainers is employed in the public sector. These are the individuals who keep our communities and our citizens safety the Police Officers, the firefighters, the e. M. S. Personnel. They provide health care and education. They maintain our roads and our bridges. When i visited the oronoke Fire Department recently, the town manager told me that the decline in excise taxes has been devastating for this town. Maine communities tell me that they will have no choice but to either increase property taxes at the worst possible time for working families or eliminate First Responder jobs and slash education funding, if they do not receive help. The smart act would help avoid the worst of these consequences by providing 500 billion in federal relief to state, local, and tribal governments. Unlike the cares act, where only big cities were eligible for assistance, under our bill, every county and every community would be eligible for funding. Maine would receive at least 2 billion, including about 330 million for counties and 330 million for communities. And the 1. 25 billion that we already appropriated for assistance to state governments under the cares act would be made much more flexible, so it could be used to offset these dramatic revenue shortfalls. Madam president , the followout from the coronavirus is unprecedented. Congress has a tremendous responsibility to hope mitigate the impact of this crisis on our states and our local communities and on the families they serve. We must not wait. We should act now. Thank you, madam president. Mr. Booker madam president . The presiding officer the senator from nother. Mr. Mr. Booker thank you, mr. President. I want to thank the senators for leading on this bill. And the broad bipartisan support it has. I know senator menendez and i have both been mayors. When there is no crisis, we know intimately the challenges that so many of our Public Servants face in times where we do not see pandemics, our firefighters put their lives on the line. Our Police Officers put , and our teachessers teachers are strong because of these dedicated Public Workers. In a time of crisis, we see that our teachers are rising to the challenge working to keep our students engaged even though though are now miles apart. I hear stories of teachers riding around, visiting students, keeping their distance but ensuring their students are getting the assistance they need. Our firefighters are out there now putting their lives at even more of a risk, putting themselves on the line to help their communities. Police officers answering calls without hesitation despite the great risk it puts on themselves and their families when they go home and so many of our other Public Servants who are working diligently to keep our communities running, to keep our states strong, to meet a crisis to try to help folks stay healthy, stay safe. Without hesitation across new jersey, across all of our 50 states, we are seeing more clearly the heroic actions of people who are leading in a time of crisis. But as was said by my colleagues, across the country states are being hit by significantly declining revenues and extraordinarily increasing costs. We are already seeing early pro exes as it was discuss projections as it was discussed by my colleagues and independent rating agencies like moodys is looking about hundreds of billions of dollars in deficits for state and local governments. My own governor estimated that the projected gap by the extremely rising costs to be somewhere between 20 billion and 30 billion. Due to these shortfalls, without immediate action from congress, state and local governments will be forced to make deep cuts to public services, including laying off folks who are not just essential in word but make the difference often between life or death, safety or crisis in our communities. These will be the workers that would be laid off at the time that we need them the most. Not only do these vital Public Servants do a job protecting our communities from educating our kids to supporting our neighbors but cuts like these actually will aggravate and deepen the Overall Economic crisis facing our country. Independent rating agencies and others say that cuts like these will actually prolong our economic crisis and the time needed for recovery. This is not the time for half measures. This is the time to act at the scale that the crisis demands. The federal government needs to be providing a robust, accurately tailored response to this crisis by funding our state and local governments in a way that prioritizes those areas that have been hit the hardest. The smart act does exactly that. Did is a bipartisan bill. It is thoughtful, it is tailored narrowly to fit this crisis. The smart act is a commonsense approach that will make sure that the help is going to where its needed most, to our hardest hit communities and states and will help to ensure that those workers that we hail with our words, firefighters, Police Officers, and teachers, that we support them with our actions as well for they are out there right now supporting us. No state should go bankrupt fighting this virus because of this virus. No state should go bankrupt because we refuse at the federal government to support them. No essential Public Workers should lose their job because of this crisis because congress was not stepping up to lead through it. Theres no time to waste. As was said by my colleague, we have folks in my state that are putting together their budgets right now. As we saw from my colleague from louisiana, they are already accounting for the need to cut. Weve already seen hundreds of thousands of Public Workers being laid off. The delay has costs, and when youre talking about First Responders, the delays could have costs, they are hard to imagine. I encourage my colleagues to see this as what it is. It is the accurately tailored response. It is a bipartisan bill. It is what our nation needs right now. I encourage my colleagues in the senate to work to get this to the floor so that we can vote on it, pass on it and get it to congress and the president s desk so we can avoid these layoffs and help to endure the storm that were in and ultimately overcome the severity of its ravages. Thank you, madam president. Mrs. Loeffler madam president. The presiding officer the senator from georgia. Mrs. Loeffler i ask unanimous consent to complete my remarks before the 12 30 p. M. Vote. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Loeffler madam president , eight weeks ago today the Senate Passed the cares act, an unprecedented 2. 2 trillion package as our country responded to the threat of covid19. Previously we passed legislation for free access to paid leave and to support the federal agencies leading our pandemic response. The cares act was designed to support the help of our citizens and of the economy. It included direct payments to american families, grants to hospitals and the Emergency Response<\/a> while watching as revenues dry up due to necessary stayathome orders, and the closure of nonessential businesses. The emergency protective measures have been effective at flattening the curve and have no doubt saved thousands of lives but they also came with a cost. All Revenue Sources<\/a> are down. Sale tax revenue has plummeted with businesses closed. Highway trus funds wont have the trust funds wont have the resource to do maintenance. Building permits and Municipal Court<\/a> fees have fallen. Unless we act soon, we will see mass layoffs, devastating tax increases and a breakdown in Public Safety<\/a> and essential services. Already the bureau of labor statistics reported that state and local governments have laid off one million Public Employees<\/a> in april. And this challenge is true for every state, county, city, and town in the country. The state of municipal assistance for response and transition, or smart act, is the bold, bipartisan, and commonsense solution we need to give our communities a fighting chance and stop the economy from free falling. It provides 500 billion in flexible dollars that will help our communities expand the testing and Contract Tracing<\/a> we need to contain the virus, a necessary step in restoring Consumer Confidence<\/a> and restore the economy. It will help stave off massive layoffs, tax hikes and deep, painful cuts to essential services. It will keep our Police Officers<\/a>, firefighters, Public Health<\/a> workers, teachers, and the other essential please on the job during this critical time. Because i. T. Not just because its not just about defeating covid19. We still need to keep our streets safe, our children learning, the trash picked up, the roads maintained, the buses and trains running on time. I hear some of my colleagues speak on this floor calling not for unity but for division. They cal callously believe that their communities are immune to the fiscal armageddon facing our communities. Let me be clear, when your revenues drop 30 overnight, it really doesnt matter how fiscally responsible for conservative your state budget is. No one can prepare for that. Moodys just reported that states like ohio and arizona are facing a fiscal shock of losing 20 of their entire budget. West virginia, 40 . This is not a red state or blue state issue. This is a red, white, and blue issue. Its an american priority. In december of 1862, during the height of the civil war, president lincoln wrote the followings message to congress. In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not be responsible through time and eternity at this moment i believe that history will look kindly upon those who stood for unity and compromise over demagoguery. Those who put the wellbeing of the country over scoring partisan points, those who took a Political Risk<\/a> for no other reason than it was the right thing to do. Im proud of the Bipartisan Coalition<\/a> weve built and i want to thank each of my colleagues for your work and your commitment 0 to rebuilding our communities. To senator cassidy, who has led this issue with me, to senator hydesmith, senator collins. I yield to my partner in crafting this legislation and building this coalition over the past month, senator cassidy. Mr. Cassidy thank you, senator menendez. Weve worked through a lot of issues to the find a bill that can pass on a bipartisan basis and in both chambers. So i thank senator menendez for working with me on that. Madam president , the title of this bill is the smart act, but in retrospect, i wish we had named it the thin blue line act because this is about helping cities and states preserve essential services such as police, fire, education for the reopening of our economy. Lets just kind of review. The federal Government Asks<\/a> that states and local governments shuttle down their economy in order to control the coronavirus and just like those Small Businesses<\/a> closed at the behest of the government authority, so state and local governments closed, if you will, at the behest of the federal authority. What that did is it devastated tax bases. Moodys, the independent agency which looks at the finances of cities and states, has said that if your state is dependent upon income tax, upon sales tax, upon tourism, upon proceeds from energy, youve been hammered. Your tax base has fallen dramatically, and with the dramatic fall of that tax base becomes a dramatic fall in the ability to support the thin blue line, the educators, the firefighters, the you name it, the essential services essential to the reopening of our economy when we come out of the back side of this epidemic. Now, its already happening. Moodys predicts that three million of these essential workers will be laid o i of off. Im told that the one million already have been. Lets go back to the thin blue line. The city of shreveport, louisiana, just put out a budget in which there is a ads 20 million to their city overall, 3. 9 million was unfortunately laid upon Law Enforcement<\/a>, 54 positions eliminated. I am a told that some federal dollars came through and allowed the restoration of some of those positions which is is a proof in concept that if theres help from the federal taxpayer to the state and local taxpayer, then these essential services can be preserved and we know that if those police positions are preserved, then that downtown in shreveport is more likely to safely reopen for commerce. Now, we talked about moodys predicting loss of revenue. Louisiana is predicted to lose 45 of its revenue, but theres other States Affected<\/a> nother, maine, florida, oklahoma, michigan, alaska, arizona, illinois, all predicted to lose large sums of tax revenue. Let me speak specifically about the smart act, as i would call it the thin blue line bill. It is a reasonable, bipartisan, this is how we go forward in both chambers. Now, we picked 500 billion. Some would say, well, thats too much. Actually, that is the amount of money that moodys predicts state and local governments will lack over the next year and a half. So we actually kind of nail where the independent agency puts the need for our state and our local government. And its targeted. One, theres been a lot of concern that this would be used to bail out states, quoteunquote. That those whove a large uncredited liability in their Pension Funds<\/a> would use that money for those Pension Funds<\/a>. We specifically do not allow that. So that has been addressed. But what do we do . Well, first, a third of the dollars can go out now, because its based upon population. This recognizes that if california has 31 Million People<\/a> and wyoming has 500,000, then there needs to be some accommodation. The next third will go out at the end of the june, based upon how hard a state was hit in terms of health from the coronavirus. So if your state was slammed from coronavirus louisiana was, nother was, other states have been then thats where you get the help. Frankly, it is unfortunate that youre getting the help. It would be a lot better if your state had not been impacted. But if it has, it is there is to support your state through the health aspect of this crisis. The last third will go out at the end of this calendar year. That is based upon the financial hit that your state has taken. And so if your states tax base has been decreased by 459 , then you would d. By 45 , then you will get additional money. At the end of this calendar year is almost beyond the fiscal year for most states. That would place the dollars at the states disposal for the next fiscal year. In that way we cover this period that mooteddies say that states and local governments will be out. Theres one more concern that is, whether or not all this money will go to a Governors Office<\/a> and none will go to counties or pair issues in louisiana and parishes in louisiana. Onethird will about go directly to municipalities and counties, those local governments that are on the forefront of providing services to those who are being affected by the coronavirus epidemic. So we think that weve got something which balances the needs of stakeholders. The most important stakeholder being the american citizen. That both addresses the need for fiscal accountability but the need to preserve those essential Government Services<\/a> to get our economy going once more. So again im going to ask all my colleagues to support the thin blue line bill, otherwise known as the smartage of i think it is the smart way to go forward to make shoe h. Make sure we dont slip into a recession but return with as robust a economy as we had before entering the crisis. With that, i yield to my colleague from maine. Ms. Collins madam president . The presiding officer the senator from maine. Ms. Collins i am pleased to be a cosponsor of the smart act and i want to commend senator menendez and senator cassidy for their tremendous leadership. Our bill would help us set the collapse of state and local revenues resulting from the covid19 pandemic. The coronavirus has already claimed the lives of more than 90,000 americans, and the as the virus damages our health and deprives us of our loved ones, it is also it has also devastated our communities and our economy. As of last week, nearly 20 of maines total civilian workforce had filed for unemployment. The Tourism Sector<\/a> has been particularly hard hit, and this is so important to my state. But the fact is the that no industrial sector has been immune from this disease. Restaurants and hotels in Southern Maine<\/a> face uncertainty not knowing when or even if they will ever reopen. As a result of having to cancel nonessential surgeries, many hospitals are struggling to stay open. Lobstermen and fishermen have lost major markets. Potato farmers may be unable to sell more than 22 million worth of their 2019 crop. The motorcoach industry has been devastated. In short, madam president , working families and communities across the state of maine have been hit hard. Moodys forecast that maine may face one of the worst impacts in the entire country in terms of lost revenues. 85 of maines state revenues are from income and sales taxes. They have plummeted. Gas tax revenues have tanked. These projected shortfalls threaten vital state and local services. Madam president , one in six mainers is employed in the public sector. These are the individuals who keep our communities and our citizens safety the Police Officers<\/a>, the firefighters, the e. M. S. Personnel. They provide health care and education. They maintain our roads and our bridges. When i visited the oronoke Fire Department<\/a> recently, the town manager told me that the decline in excise taxes has been devastating for this town. Maine communities tell me that they will have no choice but to either increase property taxes at the worst possible time for working families or eliminate First Responder<\/a> jobs and slash education funding, if they do not receive help. The smart act would help avoid the worst of these consequences by providing 500 billion in federal relief to state, local, and tribal governments. Unlike the cares act, where only big cities were eligible for assistance, under our bill, every county and every community would be eligible for funding. Maine would receive at least 2 billion, including about 330 million for counties and 330 million for communities. And the 1. 25 billion that we already appropriated for assistance to state governments under the cares act would be made much more flexible, so it could be used to offset these dramatic revenue shortfalls. Madam president , the followout from the coronavirus is unprecedented. Congress has a tremendous responsibility to hope mitigate the impact of this crisis on our states and our local communities and on the families they serve. We must not wait. We should act now. Thank you, madam president. Mr. Booker madam president . The presiding officer the senator from nother. Mr. Mr. Booker thank you, mr. President. I want to thank the senators for leading on this bill. And the broad bipartisan support it has. I know senator menendez and i have both been mayors. When there is no crisis, we know intimately the challenges that so many of our Public Servants<\/a> face in times where we do not see pandemics, our firefighters put their lives on the line. Our Police Officers<\/a> put , and our teachessers teachers are strong because of these dedicated Public Workers<\/a>. In a time of crisis, we see that our teachers are rising to the challenge working to keep our students engaged even though though are now miles apart. I hear stories of teachers riding around, visiting students, keeping their distance but ensuring their students are getting the assistance they need. Our firefighters are out there now putting their lives at even more of a risk, putting themselves on the line to help their communities. Police officers answering calls without hesitation despite the great risk it puts on themselves and their families when they go home and so many of our other Public Servants<\/a> who are working diligently to keep our communities running, to keep our states strong, to meet a crisis to try to help folks stay healthy, stay safe. Without hesitation across new jersey, across all of our 50 states, we are seeing more clearly the heroic actions of people who are leading in a time of crisis. But as was said by my colleagues, across the country states are being hit by significantly declining revenues and extraordinarily increasing costs. We are already seeing early pro exes as it was discuss projections as it was discussed by my colleagues and independent rating agencies like moodys is looking about hundreds of billions of dollars in deficits for state and local governments. My own governor estimated that the projected gap by the extremely rising costs to be somewhere between 20 billion and 30 billion. Due to these shortfalls, without immediate action from congress, state and local governments will be forced to make deep cuts to public services, including laying off folks who are not just essential in word but make the difference often between life or death, safety or crisis in our communities. These will be the workers that would be laid off at the time that we need them the most. Not only do these vital Public Servants<\/a> do a job protecting our communities from educating our kids to supporting our neighbors but cuts like these actually will aggravate and deepen the Overall Economic<\/a> crisis facing our country. Independent rating agencies and others say that cuts like these will actually prolong our economic crisis and the time needed for recovery. This is not the time for half measures. This is the time to act at the scale that the crisis demands. The federal government needs to be providing a robust, accurately tailored response to this crisis by funding our state and local governments in a way that prioritizes those areas that have been hit the hardest. The smart act does exactly that. Did is a bipartisan bill. It is thoughtful, it is tailored narrowly to fit this crisis. The smart act is a commonsense approach that will make sure that the help is going to where its needed most, to our hardest hit communities and states and will help to ensure that those workers that we hail with our words, firefighters, Police Officers<\/a>, and teachers, that we support them with our actions as well for they are out there right now supporting us. No state should go bankrupt fighting this virus because of this virus. No state should go bankrupt because we refuse at the federal government to support them. No essential Public Workers<\/a> should lose their job because of this crisis because congress was not stepping up to lead through it. Theres no time to waste. As was said by my colleague, we have folks in my state that are putting together their budgets right now. As we saw from my colleague from louisiana, they are already accounting for the need to cut. Weve already seen hundreds of thousands of Public Workers<\/a> being laid off. The delay has costs, and when youre talking about First Responder<\/a>s, the delays could have costs, they are hard to imagine. I encourage my colleagues to see this as what it is. It is the accurately tailored response. It is a bipartisan bill. It is what our nation needs right now. I encourage my colleagues in the senate to work to get this to the floor so that we can vote on it, pass on it and get it to congress and the president s desk so we can avoid these layoffs and help to endure the storm that were in and ultimately overcome the severity of its ravages. Thank you, madam president. Mrs. Loeffler madam president. The presiding officer the senator from georgia. Mrs. Loeffler i ask unanimous consent to complete my remarks before the 12 30 p. M. Vote. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Loeffler madam president , eight weeks ago today the Senate Passed<\/a> the cares act, an unprecedented 2. 2 trillion package as our country responded to the threat of covid19. Previously we passed legislation for free access to paid leave and to support the federal agencies leading our pandemic response. The cares act was designed to support the help of our citizens and of the economy. It included direct payments to american families, grants to hospitals and the Paycheck Protection Program<\/a>, forgivable loans to Small Businesses<\/a> to keep their employees on the payroll. The program was so successful that a month Later Congress<\/a> approved the additional 310 pl for billion for p. P. P. Loans and 25 billion for testing. Georgia hospitals has received over 1. 7 billion, including the presiding officer the senate will be in order. Mrs. Loeffler under the cares act. The presiding officer the senate will be in order. The senator from georgia can proceed. Mrs. Loeffler i worked to include provisions in the cares act to improve telehealth programs our state has received more than 800,000 from these programs that are helping georgians across our state stay connected with their doctors from the safety of their own homes. In addition, our state and local governments have received 5. 8 billion to help schools adjust to online working, provide assistance to lost their jobs or homes and to keep our airports running to keep our communities responding to serve in this challenging moment. The Action Congress<\/a> took has helped meet immediate challenges, but it is clear the pandemic has caused staggering economic losses. In the last two months, i heard from hundreds suffering the effect of this outbreak and response. First responders, doctors, and nurses and Small Business<\/a> owners and farmers, families who suffered job losses and children who are out of school, food banks who have seen an unprecedented surge in demand. Before this pandemic, americans were enjoying a thriving economy with the lowest Unemployment Rate<\/a> in 50 years and the leadership of the Trump Administration<\/a> more families were on their way to living the American Dream<\/a>. Then in late march, the day after the Senate Passed<\/a> the cares act, we learned a record 3. 3 million workers had applied for initial Unemployment Benefits<\/a> in a single week. The total is now a staggering 36. 5 million americans who filed initial jobless claims. This is more than the combined populations of georgia, pennsylvania, and ohio. In my state more than one in three georgians have lost their job. Watching this unfold, despite the relief under the cares act, i recognize that it is time to look beyond the Immediate Response<\/a> and to focus on our recovery. As a member of the president s opening up america again congressional working group, i am putting my nearly three decades of experience in Building Companies<\/a> and creating jobs and opportunity to work for georgians. With my experience and the conversations ive had with georgians, i developed the u. S. A. Restoring and igniting the strength of our economy plan or u. S. A. Rise to bring back our thriving economy. The four bill arrest of the pillars of the plan are made in the u. S. A. , grown in the u. S. A. , hiring in the u. S. A. And families in the u. S. A. I started to introduce proposals to incentivize companies to invest in america, grow jobs, and to help families. Id like to highlight one of those pillars today, families in the u. S. A. First, we mourn the loss of those to covid19, the toll of this has devastated thousands of families. It is also clear that with economic damage comes societal damage. Our country needed to take dramatic actions to flatten the curve, but those steps meant most americans were confined to their homes. This meant work from home, school from home, but also in too many instances, lost jobs, isolation, depression, suicide, domestic, substance, and child abuse. It is timely that may is Mental Health<\/a> awareness month. In a recent Atlanta Journal<\/a> constitution oped, the Carter Center<\/a> members wrote, isolation is one of the cruelest components of the outbreak. Thats week i last week i spent with a Mental Health<\/a> Treatment Center<\/a> in georgia, they are seeing a significant spike in those reaching out for help. The wait list is growing and the demand for help is rising rappedly. An emergency hotline run by the Substance Abuse<\/a> and Mental Health<\/a> services at h. H. S. Saw a 1,000 increase in calls in just one month. That was in april compared to last april. Ive spoken to local Law Enforcement<\/a> officials who have seen a serious spike in Domestic Abuse<\/a> calls. The crisis line has seen a 70 increase in textings related to Domestic Violence<\/a> across our country. The millions of americans who lost their job or business are suffering. Tiffany, a mother of three from college park, georgia, was furloughed from her steady job stocking store shelves. She said it is overwhelming when you have rent, when you have children to take care of. When a parent loses their job, they lose much more, they lose their ability to put food on the table, pay rent, and the uncertainty grows for children. It is vital to help families weather this crisis. And we know americans who have a steady paycheck are more likely to have stable, secure families and children from stable families are more likely to do well in school. Thats why i designed the u. S. A. Rise plan as an Economic Framework<\/a> that takes the coronavirus into account, helping families and job creation today will allow parents to get back to work and reduce the fallout from this pandemic from permanently impacting an entire generation. Importantly, this does not mean we should expand the grip of the federal government. An American Enterprise<\/a> Institute Report<\/a> on achieving the American Dream<\/a> states, and i quote, the power of community has become all the more poignant as we retreated more to isolated lives required by social distancing, oftentimes local institutions and neighborhoods have a greater influence on economic outcomes than what is occurring at the federal level. And being in washington, working on behalf of our state, i see that local impact first hand. Often these organizations are at the heart of our communities. Its where people turn for help for a sense of belonging. Churches and other nonprofits are doing amazing work during this very difficult time theyve been providing child care, meals, and other support for family and children. For example, ymcas are the largest provider of child care entergeorgia. Many have stepped up it to provide child care for essential workers. They are providing thousands of meals each week to help out needy families and thats why last week i introduced legislation, the limiting infant fatality and empowering Nonprofit Organization<\/a> workforce act or the life now act. It allows larger nonprofits access to the Paycheck Protection Program<\/a> loans. These loans will help them keep their doors open and continue to serve their communities while ensuring that no taxpayer dollars go to abortion providers. And yesterday i introduced the working families child care access act. This will give more working families more flexibility allowing parents to contribute to their employersponsored dependent care flexible spending account or f. S. A. If a family doesnt use all of their funds in one year, any leftover funds can be rolled over to the following year and this will help families make plans for child care as they begin to go back to work. I am continuing to work on additional legislation to provide families with targeted relief. For example, a bill to codify the Trump Administration<\/a>s regulations to help americans who have recently lost their job and their health insurance. The Trump Administration<\/a> expanded shortterm limited duration plans after president obama substantially restricd those plans prestrict restricted those plans before he left office. They are an affordable option for americans who are in between jobs or who have been laid off. The dramatic economic numbers alone do not convey the full cost of this pandemic. The futures impacted, the isolation, the Domestic Abuse<\/a>, Substance Abuse<\/a> and suicide. As our country begins to look forward amid the coronavirus pandemic, we must look forward to families to build strong futures. Ill introduce a plan aimed at incentivizing the United States<\/a> helping Small Business<\/a> and farmers and to ensure that america is the best place in the world to do business. While i continue to do all i can to fight covid19, ill also continue to do all i can to help georgia families and employers recover and prosper. The senator from iowa is recognized. Mr. Grassley i rise for two reasons. One for a very short comment on Political Prisoners<\/a> in foreign lands and the other one on how the cares act is developing and the reaction to it. First of all, our","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia801900.us.archive.org\/9\/items\/CSPAN2_20200521_060300_U.S._Senate_Senators_on_the_SMART_ACT\/CSPAN2_20200521_060300_U.S._Senate_Senators_on_the_SMART_ACT.thumbs\/CSPAN2_20200521_060300_U.S._Senate_Senators_on_the_SMART_ACT_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}