the long-term commitment to gavel to gavel coverage, senators today are expected to vote to begin debate on overturning an education department rule on college student loan debt forgiveness. now to live coverage of the u.s. senate on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. arise, o judge of the earth, and bring healing and help to our

nation and world. we praise you that your plans succeed and your precepts are sure. lord, you know our thoughts before we think them. encourage our lawmakers to do your will. give them the wisdom to totally depend upon your unfailing love, remembering that unless you help them they labor in vain. lord, when doubts fill their minds, provide them with the renewed hope in the ultimate triumph of your purposes.

we pray in your strong name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. 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. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the

senator from iowa is recognized. mr. grassley: i would like to have one minute for morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: thirty years ago today, the freely elected parliament of lithuania declared the restoration of that country's independence. lithuania's brave actions began the breakup of the soviet union, something all freedom-loving americans ought to be celebrating. the modern republic of lithuania is 102 years old as of last month, and the united states has maintained continuous diplomatic relations with lithuania since 1922. in other words, through the period of time that the soviet union had jurisdiction over it. but these last 30 years since the return of freedom have seen

the partnership between our two countries become stronger than ever. lithuania is a close u.s. ally and a beacon of of western values -- and a beacon of western values and very much on the frontier of freedom. i thank lithuania for its important contributions to our north atlantic treaty organization alliance and for its vocal defense of our shared values. i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under

the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: yesterday, president trump visited the capitol to discuss the ongoing efforts to fight the new coronavirus and its growing footprint here in the united states. as vice president pence, dr. anthony fauci, and the other administration experts related in their briefing yesterday, we should expect a number of cases to continue to climb throughout our country. fortunately, our nation was rated the best prepared in the world for this kind of outbreak, and we're continuing to scale up our response every day. my home state of kentucky currently has eight confirmed cases. i applaud the efforts of state and local leaders who are working together with federal officials to proceed carefully and intelligently. our public health experts are compiling the best guidance for individuals, families, businesses, schools, and health care professionals in one place.

www.coronavirus.gov is the place to go. i encourage every american to read through the information, particularly anyone whose personal circumstances make additional precautions a wise idea. president trump and senators also discussed potential policies to soften the economic impact of the virus. over the last three years, we have built an historically strong economy for american workers and middle-class families. we should take sensible steps to help that momentum continue, notwithstanding this new challenge. i'm glad the secretary of the treasury and the speaker of the house are engaging in direct bipartisan talks on this subject. congress has already provided billions in new funding to federal, state, and local health leaders. i hope we can bring the same bipartisan energy to any steps

that prove necessary to support our strong u.s. economy. now, it's been sad but not surprising to see some of president trump's democratic critics here in washington fall back on the same old predictable partisan attacks, even at a time like this, but across the country where leaders are working together on the front lines, we have seen something different. i want to commend the democratic governor of california who stated on monday that he had been in close touch with the president and the vice president and appreciated their attention and support. here's what he said. he said everything that i could have hoped for, we've had a long conversation, and every single thing he said they followed through on. that's the governor of california talking about the republican president of the united states. he praised the administration's work on this and said, quote, it starts at the top.

so clearly, madam president, this does not have to be a time for partisan bickering. the american people know that. leaders around the country know that. i hope our democratic colleagues here in washington understand the american people expect us to be working together on this problem. now, on another matter, yesterday, both the house and senate were briefed by top intelligence community officials on the state of ongoing efforts to protect the security of american elections. i was glad that so many members took advantage of the chance to hear directly from the experts. this issue is very important, and it's bad for our democracy that some have sought to politicize it. all of us should acknowledge the threat, and all of us should applaud the unprecedented steps this administration has taken to protect against it. these significant efforts undertaken by the administration and funded by the congress are

actually working. since 2017, the hundreds of millions of dollars we have directed to help state and local election officials reinforce their systems have been finding their mark. in all 50 states and across thousands of jurisdictions, new tools, more resources, and greater coordination have our nation's defenses in a stronger place. this includes far greater coordination with the social media companies to combat foreign disinformation as well as close collaboration between the federal government and state and local jurisdictions on protecting electoral infrastructure. and to date, the intelligence community reports they have not seen any foreign interference that aims to change vote tallies or prevent americans from voting. so the american people are absolutely right to have confidence in the integrity of our voting systems, and they actually do. as i mentioned yesterday, one new survey has found that more

than 70%, 70% of americans are confident their state and local authorities will oversee a fair and accurate election this november. that's 70% of the american people have confidence in the fairness of the elections this november. as an aside, madam president, this is worth remembering as our democratic colleagues try to claim that election security demands, things like unprecedented washington power grab over the nuanced details of how states and localities conduct elections are addressing things like campaign finance. these are long-time left-wing goals that have basically nothing whatsoever to do with the actual threats now before us. but the american people's confidence in the key institutions of our democracy does not mean they are complacent. they aren't. that's the same -- the same survey shows the american people understand full well that foreign adversaries like russia want to divide our country,

distort our discourse through disinformation, and the intelligence community confirms that as well. our intelligence experts have publicly assessed that russia and other adversaries will continue looking for ways to warp our public debate from overseas. we all need to be aware that our adversaries seek to exploit the openness of our society, to turn americans against ourselves. adversaries like russia want to exacerbate social and political tensions in our country. they want to undermine our confidence in our own elections and our democratic institutions. this is why i have stressed that politicians need to be careful not to take the bait. that's why the president signed an executive order to enable sanctions against any person or any country that attempts to meddle in our elections. it's why this administration has created new procedures from promptly notifying campaigns that are targeted by attorney

entities, unlike, unlike how the obama administration hid the ball back in 2016, and it's why the new tough foreign policies of the last three years will continue to be essential. narrow, tailored solutions are important, but the best way for the united states to defend ourselves and our interests against any maligned behavior is to possess unquestionable strength and make it perfectly clear we're not interested in being pushed around. i have been a russia hawk for more than 30 years. i'm on the record from the late years of the clinton administration warning democrats not to be naive about a new president-elect by the name of vladimir putin. so i applaud this administration's tough stance with russia and i'm pleased that democrats have stopped, stopped mocking republicans for being too tough on russia and have come around to our point of

view. we have come a long way since the passivity and the failures of the obama administration back in 2016, but the work is not finished, and senators are fooling themselves if they think this is just about russia. we must stay vigilant, all of us, federal leaders, state and local election officials and every american citizen. every one of us has a part to play in protecting our democracy. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s.j. res. 56, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 439, s.j. res. 56, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5 united states code that the rules submitted by the department of education relating to borrower defense institutional accountability.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip is recognized. mr. thune: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, yesterday afternoon the south dakota governor notified me that multiple residents of south dakota tested positive for the coronavirus. obviously something we wanted to avoid, but we knew it was a possibility and we spent weeks preparing for an outbreak. over the next few days public health officials will be checking where these individuals have been so anyone who came in contact can be notified. my staff and i are working

closely with the governor and her team and i will continue to carefully monitor this situation. at the federal level, i'm focused on making sure that state and local governments have the resources they need to deal with the virus. last week i was proud of to support bipartisan legislation committing significant federal resources to the coronavirus fight. madam president, i'm praying for all of the south dakotans who are affected by the virus, and i want to thank the health care workers who are on the front lines of this fight. we are lucky to have you. madam president, i'm disappointed that the senate failed to move forward on the american energy innovation act this week. this is a bipartisan piece of legislation that should have been able to advance in the senate. it contains measures from more than 60 senators, and 90 senators voted last week to begin debate on the bill. i'm disappointed that we couldn't maintain that bipartisan momentum and get this bill over the finish line. madam president, the united states is in a pretty good position when it comes to energy

right now. our energy supplies are abundant and energy prices are generally affordable. but we're in this position for a reason, because we took steps to increase our domestic energy supply and lessen our depends on foreign oil, and we can't afford to become complacent. if we want to keep american energy affordable and abundant, we want to make sure we stay on the cutting edge and continue to invest in our domestic supply from oil and natural gas to renewing sources like hydropower and wind. we also need to make sure we stay on top of our energy grid and energy security. the american energy innovation act is invests in a wide range of clean energy technologies from wind and solar to hydro power and geothermal. it focuses on improving research into carbon capture and it go directs the establishment of a

research and development program to identify ways to use capture carbon. the bill also invests in advanced nuclear energy research so we can regain our edge in the use of this clean energy technology and it focuses on improving energy storage. many modern clean energy technologies are intermittent or lack the reliability of traditional electric sources. the amount of energy produced from wind, for example, is dependent on the amount of wind on any given day, so it must be backed up by a traditional plant often powered by natural gas. creating new ways to store clean energy will allow us to increase our reliance on renewable energy sources. another area that needs to be addressed when it comes to renewable energy is recycling. solar panels, wind, turbine plaidz are key components of energy production but all of the components reach the end of their life.

solar panels and wind turbine panels need to be replaced. and then the question becomes what to do with these components. wind turbine blades can be well over 150 feet long and weigh somewhere around 15 tons. that takes a lot of room in a landfill. in the case of electric vehicle batteries, we're not just talking about filling up landfills. we're talking about potentially hazardous waste if lithium or other materials leak from the battery. while recycling and reuse methods exist for clean energy components, much more work needs to be done to ensure that clean energy doesn't eventually result in massive buildups in landfills. since roughly a quarter of the net electricity generated in my home stailt -- state of south dakota comes from wind, i'm interested in what it would take to recycle or or reuse blades on a large scale. i'm pleased my amendment was included in the chairman's substitute amendment to the american energy innovation act.

my amendment would establish a competition to identify innovative uses for wind blades that have reached the end of their life with a focus on uses that present the greatest potential for large-scale commercial deployment. with an estimated 32,000 wind blades likely to be removed from u.s. wind turbines in the next four years, it's past time to get american innovators focused on this problem. i appreciate chairman murkowski's interest in addressing this side of green energy and hope that we can continue this work. madam president, in addition to clean energy and innovation, the american energy and innovation act focuses on boosting the grid. it focuses on improving our domestic supply of some of the key elements and minerals we rely on from manufacturing everything from computer chips to batteries to defense applications. right now we have to import too much of these critical minerals from countries like china. for the sake of our national

security, it's important that we find ways to identify supplies of these minerals here at home. finally, madam president, the american energy innovation act invests in workforce development. all the technology won't help us if we don't have the workers to maintain these technologies. we need to ensure that while we're investing in innovation, we're also investing in the energy workforce of the future. as i said, it is disappointing that the senate wasn't able to move forward on this bipartisan legislation. i hope we'll be able to continue discussing this bill and that the senate will take it up again in the near future. the american innovation energy act will help maintain a strong domestic energy supply, increase the security of our energy grid, and invest in american workers. we need to get this legislation across the finish line. madam president, i yield the

floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader is recognized. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum? i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be commonsensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, the united states has more nan 1,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. the actual number however could be much higher. we don't truly know how many cases of coronavirus there are in the united states because our testing regime has been entirely inadequate. the c.d.c. took weeks to develop testing kits that work properly and the federal government was far too slow in allowing medical clinics to conduct tests on their own. "the new york times" this morning has a story about how doctors and clinicians in washington state were forced to wait a period of weeks for

samples of the coronavirus and approval to test patients for coronavirus even after they had suspected cases. the virus was spreading in the united states for weeks without our knowledge because we could not reliably test for it. even now the administration has been laggard go making sure that testing kits are available to all who need it, and the united states is trailing countries around the world in our testing capacity. we, who are supposed to have the greatest public health system in the world, are lagging behind many, many countries, and it is a matter of life and death. last night i spoke with the mayor of new rochelle, new york, where multiple infections have been confirmed and where residents are now living under a three-square-mile containment area. the mayor told me that despite the best efforts of the state of new york -- and they're doing a good job -- there are not enough coronavirus testing kits for the

community. i asked him what his major problem was. he said, lack of testing kits. lack of testing. i fear that what is happening in new rochelle will happen in cities and towns across the country. it's virtually certain that a limited quarantine or containment area will be imposed on other cities like they were in new rochelle. and we need to make sure that the mistakes that have plagued the whole testing regime is not repeated when other cities have to be under some limited quarantine. those cities have to be able to get the tests and resources they need, and new rochelle still isn't getting them because of the federal government. now, i honestly don't know why it's taken so long for the trump administration to get a handle on testing, which is the most powerful tool in helping us respond to the spread of the virus. i honestly don't know why, after

this issue with testing has been glaring and very public, the administration has still not announced anything resembling a coherent plan to fix the problem. so this morning i am demanding that the trump administration do five things to improve the nation's ability to test for the coronavirus in the united states. one, expedite the approval of labs who are ready and willing to provide testing. every lab that is able to provide testing should be up and running as soon as possible. two, provide daily updates on the volume of tests both available and expected and set up a special office or bureau within h. h.s. dedicated to managing the acquisition and distribution tests. the conflicting reports and lack of information have left states unable to plan. three, support the use of automated testing to increase the speed and volume with which testing is conducted.

four, ensure that patients who need tests face no out-of-pocket costs. the coverage requirements for testing are currently a patchwork of state executive orders and private company actions. we need federal leadership. hundreds of millions of americans do not know if they can access affordable testing. and, five, ensure that covid-19 coronavirus hotlines are fully staffed and responsible -- and responsive to patients and providers who have questions and concerns. our top priority at the moment is to confront the spread of this disease head-on. the first is making sure communities across the country have testing capability and capacity that they need. the public also needs clear guidance from the federal government regarding how to best avoid contracting this virus. it's been reported that federal health officials recommended that older americans refrain from air travel for this reason

but that the white house overruled them. what exactly happened here? were health officials overruled for political reasons? what is the truth? and what is the recommendation of our federal health experts going forward, most importantly? now the coronavirus has also created turbulence in our economy and disrupted daily life for many americans. as i've said before, by far the best way to respond to any adverse affects on our economy is to deal with the coronavirus itself. you treat the disease, not the symptoms. but even as we focus primarily on combating the spread of covid-19, we should consider relief to american families and workers who are impacted. later this morning i will join senators murray and brown, durbin and wyden and others, cardin, a nnounce a series of neighbors senate democrats

believe we should make up to provide economic relief to working americans during the coronavirus outbreak. i'll have more details at that time at 11:30, but now -- for now, i want to make one thing clear. when it comes to providing short-term economic relief, our priority should be the american people, not corporations. that means targeted measures that give working families the flexibility and support they need during a medical emergency. that means money goes directly to the people and workers affected and who need help, not money tossed out of an airplane in hope that some lands on the people who need the help. it does not mean bailing out the oil and gas industry, as the press reported was under consideration at the white house. it does not mean deregulating the banking distribution as

another report -- banking distribution as another report said was part of the discussion at the white house. it does not mean another corporate tax cut. in the face of test shortages, growing cases, lack of medical supplies, president trump seems more interested in bailing out oil and gas companies and other big interests than in helping the families struggling to avoid coronavirus treatment. as the spread of coronavirus continues within our borders, democrats remain committed -- absolutely committed -- to finding ways we can protect americans most at risk by this disease. president trump should work with us in congress to make sure we continue managing this pandemic in a measured, responsible, and transparent manner. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. without objection. mr. brown: mr. president, i will be joined by senator alexander who is here, senator murray will be joining us in a moment, the chair of the committee that has jurisdiction over this really, really important issue of sick leave, sick pay. many companies do that in this country. we're the only country in the world that doesn't have a real policy, the only wealthy country. as senator alexander says, we do this for federal employees. it should be more than those of us who are federal employees. we need today, mr. president, to get help to the people who need it now, parents whose children's schools are closed, people who aren't getting paid, people who have trouble making rent, making their mortgage payments or their student loan payments, paid sick days are one of the most important ways we do that. that's why we need to pass this

bill today. think about restaurant workers preparing our food. think about what you do if your child's school closes down for a week. for so many people, taking a sick day means going without pay, potentially losing their jobs. put yourself in a position, hard for us to do who have -- who are lucky enough and privileged enough to have these jobs and for most of our staff also, but think about a worker making $10 an hour. that worker has symptoms that she might think -- she is the only working person in her family. she might think that her illness is the coronavirus, but nonetheless her illness is debilitating enough it's hard for her to go to work. she is making $12 an hour. she stays home and she loses $100 that day. she has a $700 a month rent payment. she -- possibly lower than that if she is making $12 an hour. she has to make a decision do i go to work and potentially

infect others, but get my pay and maybe make myself sick or do i stay home to get well and give up that $100? and then you think about some of those workers, some of them might be a restaurant worker preparing our food. think about what else do if your child's school closes down for a week. at schools, already ohio state and kent state and case western and baldwin wallace have shut their doors -- not really shut their doors. they are doing -- they are doing learning by distance, telelearning, but it means a number of people at those schools are in a very different situation with their employment. taking a sick day means going without pay. taking a sick day may mean losing your job. it hurts everyone. if you are lucky enough to have paid time off, everybody is at risk when more people are out and about when they are sick. our office gets calls from workers all the time -- i know senator alexander has

tennesseans call him. senator murray has washingtonians calling her. asking what do i do if i come down with something? i have to choose between going to work while i'm sick or losing a paycheck or losing my job. i mean, it really isn't. because of our policy, we have put people in that situation or they are in that situation, and we have an obligation now to do something about it. it's unacceptable that millions of americans are faced with that impossible choice. that choice gets worse. i don't know how many people are faced with that choice today. we know it's millions. tomorrow it will be 1.2 times that. the next day maybe half again. away know this is getting worse before it gets better. i'm not an alarmist. i think we have some of the best public health officials in the world, public health professionals. i think that our -- the governor of -- my governor in ohio, a republican, mike dewine and i have talked a couple of times extensively. the people in ohio are doing this right. we don't always get the leadership out of the white house we would like when we see

the president saying something, almost the opposite of our public health professionals. i tend to listen to the public health professionals. i know senator alexander does, too. i would be hopeful the president does. we know that if this impossible choice is getting more and more serious. some corporations do the right thing. many are not doing the right thing. some are promising they're going to do the right thing, but promises are not enough. we need to pass this bill now. our legislation would require all employers to allow workers to accrue seven days of paid sick leave. and the bill would also provide an additional 14 days that would be available immediately in the event of any public health emergency like we have right now. this is a public health emergency. we need to do an emergency kind of legislation. this is an unusual, extraordinary problem. we have to do something extraordinary here. passing this bill, allowing workers to accrue seven days of paid sick leave, providing an additional 14 days available immediately in the event of any

public health emergency is what we need to do. congress can't wait. people are choosing between going to work sick and missing a paycheck. they're making that choice every day. people in memphis and cleveland, people in omaha, in dayton are making that choice every day, do i go to work sick or do i stay home and miss that $120 that i was going to earn this week? we need this day. we need to -- we need the bill to prevent the spread of coronavirus and stop this crisis getting worse. it's about the dignity of work. it's about public safety. i will wait for the u.c. request from -- i will await for senator murray to make the u.c. request, and i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. i also want to thank all of my colleagues who are coming down to speak about this today. mr. president, families in my home state of washington are scared, they are frustrated, they are angry, and so am i. new reporting now makes it clear that even after researchers in

seattle raised serious concerns about the possibility of community spread in washington state and tried to work with federal agencies to conduct testing, the administration didn't work with them to let the public know how serious the coronavirus was. you can be sure i'm going to get to the bottom of this and make sure it will never happen again. i am furious that instead of acting with urgency, they did nothing. instead of acting with transparency, they kept quiet. instead of working to keep families safe, they wasted valuable time. and now in my state, 24 people have died. over a thousand across the country are confirmed to be infected. and experts are telling us many more are likely to be ill.

i'm hearing from people in my home state of washington who are worried about their older relatives who are dying alone, worried about having to miss work and being unable to pay their rent, worried about how to keep their children safe at school and how to care for them and make sure they get a nutritious meal if their school is canceled. i'm hearing from small business owners who are worried because no one is now coming through their door and unsure how to support the workers going forward. i'm hearing from communities who are worried about how they protect people who are experiencing homelessness. now, i have seen a lot in my years as a u.s. senator, but i'm not exaggerating when i say this is one of the most trying times i've ever seen in my state experience. so i'm absolutely going to be holding this administration accountable for missing so many opportunities to get ahead of this, but i'm also going to be doing everything in my power to

make sure we do not miss significant opportunities, we do still have time to slow this down and manage it as best as we can. our primary goal right now for people in my home state and across the country needs to be slowing the spread of the virus in areas where there are outbreaks, so areas where it has not hit so hard yet have the time to prepare. one of the best ways we can do this is by allowing workers who feel sick or who need to stay home with a child whose school is closed to do so without losing a paycheck or their jobs. mr. president, workers and their families want to do the right things for themselves and for their communities, but for many of our workers, restaurant workers, truck drivers, service industry workers, they may not have an option to take a day off without losing their pay or losing their jobs, and that

leaves them with the impossible choice between putting food on their table and paying the bills or the rent or protecting themselves and others. mr. president, this is not a choice we should be asking anyone to make in the united states of america and the 21st century, but 32 million people in our country today or about one out of every four private sector workers are faced with this impossible choice every time they get sick, and right now, this choice has unique and potentially dire consequences. now, i have been advocating for legislation to allow workers to earn paid sick days since 2004 along with my colleague, congresswoman rosa delauro in the house. time and again we have been told no. even though that first step is critical as we now see for public health and gives workers the flexibility they need. in fact, we also reintroduced our bill in march of 2019, and

here we are almost a year later to the day without the very policies in place that would have now helped millions of our workers. and bolstered our resilience in the face of this exact kind of public health care crisis that paid sick days are intended to prevent and to mitigate. we now have another opportunity to get this right. i am here today to ask my colleagues to support our new emergency paid sick days legislation which would ensure workers have 14 days of paid sick leave immediately in response to public health emergencies like the one that we face today in addition to allowing workers to gradually earn their seven days of paid sick leave. it would mean you would not lose a paycheck if like so many parents in my home state of washington and across the country are facing, if your child's school has to close in the coming weeks because of this

health outbreak. it would mean you would not lose a paycheck if your family member is quarantined and you need to stay home to take care of them, so you will not also spread the virus. or if you cannot go to work because you are sick or your workplace is shut down, as we are seeing in so many places, you won't lose pay. mr. president, these are the real challenges people are now facing and will continue to face. our bill would help these workers immediately the minute it becomes law. we had enough delay when it comes to paid sick days. so let's get this dodge. -- so let's get this done. let's do this in a coordinated response, focus on what our workers and families and small businesses need in the weeks and months ahead. democrats on this side have a lot of ideas we're laying out in response to this including how to make sure those tests are affordable, that we support our

most vulnerable communities and we reckon with the economic impact this crisis is having on our community and our nation. there's a lot to do in the weeks and months ahead but i urge us to start with this important issue so i i ask unanimous consent that the help committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 3614, a bill to allow americans to earn paid sick time so they can address their own health needs and the health needs of their families. that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president, reserving the right to object, i will continue to work with the senator from washington state as we always do in this issue on a be comprehensive response to the

coronavirus. she and i have had four briefings and we have another one tomorrow. we have a history of being able to come to agreement on these matters. the idea of paid sick leave is a good idea, but if washington, d.c. thinks it's a good idea, washington, d.c. shut -- shouldy for it. when i was governor of tennessee nothing made me more unhappy than an individual from the senate or house coming up with a big idea, passing it, taking credit for it and sending me the bill. and so employees are struggling, so are employers struggling. it's not a cure for the coronavirus to put a big new expensive federal mandate on employers who are struggling in the middle of this matter. so paid sick leave is a good idea. we do it in my office. the federal government now does it. many businesses do it. but if the federal government wants to require it, the

federal government should pay for it. i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i do appreciate the fact that the senator from tennessee has been a great partner with me on many issues. i will keep talking to him about this. let me just say this. without doing this, the cost to businesses is going to grow exponentially. we have already seen it on wall street. we are seeing it in our communities, because people are not getting paid, they are coming to work, they are spreading this virus, and we are seeing the impact and we'll continue to see it in our communities as fewer people go to their stores or fewer people go to their businesses. so we either do this now or we're going to continue to pay for it in the future. i'm sorry it's been objected to today because i think it's such a critical step in this public health crisis that we're having today. we need to get this done. thank you, mr. president. mr. brown: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i would add i watched

up close and from afar senator alexander and senator murray so often working together on issues like this and absolutely believe senator alexander saying it's a good idea. but i think it's what senator murray just said that it's costing businesses all kinds of costs imposed on businesses the result of people coming to work sick. it's more expense for public hospitals, more expense with more people getting sick and what that means to medicaid. these costs are impossible to quantify today of our not having a sick leave policy. a year from now we'll be able to look back on what the costs really were. they will be overwhelming, a solid, coherent sick leave policy of something modest like senator murray is calling for could really make a difference there.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor today to remember the life and service of a colorado hero and reflect on an upcoming anniversary of an event during world war ii. the here's name is felix sparks, a name that may be familiar to people in colorado. felix sparks was born in texas. we have a lot of texans in colorado but this one made the right choice and stayed in colorado. he was born in san antonio, texas, in 1917 and spent his childhood around miami, arizona, where his family and father worked for a mining company. he was in high school during the great depression and the eldest of five siblings. soon after graduating from high school, felix disieppedded to enlist -- decided to enlist in the united states army. upon completing his enlistment,

felix enrolled in the university of arizona and completed the citizen's military training program which earned him a commission as a second lieutenant. mr. sparks then went on to pursue a pre-law degree. he just finished his first semester of that effort when he was ordered to report to the 157th infantry regiment in colorado for duty, ordered to report the very beginning of world war ii. that year was 1940, just right before the united states officially entered world war ii. neither felix sparks nor the american people knew it at the time, but world war ii was about to change the history of the united states and the world forever. and felix would be on the front lines of one of the most pivotal moments of world war ii. a little bit of background on his work. along with the national guard units from oklahoma, arizona, and new mexico, colorado's 157th infantry regiment

mobilized in support of u.s. army's 45th infantry also known as the thunder bird division in oklahoma. the division set sail for north africa in june 1943 for their first mission, the invasion of sicily. over the next 511 days, felix sparks and fellow soldiers in the thunder bird division would participate in so many well-known combat operations in sicily, naples, rome, southern france, the rhineland and central europe. incredibly well-documented, decorated campaign. but of these 511 days, felix sparks undoubtedly most often recounted one day in particular more than any other, and that day was april 29, 1945. on april 29, 1945, lieutenant colonel felix sparks was the commander of the third battalion

157th infantry regiment. and on that day, that april day, after so many days of fighting and what they had already seen, the 157th infantry regiment along with units of the 42nd infantry division and the 20th armored infantry division led the liberation of approximately 32,000 prisoners at dakau concentration camp. although his units suffered thousands of casualties over the course of the war, what lieutenant colonel sparks and his soldiers discovered at dakau was beyond compare. felix sparks described that day as one of the darkest days of his lifetime, and i can only imagine the darkest days of lifetimes put together. he along with many of his fellow soldiers would spend the rest of their lives reliving the horrors of what they witnessed at dakau. as they neared the camp,

american forces discovered nearly 40 railroad cars filled with decomposing bodies. felix sparks said, the stench of death was overpowering, and what he saw at the camp made dante's inferno seem pale compared to the real hell of dakau. inside the camp were even more bodies and more than 30,000 survivors, survivors of one of the darkest places in one of the darkest moments in world history. we say we must never forget the horrors of the holocaust, but felix sparks and the americans who liberated dakau didn't have a choice. they could never forget and will never forget. felix sparks said that the men of the 45th infantry division were hardened combat veterans. they had seen so many fights. we had in combat almost two years at that point. while we were accustomed to death, we were not able to

comprehend the type of l death we encountered at dachau. there is no going back. there is no forgetting. there is no trying to erase from memory the horrors of naziism and seeing it up close. the liberation of dachau would be one of the thunder bird division's final missions. the division was officially deactivated on december 7, 1945, four years after pearl harbor. following the end of war, felix sparks attended the university of colorado law school in boulder, colorado. he graduated in 1947 and started a law practice in delta, colorado, while serving as a district attorney. in 1956, felix sparks was appointed as the youngest ever associate justice of the colorado supreme court. then in 1958 felix accepted the role of director of the colorado water conservation board where

he was instrumental in the development of sustainable water policies for the state. for those of you not familiar with colorado, this is an incredibly important position. we are a state whose history is written in water. but that wasn't enough for felix sparks. it wasn't all. he wasn't just serving civilian life. after returning home from world war ii, felix joined the colorado army national guard. he would go on to serve and take command of the colorado national guard for nearly 30 years between the two both service and commanding, retiring at the rank of brigadier general. as both a civilian and a soldier, felix sparks truly exemplified servant leadership. his sense of duty lives on tiewt and i am proud to honor his legacy and life of service. felix sparks died september 24, 2017 at the age of 90 and buried in wheat ridge, colorado today. along with a number of my colleagues from both sides of

the aisle i will soon be introducing a resolution to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of dachau concentration camp during world war ii and to honor the service of felix sparks as well as the courageous personnel he fought alongside, the brave men and women of the people that they saved along the way and in memory of the tens of thousands who were brutally and savagely murdered by the nazi regime. we must never forget what happened and far too many americans, far too many people around the world, unfortunately may put aside these moments of our darkest time in history and forget or maybe can't name a ghetto or a concentration camp today, but that's something that we have to fix, that we have to correct, that we have to continue to speak of, the horrors that can never be repeated in the darkest times of our history.

i invite all my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. we already have the senators from the states who participated in the thunder bird division, so that we may remember the lives of those lost to the atrocities of the holocaust and to world war ii and the tens of thousands who were spared by the brave acts of our nation's military. we must never forget. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution in one more show of never forget, to never forget. mr. president, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. durbin: i ask it be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i would like to discuss a vote that will take place later today but first i want to talk about the coronavirus. i was first notified by my governor that we've run into a shortage in my state of the test kits that are necessary. some 320 illinoisans have been tested to date. these are people who should be tested either because of exposure of coronavirus or because of vulnerability of the

maisht and sus -- patient and suspicion they have been in contact with the coronavirus. we are running out of test kits and there's been a contact made with the centers for disease control to determine why we're not getting responses on this need for additional kits in our state to test people who are truly vulnerable. i don't believe our situation could be unique. i imagine other states are facing the same challenge. i reached out to the centers for disease control and had a lengthy conversation about the situation we're facing. originally the coronavirus test kits faced a shortage of reagents that were necessary to take the initial test. it turns out that we are now facing a new challenge. it's an issue of the global supply of enzymes that are used by laboratories to analyze the test results. this is a commercially available

enzyme that is now in short supply, and c.d.c. is desperately looking for other commercial sources that are reliable that can come to the rescue. the testing process, of course, is going to stop if the laboratories can't take the initial test results and test them to see whether they are positive or negative. they are looking for alternative ways for the c.d.c. to meet this need it is a critically important issue and the lack of these enzymes lacks the important tests to be taken across the united states. the source of the c.d.c. told me this situation is not unique to our country. it is a commercially produced product and they are looking for other sources within the united states and out for another source. this is a market-driven problem and the c.d.c. is looking for sources to solve the problem. for the time being there's no relief in sight in illinois or other places that have run into

the same issue where people desperately need to be tested to determine whether they are positive for this virus and the testing, even if it takes place, cannot go through the laboratory approval. the commercial supplies of this enzyme are apparently decompleted at this moment. it's an urgent issue, as i mentioned repeatedly, they are looking for optional alternative platforms for this laboratory testing. now i would say at this point i don't want to speculate on what this means. it is far beyond my personal expertise. but it's an indication of a desperate situation in many places. it's one we need to respond to and quickly. to argue that there are enough test kits that have been distributed is questionable to start with, but even if distributed and they cannot be analyzed, it really doesn't give us the information necessary to protect the americans who may be vulnerable. the bottom line is this. this administration is facing a

challenge with test kits that still have many unanswered questions. how did other countries in the world, korea and others come up with test kits early on in volumes that were necessary to address this problem and the united states did not? why didn't we accept these test kits in other countries that apparently do come up with results that are needed and necessary. i don't know those answers. only time will provide them to us. but in the meantime we have appropriated all the funds and more asked for by the trump administration to deal with this issue on a bipartisan basis, and that's exactly what we should continue to do. but we need start to finish straight answers from everyone in the administration and outside about this public health threat. credibility is the first step toward dealing with a public health challenge such as the one we face today. and this test kit issue is clearly central to our bringing this situation under control. the sooner we get straight

answers and good information and can respond to it quickly, the better for our nation. mr. president, i ask now to address a topic -- a different topic and it be placed in a separate part in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, just a few minutes we'll see a vote on the floor of the united states senate. that's fairly unique. there aren't many votes in this chamber. this one actually is meaningful because this issue before us on a vote at noon today relates to student borrowers who went to colleges, primarily for-profit colleges and universities and ended up attending those schools going deeply in debt by borrowing money from the government to go to school only to learn at a later stage that they were misled. the schools didn't tell them the truth. the schools many times told them that if they took certain courses, there was a job waiting for them. in some cases they even told them how much the job was paying. they went on to say that the schools themselves had certain

people on the faculty with certain qualifications and it turned out that wasn't true. in addition, many of the students were told that the hours that they took at these schools, these for-profit schools could be transferred to other schools if they wanted to complete some place else. turns out many cases that wasn't true either. these students were basically defrauded. and if you can understand the predicament, here is a student customer sitting at a desk in an office at a for-profit college university being asked questions and being given information for the most important contract they'll sign in their early lives. many of these students incurred substantial student debt based on the representations and misrepresentations of these colleges and universities. now they find out the schools have gone bankrupt in some cases and some schools that didn't go bankrupt ended up providing them with training and education

completely inadequate for them to find a job. so here's the student deep in debt having wasted years of their lives in these for-profit colleges and universities with nowhere to turn. their lives are affected by it. who wouldn't be. whether it's 20,000, 50,000, or $100,000 in debt, it quickly mounts up and students find themselves literally in chains with a student debt because of misrepresentations made by the schools. well, you might say what's the government going to do about it? well, we decided years ago exactly what we should do about it. we put in the higher education act something called the borrower defense and here's what it said. if you went to a school and they lied to you, if they misrepresented what you were going to receive in your education, if they deceived you and defrauded you and then you incurred a student debt because of it, you can go to the u.s. department of education under what's known as the borrower defense program and seek relief from some or all of your student

debt. now this borrower defense program is not new. it's been around many years. but in the year 2014 it became a popular situation sadly because these for-profit schools were defrauding so many thousands of students. over 200,000 students currently have a claim at the u.s. department of education that they were deceived by these for-profit schools which are notorious for the representations and misrepresentations they make to these students. so these 200,000 students went to the department of education and said because there is statutory relief leer, we're asking you, secretary betsy devos, to give us relief from this debt. we were students at these schools. and she has refused. refused to take up their case, refused to consider the merits of it despite the fact that president obama before her through the department of education was actually using this program and this law to help the students.

then to add insult to injury, secretary devos said oh, incidentally, we're going to change the standards at the department of education for students who feel that they have been misrepresented or that the schools have misrepresented things to them. and how did she change the standards? she made it extremely difficult for these students to get any relief from the student debt from the schools that misrepresented them. instead of the students being able to rely, for example, on the fact that many states have investigated these schools and found them guilty of fraudulent misconduct, she has established a new standard that each of the students has to prove that there was in fact an intentional defrauding of that student. what does that mean? each of these students has to lawyer up. each of these students has to have some investigative capacity to meet the new standard that's been established by betsy devos at the department of education. well, it turns out these students are up in arms over it and i'm joining them.

this measure on the floor would put an end to this new rule by secretary devos and say that you've got to treat students fairly whether it comes to those who have -- when it comes to those who have been defrauded. yesterday the student voted 55-41, a bipartisan roll call, fairly unusual but a bipartisan roll call where ten republicans joined the democrats to move the measure disapproving of this new rule by secretary devos. i want to thank my republican colleagues who stood up for the students and veterans. we have veterans organizations coming to us saying you can't do this. what happens is we have military men and women who when they're discharged from service, qualify for a g.i. bill. the g.i. bill pays for their college education as it should. i'm proud that we do that. these schools, these very same schools not only take the g.i. benefits but then tell the students you have to turn around and borrow more money to finish what turns out to be an absolutely worthless education

and training. so the american legion and many other veterans organizations are leading the charge with us to change this new secretary betsy devos standard. i thank them for that. in 1992, that's how far back it goes, we put into law in the higher education act this borrower defense so that students who were defrauded had somewhere to turn when it came to the student debt they incurred. the schools, many of them misrepresented how many jobs, job placements would tack place if you finished -- take place when you finished courses. they misrepresented the earning potential after graduation. they lied about the cost of attending the schools. they told the students their credits would transfer when in fact they would not. that kind of misrepresentation led these students to sign up for more student loans, go more deeply in debt because they were lied to. that's just a few of the examples. congress rightly didn't want to leave the students left holding the bag for the misconduct of the schools so it created in 1992 this statutory borrower

defense. no one had ever heard of it until 2014 and these for-profit colleges and universities came on the scene. we're talking university of phoenix, devry. if you look, you'll find them. it's a long list. there are two numbers you need to know about the for-profit colleges and universities and this will be on the final. one number is eight. 8% of high school students go to for-profit colleges and universities. 8%. 33, 33% of all student loan defaults are students from for-profit colleges and universities. for the very reasons that we come to the floor today, these schools are notorious for misrepresenting to students overcharging them in tuition and providing them little or no education or training for their future. these schools take the money and run and the students end up holding the bag with massive debts. corinthian is a good example. it collapsed in 2014. thousands of students were the victims of corinthian's misrepresentations. they inflated job placement

rates, took out loans for students without their knowledge, and lied to the students about schools recognizing their degrees or employers recognizing their degrees. corinthian was not unique. nearly every other major for-profit college has been the subject of multiple state and federal investigations and lawsuits for similar predatory practices. since the year 2015 nearly 300,000 borrowers, student borrowers mostly from for proch faith -- for-profit colleges have applied to the department of education for this discharge and it's not going to stop. these for-profit colleges are the coronavirus of higher education. the department of education estimates that nearly 200,000 borrowers will be subject to further illegal practices by their schools in 2021 alone. this new devos rule is going to make it extremely difficult if not impossible for students to find relief. the best estimates is that 3% of the students will get relief.

97% of them will not under this new rule that will have -- that we'll have a chance to vote against this afternoon. the rule by secretary devos makes it almost impossible for future defrauded borrowers to receive the borrow defense discharge congress intended. it eliminates all group relief. each of the students is supposed to lawyer up. and to prove their claims under the rules, the borrowers must provide evidence that the school intended to deceive them, had knowledge of the deception or acted with reckless disregard. how many students fresh out of school are able to make that legal proof? in addition, borrowers under the devos rule are required to show financial harm above and beyond the fact they took out the loans that now burden them later in life. this is a situation where we can respond as a congress and should on a bipartisan basis. the house has already passed this measure saying that we reject this new secretary betsy devos rule when it comes to this

mistreatment of students who are defrauded and have a debt as a result of it. now one of my senate colleagues whom i respect very much yesterday used a carnal ji to defend secretary devos. he said if your car is a lemon, you don't sue the bank. you sue the dealer. a college can be a lemon just like a car can be. that's what the senator said. his point is students sold a lemon of a education should go after the school and not the department of education except the secretary devos rule allows the schools to prevent students from suing them. it eliminates a prohibition in current rules on the use of mandatory arbitration clauses and class actions. under the existing law, students of corinthian can come together in a class action and ask for relief from the department of education. secretary devos eliminates that. go on your own. each one of you students stand up for yourself. is that fair? i don't think it is.

it certainly isn't the kind of things we want to see in terms of justice for these students. the devos rule causes the person who bought the lemon to sue the bank instead of the car dealer. you can't have it both ways. it's not just me who believes the devos rule is bad for student borrowers. a number of student consumer, veteran and other organizations are supporting this resolution to overturn the rule. the american federation of teachers, the national education association, the naacp, third way, leadership council and civil right, 20 different states attorney general but the lead group i want to highlight as i close in these final two or three minutes are the veterans organizations. many of the students that have been defrauded have been defrauded are veterans. these men and women have served our country in uniform and after serving seek an education to provide a better life for themselves and their families and they deserve it. we have story after story after story of veterans who signed up at these for-profit colleges. they were told their g.i. bill

education benefits were all that were needed only to waste the entire benefit on a worthless degree and be forced to take tens of thousands of dollars of student debt on top of it. that's why our effort in this vote in just two minutes on the floor of the senate, our effort to overturn this rule is supported by the american legion, the student veterans of america, iran and afghanistan veterans of america, the national military families association, the paralyzed veterans of america, tragedy assistance program for survivors, vets first, veterans for common sense, and veterans education success. bill oxford is the commandant of the american legion. and he wrote to me and said thousands of student veterans have been defrauded over the years, promised their crefds would transfer -- credits would transfer and when they weren't, were promised one education experience and given something totally different. the american legion calls the devos rule fundamentally rigged

against borrowers, denying veterans fair and timely decision on their claims. how many speeches do each of us give as senators about how much we value our military and our veterans. we've got a chance to prove it in just one minute because there will be a roll call. are you going to stand up for these veterans? are you going to stand up for these students? or are you going to say to secretary devos you're headed the wrong way. these students have been defrauded. these veterans have been defrauded. give them a fighting chance to rebuild their lives. don't make it next to impossible. mr. president, i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ersers i have a request for ten committees to meet during today's senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, all time has expired. the clerk will report s.j. res. 56 for the third time pursuant to -- the clerk: calendar number 439, s.j. res. 56, joint resolution for providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5. the presiding officer: pursuant to the congressional review act, the clerk will report s.j. res. 76. the clerk: joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under title 8 of -- joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5 under united states code and so forth. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: covid-19.

c.d.c. centers for disease control vote:

vote: vote: vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote?

hearing none, the yeas are 53 and the nays are 42. the joint resolution passed. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not.

mr. cornyn: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that calendar number 439, s.j. res. 56, be indefinitely postponed. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, over the last weeks, the world has watched closely as coronavirus has spread from china to more than 100 countries around the world. since this rapid spread began, before cases were discovered in at least 35 states, including the district of columbia, folks in my hometown of san antonio were already providing top-notch care for americans evacuated from wuhaj province overseas with suspected exposure. from the first ee iraqees from -- evacuees from china to more than 150 passengers from the diamond cruise ship to those who will soon arrive from the grand princess cruise ship, the dedicated professionals in san antonio have been hitting on all cylinders.

so far, lackland air force base has been used to quarantine 235 ee iraqees with -- ee back wees wees -- evacueses with hundreds more to come in the coming days. that's not to say there haven't been challenges. a few weeks ago, i organized a meeting with the city of san antonio, including the mayor and two city council persons, as well as the department of health and human services and the defense department to discuss the ongoing mission and any concerns that the city might have. any time officials at every level of government are working together, whether it's in response to a natural disaster or a public health emergency, coordination is the key. you've got to make sure that everybody is operating on the same page and regularly sharing information, something that was a challenge in the beginning and remains a challenge today.

at one point, we were able to get everybody in the same room to discuss not only the response to the virus but the steps to be taken to protect the general public in the surrounding area. of course, that work doesn't start and end at lackland in san antonio. hospitals around the state are facing a great deal of pressure and uncertaincy surrounding the virus and working to make sure they are prepared to treat potential coronavirus patients without impacting their normal operations is an urgent concern. last week, i helped organize a conference call with the texas hospital association and officials from health and human services in the texas department of state health services to discuss some of the issues of concern to hospitals serving on the front line all across our state. there have been a lot of news stories about the shortage of

masks and personal protective equipment for health care workers and subsequent price gouging, and that's a big concern for these hospitals, many of which serve rural populations. as i told folks on that call, communication in these situations is critical. it seems so obvious, but it's not done unless you insist upon it. and i was particularly glad to hear personally their concerns so we can make sure we are doing what's needed on our end here in washington, d.c. to support them. i appreciate texas' incredible health care professionals who have been working to treat patients in their care and prevent the coronavirus from spreading to the general public. the city of san antonio i have to single out in particular has been carrying the weight of this struggle for a number of weeks now, and it's come at quite a significant cost to city taxpayers. fortunately, the president signed last week an $8.3 billion

funding bill to support our nation's response to the coronavirus. it will send vital funding to treating and preventing the spread of the virus, including the purchase of masks and personal protective equipment, as well as supporting the development of a vaccine. but to the point, the funding bill will also include money for state and local communities, including san antonio, which have been at the forefront of the battle at home. that makes $950 million available for reimbursement for costs texas and other states have incurred while monitoring and treating these individuals. and it's a start in the process to repay san antonio for the work that they have done to help our nation mitigate the impact of the coronavirus. i appreciate chairman shelby and ranking member leahy for including this reimbursement funding in the legislation and working so closely with all of us to get the relief on the way

as soon as possible. over the last couple of days, we have witnessed the ripple effect that the coronavirus threat has had on the markets, and the next big question on everyone's mind is how this virus will impact the economy. yesterday, we had the opportunity to discuss potential options with president trump and vice president pence and secretary mnuchin, and we're continuing to work to identify the best path forward. unfortunately, there doesn't yet seem to be a bipartisan effort to try to reach a consensus, something we need. one of our democratic colleagues suggested that the best way to prevent economic damage is to stop the spread of the virus. well, i can't argue with that logic, but unless that senator knows something that the rest of us don't know, that's not exactly a productive use of our time.

we know we need to stop the virus, but we also need to deal with the economic fallout as well. well, when we were in position in 2014 with the ebola crisis, we didn't hear a lot of griping about what president obama was doing. we found ways to work with him for the betterment of our communities and the country. and so i would hope at a time when we're confronting this threat that we can work together. that includes the speaker and the minority leader here, all of us together to try to solve this problem. it's not a time to play politics. it's a time for us to work together in the nation's interest. keeping the american people safe and healthy and keeping our economy strong should be a shared bipartisan goal. i hope our colleagues -- all of our colleagues will keep that in mind, just as we did when we worked with president obama in

2014. while the american people are rightly taking precautions to protect themselves and their loved ones, it's important to remember there's no reason to panic. preparation, yes. panic, no. the leaders at the centers for disease control and the department of health and human services continue to remind all of us that the risk for the average american remains low, and the best defense against the virus is to use the same personal hygiene practices that our mother taught us when we were young. to help communicate what those practices are, as well as other information, my office has created a unique webpage on my official website. cornyn.senate.gov. this will serve as a collateral form to provide information to all texans who have questions about the virus. and maybe, maybe of interest to

anybody who is concerned about what the government is doing to deal with the virus. so if you're looking for information on how to prevent the spread, what congress is doing to help, where you can find the latest number of cases in texas, we've compiled all the relevant links in one place. i know i speak on behalf of all texans when i thank the dedicated health care professionals around the state and around the nation for providing the highest quality care for people who come down with the virus. i'm grateful for everyone who is unified in this fight and who are working to stop the spread of the virus and ultimately develop a vaccine. on one final note, let me just say a word about my friend and colleague, senator cruz. over the weekend, he announced that he would self-quarantine after coming into contact with someone who was later determined to have the coronavirus. i want to thank him for having

the courage to step forward and to do what any one of us should do if we are exposed to somebody with the coronavirus, if we know it. to monitor our health, make sure we don't spread it to others, and to seek care from a health care professional should we begin to come down with worry worryiysome symptoms. this is a great reminder for all americans to take this potential risk seriously and that we should all be joining together to do everything that we can to keep our communities safe and healthy. mr. president, i yield the floor and i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. brown: mr. president. the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mr. brown: i ask unanimous

consent to disdefense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate the comments of my friend from texas. i only heard part of them, but i appreciate his interest in what we need to do to deal with this coronavirus. i hear so often in this body that it's about the economic issues, which it sure is, mr. president. you know in utah, and senator cornyn knows. but when i hear the president's response on what to do, first, i know that people are angry in ohio and i think elsewhere that the president has waited so long to act. and i know people are angry when they find out that the president made major cuts to the centers for disease control, which the presiding officer knows is the best public health agency probably in the history of the world combined with our public

health departments and n.i.h. and the f.d.a. and national institutes of occupational safety and health in cincinnati, all of this incredible public health infrastructure safety net we have built in this country bipartisanly through decades and decades and decades. and i know people are unhappy when they learn about the president eliminating the position at the white house of the admiral physician who ran our effort to always be trying to anticipate a public health outbreak, a pandemic of sorts. i don't know if we're in one or not. i don't think we know that. i'm not an alarmist or panicky in any way. but i know that people realize that we got such a late start on this because of the president's actions over the last three years. but the issue is not to bail out more corporations. the issue is not to give money to the cruise ship companies,

for gosh sakes. part of the president's rhetoric, tweets, proposals. i mean the cruise ship industry is almost exclusively foreign owned. why take u.s. tax dollars and shovel them into the cruise industry? what we should focus on, mr. president, instead of focusing on corporations, on large corporations, that's something the president always does. i understand that's what he comes from, who he is, who his supporters are. instead of focusing there we should be focusing on individuals. that means starting with sick leave policy, sick days. think about how hard for us, all of us in this body, think about somebody making $12 an hour, and they, living alone or living with a child or living with a spouse, whoever, making $12 an hour with no benefits, and they get sick, and they think, let's see, do i go to work? if i go to work, go to work sick i may get worse and may infect my colleagues. or do i stay home and give up that $100 of a $12 an hour.

i'm paying $700 a month in rent. can i give up that $100 or $200 or $300 over two or three days. there are many americans that wrestle with that question every single day that are sick. this is an opportunity, senator murray worked on a bill, i worked on the bill with her for a good while. i spoke with congresswoman de lauro on working on legislation to provide emergency relief every day. mr. president, i know you've been open-minded about things like this. we can make this bipartisan. immediate 14-day help whereas part of our package that we are voting, we've already voted, and then to have a long-term seven-day sick day policy. you earn those benefits as you work. you earn up to seven days sick-day policy. every other industrialized wealthy country in the world has it. it will mean safer, healthier workplaces.

it will mean safer, healthier workers. it will mean good help and stronger families, all the kinds of things that a sick day policy would mean to our country. i'm hopeful that rather than just shovel money to corporations, we'll spend that money on individuals, on people, on workers and their work plies. it could make all the difference in the world not just in addressing this coronavirus public health crisis today, but in preventing these kinds of crises in the future. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. we're in a quorum call. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended, please. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: i ask that senator collins, myself, and senator cassidy be able to have a colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: as most of my colleagues know, i hold a meeting in each of iowa's 99 counties every year for q and a with each of my constituents. and over the last couple of years, without fail, iowans bring up sky-rocketing prices of prescription drugs. as people all over my state, including farmers, factory workers, and especially senior citizen, will raise a concern that pharmacy bills are ballooning. and i'll say iowans are always interested in hearing about

solutions, and they are looking for solutions on this issue from congress. but not a single one of these people that bring this issue up cares about the partisan politics of the issue. they just want congress to act. so this is my 40th year taking questions in our 99 counties, although as of now only 14. rarely have i heard so much unanimity when it comes to this issue, but on prescription drug prices, it's unanimous. republicans, democrats, and independents alike all want us to take action. and the data, both polling and otherwise, bears out our constituents' concerns. as i highlighted last week right

here in this position on the senate floor, a new study shows that pharmaceutical prices have increased three and one half times the rate of inflation in recent years. people are paying more than double what they paid in the year 2007 for drug screenings, conditions all the way from m.s. to diabetes and everything in between. the lack of transparency and the enormous subsidy incentives is driving these price hikes. perverse incentives that we have in law or if they weren't intended to be perverse incentives, people have found out how to benefit from perverse incentives. and this is because the government spigot is all the way

open for pharmaceutical companies or as we say around here big pharma. and as this happens, taxpayers are getting ripped off. and it happens because we pay a lot of money -- i think about $138 billion for medicare and medicaid. at least that much. and so when you have 5% to 10% increases on january 1, you can see willy-nilly on the judgment of big pharma, the taxpayers are paying a heck of a lot more. i know my colleagues wafnt to do -- want to do something about this and i know the administration wants to do something about something as well. let me say to the administration i have been involved in this as chairman of the committee a year ago since january.

the secretary of h.h.s. is taking major action going way back to june of 2018. so we all know that our colleagues and our administration knows that something needs to be done. we are fortunate that just yesterday the white house published five principles for reducing prescription drug costs that the administration can get behind. our legislation in the senate fits the bill or the principles that were laid out in that op-ed piece. the prescription drug pricing reduction act is the name of our legislation, addresses those principles. but more importantly, it's the only option that can get 60 votes in the united states senate. today many americans are reading about the coronavirus issue.

it scarce our constituents -- it scares our constituents. we don't know what kind of drugs may come into the market to help treat disease. senator cassidy, who will soon be speaking, is an expert on that and he can address those issues for anybody that wants them addressed. but if our bill becomes law, we know that folks on medicare won't face sticker shock at the drug store counter. not only is that important as a comforting thought in the short term as we face the coronavirus but it is important in the long term when we inevitably encounter another novel outbreak. it took a long time to hammer out the bill that we described as the prescription drug pricing

reduction act, and i have to thank senator wyden for sticking it out with me and working in good faith for the benefit of all our constituents so we could produce a bipartisan bill. his determination, as well as the leadership of many of my colleagues, like senator cassidy, senator collins, senator daines have further improved the legislation. we have a bill, we have bipartisan support, we have white house support, and we have the opportunity. so, bottom line, let's act. and i thank my colleagues for joining me in this effort and i'm going to yield now to my colleague senator collins. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. first i want to express my appreciation to the chairman of

the finance committee, senator grassley, not only for his leadership but for his persistence on an issue that affects so many earns, and that is the soaring price of prescription drugs. mr. president, three committees, the finance committee, the help committee, and the judiciary committee have all advanced bipartisan legislation to reform our broken drug-pricing system. the aging committee, which i chair, has held eight drug pricing hearings highlighting the burden of soaring prices and the manipulation of the market by individuals like the infamous martin shakrelli.

it is now past time for us to move forward to the senate floor to debate these bills that have bipartisan support and that have garnered the approval of three major committees. the finance bill, which senator grassley has crafted with senator wyden and others, which i am proud to be a cosponsor of, makes crucial improvement to medicare part d, such as protecting seniors with an out of pocket spending cap as well as including cost control measures, such as an inflationary cap, to limit pharmaceutical price hikes. mr. president, one of the hearings of the -- that the aging committee held heard that many was heartbreaking from a former teacher with multiple my

myeloma who had to refinance her home in order to cover the cost of our $250,000 cancer medication. we heard example after example. i'll never forget standing in the pharmacy line in bangor, maine, where i live, and ahead of me was a couple who had just been told that their copay was $ 111. and the husband turned to his wife and said, honey, we just can't afford that -- away from the medication that one of them needed. i asked the pharmacist how often does this happen, and he told me that it happens every day. we have to take action.

that experience led me to author legislation that became law that prohibited gag clauses that were preventing pharmacists from advising their patients, their customers on whether or not there was a less expensive way to purchase their prescription drug, and i'm proud to say that that legislation is now law. but there is much more that we need to do. the help committee, on which i serve, incorporates more -- has incorporated more than 14 measures to increase price competition in its legislation on lowering health care costs, and i know the presiding officer's a member of that committee as well. i'm pleased to say that the bill

includes major portions of the biologic patent transparency act which is a bill that i authored with senator kaine and it is to keep drug companies from gaming the patent system. patents are very important. they help to spur innovation and that period of exclusivity encourages drug manufacturers to invest more into lifesaving drugs. but the fact is when the patent has expired, generics should be allowed to come to the market and drive down the costs. but according to former f.d.a. commissioner scott gottlieb, if all of the biogenerics that have

been approved by the f.d.a. were successfully marketed in our country in a timely fashion, americans would have saved more than $4.5 billion in 2017. a biosimilar version of humira, the world's best selling drug, has been on the market in europe for more than a year while american patients must wait until 2023. we simply cannot allow this kind of abuse of the patent system to continue. the judiciary committee has also advanced proposals to empower the federal trade commission to take more aggressive action against anticompetitive behaviors. last month the f.t.c. charged

the infamous martin shkreli with an anticompetitive scheme in setting an increase of more than 4,000% overnight for the life life-saving drug daraprim. that was the focus of an investigation on the aging committee that i led with former senator claire mccaskill. i applaud the f.t.c. for taking action and we simply must give them more authority and the resources to pursue these kinds of anticompetitive cases that drive up the cost of prescription drugs. finally, i hope that we have the opportunity to debate other worthy proposals, including one that senator shaheen and i have introduced to lower the

skyrocketing price of insulin. and i want to commend the administration for today releasing a new plan to drive down the cost of insulin for medicare beneficiaries. the fact is between 2012 and 2016, the average price of insulin nearly doubled. according to the health care cost institute, the price of an average 40-day supply of insulin rose from $344 in 2012 to $666 in 2016. there's no justification for that. insulin was isolated nearly a hundred years ago and while there are different varieties of insulin, it's still insulin. as cochairs of the senate

diabetes caucus, senator shaheen and i have introduced legislation which creates a new pricing model for insulin and our bill would hold pharmacy benefit managers, pharmaceutical companies, insurers accountable for surging insulin prices by incentivizing reductions in list prices. for the most popular insulins, this would result in as much as a 75% decrease in prices of average. whether you're insured or paying out of pocket, you would benefit from that significant decline in the price if you need insulin to control your diabetes. congress has made -- has a tremendous opportunity to

deliver a decisive victory in both lowering health care costs and improving health care for the people in my state of maine and throughout our country. let's not delay any longer. we must act on prescription drug legislation without further delay. we have three committees that produce bills, and i believe that this should be a priority for this chamber. thank you, madam president. mr. cassidy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. cassidy: madam president, i'm going to speak about the drug affordability act, what people in washington call the -- i'm renaming the bill. i'm going to rename that bill to what i call the making coronavirus affordable act, coronavirus medicines affordable act and i'm going to address

drug affordability from the perspective coronavirus and address it from the perspective of a physician. first, people ask how is this different than regular flu? 10,000 people die a year if flu. why is this so different from that? well, again as a physician, let me speak to that. each of us, however old we are, have been exposed to flu either by the flu vaccine or a flu infection as many years as we have been alive. so when someone is exposed to the flu, they have a whole kind of armentary of antibodies. when the flu comes into your body, those antibodies moiblize and it's not an exact fit to block the effect of the flu virus but it's a pretty good a fit. so an infection which might otherwise cause problems, the effect is blunted and the symptoms are either absent or

minimized. as it turns out, the flu virus kills the very young who have never before been exposed to the flu virus before or the very old whose immune systems are no longer working as well and even though they've been previously exposed, their body is more vulnerable. now, coronavirus nobody's body has ever seen before. for everyone this is a brand new infection and there is not a library book of immunologic responses that enable us to fight back against this virus. for all of us, if you will, it is a sucker punch to our health. we turn around, boom, it hits us. now, in terms of who it can kill, again it seems to cause problems in newborns, the very young, but it also causes problems not just in the very old but the older but not so

very old. in china we've learned that if someone is over 50 and they have an underlying medical condition, they are at increased risk. if you're over 60, you're at even more risk. so unlike influenza where typically the person who dies will be 75 or 8 on and in a nursing home, in terms of coronavirus it might be somebody with high blood pressure or diabetes, heart disease, cancer, or lung disease who is otherwise living life walking around the streets, they get hit with this virus and all of a sudden they have a problem. now, we're going to find a cure. sooner or later we will come up with medicines to help someone who is infected get well. the question is will those medicines be available to you. that's what we need to be concerned about, madam president. so what does it mean? well, first there's been reports that both because of the infection raging through china

and a decision by india that it's possible that some of these drugs will not be available. in china they make the wrong ingredients that is shipped -- the raw ingredients and shipped to india and they make the medicines. china is not producing the raw ingredients and india has put an embargo on the export of some of those drugs to the united states. at least of the drugs they've embargoed that i saw a list of recently, none of those medicines are medicines that we think might ultimately help fight coronavirus. so even though we have a problem with supply chain, i don't think it's going -- so far there's no evidence it will impact the ability of a medication whenever it is discovered to be available to here in the united states. but there is another issue. can the senior citizen who is most vulnerable afford the medicine? let me put this up. under the current structure of medicare part d, under the current structure of medicare

part d, the senior citizen, the personal medicare part d pays a certain amount of money until they go into the so-called catastrophic coverage phase. now, pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers manipulate that list price to more quickly move the senior citizen into her catastrophic phase. and when she is in her catastrophic phase of her medicare part d benefit, she must pay 5% of whatever the price that drug -- whatever is the price of that drug even -- imagine this -- if that drug cost a million dollars a year, she would have to pay 5% of it under the current structure of the medicare part d benefit. i just posted a video on my facebook page, an oncology nurse kathy at east jefferson

hospital, new orleans or jefferson parish, was speaking about how this benefit design where the senior has to pay 5% no matter the cost, is so harmful in terms of her ability to get certain cancer drugs to cancer patients. now imagine it is a coronavirus drug. a cure for coronavirus we know is eventually going to be here and it can be priced -- you name the price, we're going to pay it. or can we? can someone afford 5% of $100,000? or 5% of $5,000? is it imaginable that such a medication would be priced at such? it is totally imaginable. we need to enact the -- what the chairman of the committee calls the grassley-wyden bill but which i call the making coronavirus drugs affordable act.

what we would do with this bill is change the part d benefit so that when a senior pays up to a certain amount, period, it's stopped. she or he pays no more. and no matter how much that coronavirus drug is priced, she or he will not pay above a certain amount. if they price it at $100,000 under current law you're paying 5% of that. under this law you would not. the out-of-pocket exposure, if you will, is capped. by the way, it also cap it is for the taxpayer which saves you and me as taxpayers, all of us as taxpayers a heck of a lot of money as we attempt to make -- as we attempt to balance the federal budget and as we attempt to preserve the life of the medicare program. so i will point out we're going to have a cure for coronavirus sooner or later. but if a senior citizen or anyone cannot afford that cure, it is as if the cure had never

been invented. we need both for the cure to be invented but we also need for it to be affordable or otherwise it would not be available. by the way, somebody may tell you they're supporting another bill either in the house of representatives or here in the senate. this is the only bill out there which is bipartisan. this is the only bill out there which has a chance to pass. this is the only bill that can protect senior citizens not only by being good policy but by being signed into law by the president of the united states. and the president of the united states has signaled that he, indeed, would sign this law. now, the making coronavirus drug affordable act does other things as well. it caps out a -- out-of-pocket expenses. it let's patients pay over time if they know they're going to have a big amount in january, they don't have to pay it all in january. they can pay it a little bit in

january, february, march all the way through the end of the year. it protects patients from price gouging but it still preserves incentives for these cures to be invented. madam president, as we look for a holistic response to the coronavirus infection, we must keep in mind that drugs have to be affordable. and so i'm asking all my fellow senators to support the making coronavirus drugs affordable act, also known as the grassley-wyden bill and for senator mcconnell to bring it to the floor. with that i introduce my colleague from montana, steve daines, to continue this discussion. senator daines. mr. daines: senator cassidy, thank you. i don't know whether to call you senator cassidy or dr. cassidy. it's a really good thing to have a physician serving on the floor of the united states senate and your insights that you have as a physician, thank you. i'm grateful for not only senator cassidy's leadership but

also senator grassley's on this very important issue impacting millions of montanans and americans across our country. i also want to thank my colleagues who spoke on this issue earlier today. when i'm back home in montana, i hear the same concerns in virtually every corner of our state, whether in southeast montana, places like baker, up in northeast montana, places like wesby, sidney, plentywood, eureka, libby, southwest montana where i'm from, boozman, belgrade, anywhere you go, i'm hearing that montanans are concerned with the high cost of prescription drugs. and that's why i've made it one of my top priorities in congress and on the senate finance committee to lower prescription drug costs for montanans and for folks across the country.

because, you see, year after year prescription drug out-of-pocket costs are reaching sky-high levels. they're impacting or seniors, our veterans, our families, our workingmen and women, and it is truly heartwrenching to hear about folks who are rationing or skipping daily doses of medication because they can't afford the out-of-pocket costs. the american people are struggling under the burden of these out-of-control and high-cost prescription drugs and they need relief. that's why i'm gratefully working with the chairman grassley of the finance committee and my colleagues here today in a bipartisan fashion to lower costs, improve competition, and get our patients more bang for the buck. the complex drug pricing system has allowed big pharma and these pharmacy benefit managers -- you may have seen the chart that senator cassidy just laid out showing some of these

complexities. these pharmacy benefit managers are the middle men responsible for negotiating drug prices. but in doing so, they take advantage of the secrecy of the pricing supply chain. and the bipartisan reforms that we are fighting for and advocating for today would help fix the secrecy and save taxpayers more than $80 billion. these reforms will cap out-of-pocket costs in medicare, and that provides our seniors some enhanced financial security. one of the great moments of anxiety for our seniors is financial security. when you think about their financial situation, they can be devastated with the out-of-pocket costs for a single prescription drugs. our efforts would reform the payment incentives and ensure that big pharma and the pharmacy benefit managers have more skin in the game. these are the product of more than one year of bipartisan

negotiations. and though this may not be what you hear on the news, bipartisan compromise is not dead. i'm pleased to see my colleagues putting politics aside and doing what's right for this country. and lowering costs is just more than figures and numbers and spreadsheets. this is about keeping our families healthy without having to worry about how much it is going to cost or if they can even afford it. this is about getting relief for the retiree who's worked and saved their entire life only to see the dollars they earned go down the drain because of the high cost of prescription drugs. the president, president trump, is ready to sign prescription drug reform. he's committed to getting this done on behalf of the american people. he hears it as he travels around the country. with strong support from this administration, i'm confident we

can achieve some major reforms for the american people. you see, montanans and americans across the country, they want to see reform, and that's why i'm standing here today fighting for it. let's move past the congressional gridlock. let's get this done. we had a good, strong, bipartisan vote out of the senate finance committee which would allow us to take a vote here on the floor of the u.s. senate. because, truly, republicans, democrats, independents -- we can deliver historic victory for the american people. and i'll continue working to get this bill on president trump's desk. thank you, and i yield back.

ms. ernst: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. effort ernst are we in a quorum call? -- ms. ernst: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. ms. ernst: thank you, mr. president. with spring aproposing, the days are getting longer and -- with spring aproposing, the days are getting longer and temperatures are heating up. many are hitting the gym trying to get in shape for the beach,

including some turtles. that's right. your tax dollars actually paid for a study that put turtles on treadmills. so here we have our turtles on a treadmill. to no one's surprise, it turns out that turtles are really, really slow. okay. that's what our tax dollars went to. in fact, this wasteful study found that turtles moved at nearly the same pace as dead turtles on a treadmill. aren't you glad t