question is why are to be passing this measure immediately. we should because contained in this measure are important changes in the law and that will help american families to respond to this crisis but fundamental questions that will they provide for many americans -- >> senate debate earlier today not to live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2.

the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: we are not in a quorum call. mr. menendez: thank you. first of all, madam president, i want to thank the staff here in the senate. even in these difficult times, they answer the call of doing the work of the american people, and i want to appreciate their being here so that the senate can conduct its work. they are essential to being able to do that, so i want to acknowledge that. i come to the floor today as our country grapples with a global

pandemic that has tragically claimed the lives of thousands of people around the world, including dozens throughout the united states and three in my home state of new jersey. and i come to the floor because i hope that people understand the fierce urgency of now, the fierce urgency of now. this is a public health crisis, and we can't wait to act. the rapid spread of covid-19, also known as the coronavirus, has disrupted our daily lives, it's destabilized our economy, it's imposed enormous strain on our health care system. i think many fail to grasp the scope of this threat. the lack of its national response just as the virus began

to reach america's shores, but i'm not here to talk today about where the administration went wrong. i'm here to talk about how it can start making things right. if there's anything we learned in recent weeks it's that you have to be proactive. in the past week the number of confirmed covid-19 cases here in the united states jumped from around a thousand to well over 4,000. while other countries were testing thousands of people, the united states was testing mere dozens. while other countries were staging makeshift hospital, we were overloading ours. and while other countries implemented aggressive social distancing measures to limit the spread of covid-19, our government sent mixed signals to the american people about the sacrifices they must make in order to save maybe their lives and if not the lives of others.

state leaders like my own governor fill murphy stepped in to fill the leadership void. earlier this week he along with the governors of new york and connecticut announced new restrictions on restaurants, shops, and other public gathering spaces. these are tough unquestionably. but we need every new jerseyan as well as every american to take federal and state recommendations about social distancing seriously. avoiding gatherings of more than ten people, washing your hands frequently. and if you fill sick, staying home and calling your health care provider immediately. we all need to be part of the solution or we can become part of the statistics. we all need to be part of the solution. this is one time in which we all must come together as americans and be part of the solutions so we're not part of the

statistics. already families are feeling the impact whether it's lost wages, smaller paychecks, school closure, restaurant curfews, or outright job losses. that's why i'm calling on the senate to act today, today, on legislation that will provide paid leave and unemployment assistance to impacted workers, food assistance to children and seniors, more funding for medicaid. we cannot leave families alone to weather the storm. we also need to do more to help restaurants and shops and other businesses struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus from mandatory curfews to supply chain shortages to increased demand for their services. they need help. at the end of the day we need them to be able to survive the crisis in order to offer the employment that will be necessary to revive the economy. but we must remember that this is first and foremost a public

health crisis. the wealth of our nation will ultimately depend on the health of our nation. nothing economically will be solved without dealing with the health of the american people. and we cannot ignore the demands that covid-19 will make on our health care sector and especially the hospitals in the days and weeks to come. the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention, the c.d.c., has projected that between 160 million and 214 million people could contract covid-19 in the united states, and that between 2.4 million to 21 million of those infected could require hospitalization. as a means of comparison, our hospital system has less than one million staff beds, which

would be inadequate even under the c.d.c.'s most optimistic projection. hospitals also have to have the resources and equipment available to treat the expected influx of patients. there's a significant concern that the nation's supply of mechanical respirators, ventilators is inadequate to meet the exponential need we will likely experience in the coming weeks and months. the latest data indicates there may be only 62,000 hospital ventilators in the entire nation. even if only half of those hospitalized require ventilation, our supply will be wholly inadequate to fill the demand. health care workers also need protective gear to do their life-saving work without risking infection to themselves. unfortunately there have been multiple reports of shortages of personal protective equipment even during the opening days of

this outbreak. failure to protect our health care workers and support staff would cause a cascading effect that would cause our entire response to collapse. simply put, we need the federal government to step in and provide real leadership. in the midst of a pandemic, state and local governments should not be left on their own scrambling to find or purchase ventilators for patients, personal protective gear for health care workers and other critical medical supplies. the federal government has a tremendous obligation and an opportunity to help save lives by assisting state and local governments, in locating resources, in using existing authorities to increase the manufacturing of ventilators and other critical equipment, and preparing for the staging of temporary hospitals and beds and

more. let's look at military facilities that have been closed. there's one in my state. let's open them up. let's construct mash units. let's not wait. let's rent out hotels that are closing. these are some of the many actions that can be taken if we are decisive in our work. that's why i'm calling on the president to immediately exercise the powers authorized by the defense production act to defend the health and safety of the american people in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. while the administration's response has so far lacked the energy this crisis calls for, invoking the powers vested in the defense production act will enable the federal government to step up and take the type of aggressive steps needed in this time of uncertainty. it is that act that can give the federal government the power to

say we are going to become -- this is my words now in essence -- we're going to become your partner. we want to infuse massive amounts of money to create the ventilators that we need, the personal protective gear that we need. and if we can't get you to produce it, we're going to produce it. we need to use the power of the federal government to have the type of response that this moment calls for, that this crisis calls for. that's what government in its most significant moment is supposed to be all about. that's really what the federal government is supposed to be all about. what states cannot individually do, individual communities cannot do, it is the power of the federal government that can do it. we must be willing to mobilize that power. it's time the united states of america live up to its history of defeating extraordinarily -- extraordinary challenges and prevailing in the face of great

uncertainty. it's time to harness the ingenuity of our people, the might of our manufacturing base, the wisdom of our health care experts to confront covid-19, to protect our families and our communities, to slow the spread of the virus so we don't overwhelm our hospitals so that we can save lives. i've seen some of the projections. i hope to god's sake they're wrong. but we will lose many people unless we all take this seriously and unless we act. this is a moment for action and to show the world once again that there's no challenge too great for the american people. with that, madam president, i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. jones: thank you, madam president. today i want to talk just briefly about all we can do. i know we're facing an emergency in this country. we're facing a health care crisis. and instead of talking about all that's going on here in the congress and there is a lot for the people of america need to understand how much is going o. you see empty chambers right now but the fact is we're trying to do those things necessary to stop the spread of this virus as well. but i want to talk a little bit about what we can do as americans to protect ourselves and our country. and in doing so, i think -- i'm thinking back to an old friend of mine if my younger days, back when i was a kid, national park service and others were concerned about the forest fires around the country. and they came up with an -- what is now an old friend of mine. smoky the bear. everybody remembers smoky the bear. you still see smoky on occasion

because only you can prevent forest fires. folks, we've got forest fires raging around this country right now in the form of covid-19. and only you can prevent the spread of that forest fire, the covid-19 virus. only you. we've got health care responders out there. we've got emergency responders, people that are doing amazing work right now responding to this virus. but it's up to us. it's up to you, only you can prevent the spread and doing those things necessary to try to protect your communities. the social distancing that people are talking about, the hand washing, all of those things are so important that we have to do as individuals to make sure that we flatten that curve. you don't need to go on spring break or vacation right now. this -- none of this, shutting down these businesses and things and people being at home, you

know, this is not vacation time but you can use it but it is not a time to go out on vacation, to do those kind of things. it's a time to try to protect yourself and your communities. don't go out and try to get tested unless you've got symptoms and have talked to your health care provider. you know, in alabama right now, we are seeing long lines of folks that are lined up at a private testing facility to try to get tested. i don't know all the protocols that they have, but i know my friends at the university of alabama in birmingham and the infectious disease center who i've met with and talked with on a regular basis say that the odds are a number of those people in those lines they don't need the test right now. they're concerned. everybody is worried. everybody wants to know but the fact is there's not enough tests out there for everyone just yet. we're getting there. more and more tests are coming online but we've also got to be

concerned about the equipment, the swabs that are used, the test tubes that have to be used. those are the things that we're running in short supply of as well. so unless you've got those symptoms, unless you see that you're getting sick, stay home. stay with your families. you know, we are going to be inconvenienced for some time, but those inconveniences i think we need to do all that we can to make those a as short lived as -- those as short lived as possible. the short-term pain will be long-term gain for all of us. but we can only do that if we follow the best practices that all the c.d.c. and all our department of public health are talking about right now. you know, we've got legislative packages that are coming over from the house. we've got more. i can tell you for my folks in alabama and the folks across the united states. your united states senators on both sides of the aisle are working very hard to try to

minimize this impact. there's things that we can do now and we're trying to get those done. there are things that we can do to take care of small businesses and families, and we're working really hard to make sure those things get done now. but also keep this in mind. this is going to be a work in progress. this is not something that we know the long-term implications for just yet. our goal is to blunt that curve as you've seen dr. fauci and others talking about, to try to stem this tide of this virus, to make it to where we can -- it is going to be manageable in our health care systems. and if we can do that, we can better assess how that we can protect small businesses, how we can protect working families to make sure that they have the income that they need to get by on a daily basis knowing that when this crisis does subside, that they can get back to work and we can get this economy

popping as the way the president said earlier today. that's our goal. that's what we're trying to do. but we also have to take a deep look at ourself, i believe. folks across the country need to take a deep look and see what we can do as states, as members of congress, and the american people to do better on our health care system that right now is under increasing strain and stresses with this pandemic virus. we need to see that structurally those kind of things that we can help stem the tide of this virus but also put in place things that are going to help our health care delivery system that we have in this country. those are the kind of things that i hope we will take a look at as we go forward and we better understand the problems that we are facing in the united states. for me i have -- i have been ever since i started running for this office have talked about the need to expand medicaid in

alabama. right now i am concerned about all alabamians but there are some 326,000 people below the poverty line that do not qualify for medicaid, that are wondering right now what is going to happen to me. what is going to happen because i don't have health insurance? i can't go get in that line in birmingham that requires a medicaid or medicare card or an insurance card. i don't know what to do. we're working on things to try to help to do that. but i think expanding medicaid and an important part about this, those alabamians that are at most risk from the covid-19 virus are those in rural areas where hospitals are closing and cannot get to a doctor. the community health centers are sparsely situated throughout the state. our seniors and people of all ages who have preexisting conditions -- i want folks in alabama to really think about this. we have now heard for a month or

so that it's not just the elderly but it's people with certain preexisting conditions that are at most risk for covid-19 viruses. and significant complications from the virus. those are people that are diabetics, people with cardiovascular disease, people with kidney disease, people that are in fact so much of the demographics of the state of alabama -- i've said it so many times we're a relatively poor state. we're an unhealthy state and we have more people at risk for in virus than probably most because of the preexisting conditions that exist among the populous in the state of alabama. those are the ones that we are concerned about. there are consequences to alabama not expanding medicaid, and there's going to be consequences if we don't do things in the future to try to make sure that we get the relief to all people. there's going to be

consequences. if the administration continues to fight in court to eliminate the affordable care act and all of its protections for those with preexisting conditions, why in the world in this time of health care crisis would the administration continue to do this just now? now is the time that we need to be putting lawsuits aside, taking those lawsuits and putting them away and working together to try to do those things within the a.c.a. to get coverage for so many more people. we can do that. we are seeing people rallying now here on the hill and with the administration. that's what we need to be doing, not trying to work through lawsuits to get rid of the a.c.a. now is the time that we need to be working together to make sure everyone in this country gets the health care we need. we need to expand medicaid, work together to keep rural hospitals open, and not dismantle but improve the flaws in the

existing a.c.a., making sure that everyone with a preexisting condition is protected. so i'm once again calling on this administration, calling on the 20 attorney generals from around the country including my own in the state of alabama to let's get rid of this and let's work together to try to figure out how we can get health care into all zip codes in america, including all the zip codes in the state of alabama. folks, we've got amazing opportunities here. you know, it is a challenging time but challenges also give us opportunities. and we need to take those opportunities. we have that opportunity here in the senate and the congress and the government of the united states, but we have these opportunities as a country. we have these opportunities for individuals. we have to act quickly and without regard to politics or party. the american people are looking to us.

they're looking to this congress. they're looking to the administration to do those things necessary, to take the steps necessary to protect their families, their communities, their livelihoods and our economy. we can do this. we need to rise to the occasion. we need to work quickly. we need to put the american people first. it is the american people's interests who have to come first. you know, as individuals, we have to real estate view the responses -- review the respoonses to the co-individual crisis as an active citizenship. every response has to be seen, in my view, as an act of citizenship, not only for this country but citizens of the world. to do things that need to be done for yourself and your family but also for each other in the greater beloved community, to recognize that we all must make sacrifices. we're in this together.

our doctors and our nurses and our health care professionals already are doing that, fighting with everything that they have to minimize the suffering and to save as many as they can, often putting themselves in jeopardy. one of the things that we've got to do is to give them more tools to do their jobs. we're working on that. but these folks are those frontline folks. it is just like the first responders of 9/11 who were running towards the danger to try to help others flee from it. that's what our health care professionals, that's what our first responders are doing today. they are running toward the danger, to try to minimize the suffering and to save lives. folks, everybody in america needs to hear all of this. we need to be thanking those people. we need to be thanking the folks that are still putting food on the shelves at the grocery stores, that are still stocking

the sanitizer at the drugstores, that are still doing the routine things to help all americans. and we need to hear this as well -- staying at home for the next few weeks may be a hardship, but it is the right thing to do. it is the right thing to do not just for the obvious reasons of protecting yourself. you do it for your neighbors. you do it for your fellow accidents in your community. do you it for your grandparents. you do it for all of those close to you. that's how we stop this virus. that's how smoky puts out the forest fires. each one of us -- only you can do this, and none of it will be easy. financial hardships will be faced by far too many americans already living on the edge. nits our local communities that we've got to -- it's in our local communities that we've got to respond to bridge these hardships for as many as possible and to make this period of disruption as short as possible. the truth is that it is you,

mr. and ms. america -- it is you, the american people, who are the best defense now. you are the front line. you are the foot soldiers of trying to stem this crisis. don't shake hands as some sign of strength. stopping that simple contact is not only going to keep you safer, but it's goes to strengthen the fight to stop these -- the fight to stop these fires. do those little things. the american people have to rally to this challenge, notious for themselves but -- not just for themselves but for each other, for the sick and the elderly, and the most vulnerable in our society. for the doctors and the nurses on the front lines, for the children who will need those school lunch programs that they can't get because schools are out all across this country. we do it for those who can't afford one day, let alone a week or two weeks or a couple of

months of lost wages. that's who we got to do this for. and let me mention something. i want to talk a little bit directly to the upper folks in alabama and the younger folks in our country. you are perhaps the most powerful voices and examples in this fight because you know that it is not likely that you are going to personally suffer the hardest of these hardships in the sense of getting this virus is not are going to cause the incredible complications of so many others. but that makes you the most powerful weapon that we have in this fight. you can lead this country's war against this disease. you can lead the state of alabama and all of your states and your communities, and you do so by example, just like young people have done in the history of this country, whether it was the vietnam war, whether it was through civil rights, whether it was through little things like

buckling seat seat seat belts. it's the younger folks in this country who have led the way and shown the examples. you are the most connected generation or couple of generations in the history of the world, and by having those connections to each other, you've got connections to your communities and to your grandparents and to your parents and aunts and uncles and those living down the street that are maybe shut in at this point, sick and shut in that you can help and get the word to. this is the moment in time where we can come together as a people, we can come together and you, as young people, who get so maligned in so many different ways -- and i see that -- but you are the prime example. you can lead this country at a time when we desperately need all people in this country to lead by example and by information. i know you will step up to do it. i know you will make sure that

your kids are he can prosecuted. but i know you will also make sure that you do those things to do what smokey the bear says, because it's only you that can prevent the forest fire of this forest from spreading. and so that is our challenge today. that is the challenge for america and the individuals. as a body, i can assure folks that the senate and the congress a going to do everything we can to do our part, to minimize the damage that this is inflicting, to help repair the damage, to make sure we get back on our feet at the right time when this fire is a stem. what we know and what is demanded of us as a united states senate, what is demanded of us as a government, is nothing short of the same kind of government response, overwhelming response, the same kind of commitment and response worthy of the sacrifices we are asking all american citizens to make in this fight.

i believe that this senate, i believe that the house, i believe the administration is up to that challenge. we have to remember who we're fighting for, and that's each of you, the american people. we will do our part. we will make sure that what we do as a response to this is worthy of the sacrifices that we are asking each one of you to make every day for an unknown foreseeable time. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.