churches, restaurants, neighbors, all pitched in with food and supplies. debbie drove oliver northern kentucky collecting donations and delivering them to these young people. she's found everything a college student could need, canned goods, microwavable meals and even airheads candy, which i'm proud to say our maid right there in ãb

ms. collins: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine is recognized. ms. collins: thank you, madam president. madam president, the united states is facing a crisis unlike any other in our recent history. madam president, this is no time

for partisanship or for political differences to prevent us from coming together and working in the best interests of the american people. the coronavirus pandemic has arrived on our shores and is growing exponentially, sickening our people and devastating our economy. as of today, more than 26,700 americans have tested positive for the virus, and 340 people have died, while 176 have recovered. in my home state of maine, there are now 89 cases in eight different counties.

hospitals, doctors, and nurses are struggling to triage the influx of patients. nursing homes are locking down their facilities in an attempt to safeguard their vulnerable residents. students and teachers have had to transition abruptly to online learning as schools have closed across the nation. parents have been left with no child care. workers have been laid off or fear that they may soon lose their jobs as the outbreak worsens. to help mitigate the spread of this dangerous virus and protect those who are at highest risk, americans have stepped forward to take the proper precautions and to follow the guidelines that are issued by the centers

for disease control. although measures such as limiting large social gatherings and reducing nonessential travel are important to help contain the coronavirus and reduce contagions, they are also taking a tremendous toll on our economy. madam president, there are 30 million small businesses in the united states. they employ nearly 60 million americans, about half of our nation's workforce. according to a recent survey, 96% of small business owners say that they have already been affected by the coronavirus. not in the sense that they've become ill with it, but their customer base has simply dried up.

and 51% say that they will only be able to keep open for up to three months if the economic consequences continue. the potential loss of more than half of our nation's small businesses and the impact on the millions of people they employ is simply unacceptable. in my state, the number of claims for unemployment filed in the span of just three days this month was nearly double those filed in all of march a year ago. maine is on track to surpass the highest weekly total of unemployment claims since the great recession of 2008. the situation is dire and it is

only going to get worse unless we act and we act now. we must come together as republicans and democrats in this chamber and in the house to provide relief to the american people, to ensure that workers continue to receive paychecks or other forms of assistance. and of course we continue to build on the two bills we have already passed to protect the health and safety of the american people. looking beyond the statistics that i just recited, the real-world effect of this economic devastation is evident

everywhere. i just got off the phone from talking to a couple in lewiston, maine, jimmy and linda simonas. they run a third generation family diner. it is so well known and a favorite place to stop by for lunch. they tried to convert to a takeout business, but it just didn't work. so for the first time ever in this diner's history, the simonas family is forced to close their doors and to lay off their workers, workers who have been with them for years, workers that include that not only themselves but their son george. every day, i have heard from small business owners who are

anxious about the future of their businesses and how they have continued to pay their employees who are often their family members, their friends, and their neighbors. the last thing they want to do is to lay off their employees and shut their doors, but they fear that they may have no other choice. they simply do not have the cash flow, the revenue coming in the door to allow them to remain open. the tourism sector, which is so critical to jobs in maine, has been particularly hard hit. a small hotel in brunswick, maine, received 84 cancellations within just 24 hours of the local college suspending its

in-person classes. a well-known irish pub in bangor, maine, had to close for st. patrick's day, probably its biggest day of the year, and has been forced to lay off 60 people. a charter bus company based in lewiston lost $400,000 in three days because two page tours canceled. if tourism is further reduced, this bus company predicts losses of more than a million dollars. countless other businesses in my state, such as restaurants, the lobster and fishing industries, gyms, b and b's, gift shops,

retailers, hair salons have also been hard hit. the hospitality in particular is at risk of being devastateed as conferences and vacation trips continue to be canceled. a hair stylist who is a good friend of mine was forced to shutter her shop, and at the same time she lost her part-time job bar tending when the bar that employed her was also required to close as well. madam president, when these small businesses suffer, it has the cast can -- cascading effect on their employees from housekeepers to wait staff to bartenders to fishermen to

drivers to retail clerks. these are just some of the countless examples of the economic damage that is occurring in every community because of the virus and through absolutely no fault of the small businesses or their workers, but for the coronavirus and the steps that state and local governments have taken, as well as the federal government, these businesses would be thriving. in maine, they would -- they would be beginning to start staffing up for the summer months, for the height of the tourism season. so, madam president, it is essential that congress act

immediately without partisan bickering, without delay, act immediately to protect the paychecks and to provide other relief to supplement the earlier bills that we have passed. and i'm pleased to report that help is on the horizon for small businesses and their workers that would allow them to weather the current storm. as a member of the small business task force, i've been working very closely night and day with a group of my colleagues, senator rubio, senator cardin, and senator shaheen. our staffs have worked literally through the night on legislation to provide relief to small

businesses and their employees. the keeping workers paid and employed act that i authored with senator rubio, the chairman of the small business and entrepreneur committee, provides a plan to do just that. through our negotiations with senator shaheen and senator cardin who have been wonderful partners, wonderful partners, we have produced jointly a $350 billion plan that would help mitigate this crisis. our group has worked night and day in a bipartisan fashion. we have kept in mind the common goal of protecting those employees who have been laid off

or who are at risk of being laid off because of the cash flow problems of their employers, problems that these small businesses did not create but rather are a result of the covid-19 pandemic. our joint vision is to help small businesses and their employees make it through to the other side of this crisis by providing cash flow assistance quickly to employers who agree to keep their workers on the payroll. this would allow employers to stay in business and keep paying their employees. more than 100 maine small businesses and the maine chamber of commerce have endorsed this

bill. additionally, nationwide a group of more than two dozen business organizations that represent thousands of companies across the country have expressed their strong support for this proposal, and i would ask unanimous consent that both of those letters be included in the record at the conclusion of my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: so, madam president, let me explain how our plan would work. under our approach, small businesses would be eligible for a 100% federally guaranteed emergency loan to cover their payroll for eight weeks as well as certain fixed expenses, normal, customer -- customary

expenses like rent, mortgage payments and utilities. these loans would ultimately be eligible to be forgiven provided that the employers kept the workers on their payrolls. that's the key provision. this financial assistance is targeted, and it could not be used to give raises to highly compensated employees or to increase returns to shareholders, not that most of these small businesses even have shareholders. our goal is to keep these workers employed, to keep paychecks going to them, to keep payments for their health insurance intact, to keep contributions that an employer may be making to their 401(k)

plan intact. and, madam president, we know that keeping people employed and ready to get back to work, not severing that connection between employers and their employees will cost far less than it would to try to rescue the economy after we have had massive layoffs and business closures. that's what our bill would prevent. the secretary of the treasury has estimated that if we do nothing, if we do not pass this bill in connection with a broader package aimed at preventing economic devastation, we could see employment rise as high as 20%.

and keep in mind, we're coming through a period where we have had record low unemployment. it could rise as high as 20%. if that happens, the impact on the federal government would be substantial, far more than the $350 billion that we are using for this small business assistance program to keep their employees paid. not to mention the extraordinary harm that this kind of economic catastrophe would cause to millions of families. madam president, congress has already passed two emergency relief packages.

they will promote the health and safety of americans. but it is going to take time for us to get the coronavirus under control. it is going to take time for the social distancing to work. it is going to take time for new treatments to be developed, much less a vaccine, despite the extraordinary efforts of scientists and physicians and other experts across this country who are all pulling together. our keeping workers paid and employed act has been included in a third package that i hope congress will soon, very soon consider to respond to covid-19.

it is imperative that we not delay. every day that we delay, another business like the simona's business, their diner in lewiston, maine, is forced to close their doors and to lay off their employees. madam president, we are truly standing at the edge of a dangerous precipice. bold, bipartisan action is required to respond to this public health crisis and move us back from economic disaster, small businesses closing their doors in some cases forever, devastating and decimating our downtowns, and millions of

americans losing their jobs. i implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to put aside partisan differences and come together and join our bipartisan group in delivering this urgently needed aid for the american people by passing this important economic relief for the employees of small businesses throughout our nation. thank you, madam president. i would yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky is recognized. georgia. forgive me. the senator from georgia is recognized. mrs. loeffler: thank you. i want to begin with my gratitude and respect for those on the front lines in georgia and across america today, the doctors, nurses, first responders, employees in our grocery stores and supply chains and in our state and local leaders who are leading the response on the ground at this perilous time. together this is the best of america. 17 days ago i spoke from this podium and called on the country to come together to combat the outbreak of novel coronavirus.

i asked the media, my colleagues in congress, and leaders across our country to join me in putting politics aside, to put the health and safety of all americans first. the next day in congress we came together to pass quickly an $8.5 billion emergency funding to support our response to this virus which president trump signed immediately. the week after that, in march, the president declared a national emergency, unleashing $50 billion to further mobilize testing, therapeutics and care. today we find ourselves in an even more serious and urgent situation. the health threat facing our nation has intensified. recent reports show the acceleration of infection. at the same time people are losing their jobs, is small businesses are closing and fear is taking hold while families are home with children out of

school and parents out of work. this is why we must act immediately to pass the cares act, bringing well over $1 trillion with an economic impact being a multiple of that. we're in a rapidly changing environment with each passing day that requires this immediate and substantial action. each day families are put more at risk of financial peril and hospitals are going without the resources they need. uncertainty rests on americans' doorsteps daily. they wonder how much longer can i make this work? how do i protect my family's health and welfare? we need immediate relief in the hands of the american people, and we needed it days ago. we cannot wait another day. the families are -- to the families worried about paying rent and feeding their children, the small business owner forced to shutter their doors and lay off staff that is like family to them, and who

worry about foreclosure by landlords, the employees of service travel and tourism, industries left unemployed, the hospitals, rural and urban, and the assisted living facilities running out of equipment, staff, and beds, the public health officials, nurses and doctors working around the clock on the front lines, help is on the way. every american needs to know that in washington we have their backs. that we know that there is deep uncertainty and fear that we're working right now to address it. we must turn our rhetoric into action, and i'll say it again, there's no room for political maneuvers here. i want every georgian to know that i am fighting for them every day. no amount of false politicized allegations against me or my family will distract me. nothing will get in my way of

delivering much-needed relief to georgian families -- nothing. i've spent the last two weeks speaking with hospital leaders, small businesses, and employers, and employees across georgia. the impact is felt by every georgian. the need is urgent from londs county to raven county, the issues of health and economic and concern are widespread. across the country we must stand together symbolically though we cannot stand together physically. that's why i'm calling on the senate to act expeditiously to pass this relief package immediately. let me be clear. it is time to deliver. as we've seen, this virus does not wait for politics as usual to play out. only swift action will save lives, families, and jobs at this unprecedented time. just as the rest of america has

done, the senate must step up and help win this war for all americans. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor.

ms. collins: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine is recognized. ms. collins: madam president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from florida is recognized. mr. rubio: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rubio: i want to caveat what i'm going to say by the reality of everyone who's ever worked on legislation that every deal is contingent when you make a deal with the other side on something or another group of people, it's always contingent on seeing it in written. sometimes things don't align and

oftentimes it's not out of ill intent. i want to make that point. i want to make a point because we are dealing with almost the whole of the economy as we discuss what we're going to do to help this country through this crisis, and you deal, for example, as we have been, with small business, it sometimes interacts with what other parts of the same agreement are -- are also dealing with. so, for example, you might be dealing with a small business sector but it interacts with what might be happening with a group that's negotiating health care spending and so items like that are things that you're going to continue to work through and have some understanding over. but i think what i feel very confident in saying, as you heard a moment ago from senator collins, is that a group of us that were tasked from both sides of the aisle to come up with what we can do to help small business has come up with an understanding, a purpose, an outline of measures that i feel

very confident every member of this body should be able to support when its final version is before you and which i'm very confident, if god forbid we're not successful in this effort, it is not because of what we produced for this body. i certainly feel both blessed and fortunate to have had as partners in this obviously senator collins who has been a tremendous contribution that began with her own ideas and were able to merge with some of the ideas that we've been working on. senator cardin, who is someone i worked with on that committee of small business, but often of issues of small policy and senator shaheen who is also a member of that committee and worked with on foreign policy. i would like to say if people and because of the isolation that this building finds itself in. i think if the average person were to walk into the

conversations that we had, you would have have had hard time distinguishing who the republican and democrat was. i think one of the things that allowed us to reach this point is that everyone has small businesses in their state and it is not a partisan item and of everyone understood there is not a republican side or democrat side. this is a moment in which the entire nation was emperilled economically and we needed to act quickly. we needed to outline the key provisions and ideas. i had a lot of people calling and asking, do they apply. let me start with a few things. number one, small businesses are defined as some company that has 500 employees or less or a company defined as a small business under the existing s.b.a. criteria. so one or the other. that covers close to 60 million american jobs and well over 30 million businesses in this country. it's an extraordinary swath.

for the first time ever we also included almost -- most c-3's and not-for-profits and also independent contractors, people that work on 1099's, economy workers who consider themselves a business who have one employee and maybe no real estate they operate from. and what it does in its simplest terms, i'm oversimplifying because there are caveats to some of this with formulas. but by and large, you are a business, a restaurant, a one-shop restaurant, you're a dry cleaning shop, you're a mechanic, you have any small business and you have less than 500 employees or fit the category of the s.b.a. as we define it in this bill, and the government has said people can no longer go to your restaurant or can no loren go out of their homes an use you as their mechanic, and so you've had to lay off your employees. so you're not operating and you

can't pay your employees. i'm not here to make fun or criticize the big employees. they say we have a credit line we can draw down on over the next 20 days. i'm not saying that is not urgent. but what we've been focused on in this part of the bill is people who have no line of credit. if they go two days without revenue, they are in a rot of -- a lot of problems and that's the majority of businesses -- small businesses in america. and so the way this work is you will be allowed or the program will work this way, you will go to a financial operation, be it a bank or some other lender or credit union, frankly anyone that treasury says is okay and wants to participate in this. and you will fill out very simple forms that prove you have business and payroll on a date certain and you will receive the equivalent of eight weeks of

your payroll that you can prove you had. and you will receive this money very quickly, hopefully, if the system can set up and run. as long as you use that money on payroll and or rent or lease for the business, it's -- it's forgivable. you don't have to pay it back. if you decide to spend it any portion outside of that use, then a year from now it becomes a loan and you will have to pay it back at approximately 4% interest. the treasury may have a different program that works a little different. i mentioned treasury because we've given them the flexibility to in addition to using the addition of small business lenders in america today, they will also be able to attract additional lenders under different terms that the current terms because we need compass tivment one of our biggest concerns about this bill is that we're going to have tremendous demand and not enough lender supply, not enough places to quickly process the paperwork and the like. the other important thing to

understand is that -- this is not a program where you're going to the s.b.a. you're not going to a tent somewhere in a disaster area or some government office or government website. you are going to a bank to a final institution, to a credit union, to someone who will set up a process and an agreement either with the existing 7-a program or treasury to move this paper and get -- -- the intent is not to create some financial instrument we can create loans on. the intent here is what is the fastest way to get this cash into the hands of small business so they can keep the people that work for them employed, so they can rehire maybe some of the people they had to furlough or lay off, and they can keep them on payroll as opposed to going on the unemployment rolls. and the other reason why this is important, number one, is the jobs. number two is for a small business, if you lose your employees, if your employees go away because you laid them off, some of them move away, depending on the industry you're in or so forth, if you have to

now -- you're told to pay all clear, you have to go out and rehire them or find people to take their place. by the time you get going, it's too late. many of them will never restart. we all want this economy to recover, but you can't have the economy recover if you have no economy. and we are talking about 58 million to 60 million jobs and over 30 million potential employers that are impacted by this. it's going to be hard to restart the economy if any significant portion of them can't get going. and we're dealing with some great unknowns. number one, we've never done this before. we did the very best we could under a tight time frame and difficult circumstances. i am confident that like any piece of legislation there are things in it that maybe we have to go back and revisit at some point. nothing catastrophic. i just want to say that up front. we've never done it before. but we believe this will work. what we do know is if we don't try to do this, if we do nothing, it's catastrophic.

the second point i would make is there has been a lot of people who worked very hard on this. the staff director on senator cardin's part has been sick. members of my staff this morning did not come in as well, potentially just to be protective and be cautious. we're talking about a very small group of people that worked basically the last 72 hours straight on this. senator shaheen's staff, senator collins' staff, my staff. a handful of people worked long hours on the legislative staff. last night they were here until 3:45 in the morning as they were the night before and the night before that. there has been a tremendous amount of work done on this. we're grateful for it. i have a product that i'm very proud of. let me say this i wish it was a product we never had had to do. not because we don't want to help small businesses but by and alternately every one of these businesses that we're trying to help were doing just fine until two weeks ago. that to me is the most important point. these are not businesses that were failing or making a mistake and so government is stepping in

to prop them up. these are people that were literally doing fine until they woke up one day and they were told by the mayor or the governor or someone else you can't open anymore. you can't operate anymore. people can't come to your store any more or to your restaurant anymore. and it doesn't just impact the owner. it impacts the people that work for them. and i will close with this. one of the unique things about small businesses that in a small business, the owner of the small business is the president and the c.e.o., but they are oftentimes also the cashier, a stock clerk, the janitor, the driver, the accountant. they're an employee. and an enormous percentage of these small businesses, that small business is not just a place that makes money. it is the life dream and the lifework of an individual or a family. and in many of these cases, the people that work for them are not the names and numbers on a

ledger. in many cases, these are human beings that have worked for them for 30 years, whose kids have grown up, watching their kids grow up who are like family to them. i have talked to some of these small business owners who have had to inform their employees tearfully that for the first time in 30 or 40 years, they won't be opening, and they won't be able to pay an employee. people whose businesses have survived slowdowns, recessions, financial crisis, 9/11. in florida, they have survived hurricanes, multiple hurricanes, all sorts of natural disasters. many have been open virtually every day, even the day after these storms in many cases. until now. and the trauma is extraordinary for them. and now imagine the people i know, close friends, people i have known for a long time who inform me that over a 72-hour period last week, the husband and the wife were laid off, their two adult kids were laid

off, and the spouses of the two adult kids laid off. six people, one family, laid off in a 72-hour period. and so they're sitting at home. everything's closed. they cannot go anywhere. and they don't have a job and they have no idea when this will end, and when it does if they even have a job to go back to. that is the story of millions and millions of people that are living through -- they are living through it right now. it isn't what the articles are about, it isn't what the arguing is about. it isn't what all the stories on cable television are about. it isn't what the ?arky people on -- snarky people on twitter are talking about. it is happening to millions and millions of people. they are scared and worried. they will get more scared and more worried as the days go by. i will say this. i hope the senate can act as fast as possible on something, beyond what i have just described in our part of this. because tomorrow morning, all across this country, business owners big and large are going

to make decisions. people who a week ago were talking about paying -- pay freezes and hiring freezes are now talking about layoffs. and maybe a few of them are holding on to see what we do or fail to do. but i caution everyone that if we do not get something done, if we think that we have the luxury and the benefit of time to play games and gamesmanship and bargaining and trying to get a little bit more out of the deal, in a few hours, some important businesses and a lot of small ones are going to make decisions about whether or not they are going to lay off and fire and let go of a bunch of people. we don't know what that number looks like tomorrow morning and in the week to come. keep that in mind as we decide not just how we're going to vote in a few minutes but what we're going to do here over the next few hours. we do not have time on our side. we do not have the luxury of time to negotiate.

i think this is a process in which there has been a tremendous amount of input. i haven't been involved in all the other sectors. but i can tell you i'm very proud of the work of all these senators that we have worked with. obviously, there is always a little bit of tightening up to do as the language was written, but i believe that when it's all said and done, we will put before the senate a product that will help millions of small businesses and tens of millions of american workers to be able to continue to draw a paycheck during this very difficult time. and i hope that will earn the support, as it should, of every member of the senate and then every member of the house. madam president, i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized.

mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: colleagues, as everyone now knows, the coronavirus has arrived here in the senate. there are at least five senators who are in self-quarantine at the moment. the discussions continue on the package that we have been working on on a bipartisan basis over the last two days. it's time to move forward. and the next step is the vote we're going to have at 6:00. no one is disadvantaged by having that vote, because by getting cloture on the shell that we are having the vote on, there is time -- what we call postcloture time after that vote. so it doesn't interfere with any further discussions that are going on on a bipartisan basis. we need to signal to the public that we're ready to get this job

done, and the way to do that is to vote aye in five minutes on cloture on the motion to proceed. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

vote:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i ask consent the quorum be called off. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 157, h.r. 748, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to repeal the excise tax on high cost employer sponsored health coverage, signed by 16 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate the debate

on the motion to proceed to h.r. 748, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to repeal the excise tax on high cost employer-sponsored health coverage shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: is there any senator in the chamber who wishes to vote or change their vote? hearing none, the nays are -- the yeas are 47. the nays are 47. three-fifths of the senate duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the affirmative, the mows is not agreed to -- the motion is not agreed to. mr. mcconnell: mr. president,. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: the american people are watching this spectacle. i'm told the -- i enter a motion to reconsider the vote. the presiding officer: the motion is entered. mr. mcconnell: the american people are watching this spectacle. i'm told the futures market is down 5%. i'm also told that that's when trading stops. so the notion that we have time to play games here with the american economy and the american people is utterly absurd. so i want to explain what just

happened. our good friends on the other side would not have been disadvantaged one bit if this vote had succeeded because it would have required potentially 30 more hours of discussion, during which these seemingly endless negotiations could go on as long as they would like. now the build up to this, so everybody fully understands, is that we had a high level of bipartisanship in five different working groups over the last 48 hours where members who were participating were reaching agreement. and then all of a sudden the democratic leader and the speaker of the house shows up, and we're back to square one. we're fiddling here, fiddling

with the emotions of the american people, fiddling with the markets, fiddling with our health care. the american people expect us to act tomorrow. and i want everybody to fully understand if we aren't able to act tomorrow, it will be because of our colleagues on the other side continuing to dicker when the country expects us to come together and address this problem. now i changed my vote which gives me the opportunity to move to reconsider at a later time. that's all i can do in the face of this obstruction. look, i can understand obstruction when you're trying to achieve something. this obstruction achieves nothing. nothing whatsoever other than prevent us from getting into a position where there are literally 30 more hours that

they could use to continue to dicker. so at a time when the country is crying out for bipartisanship and cooperation -- and we saw that over the last 48 hours when regular members of senate, not in the leadership office, not in the speaker's office, for goodness sakes. she's the speaker of the house, not the speaker of the senate. we don't have one. we were doing just fine until that intervention. so i want the american people to fully understand what's going on here. the markets are already reacting to this outrageous nonsense. we have an obligation to the american people to deal with this emergency and to deal with it tomorrow. and if we don't, i want everybody to fully understand you've seen everybody who's on record, i've conspicuously

avoided trying to turn this into any kind of partisan effort for two days. but it's pretty clear what's going on here. and we'll have this cloture vote again at some point of my choosing, and hopefully some adults will show up on the other side of the room and understand the gravity of the situation and the need to act before the markets go down further and the american people become even more depressed about our lack of ability to come together under the most extraordinary circumstances. we've never been confronted with anything like this before. it's totally different. and we're not immune to it in terms of the public health risk. the coronavirus has hit the senate today as well. we have five members, five

members in self-quarantine. everybody understands the emergency, particularly when it hits close to home. it's not just back in our states, but right here in the senate. so i would say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, step up, step up. help us reach an agreement so we can do what needs to be done for the american people no later than tomorrow. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be

suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: in more than 48 hours of negotiations, there's been a lot of progress made in the subjects that are within the jurisdiction of the finance committee that i chair, and these results of these negotiations have led to decisions that will be in this legislation we hope to vote on tomorrow that would make sure that checks went from the federal government to individuals, all individuals of $1,200 for individuals, $2,400 for married couples, and $500

for each child. and that would go to people who need it, people with no income income, up to people with $75,000 a year income or a married couple of $150,000 income, with a phaseout to make sure that no very wealthy people or even higher-income, middle-income people benefit from it. so we're trying to help those who need the most help, and there wasn't disagreement from the other side that we ought to mail checks out to people. this would give americans what they need to provide for their

families and to weather the storm. this isn't the first time we've done this. we did it in 2008 when we had the start of the great recession we also provided for liquidity for small business and larger businesses by delaying some taxes being paid so that perhaps these people that right now are thinking should they lay off their workforce or keep their workforce in place, being productive so that they can do that. we also made a very big effort from both the republican and democratic side to very much enhance unemployment, an

additional $600 per week to people that are unemployed, plus a lot of people that don't qualify for unemployment now to qualify for unemployment insurance for over at least the next three months, with an understanding if this thing doesn't turn around in the next three months, getting people back to work, getting the economy up and running with all this stuff we're talking about, we're probably going to have to do more. but right now the unemployment rolls are going up by the hundreds of thousands each day, and we have a vote tonight that can give these people some assurances and somehow that's not a catastrophic situation that we should respond to.

i don't know what people on the other side of the aisle are thinking about, particularly for the unemployed and particularly for those that don't have checks. what are we going to do for them? this package that came out of the finance committee will not solve all the problems, but as the leader said there's four or five other task forces that are doing things to make sure that small business can get loans that will, that they can qualify for if they'll keep their people employed. so i don't understand this vote at all, particularly considering the good working relationship i had with democrats working with me on these things as well. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the minority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i want to provide everyone with an update about the status of negotiations on the third phase of coronavirus legislation. early this morning leader mcconnell presented to us a highly partisan bill written exclusively by republicans, and he said he would call a vote to proceed to it today. so who is being partisan? he knows darn well for this bill to pass it needs both democratic and republican support. and furthermore, when speaker pelosi and i said let's have a four corners negotiation, it was leader mcconnell who resisted. so whatever we do here in the senate, the house is doing its own bill. it made no sense then, it made no sense now. i said to the leader then that would slow things down. so that's where we are.

most important is the legislation itself. the legislation has many problems. at the top of the list it includes a large corporate bailout with no protections for workers and virtually no oversight. also very troubling in the bill were significant shortfalls of money that our hospitals, states, cities, medical workers desperately needed. this is a public health crisis. it is inexplicable to skimp on funding to address the pandemic. i told both leader mcconnell and secretary mnuchin that our caucus could not support such a partisan bill and urged leader mcconnell to delay the 3:00 p.m. vote so we might come to a bipartisan agreement. i'm glad he agreed because we democrats want to move forward with a bipartisan agreement. unfortunately, the legislation has not improved enough in the past three hoursor earn the

necessary -- hours to earn the necessary votes to proceed. given more time, i believe we could reach a point that the legislation is close enough to what the nation needs so all senators will want to move forward. we are not yet at that point. america needs a marshal plan for our hospitals and our public health infrastructure. the bill should include much more money for hospitals and community health centers, nursing homes, enough funding to address the coming shortages in masks, i.c.u. beds, ventilators, testing and personal equipment. the bill needs more money to offset the costs now being incurred by state and local governments who are propping up their health networks. we cannot reach a point where our states are going bankrupt and firing public employees like teachers and first responders and the corporate bailout is

unacceptable. if we're going to provide certain help to industries, there must be far more oversight, transparency partners and accountability and there certainly must be protections for workers. on unemployment insurance, we're glad the bill has moved in the direction we outlined, but in the moment the expanded unemployment benefits we fought for last only three months. it's supposed to be longer. we need it longer. let me be clear, the majority leader was well aware of how the vote would go before it happened but he chose to go forward with it anyway even though negotiations are continuing. so who's playing games? but our caucus -- our caucus is united in trying to deliver a bill that addresses this health and economic crisis quickly and we're committed to working in a bipartisan way to get it done, both sides of the aisle voting for a bill. we are entitled -- we are

entitling our proposal, the democratic bill we introduced, workers first, and we intend to follow through on this principle as we negotiate. the bipartisan negotiations on this package continue, even as we speak. secretary mnuchin was in my office just about a half-hour ago. changes to the legislation are being made, even as we speak. the bill can and must continue to improve. we're closer than we've been at any time over the past 48 hours to an agreement, but there are still too many problems in the proposed legislation. can we overcome the remaining disagreements in the next 24 hours? yes, we can and we should. the nation demands it. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, we not only can and we should, we must. we must pass this legislation.

i was very disappointed to see that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle chose to vote no on even the ability to move forward with debating this legislation tonight. and to my colleague, the democratic leader who said this is a highly partisan bill, that's just not the case. let's put the partisanship aside. let's do what's best for the american people. i will tell you that over the past several days, through a bipartisan process, we sat down democrat and republican in four different task forces and put together the elements of this legislation. as a result, the bill before you tonight, the one we're talking about, reflects republican priorities and democratic priorities. and i'm going to take the time to walk through it and to talk about some of those who people understand what's in this legislation. i was pleased to see the democratic leader say at the end he believes we can figure this out over the next several hours. he said 24 hours. i hope it's not 24 hours.

we can't the way that long. we need to move and move quickly. we see what the markets are doing globally. we know what the markets are going to do here. we've seen what the futures are. we've seen the impact in our states for our citizens. the democratic leader said more money needs to be put to our states and workers. there is an unprecedented amount of money for that. we are in a crisis. but to say there's nothing here to help hospitals, oh, my gosh, i'm going to talk about this with specificity, but $100 billion -- $100 billion, a pretty good start, $75 billion of which goes to hospitals. to say there's nothing for workers, the unemployment insurance provisions in here come from the democratic side of the aisle. it's the most generous unemployment insurance plus up by far ever in the history of our country. it actually adds more money to unemployment insurance than the

current system has. by the way, it adds eight times more funding into the unemployment system for the rest of this year and that is currently being spent. think about that. that's not generous? and, by the way, we republicans also agree that those who lose their job through no fault of their own should be able to get a generous unemployment check while we work through this coronavirus and get our economy back up and going again. let me walk through some of this. this coronavirus is something that is urgent for us to address. it's closed businesses, it's closed schools, it's changed every aspect of our daily lives. it's left us uncertain and for many americans, it's left them isolated, literally, self-isolated. it's put tremendous strain on our health care system, and that's why this legislation addresses that. our amazing first responders, our e.m.s., our police officers are doing their part as well as

our physicians, our nurses, other medical professionals on the front lines combating this disease. god bless them. it has done damage to a strong and growing economy. only a few weeks ago we had unemployment numbers that were at a 50-year low. we had nine straight months of unemployment decreases. now now we see businesses shuttering. we see thousands, and now millions of americans, unemployed through no fault of their own. the purpose of this legislation is to allow people to get back on their feet, to allow us to get back to normalcy. extraordinary times like this requires that we unify. i see it in my state of ohio and around the country. everyone has a role to play. everyone needs to practice social distancing. being safe, using hand sanitizer.

part of the strategy of flattening the curve as you see when you see dr. fauci and others make presentations is we need to reduce our overall risk for exposure so we don't overwhelm the health system. it will help save lives of our family members, of our neighbors, of our friends and people we never meet but come in contact with and the most vulnerable in our society if we follow the guidelines by the c.d.c., we're going to be safer. we're going to save lives. it always depends on us. all of us doing that. but it also depends on what we do here in the united states congress, both in slowing the spread through the legislative efforts i'll talk about tonight, but also in getting this economy back on its feet so people can get back to work and get a paycheck and begin to make ends meet. in ohio we've been taking the lead on this. we had been pretty aggressive at

saying people need to social distance, that restaurants and bars need to close. we were one of the first states to say that. schools needed to be closed, dr. amy atkins and the department of health have done a good job in responding to this unprecedented crisis. as of this morning we had 247 confirmed cases and three deaths. by the way the first person to die in ohio was a man i know. i knew him and i respected him. his name was mark wagner sr. from toledo, ohio. he contracted this disease and succumbed to it. unfortunately we're going to see more cases, we're going to see more deaths, but we're doing the things to begin to contain this, to begin to slow the spread and that needs to happen at every level, including here and that's why this legislation is so important to pass tonight. two weeks ago congress started this effort by passing the first major relief effort called phase one which was $8.3 billion to

address the health care needs associated with this pandemic. ohio has received $15.5 million from the first phase one legislation. but, of course, much more needed to be done. by the way, one way to find out what needs to be done is to listen to the people most affected by it and we've been doing that. i was joined by an infectious disease expert from the university of cincinnati on a facebook live town hall to answer questions from ohioans about this crisis. he told us what the health care system needs. we know what it needs and we're responding in this legislation. last week i hosted conference calls while i was here in washington with a number of heavily impacted groups, including the hospitals back in ohio and other people in health care -- health care providers with our food banks, with our small business owners, with workers, with nonprofits from all around the state, the charities who were out there on the front lines doing all they

did to help. we spoke to employers of all sizes, conferences with hotels, strawnts, -- restaurants and more, this helped us to understand their needs are and this legislation reflects what the needs are in our communities. we've got to continue to listen to people because things are changing and as there is an evolving threat out there, congress needs to be evolving as well. so last week, we passed the second major bill called the phase two package which provides federal funds to individuals to the virus can get healthy. as an example, if you want to get tested for the virus, that is now free. our hospitals needed more resources to combat the health crisis so we provided more care, for funding for the health care network. i'm glad the president signed that bill immediately into law. we also provided additional resources to state medicaid programs for hospitals concerned about losing revenue with no elective surgeries and concerned

about being overwhelmed by individuals suffering from the virus. phase two provided more masks, more gowns, other protective gear and more funding for the antiviral therapies that are coming. that's incredibly important that people know if they get the virus they can have something like tama flu for the regular flu, that giches them a lot of re -- gives them a lot of reassurance and comfort is necessary to protect our citizens. it puts more money to getting the vaccine going. it will not be here soon. it takes a while to get the vaccine. it will be done at unprecedented speed. it provides for expansion of emergency food assistance, including children who relied on the school for free lunch from the school cafeteria, it provided paid sick leave and family leave benefits because of a family member who has to leave because of coronavirus can now

pay the bills. this paid leave is provided 100% from the federal government dollar for dollar, not on the small businesses. that's really important. larger businesses tend to have paid leave, but now we have a way for everybody under 500 employees to be able to get that paid leave through the federal government reimbursement. it's good we acted on phase one and phase two, as i talked about, but it's clearly not enough. things have not gotten better in the meantime in the last few days. they've gotten worse. a lot more has to be done to contain this virus to help people weather the storm in the meantime. the crisis is unprecedented. in the best interest of public health we have effectively chosen to pump the brakes on our economy. we decided to do that as a country because it is in the best interest of our public health, but unfortunately that means that businesses of all sizes, small, medium, large are having to either shutter their doors or slow down their

production letting people go, so many parts of our economy now are feeling the pain of this rapid slowdown. applications for unemployment in ohio this week as compared to last week increased 20 fold, that means there was a 2,000% increase in ohio on claims for unemployment. obviously, that's overwhelming the system. i've worked with my colleagues nonstop over the past three days to put together this phase three package that will provide some relief to the millions of american workers and small businesses who have made our country and our economy the strongest in the world. our goals are simple. first, slow the spread of the virus. again, if that doesn't happen, people's health is at risk, and the negative economic impact that is hurting so many families will continue. so slowing the spread of the virus is not just about the virus, it's also about our economy. second, we need to help employers to continue paying

their employees through this crisis. our objective should be to keep people at work, keep them connected to their employer as much as possible. that's where they get their health care. that's where they get their retirement for the most part. that enables us to be able to ensure that as we ramp up our economy, it can ramp up more quickly because people will be there at work. there won't be the process of hiring and retraining. so one of our objectives in this legislation is not just to slow the spread of the virus but also keep people at work to the extent possible. and third, recognizing that not every employer is going to be able to keep employees, even those who have some business going don't have enough business. we want to be sure we're providing the resources to help those individuals. these are the people who are falling between the cracks. they can't stay at work because their work no longer has any revenue. we need to assist those people. again, as we have talked about, ohio's unemployment claims have

skyrocketed, but so have unemployment office claims all around the country. the bottom line is that our country is not going to be able to come back until we slow the spread of this virus. i'm pleased to say the phase three package we have negotiated by the way accomplishes all three of those objectives, all three. we do it through four major policy areas. we do it now, right away, to bring relief to the people we're representing, which is why we've got to pass this legislation and pass it now. first in terms of helping people, this phase three package provides direct payment. these are direct payments, checks to individuals. $1,200. per person. if you're a couple, it's $2,400. and then it's $500 per child. that check getting out to people will give people some extra dollars to make the difference in being able to pay bills, paying a car payment, paying rent, being able to put food on

the table. it will give people some comfort to know there is at least a little help coming directly and quickly. for those who are out of work, these checks also serve as a bridge to getting into the new unemployment insurance system i'll talk about now. because the checks are going to be necessary. in most states, it's going to take a couple of weeks, a few weeks, in some states several weeks to set up this new system. in ohio, they say two weeks. this is the most significant expansion of our unemployment insurance system in history by far. it's going to significantly expand the number of individuals who are eligible to receive benefits, particularly self-employed, so it broadens those who qualify for unemployment insurance. these folks, by the way, have never been covered by unemployment insurance before. what's more, it provides a flat increase of $600 per week per person in the unemployment insurance system. this means that for low and low, medium income folks, let's say

$40,000 to $50,000 a year, they will essentially have wage replacement now through notre dame insurance. this is a big difference. in ohio, unemployed insurance is one-third of your wages for those same individuals. now it will be topped up. so to the point earlier that this is a highly partisan bill, i'm sorry. this legislation reflects the priorities of democrats and republicans, and this is an example of that. and we have to acknowledge it. is the bill perfect? no, no bill is perfect, certainly not when we're trying to respond to a crisis like this and we're pumping out more of our federal tax dollars and borrowed federal treasury dollars than ever in the history of our country through this process when you add up phase one, phase two, phase three, but this is a bill that represents ideas from both sides of the aisle. are there some things that might need to be adjusted by the democrats in order to support it? i guess so because that's what

we have heard tonight from the democratic leader, but we cannot start over, folks. this legislation does exactly what so many democrats have called for, and republicans, to be able to help people, to have the financial security to pay their bills and to stay afloat. by the way, we also provide funding to the state employment offices so that they can have federal funding to deal with their administrative costs as they shift to this dramatically new system that's being provided through this legislation. so that's for people directly. second, the stimulus package is going to provide relief for small businesses that are trying to stay afloat by ensuring they are going to have access to credit and liquidity needed to adapt and retool their businesses to weather this storm. we're going to accomplish this in a couple of ways. one is through a major expansion of what's called the small business administration 7-a loan program. this is going to go through businesses that are currently providing funding to small businesses, so it's a community

bank. it's the savings and loan. it's the credit union. it's the regional bank. wherever people are banking, they will be able to get these loans directly. specifically, we're providing hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to small and medium-sized businesses that they can use for a variety of expenses, including payroll. including paying rent, paying mortgages. by the way, if they use it for that, the loan is forgiven. it really converts into a grant. if they use it for payroll -- again, let me repeat -- to keep workers, because that's one of the objectives here, if they use it for rent, if they use it for mortgage payments, the loan is written off entirely. it essentially is a grant to those small businesses. this is why the small business community is excited about this because they want to keep their employees. they want to keep their doors open, but they are waiting, and they are waiting. they are on the edge of their seats seeing what we do tonight and tomorrow. i've talked to many businesses back home who are saying i can

wait until monday, but i can't wait any longer. i'm bleeding cash. i have no revenue. i want to keep my people. i want to try to keep the doors open. you've got to give us some help. s a i said before, the best way to protect workers to get our economy back up and running is to enable employers to keep paying their employees. this new program for small and medium-sized businesses does just that. for businesses that might not be eligible for these s.b.a. loans, phase three stimulus helps provide immediate liquidity through a number of different ways. these are larger businesses, say over 500 employees. one is through the tax code, specifically our bill includes provisions that allow businesses to put cash in the hands of companies so they can even their workers employed and be ready to get back and running when the crisis is over. by the way, these tax incentives are things like not having to pay the employer side of the payroll tax, a 6.2% fica tax.

that's incredibly important to these businesses. they told us that, give us a break on that for this year, 2020, and we can keep more people, keep our doors open. that is probably the biggest single one here. but guess what? in 2021 and 2022, they have to pay that back. so the best part of these tax incentives is that a large majority of them are simply timing changes meaning that while there are direct reductions in taxes now in 2020 when they need it, much of that reduction is going to be paid back in coming years. these tax provisions could provide up to $500 billion in immediate cash flow increases, again with more than half of that paid back to the federal government during the budget window. third, the phase three package takes precise and targeted measures to relief particularly distressed industries that are at risk of hemorrhaging jobs and closing down if we don't. i know the democratic leader said he doesn't think help should go to businesses. i understand the democrats

actually want to give more help to some businesses, so i guess they will pick and choose the businesses, but in this case, these are the businesses we all know are unfortunately facing the possibility of shutting down unless we do something. think of the airline industry. think of the airlines that right now have seen their passengers be reduced by 80%, some say 90%. think of the airports that are closing. think of the hotel businesses. think of the other travel and tourism businesses, entertainment businesses. so these folks will be able to access what's called the exchange stabilization fund to be able to get a loan. and by the way, they will have to pay back that loan, but it is the federal government stepping in and providing a backup so that they can get that loan and be able to stay in business. so that's the three aspects that

help workers, that help small businesses, that help with regard to all businesses, and then finally and i think most importantly perhaps in this legislation is funding and policy changes to slow the spread of the virus. frankly, as i view this, this is the -- to buy time. it's to buy time for us to be able to increase the capacity of our health care system. this phase three package ensures that the men and women on the front line of this epidemic every day get more support. it increases funding, which we have already increased once, but an additional $4.5 billion for the center for disease control. that $4.5 billion, $1.5 billion of it has to go to the states. this is going to ensure we can continue to monitor and respond to this virus as this pandemic continues. i think this is incredibly important. it also sends more money out to ensure that we can get these antiviral therapies going.

think of tamiflu for influenza, something that is key to dealing with this crisis as we begin to turn things around is going to be having an ability to keep people healthier, should they contract the virus. to me, maybe the most important parts of this legislation, because i believe in order to get our great country back on track and get people back to work, we need to have some sort of metrics in place. so maybe the most important part is to get better data on the agriculture public health risk that's out there, and this legislation does that. it enables us to know, now that we have more and faster testing out there finally and we needed more testing earlier, but now that we have that, how many new infections are there? that's probably the best measurement we have out there. how many new cases are there? this legislation provides the funding and provides the direction to support the public health officials at every level to get better and more acceptable results every day,

report it to the c.d.c. from your local health authority, from your state department of health. those should be reported publicly every single day, but also all that data needs to come to the national centers for disease control every day so that we can no truly what's going on out there because we don't have that data now. and to have that data is going to give us a better understanding to be able to measure both the crisis as it stands and the health care risk we all face but also measure success as it starts to happen, because we need to be able to measure that success to get people back to work, to get people back to their families, to get people back on track in their lives. so this bill provides an increase in funding for health care, a major increase in addition to what i have just talked about. about $100 billion for hospitals and all health care providers, with $75 billion being appropriated to h.h.s. in order to be able to support our health care systems in a more flexible

manner. about $30 billion in medicare payment increases for hospitals that are directly treating patients with coronavirus. this is what they're asking for. finally, we have a couple of key proposals that we have championed over the years to support people with disabilities, particularly in institutional settings, that are at increased risk of contracting the virus. that's in this legislation. we have the money pilt to person program which supports transitioning medicaid beneficiaries from dangerous settings, which some of them are in where there is a lot of activity, into home-based long-term care. that's important, too. as i said earlier, these are exceptional times. not since the influenza epidemic of 1918, 102 years ago has the united states of america been so swept up by a health care crisis like this. i'm pleased with some of the steps we have taken so far at the federal level to respond to

this pandemic. we talked about them tonight. phase one, $8.3 billion, focused on health care. phase two, beginning the process of helping workers and helping people get back to work and helping health care more. now phase three, which is an unprecedented amount of support from american taxpayers to ensure we can get people through this, help them weather the storm. and again, these are republican ideas and democratic ideas through a process where we have forecast forces that were bipartisan, we worked long hours. i was part of one of those task forces. now we need to get this legislation passed. the american people deserve it. they deserve a congress that does everything in its power to minimize the damage caused by the coronavirus. so let's put the partisanship aside, let's get to a vote on this package as soon as possible. not 24 hours. let's do it now. let's do it now. we owe that to the people we

represent. i yield back my time. mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from -- yes, the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: thank you very much, mr. president. before my colleague leaves from the state of ohio, i would like to note one issue that he did not raise which we have in common, and that is the issue of voting on the floor of the united states senate in times of national emergency. senatorial portman and i have cosponsored legislation to address this issue, acknowledging in our introduction of it a few days ago that we would face something as we did this evening where five of our senate colleagues were unable to come to the floor of the senate and vote because they're in self-quarantine at this moment. this could grow. let's be very honest about it, and the numbers could grow to the point it could reach an

extreme where there's a question of an actual quorum on the floor of the senate. what senator portman of ohio on the republican side and what i have introduced with him on the democratic side is an effort to establish a verifiable technology and procedure so that members can vote, once the decision is made that we're in a time of emergency so that members can vote and not be physically present on the floor of the senate. there are some members, if you noticed tonight on my side and even on your side, who came to the floor quickly and left. they are genuinely concerned about social distancing and about contagion, and i understand that very much. i share their concern. so i would just say to my friend from ohio, we're certainly not going to call this measure tonight, but i hope we call it soon. it's time for us to have this conversation about how to protect members and their families, staff and their families in the way that we vote on the floor of the senate when we're facing a public health crisis such as the one that we have at this moment.

i'd be happy to yield for a question through the chair. mr. portman: i appreciate your yielding for a question. my question is a comment, to thank you for your support of this on the other side of the aisle. this is a bipartisan effort to ensure that we can be able to do our duty, as the legislative branch, article 1, we have responsibilities here. this is our duty station. and yet, if we cannot be here, we still need to be able to do it remotely. and with the technology we now have, we have the ability to do that, as my colleague from illinois has said, in a safe and secure way. so i thank him for his advocacy of this. and my hope is that we can have this as a possibility should we not be able to gather. i think what's happened in the last several hours as we've learned about our colleagues who are self-quarantining, one who tested positive, as i understand it, it's very important that we have that ability. so i thank my colleague. i yield back.

mr. durbin: i thank the senator from ohio. this is a bipartisan measure as it should be. it affects both sides of the aisle. we're all vulnerable. if we can find a practical solution which respects the integrity of the voting process of the united states senate, let's do it. this, as we've drawn it up in the earliest version, has to be agreed to by both leaders, democrat and republican, to go forward and do it for 30 days at a time, renewable for another 30 days with a vote of three-fifths of the members to go forward an additional 30 days. so this is not a permanent change but it's a change that may be necessary if we face a public health emergency or a terrorist threat, god forbid, or something of that nature. so i thank the senator from ohio. i know he's preparing to depart, i thank him not only for his remarks but the tone of his remarks. because what i sensed from the senator from ohio was a general feeling that we can achieve this goal of coming up with this critical third piece of legislation and do it with both sides of the aisle working

together. the american public has a very low opinion of those of us who serve in congress as much as we respect the institutions and many of us have given so many years of our lives to them. but i think they have been pleasantly surprised in the first two measures that were passed, they were done on a timely basis and bipartisan basis. when we address the issues of the resources to fight this covid-19, when we talked about providing free testing and medical leave and unemployment insurance being accelerated and food and medicaid reimbursement to states, it was done quickly and it was done with both the house and senate together on a bipartisan basis. i think that should be the standard. i'm sorry today we stumbled. i wish that the senator from kentucky, the majority leader, would have withheld calling this vote this evening because i do believe that there are serious negotiations underway even as we

meet here on this floor in another part of this building those conversations are taking place. i heard a lot of speeches on the floor and if you listen carefully to the comments of the democratic leader, senator schumer, they were positive. he really, i if he felt gave mee impression in the last several hours there have been steps forward. there are key elements that still need to be resolved but i feel confident we can reach that point and we must. the first and highest priority from our side of the aisle, we share, you said it, we all would say it, we've got to slow down and stop the spread of the covid-19 in the united states of america. unless and until we do that, there's nothing that we can do to repair and restore this economy that has any promise. we have got to reach the point where we have crested and start to see a decline in infections in our country so we can start envisioning the moment when we can get back in business in america. that moment couldn't come any time too soon for me or for all of us across the united states. that's why we said a marshall

plan -- that's what senator schumer kept referring to -- a marshall plan for health care and hospitals was our highest priority. i will concede the bill that you've described has substantial resources, but i must add for my point of view, just listening to my hospital administrators in illinois, it's not enough. it isn't going to be enough. we're going to quickly see our health care system overwhelmed if we don't invest now and invest dramatically. many of these hospitals in my state have said to me, and they said it publicly as well, that their revenue sources primarily outpatient treatment and elective surgery have been pushed aside because so many patients are coming through the emergency room door complaining of symptoms consistent with covid-19. they have to take them as priority and can't schedule elective surgeries, so the revenue coming to many of these hospitals not just in chicago but across the state have been compromised. from the financial viewpoint let's make sure this third bill we're debating puts an adequate

amount of money in for these hospitals. they are our first line of defense against the spread of this virus across america. and i think we all agree that should be done. i continue to be frustrated, and i know my governor, j.b. j.b.pritzker shares this, that all of the talk about testing kits heading our way have not born fruit. we don't see it. we're waiting for evidence of it. we're not testing nearly enough people in our state, a state of 1.7 billion -- million people, i'm sorry, 17.17 million peoplea state that needs more than just 350 tests a month. what we need to do is to make sure that we do this and have the testing kits available so we can map the increase or decrease in infections and we can chart specifically the spread of the disease in our state which i hope is moderated very, very

soon. the equipment, the protective equipment, we have people who are volunteering to make masks at home, we're so desperate to supply the needs for protective equipment at all levels. it's not nearly enough, and it needs to be done. let me also say a moment about the role of the speaker in this. i listened to the republican senate leader speak in somewhat questionable terms, to be kind, about the role of speaker pelosi in this conversation about this third bill. i must say it's pretty obvious that if we're going to pass this measure and do it with dispatch, we need to have cooperation on both sides of the rotunda, not just a bill acceptable to the senate but to the house as well. so when speaker pelosi comes to the table, it's important that she be there along with leader mccarthy, the house republican republican leadership so that all four corners are represented. that is what senator schumer suggested at the earliest stages that we have the four corners of

leadership come together with representatives of the white house and reach a l truly p bipartisan agreement that way. the fact that speaker pelosi is interested, she should be. she should be more than interested. she should be at the table and involved in making a decision on this. let me tell you the cash payments are important. we have never opposed them. we have said that we want to extend unemployment insurance. there is a proposal for that, the duration of this extension is important to our side. it is a critical element which i hope we can quickly reach an agreement on. when it comes to the loans that are going to be made to small businesses, senator rubio, senator cardin have worked on this for a long time. i think they are very close to a measure, a bipartisan measure that we can agree on. the phase three effort that senator mark warner and others have focused on really takes into account certain corporations with more than 500 employees who definitely need a helping hand. when it comes to the largest corporations, i hope you can

understand the reservations which some of us have. we want to make certain that the money going to these corporations isn't paid out in dividends or in stock buybacks, so that someone ends up getting rich at the expense of a truly bipartisan effort to help the workers at those corporations which are our highest priority. we can have restrictions so that these moneys are not abused and misused, and i hope that we can do that as part of this agreement. let me close by saying that i do believe we can close this deal. i don't know if it can be done tonight. i pray that it will be. if there are people of good faith on both sides of the table it will be. if it is truly bipartisan, i believe we can reach the goal we're all seeking. let's get this done. let's restore the confidence of the american people in this congress that we can act on a bipartisan basis, on a timely basis to respond quickly to what is one of the greatest challenges i've ever lived through in this nation. the american people in our neighborhoods and towns and cities across america are proving every day that they have

the courage and determination to see their way through this challenge. first and foremost, our health care workers, god bless them, at every level, the doctors, the nurses, the laboratory technicians and those working with our elderly, they are risking their lives every day in their mission to deal with this crisis. we should do no less when it comes to our responsibility here in the united states senate. and a word about our first responders, whether it's the police or the firefighters or those in medical professions, those too are doing their job regardless of the threat to them personally. so we should in that spirit resolve this matter and resolve it quickly. i believe we can do it. i believe there is a feeling of goodwill and determination on both sides of the aisle here in the united states senate, and i hope that it can even be accomplished this evening. i stand by what senator schumer said earlier. there is a light at the end of this tunnel. let's try to pursue it, both parties, and get it done as

quickly as possible. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, we don't have the luxury of time here. i think we all know that. certainly the american people know it. they can see it sort of just unfolding right in front of them. we've got small businesses that are shutting down which, of course, affects the people who work there. we've got health care systems that have tremendous needs and obviously they're on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus. we continue to try and make progress on a piece of legislation that really should have been proceeded to today. the vote we had earlier today was a procedural vote. it was basically are we going to get on the bill. what you saw was the democrats object to even getting on the bill. obviously as the leader pointed

out, once you're on the bill, you have 30 hours if you choose to use it in which to continue to discuss and debate, and if there are things that they are continuing to work on, certainly they could have that opportunity to do that. but the vote today which you saw the democrats oppose was simply whether or not we're going to get on the bill, a bill that is desperately needed by our country right now. and i would argue that the american people are looking to us for action. and, frankly, as i said, we just don't have the luxury of time. and the democratic leader got up earlier and said that this is a, this is a partisan bill. that's just false. that's just flatly untrue, mr. president. this has been negotiated for the past few days now between democrats and republicans. leader mcconnell appointed several task forces and the democratic leader appointed representatives from his side to serve on those task forces. they have been negotiating elementsth bill now for the pasl

for the past few days. what you see, the legislation in front of us reflects that work. there was a tremendous amount of bipartisan content in this bill. the democrats had ample opportunities to make their case and to try and get things included that they said they wanted. and just to sort of highlight again when, what the democrats said their priorities were in this legislation, phase three, if you will, it was to, it was about workers, it was about small businesses, it was about unemployment insurance. they called it unemployment insurance on steroids. it was about hospitals. i have to say that i see in this piece of legislation all of that. what they just voted to even debate includes all those elements. in fact, if you look at what this bill includes, if you're talking about providing help to families and people who really need it in this country,

immediately $1,200 checks to individual taxpayers. $24 00 to a couple who filed jointly, and that runs through income levels, if you're a single taxpayer, $75,,000, phases out at $95,000. a couple filing jointly, $150,000, phases out. this is something that the president supported. that was a bipartisan priority that ended up in this legislation. it will bring immediate relief, get dollars back in the hands of american families to enable them to deal with their daily needs and as best they can with the crisis we have unfolding in front of us. and then you had, of course, a priority, a huge priority for the democrats, which was the

so-called u.i. on steroids, the unemployment insurance program. and i have to say my colleague from ohio, senator portman, did a terrific job of laying out all the elements of this legislation, but as he mentioned, unemployment insurance was a big priority for the democrats. well, there is a big commitment to plussing up, topping off the unemployment accounts that the states maintain. $600 per week for three months into those unemployment accounts. so if you're unemployed in this country and you go down to the unemployment office in your state, what you would normally receive in terms of a benefit would be increased by $600 per week per person for three months. that was a huge priority for the democrats and one that republicans as well believed was important. so we have not only the checks going out immediately that will benefit families but we also have now an unemployment insurance program delivered through the states that will provide assistance to those who have lost jobs.

and then, of course, we had another priority the democrats mentioned was they wanted to provide assistance, much-needed assistance to small businesses. if you look at what's in this bill for small businesses, there is basically a loan program operated under the small business administration in which participating lenders, and that could include commercial banks, community banks, credit unions, as we mentioned earlier, where small businesses could go to get loans 100% guaranteed which if used to pay payroll, if used to keep their employees employed over this period would be forgiven at the end to the total tune of $350 billion total as part of this package. that's what it adds up to. but that, again, is a benefit that would go out for the next eight weeks to small businesses, and if used, to keep their employees employed, in other

words keep them connected to their jobs and when this thing passeses that those jobs will still be there. $350 billion there, $300 billion for checks that would go out to families, as i said earlier, and $250 billion to plus up the unemployment insurance accounts that the states maintain. those are all benefits that will go out to workers in this country, to employees to keep people afloat, if you will, until we get to a better -- better time, hopefully not too far ahead of us. and so those were all priorities that both sides had and that's just what democrats voted against. we had the vote earlier about whether even to get on the bill. whether to debate the bill. they voted no. they voted know en bloc, and as you saw shortly after that, a significant drop in the futures market and i think the markets, in addition to the american people, are looking to us to provide confidence, to provide a

shot in the arm to suggest that we get what's at stake and how important it is that we respond not only swiftly but in a bold and big way. and so those are just a few of the things that were included in there that are democrat priorities and represent the work of a bipartisan task force. now, the democrats have argued that perhaps, you know, there's too much in here in the form of bailouts. well, there is a provision in here through the federal reserve that would allow loans to be made to companies who need cash flow, who need liquidity, and obviously those are loans that would be paid back. so i don't know how you can argue something as a bailout when people are getting loans, businesses are getting loans that ultimately have to be paid back. but that's a provision in the bill. but if you don't have that in there, a lot of those businesses that through no fault of their own have been shuttered or asked to shut down. i used some good examples,

notable examples, the airlines basically are not operating. 10%, maybe 20%, but more likely from what i'm hearing 10% of their normal loads. i mean, they are going to have huge hits to their balance sheets. and other companies like those across this country right now who are feeling a tremendous amount of economic harm, and the reason that's important, mr. president, is because those people, those companies, those businesses employ thousands, millions of workers across this country. and if we want to keep people employed in this country, we have to keep those businesses functioning and operating in a way that will enable them to continue to make payroll. and so, yes, there's a provision in there that helps businesses sort of get liquidity, loan -- capital, if you will that will bridge to hopefully a better time, but those loans eventually, obviously would be paid back.

and so the democrats were very insistent there not be any corporate bailouts, not any bailouts for big businesses, and i don't know how you could argue that what this includes is a bailout for big businesses. there is a mechanism, a credit facility that would allow businesses to have access to loans to keep their businesses up and operating. and so those are just a few of the features in the legislation that was just voted down or even whether or not to debate it or not was voted down by the democrats. and i want to mention one last thing here, mr. president, that the democrats also voted against even debating when they came out here and all voted against this is a significant amount of money going to those entities that we know are on the front lines of fighting this virus. and we've all said that the best way to get the economy back on

track, the best way to see things restore to normal in this country is to defeat the virus. well, there are significant resources in this legislation that are designed just to do that. $75 billion going to hospitals and another $20 or $25 billion that will go to other hospitals, mandatory spending, this comes through the appropriations bill so these are discretionary funds. about $100 billion in there for hospitals, $20 billion for veterans health care, veterans hospitals and health care facilities are really critical to caring for a critical group of people in this country, those who have defended and fought for our freedoms. $11 billion for vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics and other therapy needs. gloves, masks, vernts

ventilators -- vernts and those sort of things. $11 billion in there for that. $4.5 billion for the centers for disease control which was also plussed up significantly, the last two bills we passed earlier this week, had additional resources for the c.d.c., $1.7 billion for the strategic national stockpile, $12 million for the military. national security is always an issue that we pay a lot of attention to, particularly in time of crisis. $10 billion for block grants to states, just directly block grants to states, $12 billion to k-12 education, another $6 billion for higher education, $5 billion for fema disaster relief fund, $10 billion for

airports, and obviously airports are very much impacted by this complete dropoff when it comes to air traffic in this country. $20 billion for public transportation emergency relief. that adds up to, mr. president, $242 billion on top of all the things that i just mentioned, going to things that we think are really strategic when it comes to defeating this virus and combating it and making sure that those resources are available to those who are on the front lines and doing that. so all told of that $242 billion, 75% or $ 186 billion goes through the states and the democrats have said we need more money for the states, we need more money for the states. well, this is a pretty, i would think, significant amount, $ 186 billion out of the $242 billion that i just described runs through the

states. and so there is a tremendous amount of support for those who are on the front lines trying to fight and defeat this coronavirus, mr. president. so i just point all that out to say, again, that it is -- it is a complete misnomer to say, as the democratic leader did earlier, that this was a partisan bill. this is a bipartisan bill and i participated in one of those working groups and i sat across from my democrat counterpart at times, more than one, and with staffs and we came to the table with a set of priorities and they came to the table with a set of priorities and what this represents is not everything they wanted, probably not everything we wanted but things that we could find that we could agree upon. and so this was a very bipartisan process which incorporated the ideas of both republicans and democrats. it is truly unfortunately,

frankly sad -- a sad day i would argue here in the united states senate and for our country that the democrats opted just a moment ago to vote not even to get on this bill. not even to proceed to it to give us the opportunity to have that -- continue that discussion and that debate. they indicated there are still discussions going on. i hope that's the case because i said this before, we don't have the luxury of time, mr. president. we need action. we need action now. not later, now. the american people need to see relief. they need to see confidence in their elected leaders and a willingness to work in a bipartisan way on a solution, perhaps many solutions hopefully, included in this legislation to the challenges they are facing in their every day lives. i would say it's unfortunate we're not going to be on this bill right now. i hope and pray for the sake of our country and for the people who are not only suffering from

the coronavirus, those who have loved ones, those are exposed to it, those caring for them, but also for every worker, every small business in this country, that the democrats will reconsider and allow us to get on this legislation and move forward in a bipartisan way on a bipartisan bill which they helped fashion, which they helped craft that is critical to the challenges that we are facing in the days and the weeks ahead. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. wicker: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: thank you, mr. president. the senator from south dakota has said it well, and i just want to come down here today to echo that we've had so many misstatements made by people on the other side of the aisle this afternoon and this evening, i just think it cries out for explanations. senator thune is correct. this is a bipartisan bill that

we're asking for consideration on. we're asking that a vote be taken so that we can have the final 30 hours of debate and get to it tomorrow. america's crying out for this. the financial markets are watching us, and our economy is -- is teetering on the brink. we need to get this done. i too was in one of the working groups, mr. president, and we had equal numbers of democratic and republican senators in this working group with their satisfies -- with their laptops, and much of what is in the bill was hammered out with the input of democratic and republican members of this working group, and there were a few issues, yes, that we couldn't resolve and so we kicked it up to the democratic leader and the majority leader to be hammered out perhaps in consultation with the administration.

but far and away most of this legislation is -- is bipartisan in nature and it just pains me for somehow the accusation to be made that this is nothing but a bipartisan bill written by the -- the republican leader. what is this about? the american people need to understand this, mr. president. this is about getting money to average workers so that they can pay their bills and so that they can stay employed. it involves enhanced and lengthened unemployment insurance, and it is a provision given to us and designed and -- and -- and conceived by our democratic friends. we felt it was worth doing and we put it in the bill. also there is -- as the distinguished gentleman from south dakota said, there is $

350 billion to small businesses to keep workers from ever being unemployed in the first place, to keep them on the job. so small businesses will have an opportunity to receive a cash infusion and this could happen as early as this coming week. and they would be able to use this money to pay the salaries, and those people would never have to go on unemployment insurance because they would still be on the job. that's what's in this bill. that's what we need to get to a conclusion about and send on over to the house of representatives tomorrow morning. it of course involves checks from the government, massive checks, a massive amount of checks to middle-class americans to just give them a little something in their accounts so that they can pay the bills in response to this economic downturn that we've had. and then it invol