colleague the democratic leader who said p this is a highly partisan bill, that is just not the case. let's put the partisanship aside and do what's best for the american people. they will tell you over the past several days through a bipartisan process we put down democrat and republican indifference task forces and put together the elements of the legislation. as a result of the bill before you tonight, the one we are talking about reflects republican priority standard democratic priorities. and i'm going to take the time to walk through it and to talk about them so people understand what's in the legislation. i was pleased to see the democratic leaders say at the end he believes we can figureur this out over the next several hours. he said a 2 24 hours but i hope it's not. we can't wait that long. we see what the markets are doing globally. more importantly we see the impact in the states among the

citizens. o more money needs to be put against hospitals and states and workers there is an unprecedented amount in the legislation but to say there's nothing here i'm going to talk about this with specificity but $100 million, pretty good start. 75 billion of which was to hospitals. to say there's nothing for workers, the unemployment insurance provision comes from the democratic side of the aisle. it's the most generous by far and addspl more mone add more mo unemployment insurance than the current system has. by the way it has a time more funding for the rest of this year than is currently being

spent. and we also agree that those jobs should be able to get a tgenerous check while we work through the virus and get the economy up and going against what they walk through some of this. the coronavirus is some urgent for us to address. it's closed businesses and schools and changed every aspect of our daily lives. it's left us uncertain and for many americans it's left him isolated, literally self isolated. it's put tremendous strain on the health care system and that's why the legislation addresses that. the first responders, police officers are doing their part as well as physicians, nurses, other medical professionals on the front line is combating this disease. god bless them. it's also done great damage to what was a strong and growing

economy to me a few weeks ago we had numbers that were at a 50 year low we have 19 months of increases and over 3% wage growth every month but now they see the business is a shuddering. we see thousands and only in of americans unemployed through no fault of their own. the purpose of the legislation is to allow people to get back on their feet, to allow people to get back to normalcy. extraordinary times like this require us to unify the country and i see it in my home state of ohio and around the country everybody has a role to play and it needs to be practicing social distancing as they call it. washing your hands frequently, using hand sanitizer, part of the strategy of flattening the curve as we see others make presentations we need to reduce our overall risk for exposure so we don't overwhelm the nation's publicfo health system.

we can all play a role in it and in the endav of that would help save the lives of our family members and our neighbors and most vulnerable if we followed the guidelines. it all depends on us. but it also depends on what we do here in the united states congress, both in slowing down the spread through the legislative efforts i will talk about tonigh tonight also both m getting this economy back on its feet people can get back to work heand get a paycheck and begin o make ends meet. in ohio we've been taking the this.n we have been pretty aggressive in saying people need a social distance. we were one of the first coupleo of states to say that schools need to be closed.

i think that they've done a good job in responding to this unprecedented crisis. and sod this morning we have 247 confirmed cases and three deaths.. by the way the first person to die in ohio with a man i know. i knew him and respected him today we will see more casesng d more deaths and we see the slow spread and that needs to happen at every level including here and that is why the legislation is so in part to pass tonight. a few weeks ago congress started the effortf by passing the first major relief effort called phase one is $8.3 billion to address the health care needs associated in this pandemic. ohio has already received 50.5 million by the way from the first phase one legislation. course, much more needed

to be done.ch more needed by the way, to find out what needs to be done is to listen to the people that are most affected, and we have been doing that. i was joined by the infectious disease expert from cincinnatibo on the facebook live town hall so we couldow answer questions about this crisis. he told us that the health care system needs. those that are out there on the front lines are doing all they can to help. we spoke to employers and had conference calls with hotels and restaurants and more hearing directly from the stakeholders hoped us understand the needs and what the legislation

reflects the needs or in the mmcommunities. 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 phase two package. as an example, if you want to get listed for the virus, it is now free. our hospitals needed more resources to combat the crisis, so we provided more care, more funding for the healthcare denetwork. i'm glad the president signed that immediately into law. we also provided resources to the state medicaid programs to show concern about losing revenue with no effective surgeries anymore and concern of being overwhelmed by the influx of individuals suffering from the virus andvi also provided other protective gear and more funding for the antiviral

therapies that are coming. the phase two legislation also puts money into getting the vaccine. going as quickly as possible. it's not going to be here soon. it takes a while butut will be done at unprecedented speed because of the funding we are putting into it and the emergency food assistance and including free and reduced lunch and no longer having access to those meals. it also provided paid sick leave and family leave someone has to leave work because of the coronavirus he can still paye te bills. most importantly, the paid leave is providing 100% from the federal government dollar for dollar amount on the small businesses and that is important. larger businesses tend to have

paid leave. the. the crisis is unprecedented. in the interest of public health we have effectively chosen to pump the brakes on the economy. we decided to do that as a country because it is in the best interest of the public health but that means businesses of all sizes, small, medium, large are having to either loshutter their doors or slow dn the production, letting people fgo. so many parts of the economy are feeling the pain and discredit or slow down. applications for unemployment is

weak compared to last increased 20 fold. that means there was a 2000% increase in ohio on the claim for unemployment. lmit is overwhelming the system. i worked with my colleagues nonstop over the past three days to put together this package that will provide some relief and those that have made the country and the economy the strongest in the world. our goals are simple. first, slow down the spread of the virus. again, if thatap doesn't happen, people's health is at risk and the negative economic impact that is hurting so many families will continue. so, slowing down the spread of the virus is also about the economy. second, we need to help employers continue paying their employees through this crisis. the objective should be to keep evil at work, connected to their employer as much as possible. that's where they get their healthcare and retirement for

the most part. that enables us to be able to ensure that as we ramp up the economy, it can ramp up more quickly because more people will be there at work and it won't be the process of hiring and retrainings so what are the objectives in this legislation? it isn't just to slow down the spread ofor the virus also to kp people to the extent possible and recognizing that not every employer will be able to keep employees. even those that have't some business don't have enough business we want to be sure we are providing the resources to help those individuals, these are the people falling between the cracks. they can't stay at work because it's no longer has the revenue. we need to assist those people as we talk about the plans thatr skyrocketing but so have the office plans all around the country. the bottom line is the country isn't going to be able to come back until we slow down the spread of the virus.

i'm pleased to say the package has been negotiated it accomplishes all three of those objectives. we do it through four major policy areas to bring relief to the people we are representing which is why we have to pass this legislation and pass it now. first in terms of t helping peoe this package provides direct payments, $1,200 per person if you are a couple of it is $2,400 then $500 per child. checks getting out to people who gives extra dollars to make the difference in being able to put food, on the table. it will give people some comfort to know that there is at least a little help coming directly and quickly. for those out of work, the czechs also serve as a bridge to

get to the new entrance system i will talk about more. because the czechs are going to be necessary in that in most states it's going to take a couple weeks, a few weeks and in some cases several weeks. in ohio they take two weeks. this is the most significant expansion in history by far. it's going to expand the number of individuals eligible to receive benefits particularly self-employed so those that qualify for the unemployment insurance these folks by the way has neverr been covered by unemployment insurance before. what's more, it provides a slight increase of $600 per week per person in the unemployment insurance system. this means the low medium income folks would say 40 to 50,000 year willav essentially have the replacement through insurance. this is a big difference. it's y one third of the wages fr those same individuals.

now it will be bumped up. so, to the point earlier that this is a highly partisan mill, 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 perfect, no, certainly not when we are trying to respond to the crisis like this and we are putting out more of our federal tax dollars and borrowed treasury dollars than ever in history of the country in the process when you add up the phase one and phase two and 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 i guess so because thatht is what we heard tonight from the democratic leader, but cannot start over. this legislation does exactly what so many have called for, and republicans, to be able to

help people to have the financial security to pay their bills and stay afloat and we also provide funding to the state employment offices so that they can have federal funding to deal with the costs as they shift to this dramatically new system that is being provided in the legislation. so that's for people directly. second it's going to provide relief for small businesses that try to stay afloat by ensuring they will have access to credit and liquidity needed to adapt and retool the businesses to weather the storm. we accomplish this in a couple of ways, the expansion of the small business administration program. this is going to go through to the businesses that are currently providing funding to the small businesses and it is a community bank. with savings and loans and it's a credit union and regional bank wherever people are banking they will be able to get these directly. specifically we are providing

hundreds of millions of dollars of loans to small and medium-sized businesses they can use for a variety of expenses including payroll and paying rent and mortgages and by the way if it isn't for that, it is forgiven and converts into a grant. if they use it for payroll again is a repeat because that is one of the objectives of the use it for rent or mortgage payment it is written off entirely and essentially is a grant to the small businesses. this is why the community is excited about this because they want to keep their employees and their doors open, but they are waiting. they are on the edge of their seats seeing what they do tonight and tomorrow. i've talked to manyre of his suspect home that say i can wait until monday but i can't wait any longer. i'm bleeding cash. i have no revenue. i want to try to keep the doors open.

you've got to give us some help. as i said before the best way to protect the workers and get the economy up and running is to enable workers to keep paying their employees. the small and medium-sized businesses that does just that. for those that might not be eligible for these loans, it helps provide immediate liquidity in a number of different ways. over 500 employees one is through the tax code specifically it includes provisions that allow businesses to put cash into the hands of companies so they can keep their workers unemployed and get back into running when the crisis is over. they are things like not having to pay the employer side to 6.2. this year in 2020 we can keep our, doors open. that is the biggest single onee

here. but guess what in 2021 and 2022, they have to pay that back so that he could best part is that climate change is manning the direct reduction in 2020 when they need it much of that reduction is going to be paid back in the coming years. based on the rough estimates we've seen in the tax provisions, they could provide up to $500 billion in immediate cash flow with half of that feedback in the federal government during the budget window. third, it takes precise and targeted measures to the industries that risk of jobs and closing down if we don't. i know the democratic leader says they don't think help should go to businesses. i understand the democrats want to give more help to some businesses, so i guess they will check and pick the businesses but these are the ones we all know.

unfortunately they are facing the possibility of shutting down unless we do some in. think of the airline industry is 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 business, think of the other travel and tourism business, entertainment businesses. so, these folks will be able to access the exchange stabilization fund to be able to get a loan and they will have to pay it back but it is the federal government stepping in and providing a backup so they can get that loan and be able to stay in business. so, that are the three aspects that help workers and small businesses and with regards 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 viewed this, it is to buy time to read it's time for us to increase the capacity of the system. this package ensures the men and women on the front line of this epidemic every day gets more support, get increase funding withll an additional $4.5 billin for the centers of disease control. the $4.5 million, 1.5 billion us to go to the states. this will ensure we continue to monitor and respond to the virus as the pandemic continues. i think this is incredibly important. it also sends more money out to ensure we can get these antiviral therapy is going. think of influenza, something that is key to dealing with the crisis as we begin to turn things around will have the

ability should they contract the virus. to me may be the most important parts of the legislation, because i believe in order to get our great country back on track and people back to work we need to have a metric in place so the important part is to get the data on the public health risk that's out there it enables us to know now that we have more and faster testing out there ane we needed more testing earlier but now that we have that, how many exceptions are there? that is probably the best measurement. how many cases are there, this legislation provides funding and provides the direction to support thseparate the public hh officials at every level to get better and more acceptable results every day reported to the cdc from your local health authority, from your states department s of health. those should be reported every day but also of the data needs

to come to the national centers of disease control, everyday so that we can know what's going on out there because they don't hahave the data. to have the data is going to give the understanding to be able to measure both the crisis as it stands and the healthcare risk but also measure success as it starts to happen because we need to be able to measure the success to get people back to work to their families, to get people back on track in their lives. so this bill provides an increase in funding for health care,ta a major increase in addition to what i just talked about. about $100 million for hospitals and healthcare providers with $75 million being appropriated to hhs to separate the holster 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 are asking for.

finally, we have a couple of proposals we championed to support people particularly in institutionalir settings with increased risk of contracting the virus in the legislation. we have a program that supports transitioning medicaid beneficiaries from dangerous settings and a lot of activiti activities. that's important, too mac. not since the epidemic 1 of 1918 as the united states of america had been so swept up by the healthcare crisis like this. i'm pleased with some of the steps we've takenev so far to respond to the pandemic. we talk about them tonight. phase number onell from 8.3 billion,nd phase number two, beginning the process of helping workers and helping people get

back to work i and helping healthcare. now number three which is an precedented amount of support from american taxpayers to ensure that we can gete people through this and help them to weather the storm. andli again, these are republicn ideas and democratic ideas in a process where we have more task forces that are bipartisan and we worked l long hours. i was part of one of those task forces. now we need to get the legislation passed. the american peopleha deserve i. they deserve a congress that does everything in its power to minimize the damage caused b 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. we owe that to the people that we represent. i yield back my time.

>> the senator from illinois. >> thank you mr. president. before my colleague leaves for the state of ohio, i would like wto note one issue he did not raise which we have in common and that is the issue of voting on theon floor of the united states senate in times of cy national emergency. senator portman and i cosponsored legislation to address this issue acknowledging and the introduction of a few days ago that we would face something as we did this evening. where five of the senate colleagues were unable to come to the floor of the senate and vote because they are in self quarantine at this moment. this could grow, let's be honest about it, they could grow and reach the extreme where there is the question before the senate where the senator of ohio and the site i introduced with him on the democratic side is an effort to establish a verifiable

technology procedure so that the members can vote once the decision is made of the time of emergency so that the members can vote and not be physically present on the floor of the senate. there are some members you've noticed on my site and even on your side who came to the floor quickly and left and they are genuinely concerned about social distance and contagions, and i understand that very much. i share their concern. so i would say to my friend from ohio we are certainly not going to call this measure tonight, but i hopeti we call it soon. it's time for us to have this conversation about protecting members and their families, staff and their families in the way that we go to the floor of the senate when we are facing a public health crisis such as the one we have at this moment. i'd appreciate you yielding and my question is a thank you for your support on the other side of the aisle.

should we not be able to gather and i think what's happened in the last several hours as we learn about our colleagues one tested positive as i understand, it is important that we have that ability. i think the senator from ohio. this is a bipartisan measure as it should be. it affects both c sides of the aisle and if we can find a practical solution that respects the integrity of the voting

process in the senate, let's do it. as we have drawn up in the earliest it has to be agreed to by both leaders, democrat and republican to go forward and to do it for 30 days at a time with a vote of three fifths. tode come up with the legislatin and d give it on both sides of e aisle working together they have very little opinion on those of us that served in congress as we respect the institutions and many of us have given our lives

too, but i think that they have been pleasantly surprised and first measures should be if they were done in a timely basis and on a bipartisan basis and so, we would address these issues have the resources to fight this covid-19. when we talked about providing free testing and medical leave and unemployment insurance being accelerated in food and medicaid reimbursement it was done quickly and with the house and the senate on a bipartisan basis. i think that should be the standard. i'm sorry that today we stumbled. there are serious negotiations underway even as we meet on the floor and another part of the building those conversationson e taking place. i've heard a lot of speeches on the floor and if you listen carefully to the comments of the democratic leaders they are

positive and i felt gave me the impression that even in the last several hours there've been some steps forward and key elements that still need to be resolved, butin i feel confident we can that point and we must. the first and highest priority from our side of the aisle we all would say it. we have got to slow down and stop the spread of covid-19 in the united states of america. unless and until we do that there's nothing we can do to repair and restore this economy. we've got to reach the point where we start to see the decline and envision the moment we can get back in business. that moment couldn't come any timeme too soon for me or any of us across the united states. that's why we set a marshall plan if as our highest priority.

there are substantial resources but i must add soliciting to my hospital administrators in illinois it isn't going to be enough and we will quickly see them overwhelmed if we do not invest now and invest dramatically. many of the hospitals in my state have said to me and said it publicly as well but the revenue sources primarily outpatient treatment and elective surgery have been pushed aside because so many patients are coming to the emergency room door and they can't schedule elective surgeries. they are the first line of defense against the spread of this virus across america and i think we all agree that there should be done.

i continue to be frustrated and i know my governor shares his frustration that all of the promises and all of the press conferences the white house and other placesb. about all the testing kids have not borne fruit we just don'tot see it. .7 million people is a state that needs more than 350 tests a month so what we need to do is make sure that we do this and have the testing kits available to map the increase or decrease and infections and we can chart a specific spread.

to protect at all levels isn't nearly enough. it's about the role of speaker pelosi in the conversation about this third bill. it's not just acceptable in the senate to the house as well. so that all four corners are represented and suggested that the earliest stages we have the four corners of the leadership that come together with the representatives in the white house and reach a bipartisan agreement l that way.

we want to extend insurance. there is a proposal for that duration is important to our side and it is a critical element which i hope that we can quickly reach an agreement on. senator rubio worked on this for a long time and i think that they are very close to a major bipartisan measure we can agree on. he is number three effort. i hope you can understand the reservations that some of us have. we want to make certain the numbers going to these corporations isn't paid out in dividends or stock buybacks so

someone g gets the truly bipartisan effort to help the workers in those corporations so ththe money for abused and misud and i hope that we can dot. that as a part of this disagreement.w let me pause by saying i do think we can close this deal. i don't know if it can be done tonight. if there are people in good faith on both sides of the table it will be and if it is bipartisan i believe we can reach the goal. let's get this done and restore the american people in the congress we can act on a bipartisan basis and a timely basis to respond quickly to what is one of the greatest challenges i've ever been o through in the nation. the american people in the neighborhoods and towns and cities in america are proving every day that they have the courage and determination to see their way through this challenge first and foremost e healthcare workers, god bless them, at every level o the doctors and

nurses, laboratory technicians and those working with the elderly 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 in the senate and a word about the first responders, whether it is rthe police or the firefighters or the medical professions, those were doing their job regardlessso of what's been done to them personally, so we should not spirit resolve this matter and resold quickly. i believe that we can do it and i believe there is a feeling of good will and determination on both sides of the aisle here in the united states.