it's also local iowa companies and their workers who are stepping up and helping out. kent corporation has been working closely with local nonprofit partners to address food insecurity for folks in their community. partnering with the salvation army, united way, and the muskatine center for social action, they're preparing nearly 300 meals every wednesday and thursday to be distributed to families and individuals who are in need. folk, while we are facing challenging times, we have also been reminded of the generosity and charity of the men and women across our nation and the tremendous courage and resilience of our workforce. throughout the covid-19

pandemic, essential workers in the united states have continued in their daily jobs to care for and protect americans, to produce and deliver food and essential goods, and to uphold our nation's critical infrastructure. these men and women, our moms and dads, brothers and sisters, are putting the livelihoods of their fellow americans ahead of their own. each and every morning despite the pandemic, they wake up and they go to work. in this fight against the invisible enemy, the critical logistics operators, the supply workers, medical professionals, and many others who are on the front lines responding to coronavirus could not be more important to our victory. they truly are our heroes. folks, our nation cannot weather this pandemic without our

essential workforce. they first and foremost deserve our gratitude. so today we want to say thank you. thank you to our doctors, our nurses, and our health care workers who see firsthand the seriousness of this disease yet put their own health and lives at risk to care for those who are infected. thank you to our truck drivers who have driven for thousands of hours often back and forth on lonely roads to keep our economy running and to deliver the necessities we rely upon and often take for granted. thank you to our farmers who continue to work around the clock to feed and fuel the world. thank you to our grocers, cashiers, and retail employees who keep our store shelves stocked and the checkout lines

moving. and thank you to our child care providers who have continued to care for our kiddos throughout these tough times. but, folk, these frontline workers deserve more than a heartfelt and well-deserved thank you. they need to know they are appreciated for their selfless service. that's why i'm proposing we give these heroes a break, a tax holiday and allow them to keep more of their hard earned paycheck. together with the sacrifice of these essential workers, the spirit of generosity we've seen across iowa, and the service of our leaders at every level of government, we will get through this. the battle continues, but i know that we can and we will beat covid-19. stay safe and stay strong. mr. president, i would note the

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

mrs. blackburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mrs. blackburn: i ask the quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without

objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you. i want to thank senator ernst for organizing this today to come to the floor and talk about the good things that are happening in our states because we know that the pandemic has changed a lot about the way that we live and work and do business and tennesseans are certainly no exception to that. one thing that has been a consistent in this entire episode with the pandemic is the way tennesseans step up to take care of one another. and the numerous acts of kindness and graciousness that have been shown from neighbor to neighbor and community to community is something that shows the goodness of the american spirit and we are just blessed to be home to thousands of people who have demonstrated

their desire to help make life a little bit better for their neighbors and friends and sometimes for people that they do not know. but people who have expressed a certain need. people like jeremy hopkins. now, jeremy is from jackson, tennessee. he is an engineer at the toyota motor manufacturing facility that is there in jackson. he became aware of a need for p.p.e. down in new orleans at a hospital. a friend of his made him aware of this need. so being an engineer, he fired up his personal 3-d computer and printer and got to work making face shields for the health care workers in new orleans. he worked with union university

and some of the students there, union is located in jackson, tennessee. and he was able to ship 57 shields to providers, health care providers in new orleans. and then he used his remaining materials and he made another 173 shields for clinics in west tennessee and mississippi. steve archer, a u.s. air force veteran and he is a medical supply and logistics technician. steve lives in fountain city. he decided to head to new jersey to see how he could help to make certain that p.p.e. was delivered on time to hospitals and nursing homes and health care providers, so there he was helping with them he contracted

covid-19. since that time he has recovered and he is back on the job in tennessee. the knocks county baptist disaster relief team has also been working long days at heights baptist church. what they are doing is cooking and assembling meals for the homeless. our famoustilry, moon shine and whiskey which they have been making there in tennessee, they have changed their production to making mass quantities of hand sanitizers. and our wonderful singers and song writers and musicians and choirs are holding concerts by zoom and online to bring some relief and happiness to people all across the globe. and we're all enjoying these virtual concerts. and the always amazing and

inspiring dollly parton -- dolly parton. they is our tennessean of the year. and dolly is reading bedtime stories from her imagination library on youtube each week. and of course i'd be remiss if i did not thank some wonderful women who decided to pull out that sewing machine and get busy making face masks for critical workers all across the country. dotty gadolfin, marilyn thomas, janice blare. well, dotty, marilyn and jiang nice are seamstresses per excellence. and they are creating these masks and they are sending them where there is a need all across

the country. mr. president, we are known as the volunteer state in tennessee. and this pandemic is showing us that just as throughout our nation's history, tennesseans have shown up when they've been called and asked to volunteer and to give their time, their efforts, their energy, their talents, their resources in order to improve the lives of others. we thank each and every one who is doing this and those that i have mentioned we say a special thanks for doing your part to ease the life of others during this pandemic. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. a senator: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to join my colleagues --. the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. a senator: i ask that the quorum call be suspended, mr. president. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hoeven: mr. president, i rise today to join my colleagues in honoring all those who have continued to work in service to our nation during the covid-19 pandemic. my home state and our nation are blessed with dedicated citizens who have continued striving to keep essential operations going amidst the challenges that we face. while there are many sectors that deserve recognition and

will be mentioned by my colleagues, notably health care workers, teachers, grocery store workers, law enforcement of course, many, many others. but i want to focus for just a minute on the critical efforts of our agricultural producers, our farmers and ranchers and so many others. maintaining the food supply chain during this public health emergency is essential, absolutely essential. as we combat coronavirus, our farmers and our ranchers have continued to provide the food, feed, fuel, and fiber that we need. americans truly benefit every single day from the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the world thanks to our producers, our farmers and our ranchers. but as operations across the country are impacted, food security has been a particular concern. we greatly appreciate the efforts of those working to keep our, keep food on our tables from our producers to the workers. so it's not only the ranchers,

our farmers and ranchers, but also the workers at the ag processing filths. we know there are real challenges there but we appreciate those workers at the processing facilities so we can get that food from the farmer, the rancher to ultimately the consumer. that's why as chair of the senate ag appropriations committee i worked to secure nearly $25 billion in funding to help our farmers and ranchers to keep them going. they have faced incredible challenges. not only low prices, the difficulty in trade negotiations, really tough weather. and so for our producers, they have been facing real challenges for some time now. and then with this covid-19 pandemic on top of it, it has made it very tough for them. and they've hung in there, and they've continued to do what they do best, which is produce our food supply. and so they truly stepped up during this emergency, and i

think they need to be recognized for it and thanked for it. just a couple of weeks ago -- i'd also like to add a couple of weeks ago one of our nation's premier potato growers based in fargo, north dakota, donated 37,000 pounds of frozen potato products to the great plains food banks. we groal a lot of potatoes. a large producer donated 37,000 pounds of potatoes to the great plains food bank. another example, north dakota stockman's association and their foundation donated $20,000 to enable the same food bank, the great plains food bank, to purchase beef from north dakota ranchers. one of the big challenges we've had out there is our ranchers continue to raise incredible livestock, incredible cattle, finest cattle in the world, and the tough thing is getting such a poor price for it. we've got to figure out how to

do better. at the same time we see prices going up at the grocery store, cattle producers are not getting compensated for those animals. their prices have gone down. it's tough in the industry with the coronavirus but we've got to find a way to make changes now and for the longer term so that our cattle, our cattlemen are treated fairly and well for what they do, which is raise such a great quality beef product. but again, the stockmen, their association stepped up and made donations to the food bank. another example, north dakota farmers union announced it's teaming up with the farmers union enterprise to donate 30,000 pounds of pork ribs to the great plains food bank. so again, all examples of our farmers and ranchers not only producing that great food supply but stepping up and donating as well to help feed people that need it. this generosity immediately benefits individuals and families across the region. and it's helping to replenish

the food bank's strained inventory which serves many, many food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and charitable feeding programs. these efforts drive home the message that we're all in this together. even in the face of tremendous challenges we find a way to make the best of tough situations and take care of our neighbors, and that's what this is all about. another farmer sent this message to the nation. taking time to write out in one of his fields with his farm equipment, he wrote out in one of his fields, we will win the war on covid-19. and that just demonstrates the kind of spirit of our farmers and ranchers, and of course the spirit of our people across america. to have this hope and charity even when ag producers are working to overcome unprecedented difficulties is truly inspirational. that's why i come to the floor today to give thanks to our farmers and ranchers who consistently go above and beyond not only to feed our nation, but to serve their communities

across america. and that's why we continue working with the usda, the department of agriculture, to get vital assistance to our farmers and ranchers. we remain committed to supporting them through this pandemic and the myriad of other challenges they face just as they support us every single day. with that, mr. president, i would like to yield the floor to my esteemed colleague from west virginia. mrs. capito: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mrs. capito: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to thank my friend from north dakota. it's great to hear stories from his great state and see how they're helping each other, coming to each other's benefits, and really as somebody who represents a state who has agriculture but not in the dimensions that senator hoeven does, it's wonderful to

see how the ag community has really stepped up not just for his state but for the rest of the country. and we're very, very grateful for that. we've seen so many people across this country stepping in in so many major ways. i often describe my state of west virginia as one big small town. we always help each other in times of need whether we know the person or not. the floods of 2016, i think were a very good example of that, and i call it our west virginia spirit. and there's no question it has helped us through some very difficult times, like the time we're facing right now. every day, every day each of us, and i certainly am no exception, hears stories about how someone or some group has stepped up to the plate to go above and jonodev -- above and beyond to help their community. not to get attention, not because they're forced to, but because they genuinely want to help and make a difference. today i want to join my colleagues to highlight some of those unsong heroes. many of us have been able to

telework. here we are here serving in the senate. we're here at our jobs. but most people who are on the front lines don't have a choice. they're getting up every day and facing the challenges of this pandemic head on. but it does not come without some sacrifice. christian snyder, who is a nurse in the cardio pulmonary intensive care unit at camc in charleston said she quarantined herself from family and friends due to the fear of giving the virus to them since she cares for patients infected by the disease. we forget sometimes that our nurses and doctors and those who are caring for folks who are afflicted, they've got families too. another nurse in the same unit said no one felt like a hero when we gowned up or put our gol gels on. -- go gels on. we felt privileged, we got to hold the hands of our patients, be their friends, support, family and advocates because

their loved ones were not allowed to be with them at this very difficult time. she goes on to say i love my job, i love my team. i was never scared to go to work. aspen saunders, another emergency room nurse, said the most moving gesture i witnessed was the prayer circle at the hospital's cancer center. that is a moment in my career that i will never forget. i was very overwhelmed with the power and volume echoed from those who came to pray. it was an inspirational depiction of community strength. during this time i found that i am now more grateful for the things that i usually take for granted such as my family being healthy. i want to thank thee brave nurses and i want to thank them for their great comments. i have also heard from teachers making sure their students aren't falling behind and creating programs for students to offer support to the communities across our state. take example christie, a fourth grade teacher at warm springs

intermediate school in the eastern panhandle. she coordinated an effort with her fourth grade students to adopt a senior from the berkeley county senior center and through this program they wrote letters. a lot of our seniors are living alone and are lonely and haven't been able to get out to connect with those seniors. many students like those at ripley high school in jackson county are writing encouraging letters to health care workers to show them their support. and our firsdz are stepping up -- our first responders are stepping up. i heard a very touching story about the gilmore county volunteer county fire department in the heart of our state and how they're driving around to different houses to celebrate the birthdays happening during this time. you can imagine what that could mean it to a four or five-year-old child to see a fire engine coming by in celebration of their birthday. another inspiring story i heard was a constituent whose name is deb. deb realized the need for masks early on. she used donated materials and she and the women have sewn over

2,500 masks. they leave these masks on her front porch in a sanitized container for her health care workers. that makes it easy for them to pick it up. i've heard of businesses donating money to pay for the gas of health care workers. our car dealerships are donating masks. neighbors are donating food to the hospitals and others who are not able to get to the store. i heard over the weekend that one of my neighbor children, i said where is he? they said he's across the street. he's talking to sue, and sue's been widowed recently and she's by herself and he went in and had a cup of coffee with her. i heard of west virginians taking to the street and singing songs during the stay-at-home to brighten their neighbors. i've seen posts of young people offering to runner rands for seniors or those more vulnerable to the virus. this is the spirit of our country and this is the spirit of my state, the west virginia spirit. i know i could go on and on because there are a thousand

more stories like this. but up know what? just a few stories can give us hope, stories that help shed some's activity on what's a very difficult time -- some positivety on a very stressful time. i said on the floor many times i am an optimist and i know we will get through this because our country is strong, our states are strong, my west virginians are strong. we've heard some very inspiring stories this afternoon, and they're examples of kindnesses happening all across this country. this is the kind of kindness that we need today. we need it every day, but we really need it today. think about all these unsung heroes. thank them but also learn from them. let's all learn a lesson here and spread some kindness throughout our communities. and that, mr. president, i yield the floor. thank you. my colleague from indiana has,

i'm sure more inspiring stories to tell. thank you. mr. young: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from yn yn. mr. young: i thank my colleague from west virginia. a delight to hear from her and hear the story of so many great americans across the country who are stepping up during this time of need. we're passing through a painful period, one i think it's safe to say we never imagined we'd live through, one i know we'll never forget. it's not only the infected that this pandemic has hurt. the coronavirus is robbing so many americans of their ability to earn a living. it's taking away businesses they worked for decades to build. new anxieties are everywhere. routines are upended. our children are wondering when they're going to see their friends again and why their graduations were canceled.

you know, it's difficult not to feel hopeless or even afraid during times like these. congress, i know, is sending every necessary support to workers and employers and much-needed supplies to medical professionals and to hospitals. we're also removing red tape to help our economy withstand this virus and speed medical innovations to treat and eventually cure people. but though our government, a government of the people, is sending relief and will continue to do so, it's really our citizens who are leading the fight outside of government. we're showing a spirit that is uniquely hoosier and i dare say uniquely american. together we're doing our parts, and together we will pass through this.

we see this spirit in the incredible heroism of our health care workers and our caregivers. we owe them so much. they have been asked to bear the greatest burden, and they've answered that burden. in so doing, they're sacrificing their own safety and coming to the rescue where medicine cannot. we've seen it, too, in the bravery from those in what we've deemed our essential industries. we know they were essential long before this crisis, but it took this crisis, it seems, to really amplify that fact. we've seen it in the actions of rank and file hoosiers. you know, across my great state, there are countless acts of courage and compassion. hoosiers leaving groceries on a neighbor's doorstep or printing off 3-d masks. even something as simple as calling an old friend.

maybe they live on their own and they just need a word so they don't feel lonely. a forester dropped off azaleas at homes around the area. the accompanying notes read during this time of darkness, we hope to bring you a little light. i can say these little lights are growing across our state in this otherwise dark time. u.s. marines are taught to confront problems with creative thinking, to, we like to say, adapt, improvise, and overcome. similarly, when hoosiers face tough situations, they roll up their sleeves and they ask, how can i help? when americans combine our innovative spirit with service to others, we can meet any moment, including the one we're

in now. in just recent weeks i've spoken to more than 22,000 hoosiers, and i've been moved by the stories of compassion and generosity i've heard. i thought i'd share a sampling of those with you today. i heard from maria with sewing the seed -- sowing the seed. it began as a ministry but has grown into much more than that. it's a massive community proje project. they're sewing masks for nursing homes, seniors, the immune know compromised and -- the immunocompromised and others during this time. they were -- i was told about efforts to sanitize over 4,000 masks. willy and i connected from jennings county, willy is helping out his fellow veterans.

he's delivering food, mowing grass, doing wellness check, doing his part. sean and ben, a start-up in indiana, they're helping hospitals across the hoosier state coordinate patient care and reduce further spread of this virus. daryl with lifeline youth ministries is making food boxes for kids in elkart and has provided hundreds of miles already. i spoke with crossroads dis tilery and hubert star light dis tilery and winery who completely revamped their operations and are now producing and distributing hand sanitizer. the list of those who are asking how they can help and finding innovative ways to do so is, frankly, too long to recite here. this fight against the

coronavirus has cat liesed our american can-do spirit. problem solvers across this great nation are taking the initiative and to them we say thank you. let us move forward intent that we and future generations might draw energy from this moment forever. and let us resolve to find new ways to be better citizens by using our god-given talents to serve others. the days ahead will not be easy, but we will endure them. the clouds will part. and when they do, we will care for those who have been hurt. we'll rebuild what we've lost. and we'll do it with the same spirit with which we are now fighting this virus. thank you, mr. president.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. i'm sure all of us are hearing a common question from our constituents, and that is as we are starting to reopen our states, is it safe. does our state have all it needs to safely reopen? it's now clear as 50 states are starting to reopen they're doing that without having a vaccine in place because that vaccine at the earliest would be available next year. and without therapeutic drugs that can minimize the health care risk of covid-19. and we're starting to reopen. so the question is, how do we safely reopen? yes, we have the c.d.c. guidelines that we should be

looking at the number of new infections in our state, number of deaths, number of hospitalizations and be on a trend line that shows that the virus is under control before we reopen. but then there's a second element to safely reopening. and that is, having adequate testing available in our community. we need to have adequate testing so we know where the covid-19 virus is any given time and that we can trace those who come down with new infections in order that we don't have massive communal spread of covid-19 which would cause a second wave of misery for our community and for our nation. so this question is being asked to me by people in maryland who say can we safely reopen our business and how would we go about doing that. can we send our children to

school? how about summer activities for our children, how about reopening places of worship. and in each one of those cases they have to be able to know as to whether there's an infection in their place of business, in their school, in their place of worship that requires testing. the challenge today is that we do not have a national strategy on testing. the federal government, the trump administration has not acted to set up what is the need, how much testing do we need to have to safely reopen our communities, and how do we develop that capacity, and how do we determine priorities. i was completed to see that speaker pelosi in the bill she recently released recognized this and provided additional federal support to establish a national strategy on testing and to implement that strategy with having an adequate supply so

that what we say we can do in testing in fact we can do. the united states does not lead the world in testing despite the claims of president trump. this has been a failure of the trump administration. america is not ahead of the curve in testing. we have a hard time even justifying being in the middle of the curve. but america usually leads and helps bend that curve so that we can provide the global leadership to help all people, including those in the united states. instead under the trump administration we have abandoned our international involvement and u.s. leadership which is not only hurting the global effort, it's hurting the american

effort. we need a detailed strategy on testing. we need to know that we have that strategy in place and implementing it so that we can reopen safely. we need to have adequate supplies, and we must reverse the attitude that we've seen under the trump administration that each state is on their own. we need to have a national strategy. maryland like many states in the united states has struggled to procure all components needed to perform diagnostic covid-19 tests. nasal swabs, transport media, and chemical reagents. a lab must have all components in order to test properly. but due to unreliable supply chains, states do not have all needed components at one time. for example, a lab may have 8,000 nasal swabs, 6,000 viral transport media, and 2,000 chemical reagents. the amount of testing that lab can perform is limited to the number of reagents.

and it has to run the diagnostic tests. so as we look to be able to have the capacity to do what we need, we need to make sure that we have all three elements necessary for these tests. states' attempts to increase testing has been furthered hindered because there has been no action from the federal government to coordinate the supply chain. this week president trump announced that the federal government would provide states with $12.-- with 12.9 million swabs and almost 10 million tubes of viral transport media to help states test at least 2% of their population. that's a first step but what about reacts needed to analyze the patients' viral sample to determine if she is covid-19 positive? again, the states will be unable to perform substantial testing without all of the cop points -- of the components. the trump administration must not usurp from its responsibilities and leave the states to fend for themselves. for example, only the executive

branch can solve the underlining problems of coordination in the supply chain. to help state, businesses, and health care providers prepare for and respond to the trajectory of this pandemic. testing is critical. in order to reopen businesses and schools, it's imperative for states to understand the extent of covid-19 circulating in their communities. true testing capacity means the ability to test all infected people and any close contacts that they may have. one measure for whether the united states has enough testing capacity is the ratio of tests that come back positive. roughly 15% of u.s. tests are positive for the virus. the world health organization has stated that a positive rate below 10% reflects adequate testing. if the rate is higher, this means the u.s. is missing many active infections. for example, in countries such as south korea that have

virtually eliminated their coronavirus outbreak, the tests' positive rates are below 2%. for the past seven days the united states has averaged afternoon 291,000 tests performed each day for a total of 9.3 million tests performed to date. many public health experts estimate that the united states would need to double or triple that number of tests performed each day to ensure that the country can effectively test people with symptoms and their close contacts and conduct ongoing surveillance to detect new clusters of infection. the lack of any federal plan not only mars the nation's public health response but also hinders any economic recovery. the unemployment rate has surged to a level unseen since the great depression. only about one half of american adults have a job, the lowest year of the population employed

since measurements began in 1948. the data shows that the economic turmoil is driven not primarily by state and local government shelter in place policies but by americans' fear that going outsired will result in -- outside will result in illness. weekly surveys by the democracy fund and ucla, nation scape project have found that a majority of americans won't eat in a restaurant, go to the movies, or return to a shopping mall even if they were told they could. so our concern is that the federal government must partner with the states to increase this country's testing capacity in order to not only be able to reopen our economy safely but also to have americans feel safe again. how do we do this? well, we first need a national strategy on testing so that we

can reopen safely. to date we still do not have that. we need protocols for testing. so, yes, we do test people who have symptoms. but we also have to have enough testing done so that we know where the virus is in our community because many people do not have symptoms and are infected by covid-19. we need to have a national supply chain of the supplies necessary to conduct these tests. we need a game plan to get there. and, yes, the defense production act was passed by congress exactly for that purpose for our national security. as president trump says, we're at war. let's use the national defense production act in order to make sure we have the domestic production of the supplies we need to have adequate testing in our community. if we do all that, then americans indeed will feel safe, that the plans that are being

implemented by our governors to reopen is backed not only by sound public health recommendations but by the support in our community to keep them safe. i urge my colleagues to do everything we need to to make sure america has the testing capacity it needs, that the american people understand that, and we can get beyond covid-19. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mr. gardner: mr. president, we find ourselves celebrating national police week this are year at a very unique and troubling time in our country's history. this is a week for our nation to recognize the valiant services of police officers in every community and the sacrifice they make day in and day out. , particularly now in the midst of this covid-19 pandemic, such service has taken on new significance. local police officers regularly put their personal safety at risk to protect our friends and our families, whether they're stopping armed robberies or helping someone change a tire, these officers go above and beyond in their duties each and every day. but today police officers face a new risk in the line of duty, an infectious novel coronavirus that is unpredictable and deadly. and despite the unseen danger of

this new threat, police officers continue to, law enforcement around the country continue to go into our communities and perform their duties to protect and to serve and sadly too many have already seen their watches end because of this disease. in colorado, one he el paso couy sheriffs deputy made a sacrifice. deputy jeff hopkins contracted covid-19 serving his community as he had done since 2001. ultimately the disease would take his life on april 1 of this year, merely one day after he was diagnosed. this tragedy determined, was determined to be a death in the line of duty. it's a poignant reminder of the increased risks that our local police officers face during this global pandemic. a stark new reality for law enforcement that we must remember as so many of us shelter in our homes free from such danger. normally thousands of police officers and their families would travel to washington,d.c., this week to participate in the annual police

officers memorial service, gathering to commemorate and honor those is officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. i've enjoyed attending many of these events and memorials to visit with police officers from denver and weld county and douglas county and jefferson county, officers and sheriffs officers, law enforcement from around the state of colorado and loveland. while this memorial service is meant to honor the more than 21,000 names engraved on the national law enforcement officers memorial, it is a particularly solemn event to commemorate those who sacrifice their lives in the line of duty in the previous year. currently more than 320 of the names engraved on that memorial are from colorado. this year they will be joined by three more. colorado state patrol corporal daniel groves, colorado state patrol master trooper william moodeen and correction sergeant

joshua voth. we will not have the opportunity to participate in the usual ceremonies this year due to covid-19, the 39th annual memorial service had to be canceled. it's an unfortunate development to be sure, but i know that none of us are waiting for an annual gathering to honor these fallen officers. these are men and women who deserve to be honored each and every day. national police week is intended to serve as an important reminder. it reminds the nation that police officers, law enforcement are an important part of our communities who give so much of themselves to keep us safe, and their families that give so much to all of us to keep us safe. and it reminds law enforcement officers that they have not been forgotten, that we indeed have their backs. throughout this week we heard and will continue to hear about the brave men and women and their families who sacrifice not just their lives but their

physical and mental health, their personal safety and their time and energy to keep all of us safe and secure. needless to say, the current pandemic lingers, and as it lingers such stories will become evermore startling and take on renewed importance. we must not forget these stories. instead we must use them asking stark reminders to provide our law enforcement officers with immediate and long-term support to do their job safely and effectively. this is especially true as police officers play an evermore critical role in the fight against covid-19. examples of such support include better body armor top defend against every evolving weapons on the street, bolstering mental health care for officers and their families because it's not just the officer who goes through the mental anguish of service. and now the training and equipment they need to protect their physical health from deadly diseases like covid-19. as we continue to design

policies that address the pandemic, we must not forget these essential workers, our cities, our neighborhoods, our families depend on the dedicated work of their local police officers and police force. a work that is too often taken for granted. that is too often thankless. this week should encourage all of us to think about the sacrifices made by those who have sworn to protect us. it should give us renewed, renewed motivation to support them and help them to return safely to home every night. additionally, i hope this week will encourage all of us to reach out to those officers and to their families to make sure that they're getting the support that they need from congress to all of those who defend that thin blue line. thank you. thank you and god bless. you have my enduring support, and i know the thanks of a grateful nation. thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. lankford: mr. president. the presiding officer: mr. lankford: mr. president, the senator from oklahoma -- is the

senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. lankford: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: there have been a lot of individual committee meetings and have been able to walk through in preparation of the next step. i met with francis collins to walk through what is a vaccine development. very optimistic, multiple different lines of vaccines and very hopeful we'll have a vaccines in place by this fall that we could have hundreds of millions -- at least tens of millions of different vaccines. well over 100 million will be ready by christmas time it looks like. continue to push in that direction. had an untold number of conversations with the secretary of treasury over the last five days talking about the paycheck protection program. trying to settle this

forgiveness, this is a big issue with the small businesses and not for profit in my state. there is no closing information on how the paycheck protection program ends. they were grateful to have the help at the beginning but it is setup to be a loan unless you qualify for it. a lot of these folks took that loan that would transition into a grant under the hope that everyone would be treated fairly but the rules were not set in place. spent a lot of time this week and early this week with the treasury department. they released finally today a simple statement, if you're truly a small business or not for profit, that is your total loan was $2 million or less, you will be what they call safe harbor. it will be a very straightforward process for those very small businesses and small not-for-profits. if that loan is $2 million or less. that loan covers their total payroll for two months so that's

a truly small entity. once you get into larger entities, you may have a loan from $2 million to $10 million to cover payroll expenses for 10 mentsdzs -- months, they will have a fair process. that's helpful and when i spoke to secretary mnuchin, i thanked him for getting this done. i thought that was the greatest solution to provide the greatest clarity and simple paperwork for those small businesses who don't have to worry about pulling together a ton of documents. for $2 million or less they will be in safe harbor. worked on noncovid-related issues this week. senator rosen and i made contact with the ambassador from ukraine to be able to talk about in one town in ukraine some law enforcement sent out a letter to every american in the -- every person in the town saying if

you're jewish, we need you to register to make sure we can deal with crime in our community. that's appalling so we contacted the ambassador for ukraine and said, help us understand why there's leadership in one of your town that is trying to register every jew in your town saying it's because of crime issues. they are immediately pulling that back, doing an investigation, and i'm grateful to the nation of ukraine which has been a close ally and friend to the united states, especially pushing back against the aggressive russia that is to their east that ukraine is continuing to speak out immediately for the basic freedoms of individuals to live their faith and not registered by a local government. looking forward to an explanation of that in the days ahead. the vast majority of things i have worked on have been the issues of covid-19 as we walk through the issues of my state, oklahoma, and other states

around the nation trying to find ways to reopen as we see other nations doing as well. italy, who was exceptionally hard hit, is in the process of reopening. germany which was also hard hit by covid-19 is in the process of reopening. now fully half of spain is in phase one of reopening for them as well. south korea, exceptionally hard hit is not only reopening, they've already had an election and had record-high turnout physically at the polls because they set up a social distancing process to be able to do in-person voting and had a record 65% turnout, the highest turnout that they've had in 28 years they had in their first election post covid-19 outbreak in the country. that's a very hopeful sign not only that they are returning to life as we are, but also worked out a process to be able to have voting an to be able to have safe voting processes. the white house announced great

chiefses in tests -- increases in testing. the target for may is to have 13 million tests done in the month of may. it has been a dramatic increase. there is now 79 different diagnostic tests. there's been 12 different gliew zoology tests and there's pretty fast work to be able to go through the process knowing this has been a few months they've gone through the process. so far a total of $11 million has been provided to states and tribes to be able to offset the cost of testing for them. in fact, oklahoma has received $78 million, almost $88 million to deal with the testing issues in our state as we continue to see a rapid acceleration. my state is due to have 29,000

swabs for the testing there. we have seen a dramatic increase on testing and that is helpful for us. for the treasury, they made a lot of progress on getting up the economic impact payments to people. they've now sent out 130 million of those. just in my state 1.5 plus million of those economic impact payments have been made in my state, totaling about $2.8 billion that's come in direct assistance to folks in my state. so it's been significant help to people that need to get it. the paycheck protection program continues to help the smallest of businesses, the economic impact payments have gone out even as the state has started to finally come back alive little by little as we worked through phase one of reopening and now heading carefully toward phase

two. i continue to encourage my fellow oklahomans to continue safe distancing, to ware a mask in -- wear a mask in public and keep good attention to your own hygiene and taking care of people with other health issues or people that have especially heart issues or diabetes issues. they know to be able to stay home and to keep themselves protected and i encourage they continue to do that. while we work through all of these things in the senate in trying to work through practical solutions and work in a nonpartisan format, i was rather shocked yesterday when the house of representatives released the details of the bill they hope to vote on friday. this bill that they hope to vote on friday is a $3 trillion bill that is larger than the previous four bills that we have voted on combined. it is a pretty dramatic

expansion of a lot of issues that are not covid-19 related. as we said in the previous conversation just a month and a half ago what we focus on right now should be covid-19 related, not try to say it's a covid-19 related bill and stick a bunch of other stuff into it. it's over 1800 pages. in fact, just the summary of it, if people want to see the summary document of it, it is 90 pages long just to get the summary of it. it deals with a lot of issues that are certainly not covid-19 related. i think a lot of oklahomans and a lot of other americans say why would they want to stick that in there and just think look over here at this big number we're going to give the states and look at this big issue and don't pay attention to these other issues. for instance, i understand there are legitimate issues on trying to be able to protect voting and make sure the voting this year can go off safely and can go off in a way that we all have great credibility on this.

as south korea did with record turnout with in-person voting. but that's not what this bill that is coming from the house claims to do this week. what they plan to vote on on friday radically changes voting for the entire country not for this year, permanently. it prohibits states from here on out on imposing any conditions or requirements for eligibility for voting. it gives absentee ballots mailed to every single person. it also breaks down any voter i.d. laws that are in any states and authorizes something called ballot harvesting which has been exceptionally successful in california for democratic candidates, but it basically allows someone to come to your door and say have you voted yet absentee, and if it's no, they can vote on the spot. the person at your door can then take the ballot from you and they will say i will go turn it in for you. well, obviously, there are lots of moments of fraud for that, but this would make that mandatory nationwide. that's a major issue, to be able

to change how we do voting forever and to be able to break this down. this is not the time to try to cram this into a bill that's supposedly about covid-19 to do a permanent change on that. it also does some things that i was rather stunned by even for some of my colleagues on the house side. it changes the economic impact payments and it takes away the requirement that they have to have a social security number. well, if you take away the requirement that it has to have a social security number, what it allows then is for people that are noncitizens to be able to get the economic impact payments. up to $6,000 per household for any individual that's in the country. well, that's a pretty dramatic shift in what we're doing. it allows people that are not legally present in the country to actually end up with economic impact payments as well. i don't think most people in my state would be someone that would agree with that and would want to know why are we trying to be able to stick that in? it also goes some pretty massive changes to how immigration is

actually handled. it frees a lot of people that are currently under i.c.e. custody right now and forces the release of those individuals. it awards federal funding specifically to sanctuary cities. it prevents the deportation of anyone who's not legally present in the united states. it provides deferred action and work authorization for anyone that's working in a job here regardless of legal status into the country so it literally takes everyone who is not legally present here and gives them legal status during this time period. it changes the unemployment insurance in a way that's pretty dramatic. currently, the unemployment insurance is greatly plussed up during this time period. there is an additional $600 per week per person for anyone on unemployment insurance. that allows an individual in my state to make about $48,000 a year on unemployment assistance. the challenge is there are many individuals that don't make $48,000 in their normal job, but

they're making $48,000 now on unemployment assistance. this bill coming from the house changes that because that extra $600 per week expires at the end of july. it changes the expiration of that deep into next spring of 2021, regardless if your state is open for business or not. so in my state in oklahoma, literally it would encourage people that make less than $48,000 a year to not go back to work because they could make more by staying on unemployment insurance, not through just july but all the way through the rest of this year and half of next year, regardless if your state is open or not, regardless if we have a vaccine or not. if we have a vaccine let's say in november, as frances collins states, you would still get this unemployment protection to be able to make $48,000 a year past your vaccination deep into next year.

i think that's a continual problem. i think that's an issue. in the bill itself, it actually sets up a series of changes in our federal cannabis laws, which immediately i thought of, okay, how much information is in this bill by cannabis? cannabis is actually mentioned in this bill 68 times. now, i'm not sure why that's in a bill dealing with covid-19, but it does dramatic changes in our federal cannabis laws. there is a section where it gives tax breaks to teachers and firefighters and to law enforcement folks. okay, that's great, but stuck right in the middle of that section is a tax break for billionaires which i was shocked. it's an almost $100 billion tax break for the top 1%, and it's stuck right in the section just kind of quietly in there in the middle of the section for teachers, firefighters, and law

enforcement. the student loan section was also interesting to me. it provides $10,000 of loan forgiveness to every single student around the country. i'm sure every student would be grateful to have that, and i'm sure every family would be grateful to have this, but it wasn't need based, it wasn't anything else. it was just $10,000 of blanket loan forgiveness for every single student across the entire country. of course, there is no liability protection that's anywhere in it. in the paycheck protection program that has been exceptionally important to a lot of small businesses was an increase. so some things that are really needed at this time are not even addressed to be able to help small businesses again or to be able to help with liability protections which so many businesses and educational institutions and nonprofits are asking the question how do i reopen, what do i do, and how do i deal with the liability issues? that was not addressed at all. i have a lot of concerns about

this bill. beginning with just the basics of why didn't they even try to negotiate with republicans and democrats? it was a straight democrat bill in a time we desperately need to focus on not putting out a partisan thing and saying look, we're trying to be able to help, but don't look at all these hundreds and hundreds of pages of things that are not related to covid. let's try to actually solve the problem that's in front of us. it's serious. and the issues that we face dealing with health and the individuals that are on the front lines right now at grocery stores and health care facilities and hospitals and truckers and convenience stores and folks that are doing carryout food, those folks are doing remarkable work, and they should be encouraged, not discouraged with a partisan bill that's coming out here that everyone knows is not going to go anywhere. let's keep working together. what's happening in the senate to try to be able to establish a bipartisan -- to establish

bipartisan agreements on things we should be able to continue to do. but flying in to do a messaging bill worth $3 trillion that changes voting in america and changes cannabis laws and does all kinds of other things is not what we need to do right now. let's keep to work, though, because there is plenty that does need to be done. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: before the senator leaves the floor, could i ask a question of him, please? to my colleague, james lankford, who keeps a tab on his colleagues. do you know many of our colleagues today are celebrating a birthday? mr. lankford: you know what? in a colloquy with my colleague from delaware, i do know someone that is a senator that has a birthday today. mr. carper: what are his inissuials? mr. lankford: the presiding officer, the senator from arkansas, senator cotton.

mr. carper: we lost a really good t.c., tom coburn, who passed away a month and a half ago. a great loss to our country, his state, and somebody we will always celebrate here and revere for his dedication and his commitment, really the example he set for all of us. we are glad the presiding officer is alive and well. i will ask him if i can go ahead and proceed with my comments. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: mr. president, i rise today following senator lankford. i want to say a thing or two about senator lankford. we are good friends, colleagues, sit together on the committee. in fact, he succeeded tom coburn here in the u.s. senate. when tom coburn was leaving, he told me i'm leaving but you are getting somebody better than me and his name is james lankford. i don't know that he is better, but a worthy successor. a privilege to serve with you. i think you know that. i spent a lot of my time here,

we differ, but there are areas where we can agree. i like to say sometimes we may not see eye to eye on every single policy, but we ought to agree on the principle. among the principles i think is we -- as we approach 4.0, the next major legislation dealing with this crisis, i hope one of the pencils we can agree on -- principles we can agree on is state and local governments are having massive losses of revenue which are attributable to this coronavirus, then they deserve some helps in terms of replacing the lost revenue. i will give you a couple of examples. delaware, our transportation trust fund. we get a lot of revenues from toll. i am told by the secretary of transportation our toll revenue is down by over 50%. by over 50%. from gasoline sales, also similarly down as i recall by more than 50%. it's not just delaware.

as they try to build their roads, highways, and bridges throughout the country. we improve our infrastructure, surface transportation infrastructure. states across the country are getting really not just whacked but really destroyed with respect to our ability to continue our transportation infrastructure programs as well. i think that's an area that we ought to be able to agree on. the folks at moody's give us every month an update on how states are doing the revenue stream, their spending streams so we have an idea and compare. this may to last may. maybe this past april to last april. can actually see where is the revenue loss occurring and for us to do something about that. i think we can finally find agreement on, mr. president, is when folks are -- in states or local governments are incurring costs that directly relate to the pandemic, health care providers, doctors and nurses, folks who are like orderlies and

all kinds of folks that are really in nursing homes and the trenches, public health, first responders, firefighters, e.m.t.'s, they are doing that kind of work and states are spending a lot more money to help put them on our streets and in nursing homes doing their jobs, they would have an obligation to help states and local governments to deal with those. so another thing that is helpful to do is focus on training and retraining programs. some of the businesses, unfortunately too many businesses are going to -- they are closed now, will not reopen. there are a lot of people that have skills that maybe were employable to existing business that are no longer in existence. we need to be focused on what are the jobs that are out there that need to be filled and people are trained to do and why don't we refocus our training dollars, federal dollars and marry those up with state dollars to address those needs. those are some of the ideas we need to focus on. i hope we will work with the

governors, state and local officials, county executives, and find common ground. i think there is plenty of common ground there. i look forward to working with democrats and republicans alike here and across the country to identify that. i say that as a recovering governor who was once privileged to lead the national governors' association. i say that my hope is we can work closely with them, bipartisan leadership there, and if we d'antoni do that -- can't do that, shame on us. i think we can. that's why i came to the floor, mr. president. i didn't come here today to join senator lankford in celebrating your birthday either, but now that i'm here, i'm happy to note it and to salute that. but i came today to honor the immigrant health care heroes on the front lines in the battle against coronavirus. i want to thank our majority whip dick durbin, senior citizei

said -- don't tell him i said that. the senior senator from illinois. he and i came to the floor together in 1982. someday he will be a senior citizen. he is a senior senator, but someday a senior citizen as well. i want to thank him all kidding aside for leading the charge and bringing much-deserved recognition for helping an extraordinary group of americans. across this country every day there are doctors, nurses, medical support staff, there are health care workers, there are caretakers and others who are getting up every day, leaving their own families, and going to work on behalf of members of other families. and too often, these men and women are doing so at great personal risk to their own health, and as it turns out to the health of ones that they love. but despite the grave risks to themselves, these heroes and heroines are undeterred. day in and day out, week end and week out. they continue to serve others and continue to demonstrate by

their own courage what leadership by example is all about. and for that, we are deeply, deeply grateful. something -- something that most americans may not know is that one in six health care and social service workers in this country are immigrants -- are immigrants. and when you add them all up, that's 3.1 million people who have chosen to make the united states their home and are giving back to their country, this country now, in profound ways. they are not a number, they are not a statistic, they are caring, courageous members of our own communities and of their own communities. over the last three and a half years an even before that on the campaign trail, we heard donald trump demonize immigrants. he has used fearmongering to -- dreamers are the young people

brought here when they were kids, maybe younger than kids, the president has been fearmongering to claim that those immigrants and dreamers are going to take all of our jobs away and that just isn't true. i know a bunch of those dreamers. a lot of them are students at delaware state university. they are students that any parent would be glad to claim as their own. they are some of the finest people i met here or any place around the world. while many americans are rightly following stay-at-home orders, these men and women are putting their own health and safety at risk to do some of the most critical jobs every day. i believe it's important to recognize these immigrant health care heroes who are playing a truly critical role in a fight to protect their fellow americans. i mentioned a minute ago there are 3.1 million health care and social care workers in this country. i want to highlight the story of

one of them. her name is seserino rivera. she is a nurse at the community health center, it is called west side family health care. we have four, they are in northern delaware and also in kent county which is where dover is and dover air force base, maybe the finest air force base in the world. but west side family care, like the nearly 1,400 federally qualified health care services help to provide quality health care services in underserved areas every day -- every day without a lot of fanfare, without a lot of acclaim, they do what my mother used to call the large work. that's what she used to call it. the large work. she and her colleagues in wilmington have been serving our community throughout this covid-19 pandemic.

i just want to take the next several minutes to share with my colleagues and the american people a part of her story, why she became a health care worker, why she continues this work now and in doing so serving a largely, but not entirely a spanish-speaking population, even during the had -- hardest of times like the times we're living in today. what i'm going to do is share with you seserina's stories, not in my words, but in her words. she works in wilmington, delaware, not far from where my wife and i live. i probably met her a time or two. i didn't recognize her today because delaware is a little state and you meet just everybody. she says, my name is sesireno ramirez. my family came to the united states when i was 7 years old and i'm the oldest of three

siblings. my father was a doctor in the dominican republic and my mother was a teacher. as my dad got older and started our family, he couldn't help but notice all of the corruption and crime that existed in the dominican republic. he wanted the american dream for his children as did his wife, so they decided to leave everything behind and move to this land opportunity, the united states of america. my dad became a taxi driver. he was working overnight while going to school in the morning. after three years of hard work, he graduated with an associate's degree in raidology. both of my parents are deceased now, she writes, but their courage and work ethic live on in each of their children. my siblghts and -- siblings and i could not be more grateful for

the unselfish decision they made for us. she says, i've been working for ten years at westside family health care where i'm a team medical nurse. i educate patients about medical conditions to help them identify lifestyle changes that can benefit their overall goals. the one thing i love the most about -- the one thing i like the most about my job is that i'm able to make a difference in someone else's life. and i would just say to her, me too. as the years passed, i quickly learned about the command for spanish interpretation among our spanish population as spanish being my first language, i realize it is easier sometimes for a person to speak in their native language when it comes to medical concerns. she likes that she can be the voice of the patient and their number one advocate.

she goes on to say, i have observed instances of patients receiving care from a provider who has the same cultural background and speaks the same language, resulting in positive health care outcomes. in these cases, the patients appear relaxed, are willing to ask necessary questions to obtain knowledge, and there's a mutual understanding of goals and plans to improve patient care. taking care -- she says, taking care of patients is a privilege. think about that. taking care of patients is a privilege. i think it's a privilege to serve the people of del and -- delaware and our country. she feels that way about her patients. in looking at the difference of the amount of help that could be provided to our community has been an inspiration to work hard and try to be the best nurse i can be, and that is the end, if you will, of what she is -- has said and that i wanted to share

with all of you today. let me just say, i don't know if -- if she will hear her words through me, but i just want to say, thank you for that message. thank you for that message. thank you for all you're doing to serve our community in delaware even during these most difficult and challenging times. the united states and the first state are more than lucky. we are blessed that you're on our team in this fight against the coronavirus. and to all the other immigrant health care heroes who are serving their fellow americans throughout this country and to those who are fortunate to have been born here and serve, we salute you. we salute you. we thank you for looking out for the rest of us so that we might enjoy the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. we are better for having you here among us.

we appreciate the lifesaving care you are providing for so many of us. if you are out there and within the sound of my voice and are an immigrant health care hero, or no someone who is, i would encourage you to share your story with us. use the hashtag immigrant health care hero. use the hashtag, immigrant health care hero. we'd love to highlight your story and thank you as well. mr. president, i don't see anyone else waiting to salute you on your birthday and commend you, but not seeing anyone, i will yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent that the global -- thate quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: my staff printed this and so once again to ces irono to her and the many health care workers who are working on the front lines of this pandemic every day, we salute you. we are forever grateful of the work you are doing to keep the rest of us safe and healthy and the presiding officer is a military veteran, i think army. army. i'm a veteran as well. navy, the last known senator serving with the death of john mccain. in the navy we say two words, bravo sulo and that means great

going. keep up the great work cesirino and all the great americans across the country. thank you, mr. president, for giving me that extra time to add that last p.s. with that, i do note the absence of a quorum. thanks so much. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, both at home and around the world, the fight to defeat the coronavirus seems all too consuming. it's changed virtually every part of our lives from how we work to how we grocery shop. it dominates our conversations, news cycles and social media feeds and it feels like this is the only threat the world is facing. but even a pandemic is not enough to stop from bringing harm to our american people. our dedicated counterterrorism

and counter intelligence experts are continuing their critical work to identify critical threats against our country and prevent them from being successful. one of the most powerful tools in their toolbox is the ability to covertly gather information about bad actors. that's absolutely critical to national security. but our commitment to public safety can be at odds with privacy and individual liberty so we, as a country, must have sincere trust in both the people and the processes governor -- governing that activity. that's why i fear recent events have put both in grave jeopardy. last december, the inspector general for the department of justice released a report of its counterintelligence investigation of the trump campaign. this 480-page report outlined a

concerning behavior of pattern with those protecting and defending the united states and upholding our laws. the inspector general detailed a number of truly disturbing and alarming facts about how the russia investigation was conducted and specifically when it comes down to abuse of the foreign intelligence surveillance act. he identified several mistakes. in the initial carter page fisa application and an additional ten mistakes orerrors in -- errors in three renewals. these were not typos or misspelled words, these were significant or material errors that misled and affected the fisa court, the foreign intelligence surveillance act court. they presented erroneous information sometimes by

omission, sometimes by he could mission which -- commission which may have affected the foreign intelligence surveillance court. even as new information came to light this information was not provided to the fisa court. in a nutshell, this report raised a big red flag and led to the inspector general conducting a subsequent audit on unrelated cases to see how widespread the problems were. but that audit revealed even more problems. the inspector general recently released an interim report based on a sample of 29 fisa applications. for four of these the f.b.i. could not locate the woods files, which meant to include supporting documents for claims made in the sworn application. for the remaining 25 applications, an average of 20, quote issues, close quote, were found in each with one

application including 65 issues. you might as well use the word errors. this is alarming and absolutely unacceptable. the federal intelligence surveillance act has been amended several times over the more than 30 years it had become law, particularly since 9/11, and in light of these developments, it's time to once again strengthen our oversight over our nation's intelligence activities and restore trust in our critical institutions. fisa reform is part of the congressional to-do list. it has been for some time, and it still is. before key provisions could expire last year, congress extended these authorities through mid march to provide time for debate over future reforms. of course, back then no one suspected we would be working on a pandemic response when that deadline arrived. with the coronavirus spreading across the country, it was hardly the time to debate the

long-term challenges that should be made -- or changes that should be made to this program, so the senate passed a short-term extension. had our colleagues in the house passed that bill, those authorities would still be intact through the end of the month. unfortunately, as we know, that's not what happened. the foreign intelligence surveillance act authority expired over two months ago. now our national security experts are without the tools they need to keep the american people safe. that must change. the bipartisan bill that we are considering today would reauthorize certain fisa provisions that are important to our national security while making significant reforms to prevent future abuses like we saw in 2016. in a time when it's clearly needed, this bill would strengthen congressional oversight of the fisa process. it would also take steps to prevent future abuse of the fisa

court by requiring transcripts of court proceedings and increasing penalties for those who knowingly abuse the process for inappropriate reasons. one of the most significant changes we would see as a result is an end to the call detail record or c.d.c. program. this program was created in 2015 to replace bulk collection with a more targeted approach, but the program has been riddled with issues from the start. two years ago, the national security agency said that, quote, technical irregularities, close quote, made it difficult to actually implement the program. they received a jumbled mess of call detail records from phone companies and they weren't able to separate the data records they should have receive from the ones they should not have received. as a result, they ended up deleting all the records dating back to 2015 when the c.d.r. program was established. so clearly this program was not

delivering the targeted approach it was intended to provide. in fact, it just created more work, all to end up empty-handed. this legislation will put an end to the c.d.r. program, the national security agency has said the cost simply does not -- simply outweighs the benefits. but we want to make sure we're also not wasting valuable human resources on a program that's failing to achieve its intended purpose. above all, this legislation will restore authorities our counterintelligence and counterterrorism experts need to protect the american people. in order for these authorities to protect the american people and serve their intended purpose, we need trust, trust in the fisa court, trust in our congressional committees, trust in the professionals that actually work with these authorities. the u.s. freedom authorization act would go a long way to restore that trust while we

continue to work on longer term reform. while powering our intelligence officials to do -- to carry out their sworn duties. this bill got broad bipartisan support in the house, and i hope it will enjoy similar support in the senate. this legislation will ensure that these critical national security tools remain intact while taking serious quality control measures to prevent abuse. mr. president, we can't have a repeat of the disastrous fisa abuse in 2016, and we cannot allow these critical surveillance authorities to disappear. the best of tools can be misused by people who are intent on abusing their power. that's what happened when the inspector general revealed the fisa warrants that were issued against the trump campaign and the trump associates. in an effort to try to come up with some evidence of collusion and obstruction. but in the end, not even a special counsel was able to find

enough evidence to be able to make those cases. so we shouldn't confuse the tools with the people who abuse those tools. we know that attorney general william barr and chris wray, the f.b.i. director, and mr. durham, the assistant u.s. attorney that has been deputized by the attorney general, are currently conducting investigations that perhaps will even lead to criminal charges and indictments and potentially a conviction of those who abuse these authorities in the past. but that should not change our attitude towards providing these necessary tools, things like business record collection, roving wiretaps, lone wolf authority. by and large, these are tools that are used by law enforcement on a daily basis for domestic criminal cases, and we're going to deny those tools through our

counterintelligence officials? it makes no sense whatsoever. our counterintelligence and counterterrorism experts rely on these authorities to keep us safe, and it's time we return this critical tool to their toolbox. so, mr. president, i look forward to supporting this legislation and restoring these lapsed authorities which are critical to our national security. mr. president, i yield the floor and i'd note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the

senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: madam president, i must admit as i look around this body, it's a little bit different than when i first came here. and i'd be glad when we come back to normal. but in the meantime, i want to say that i entered the senate in the wake of watergate in 1975. it was a time when the american people's faith in their institution, including our intelligence agencies, was profoundly shaken. in fact, i remember standing on this floor, the very first vote i cast was in favor of creating the select committee to study government operations with respect to intelligence

activities and the rights of americans. that was called the church committee and was the forerunner of our intelligence committee. and through that committee's work, the american people soon learned through years of surveillance that other abuses had occurred at the hands of the united states intelligence agencies. and in response, the senate came together, republicans and democrats together, passed sweeping reforms to rein in this overreach. now, so much has improved over the 45 years with respect to our intelligence agencies' compliance with the law. i must admit, madam president, seeing the changes over the years gives me a great deal of

confidence that we can continue to do better, but we do know some inexcusable problems remain. we've seen time and again that the system we've created with government lawyers seeking approval for surveillance in a secret surveillance court falls short of protecting americans' basic due process rights. now, i know a lot of our intelligence professionals. i have no doubt the intelligence professionals work very hard. they're dedicated to protecting americans. they strive to follow the rules. i don't doubt that at all. but i can't escape the conclusion that the rules are simply not good enough. and a process that operates in total secrecy with no checks on the government's allegations or portrayal of the facts at issue is bound to fall short. when it comes to justice,

justice which is a bedrock of our democracy, well, to falls short, that's not good enough. last fall the justice department's inspector general issued a report that detailed 17 errors or omissions in the f.b.i.'s fisa application to surveil former presidential campaign advisor carter page. well, the inspector general did not find mistakes were politically motivated, those of us who were at those hearings know that the errors were nonetheless serious. and we since learned they were not isolated incidents. in march, in fact, just two weeks after the house passed the very legislation we're concerned with today, the same inspector general released an even more damning report. he smp palled just 29 -- sampled

just 29 applications for fisa surveillance. in the 29 he found deficiencies in 25 of the 29 with an average of 20 issues on each application. errors included failure to disclose all exculpatory evidence. that's simply unacceptable. it strongly indicates that something is wrong and needs to be fixed within the fisa process. now, i've joined with senator lee of wiewt. we've been -- of utah. we've been working together to do just that, to find what the fixes might be. the heart of our probably is to prove -- approve the program we created with the assistance of members like senator blumenthal, with the u.s.a. freedom act of 2015. we created a process by which the fisa court could appoint --

to provide an independent perspective on certain complex issues before the court. they do not act as defense attorneys representing a targeted surveillance. they serve the cowsht. but we gave the -- the court. but we gave the court narrow ground, novel or significant interpretation of law. now, they have served the court well but i was disappointed to learn they had only appointed 16 times over five years. we have to do more to encourage the appointment in cases that involve serious constitutional issues. my amendment would create a presumption of participation in

cases involving significant first amendment issue, not just exceptional concerns as we see in the house bill. importantly, we also created presumption of amici when the f.b.i. considers the case to be a sensitive, investigative matter which the f.b.i. would define an investigation involved a domestic religious organization or a public official. i think all of us should agree in those instances we ought to have somebody independently looking at this. and most critically though, even that we leave the decision to appoint it up entire to the judge. even with these categories they could still say no. as a result the argument of expanding amici participation

would unduly burden the court doesn't even withstand the slightest scrutiny. if the judge believes they would not be appropriate because the case is too time sensitive or too simple or too routine or for any other reason, any other reason, they have the discretion to not appoint amicus at all. under our amendment throughout the fisa process, the judge retains complete control. so it's not a burden on the court. what it's doing it's empowering the court. it's up to them. in reality the number of cases would have participation under our amendment would remain manageable. the case is likely to raise significant liberty issues, would almost certainly be a small subset of those applications related to u.s. persons because foreigners abroad do not have constitutional rights. we're worried about americans

and the total number of such u.s. person cases last year is just over 200. and perhaps that's why the courts themselves do not participate the amendment would create a significant financial burden. the administrative office of the court estimate it costs about $225,000 a year which they can pay for out of their discretionary budget. there's plenty of money in there. in fact th the c.b.o. scored the amendment at zero, but the benefits go far beyond zero. responding to the latest inspector general report which found serious issues in 25 of the 29 fisa applications it reviewed, we would require the government turn over all material, exculpatory information to the court and make it available to the amici

too if one is appointed. now that is a basic due process protection available in every public courtroom in america. it certainly was when i was a prosecutor. and the fisa court should be no exception. so i think with this -- i think senators should look at what senator lee and i have done. we have an opportunity to reform our flawed surveillance authorities. these opportunities don't come by often. we shouldn't squander, especially when the justice department's own inspector general has been sounding the alarms alerting us to a widespread problem within the fisa process. and after the church committee found abuses within our intelligence agencies, something

i first learned of when i got elected to the senate, i saw the senate come together, republicans and democrats, to respond decisively. much has improved since then. we are now confronted with serious but solvable problems within the fisa process. i hope again the senate in both parties is up to the task today and will come together. for that again i want to thank senator lee for his partnership on this issue. also for his steadfast devotion to protecting the rights of all americans. so i'm proud to stand with senator lee today. i urge all of our fellow senators to stand with us. if you stand with us, you're standing up for the constitution. support this amendment. stand with the american people. stand with our constitution. i yield the floor.

mr. lee: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: i call up my amendment 1584 and ask that it be reported about i number. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: mr. lee proposes an amendment numbered 1584.. mr. lee: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that i be permitted to speak for a period of time not to exceed five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: madam president, it's been an honor and a privilege to work with my friend and distinguished colleague, the senior senator from vermont, on this issue. senator leahy and i have over the past decade worked together on a number of projects, including this one, and including the u.s.a. freedom act. senator leahy and i come from different political parties and different ends of the political spectrum, and yet we share much in common, including a devotion to our families and devotion to god, a devotion to this great country and a devotion to the

constitution that has fostered the development of the greatest civilization the world has ever known. it's an honor and a privilege to stand with senator leahy in defense of the fourth amendment and the other rights articulated in our constitution. senator leahy and i have confronted many opponents, and many of the opponents to the leahy amendment have made some arguments that i think need to be mentioned one final time before we vote on this matter. many of them are arguing that this amendment would somehow hamper the ability of the fisa court to approve applications quickly in the case of an emergency. this is simply untrue. in all these circumstances in which it would apply, our amendment would aplow the fisa -- allow the fisa court to issue a finding saying that the appointment of amicus would in that circumstance be inappropriate. this the fisa court could do in a single sentence. the f.b.i. or some of its

proclaimed self-appointed defenders will also complain that this might make it harder for them to get surveillance applications approved. let me just remind everyone we're talking here about the rights of u.s. persons -- that is of u.s. citizens and lawx -- lawful permanent residents of the united states, these are rights that deserve to be protected. we have to remember the purpose of the constitution is not to make it easier to govern. the purpose of the constitution is to provide structure and limitations on government because government sometimes makes mistakes. i find it especially tone-deaf, madam president, that the very agency, the very bureau that has now been found to have been in violation of its own policies and procedures, and not just one but two inspectors general reports in the past year for failing to follow its own

policies is now the agency that many people are trying to defend in saying that we can't inform the american people of what's going on and we can't improve the process by which that agency operates. power is always vulnerable to abuse. warnings were made when this process was put into place. exactly the kinds of abuses that we have now seen are the types of abuses that have occurred over and over again, that were the same ones that were foreseen. this isn't an indictment of any one agency or administration or person or political party. it's an affirmation of the founding fathers' trust in the checks and balances that they put in place in our founding document. as james madison so eloquently expressed this principle in federalist number 51, if all men were angels, no government would be necessary. if angels were to govern men

neither external or internal controls would be necessary. the great definitey lies in this, we must first enable the government to control the governed and at the next place oblige it to control itself. we cannot, noting with standing the urging of many, simply warfare our hands and say we -- wave our hands and say we don't have to worry br -- about this, it's okay because this is about foreign terrorists or foreign intelligence gathering. we know what the leahy amendment is designed to protect are the rights of the american people, of u.s. persons, u.s. citizens and lawful permanent residents. reforms in this amendment don't take anything away from our national security agencies. nothing. we're just injecting greater fairness and accountability into this process. insofar as we decide to have these programs, we've got to have someone accountable in them. we've got to have a process by

which the information brought to bear within the foreign intelligence surveillance act court are accountable and reviewable by someone. it makes sense to expand incrementally, mildly but necessarily. the amicus curiae provisions that were put in place four years ago with the u.s.a. freedom act. i truly believe that we can find the proper balance here between privacy and security. i also believe that our privacy and our security are not at odds. our privacy is indeed part of our security and our security part of our privacy. you cannot have one without the other. the lee-leahy amendment brings us closer to that balance. i invite all my colleagues to support it and look forward to the moment not far from now when we will pass it. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question is on the amendment.

is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote: vote:

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the presiding officer: does any senator wish to vote or change his or her vote? if not, on this vote the yeas are 77. the nays are 19. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is agreed to.

mr. gardner: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: i wish to congratulate my colleague from utah for his extraordinary work to continue to protect the civil liberties of the people of this country. thank you. mr. president, in a chamber that has seen its fair share, more than its fair share of life-or-death matters, especially the last several months, this bill that i'm about to ask for unanimous consent to pass before the senate, the creation of the 988 national suicide hot line bill is a bill that gives hope to life. this bill will save lives. it's been an honor to work on this legislation so we can come together as a chamber, as a congress, as a nation to do all we can to save those precious

lives, those precious voices that we lose too often. in colorado, we lose someone to suicide every seven hours. the bill that we are about to pass can change that. we can all change that with responsible actions, more funding, more efforts, and this is our start, to continue the great work that has been done, to build on the work that we know needs to be done, to create a three-digit 988 national hot line to prevent suicide. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the commerce committee be discharged and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 2661. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 2661, a bill to

amend the communications act of 1934 and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. gardner: i ask unanimous consent that the gardner substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to and that the bill as amended be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. gardner: i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, all in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. and the bill as amended is passed. mr. gardner: i ask unanimous consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. gardner: mr. president, this is a big deal for the lives of so many people across the country. and i'm grateful to our colleagues that we were able to get this passed today.

mr. president, thank you, and i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president.

mr. president, we just voted on an amendment by senator lee which passed overwhelmingly. as we in the senate are working to defeat this invisible enemy, the coronavirus, we are also mindful that there are other real threats around the globe. and that's why the amendment that we just passed was so important to be debated and discussed, and dealt with the bill that is on the floor. because the senate is debating a bill to provide national security tools to our intelligence communities, the right tools that work, that provide national security but also freedom for american citizens. now this is unfinished business, mr. president, because these tools under the foreign intelligence surveillance act have been left on the shelf, expired now for nearly two months. before congress departed the capitol due to the coronavirus, the senate passed a bipartisan bill to temporarily keep these authorities in place.

the house democrats left without acting on what the senate had passed. speaker pelosi left town, and she left our national security frozen. now this week congress is going to pass a three-year reauthorization of these authorities under fisa. these authorities are known as the business records provision, the roving wiretaps provision, and the loan wolf amendment. -- the lone wolf amendment. section 215 authorizes, compels telecommunications companies to provide call records relevant to investigation. the roving wiretaps provision allows surveillance of multiple cell phones of an investigative target. this allows national security operators to keep up with the target even as she or he goes through burner phones. and the lone wolf amendment allows national security operators to investigate targets unaffiliated with a specific

terrorist organization. it's why they've called lone would wolves. these tools give law enforcement important capabilities to surveil bad actors, get to them before they get to us and take apart their networks. the congress put these authorities in place after 9/11. they have been updated with broad bipartisan support numerous times. importantly, the tools have helped keep our country safe and strong now for nearly 20 years after 9/11. there have been abuses of the fisa process unrelated to these provisions, which this bill also addresses. the bill puts in place safeguards to ensure fisa applications are accurate and complete. multiple layers of approval before an application goes to the foreign intelligence surveillance court. the bill also makes the fisa process more accountable from the attorney general on down.

those who hide information, those who engage in misconduct, or those who disclose information will be met with prison time. and the bill provides a greater role for congress to make sure there are another set of eyes on fisa applications. altogether, these are significant reforms that the attorney general has said will protect against abuse and misuse in the future. he went on to say the bill deserves broad bipartisan support, and i agree. mr. president, i also come to the floor today to discuss america's relationship with china. the coronavirus has made clear that our current relationship with china is built on a house of cards. it's simply too risky. we have to learn the lessons from this global pandemic. the outbreak has taught us that time has come to break away from dangerous aspects of the

relationship. by mishandling and manipulating the crisis, china has revealed itself to be not worthy of our trust. let me be clear, the chinese people are not to blame for any of this. the people of china have also suffered tremendously. it is the chinese communist party that is at fault. the virus could have been contained had it not been for the chinese government's unscrupulous cover-up. china knew the risk months before the rest of the world, yet chinese communist leaders destroyed key evidence. they underreported the number of coronavirus cases and they misled the world about its deadly, rapid spread. in fact, chinese leaders silenced the heroic doctor, dr.e alarm and who later died from the virus. and china's deceit doesn't stop there. china has repeatedly denied u.s.

officials access to the country to uncover the truth about the deadly disease. meanwhile, the chinese government continues to engage in a disinformation campaign to try to avoid blame. with this track record, china cannot continue to control international groups like the world health organization. the united states is the world health organization's single largest financial supporter. yet, from the start the world health organization blindly accepted chinese leader' false reporting and they understated the threat. today america knows how dangerous it is to depend on china not just for information, but also for essential equipment or products or materials, minerals, and certainly for medicine. china didn't warn the world when the outbreak began. instead china secretly hoarded masks and protective gear. china knew that global shortages would soon follow. then china threatened to cut off

lifesaving antibiotics and other critical drug exports to the united states. the virus should have been contained in wuhan, china. tens and tens of thousands of americans and hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have died as a result of china's failure. looking forward, america should focus on priorities right now to protect ourselves from future health crises. number one, not again, not ever will america rely on information from international health organizations. we should set up direct bilateral health relationships with other countries, use personnel on the ground, the u.s. personnel on the ground must include monitoring of health data in their national security determinations. number two, not again, not ever will we let people travel to the united states from countries where there is a major outbreak. we should restrict travel early on just like president trump did with regard to china.

not again, not ever will america be without an early warning system. our gateway cities in particular need better monitoring and surveillance on health issues when people enter the united states. number four, not again, not ever will america rely on critical health equipment from china. we should encourage u.s. companies to create american and western supply chains. that way, our frontline workers have what they need in a time of crisis. number five, not again, not ever will we be exclusively sourced for critical drugs from china. we should diversify supply and bring home as much of our supply chain as possible. number six, not again, not ever will our hospitals be taken for granted. they should be classified as critical infrastructure, and our health care workers, our nurses, our lab technicians, our first responders, our doctors, critical infrastructure and frontline workers should be properly resourced around