the defense of our nation. and in so doing, joining the ranks of america's heroes who have defended our country throughout history. they make sacrifices each and every day, not because it's good for them but because it's good for all of us. and we owe it to them to support them in any way we possibly can, both on duty and off. this legislation provides for a modest 3% pay raise and additional support for our families. since we have an all-volunteer military, it's frequently said it's the individual service member who volunteers, but it's the family that determines whether we will retain them in military service. and so this bill provides for military spouse employment opportunities and child care. i offered one amendment to the

bill that would extend this support to help military parents during a time of tragedy. it would change a policy that was brought to my attention by major matthew checketts who is an active duty airman at joint base san antonio lackland. he and his wife jessica spent much of last year preparing for the arrival of their newest family member, a little girl named elane. elaine would be their sixth child joining a squad of boys who were eager to have a little sister. when elaine arrived last fall, major checkettes was given 21 days of parental leave to spend time with his family but then they experienced an unimaginable tragedy. their beautiful daughter passed away. instead of getting to know their newest family member, the family was facing a hardship every parent prays they will never have to endure. for many military families, this

-- that loss is made even more difficult because of a department of defense policy which ends a service member's preapproved parental leave upon the death of a child. no time to grieve. no time to regroup. that means no time to be with your grieving family or somehow process this immeasurable loss. the policy the department of defense currently requires service members to leave their family and return to work when that child dies. major checkettes case, his commander allowed him to take his preapproved leave to stay with his family but not every service member will get that same consideration. that's why senator duckworth and i browsed the elaine m. checkettes military family act named after elaine. this legislation would amend current leave policy for service

members so their preapproved parental leave is not terminated upon the tragic event of a child's death. this is actually in line with other civilian federal employees and there's no reason why service members should be treated differently. the grief of losing a child should not be aggravated or compounded by having to face the grief that thousands -- grief thousands of miles away from your family. so as we begin to debate this year's authorization bill, let's keep at the forefront of our conversation the men and women who are heroically offering themselves and indeed their very lives on some occasions to protect against the threats to our country. let's work in good faith to get this bipartisan bill passed soon. let me commend senator inhofe, the chairman of the armed

services committee, and senator reed, the ranking member for their leadership on this bill as well as all members of the senate armed services committee. and i particularly appreciate their maintaining the tradition of strong bipartisanship that has historically guided this legislation. so as we get closer and closer to the 4th of july, let us remember that all of america's armed forces, what they have all given to protect our freedoms. and let's make sure we do our job both here in washington with the strong defense authorization bill and at home with our demonstration of support and expresses of gratitude and appreciation. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. a senator: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i want to thank my colleagues who will be joining me this evening, senator baldwin, senator hassan, senator

schumer, to advocate for much needed action to protect workers, to provide relief to state and local governments and to bolster our public health system. mrs. murray: i rise to speak about the steps we need to take to invest in child care and education. covid-19 has upended child care and schools in a way that truly is unprecedented, has created chaos across our educational system. but since we passed the cares act over three months ago now, senate republicans have not done anything to address the countless challenges that our child care providers, our educators, our schools, and of course our students and families are facing. instead they have chosen to pretend that this crisis is over and we should just return to business as usual which for them means most often voting on partisan judges and not much else. but as my republican colleagues continue to delay any response

urging democrats to pump the brakes and, quote, wait and see, we are hearing from parents who aren't sure if they can go back to work because their child care provider closed. we are hearing from teachers who aren't sure if they'll even have a job to return to in the fall. we're hearing from college students who might be forced to drop out because they desperately need financial assistance during this economic downturn. we don't need to wait and see to know we need to provide relief immediately. in our child care system alone, we are now at risk of losing millions of child care slots because providers across the country are struggling to keep their doors open. and a senate -- and senate republicans are burying their heads in the sand, our k-12 schools are now facing some of the biggest cuts to state and local revenue we've seen in a long time. all the while struggling with the increased costs of dealing with how to reopen safely and to

continue to provide quality education during a pandemic. and we know this crisis is hitting students of color, students from low incofamilies -- low-income families, students experiencing homelessness, students with disabilities end many other students who are marginal iedzed in our educational system especially hard. our higher education system is under serious financial pressure as colleges across our country, especially our nation's hbcu's and our tribal colleges and minority-serving institutions struggle with the consequences of this pandemic. many students have been forced to drop out of higher education because they lost their job or they can't meet their basic needs. to address all of these problems, we need a massive investment in our child care system, in our schools, and in our students and families now. which is why today i'm introducing the coronavirus child care and education relief act.

this bill creates a child care stabilization fund which will provide grants to make sure providers can stay open and that working families get the tuition relief they need. it will provide k-12 schools with the funds that they desperately need to help students with increased academic and social, emotional supports to address learning loss, to put in place public health measures to make our schools safer for students and educators, to make sure specific funding goes to support students with disabilities, and address the other growing inequities for students of color and many others. the bill will also make $132 billion investment in our higher education system to provide emergency, financial aid grants to students for expenses like food and housing, child care, technology, supplies, and help our colleges to confront the increased costs and financial pressures they are now facing during this covid-19 pandemic.

additionally, this bill will reverse secretary devos' cruel attempts to prevent millions of students, including our undocumented students and daca recipients from receiving emergency aid, block her from giving special favors to colleges that don't need taxpayer dollars, and stop her if taking funding that was meant for public schools to advance her privatization agenda. there's a long road ahead to fully address the education and child care crisis, but this bill is an important step. our child care providers, our student, our families, our educators, and our schools cannot wait any longer. so i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 4112, the coronavirus child care and educational relief act introduced earlier today and i further ask the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection?

mr. schumer: mr. president, before my colleague from utah wishes to object, may i say a few words? the presiding officer: the democraticker -- leader of the senate. mr. schumer: i want to thank the senator from washington state for introducing this legislation which i'm proud to cosponsor. education is the future foundation of our success in america, has always been. when a crisis occurs, we have to stand by those who educate our kids and most importantly our kids themselves. whether they be in preschool, whether they be in k-12, whether they be in higher education. there are so many different ways that this crisis has affected our schools. and frankly, if our schools can't open in september, millions of americans who want to go back to work, who could go back to work will not be able to because they have to be home taking care of the kids. so there's a need to really step up to the plate in a real way and improve education over the

long run but at the same time not let it deteriorate because the coronavirus has so affected our schools in so many different ways. so i would hope that this body would pass this measure. it's vital, vital to get our economy going, vital to resume the education of our kids, vital to make sure that classrooms can function in a healthy way, vital to providing the kind of child care that people need as well. so i would hope that my colleagues again would support this legislation. it is so important. if america is going to have a great future, and i hope and pray and believe we will, we're going to have to have the best schools in the country. and if we are the country that let's pandemic hurt our schools badly so they will take years to recover, woe is us. so i thank my colleague from washington state for introducing this measure. i'm for it, and i -- even if there's objection here, we will be coming back to this issue because it is so, so important

for the future of our country. i appreciate the gentleman from utah yielding and i appreciate the good works of my colleagues who have put together this legislation. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: reserving the right to reject. we received the 125-page bill yesterday evening and i have great appreciation and respect for my colleague, the senator from washington. and yept i can't look at this -- yet i can't look at this 125-page bill that we saw for the first time yesterday evening without thinking that hardly enough time has passed since this legislation was introduced to even read the bill let alone to mark it up in committee or bring it up on the senate floor and have it passed here. even though congress has acted to provide emergency assistance in response to the current global pandemic, this legislation includes significant additional spending for a number of programs that have not been

debated in the senate. this bill would also create at least one new program, and i say at least because again we're still trying to figure out what's in it. it creates at least one new program, the community college and industry partnership grants program. i'm sure this would do a number of good things, but again this thing is not ready for prime time. this program is, as far as i can tell, largely duplicative of existing programs. this legislation would provide $2 billion for it anyway. a bill of this length and a bill that provides for billions of dollars in new spending should not, i would hope would never be passed this quickly. the senate should take the time to thoroughly weigh the changes proposed in this legislation. therefore on behalf of senator alexander and myself, i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i'm sorry that the senator has objected this evening. this is an issue that is

critical to every family in this country. we all want our economy to open. i assure everyone if people can't get child care, they cannot go back to work. our schools are going to be looking immediately about how they are going to be opening without the additional resources they need, they will not been to do it. -- be able to do it. our kids are worth this bill. i snow several colleagues will be speaking here on this but i want the senate to know, these are priorities that we are going to be fighting for. i urge the senate to bring up the next covid package. i'm willing to work with everybody on it, to hear what everybody has to say, but our kids, our families, the future of this country has to have our support at this critical time. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. ms. hassan: thank you, mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. hassan: thank you, i rise today to join senator murray and my democratic colleagues to call for substantial funding for child care and education at our country continues to grapple with the covid-19 pandemic.

in new hampshire and across the country, this pandemic has turned families' lives upside down. as classrooms shifted to living rooms, many parents have had to take on new roles balancing teaching their children with their own day-to-day work. other parents, including those who are on the front lines of responding to this crisis, have had to figure out new child care applications to enshould that their -- applications to ensure that their children are cared for. and teachers and educators have had to adapt and find new, innovative ways to meet the needs p all students. with cases rising across this country, there is significant uncertainty facing families and educators who are trying to navigate what our systems of education and child care are going to look like in the coming months. mr. president, the legislation being offered by senator you are inry today would be -- senator murray today would be a strong step forward in helping prepare

for the road ahead. time being matters. delaying necessary actions doesn't address the new challenges educators and families face. it just makes it harder for them to get their jobs done. the coronavirus child care and education relief act, which i am proud to cosponsor, is a comprehensive bill that would help meet the needs of students and child care centers, k-12 schools and institutions of higher education. among its many provisions, this bill makes significant investments in child care. child care centers have already been hit hard by lost revenue during the pandemic, and now they face added costs in implementing new health and safety policies to mitigate the risk of spreading covid-19. this legislation would provide them with much-needed relief. in addition, this legislation would bolster emergency funding for k-12 schools. this funding would help address challenges for students who have fallen behind.

it would help schools institute public health protocols, and it would give schools more resources to ensure that all students -- all students -- get a quality education, whether it is in person, remotely, or a combination of both. as we've worked to ensure that schools can effectively educate all students during this pandemic, i've also been focused on helping students with disabilities from being overlooked. before covid-19, students are disabilities with already more vulnerable to disruption in their education since the resources they need are often scarce. this pandemic has exacerbated the challenges students with disabilities face and many have lost meaningful access to the critical services that make their education possible. we know that large numbers of students will require remedial help when they return to school, and these challenges will be particularly acute for students with disabilities.

to address this, senator murphy and i have been calling for additional dedicated funding through the individuals with disabilities education act, and i'm pleased that this legislation meets those calls, providing $12 billion in funding to help ensure that students with disabilities receive the same educational opportunities as their peers do. finally, to address the challenges facing institutions of higher education, this bill provides colleges and universities with critical emergency funding, helping strengthen emergency financial aid for students as well as bolstering support to help these institutions follow public health guidelines. it also provides key funding for community colleges as well as career and technical education programs. mr. president, this upcoming school year will look different than any other we've ever seen before, and we must be prepared so that students do not fall further behind.

the legislation that senate democrats have brought forth today will give schools and the families some needed certainty. and this certainty is critical for the planning that needs to happen now. delay in this moment is irresponsible. i am grateful to the senator from washington for her leadership on this bill and on all the efforts that we make to strengthen the education for all of america's children. i urge my republican colleagues to support this bill, to join with us to make sure that as we grapple with this pandemic, we can all help our students thrive. and our families get back to work. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: thank you, mr. president.

i want to also join in commending senators murray and schumer and hassan. i am proud to be a part of this effort to make sure that children from early childhood education to lifelong learning are able to continue and not fall behind. and it is critical that we act on this legislation. i rise to speak to another measure that has gone undebated in this body, and it kind of underlies the reopening of our economy, including k-12

education and many other activities. in fact, i started working on this legislation with senator duckworth when it was hole essential workers who were reporting to work every day. but now, as we reopen, it's so required. as our nation battles an ongoing and deadly pandemic, thousands of american workers have been on the job from the start, keeping our economy running and keeping people safe. they are health care workers, food service and grocery store workers, warehouse workers, transportation workers, and all those working on the front lines every day to confront this pandemic. today even as coronavirus cases continue to rise, many states have already reopened businesses and restaurants, calling more and more people back to work to

serve their community. more than 125,000 americans, including tens of thousands of frontline workers, have died, and these numbers are rising every single day. and yet there is no federal enforceable standard in place to protect american workers from getting infected with or spreading covid-19. i've heard from a nurse in wisconsin who is having to ration personal protective equipment or p.p.e. and wear the same mask for three weeks or longer. i've heard from a grocery store worker in racine who says their store still lacks basic protections like protective flexcy glass partitions. i've harder from a meat pack being plant worker in green bay, wisconsin, who still has to stand shoulder to shoulder with colleagues on the plant floor

rather than standing six feet apart. the lack of basic protections are putting wisconsin workers at risk. i've repeatedly called on the trump administration to take action. the department of labor and osha, the agency in charge of protecting workplace safety and health, needs to establish protections that aren't voluntary guidance but are mandatory standards. osha has the authority to issue an emergency temporary standard if employees are exposed to grave dangers from new hazards. but this administration has done nothing but recommend voluntary guidelines to workplaces. voluntary recommendations are

not binding and osha current think has no enforceable standard to protect workers from airborne infections, diseases, leaving the nation's workers at an elevated risk of exposure to the coronavirus. voluntary compliance is not enough when hundreds of thousands of americans lives are on the line. now, some businesses are voluntarily making the necessary investments to keep their workers safe, but without a mandatory federal requirement, businesses doing the right thing are left at a comparative disadvantage. we cannot combat this pandemic if we do not take immediate action to protect workers. months ago, as i said, i introduced legislation with senator duckworth to protect u.s. workers from covid-19 in response to disturbing and widespread reports of unsafe

workplaces leading to preventable illnesses and deaths. the covid-19 every worker protection act would require the occupational and health administration to issue emergency temporary standards that establishes a legal obligation for all workplaces to implement comprehensive infectious disease exposure control plants and keep workers safe during the covid-19 pandemic. this legislation passed the house of representatives more than six weeks ago as part of the heroes act, but leader mcconnell has buried this bill in his legislative graveyard. this legislation is the single best way to require all workplaces to protect the health and safety of their workers and to prevent additional outbreaks and further spread of the coronavirus.

it's not just enough to say thank you and label our frontline workers heroes. we need to create a safe workplace so that these heroes can continue to do their heroic work. congress can take immediate action right now to require workplaces and employers to put enforceable standards in place to protect their workers. we can and we should do more in this country to do right by our workers. and that's why i'm asking right now for unanimous consent to pass my covid-19 every worker protection act. i ask unanimous consent that the help committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 3677, the covid-19 every worker protection act of 2020,

that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. lee: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: reserving the right to object, reasonable efforts to protect those working on the front lines in the middle of a public health crisis should certainly be applauded. there are many individuals across the country steadfastly fulfilling their occupational duties to care for and otherwise help those who have the coronavirus. and it's important that those individuals take precautions for their safety and for the safety of other people who happen to be around them. however, the bill under consideration, the bill that's the subject of this unanimous consent request, poses several problems. first of all, it does not respect the fact that states,

localities, and businesses are far better suited than the federal government to determine what safety standards might be needed. instead, the legislation forces state governments to adjust their current plans to protect workers to meet standards determined by some administrative bureaucracy in washington. this action is burdensome, and a one-size-fits-all approach to protecting health care workers on the front lines won't work. the reason it won't work is that our front lines differ across the nation. states must be permitted the flexibility to enact their own standards based on the needs of each state. further, the temporary protection standards for the bill are not truly temporary. they're described as sufficient, but they're not. as the bill calls for permanent standards to be made based on the initially temporary standards to be determined by osha. finally, the bill broadly subjects all employees at risk of occupational exposure to the

emergency standards to be promulgated by osha. this means that potentially every worker in every industry could be subjected to these requirements, even though each industry has its own unique challenges that need to be addressed. so this broad-brush approach could limit the ability of certain individuals to work during this time. even though they might actually be in a good position to do so safely. it's critically important for our health care workers to be protected in a time of crisis, mr. president. but the most effective way to accomplish that is by continuing to allow states, localities, health care facilities appeared businesses to set safety standards, to ensure that those who can safely work have the ability to do so. therefore, on behalf of senator alexander and myself, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. ms. baldwin: mr. president?

the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: i thank the chair. i am very disappointed. i think this is one of the most critical actions that our country could take in the face of this pandemic that has created so much havoc in our economy but also taken too many precious souls from us. i would state that on examination of this bill, that it is not in fact a one-size-fits-all. and if there's any agency anywhere that has the wherewithal to promulgate an emergency temporary standard and ultimately after 24 months a

permanent standard, it is the department of labor and its occupational safety and health administration. the failure of leadership that this administration as in osha is not doing its job is unfathomable to me. but i believe that it sits at the best position to issue a standard and protect our workers and customers and students and patients who necessarily interact with these workers. so i am disappointed but again, we will continue to press this issue until every worker does have these protections. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, it's with a degree of sadness, concern, and deep disappointment that i come to the floor to acknowledge something very unfortunate that happened just last night in my own hometown of provo, utah. a group of people were gathered in downtown provo to protest, to express concern over matters important to them.

at one moment a car approached university avenue, on university avenue preparing to turn right on to center street. as that car approached, that car was surrounded by people who were engaged in acts of protest. the car tried to pull through the intersection very slowly being cautious, not to move into anyone. the protesters continued to gather around the car and in the middle of all of this, the driver of that car was shot, was shot by one of the protesters who was armed, who according to the video that i saw looked right into the vehicle and shot into the passenger side window with a gun. according to eyewitness accounts, after the driver then pulled away from the intersection trying to get away,

that person with the gunfired yet again as the driver was driving away. moments later the driver arrived at utah valley regional medical center seeking medical attention. my thoughts and prayers are with that victim and the victim's family. i'm saddened that we have to be having this conversation at all but it's something that has come to so many communities around america. these are protests in some cases turning into riots that have visited communities urban and rural and suburban alike. in many instances people have come to those protests in order to vocalize concerns that they have with their government, concerns perhaps about law enforcement policy or personnel.

in some cases some protests have been carried out without violence and without incident. a few weeks ago i came to the floor of the united states senate to talk about one such gathering in ogden, utah, where people gathered to express their objections to what happened to george floyd in minneapolis about a month ago. they did so in the immediate wake of the killing of a police officer in ogden and they dual tracked their expresses of emotion and of concern, expressing support and appreciate to the fallen officer who had given his life in enforcing the law and trying to protect his fellow utahans, fellow residents of ogden and protesting what happened to george floyd in minneapolis.

they protested in a way that reflected well on this country, on the city of ogden, and on the state of utah. they left with not a scrap of trash left in the streets. perhaps far more importantly, mr. president, they left the scene without having harmed anyone or anything, without destroying property. yes, the american people have the right peaceably to assemble and to express their views without fear of retribution from their government, but no, mr. president, that does not encompass the right to harm other people. no, mr. president, that does not encompass the right to engage in acts of lawlessness whether for the purpose of destroying property or life simply because one is concerned about something. this violence has to stop. this isn't who we are. it's important to also to remember whenever we voice

concern about something in government, we remember that you can't expand government without strengthening government the same government entity that provides law enforcement officers is the same government entity that collects taxes, that runs any government program. and so we do have to keep in mind exactly what it is that we want. now, there are many, many instances that i've observed as a lawyer, as a former prosecut prosecutor, and as a citizen in which police authority has been abused. i unequivocally condemn all such abuses. it's the very reason why we have a constitution in place, to limit the power of government, of individual officials running government entities. when you send law enforcement in

to address a particular situation, you're not doing that for the purpose of persuasion. you do it for the purpose of force. that is the one tool that government has that is uniquely government's. it has the power of force. it's official collective force. that's what government is. so i hope and i expect that our conversations about this will focus on how force is used by government, where it ought to be entrusted in government, where it shiewnts. i -- it shouldn't. i hope also we can look to the true underlying causes of some of these abuses. i hope and expect that we can address why on earth was it that the man who killed george floyd apparently had 17 complaints filed against him without formal disciplinary action ever having been taken against him. why and how did this happen? what sort of cabal was it that

was protecting him from discipline. i hope and expect that we can have those conversations. but i hope and expect we as a country can come together and con-- in condemning violence, lawless violence in all of its forms whether it's against persons or property or a combination of the two. we're better than that. don't dress it up in the flag. it doesn't belong there. don't dress it up in the first amendment. the first amendment protects our right peaceably to vocalize our concerns, peaceably to assemble, not lawlessly. and certainly not violently. if this can happen in provo, it can happen anywhere. you don't want it to happen in your community, not in any community. i hope and expect that in the coming days we can come together as a senate and adopt sense of

the senate legislation, unequivocally condemning violence undertaken in a lawless fashion regardless of the motivation of those involved in it. it's wrong and it must never be tolerated, not in this country, not on our watch. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: mr. president, i ask consent to speak as if in

morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. we're going to be talking tonight about nursing homes in the context of the covid-19 disease. i will start with the numbers which i think most americans unfortunately know by now. every day, we see the number of cases and the numbers of deaths. i don't know exactly the number today, but it was somewhere around 127,000 deaths. but a number they may not know are the numbers when it comes to nursing homes. more than 54,000 residents of nursing homes or workers have died. more than 54,000. they account for more than 40% of all the deaths in the united states of america. to say this is unacceptable in no way begins to describe the gravity of this, the tragedy,

and the failure by the administration to deal with it and to have a strategy to get that number down. i hope -- i hope the administration, i hope members of congress would commit themselves today to say that we come -- when we come back here three months from now, four months from now, five months from now, we're not again saying 54,000 more people died in nursing homes. i hope that there would be an effort made by the majority here in the senate to make sure that we're working together with the administration to get that number down. i don't sense that the administration has any kind of a strategy here at all because if there were a strategy, that number would never be as high as it is. i will have more to say later, but there is something we can do in the senate, and that's to pass legislation to do a couple

of things. number one is to focus dollars on the problem. in this case, we have nursing homes across the country that never implemented the kind of practices that would help them to reduce the number of deaths in nursing homes. we know that there are best practices that work. we know that when a nursing home is given the resources to separate those with covid-19 from those who don't have it, so-called cohorting -- it's a phrase we should all become familiar with, cohorting -- if that happens in a long-term care setting, the death number will go down for sure and the case number will go down, but not enough places are doing that. and we should help them do that.

i have got legislation to do just that. we also know there are best practices with regard to investing in strategies that will surge medical support for nursing homes to get more professionals to be brought to bear on a problem in a nursing home. so there is a lot we can do, and i will have more to say about it in a moment, but i know we want to get to a consent request, but this is not -- it is not going to be good enough for us to just curse the darkness and say how bad this is and how unacceptable it is. we have to act, and that means the united states senate has to pass legislation which includes dollars, funding so that we can have better practices in our nursing homes. those who will say that that's not what we should do, i hope

they have a good plan, a good strategy. so let me start with a consent request because i know we have to get that done here. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent -- let me just start here. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the health, education, labor, and pensions committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 3768, the nursing home covid-19 protection and prevention act of 2020. i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered, read a third time, and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: reserving the right to object. mr. president, the fact of the matter is the senate has acted.

we have acted very generously. in the cares act, we passed $100 billion. in the cares act 3.5, phase 3.5, we passed another $75 billion, for a total of $175 billion for the provider relief fund. that fund allowed reimbursement and financial assistance to skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes. to date, about $76.9 billion, 44% of that $175 billion has actually been expended, and $4.9 billion has been expended on skilled nursing homes -- or skilled nursing facilities in nursing homes. which means we have $98.1 billion left. 56% of that $175 billion has not been spent. h.h.s. has a great deal of latitude in terms of how to direct that. if more needs to go to skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, h.h.s. has $98.1 billion

to spend. so before we authorize another $20 billion and trying to pass that by unanimous consent, i say we need to take a very close look at what we have already spent, close to $77 billion, and then either redirect, repurpose, or just utilize it as it was intended, the $98.1 billion that remains to be spent. so, mr. president, i object. mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: i ask unanimous consent -- let me first talk a little bit about the luke and alex safety act. luke and alex school safety act of 2020 is named in memory of luke hoyer and alex shakter who tragically lost their young lives on february 14, 2018, in the attack at marjory stoneman

douglas high school in parkland, florida. luke's parents, tom and jeana hoyer and alex's father max shakter turned their tragedy into positive action by dedicating their life to promoting noncontroversial, commonsense school safety measures so others don't have to experience a tragedy like they have. both tom and max testified before my committee on july 25, 2019, and presented their recommendations for improving school safety. one of the recommendations was to have a clearing house of best practices that parents, schools and teachers could use in a way that best suits that schools community in needs. our committee turned this commonsense recommendation into the luke and alex school recommendation act of 2020 and passed it unanimously with bipartisan support on november 6, 2019. even though the bill had only cleared our committee, the

department of homeland security agreed it was such a good idea they created and launched this clearing house in february of 2020. so i'm asking consent to codify this clearinghouse with n dhs to make it relevant for schools, teachers an parents in the future. i printed out the current web pain-capable here and this is what -- webpage, and it says find resources to create a safer school, it has news, the coronavirus update. it even has a number of different parts of the site that you can go on school safety tips like bullying and cyber pulleying, training, exercises and drills, mental health, school climate, emergency planning is covered. this is completely noncontroversial, it's just the clearinghouse of best practices every school can go to and cut

through the clutter and hopefully find practical solutions to improve the safety within their school and, again, hopefully prevent tragedies that unfortunately befell the folks in parkland, florida. to, -- so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 402, senate 2779. i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be withdrawn, the johnson substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. casey: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: reserving right to object. i don't have a problem nor do, i'm sure, a number of senators with senator johnson's bill but i'm objecting on behalf of democratic senators so we can start a conversation about helping all of the air traffic

controllers receive 12 week of parental leave starting on september 20, 2020. we did a great thing here in the senate for other federal employees last year in the national defense authorization act that the president signed but these air traffic controllers were accidentally left out and i think, and i'm sure this is true of many, that agree with me, that if the chairman would look at senator schatz's bill to fix that, these hardworking moms and dad would be very appreciative. therefore, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. johnson: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: if i could ask the senator from pennsylvania, i'm not quite sure what that fix has to do with the school safety bill completely unrelated and i know senator lankford, because i talked to him earlier, also has a bill to fix that. he's trying to get that into the ndaa this year. again, it seems like there's bipartisan support for that as well. so, to me, it doesn't make any

sense whatsoever to hold up and not pass a bill that is completely unobjectionable, that is noncontroversial, that really could marginally improve school safety because we botchedded last time the bipartisan support to actually fix that. i guess i'm scratching my head in not understanding that objection. mr. casey: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: i think the reference was to senator schatz's bill and i ask on behalf of the democratic senators if the chairman would take a look at that bill. mr. mr. johnson: i'm happy to look at that as i'm happy to look at the lankford bill and get that into the ndaa and if that gets fixed we can come back at a later date and pass this with a unanimous consent. with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island.

mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i came to the floor to talk about the problem that senator casey asked unanimous consent on which is the terrible plague of deaths in nursing homes across the country. we just heard the chairman say that he's not sure what the air traffic controllers have to do with his proposal on school safety, i'm not sure what his proposal on school safety has to do with nursing homes. we came here to talk about nursing homes. there are over 30,000 residents of nursing homes in this country who have been killed by the covid virus. if senator casey's numbers are accurate, that's enough 20,000 of staff.

it's one in four deaths from covid-19 in the united states. out of 1.3 million americans -- out of 1.3 million americans in nursing care facilities, 30,000-plus have passed away. and in some states it is much worse. senator hassan is here from new hampshire, she'll talk about her state and senator casey is here from pennsylvania. in rhode island, 60% of our deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities. and i know it's not just us. it's going on around the country. one in five nursing homes nationwide have reported a covid-related death, and as the disease explodes across parts of california, explodes across

florida, explodes across arizona, you know that this disease will have many more opportunities to attack many more americans in many more nursing homes. so our bill is a really sensible one. resources for nursing homes for staffing, for testing for personal protective equipment to put the covid patients together to help contain the spread of the illness, having surge teams available for the really dread situation in which the covid sweeps through a facility with such ferocity that you can't get people to come and work there because they all have to be isolated and quarantined. and you need special measures,

special equipment, specially trained people, folks beyond the ordinary employee base of the facility to come in and deal with that explosion. things like just best practices, identifying them, propagating them, practices that will keep residents and staff safe. so i'm very disappointed that our nursing home covid-19 protection and prevention act has been objected to by the senate majority. if their notion is we're doing so well that we can ignore this, then all we need to do is look at the funding that's already gone out, that this is another victory that we can declare, mission accomplished, we're doing a job, this is great. no, not with 30,000 fa

fatalities and -- 30,000 fatalities and climbing. i yield the floor. ms. hassan: mr. president. the presiding officer: the searnd from new hampshire. ms. hassan: mr. president, i thank my colleagues. i rise today to join senator casey and our colleagues in calling for additional action to protect nursing home residents amid the covid-19 epidemic. i want to note that my senior senator from new hampshire is here as well, and i know that she will be addressing this issue as well and has been fighting for action to protect people all across our state and across our country who reside and work in nursing homes. mr. president, nowhere is this pandemic being felt more acutely in this country than in nursing homes. across the united states 43% of

covid-19 deaths have been linked to nursing homes. and in new hampshire, roughly 80% -- 80% of our states' deaths from this virus has been in nursing home an long-term care facilities. the grief of losing a loved one compounded with the fact that families couldn't be at their side is unimaginable. i know that front line staff are working as hard as they can to keep their patients and residents safe, but in talking with them, it is clear that these essential workers need more support. in particular, front-line staff tell me that they still do not have sufficient supplies of personal protected equipment. months into this pandemic there is still no robust federal strategy to support residents and employees of nursing homes.

that is inexcusable. and with respect to the argument that i have heard some of my republican colleagues make that we've already passed the cares act and it had money to go towards nursing homes, that art doesn't address this issue. if the previous bill was sufficient, we still -- we wouldn't still be seeing rate of death in our nursing homes. we need to address the pandemic based on the goals we set and the results we want, not just on how hard we think we have worked or how much money we think we have spent. mr. president, the bill that senator casey has put forward today would make a significant difference for nursing homes in new hampshire and across the country. the nursing home covid-19 protection and prevention act, which i am proud to cosponsor, would help save lives and improve safety among residents

and employees in nursing homes. specifically, this bill would provide $20 billion in emergency funding for nursing homes, intermediate care facilities and psychiatric hospitals to support causes related to staffing, testing, p.p.e. and other essential needs. and it would require the department of health and human services to publish data and analysis on covid-19 cases in these facilities, giving us a clearer picture of the situation that we are facing. in addition, i will continue working to ensure that we aring to all that we -- doing all we can to keep nurses and residents safe. i joined senators casey, warner and schumer about nursing home and long-term care facility access to personal protective equipment. what we know commonly now as

p.p.e. following reports that fema is shipping insufficient personal protective equipment to these facilities. these reports are deeply alarming. equipment arriving with mold on it. it cannot continue. mr. president, as we continue to address this pandemic, the challenges facing nursing homes must be a top priority. delaying vital assistance to these facilities will have dire consequences for people in new hampshire and all across our country. i urge my republican colleagues to support this legislation. i urge them to come to the table and work with democrats to strengthen the federal response to this pandemic. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the

senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i'm pleased to join my colleagues on the floor today in support of legislation that would address what's happening in our long-term care facilities across this country as the result of the coronavirus. i want to applaud senator casey for his leadership on this legislation and say how much -- how pleased i am to be able to cosponsor the bill, along with my colleague from new hampshire, senator hassan, senator whitehouse, who was here, senator blumenthal. we're all here because this country is not doing enough to support long-term care facilities and nursing homes in america. but before i talk more about that legislation, i just have to begin by expressing my outrage at the fact that this

administration has directed the department of justice to weigh in to try and overturn the affordable care act at a time when we have millions of americans who are vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic and as of today 2.5 million americans, nearly 6,000 patients in new hampshire, have been infected with the coronavirus. nationally, more than 125,000 americans have died. in new hampshire, nearly 400 granite staters have died from complications from the virus. and yet, what this administration is doing is trying to strike down the affordable care act and to take away health care coverage from 23 million americans, including over 90,000 residents of new hampshire. that means they if they are

successful that we will have millions of americans with preexisting conditions who will use -- reduce protections they can rely on. we will return to the day when insurers can deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions or deny them coverage based on their health status. insurers will be able to put caps on the dollar value of health services that can be covered in a year or lifetime. and at a time when unemployment has risen to levels that we have not seen since the great depression, this administration is asking the court to strike down the affordable care act's medicaid expansion provisions, which in new hampshire has been the most significant factor in ensuring that people who are struggling with substance use disorders are able to get treatment. this senate should not stand silently by while the administration tries to tear

down the affordable care act at a time when people are most in need of assurances that they can get health care coverage. we need to come together to address what needs to change about the affordable care act, to make it better, but we need to do that together, because if this administration is successful in striking down the affordable care act, they don't have a plan of what's going to replace it. but during this global pandemic, it's not enough just to protect the affordable care act from ongoing sabotage. we have also got to do more to support frontline health care providers, especially in nursing homes and long-term care facilities that are caring for vulnerable seniors, and that's

what this legislation that we're speaking to is all about. in the granite state, we know just how dire the needs of nursing facilities have become. as nursing home residents account for prl 80% of the coronavirus deaths in new hampshire. i want to just reemphasize what senator hassan said. 80% of the coronavirus deaths in new hampshire. we have the highest rate in the nation of deaths in long-term care facilities, and yet we have nursing facility staff in the state who tell me they are stretched thin due to increased costs from the coronavirus response, they have reduced revenue because they have had to postpone stays in long-term care facilities for patients who need physical rehabilitation. it's critical that the senate take action to provide more support to these facilities so that they can afford the

additional staffing, the testing supplies, the personal protective equipment that will be needed to keep our seniors safe. that's why i strongly support senator casey's bill that would provide $20 million in new aid to nursing facilities to help them confront this pandemic head on. this bill needs to be a central component of any future round of coronavirus response legislation here in the senate. our communities are demanding action to respond to the ongoing impact that the virus is having on the public health and on our economy. and as i said last week on the senate floor, it is long past time for this body to join together and get serious about another coronavirus response bill. you know, the -- the really impressive thing about what we have done to date in response to this pandemic is the fact that we have worked together to get

three -- four really significant packages of legislation done. and yet, now it's been six weeks since the house passed its coronavirus response package, known as the heroes act. during that time, there has been no action here in the senate to take up a senate response to the coronavirus. that needs to end. and even today, we heard the governor of new hampshire, the republican governor, chris sununu, announce that in new hampshire, our state expects to experience a budget shortfall of nearly $540 million. that's about a 20% drop in state revenues. that's going to have a huge impact in new hampshire, not just on health care, but on so many investments that the state needs to make in our schools and responses for first responders and roads and water systems and critical infrastructure and

everyone in the state from town administrators to the republican governor. all are describing the tough choices that they're going to have to make if federal assistance doesn't arrive soon. and of course that extends to our nursing home facilities, to the many businesses and organizations in new hampshire and across this country who need more help. so i urge our colleagues to support senator casey's legislation. let's get assistance to those facilities that are so much in need and come together and demand that we get another coronavirus response package of legislation so people know help is once again on the way. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

mr. blumenthal: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i am honored to follow my colleagues, senators shaheen and hassan from new hampshire and senator whitehouse of my neighboring state of rhode island. great advocates and steadfast champions of our elderly, our nursing home and assisted living facilities, and most important, my wonderful friend and colleague, senator casey of pennsylvania who has been such a tremendous champion.

as the ranking member on the aging committee where i am also privileged to serve. you know, i have been reading about the 1918-1919 pandemic. which killed americans and people all around the world with such terror and such relentless cruelty. and it hit particularly hard young people in the prime of their life, in their 20's and early 30's. most especially members of the military who were bunked together and confined on bases or on troop ships on their way to the war. almost as many american troops died of disease during world

war i as they did of wounds that they suffered in combat. today's pandemic is different. it has hit particularly hard our elderly, and they, too, have been struck with vicious cruelty because in many instances they are confined to facilities or living spaces where they are together and the disease is transmitted so efficiently. but today we have less excuse than the public officials a century ago. they had no idea what this organism looked like, how it lived, what it did, or how it

was transmitted. we know. we have pictures of it. they are on the news every night. and we know that transmission is accelerated and exacerbated when people live together. in close confinement, without the kind of staff and protective gear and treatment and therapeutics and preventative measures that hopefully we will develop through research that's ongoing right now. they had no cure and they had no prevention back then. we are working to develop it now, but we know in the meantime that steps can be taken to protect our elderly, especially our elderly who live in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. we have no excuse, none, for the

death rates that we have seen in those facilities. in fact, at the height of this pandemic in connecticut, 70%, literally seven in ten deaths were among people in nursing homes and other senior care facilities. that percentage was among the highest in the country. it wasn't the 80% of new hampshire, but 70-plus percent was among the highest. and this death rate nationally is a national scandal and disgrace because we knew enough and we certainly now know enough to prevent these kinds of

deaths. now, the numbers of covid-19 cases and deaths have slowed down in connecticut as a result of social distancing and mandatory mask wearing, but the pain is still felt in nursing homes. just last week, another 20 nursing home residents died, and in that same week, 64 nursing home staff contracted covid-19. in fact, although we talk about the residents of nursing homes, the staff, the doctors, the nurses, the clinicians, the caregivers, the maintenance workers were also among the most heavily impacted. working in a nursing home is no picnic. working in a nursing home is tough physically and emotional emotionally, and it was made all

the more so by this pandemic. that's why i am supporting avidly the heroes, part of the heroes act which would provide hazardous duty pay to those frontline workers who have been on the job, reporting for duty, despite the risks and the extraordinary emotional and physical toll it has taken on them and their families. that hazardous duty pay is a reward, it's a recognition for what they have done in service to not only their patients and clients but also to society in connecticut as a whole. they deserve it, and we need to provide it to retain them and to recruit others, the same as we do for police and fire and first responders, others who have worked in grocery stores, supermarkets, delivering postal

workers, the unsung heroes of this pandemic. none has been more courageous and perhaps less appreciated in the way they deserve than those strong and courageous workers in nursing homes in connecticut and elsewhere. and i know from having talked with them, many of them in zoom calls, personally in meetings, on telephones, grieved for those losses. they genuinely felt the pain and suffering that they saw, the losses that families suffered were their losses, too. and when their facilities endured a higher than expected rate of fatalities, they grieved

along with brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends, family, and others. and they experienced the kind of fiscal -- physical isolation and sometimes emotional isolation that those patients endured when they were separated from their loved ones, cut off from human contact. so we need to focus. we have an obligation to do so on our nursing homes because of the fatalities, the other suffering that is endured there. we need to learn from some of the practices -- the best practices that were finally put into place in connecticut expert strike teams that focused on

testing. the larger numbers of personal protective equipment, masks, gowns, other kinds of equipment necessary to protect staff as well as the residents and sometimes cohorting which has worked in some instances so that the infected are separated from others. i'm proud to support senator casey in fighting for the covid-19 protection act which would provide 20 misdemeanors in emergency -- $20 million spiskly targeted -- specifically targeted towards protecting nursing home residents and in hospitals, psychiatric hospitals. this legislation is not a luxury or convenience. it is necessary to care about

those extraordinarily vulnerable individuals who cannot care for themselves. that's why they are in these facilities. we must pass this legislation. if we had a measure of self-respect as well as regard for those brave individuals who work there and the loved individuals who live there, we should take this first step. i also have introduced legislation with senator booker, the quality care for nursing home residents and workers during covid-19 act that would immediately address the egregious number of nursing home deaths happening in connecticut and throughout the country by implementing much-needed reforms.

these reforms in practices are part of the work that must be done, especially for the families of the over 25,000 nursing home residents who lost their lives. i'm pleased that connecticut has committed itself to a full probe on how covid-19 impacted nursing homes, how it killed. but connecticut should the not need to -- should not need to go it alone. no state should need to go it alone. this kind of measure puts the full weight of the federal government in funding and best practices and reforms behind states like connecticut that want to do better and feel we must do better. we all bear that responsibility. it is common to all that is on us, and these two measures are a way to fulfill that

responsibility. we should not leave the capitol for a two-week recess while nursing home residents remain vulnerable. we should not abrogate our responsibility while those residents in the care of assisted living facility, remain susceptible and we are continuing to be susceptible the we need greater preparedness in every way, but most especially where we though the most vulnerable are right now and that is our nursing homes and assisted living facility. as this administration continues to attack the affordable care act in the supreme court of the united states and elsewhere, an abhorrent defiance of the need for more health care, not less

in the midst of a pandemic, we can send a message to the country that we will stand strong for better health care. we will protect senior citizen in nursing homes. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. let me start as we conclude the hour in the next ten or 15 minutes to start by thanking my colleagues who joined us tonight, senator whitehouse, who worked with us on this legislation at the very beginning on introduction and so many others who are cosponsors and were here tonight. senator hassan from new hampshire, senator shaheen from new hampshire. senator shaheen being the senior senator in new hampshire. i want to thank her for being here and for her comments about this legislation, and also senator blumenthal. i wanted to start just -- just for a few minutes before we

conclude with this chart, mr. president. this is a -- a chart depicting a map of the united states. it's dated june 27 from "the new york times." the headline reads, or the summary, reads in at least 24 states, a majority of deaths are linked to nursing homes. unquote. i mentioned at the outset, the deaths, more than now as of a number of hours ago, more than 54,000 people when you add up the residents and the workers comprising 40% of the deaths nation wide. you can see when you break it down by state, my home state of pennsylvania, 68% a majority of the deaths linked to nursing homes. states just to the south where -- virginia at 61, maryland at 61, ohio at 57 and then you go out into the middle

of country, north dakota 64% of the deaths in that state linked to nursing homes, minnesota 77%. there aren't many below 30%. only a few. that's the numbers, but, of course, the numbers don't tell a story. we need a plan for this, mr. president. this is not the america that we should accept. this isn't america where we just throw up our hand and say this virus is so -- so terrible, so aggressive and the covid-19 disease is so destructive that results from the virus that we're going to accept another 54,000-plus deaths in the united states of america and not have an action plan. thereon is no action plan right now. the center on medicare and medicaid services and other parts of the country only recently started to speak to this issue.

but there's no plan and unless we have legislation that the majority not too long ago in this hour just objected to, which is a big part of the solution to invest in proven strategy, best practices like cohorting when you separate covid-19 residents in the nursing home from residents that do not have the disease. that works. we know it works because it worked in realtime in lots of places in the country as well as other investments we can make in surge capacity to add professional help in the form of more doctors, more nurses, more certified nurses assistants when a nursing home is being overrun. so no one here is saying that the federal government is the only entity responsible for this. nursing homes have to do more, federal governments have to do more, but the federal government is the payer and the one -- the

level of government that comes up with rules and regulations and law that govern what happens in a long-term care setting. so this bill, senate bill 3768, which has now been objected to by the majority. i'm still waiting all these weeks -- months now -- for the majority to come up with their nursing home strategy to get the death and case number down. we're still waiting for that. this bill 3768 would provide $30 million in funding. when you consider how much has been invested in other priorities, the least we can do is to invest in strategies proven for nursing homes. it would invest in nursing home workers who are doing the heroic work every day, some of the funding can go to testing and as i mentioned cohorting nursing teams. it is supported by the aarp and

alzheimer's organization and other organizations representing seniors, nursing homes and other providers. so this is what we need to pass now to have a strategy in place because we cannot wait for the administration because they seem to have no sense of urgency with regard to this problem. this is an american problem that was created here in response to a virus. no one would argue that the american people cannot come up with a strategy to get the death number down and the case numbers down. who are we talking about here? we're talking about two groups of americans, right? the drents and the workers -- the residents and the workers. the residents when we're talking about those residents in nursing homes, these are americans who fought our wars. these are americans who worked in our factories, americans who

raised families year after year, decade after decade. these are americans who built the great american middle class. these are the americans who built this country and they gave each of us life and love and a strong foundation personally but also in terms of the strength of our country. the least that we can do, the very least that this senate can do is to make is sure that we have at least a strategy. are we going to just throw up our hands and say there's nothing, the most powerful institutions in the world can do to reduce the number of nursing home deaths. as i said before, we don't want to be standing here three months from now, six months from now saying another 54, 55,000 nursing home deaths. is that really america? and we're still waiting for the

administration. we're told by one estimate 12 to 18 nursing home residents have died per hour every hour over the last several months -- 12 to 18 nursing home residents dying every hour. so we can't and should never allow another hour to pass without action. now, the majority has allocated a lot of time for nominations the last two months, or more, lots of time for other -- other issues but not time for covid-19 strategies to reduce long-term care deaths in nursing homes. so the time is not for debating nomination for agencies. the time is long overdue for us to take action to deal with this american tragedy of deaths of

residents in nursing homes and deaths of workers. and while we're talking about those workers, they do heroic work every day. they go in to do this work, expose themselves to the virus, expose their families to the virus. they do back-breaking work, often for pay that isn't commensurate with the nature of their work and their sacrifice and the dignity of their work. so they are heroic. if there were ever a group of front of the front-line workers, these aren't just frontline workers, they are at the very front of that line. we should make sure they have not just the protections in the nursing home to do their work, but also pandemic premium pay as we've called it and so much else. mr. president, i ask a parliamentary inquiry. how much time is remaining? the presiding officer: there is no order on time. mr. casey: i just have a few more minutes and i'll be done.

mr. president, i won't go through the details of this report but i want to note for the senate record two things. number one, we'll be introducing -- i will and senator peters, the ranking member of the homeland and governmental committee and senator wyden, the three of us will be releasing a report about nursing homes. the report is entitled covid-19 in nursing homes, how the trump administration failed residents and workers. this is a chronicle of deadly delay and a chronicle of -- of a lack of real urgency on behalf of the administration. i hope the administration is reaching that point of urgency. it's going to deliver to the american people a plan to get the death number down and to get the case number down in nursing homes. we haven't seen that sense of urgency. this report includes nine findings and nine recommendations. so no one can ever accuse us of

just cursing the darkness of this tragedy without bringing the light of solutions to this issue. so there's more than i could say, but for the record as i conclude, mr. president, i want to offer a -- for the -- for the record, mr. president, i'd ask unanimous consent that the written comments of my office received from two constituents with concern about their loved ones in nursing homes be entered into the record, and just for the record, i will read the names of the family members. thomas and barbara taylor of coatsville, pennsylvania. the presiding officer is a native of reading. he knows what i am talking about when i mention these names. joanne peters from mannheim, pennsylvania, is also a part of

this. as well as amy lowenthal who had a relative, her dad, david, was a geriatrician in philadelphia, her comments are about that. so i would ask consent that these written comments from constituents be entered into the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i would yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, shortly, i'm going to make a u.c. request. i'm not going to do it now because we're still working out some of the specific details. senator scott will be on the floor when i do that. but let me just explain why i'm on the floor and my colleague, senator shaheen, a key member of the small business committee and one of the negotiators on the small business package is on the floor and we will be joined by senator schumer -- and we are joined by senator schumer who has been a real champion on making sure we get help to america's small businesses. i'm going to acknowledge the work of senator coons who i expect will be on the floor a little later, one of our key cosponsors on the next round of aid is senator rosen.

i want to acknowledge the cosponsors of the unanimous consent request legislation, including myself and senator schumer, senator shaheen, senator coons, senator rosen, and senator collins. i also want to acknowledge that this is bipartisan. i have talked to senator rubio. he has informed me that this has cleared the hotline. so we are hopeful that we'll get this u.c. done today. but as we're waiting for the paperwork to get to us, let me just explain what the u.c. does before i make the u.c. request. the authority of the small business administration to approve any more paycheck protection program loans expires at midnight tonight. that was the deadline we established when we passed the cares act in march. that was a reasonable assumption in march. we thought by the end of june that our economy would be back on track and we would not need to have additional applications

after that date. well, a lot has changed since march of this year, and we recognized that when we passed the partisan flexibility act. it changed the time period for use of p.p.p. funds from eight weeks to up to 24 weeks and changed the allocation that treasury had established of using 75% of the funds for payroll to 60% of the funds for payroll. we recognize the times have changed. the p.p.p. program is extremely popular. as of 5:00 tonight, $520.6 billion of forgivable loans have been issued under the p.p.p. program to 4,856,647 small businesses. quite frankly, these are small businesses that very well may not have been here today but for the p.p.p. program. we have kept them alive, and we have saved jobs. the labor department's may

estimate of 2.5 million jobs added, a large number is the result of the p.p.p. funds. small businesses need additional help. they need additional assistance. times have changed. we know, for example, in the state of texas and florida, we have seen a record number of infections. just now. so the need is still there. we have mandatory closures of bars in those states. and we certainly didn't anticipate that when we passed the legislation last march. small businesses need additional help. so we don't want to close the door on the p.p.p. program. and the good news, we have $130 billion remaining in the coffers for the p.p.p. program. so the resources are there, the need is there. we just need to change the date. so the u.c. that i am going to be making in a few moments would change the deadline for filing for a p.p.p. loan from june 30 to august 8. we pick august 8 because that's

the end of the next work period. and we certainly hope by then we're going to have the next stimulus package signed by the president of the united states. i must tell you we need to do more of this. we need round two to help small businesses. i'm very pleased that i have had the help of senator shaheen and senator coons. that targets the next round. the first round was to get money out quicker and save small businesses. the second round needs to be targeted to those small businesses that really need the help. that's why our legislation targets it, small businesses under 100 workers, those that have economic needs that can be demonstrated and helping particularly the underserved, underbanked communities. i was very pleased that this type of a second round was acknowledged by secretary mnuchin at an oversight hearing before the small business entrepreneurship committee. there has been good-faith negotiations with senator rubio. we have worked on this on a

bipartisan issue. i think we can get it done today. i am disappointed, though, that we're going to go into recess scheduled for the end of this week -- we're not coming back until july 20, and small businesses are going to run out of money during that period of time. the small businesses that have used up their p.p.p. money and need additional help are not going to get our attention until we come back july 20. that's wrong. we should have taken up this bill by now. the house passed the heroes act months ago. we should be taking this up now. as i said, small businesses have exhausted a lot of their p.p.p. funds. but we need to act. tonight we'll have the opportunity to extend the june 30 deadline by the u.c. request. i am pleased that we're likely to be able to get that done. the last day that we anticipate the end of the work period, the next work period, we will have time to work together, act together, and hopefully pass additional bipartisan help for small businesses in this

country. small businesses, the growth engine, job creator, innovator. we need to act, and we need to act tonight. with that in mind, mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 4116 introduced earlier today. i further ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: mr. president, reserving the right to object. i want to thank my colleagues for bringing up this important bill today. this crisis is unprecedented and leaders across the nation have taken steps to address the virus and the devastation it has caused both to the health of americans and to our economy. the paycheck protection program has helped so many businesses in florida and across the nation stay afloat during this unimaginable time. as we continue to reopen our economy and get americans back to work, we have to continue looking for ways to help our

small businesses that are hurting and extending the paycheck protection program is one way to do that. my focus has always been on how we get this money to those that truly need it. we have heard all the stories, stories of big businesses with thousands of employees that found loopholes to qualify for these loans, universities with massive endowments accepting these loans, even small businesses taking these loans when they haven't seen a downturn in their revenue. under my colleagues' proposal, companies that are not being harmed at all by the coronavirus will have the ability to receive taxpayer-funded loans that can be forgiven. this program needs to be reformed so money isn't being taken out of the hands of those that really need it. i am offering an amendment to my colleagues' bill today that would prohibit businesses that have not seen a downturn in their reasons due to covid-19 during the coronavirus pandemic from being eligible for a paycheck protection program loan going forward. my amendment would not be retroactive. it would only apply to those businesses applying for a loan going forward. it is cumbent on us to create -- it is incumbent on us to create

accountability in the paycheck protection program and i rely on my colleagues to create this commonsense amendment. i ask that senator cardin modify his request and that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate 4116 introduced earlier today, and that my amendment at the desk be agreed to. further, that the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. a senator: reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: is the senator so modifying his request? mr. cardin: mr. president, reserving the right to object to modifying the amendment. under my reservation, let me first thank the senator from florida. i agree with his concerns and that's why we are looking at additional help to small businesses, legislation that i filed with senator shaheen and senator coons includes a needs based approach to the next round of p.p.p. loans because we're going to need to do more.

secretary mnuchin acknowledged that we're going to have to do more. he also acknowledges we can target that aid. the first round was aimed at getting money out quickly. and we could not have gotten money out quickly if we had underwriting standards that require the needs base that is in the gentleman's amendment. so here's the dilemma that you're offering. we're not looking at the p.p.p. two program. this is the original program that we want to keep alive as we negotiate the next round. so if your amendment were adopted, you could have a bar owner in maryland who's been closed, who's been able to get the p.p.p. program but now you have a bar owner in florida that just recently got noticed that they have to close, that wants to apply for a p.p.p. loan and is not going to be able to get it in a timely way because they're going to have to establish maybe prospectively the loss of revenue after guidelines are given, et cetera. that's not fair.

it's not fair to treat one small business of one state differently than we treat another small business in another state. second point i would point out to you, as we've looked at the evolution of the p.p.p. program, the late applications, those that are filing now, they are invariably the smallest of the small businesses, the ones that are in the greatest need. so why would we want to change the rules for those that had the greatest need when we didn't do it on the original round? so i would just urge my colleague let's work together. i assure you that we want to do this in the next round. i'm disappointed we're not doing it this week before we adjourn but that was a decision made not to bring up the next stimulus package at this point. but i would urge my colleague to recognize that this would create an administrative burden, an inequity and it's not really germane to what we're trying to do in moving forward with the second round of the p.p.p. program. and with that, mr. president, i would object to modifying my consent request. the presiding officer: the

objection is heard to the modification. is there an objection to the original request? mr. scott: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: first i want to thank senator cardin for worrying about the businesses. i think you're absolutely right. and i think we can all acknowledge in the original bill, some -- it could have been done better. so some of the businesses, they shouldn't have probably gotten it in the beginning and we could have targeted more for some of the smaller businesses. i thank you for would you're doing. i'm not going to stand in the way of this. i look forward to working with you to try to make sure the money goes to people that actually need it and doesn't go to people who actually haven't had a downturn in their business. we don't have unlimited resources up here as we all know and i want to make sure the money is spent well. i'm not going to stand in the way and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered.

mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: let me thank my friend from florida for allowing this to go forward. i think we do share the same objective. we want to make sure the money gets out and we also want to make sure those who really need it get the funds. i assure you i would be happy if we could bring up the second round this week, but let's make sure we work together with your colleague from florida, senator rubio. we've been in constant contact and we hope to have a bill ready. i want to acknowledge on the floor senator schumer who has been our leader on our side to make sure that we really target the help to the small businesses that really need it. i see senator collins on the floor who was part of a negotiating team who was able to come up with the p.p.p. program, incredible contribution. senator shaheen was also part of that negotiating team with senator rubio that came up with the p.p.p. program. i thank you for your support on this unanimous consent request. senator coons as i've already mentioned earlier is one of the key members of the small business committee, one of our

cosponsors of round two of relief to small businesses. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor to the distinguished -- to my colleague from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i'm really pleased to be here to join ranking member of the small business committee, senator cardin, democratic leader schumer, senator coons who's also a member of the small business committee, and senator collins who worked so hard with the negotiating team to put in place the paycheck protection program. and i'm pleased because we have an agreement to extend the expiration date to august 8. i came here thinking that we would not be able to get agreement so i'm glad that senator scott was willing to work with us as we try and get not just an extension because we need an extension of that first

round. and that's would tonight does. but we also need another round of p.p.p. this is by far been the largest business relief effort in our nation's history. for small businesses anyway. but what i'm hearing now from so many small businesses in new hampshire, those that have used the p.p.p. program effectively, they've kempt their workers on the -- kept their workers on the payroll. they've paid their rent. they're beginning to open back up again, but that funding is about to run out. and they need more assistance as our economy reopens, particularly those mom and pop businesses with very few employees. and in new hampshire, the tourism and hospitality industries which have been the first to close and are going to be the last to reopen, and they are just vital to new hampshire's economy. the new hampshire restaurants account for nearly 70,000 jobs for $3 billion in sales.

and hotels represent another 29,000 jobs and a billion dollars in wages and salaries. i've heard from small businesses like lavelle winery which is a beautiful winery conference and wedding venue in southern new hampshire. it has a hundred employees. it's fighting to survive. two decades of work that the owners of labelle winery have put in. and yet all of their events are canceling for the summer and fall. they've spent their first round of p.p.p. they're operating now at just a fraction of their capacity. and before the pandemic, this was a thriving business with expansion plans for opening an inn and a second restaurant. now if they don't get that second round, they're in real trouble. coby inn and grazing restaurant which is in the only henniker on earth, henniker, new hampshire. it's about to lose 65% of its

revenues this year. the revenue from their highen end restaurant -- high end restaurant isn't even covering payroll or food costs. they've had 95% of their events canceled this year. bruce, the owner, if they lose their business, they not only lose their business, they lose their home. if they don't get a second round, if they can't apply for that second round, they may not still be here. so i'm really pleased we've gotten this extension tonight. that's progress. but we need a second round. there's $130 billion left in the paycheck protection program. we need to help those small businesses that need additional assistance. and i'm pleased that we're working in a bipartisan fashion to try and get a bill. we've got a bill that senators cardin, coons, and i introduced. now we're working with senator

rubio, chairman of the committee, senator collins who was part of that four-person negotiating team, and i'm hopeful and cautiously optimistic that if we work together, we'll be able to agree, republicans and democrats, on what should be in that second round. the challenge then is to get another package of assistance for not just america's small businesses but for all of the people who have taken such a hit as the result of this global pandemic. over 128,000 americans, 339 granite staters have lost their lives. new hampshire has an unemployment rate that before the pandemic was under 3%. it's now 14.5%. we've got to help those small businesses get through this period. and i'm hopeful that working together we can do that. we can get another package of legislation, and we can say to

americans again that help is again on the way. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i want to commend the senator from maryland, the ranking member on the senate small business committee, for bringing this legislation forward this evening. i also want to commend my neighbor from new england, senator shaheen. senator cardin and senator shaheen along with the chairman of the committee senator rubio and i crafted the paycheck protection program that has literally been a lifeline to small businesses and their employees throughout this country. more than 4.8 million loans have

been made under this program. these are forgivable loans, mr. president, as long as the small business, the employer uses the percentage that is established now at 60% in order to pay for his or her employees. then the loan at the end of the day is forgiven. and this has made the difference between a small business shuttering its doors forever, laying off its employees permanently, and surviving this pandemic. small businesses do not want to lay off their employees. their employees are their family members, their friends, their

neighbors. they are committed to them. they are committed to their communities. but through no fault of their own, the pandemic has led to government-issued orders that have closed businesses down or their customer base has simply dried up. as the result these small businesses were facing extreme cash flow problems. no liquidity, unable to keep their businesses going without the assistance from the p.p.p. i'm proud of what we have been able to do. i know the difference that it has made in the state of maine where more than 26,000 small businesses, that's almost 75% of small businesses in our state

have received more than $2.2 billion worth of forgivable loans. mr. president, that is equal to nearly half of the entire state budget for the state of maine. those forgivable loans have sustained paychecks for nearly 200,000 employees in my state. it has allowed small businesses to retain employees. it has allowed them to recall employees. and it has allowed them to send paychecks to employees who have been furloughed due to a lack of work. most of all, it has kept take bond between the small business employer and his or her

employees intact so that as restrictions are lifted and as the economy reopens, the small business and its workforce can be quickly reunited. and that benefits every community in this country. so i'm very pleased that the legislation that we brought to the senate floor under the leadership of senator cardin tonight has been approved so that we don't see an interruption in this program. i, too, understand the concerns raised by senator scott, and in our negotiations on a phase two program of the p.p.p., we are looking at having a revenue test. and i think that that is likely

to be a provision included in the next stage of this program. but in the meantime, let us make sure that we continue our efforts to keep our small businesses alive and paychecks flowing to their employees. mr. -- mr. president, i look forward to continuing the negotiations with my colleagues. i want to thank senator cardin, senator shaheen, and senator rubio for their extraordinary leadership, and it has been a great pleasure to work with them on such a concrete program that has meant literally the difference between going out of business and surviving this

terrible pandemic. let me just end, as senator shaheen did, with a story of a small business in the tourism industry in my state. this is an innkeeper who has run an inn that has been in her husband's family for generations. in the month of june, usually, last year, her occupancy rate is 94%. this june, it was 6%. 6%. and when i saw her, she told me that but for the paycheck protection program, her business would not be in operation.

she was able to keep all of her year-round staff employed because of the p.p.p. but, mr. president, i think it's obvious that this business, like so many others, are going to need additional help to survive this pandemic, and that is what we must do. so thank you, mr. president, and i would yield the floor. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. let me salute senator cardin and senator shaheen for bringing this measure to the floor and forcing our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to relength, who originally, of course, wanted to block this bill all day long. now, it's going to benefit two

groups of people. the first, very simply, are those businesses whose businesses have gone bad in the last few months. when this proposal was passed, plain and simple, the economy everyone thought might get better sooner. it hasn't. and there are large numbers of businesses who are going to need to apply now. had this program run out today, they would have been out of luck. now with this renewal, short time, august 8, they at least get the chance to reapply. but there is a second group. this program was rolled out very poorly by the administration. we all know that. we have to come back and -- we had to come back and fix it twice. there are many businesses in new york and elsewhere who applied initially and were rejected or who went to their bank and their bank said no because this program was not aimed at helping the smaller businesses by the

administration as they rolled it out. the guidance that was supposed to be issued, all the other things that happened didn't happen. there are many businesses who were rejected the first time, and i have talked to many in new york and the last few weeks -- in new york in the last few weeks. can i apply again? now that it's been straightened out because of the good work that cardin and shaheen and we did, forcing the republicans to help small businesses. they wanted to just renew the p.p.p. program. we said no, we said no, and we got a much better bill. these businesses can now apply again with the new guidelines that were passed in covid 3.5. that is a very good thing. and i would recommend to our small businesses who have been rejected, reapply because you might -- it might be available to you again. but let me say this shouldn't have happened. our republican colleagues have been missing in action on covid

throughout. on small business, on unemployment insurance, on aid to localities, on so many other issues. the only reason we're here tonight is we democrats said we're going to force you to come here with a unanimous consent statement. now, let us hope -- there is always hope here -- that this will repeat itself, that our republican colleagues will see that they are sticking their heads in the ground, following leader mcconnell who said well, we'll have to assess the situation. i guess tonight we're not assessing the situation, but thank god we're acting. that we will move forward on issue after issue after issue. we have many more u.c.'s this week. the needs to pass those u.c.'s is every bit as pressing as the need to move this u.c. maybe they will relent again, and maybe they will come back and say we need to negotiate. speaker pelosi and i have asked leader mcconnell to sit down

and negotiate now. nope, no way. no negotiation. we have had to push our republican friends to help small business, to help the unemployed, to help those who rent. so many other people to help states and localities. they didn't want to do any of it. but tonight might be a metaphor for what's going to happen in the future as we move to the heroes act. our republican friends, pressured by the very people in their own states who desperately need help will have to say yes, we agree with you. but i have to say, this happened tonight, not because of bipartisan action. as much as i like to see bipartisan action in this body. it happened because democrats said we're going to go to the floor and demand a u.c. until the last minute, our republican friends said we're going to block it for one reason

or another. thank god they didn't. they deserve praise for not doing it. but let's make no mistake about it, this is not the end. this is the beginning. we have a lot more to do, for small business and for many other parts of our economy and our health care system that are struggling and suffering. they need action. we need bipartisanship like we saw tonight in these areas as well. i yield the floor. mr. coons: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: mr. president, i rise to join my colleagues and express enthusiasm for the work that lies ahead. i am so grateful to the senator from maryland for his leadership in bringing this important effort to the floor tonight. senator cardin and senator shaheen have been stalwarts in the small business committee. the ranking member and his talented colleague from new hampshire have worked tirelessly to shape the p.p.p., the paycheck protection program that was part of the cares act enacted more than two months ago. it has delivered, as you have heard tonight, remarkable

assistance to nearly four million businesses. more than $500 billion, i think $526 billion in assistance that have helped millions of businesses all over our nation not have to close. today, tonight was supposed to be the last minute, the last chapter in the p.p.p. program, but because of a unanimous consent request that was successfully negotiated by senator cardin, there is now five more weeks of running room for businesses large and small across our states -- excuse me -- businesses small and smaller across our states to have an opportunity to get to the s.b.a. to apply for a loan through their lender of choice and to have another opportunity. why do we need this? because the pandemic is so far from over. despite the wishes and the rhetoric of the president and others, we all know that in our states and in other states around the country, a record number of new cases were

reported. several times this week, the highest number of cases so far in this pandemic. cases are rising in dozens of states, and small businesses in our country face an uncertain future. in my home state, our governor jordan carney who has made good but hard decisions has stopped the opening of our economy. like several other states, maryland which shares the wonderful eastern shore beaches. new hampshire which has a wonderful summer and winter hospitality businesses up and down its state. this is a critical time of year for our seasonal businesses. to not have them fully open is putting a damper on exactly those hospitality businesses that took the hardest hits right at the beginning of this pandemic. i want to take a few minutes and talk about just a couple of the small businesses i know in delaware that have benefited from the resources made possible by this program negotiated by these great colleagues. $1.4 billion has been delivered

to delaware businesses and nonprofits quickly, helping them to stay open or reopen, helping them to hire or retain workers, yet even tonight $134 billion in this program remains unspent. rather than shutting it down, we're going to make sure that there is windows of opportunity for small businesses in our states. this helps a company like zoup in newark, delaware. eric ames is the owner. i was there at the opening of his first zoup franchise years ago. this p.p.p. loan, a loan-to-grant program has made it possible for him to keep functioning. jimmy bernard, has a creative, innovative brewer in newark, delaware, of autumn arch brewing has benefited from a p.p.p. loan. yvonne gordon who i have known for years who runs orange theory fitness, a minority business owner in pike creek who has been able to stay open and reopen because of her p.p.p. loan. and in dover, delaware, our

capital, the wonderful green turtle restaurant owned by p.j.gioraman has been able to stay open because of this loan. these are abstractions, these aren't statistics. these are real flesh-and-blood families and businesses that have benefited because of the p.p.p. as several of my colleagues have said, in the early stages of this program, not enough small businesses, not enough minority-owned businesses, because of fewer banking connections, because of unpredictability, the rules were able to access the p.p.p. some were denied by multiple lenders. that's why it's important that we extend this deadline tonight. let me also speak about what we hope will be the next phase, the prioritize p.p.p. act. extending the deadline of this first loan period for five weeks is good but not enough. there are other businesses that can and should get access to the lifeline of a prioritized second p.p.p. loan. as senators cardin and shaheen have mentioned, this would focus

on fewer than 100 employees with more than 50% greater revenue loss, and i'm particularly excited about the setaside of $25 billion or about 20% of the total funding for those with ten or fewer workers. i know that senator cardin and senator shaheen will be working hard in the weeks to come to narrow and to focus and to prioritize where we will go in the next relief bill, but with the forbearance of my colleagues, i want to talk about one other issue. in my home state of delaware today, june 30 was the end of the budget year, the end of our general assembly session by constitution. and all of us received a letter from the seven largest organizations representing state, county, and local governments all over our country, saying it is urgent that this next relief bill include not just another round of assistance to small businesses but critically needed assistance to state and local governments. there are 15 million americans who work for state and local

governments -- teachers, paramedics, firefighters, police officers, the folks who make our state and local governments run, and 11.6 million of them have already been -- and 1.6 million of them have already been laid off as state and local revenues plummet. we have to work together to make sure this is part of the next program. we have to extend unemployment benefits. we need to ensure the american people can safely vote, and we need to expand national service opportunities. there is so much for us to do, i look forward to more successful efforts with my colleagues and for the opportunities for us to work together to address the needs of the american people. thank you so much to my colleagues, both for tonight's exciting extension of the p.p.p. program and for the work we have yet to do in the days and months ahead. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. cardin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: mr. president, i want to thank senator coons for his comments and senator

shaheen. senator coons is absolutely right. there are many reasons why we needed to bring up the next stimulus package before we go on recess. the issues of state and local government are real. i have heard from governor hogan of maryland, i have heard from mayor young of baltimore city, i have heard from our county execs. their fiscal year year begins at midnight tonight. they have hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue shortfalls that they have to make up because they have to have a balanced budget. that's going to mean they have to consider layoffs. it means it's going to be difficult to open up schools in the fall, and the list goes on and on and on. and they need help from us. now, the cares act was important. it did provide some meaningful help. but the cares act dealt with the direct cost to state and local governments of taking care of covid-19, not the revenue loss as a result of income tax revenues down, as a result of the special fees that local governments receive for parking or for rental cars or for total

taxes. we never made up any of that. they had to balance their budget. so we needed to act on that. senator coons is absolutely right when he talks about the fact that we have -- in march when we passed the cares act, we thought that the unemployed would have jobs available certainly by july, but that's not going to be the case for millions of americans. so we're going to have to do something about the expiring unemployment insurance and deal with election security. there are a lot of issues. we have to deal with prek-12 and higher education. they have direct costs that have yet to be met. they're in danger of not being able to safely reopen in the fall and we've got to act to help them in that regard. so i just really want to underscore the point that senator coons made, and i want to thank senator coons, i want to thank senator shaheen because we have put out there for the public to take a look at what the second round of help for small businesses will look like. and we put a priority as i think

we should on the smaller of the small businesses, first by eligibility, a hundred employees or less. second, by guaranteed set asides for those that are ten employees or less. we have a needs base approach, 50% loss in revenue as a result of covid-19 and we make it easier for the smaller small businesses to be able to get loans by making it more financially rewarding for the financial institutions to make those loans. so we have stepped up to say this is what we need to look at. now, i must tell you we're in a pretty good position on the small business committee because we have open dialogue and negotiations. today on two occasions i was in contact with the chairman-of-the -- chairman of the committee and we're negotiating this and we'll be ready but we wanted you to know that we put out our proposal and i want to thank senator coons and senator shaheen joining me in that effort. mr. president, i would hope

lightning would strike and perhaps we could bring up the bill this week and get something done. i think that's highly unlikely knowing what the leader's schedule for this week. that is wrong. we should have acted before the july recess. but let's hope that we can use the two weeks during the recess to put together a bill that cannot only pass the senate and house but be signed by the president to help not just small businesses, not just state and local government, but all the people in this country get through this horrible pandemic. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: mr. perdue: madam president. the presiding officer: i ask that the quorum call -- the senator from georgia. mr. perdue: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. i ask that the senate be allowed

to speak for up tone minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: i ask that the senate proceed to s. 123. the clerk: s. 123, a bill to require the secretary of veterans' affairs to enter into a contract or other agreement with the third party to review appointees in the veterans health administration 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. perdue: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: i ask unanimous consent that the energy committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 3758 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 3758, a bill to amend the clam oth basin supply

act to make corrections. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. perdue: i ask unanimous consent that the merkley amendment at the desk and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: i know of no further debate on the bill, as amended. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, the question is on passage of the bill, as amended. all in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill, as amended, is passed. mr. perdue: i ask unanimous consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 414, s. 2864. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 414,

s. 2864, a bill to require the secretary of veterans' affairs to carry out a pilot program on information sharing between the department of veterans' affairs and designated friends and relatives of veterans regarding the benefits available to the veterans and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed to. -- will proceed. mr. perdue: i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. are. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m., wednesday, july 1. further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that morning business be closed.

finally, following leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of calendar number 483, s. 4049. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

senate republican leaders spoke to reporters about the legislative agenda and answered questions about recent reports of russia offering bounties to the el