michigan, and she is now the first to serve on the federal bench. so very, very pleased that she was confirmed today. judge jarbou greatly values the opportunity she's been given, i know, and has worked hard to extend those opportunities to others during her career. she's active in the michigan legal communities and in the kalvian-american chamber of commerce and other organizations. she served as a mentor and worked to increase the diversity of clerks in her own courtroom, and, again, i'm just very pleased that she was overwhelmingly confirmed by the united states senate today. mr. president, i rise now on

behalf of the more than 19 million people in our nation and half a million people in michigan who show us every day what service and sacrifice and love of country is really all about. these patriots landed on beaches in normandy and their pacific theater, crept through jungles in korea, shed blood in vietnam, survived attacks in iraq, and fought terrorists in afghanistan. these people are heroes. they love our nation so much, they're willing to put their lives on the line for our democracy, our people, and our way of life. that's why it is so incredibly shocking and infuriating to hear the president of the united states, the commander in chief

of our armed forces, disparage our veterans. president trump called them losers and suckers. losers and suckers. he said he couldn't understand why anyone would join the military, because what's in it for them? he said veterans who have lost limbs shouldn't be in parades. why? because he couldn't handle seeing them, didn't think people would want to see them. people in michigan want to see them and thank them, and do every day. and we all remember what he said about our former colleague and friend, the late senator john mccain. president trump said he prefers veterans who didn't get captured

my own dad served in the navy during world war ii. he signed up because he believed in a cause bigger than himself. perhaps president trump doesn't understand that my dad was a sailor, not a sucker. about one in four people who have served in our armed services now live with a service-connected disability. president trump, these veterans are leaders. they aren't losers. president trump wonders what's in it for them. well, maybe he should ask them because we all know what they would say. we all know what they would say. pride, duty, honor, the feeling that comes from putting something or someone above

yourself. it's becoming increasingly clear that these aren't feelings that the current occupant of the oval office understands. my dad once told me something i have never forgotten. in fact, it's influenced my whole life as an elected official. he said that a veteran should never stand at the back of any line -- for a job, for health care, for education, or for the military recognitions they earned. my dad came home after world war ii and went to school on the g.i. bill. and i don't know what would have happened to our family if he had not had that opportunity. and so my dad said over and over again that a veteran should not stand at the back of any line.

they certainly shouldn't be put at the end of the line by their own president. it's appalling that this even needs to be said actually. when i heard these comments and i heard them verified over and over again, in every media outlet from right to left verifying that in fact these were his comments, it was stunning, it was appalling, and it made me very angry. our veterans deserve a place of honor, at the front of the line. at the front of the line. and they deserve a commander in chief who respects them, who honors their service, and, frankly, who gets it. thank goodness we have people who see things and believe in things beyond themselves. thank goodness we have people

who are willing to stand up for all of us to keep us safe and stand up for our values and our country. so on behalf of the people of michigan, i want to say thank you to everyone who has served, everyone who is currently serving, currently serving our country and our armed services. we are truly grateful for your sacrifice and service and your willingness to stand up and support and defend our country. mr. president, i yield the floor. of i suggest the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from ohio. mr. portman: thank you. i'm on the floor today to talk about the coronavirus pandemic and what we can and should do here in the united states senate and in congress as a whole to actually address the ongoing problem. we're not out of the woods yet. we've still got a health care crisis and, of course, an economic crisis that's a consequence of that. we've done some good bipartisan

work over the past six months. in fact, i think not many people realize that we've actually passed five or six bills with strong bipartisan majorities. what people know about most is the biggest one, the cares act. i think it got 97 votes here on the floor of the senate. 97-0. we've in the past been able to figure out a way to come together as republicans and democrats, as americans to be able to address this crisis. we need to do it again because we still do have a crisis. we still do have unacceptably high levels of people getting infected, hospitalized, being in the i.c.u., fatalities, and of course our economy is not where any of us would like it see it, although it has improved significantly in part because of the legislation we have passed here. i'm convinced we would be at over 10% unemployment still if not for the legislation we passed here. instead we're beginning to come down, 8.4% last month.

that's faster than anybody thought it could. still, of course, unacceptably high. so more help is needed, and we can't let the upcoming election and the politics around that keep us from getting together and continuing to do the work that we have to do. now we haven't been able in the last five or six weeks to do that. instead we've been working kind of on opposite sides of the aisle on our own projects. today we passed a bill -- i'm sorry. we didn't pass it. we voted on a bill that got a majority of the united states senators supporting it. that's not how you pass something around here. you have to have a supermajority of 60 votes, but a majority of senators in this chamber just voted for legislation that has strong bipartisan appeal, i would think, because as we'll talk about in a second, almost every element is supported by the democrats, republicans, and most importantly by the american people. but what we've done is we've

kind of fallen into camp. the democrats passed a bill in the house. it's called the heroes act. it's a $3.5 trillion bill. remember, we've already spent about $3.5 trillion making this the largest deficit in the history of our country and making our debt now for the first time since world war ii the size of our entire economy. that concerns all of us, and it should. i hope it concerns all of us because our fiscal situation going forward for our kids and grandkids is something we should be concerned about too. anyway, $3.5 trillion bill. you know, it's kind of a grab bag to be honest. some of it is related to covid-19 but some of it is not. as an example there is a provision in there that i hope will be a nonstarter that changes our tax laws and repeals the state and local tax deduction cap put in recently. this gives a huge break to wealthy americans. 40% of this benefit according to the joint committee on taxation goes to the top 1% of wage earners. what does that have to do with the coronavirus?

it will help millionaires on both coasts a lot, but it does not affect the crisis that we're in. they also want to use this $3.5 trillion package as a way to make changes in our immigration policy. that's pretty couldn't verse stuff as it stands and that will make that bill hard to pass because immigration policy, people have strong views on but it has no place in a covid-19 bill. one that concerns those of us about the election coming up is that it puts federal mandates on the states with regard to the election system. we left that to the province of the states. that's not, again, something that is going to help us in terms of the coronavirus. so my hope is that those house democrats who passed that bill can now see what we passed over here that is a very targeted bill that focuses on the coronavirus. it is less than $500 billion,

which used to be a lot of money but as compared to the $3.5 trillion, but it's a lot less money but more targeted, more focused. so much of it is policy that can be supported on both sides of the aisle. we will -- it will help to build the problems we addressed, it will help with the health care crisis and the weak economic performance that's a result of people being isolated from the economy. i heard someone say this week we've got a k recover recovery. what does that mean? a lot of people say you vant a v recovery where you go down and come back up just as steeply. that's where i think a lot of america is. in other words, a lot of families, a lot of businesses have seen rapid recovery here in the past few months but there are others who have not. the top part of the k is true for a lot of people and a lot of

businesses. think of the businesses that provide food, the grocery stores, the businesses that are involved in construction, businesses like home depot or lowe's that provide building products, they are doing well, they are at the top of the v. there are others that are at the bottom, it would include hospitality and airlines and bus companies, they are having a tough time. many of our small businesses, retail, certainly our bars and movie theaters and bowling alleys are having a tough time. they are at the bottom end of it. this is an uneven recovery. therefore to my colleagues on my side of the aisle who say, we've done enough, everything's on, everything's good, unfortunately that's not true. i wish it were. i wish we had turned the corner on the economy and also had begun to turn the corner on the virus many we can't say that yet. we've made progress, no question about it. i think we're on the right

track, but we have a k-shaped recovery. same with individuals. if you think about it. if you own a home, the value of your home has probably gone up. if you're looking to sell your home, it's a good time to sell, i guess. if you're invested in the stock market, which a lot of people who own homes are, it's darn good. i was object a program -- on a program where they said that the nasdaq is back up. if you're in the tech world, you're doing great. let's say you don't own your own home and you're a renter, it has probably gone up and yet your job is at risk, maybe gone. so, again, k-shaped, isn't it. some people are doing quite well. others are still having a rough time and need help to be able to deal with the issue of the coronavirus and the economic fallout from that. by the way, this k-shaped recovery, i believe, has

increased inequality in terms of our income. income inequality was something that we were making progress on. in february we had the 19th straight month of wages increasing in this country, just in february, not long ago. most of the increase was among lower and middle-income workers. that was positive and why so many of us pushed for tax it reform and we felt it would get us to help those workers in the lower income bracket but that has changed. we have to here in congress in my view, continue to help, continue to do things that will help on the health care crisis and with regard to the underlying economic situation that's affected by it. one thing that i think was very positive about today is that we were able to pass legislation that has many, many bipartisan elements to it. i think the vote we just it,

again, we're a majority of senators in this chamber voted for a targeted covid-19 approach, i think this gives us a chance to reset, a chance to get back to the bargaining table. a chance to say, okay, now the republicans have put forward a proposal that has a lot of very reasonable provisions in it. the presiding officer here today was part of that. he put in provisions into the bill that has to do with our schools, widely popular. there's other provisions in there that -- that i think there's very little disagreement on. let me highlight a few of them. one is on the health care response, particularly on our testing capacity. republicans and democrats alike know that testing is critical. we need it. in ohio we're looking for more funding for testing because we know that's how you stop the spread of the disease, testing, contract testing and getting to the hotspots and try to contain it. that way people will feel more comfortable returning to work,

returning to shop, returning to school. so this is something that is in this legislation, $16 billion alone for testing. the lftion that was voted on this afternoon in this chamber was voted positively by a majority of the senators. this week in ohio, i visited the health collaborative which is a multiagency coalition approach to dealing with covid-19. it includes hospitals, county commissioners, health commissioners, even nursing homes. they are ute -- utilizing the $19 million they received through the cares act to fund, design, and execute a testing strategy for people in the southwest ohio area. i am really pleased to see them take the funding and using it in this way because now more and more people are getting the opportunity to be tefd. they are doing it on a -- tested. they are doing it on a no-needs basis. there is no need to pay for it, everybody is welcomed to get a

test. these kinds of issues are a big help. i'm glad in this legislation that we voted on this afternoon, we added another $45 billion in total to h.h.s. to go towards testing, vaccine development, distribution of the vaccine, helping on the antiviral medications, this shark tank concept that is brilliant that tells the private sector, we're going to provide you the basic funding to compete to come up with a safe way to develop a vaccine or antiviral terpy and that encouraged -- therapy and that has encouraged competition in an unprecedented speed. we need them and hopefully by the end of this year we will have them. i think that congress should double down on any covid-19 policies in previous ltionz that have worked well. -- legislations that have worked well and one is the

paycheck protection program. if you're a small business and have not taken advantage of the p.p.p. proposal that many of your peers have and you have seen them able to keep their doors open because of it, you're out of luck right now because the program is not accepting new applicants. we need to extend the program. i don't know a senator in this chamber that doesn't have an experience back home of a small business saying, i couldn't have stayed open without this. i visited three or four businesses in the past few weeks in ohio, all of them had the same story. different timing, you know, different businesses. some in construction, some in the restaurant business, some in manufacturing, but what they all tell me is they needed that influx badly. it provided them a low-interest loan, 1%, that converted it into a grant because the loan was forgiven if they used it for their salaries or for utilities or mortgage or rent.

they would have had to close their doors. for some of these businesses, like the manufacturer i visited, thank goodness, they would have had to let go 30% of their workforce and they were able to keep everybody on and now they are looking for people. they are having a tough time hiring people. they are looking for people. that's a good sign that you have businesses trying to pull people in the workforce. that's in this legislation. my hope is that we're going to see republicans and democrats agree on this. i think they do agree, reinstating the p.p.p. for the foreseeable future so that more small businesses can take advantage of the smart loan program is a smart thing to do and it is more targeted and it requires that had you show a loss of revenue. we want this to be targeted and focused. we don't want to waste money. third, the bill rebeing flects that homes on both sides of the aisle recognize that congress should give additional support to our schools.

i mentioned this earlier, but $105 billion in this bill goes to education, $70 billion to k through 12, our secondary and high schools. many of the schools are telling me, rob, i've got additional costs, i have these plexiglass shields i have to put up, i need more teachers. there's funding that's needed for remote learning. so this is good for us to provide funding for these schools because that will enable them to reopen and reopen safely and stay open. that's in this legislation. by the way, there's also money in here for colleges be and universities, i think about $30 billion for that. again, the same thing i'm hearing from our colleges and universities some of which are having a tough time staying open, they need more testing, more p.p.e. this is important and, again, that is all in this legislation.

i mentioned the heroes act, a $3.5 trillion bill that the house democrats passed not too long ago as kind of their alternative. that had funding for schools also. but, guess what, this bill that was passed -- well, not passed, but voted on by a majority of senators today in the united states senate, actually has slightly more money than the heroes act has for education. what's the big issue here? why can't we get together and figure this out? so there's so many opportunities here. finally, i would just say that one thing that this bill does, and one reason it's called a targeted bill is it repurposes funding that we have already appropriated here in the first four or five bills but that has not been used and it is not likely to be needed. so isn't that smart? i mean as taxpayers don't you want to be sure we're not just throwing money at this problem that's not needed and the treasury department has been

helpful in particular about saying they have a bunch of money for a loan program they haven't had much takeup on because frankly the commercial lending is going pretty well, people are getting money from their banks so they don't need to go to treasury or the fed as much as we thought. there's money leftover, hundreds of billions of dollars and that should be used to offset any new program. i can't imagine anybody in this chamber, if they think through this, would be against us repurposing the funds we appropriated toward new uses that we already targeted. that's in this legislation too. i think those things all have bipartisan appeal and it seems to me, again, this is a reset. because, let's face it, the democrats have been saying over the past several weeks, we've got our bill we passed, the heroes act, what have you put out, showing that the majority of the senate and pretty much everyone can support. we've done that. we have our stake in the ground,

they have their stake in the ground. there is considerable overlap. we should be able to figure this out on behalf of the american people. yeah, we have a campaign ongoing for president for senators for members of congress. we've got to look out for the interest of the american people here. we can do both. we can campaign and also be working on our legislation that is absolutely needed right now for the health care and economic future of our country. by the way, only about a third of the senate is up for reelection, so for two-thirds of us, we don't even have the election to worry about yet it seems like this place has become way too political too quickly. let's focus on the bill that was voted on today, a majority of senators supported it, and figure out with a way with a new approach that will enable us with a new effort to help with regard to the k-shaped recovery and with regard to the ongoing health care crisis we are facing. i want to mention, if i could, three or four other things i'd

love to see in the final bill that did not make it in the so kald targeted bill. i understand why they didn't. in part we weren't looking to put a lot of tax provisions in there because it's not a tax vehicle. but there are other things that have broad bipartisan support that we ought to include. it is important that the taxpayer-funded research supported by this legislation, research into antiviral medication is protected from other countries, in particular china, coming into our country and taking that research. this is taxpayer-funded reserve and we know from -- research and we know from the f.b.i. told us and the department of justice told us, this is currently at risk. with that in mind, we need to include legislation that safeguards our american innovation. this was actually in the legislation that was introduced by senator mcconnell a few weeks ago, called the heals legislation and the legislation

i'm talking about is the safeguarding american innovation act. it stops the kind of theft of research and innovation at our research institutions, our colleges, our universities. that's one where republicans and democrats have come together. it's a bipartisan bill. it's the result of a committee process. it's the result of an investigation that took over a year. it's the result of a lot of hearings and a lot of work and it's solid legislation to encourage us to be able to protect the research we're doing, including on the coronavirus. there's been a bipartisan consensus that a smart coronavirus response should include tax incentives to help our economy, to be able to not just open and reopen but do so safely and effectively. small business owners i've spoken to during this pandemic, especially in recent weeks, have cold me their -- told me they're eager to reopen but we want them to do it in a safe manner. let's provide incentives for that one example how that

process can be helped along is an expanded tax record called the work opportunity tax credit. it's already out there. it's legislation that passed years ago. it helps, let's say, veterans, returning citizens who are looking for a second chance. it gives them the chance to get a job because the employer gets a tax credit for a while and then almost always that person ends up getting a job. let's include covid-19 unemployed in that, people who lost their job because of covid-19. that makes all the sense in the world to get people back to work. there's also something that's in law now based on the cares legislation called the employee retention tax credit. this, i think, is very important. companies that couldn't access the p.p.p. because they didn't wall identify or didn't want to have access to this program kind of as an alternative. it gives companies a tax credit against their payroll taxes, the employer side payroll taxes if they keep people on or bring people on. again, this makes all the sense in the world right now to encourage more hiring to ensure

we can get this economy moving again and do so safely. speaking of safely, i've introduced a new tax credit that was part of the heals legislation that was introduced a few weeks ago. it's called the healthy workplaces tax credit which helps businesses pay for this protective equipment like the plexiglass shields, like the p.p.e. that they now need which is expensive. just the gowns and the masks and the gloves, those expenses add up, particularly for businesses that are having a tough time because of the weakening economy out there. these crefds will -- credits will help not just to reopen again but to reopen safely. i think getting these kinds of tax credits into the coronavirus legislation would be very smart. and again, these should be bipartisan efforts. third, while i'm pleased we're revitalizing the successful p.p.p. program, i think there are steps to improve it we ought to take up in whatever our final package is. for example, when oversight in the original p.p.p. legislation

is that people who have been convicted of a felony, going back five years are not able to accept the p.p.p. loan. so one day i get a call from a guy back home and troy parker is his name. troy said i can't get a p.p.p. loan. i am a guy who had a financial issue, financial fraud issue. i had a felony conviction. i got out of incarceration and i started my own business. i took my second chance. he said, i did everything that you are always talking about, portman which is we want to especial courage people to take that second chance. we want to give them the opportunity to get the training to be able to do that. then he went out and hired a bunch of other second-chance folks and started a cleaning business. and it's quite successful. but obviously with coronavirus, a lot of the offices he cleaned and others said we can't have you come in. he lost his businesses. he was about to shut his doors. he couldn't get a p.p.p. loan.

why? because within the last five years he had a felony conviction. well, that's not what we should be doing here. we shouldn't be penalizing people who have turned their lives around and done again all the right things in hiring other second-chance individuals. we should be helping them to stay on their feet and to continue to do what they're doing for themselves, the community, their ework -- they're workforce. we worked with the treasury department and to their credit we got them to put forward a temporary solution which is a change in the rule so troy could get his p.p.p. loan and others like him around the country. we now need to make that permanent. so that's an example of something we should do, totally bipartisan. i worked with colleagues on the other side of the aisle on this issue and i'll continue to. because this is one where, again, republicans, democrats alike as americans would want this to be part of the legislation. fourth, while i'm glad this bill reflects the bipartisan support for educational funding, i hoped it would also reflect the republicans and democrats alike have come out for additional

support and flexibility for state and local governments. now, ohio has been particularry hard hit because our cities in ohio, unlike your city, wherever you are in america probably can use income taxes as a revenue source. i think 90% of cities can't do that but in ohio we can. and we do. and obviously income taxes went down with this coronavirus and the economy falling short. so they suddenly find themselves with less revenue coming in and then additional expenses, fire, police, e.m.s., coronavirus expenses for public health. so it's been tough for a lot of our cities in ohio. and so i've been pushing for not just more funding on a targeted basis showing need but also more flexibility to be able to use the funding for closing that revenue gap which is caused by the weak economy which is caused by the coronavirus. so it is related. and certainly we ought to be able to do that on a bipartisan basis. that's what a lot of democrats have talked about that they would like to do. well, i'm not the only

republican who wants to work with democrats on that. we could get that into a final bill and that would help all of our cities. let's move forward on this. finally, all of us agree, i think, that we need to have better access to telehealth. and telehealth medicine has been one of the few silver linings in this dark you cloud. a lot more of my constituents are using telehealth. one way they're using it is for behavioral health, mental health services, another for addiction services but also just generally telehealth has been something that has been very helpful. a lot of people say that in the last few months, we've gone five years ahead of where we would have been in terms of hell health. i think the -- with respect to telehealth. with regard to telehealth, one out of four adults, a survey by morning consult, one of every four adults, 40% used telehealth

recently. it's been a lifeline, particularly for some people who are fighting addiction and can't get in-person care to help their recovery and people who have mental health challenges and be able to access telehealth to help them. i worked to expand telehealth and delivery options which in some instances has allowed addiction specialists to reach knew patients they hadn't been able to reach before. there have been some positives here but these reforms are only temporary. we need to make them permanent as well. we don't want to lose ground. we have the act to be part of the final legislation as well. we have an opportunity to help with telehealth by expanding broadband access as well so that more americans can access these services from home. this also relates, of course, to education. when schools are telling us they're going to go partly in-person classrooms, partly remote or some altogether remote, if you live in a rural

area in america, you might not have access to broadband and you're at a disadvantage. a lot of our urban school districts, there may be the infrastructure for broadband but it's not in the home. so we need to help more in terms of broadband. on the -- i'm the senate sponsor of a bipartisan, bicameral bill called the rural broadband acceleration act which basically speeds up the f.c.c.'s distribution they're going to make anyway of $20 billion in rural digital funds to go toward the building of broadband networks. this will help spread high-speed internet over more than 400,000 miles of internet fiber cables, bringing about three million new households online immediately if we can get this done. by the way, it police thousands of work -- employs thousands of workers as well. it's a great infrastructure that's needed right now. people talk about infrastructure. this is one we can do right now that helps with regard to telehealth, telemedicine, telelearning and teleworking. the nation will be looking to

congress in the coming weeks to work together to make sure that we can improve our response to the coronavirus and help get this economy through a tough time. now more than ever we cannot revert to the norm, which is partisanship these days. we cannot do that with regard to this issue. using this new targeted bill as a base, the one that again got a majority of senators in this chamber to vote on today and building on some of the areas of agreement i've outlined today, we need to come up with an appropriate and effective bill that responds to the challenge. i'm going to continue to work with republicans and democrats alike to insist we put the partisanship aside and work on behalf of our constituents to take the necessary steps, to get us through this unprecedented health care crisis, to get us on the other side of the economic crisis. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work together to do the same. thank you, mr. president. i yield back.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 589.

the presiding officer: question is on the motion to proceed. all knows in safer say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the motion is disagreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. mark c.scarsi of california to be united states district judge for the central district of california. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of mark c.scarsi of california to be united states district judge for the central district of california. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move we proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer:

question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes have t the motion is disagreed to. -- the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to consider calendar number 50. the presiding officer: question isn't the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. stanley blumeenfeld of california to be united states district judge for the central district of california. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the-esque did. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of stanley blumeen felled of california to be united states district judge for the central district of california signed by 17 senators

as followed. the presiding officer: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 773. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. john w. who will come of california to be united states district judge for the central district of california. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of john w. holcomb of

california to be united states district judge for the central district of california signed by 17 senators as follows -- cloth i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. er. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. ifer officer a question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have t the motion is disagreed to. -- agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i morph to proceed to calendar dash 74. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination. the judiciary. todd wallace robinson of california to be united states district judge for the southern district of california. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the

nomination of todd wallace robinson of california to be united states district judge for the southern district of california. signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waive the. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 812. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. david w. dugan of illinois to be united states district judge senator the southern district of illinois u. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of david w. dugan of

illinois to be united states district judge for the southern district of illinois, signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have t the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 813. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. stephen p. mcglynn of illinois to be united states district judger to the southern district of illinois u. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk 78sterster the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of stephen p. mcglynn of illinois to be

united states district judge for the southern district of illinois. signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waive the. officer certificate without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislate sufficient session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have t the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 814. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have t the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. iain johnston of illinois i will to be united states district judge for the northern district of illinois. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of iain johnston of illinois to be united states district judge for the northern

district of illinois, signed by 1 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names being waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes have t the motion is disagreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 816. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. franklin valderrama of illinois to be united states district judge for the northern district of illinois. the presidingofficer -- mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of franklin

valderrama of illinois to be united states district judge for the northern district of illinois, signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the mandatory quorum calls for the clotures be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. hirono: mr. president, actions speak louder than words and by their actions, it's clear that the majority leader and senate republicans have not been serious about passing another covid relief bill that matches the urgency of this moment. first, the majority wanted to take a pause. then he sat on the house-passed heroes act for months. then? july he introduced a series of inadequate piecemeal bills that

went absolutely nowhere. and now the majority leader and senate republicans show their priorities yet again by rushing to confirm five more trump judges and offering an anemic, weak covid bill aimed at appeasing the most conservative members of their caucus. and we just voted on that bill. so while senate republicans have been waiting for a good dough on the next covid bill, senate democrats have been listening to our constituents and have a sense of urgency. we've had the sense of urgency for -- well, the four months that we've been waiting for us to deal with the heroes act. so we've been waiting for over four months, as i mentioned, for the majority leader to stop taking a pause. american workers and families couldn't afford a pause for four months. and they certainly can't afford to take a pause now. in fact, things have gotten

worse. while republicans sat on their hands, our country was facing and continues to face a grim realty. in the coming days we're certain to pass the almost unthinkable milestone of 200,000 deaths from covid-19. a march 29 when dr. fauci warned us that america could reach this milestone as an almost worst-case scenario, 2,300 americans had died. and because donald trump has provided no national leadership, that fauci's warning will more than sadly soon come to pass. over six million americans have contracted coronavirus. tens of millions of americans remain out of work. millions of americans have lost their health care. colleges and universities have started their fall sessions with students back on campus and are

experiencing significant outbreaks. millions of parents are facing the agonizing choice of sending their children to schools that aren't safe or dealing with the challenge of distance learning and child care needs. and state after state long abandoned by the trump administration's failure to lead during the pandemic are left on their own to deal with billions in budget deficits as a result of the pandemic and to make difficult decisions about how to confront new outbreaks. in hawaii, new cases have been rising since july. the severity of our outbreak, particularly on oahu led the mayor of the city and county of honolulu on oahu to issue a two-week stay at home order on august 27. yesterday he extended this order for another two weeks. this order and the outbreak that preceded it offered a grim

reminder that constant vigilance is necessary in the fight against covid-19. and it's a reminder that even states like hawaii which for months was lauded as a coronavirus success story can become home to one of the fastest growing outbreaks in the country. at the end of july hawaii had barely over 2,000 cases of covid-19. yesterday hawaii crossed the grim milestone of 10,000 cases. like in many other states our outbreak has hit certain communities and populations the hardest. our thriving, dynamic, and vital pacific islander community represents a mere 4% of our population but nearly one-third of our total cases. more than a dozen long-term care homes across our state are experiencing significant outbreaks that put our kupuna, our seniors, at heightened risk.

the oahu community correctional center has seen 299 inmates and 76 staff members infected with covid-19. the rise in caseload on oahu is putting pressure on hawaii's already understaffed medical system where existing providers shortages are straining the capacity of our hospitals. although hawaii's outbreak is centered on oahu, we are seeing troubling signs on the neighbor islands as well with serious outbreaks at the state veterans home in hilo and maui memorial medical center in came hugh would -- in kawala. the most important thing our state can do is learn from our experience and not to repeat the same mistakes. we have to explain things clearly and plainly, and we have to be accountable and transparent in our decision making. our states certainly should have

done a better job conducting outreach to at-risk communities, expanding our testing capacity, developing an effective contact tracing system, and establishing a clearer chain of command. but we don't have the luxury of simply pointing fingers, assigning blame, and moving on. in other words, we cannot be like the president. instead we need to work together to get our outbreak under control and support the hundreds of thousands of hawaii residents who have suffered from this unprecedented public health and economic crisis. the senate must do its part by passing a real comprehensive covid relief bill that would help states like hawaii confront their outbreaks and help the millions of americans who are suffering right now. while the majority leader struggles -- struggles to unite his caucus even around an emaciated weak bill like the one we voted on today, democrats are united around passing the heroes

act because that bill's scope marches the urgency and -- matches the urgency and severity of this moment. i certainly understand and appreciate the need to negotiate and compromise to get something done, but we cannot lose sight of who we are fighting for. unlike the majority leader and senate republicans who are fighting tooth and nail for corporate interests in the next covid bill, i'm fighting for the workers, families, and small businesses who are getting screwed. i'm fighting for high's spall business -- hawaii's small business owners like laura. she is one of the favorites at hawaii on the hill where many of my colleagues, including those on the other side of the aisle lined up to sample salty hawaiian salts. laura's products are incredible and her success over the years reflects the hard work she's put into building and growing her business. but laura has been devastated by

the pandemic. although she was able to take advantage of pass relief -- past relief programs that we passed, laura is struggling. she needs more help right now to pay the rent and rehire their employees. alongside congressional delegate -- democrats, i'm fighting for hundreds of billions in new assistance for small businesses like laura's. i'm fighting for the homeowners and renters who have lost their jobs and are terrified to think of what might happen to them if the federal protections that have prevented their foreclosures or evibses expire -- evictions expire. i'm grateful that organizations like the legal aid society of hawaii are stepping in to help people who worry that they will lose their homes. the executive director told me that doing this kind of work during a pandemic is like playing 3-d chess on a tilt a whirl.

in other words, it's mighty hard. the senate needs to step up and provide the 100 billion plus in housing and rental assistance needed to make a dent in this crisis. i'm fighting for parents, teachers, and students who are struggling to adapt to the new normal of hybrid and distance learning. grandmother's like a retired educator i spoke with last week, she's concerned about learning loss and her 5-year-old grandson struggling to sit and learn sitting behind a computer screen for hours a day. women like the restaurant owner in cu kauai i spoke with is rung how to run her business while tiewt oorg her high school age children. many i've spoken with over the past few months, the students are struggling with learning loss, finding a quiet place to study from home, hunting down reliable internet at starbucks or having trouble concentrating

all because republican senators can't get their acts together. we need to increase our support for public schools so they can create safer environments for students once they are back in school. and we can do this by investing billions of dollars to help states get their outbreaks under control through testing and contact tracing so we can get our kids back to school safely. that's the operative word, safely. we all want our kids to go back to school. they need to go back in a safe environment. so, mr. president, the bill our republican colleagues offered today was anemic and weak at best. it does more to help their corporate benefactors than to address the pain so many americans are feeling right now. and after today's vote, i'm left wondering how much more pain do the american people have to endure before senate republicans get serious and act?

how many more americans have to die? how many more americans have to lose their jobs? how many more businesses have to close? how many more children have to go hungry during this pandemic? how many more people have to lose their health insurance? the list goes on. i say to the majority leader, what is it going to take for you to finally do your job? mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

mr. warner: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. warp warn are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: question. mr. warner: i ask that the proceedings of the quorum be dispensed it. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warner: thank you. i rise today to express my support for my colleague, senator duckworth's resolution honoring the service and sacrifices of members of the united states armed forces and our veterans. the resolution rightly criticizes president trump for a series of statements and actions which have denigrated our men and women in uniform, our veterans, and our institutions. service and sacrifice run deep among my constituents in the commonwealth of virginia. with 130,000 active duty members living in virginia, the

commonwealth has one of the highest populations of military personnel in the nation. and virginia is home to more than 700,000 veterans, men and women who have displayed the highest level of selfless service while defending this country, who have endured hardship and put country above self. i'm proud to call these american heroes my constituents as well as my neighbors. and i'm humbled to represent and serve them in congress. i'm thankful to them for protecting this great country. president trump, though, again and again has made disrespectful remarks about service members, veterans, and military leaders, despite being commander in chief. his name-calling and disdain for the value of service is divisive and dangerous.

remember how president trump ridiculed the gold star parents of army captain humayun khan who died in june 2004 from an i.e.d. in iraq. mr. khan a resident of virginia. or remember his comments questioning whether senator john mccain should be called a hero and his recent comments, even after the reports of this -- his comments in the "atlantic" article came out, his recent comments that our top official at d.o.d. want to continue fighting wars to make defense contractors happy. whether it's pardoning those who commit crimes or not standing up to president putin in defense our troops when reports emerge this bounties have been offered for killing members of our armed forces, whether it's deploying our military in response to peaceful protests, threatening

to politicize and divide our military from civilian society, the president on each of these occasions is on the wrong side of honoring our service members. these actions and statements are an affront to everyone who serves or has served. they are unacceptable and unpresidential. instead, let's stay focused on what matters in this country. let's stay united. we need to ensure that we're expressing each and every day how thankful we are to those who serve for protecting the freedoms we hold dear a mr. president, i want to thank senator duckworth for the flukes -- for the introduction of this resolution and i thank her for her dedicated and exemplary service to our country. it is my hope that all my colleagues in the senate will recognize the mistakes made by

our commander in chief when addressing the heroes of our veterans and heroes of our military. with that, mr. president, i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. whitehouse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the pending quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president.

the world today is in the clutches of a pandemic disease that touches directly or indirectly pretty much every human being on the face of the planet. it is costing us in lives, in money, and in immeasurable human pain. it didn't have to be there way. we could have been better prepared. president trump was left a detailed playbook from his predecessor, but he ignored it. he did away with the national security council's response unit. once the pandemic struck, trump and his team told us that it would all go away in time. no urgency. it is a cautionary tale. it is a lesson and it brings me today for the 270th time to call this chamber to action on

the issue of climate change. we cannot wait flat-footed for the next foreseeable crisis to engulf us. mr. president, climate change is a foreseeable crisis, it was a soar seen crisis -- foreseen crisis and seen by big oil and it is an actual crisis right now. it is a crisis we maybe can manage if we act swiftly and decisively. but if we fail to heed the warnings our natural world is screaming at us, we will be lost. the fossil fuel industry runs a massive dark money influence campaign to foment fake uncertainty about climate change. but the evidence -- the evidence is overwhelming. we see climate effects in

harsher wildfires and heat waves, mother nature's warnings grow louder every day. and it is the ocean that signals some of the strongest warnings. the changes in our marine world are clear, oceans are acidifying, oceans are warming, and oceans are rising against our shores. these changes are measured. they are not hypotheticals. they are measured with thermometers with tide gauges and simple p.h. see levels are up nearly a foot over the last century and other areas of the globe sea levels have risen even higher and the rate of sea-level rise is accelerating.

we just learned more about greenland whose ice sheet is part of the sea-level rise. over a fifth of the sea sea-levl rise is from the ice melt. last month they broke their record of previous ice melting. a team at ohio state university released a new study of the greenlanditis sheet based on 43 years of data. it showed that greenland poured an average of 300 billion tons of glaciers, but over the last two decades, that rate of melting, that glacial collapse is up seven fold from the earliest years they studied. the rate is accelerating. that means that greenland's ice is melting so quickly that

winter snows that typically replenished its glaciers won't keep up. we're now on course for the entire greenland ice sheet to disappear. i quote, glacial retreat has knocked the dynamics of the whole ice sheet into a constant state of loss, said ohio state's eeon howett. greenland's glacial collapse portends dramatic sea level rise. scientists reckon greenland holds enough water to raise sea levels by about 20 feet. that puts my capital city of providence and florida's capital city under water. well, florida's major city, let me put it that way. may be a ways til we get to tallahassee. antarctica holds enough ice to melt and raise sea levels 60 feet. so it's not hard to see the

problem. total coastal inundation. but well before total coastal inundation, coastal property values would plummet. financial experts have been following the sea level economic threat for years because coastal properties crash were radiate quickly through the rest of the economy. that crash creates what financial experts call systemic risk, a threat to the entire economic system. in 2016, the top economist for mortgage giant freddie mac which is no liberal environmental group, warned that climate-driven flooding along the u.s. coast will lead to economic losses, quote, greater than those experienced in the housing crisis and great recession. end quote. it's not just rhode island. pulitzer prize winning outdoors reporter has warned of losing essentially all of louisiana

south of i-10. he said, quote, voting for congressmen who oppose emissions regulations is a vote to drown this coast. end quote. and it's not even just coasts. a new study out of the university of arkansas shows sea level rise could push inland water tables higher flooding communities many miles from the sea. we already see this phenomenon in inland florida. and last there's really no dispute about the data. a tide gauge is a simple and ancient measure, but we see this and do nothing. another alarm bell is ringing in the ocean and that's temperature. oceans are warming and the warming is accelerating. the rate of ocean warming has already doubled and the ocean is projected to absorb up to five to seven times more heat by

2100. why? because the oceans regulate the planet's temperature by absorbing atmospheric heat. the oceans indeed have absorbed over 90% of the excess atmospheric heat fossil fuels have caused. if you think things are bad right now, we're actually only experiencing 10% of the global warming we've caused. the other 90% has been absorbed by the ocean. it's a lot of heat. by one example our oceans are warming at the rate of multiple here roche ma explosions on -- hiroshima explosions of heat per second, per second. there's not a lot of dispute here either unless you want to argue with a thermometer. ocean warming displaces fisheries, disrupts ocean currents, destroys coral reefs and depletes the oxygen levels and carrying capacity of the

sea. these are the kind of changes that usually transpire across geologic time. they're happening now. ocean warming sends its dangers ashore because that ocean heat energy powers up storms systems. they power up into stronger storms and they power up faster. we just watched tropical storm laura spin up into category 4 hurricane laura in less than 24 hours. as bob marshall, the pulitzer louisiana writer put it, high water temperature is the crystal meth of hurricane intensity. warmer seas power up stronger storms and they power up more storms. the atlantic has already generated a typical full year's worth of storms pumping out about 55% more energy than usual

into tropical storms and hurricanes. this year delivered the earliest ever c, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, and m named storms. in 2019, 14 separate billion dollar disasters struck the united states and the majority of them were hurricanes. in 2018 and 2019, dorian, florence and michael slammed into our coasts. 2017 brought harvey, america's most significant tropical cyclone rainfall ever recorded. and irma, the strongest storm ever recorded outside of the gulf of mexico and caribbean with sustained winds reaching 185 miles per hour. and hurricane maria killing nearly 3,000 americans in puerto rico and laying waste to that island. ocean warming is altering basic operating systems of the planet.

physical systems are altered. biological systems are altered. basic features of the ocean are altered. and the change has just begun. many of these changes are oceanic but some come ashore. we need to buckle up. and the third ocean alarm bell, acidification. oceans absorb not just 90% of the excess heat. they absorb about 30% of the carbon pollution, the excess carbon dioxide from fossil fuel emissions. and they have sucked up a lot of excess carbon. since the industrial revolution, oceans absorbed about 525 billion tons of co2. 22 million tons per day. that added carbon dioxide chemically changes the oceans' p.h., making oceans more acidic. it looks like the oceans are

aside identifying at their fast -- acidifying at their fastest rate in at least 50 million years. as with warming and sea level rise, the rate of acidification is accelerating. and again there's no real dispute. p.h. testing is pretty reliable stuff. al new texas a&m study shows carbon dioxide levels rising at alarming rates in the gulf of mexico, bad news for shrimp, coral, and other marine life that are highly sensitive to acidity. texas a&m warns of the acidification threat to the gulf's commercial fisheries worth roughly a billion dollars per year. the woodshole institute made startling findings on acidification on coral reefs triggering a kind of os crow pore row sis for coral -- osteoporosis for coral hampering the ability to grow skeletons.

reefs of course are the nurseries of the sea. right coral reefs, marine biodiversity plummets and our oceans become unrecognizable. the university of alaska has an entire ocean acidification research center because of the dangers to alaskan fisheries. the lowly pteropod is a base species along the northern pacific coast. it is damaged in acidified seas and no one quite knows what becomes of that ocean food chain when a foundation species like the pteropod collapses. we know it's not good. all these warnings are stark. our oceans are in crisis. our natural world hurdles towards a point of no return. meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry keeps deploying lies and political influence in a

carefully orchestrated covert operation run against our own government. the fossil fuel industry's menacing climate denial apparatus has captured one of america's major political parties. in the wake of citizens united, fossil fuel dark money has so thoroughly corrupted american politics that congress has lost an entire decade, the lost decade, to industry mischief. and even today we still fritter and doddle. eventually we will see the full contours of the covert operation the fossil fuel industry has run against us as if we were an enemy nation. one day will come a full accounting of this industry's wanton deception of the american

people. one day we will see just how much money this industry paid for its malign influence and who accepted that money and denied the science and ignored the problem. history will judge those involved harshly and deservedly so. it is a crime in progress against our own children and the world they will inhabit. after the lost decade of citizens united, time is short to heed the warnings of our oceans and end the fossil fuel pollution that threatens them. it's truly getting to be now or never. i yield the floor.

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

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask couldn't that further -- consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask the senate be in a majority leader of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the appointments at the desk appear separately as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of s. res. 688, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 688, designating september 25,

2020, as national lobster day. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to this measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.j. res. 87 which has been received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.j. res. 87, providing for the reappointment of michael m. linton as a citizen regent of the board of regents of the smithsonian institution. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i further ask that the joint resolution 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: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of

h.j. res. 88, which has been received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will reported. -- will report. the clerk: h.j. res. 88, providing for the appointments of franklin d.vanes as a citizen regent of the board of regents of the smithsonian institution. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i further ask the joint resolution be considered read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3:00 p.m. monday, september 14. further, following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that morning business be closed. further, following leader remarks, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the scarsi nomination under the previous

order. finally, notwithstanding rule 22, the cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: so if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senator sanders. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. sanders: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i have one request for a committee to meet during

today's session of the senate. it has the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. sanders: mr. president, today is a result of the -- as a result of the horrific pandemic and economic meltdown, the american working class is hurting in a way that they have not been hurting since the great depression of the 1930's. tens of millions of our fellow citizens have lost their jobs, they have lost their incomes, they have lost their health insurance, they have depleted their life savings, they cannot afford rent, they cannot afford to put food on the table and they are scared to death that any day now they will get a knock on the door from the sheriff evicting them from their homes and throwing them and their belongings out on the

street. mr. president, there is the united states of america, the richest country in the history of the world. none of us, no man, woman, or child should go hungry. none of us should have to live in fear of becoming homeless and no one should be denied the health care that they need, especially during the worst public health crisis in 100 years. but that is precisely what is going on all over our country as we speak this evening. just the other day, national public radio, n.p.r., released a survey on the unprecedented economic suffering facing the american people that should shock everyone in the united states senate and in our nation. and here is what that survey found. 46% of americans, over 150 million people, are now

experiencing serious financial problems. 41% of americans, over 134 million people, have used up all or most of their savings -- their savings accounts are now depleted. 33% 33% of american families have had someone in their household who has either lost a job, lost a business, or has been furloughed during the pandemic. mr. president, this is an unprecedented moment in american history, and the senate now needs to take unprecedented action to improve the lives of the american people. and yet in the midst of all of this pain and suffering, what has the republican-led senate done over the last five months to adress -- to address the

economic concerns of the american people. and the answer is nothing except pass a $740 billion budget for the bloated pentagon and take an extended vacation. that is not something that anybody in the senate should be proud of. and now the senate is back in session. senate republicans have introduced a so-called skinny relief bill that is totally inadequate in terms of addressing the crises that we are facing today. the senate republican bill provides nothing for rent, nothing for mortgages, nothing for food, nothing for hazard pay, nothing for health care, nothing for public transportation, and nothing to prevent the mass layoffs of teachers, nurses, firefighters, and construction workers that

will take place as cities and states struggle economically. in other words, the same republicans who had no problem voting for a trillion dollar tax break for the top 1% large corporations to years ago -- two years ago are now telling 40 million americans who are struggling to pay for housing that we cannot afford to help them pay their rent or mortgage. same republicans who just voted to provide $740 billion for the pentagon and the military industrial complex to wage endless wars are now telling 30 million workers who lost their jobs that we cannot afford to continuing the $600 a week supplement they were receiving in unemployment benefits. the same republicans who slipped $135 billion tax break for

multimillionaires and billionaires into the last coronavirus relief package are now telling 29 million americans who do not have enough food to eat that we cannot afford to help them feed their families. but, mr. president, if you are an executive in the coal industry, you are in luck. the republican senate bill provides your industry with $161 million in corporate welfare. that's right. republican senate bill provides no money for working families to feed their kids, no money to house the homeless, no money to insure the uninsured. no money for them. but it does provide $161 million in corporate welfare for the coal industry during a climate emergency. well, mr. president, that may make sense to the c.e.o.'s in the fossil fuel industry who are destroying the planet with their product, but it does make zero

sense to me. further, under the senate republican bill, if you are a wealthy business owner who forces employees to work in an unsafe and unhealthy workplace, you are rewarded. the republican bill will provide you with immunity you need from lawsuits if your workers get sick or die from the coronavirus. but if you are an essential worker during this pandemic, you get nothing. the republican bill does not provide a nickel more for hazard pay or the personal protective equipment that you need and deserve. needless to say, i am strongly opposed to the senate republican bill and am glad that it was defeated earlier today. mr. president, instead of listening to the needs of fossil fuel c.e.o.'s, we need to listen to the needs of working class americans, the people who are hurting. instead of providing more corporate welfare to billionaires and large corporations, we need to provide

more economic relief to the tens of millions of americans who are hurting economically. mr. president, nearly four months ago the house of representatives did its job by passing the heroes act, a $3.5 trillion bill. in my view the senate has got to stand up and do its job and pass the heroes act or a bill that is even better than that legislation. now, mr. president, i have received many, many thousands of letters, e-mails, and social media from constituents in the state of vermont and in fact all over this country about how the economic crisis has negatively impacted their lives and what that $600 a week in unemployment benefits that expired in july meant to them. and let me read you just a few of the many thousands of stories my office has received.

a constituent fro wrote, and i quote, i was laid off in march. since the end of the extra $600, i've been able to eat because of the food bank. i wasn't able to get one of my prescriptions because even with insurance, it was $88. i saved as much as i could during the extra $600 period, but i'm almost out of money now. literally enough to make it about ten days. then what? i'm 65 years of age. an unimemployed worker wrote, we can't pay our rent including par payment and car insurance bills, feed kids and minor necessities. we desperately need the extra $600 to stay afloat. if we don't get our money soon, we could lose everything. another unemployed worker recently wrote, my state benefit was $127 a week. i exhausted my available state funds last week. my rent is $1,200 a month

without further congressional action, i will be unhoused within a month or two. a constituent from danville, vermont wrote, that moment the government stopped the $600 a week, they closed my benefits. i never saw anything other than that $600 and it went to bills and rent. now i'm behind on everything again. end of quote. and on and on and on it goes. for millions of people, that $600 a week check was life and death. clearly in the midst of this unprecedented crisis, the senate must act and act now. not with a skinny relief bill that does virtually nothing to help working families in their time of need but with legislation that responds to the unprecedented economic pain and suffering that the american working class is experiencing. we need to extend the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits for the 30 million americans who have lost their jobs like the

house passed over three months ago. this is absolutely essential. it would give families during this crisis the income they need to live with dignity. we need to make sure that every working class family in america, every working class person in america receives $2,000 a month until this crisis is over so they can pay the rent and put food on the table. we need to expand medicare to all of the 92 million americans who are uninsured or underinsured. nobody should be unable to go to a doctor during this crisis because they don't have health insurance. in other words, we need a coronavirus relief bill that benefits the working families of this country and low-income people, not just the wealthy and well connected. i know what my republican colleagues will say, that it's too expensive, that we can't afford it. maybe, just maybe. if my republicans were so concerned about the deficit,

they might want to ask their billionaire campaign contributors to pay their fair share of taxes instead of getting them massive tax breaks. mr. president, in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the great depression and the worst public health crisis in more than a hundred years, i think that most americans would be shocked to learn that 467 billionaires in our country have seen their wealth go up by $800 billion during the pandemic. let me repeat that. 467 billionaires have seen their wealth go up by $800 billion during the pandemic. in my view at a time of massive wealth and income inequality, when so many of our people are hurting, it is morally obscene for billionaires to use a global pandemic as an opportunity to make outrageous profits. instead of more austerity for the working class of this

country, we need to impose austerity on the billionaire class on wall street. that is why, mr. president, i've introduced legislation to tax the obscene wealth gains billionaires have made during the public health crisis. according to the americans for tax fairness, if we tax 60% of the windfall gains billionaires made during the pandemic, we could raise over $420 billion. that's enough revenue to allow medicare to pays all of the out-of-pocket health care expenses for everyone in america in the next 12 months. yes, mr. president, by taxing 60% of the wealth gains made by just 467 people during this horrific pandemic, we could guarantee health care as a right for an entire year for every man, woman, and child in this country. and billionaires would still be able to pocket over $300 billion

in wealth gains during the worst economic downturn since the great depression. at a time of enormous economic pain and suffering, we have a choice to make. we can let the rich get richer while everyone gets poorer and poorer or we can tax the winnings a handful of billionaires made during the pandemic to improve the health and well-being of tens of millions of americans. mr. president, it is time for the senate to act on behalf of the working families of this country who are hurting like they have never hurt before, and not just the billionaire class who are doing phenomenally well and have never had it so good. thank you and with that i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until monday at 3:00g officer: without

objection. the senator from ohio. mr. portman: thank you. mr. portman: thank you. >> i'm on the floor today to tug about the coronavirus pandemic and what we can and should do here w in the united states sene and congress as a whole. to actually address the ongoing problem. we are not out of the woods yet. we have a health care crisis and of course an economic crisis as a consequence of that. we have done some good bipartisan work over the past six months. in fact not many people realize the past five or six bills with strong bipartisan majority. what people know about most is