signatures from service workers who are demanding that they receive the same minimum wage as every other worker in their state. polling among service employees and nonservice employees, also supports the reality that americans want our waiters and waitresses and other service employees to get a fair minimum wage. now, i have heard from some people that those people are working in the service industry are doing really well, you know, and they don't want an increase in the federal minimum wage. the tips that they are receiving are covering all of their needs. leave well enough alone, they say. well, today 70% of tip workers are women who suffer from three times the poverty rate of the rest of the u.s. workforce. they are not doing so well. they use food stamps at double the rate of the general workforce and suffer, by the

way, from the highest rates of sexual harassment of any industry because they must tolerate inappropriate customer behavior to get the incomes that they need. further, and this is important, and i want all of my colleagues to hear this, the idea of moving tip wages to the same level as the overall minimum wage is not a radical idea. it has been done in state after state. it already exists in seven states in our country, including california, oregon, washington, nevada, montana, nevada and minnesota. and i should point out all of those states experienced a growth in the number of small businesses and restaurants after they abolished the tip minimum wage. guess what. waiters and waitresses in these states receive more tips, not less. and let's be clear, this

pandemic has made a bad situation worse forel wages and -- for waiters and waitresses. so right now, madam president, it is absolutely imperative that we raise that minimum wage to a living wage for all of our workers and that we raise the tip wage as well, which is already law in seven states of the country right now. and i see the senator from california, mr. padilla, and we are delighted that he is joining us. his state has been one of the leaders in this country for raising the minimum wage and i would yield the floor to him for his remarks.

mr. padilla: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mr. padilla: madam president, i rise today in support of working men and weam across the -- women across the country. i am proud to stand with senator sanders who have been a champion for working people. let me be clear, raising the minimum wage is covid relief. the covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the immense underlying inequities in our nation. it has also driven home how important essential workers are to our society and to our economy. millions of americans do essential work but are not paid a living wage. they work as home health aides, assisting family members meet their basic needs with dignity.

they produce our food, stock our grocery shelves, keep our facilities clean and safe, care for our children and so much more so that we can go to work. they are on the front lines of this pandemic, risking their health yet still struggling to keep themselves and their families healthy. they shouldn't also have to struggle to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table. both of my parents worked jobs that are considered essential today. for 40 years my father worked as a short-order cook, for the same 40 years my mom was a domestic worker, and it's people like them all over america who work hard with dignity yet still struggle to make ends meet. that is not the american dream. far from it.

it's finally time that congress does something about it. there is strong bipartisan support, throughout the country, for raising the minimum wage. i'm proud to say that my home state of california has been a leader in the fight for 15, and just this past year the voters of florida -- yes, florida, the state that voted for donald trump not once, but twice -- approved a $15 minimum wage by a 20-point margin. that's because it is americans, both democrats and republicans, who know that one of the most straightforward ways we can help working people is by raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. now, california's a big state. we're a very diverse state full of diverse communities with local variations and cost of living and local business conditions. just like the rest of the

country. and let me tell you, the sky did not fall when california enacted a $15 minimum wage. now, i know some of our colleagues have argued that raising the federal minimum wage would reduce employment opportunities for american workers. the facts show otherwise. 40 years of studies have found little to no significant impact of wage increases on employment levels. some of our colleagues have also argued that eliminating the tipped minimum wage nationwide would harm earnings for workers. that also has not happened. again, research has found that eliminating the tipped minimum wage has no significant impact on employment. at the same time, median hourly wages for tipped workers are higher in equal treatment states like california, compared to

those with a tipped minimum wage. madam president, 1.7 million americans make the federal minimum wage. that's a $15,000 a year income. we must be honest with ourselves. no one can meet the minimum standard of living on a minimum wage of just $15,000 a year. now, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would also help reduce some of the gender and racial inequities in our nation that senator sanders has referenced, given the over representation of women and minorities in jobs that make minimum wage. it would give them more money to be spend in the local economies, which, in turn, is good for business, but most importantly, it will lift hundreds of

thousands of families out of poverty. think about that. we have the opportunity to lift hundreds of thousands of families out of poverty. this isn't just an opportunity, it is a moral responsibility. no one who works a full-time job should live in poverty. it's that simple. we must stand on the side of hardworking americans. i call on my colleagues to continue the fight for $15 and pass the sanders amendment to bring justice and prosperity for all american workers. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: madam president, right now the senate is debating, having been started by our colleague, senator sanders, whether it is okay to pay starvation wages in the united states. you heard that right.

starvation wages. receiving that starvation wage, single moms are skipping meals as they try to make rent and buy groceries for their families. these moms get paid $7.25 an hour, often work two jobs and go to bed every night worried that the next morning is going to bring financial calamity. senators, is this okay in a country as rich and strong as ours? here in the united states senate nobody's got to worry where their next meal is coming from, but that's an every day struggle for too many families across the land. senators, let us think about those who are hurting as the vote on the sanders minimum wage amendment approaches. it is time for that single mom to get a fair wage for a fair day's work.

a living wage, not a starvation wage. there has never been a stronger case for a $15 minimum wage than there is right now during the pandemic. i think about grocery store and pharmacy workers, home health aides, food processing and packaging workers, restaurant employees working with maskless customers. so many people in oregon and across the country are going to work in a dangerous environment each day. many are black and latino workers, those who suffered the most from covid-19. they kept our country going through the last year. i heard a whole lot of members in the senate, democratic and republican, talk about those workers as heroes of the pandemic. so the question is, will the senate stand up and give those heroes the pandemic the raise they deserve? the raise they waited for 12

years. there are 30 million americans who earn less than $30 an hour. it would be closer to 40 million if not for the fact that the coronavirus put so many americans out of work. that is just immoral and unacceptable. now, if you want to see inequality baked into the law, just look at how the country treats its lowest income workers compared to those at the top. the minimum wage has been stuck for 12 long years and a flat minimum is nothing but a slow-moving pay cut for those who make the least. minimum wage worker cannot afford the average rent in any state in america, not one, that doesn't account for utility, and food and gas and car payments and medical bills and school supplies. here's the fact. living is expensive for the poor in america. meanwhile, the most well to do keep winning with their

investments in the stock market. the entire tax code is rigged to favor the income of billionaires over the income of wage-earning families, congress passed law, trickle down benefits, talking about that for decades, even though the magical benefits never magically trickle down. the trump administration actually made it a-okay in the eyes of the law for corporations to steal from their employees tipped wages, a country that aspires to be pro-work should not be this anti-worker. members of the senate might forget it now but the minimum wage used to go up all the time. it happened 22 times since the minimum wage was inbe acted, through the 1950's, 1960's, 1970, when people look at the boom years, the minimum wage went up all the time and

congress expanded the range of workers it covered. my colleagues, this did not lead to the end of western civilization back then and raising the minimum wage isn't going to do it today either. that's because, and folks might want to sit down when i say this, it's good for everybody when there are fewer poor people in america. this is the longest the congress has gone without raising the minimum wage since its origin. in recent years the grassroots movement has picked up the slack and made a lot of progress in cities and states all over the country, including my home state of oregon, but the congress cannot wait any longer. the powerful can pull the levers around here in a hurry and they get more than their share of benefits and attention. right now the congress also a chance to prove to actual -- to actually prove that it's looking after working people and that means raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. every single senator says they want to incentivize hard work,

and, folks, a living wage does just that. the single mom skipping meals to feed her kids deserves better. the senate can do better starting today. i appreciate my colleague, senator sanders, leading the effort to raise the wage for years and years as the chairman in the senate finance committee, i am all in with senator sanders on this fight. senators support our amendment. give tens of millions of america's hardworking people a raise. before i yield the floor, i just briefly want to provide an update with respect to the issue of trying to make sure that folks who have been laid off -- laid off from their job through no fault of their own are going to be table to get an unemployment benefit where they can make rent and pay groceries, where having -- we're having conversations now, bringing peemg together, -- people

together, i believe around two core principles. one is avoiding a cliff in august where you would have something like 11 million people lose their benefits. we've got to do that it defies common sense to have a cliff in the middle of august when you've got the senate out of session. and second, we're making a lot of progress on be preventing an unemployment tax surprise. this is a matter of senator sanders and i have spoken about at length for weeks. a number of colleagues on both sides of the aisle have a great interest in this. i think we have made a lot of headway. we'll have more than discussed with the senate, but i'm really hopeful that this can bring all sides of this debate together. i have personally felt the benefit should be $400. it should certainly run into

september, but i know some of my colleagues feel otherwise, so what we're looking at is making sure that we can get a benefit so that people can make rent and pay groceries, that we prevent that cliff, and by god, we sure as hell shouldn't let folks who are unemployed pay taxes on those unemployment benefits that they secured in 2020. senator sanders and i will continue to prosecute this question of tax forgiveness very strongly as well. i appreciate his leadership. i see senator murray, the chair of another important committee with jurisdiction over this matter. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. i really want to thank senator schumer, senator wyden, senator

sanders and others for working so hard with me on making sure our relief bill includes a much-needed raise for our workers. democrats and republicans alike have joined together in rightly calling our essential workers heroes, and the backbone of our economy, but despite their tireless work and the constant risk of covid exposure, too many of these workers are paid wages so low they cannot afford to pay for even their most basic needs. this pandemic should be a wake-up call, but these workers who we all call heroes deserve more than $7.25 an hour. i urge my colleagues to vote for the sanders amendment in order to give a much-needed raise to millions of workers and end the tipped minimum wage and subminimum wawj for youth workers and workers with disabilities. after more than a decade since the last federal minimum wage, the tides are turning, and there

is overwhelming support for congress to act, so let me be clear. today's vote is just one step in our fight. we are not going to give up. and today we're going to keep working to get this historic bill across the finish line. because right now, mr. president, this country is on fire, and republicans' biggest concern seems to be that we might use too much water. the reality is we are far from doing too much because we will not have done enough until this crisis is over, until families across the nation are safe, and until we rebuild a stronger and fairer country. anyone who says this bill is too expensive needs to understand how much this pandemic has already cost our communities, how much it has already taken from families, and how much more is at stake if we don't finally bring it to an end. they need to listen to public health and health care workers

who have been straining to test, to contact trace, to vaccinate people across the country, and to grapple with the trauma of fighting this pandemic on the front lines. they need to listen to parents who are asking how they are supposed to go to work when they don't have child care, and their kids can't go to school in person. wondering how they're going to pay rent, how they're going to pay for groceries, how they're going to pay to keep the heat on and fearing what can happen if they cannot. they need to listen to students who this pandemic has robbed of critical school resources as well as opportunities to grow and thrive and socialize with their peers. they need to listen to our states and our cities and our tribes and our territories who have seen their budgets upended. and they absolutely need to listen to people of color, to voices in the black, latino, and tribal communities who have been hit the hardest by this pandemic

in every way. because anyone who has been listening to the american people, anyone who has been watching what they have gone through understands the danger in this moment is not doing too much, it is doing too little. if republicans want to talk about too much, there are almost 10 million fewer people working compared to this time a year ago. 11 million people at risk of eviction, and 11 million people about to lose their unemployment benefit. that is too much. one study says by june, this pandemic will likely have set students back five to nine months in math from where they could be in a typical year, and that setback is even larger for students of color. another note as schools across the country have shifted to remote learning that one in four students lack access to internet

at home. according to the c.d.c., one in four young adults has considered suicide. that's too much. since the start of the pandemic, we have lost over 650,000 jobs in higher education, and one in six jobs in child care. that's too much. across this country, this virus has invirginia teched over 28 -- has infected over 28 million, left thousands of long haulers experiencing symptoms, and killed over half a million people. that is too much. we have to act, mr. president. we have to. that's why we are fighting to pass the american rescue plan. this american rescue plan will send families long overdue direct relief and prevent expanded unemployment benefits that have been a lifeline to so many people from expiring. it will help get vaccines in arms faster. it will hire and train more

public health workers. it will ramp up our testing capacity and invest in programs to counter the disproportionate harm covid-19 has caused, specifically to communities of color and tribes. it will expand affordable insurance to more families and give schools much-needed resources to help our students get back to classrooms for in-person learning safely. and it will stabilize our struggling child care sector which is so critical to helping women and working families get back to work. it will support small businesses and help states keep educators and firefighters and sanitation workers and others on the job. so before my republican colleagues worry any more about the cost of doing all that, i hope they take a moment to consider the staggering cost of failing to do it. there is a reason bold action like this plan has the support of republican governors like jim justice in west virginia, the

support of republican mayors like bessie price in fort worth, texas, or frances swarez in miami, florida, or david holtz from oklahoma city. and according to recent polls, a support of a majority of republicans. that same poll showed the american people support this package by an overwhelming three to one margin. people support this american rescue plan because the american rescue plan supports people. workers. families. communities who know firsthand the loss and hardship of this last year. and because they understand the simple facts that when the house is in flames, you do not argue about how much of the fire to put out or how much water to use or how many lives to save. you do whatever it takes until the crisis is over and everyone is safe and you do it as fast as you can. that's what democrats are trying to do today. that's what this bill is about.

and i urge every single member of the senate to support it. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor. ms. cantwell: mr. mr. presidenti come to the floor to talk about the american rescue plan, but following my colleague from washington, in the presence of the senator from vermont, i just want to thank them for how hard they have fought for an increase in the minimum wage. our state, the state of washington, has led the nation for many years in the highest minimum wage, and it didn't impact our economy. in fact, it helped our economy. there are now reports as we have moved towards 15 for just a little town seatac to seattle to a plan for our entire state to move to 15 over a gradual period of time. i urge my colleagues, i urge my colleagues to come together with

a plan to get us to the $15 an hour minimum wage. i know we have it in us, i know we can do it. i so appreciate our colleagues waging an effort to continue to make this a priority for our nation. i can't tell you enough how much the wages, particularly in a place like seattle, are going to matter to people to have a livable wage. i know people here have discussed very aspects of this program and the plans that are in this bill, but i just want them to know that the cost of living in a very expensive place like seattle demands that we pay workers what they deserve. it also means that we deal with big city problems like homelessness and deal with making investments, and i hope that our next infrastructure bill will get to that. so this is not the last time i'm going to speak about minimum wage, but i want our colleagues to know that this battle is not over yet and that if we want to raise the standard of living in the united states, we have to pay a livable wage. so, mr. president, i come to talk about the details of the rescue plan. this is one year since a young

man from evart, washington, became the first covid victim in the united states of america. not only did he get sick, but many loved ones got sick, their families, and they are all waiting now for a vaccine. so this legislation, priority number one for so many americans right now, is the covid-19 violent crimes. in my state, the state of washington, more than one million residents have been vaccinated and six million more are still waiting, and everyone knows that demand far exceeds the supply. our health care workers are working tirelessly, along with other government officials, to get shots in the arms of individuals. that's why this bill is so important, because it provides $20 billion to invest in vaccine administration and distribution. that includes launching community vaccine centers, deploying mobile vaccine units to hard to reach areas, and continuing to support an increased pace of vaccinations. that is job one right now. get the vaccine into the arms of

americans. so that is why this legislation is so important to continue that effort, but it also provides other support. extending unemployment benefits for millions of americans who lost their job as to no fault of their own a year ago and now are seeing unemployment benefits expire next week. we know what today's numbers say. we still have a very high unemployment rate in the united states of america. so this bill extends the benefits another five months until august 29. a very prudent measure to continue to put the resources into the american economy. it also provides $1,400 stimulus payment to millions, and it supports new efforts for our restaurants, small businesses, and those devastated by the pandemic so they can help use this money for payroll, rent, utilities, and paid sick leave. this is so important to continue to learn from the programs that covid has started, to refine

them to make it successful for our economy. this also helps children who are at home, helping provide more money for e-rate and broadband connectivity for schools and library. this is so important to individuals. it also provides critical dollars for federal health funding to treat native americans in urban areas, a community that has been very hard hit by the pandemic. our economy lost 9.8 million jobs in 2020. our current unemployment rate, as i just said, we know from this data that came out this morning is still too high. we know that as a result, 19 million americans, including 460,000 washingtonians rely on those unemployment benefits, and if we don't act by march 14, 11.5 million people will lose their extended unemployment benefits. so that's why this program is so important to get passed today in the united states senate.

so the restaurants, as we know, have been very plagued by this problem, and the p.p.p. program has been helpful, but i believe this legislation will be even more helpful. since the beginning of the pandemic, 110,000 restaurants across our country have closed either permanently or for an extended period of time, including 2,300 in the state of washington. and some are just struggling to hang on. for example, black cyprus restaurant in pullman, washington, lost more than $1 million in revenue and had to lay off workers after the initial p.p.p. loan program ran out. in southwest washington, a restaurant like mighty bull in vancouver or the depot restaurant in seaview are operating at 50% revenue lost. i talked to one of our restaurant owners who operates very popular restaurants in seattle, he said his restaurants have lost 70% of their revenue

compared to 2019. and these are people who are hustling to do standup, popup windows and all sorts of things to keep the restaurants and restaurant employment working. so the paycheck protection program was critical, and these improvements were desperately needed. so that is why this bill includes new $25 billion grant programs for restaurants to address those concerns of rent and utilities and sick leave and other things head on. the bill also helps with more funding for the s.b.a. and live venues grant program that we have authorized and helping those venues stay open. for us in seattle, music is a thing, and we want these venues to be there. they're part of our history, they're part of our culture, they're part of a music story that really is about, well, just a little bit of different take on music than maybe some other parts of the world. we're very proud of it and we don't want to lose these stilts, the home -- facilities, the home for growing more musical impacts to

our society. one of the hardest hit businesses have been businesses with ten or fewer employees in underserved areas like grace harbor, yakima, ferry county or ponderay. this legislation allows $10,000 grants from the s.b.a. program of economic injury and disaster loan program to help with these smaller communities and the small businesses who have been underserved to date on programs that we have passed. but first time in this legislation will be support for the aviation supply chain. we're hearing all sorts of discussions about supply chain shortages and the competitiveness of the united states if the united states sees critical supply chainl elements not be able to be filled, whether you're talking about the automotive industry or aviation. in the previous bills, certainly i can say the fed made capital available that certainly

large-scale manufacturers took advantage of. previous bills made money available for the airlines to continue operating, as this legislation does as well. and i would say i think we're probably somewhere between 40% to 45% of the original capacity for airlines that we were previous to the pandemic, which means we're making progress. and that's what we always wanted to see, the ability to return our economy quickly. but in washington state alone, we have 30,000 aerospace manufacturers and supply chain jobs that have been lost. our aerospace supply chain is part of a juggernaut for our economy. it helps us with our gross domestic product and it helps us in containing and keeping a workforce that is skilled, that can work postpandemic. so in this legislation, we will be for the first time making resources available for that supply chain. i want to thank senators moran and senator warner and a slew of

other members who worked on providing resources to this supply chain. it will help us retain and rehire workers in the aviation manufacturing sector. it will help us keep highly skilled workers who serve as the backbone of industries so that our nation can continue to be poised for the recovery. and it helps us in making sure that we are poised for a strong recovery. we know that aviation manufacturing jobs mean a lot to our nation. finally we're going to help stave off the tide of the huge losses that we've seen in that sector. we're going to help the mom and pop machine shops. we're going to take those who have been working on small aircraft parts and landing gears and doors and flight controls, all help them with the impact that they felt in trying to keep a workforce during this period of time. so, mr. president, these are all important priors for us as a nation -- important priorities for us as a nation -- the

vaccines, unemployment benefits, the stimulus checks, the e-rate program for helping students learn at home, the investment in the aerospace supply chain. it is important that we get the dollars out the door. this will help us recover. this will help american families wage through the last months of this covid pandemic fight. but believe me, they need the help in the last months. this fight is not over, and this will help sustain us. i urge my colleagues to pass this legislation. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. similar to senator cantwell, i want to talk a little bit about the small business provisions in the american rescue plan and the urgency of passing the recovery act as soon as possible. we need to act in order to deal with the recovery of covid-19

for our nation. and as chair of the small business and entrepreneurship committee, it's critically important to the health of small businesses that we act on the american rescue plan. small businesses are critically important to our economy. i think the members of this body understand that. two out of every three jobs in the prief sector is create -- in the private sector is created through small companies. innovation takes place in a much larger amount in small companies. just look at how small companies have adjusted to covid-19. we've seen curbside pickup. we've seen the use of the online deliveries. we've seen ways in which small businesses have shown that they can figure out ways to try to stay alive under any circumstances. but there's another factor about small businesses, and that is they're not as resilient to deal

with an economic downturn as the larger companies are. so whenever we go through any type of recession, small businesses suffer the most. so for all those reasons, it was critically important for us to act to help america's small businesses. and democrats and republicans worked together to create a way in which we could help small businesses during this pandemic. and it's interesting that the very first bill that we passed removed the restrictions in regards to the eidl program so that those businesses that suffered as a result of the pandemic could qualify the economic injury disaster loan program under the small business administration. we did that because we realized that government was imposing restrictions on small businesses in their operations, we had a responsibility to act. and then in mid-march of last year, not this year, in

mid-march of last year we passed the cares act, almost a year ago. it recognized that this pandemic was having a major impact on our small business. we didn't realize how long the pandemic would go. we thought it would last a few months. we certainly did not think it would last a full year and now beyond a year. and we passed innovative programs in order to save small businesses. and the one that got perhaps the most attention, the p.p.p. program, the paycheck protection program, we initially provided $350 billion, i'd like to think of the cares act really as the marshall plan. it was a marshall plan to deal with covid-19. it provides the moneys for vaccination research and for testing and for public health and to help our states and local governments, to help schools, but it also provided money in a major way to help small businesses. and $350 billion was initially provided through the paycheck protection program because we realized that rather than having to put more money into

unemployment insurance, wouldn't it be better to keep people on payroll so that small businesses can retain their essential workforce. and it worked. the program was very, very popular. but we did more than just the paycheck protection program. we also expanded the economic injury disaster loan program, the eidl program, because we recognized that forgivable loans of a limited amount of money was not enough to carry businesses over during the pandemic. they're going to need longer-term loans. eidl is a 30-year no interest program, up to 30 programs. we also created the eidl advance program which was cash. it was not a loan, not a forgivable loan. it was a grant of up to $10,000, because we know for many small businesses, particularly the most stressed and the most challenged, taking on another loan was not a possibility. so we provided an eidl advance

up to $10,000. we provided for loan forgiveness for those who had existing or had taken out 7-a or 504 loans under the small business administration. these programs were exceedingly popular, so popular that within a matter of weeks we started running out of resources. we appropriated, we thought, a significant amount of funds, but we found that $350 billion went pretty quickly. so we came together and we replenished the funds, put more money into the paycheck protection program. and we also recognized that we had to do more flexibility, because businesses were suffering and they needed more ability to be able to use those funds. so we granted additional flexibility. well, when we passed the cares act, we thought this pandemic would be over with by last summer. well, that was not the case. so we came back together again and recognized we had to do more.

we passed, you know this past december in the omnibus legislation, another round of help for america's small businesses. this time it was $325 billion of additional help. we provided additional eligibility for entities that had not qualified before for the paycheck protection program, and we provided a second round of the c paycheck protection. but we targeted that second round to those small businesses that were underserved communities, minority communities, the smaller of the small businesses. we helped mission lenders, such as cdfi's and minority depository institutions so we could really try to reach the underserved communities. and we established a program for shuttered venues. why? because shuttered venues were shuttered. these were institutions that could not operate because of government order, and we recognized we had to do something special in order to deal with that.

so when you put that all together, what happened? well, we saved a lot of small businesses, and we should be proud of that record. seven million paycheck protection program loans, forgivable loans were granted for $678 billion. 3.7 million eidl loans were given for $200 billion. and we were oversubscribed for the eidl advance of $20 billion. so we were able to really help, but more is needed. when we passed the omnibus bill in december, we recognized that that would hold us until march. well, mr. president, it's now march. we need to act to complete the work. the trump administration in administering the s.b.a. programs did things that we thought were unacceptable. they put a cap on the eidl loan of $150,000.

the statute says $2 million. many businesses needed more help than was given by the administration of the eidl loan program. the eidl advance program was supposed to be up to $10,000, but the administration administered it at $1,000 per employee, making it far less desirable than congress intended. and, quite frankly, the underbe served communities were not -- the underserved communities were not being met at the level that we had expected. i say that because senator shaheen and i put a provision in the cares act known now as page 30, that required the s.b.a. to make special efforts to get to the underbanked communities because we realized the underbanked communities were going to have difficulties getting loans that were forgivable. the inspector general of the s.b.a. said that the s.b.a. did not carry out the intent of congress. so we needed to do more to reach those communities that were being left behind.

that's why action is needed. i want to compliment the biden administration. they've taken administrative action to try to help us on this. they've opened up for 14 days exclusivity under the p.p.p. program, those businesses that are 20 employees or less. the smaller of the small businesses or those having the most difficulty surviving in this climate. and they had a much more real -- by executive order, or by administrative action, they now have a much more realistic formula for the self-employed as to how much they can receive under a p.p.p. loan. they were able to do that through executive action. and they removed the discriminatory nature against returning citizens being able to qualify for these forgivable loans. the biden administration has taken action. now it's necessary for us to take action. come in with the american rescue plan, we need to pass it. $50 billion of additional help

directly, directly to small businesses to make the eidl advance really work for those in low-income communities so they can get their full $10,000 grant that we intended them to receive, so that we can make that work. we need to provide another $15 billion to the eidl advance program, targeting it to the underserved communities. we have a program to help our restaurants. why help the restaurants? $25 billion. here's the fact -- even with the restaurants starting to come back, we are two million jobs less in the restaurant field since the beginning of covid-19. two million jobs less. the national restaurant association estimates that 110,000 restaurants have either shuttered for good or shuttered today as a result of covid-19. we need to direct help to the restaurant community.

the shuttered venue program needs additional support, an extra $1.25 billion is provided for shuttered venues. let me give you one example. the merry weather post pavilion located in howard county, maryland -- i've been there many times -- has not operated since last march. they need help. a thousand jobs is dependent on the merriwether post pavilion. i'm surele all of my colleagues can mention the venues in their own state that need this help. we provided $7.2 billion for nonprofit. johns hopkins university has done a study and shown the employment level in our nonprofit community has dropped one million jobs since covid-19 occurred. we know the great work they do, how they step up and help us

during any time, but particularly during a pandemic and during a national crisis. they need help and they should be eligible to be able to receive the help under the small business p.p.p. program. this bill will provide that flexibility so that they can get the help that they need and another reason why we have to pass the american rescue plan. and then lastly, let me mention the community navigators. there's a modest amount of money here so we can have people who can help those who are not as sophisticated to be able to get the help that they need through a community navigator. we have the women's business centers and the small business centers, but we need more help and i think the record has shown that. lastly, let me say, yes, we need to pass the american rescue plan for the direct help to small businesses, but they also need our economy to return to some degree of normalcy, that's why the help for opening our schools, the help for state and

local governments and for unemployment services, snap benefits, cobra protection, and why the vaccine is important, the medicaid expansion and housing assistance, and i could go on and on. america needs the american rescue plan and they need it now. democrats worked with the trump administration so that we could get help during that administration, republicans need to join us in helping the american people. let's pass the american rescue plan and let's do that as soon as possible. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. i ask that my full statement be made a part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: thank you. vote-a-rama is upon us. stay hydrated. keep good cheer. we're going to have lots of amendments today and kind of

talk about where we differ on certain things, which will be good for the country. what i hate the most is that we're doing a partisan covid bill for the first time as a nation, and i don't know why. because on march 5, 2020, 96-1, we appropriated $8 billion when we began to understand what covid is about, march 18, $355 billion, 90-8, march 28, $1.9 trillion. march 5 to march 25, we spent $2 trillion, the average vote, 96-1, 90-8, 96-0, april, we spent $555 billion, voice vote, september 30, 2020, $8 billion, approved 84-10, and december 21,

2020, 1.04 trillion, approved 92-6. we had a democratic house and republican house and now my democratic colleagues have chosen to go another. they have all the power. they have the senate, the house, and the white house. they have chosen to do a $ 1.9 trillion package. 90% of this money has zero to do with covid, it is a -- [no audi] -- it makes me believe it is. so another point for the american people of all the money i just described to you that we appropriated in a bipartisan fashion, we haven't spent it all yet, but we're going to spend a $1.9 trillion even though we haven't spent the earlier money. of the administrative actions, we have $2.8 trillion.

we appropriated $1.4 trillion, we are going to spend a#m 1.9 trillion more before we spend what we spent in the past. the federal reserve set aid side $5.9 trillion to help business, they only spent $2.8 trillion. the economy is showing signs of life. the -- vaccine is out. things are looking better. it looks like we should spend the money not spend wisely before we embark on a $1.9 trillion spending spree, much of it doesn't have to do with covid. they are doing it because they can and there will be a lot of amendments talking about better ways to spend this money. the minimum wage has been dropped out. but here's what's in this bill, $20 million for the preservation and maintenance of native american languages. that might be something we want to do, but we should go through the appropriations process, having hearings, not put it on a covid bill.

$135 million for the national endowment of the arts. maybe something we want to do, but not on a covid bill. $135 million for the national endowment for humanities. again, the same concept. $200 million for the institute of museum and library services. what's that got do with covid? nothing. p.p.p. loans for labor unions, paid leave fund for federal employees, $86 billion bailout for union pensions. what's that got to do with covid? nothing. $350 billion for blue states, we changed the formula under this bill, dramatically different than the one we passed 96-0. i could go on and on. money for schools, most of the money in this bill, $190 billion for k-12, $46 billion is spent this year. most is spent from 2022 through

2028. hopefully we will -- this is to spend money on things not related to covid because they have the power to do so. it's going to be a long day. we're going to talk about reprioritizing money. we will talk about striking provisions from the bill. money from hardworking taxpayers, spent in a way unrelated to covid. so state tuned. keep good cheer. stay hydrated. but this is a debate worth having and i regret very much that we could not find common ground here. to find it, you have to seek it and this is the one area where we were doing a pretty damn good job, i thought, working together as republicans and democrats, spending a lot of money because there was a need out there. today we're going to spend a lot of money, most of it not related to covid and it's going to be along partisan lines. it's unfortunate, but it's a choice my democratic colleagues made and we're going to hold them to that choice. with that, i yield the floor.

mr. sanders: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: my colleague, the ranking member, senator graham, says, why? $1.9 trillion, it's a lot of money. we spent money over the last year. he's right. why did we spend the money? and the answer is because we are facing a series of unprecedented crises and because the american people are reaching out to us and they are saying, we are hurting. we are in desperate condition and we need help from the federal government. that is why we are responding. a half a million people have died in this country from covid and many millions more have been made ill. and what the long-term impact of those illnesses are, nobody at this point knows.

but certainly no one will deny that we have a pandemic crisis and our job is to make sure that we produce the vaccines that the american people desperately need and that we develop an effective mechanism to get it into the arms of the american people. and the truth is, and i want to thank the president and his team. we have made progress in the last month, but we still have a long, long way to go, and to produce the vaccines, to hire the people who will make sure that people get those vaccines, inject people with the vaccines, it's going to take money. everybody in this senate, and i assume in the country, wants our kids to get back to school. well, you just can't open the schools unless they are safe. parents are not going to send their kids back to those

schools. teachers are not going to teach. child care workers are not going to provide the care that the little ones need. and you know what, to make those school rooms and school buildings safe is going to require resources. but for the sake of our children, we need to reopen the schools as quickly as possible and do it in a safe way. there is money in this bill -- in this bill, senator graham didn't mention it, to make sure that this coming summer school districts all over this country have the resources to provide strong, well-staffed summer programs so kids who have missed significant amounts of school can make up some of what they have lost in addition to getting some recreation and associating with their fellow young people in a way that is safe. you know, mr. president, there

was a poll that came out just last week. it was rather shocking at what it said. and it said that 63% of the american people are living paycheck to paycheck. and senator graham says, why are we spending all of this money? and the answer is, we don't believe that children in america should go hungry. we don't believe that working people should be evicted from their apartments or liewrs their homes. we don't believe -- or lose their homes. we don't believe in the midst of a pandemic people should not be able to afford to go to a doctor. so making sure that people have those direct payments, yeah, we believe in that. we believe that if a family is struggling today through no fault of their own, having lost their income, yeah, we are going to get them a check for $1,400

and a family of four a check for $5,600. you know, there are a lot of people in this country who are doing very well and they are wondering, what's the big deal about $1,400, that's not a lot of money. you go to a corporate lunch, people can spend $1,400 on a lunch. if you're struggling to put food on the table for your kids, that $5,600 for a family and four is life and death. it is dignity or desperation. people are wondering, how am i going to pay the rent that i owe after the rent moratorium, the eviction moratorium expires? how am i going to feed my kids? how am i going to take care of the basic necessities of life? so, yes, we are providing $1,400 per working-class family because that is desperately needed.

so when the senator says, well, why are we spending all of this money? the answer is because we are living in the most difficult moment in the modern history of this country and arguably even a more difficult moment than the great depression of the 1930's. people are hurting and in a democratic society government is supposed to respond to the people who sent us here. now, i know that there is controversy and senator graham raised this issue. democrats have a majority, a bare majority with the vice president, 51 votes. why are we not working with our republican colleagues? we have reached out time and time and time again. the president has reached out. work with us. but you've got to understand the sefort of the crisis. and they have -- he is variety of the crisis and they have not

done this. using reconciliation, by the way, mr. president, as you well know, not a new idea. when hour republican colleagues had the majority, they used reconciliation. what did they use it for? they used it for massive tax breaks for the rich. that's what they used reconciliation for. they used reconciliation in order to try to throw 32 million americans off the affordable care act, something that trump was fervent about. and by one vote, senator mccain, we prevented 32 million people from losing their health insurance through the reconciliation process. our response is, you want unity? you know what? we probably have more unity in america around this package than anything i can remember. polls varied, 65%, 70% of the american people understand the crisis we are facing. they want us to respond.

this legislation is enormously popular, not just from progressives, not from moderates, but from republicans as well, depending on the poll, 40%, 50%, more, republicans support it because they can't afford to pay their rent. they can't afford to go to the doctor. they understand that government has got to help. so the real question here -- and plbd has raised this issue -- is -- and president biden has raised this issue -- is we believe in unity, we believe in bringing people together. how does it happen that when 40%, 50% of republicans support this legislation, we can get one vote from republicans here? what's going on? and the answer is i'm afraid that my republican colleagues have moved so far to the right that they have lost contact with the needs of working families. mr. president, as i said earlier, this legislation is not

just about dealing with the pandemic and health care. it's not just dealing with the severe economic downturn that we are facing. it's not just dealing with the disruption of education in america, and so much more. it's not just dealing with the worst moment in the modern history of this country. this amendment, this legislation has everything to do with restoring the confidence of the american people in democracy and in their government. and if we can't respond to the pain of working families today, we don't deserve to be here. so senator graham said it's going to be a long night. bring it on. we're ready. but at the end of the day, we are going to do what the american people want, what the american people need. we're going to pass the american rescue plan. and with that, mr. president,

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: the republicans yield back their time. the presiding officer: time is yielded back. mr. sanders: i yield back my time as well. the presiding officer: all time is yielded back. mr. graham: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: the budgetary effects of the pending amendment 891 offered by senator sanders are merely incidental to the nonbudgetary effects of the amendment. accordingly, the amendment is

extraneous. therefore, i raise a point of order against this measure pursuant to section 313-b-1-d of the congressional budget act of 1974. mr. sanders: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: in accordance with section 904 of the congressional budget act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of all applicable budget resolutions, i move to behave all applicable sections of that act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of amendment number 972, and i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the question is on the motion to waive. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

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