this half of the mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, as the majority leader just pointed out, the senate has been and will be focused on responding to the coronavirus crisis in this country in a way that hopefully enables the american people to -- to recover, to restore our economy, to get things back to normal, and that requires dealing, as he pointed out, with the health emergency as well as with the economic emergency and crisis created by this. and with respect to the health emergency,

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam presi,

this half of the mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, as the majority leader just pointed out, the senate has been and will be focused on responding to the coronavirus crisis in this country in a way that hopefully enables the american people to -- to recover, to restore our economy, to get things back to normal, and that requires dealing, as he pointed out, with the health emergency as well as with the economic emergency and crisis created by this. and with respect to the health emergency, the leader pointed out there are literally tens of billions of dollars being spent now on vaccine research, on antiviral therapeutics, on testing, and we believe that in order for us to get our economy fully back, we have got to deal with the health emergency in front of us. so dollars have been made available. hundreds of billions of dollars to health care providers, hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, providers on the n front lines -- on the front lines of this crisis and dealing to deal -- trying to deal with this challenge ev

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, a number of our democratic colleagues have come to the floor and spoken here or elsewhere about the importance of providing assistance to state and local governments, and that if that doesn't happen that they're -- there are going to be police officers, first responders and people who have essential jobs that we rely on every single day and for whom we're so grateful, that wouldn't be able to get paid. i would just point out that already as part of the coronavirus relief measures that congress has passed, there was $150 billion sent to state and local governments, much of which has yet to be spent. and, frankly, much of which we don't know what the actual need is out there until we have a better sense for what the revenue loss is to a lot of our state and local governments. clearly they are sounding the alarm and are justifiably worried about what happens if the downturn in the economy continues and what that might mean to their revenues. and so they are looking

mr. thune: mr. president, today is the first day of national nurses week, an annual commemoration each may celebrating the contributions of nurses. so today seemed like a fitting day to come down to the floor and talk about the contributions of nurses and other essential workers over the past couple of months. mr. president, we think about heroism, we tend to think of striking actions that take place in extreme circumstances. running into burning buildings, jumping on to a grenade to save a fellow soldier. racing out under fire to rescue a wounded comrade. and it's right that when we think of heroes and we think such acts, acts of super human courage, generosity and self-sacrifice. but the past couple of months have also reminded us of another kind of heroism, the quiet heroism of doing one's duty, of getting up and going to work and doing your job day after day in difficult circumstances. even when you're tired, even when you're scared, even when you know that doing your job could place you in dang

mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip is recognized. mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. thune: p in, after a few weeks of working remotely to help flatten the coronavirus curve, we're back in washington to continue our coronavirus response and address other important issues. it's been a couple of incredibly difficult months. thousands have died. our economy has taken a huge hit. millions of americans are out of work and businesses are struggling to stay afloat. and americans are worried. they're worried about their own health. they're worried about the health of their families and their loved ones. and they're worried about their finances. my colleagues and i know that americans are suffering and our overriding priority has been responding to the coronavirus crisis. we passed several major response bills and provided substantially more than $2 trillion in assistance. we have funded testing, medical care, personal prot

mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip is recognized. mr. thune: madam president, thank you. i ask unanimous consent to complete my remarks before the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, i have three requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. thune: madam president, as we continue our work here in the senate, covid-19 continues to be at the top of our agenda. we're monitoring the implementation of the $2.4 trillion in coronavirus funding we provided and talking to experts about what is needed to help our country reopen. our committees where so much of our key legislative work has done held a number of coronavirus hearings the past two weeks and there are more on the agenda. this week the committee on aging will hold a hearing on caring for seniors during the coronavirus crisis. the senate banking comm

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, the minority leader just got up and attacked the senate for not doing anything and then proceeded to announce that we're going to be voting today on the director of national intelligence. it seems like a pretty important position, the person that's in charge of all the intelligence activities that we conduct around the world to make sure that we keep our country safe. so if the senate is here and not doing anything, it seems like a real contradiction to suggest that we're actually going to vote today on a consequential position, or a position that's important to america's national security interest. just one of many that we're going to be voting on or have been voting on, madam president, over the past several weeks. the other thing that the leader, democrat leader forgot to acknowledge is that last week we passed reforms to the foreign intelligence surveillance act, a piece of legislation that's also important to national security that authorizes and funds all

mr. thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, today is the first day of national nurses week, an annual commemoration each may celebrating the contributions of nurses. so today seemed like a fitting day to come down to the floor and talk about the contributions of nurses and other essential workers over the past couple of months. mr. president, we think about heroism, we tend to think of striking actions that take place in extreme circumstances. running into burning buildings, jumping on to a grenade to save a fellow soldier. racing out under fire to rescue a wounded comrade. and it's right that when we think of heroes and we think such acts, acts of super human courage, generosity and self-sacrifice. but the past couple of months have also reminded us of another kind of heroism, the quiet heroism of doing one's duty, of gettin

mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip is recognized. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended and i ask unanimous consent that i be able to conclude my remarks before the 11:00 a.m. vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, the internet has been a part of our daily lives for quite a while now. netflix, twitter, amazon. but the internet has taken on new importance during the coronavirus pandemic. it's become the main source of connection with friends and family. it's enabled many people to work from home to help reduce the spread of the virus. it's the main reason that schools and colleges have been able to continue teaching students. and it's drastically expanded services like telehealth which has allowed doctors and other medical professionals to provide patient care remotely. madam president, with all of this new internet traffic, of course, has come a much greater load on networks and not all countries' n

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, the minority leader just got up and attacked the senate for not doing anything and then proceeded to announce that we're going to be voting today on the director of national intelligence. it seems like a pretty important position, the person that's in charge of all the intelligence activities that we conduct around the world to make sure that we keep our country safe. so if the senate is here and not doing anything, it seems like a real contradiction to suggest that we're actually going to vote today on a consequential position, or a position that's important to america's national security interest. just one of many that we're going to be voting on or have been voting on, madam president, over the past several weeks. the other thing that the leader, democrat leader forgot to acknowledge is that last week we passed reforms to the foreign intelligence surveillance act, a piece of legislation that's also important to national security that authorizes and funds all

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, a number of our democratic colleagues have come to the floor and spoken here or elsewhere about the importance of providing assistance to state and local governments, and that if that doesn't happen that they're -- there are going to be police officers, first responders and people who have essential jobs that we rely on every single day and for whom we're so grateful, that wouldn't be able to get paid. i would just point out that already as part of the coronavirus relief measures that congress has passed, there was $150 billion sent to state and local governments, much of which has yet to be spent. and, frankly, much of which we don't know what the actual need is out there until we have a better sense for what the revenue loss is to a lot of our state and local governments. clearly they are sounding the alarm and are justifiably worried about what happens if the downturn in the economy continues and what that might mean to their revenues. and so they are looking

mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip is recognized. mr. thune: madam president, so far congress has passed four coronavirus relief bills that have provided $2.4 trillion to meet the coronavirus crisis. our goal has been to provide a comprehensive response addressing not just the medical priorities but also the economic impact this virus has had on so many american families. we provided funding for coronavirus testing, for medical care, for personal protective equipment for frontline medical personnel. for vaccine and treatment development, for veterans, for nutrition programs, for first responders, for unemployment benefits, for elementary schools, high schools and colleges, for farmers and ranchers. the coronavirus aid relief and economic security act or the cares act, the third relief bill we passed provided nearly $350 billion for the paycheck protection program to help small businesses keep employees on their payroll during this crisis. and when the program ran out of money, we provided another $310 billion to ensure that as many small

mr. thune: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the provisions of rule 22, the postcloture time on the edgar nomination expire at 4:30 p.m. today. i further ask that if confirmed the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, i have four requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. thune: madam president, we're back for our second week in the senate after spending some time working remotely to help flatten the coronavirus curve. we're getting used to the temporary new normal, social distancing during hearings, floor votes, and meetings. masks, a lot of conference calls and skype calls instead of in-person meetings, lots of hand washing and hand sanitizer, and as many staff working remotely as

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, as the majority leader just pointed out, the senate has been and will be focused on responding to the coronavirus crisis in this country in a way that hopefully enables the american people to -- to recover, to restore our economy, to get things back to normal, and that requires dealing, as he pointed out, with the health emergency as well as with the economic emergency and crisis created by this. and with respect to the health emergency, the leader pointed out there are literally tens of billions of dollars being spent now on vaccine research, on antiviral therapeutics, on testing, and we believe that in order for us to get our economy fully back, we have got to deal with the health emergency in front of us. so dollars have been made available. hundreds of billions of dollars to health care providers, hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, providers on the n front lines -- on the front lines of this crisis and dealing to deal -- trying to deal with this challenge ev