>> narrator: just like he had done to al gore, he singled out senator manchin. >> that was joe manchin'sw manchin is workih president obama and new york mayor michael bloomberg. concerned? you ould be. >> senator manchin was vilified by the nra.li it was almos a personal vendetta. so they, you know, they chewed up one of their own. >> narrator: as lapierre waitedo the votes, republicans and some conservative democrats backed away from the bill. >> mr. isakson. mr. lautenberg. mr. leahy. mr. lee. mr. wyden. (gavel raps) >> the amendment is not agreed to.l >> narrator: the bll five votes short. the nra had won. >> "how could they vote that way? don't they understand what happened? how can they do that how can this be?" i mean, it was disbelief and a sense of betrayal. that w the mood. ♪ >> narrator: obama invited the newtown families to the white hoe after the vote. >> daniel was a first-grader at sandy hook elementary school. i know that he felt,e felt a sense of responsibility to us anand, and to the nation, d to that 90% of the country that, that wanted this. you know, i think he felt a

does joe manchin want all of these are many of these companies go out of business? we will have an unemployment rate to which you know what it is for every seen before. these are companies that weren't in trouble three weeks ago and now they are in trouble because of what happened. these are great companies. in some cases, aaa companies. and we can also go to another which has never had a history of a problem in their company and then a year ago, the problem they had and it was. >> bill: how much money would you give boeing? >> they're going to come up with a request and it's going to be really small compared to the numbers we are talking about, going to be a small amount of money but we are not letting boeing go out of business. >> bill: so many others will line up. >> you have to help them temporarily, it is not going to be long-term, temporarily. and they're going to pay interest and probably give stock in their company to the people of our country, to the taxpayers of our country, to the citizens of our country and it is going to be great. we have to keep them i

>> senator manchin, we appreciate your leadership on securing the schools. it really makes a difference across the country in many of these rural counties and public lands. we are working top priority. >> it usually goes out in february the money goes out in february. >> yes it will be out before the end of. march i can guarantee you that, and i have asked my folks to step it up top priority to get it out. >> what's loaded up? is there anything we can do to prevent this? we have a two-year an extension so that it doesn't repeat itself next year? >> in the finance part of the federal government, i'm not the expert. i will get back to you. >> i'd be happy to work with you i'm sure you have someone who's connected on this. if you can give us your contact on behalf of all of us we can rely on i'd be happy to work with you. >> we'd be happy to work with. >> we should tell our constituents back home for all of you have this type of conduct, that it will be a month late. 30 days late probably. >> or less. >> or less. speaking about royalty, the budget includes a 5

manchin: 1.82 million people. mr. durbin: you cannot tell the rate of infection unless you have a test of those who are suspicious. mr. manchin: if you've seen the map of the united states, senator, if you've seen the map, west virginia stands out. it doesn't show any. i think how could that happen. mr. durbin: we face the same thing in illinois with 12.5 million people. we were testing 360 a day. 360 a day for the entire state. ridiculous. governors --. mr. manchin: total? mr. durbin: i know. the governor told me we don't know how many people are infected. we don't know the rate if it's going up or if it's going up at what rate, whether it's in certain areas in our state and not others. if you don't have testing you don't have knowledge and you can't fight a pandemic. i would say to the senator it was the highest priority in this bill, passed the house of representatives on saturday. mr. manchin: we should have been here saturday. mr. durbin: we should have been here saturday. we should take it up today. what are we

manchin: yeah. mr. mcconnell: if my friend, if that were invoked, there is still 30 more hours postcloture on the motion to proceed. once you get on the bill, you have to go through it again. so there is no way in which -- the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: we should be able to get a deal and we can move forward with unanimous consent. we really should. that's what i am hoping for. i think we can do it. my whole thing is based around the health care right now. you can't throw enough money to fix this if you can't fix the health care. if you can't give my people in west virginia and across this country the feeling that we have a treatment and we're moving towards a vaccine, they're not leaving their homes. my restaurants aren't going to open up. the most important thing, how do we take care of the workers that have lost their job no fault of their own. businesses have closed same in my state as well as your state, no fault of their own. that's the package we have to get o

thank you very much, senator joe manchin of west virginia.the senator was speaking, we are getting some more reminders of how widespread these cases are getting to be globally. the u.s. now represents 13.5% of confirmed coronavirus cases. both numbers are climbing exponentially. we will have more after this. i use rakuten to get cash back in-store and online. or anything i want to buy is going to be on rakuten. rakuten is easy to use, free to sign up and it's in over 3,000 stores. i buy a lot of makeup. shampoo, conditioner. books, food. travel. shoes. stuff for my backyard. anything from clothes to electronics. workout gear. i even recently got cash back on domain hosting. you can buy tires. to me, rakuten is a great way to get cash back on anything you buy. rack it up with rakuten, sign up today to get cash back on everything you buy. no, because on a sandwich,t no they ask you if you want cheese. but on a papadia, cheese is what's holding the whole operation together. get one now for just six bucks. better ingredients. better pizza. better

thank you again, senators murkowski and manchin, for your work. i hope we can return to the regular order, to the idea that we're going to have a bill on the floor and that we can have amendments and have the process work as it normally does, and improve the bill on these important points. if we cannot, i think the path for this bill becomes much harder. now, mr. president, on another subject before i conclude, i want to voice my support for the remarks senator grassley grave earlier today on the oil and gas royalties. we've filed an amendment together based on our bill to update those royalties and other leasing items for the first time in 100 years. it's a long overdue topic, and i hope to see increasing bipartisan support in the near future. we have an historic oil boom in this country, much of which is using public lands, and the public has a right to see a fair value for those resources. we also have a large and growing budget deficit and a major climate change problem. bringing oil and gas royalties into the 21st century would be a bipartisa

joining us now is senator joe manchin. you were one of the folks who got hot in the senate chamber yesterday. you and senator mcconnell got into the details of it. our viewers are waking up saying due guys finally have a deal? the markets are up today on that optimism. will there be a deal today? >> they should be optimistic. we're all optimistic. as late as midnight last night things have been worked out. there might be a few things finishing up today. hopefully they'll get past that and drafting the bill as we speak. we'll have the bill in front of us before we vote. working on that. it should be sometime today. we're hopeful. here is the thing. we'll suspend the rules. we don't have to wait 30 hours or two or three days the way it was played out yesterday on the floor. that's not accurateal at all. democrats won't hold anything up. no filibuster. we'll use unanimous consent everything. once we have an agreement, ed. i'm hopeful we have a good bill. >> ed: can you understand why some of our viewers and people around the

senator joe manchin, thank you very much for your time.e'll be watching very closely what happens this morning. >> thanks, alisyn. appreciate it. >> sure. thank you very much, john. >>> we want to take a moment to tell you about a few of the lives lost in this pandemic. 91-year-old bill pike's family thought he had pneumonia, but his condition worsened and he was placed on a ventilator. his family said their good-byes to him over the phone while he was in quarantine. >>> patricia friesen thought it was her asthma acting up. she became the first victim of coronavirus in illinois. patricia was a retired nurse, her brother says she felt the need to help people because of her faith. she was 61 years old. >>> dr. steven swartz was a pathologist at university of washington, the 78-year-old was renowned for his research in vascular biology. his colleagues say he leaves behind a lasting imprint on the university and the scientific community. >>> an sunday rutter was a fight, single mother of six, survived stage four breast cancer. she was the kind

i want to thank my colleagues again, senators gardner, manchin, daines for this work in helping to put this final package together. i want to thank the restore our parks act colleagues who have been at this for a long time, four or five years, senator warner and myself, senator alexander, senator king. i'd like to once again thank president trump for his strong support of restore our parks act over the past few years and now of this new product that's come together. he understands the need to protect the natural beauty of our public lands. the great american outdoors act to me is the next step in carrying out teddy roosevelt's legacy. teddy roosevelt's mission of protecting the environment for future generations. i look forward to the ability to debate this on the floor of the united states senate the week after next and then to pass it with a strong bipartisan vote and send it to the president for his signature to ensure that this landmark legislation, this historic legislation can be enacted into law. thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. c

joining me now is senator joe manchin of west virginia.ator, thank you so much for being with us. i'm so glad to see you, because for so many days, people were pointing out that west virginia, the one state in the country that had not yet seen a confirmed case of coronavirus and they were pointing to that as some kind of a model of a good thing, but all along, you were looking at it concerned. why? >> first of all, john, we have the most vulnerable population at risk. i knew that from my days of being governor and also nothing has changed demographically. and we have over 720 or 30 more thousand people who are elderly. we have over 230,000 people who are under 60 with chronic illnesses because of the hard work they have done. a lot of respiratory diseases, diabetes, we have a lot of problems we know we're facing. i just knew that if we weren't prepared, if people got lulled into a false sense of security, we were going to be harmed very, very devastating and i thought it was just carnage waiting to happen, i wanted to make sure that people

overall energy package, which is significant and a tribute to the work of senators murkowski and manchin and so many other people in this chamber. as senator portman said, energy use in i would abouting is about 40% of our energy use. it is the single biggest sector in our economy. what an -- and energy efficiency is the cheapest, fastest way to deal with our energy needs. what these provisions would do -- they are voluntary but what they would do is provide significant savings to consumers. they would be the equivalent of taking every car and light truck off the road for a year, so significant emissions savings and significant energy savings. so this is a win-win. i hope that the amendment can be called up and passed. mr. portman: i thank my colleague. i yield back. mr. sullivan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that kyl wood, an intern in my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the month. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: mr. president, i also request unanimous c

we heard senator manchin suggest that wall street close for a couple of days. treasure secretary mnuchin say there's some talk of perhaps reducing hours but he didn't want to close the markets for fears of what message that would send. what's your take on that? should the markets close for a few days? would that steady things and let everybody cool off? >> i don't think closing markets steadies things. it reinforces the feeling of panic. closing down financial systems -- what we have right now, the reason everybody is in a panic is we have a total lack of understanding of how far this could go and the world economy is literally shutting down, and we don't know for how long, and we don't know when or when it does emerge from this, whether it will happen again. one of the striking things we're learning as we find out more about this virus and the latest modeling that's done suggests that, yes, you can suppress infection rates if you shut down the entire society, but probably, because it's now so widespread, it's going to come back again. so are we going to have t

torn parka and headed up where he plopped himself down on the sidewalk right in front of o'donnell's manchin. [laughter] well within minutes of course, a security guard was confronting him and asking them -- actually threatening him to move along. soon the cops arrived and he was then taken down to the station. point proved about a certain kind of elite hypocrisy which these days recall virtual signaling. another piece he wrote for the times, an essay, recycling is garbage. his titles capture the provocative argument holds the record for the most hate mail ever generated by a "new york times" article. [laughter] [applause] now john's journalism has appeared not just in the times where he remains an occasional contributor, but in the wall street journal, atlantic, esquire, "washington post", many other leading publications. since joining city journal, john, has continued to illuminate an enraged writing about other things that counter productivity of anti- vaping, public health measures, how drugs get developed in price, why the left is actually raging the real war on science. and the latest

but first i want to bring in senator joe manchin from west virginia. i noticed your state joy that list, what can you do on capitol hill to ease the pain that so many are feeling at the moment? >> the pain we are feeling is anxiety, we don't know. in west virginia we weren't doing the testing because we didn't have the capability to do the testing. and there was a hundred and 20 total when i last checked. so unless we can get these tests, we were so far behind the curve, being prepared to test people and having the supplies, now we have to play catch up so now we don't know where this virus will be ready to have an outbreak. my state is the most challenged state of all. we have more people basically are older and have illnesses, basically hardworking good people who worked harder and it could be catastrophic if it hits. so i talked to the vice president last night and he was very kind and said we will get you everything we can. they just didn't have us on a high-priority because showing that we didn't have any cases and i said well, that's because we h

i heard senator manchin say these should all be loans, and returned to get through this. >> i think generally all of that is true. this is a normal economic downturn caused by decision is made by the market or bad decisions made by companies -- that's one thing, that's what we have faced in the past. we need to understand what we are dealing with, a public health crisis and the way the government has had to respond to the crisis is by telling the private sector not to open, not to work, not to serve customers, not to make money. i don't know how they would pay that back, we basically stop the private industry in this country, we intervened to stop it in order to save lives. this is a very different circumstance from what you saw in the economic downturn in the late 2000s or what we've seen in the past. this is government mandated, its government by fiat telling the private sector it cannot function. businesses will close but in the interim they will lay off millions of americans will be stuck at home and quarantine, not going out and on top of that, not even knowing if they have a job to go b

manchin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: mr. president, thank you. i want to thank my colleague from oregon for his big heart and compassion and continuing to worry about those who are left behind and forgotten. i can assure you senator merkley does not leave anyone behind or forget those who are in need of help. this is not like anything i've ever seen in my lifetime or most people's lifetimes. up until a few days ago my state of west virginia felt we were immune. there were another cases report -- there were no cases reported. we were like an island with infestation around. i knew that wasn't the case and many people knew we weren't testing. the amount of tests weren't out there, so people had a false sense of maybe hope or security, and now that has been shattered. we have our first case now, and i'm praying to the good lord that we don't have many more, but i suspect that because of the fragility of our citizens, the elderly population that we have, those who have done hard work all their lives, have respiratory illnesses, t

. >> we have senator joe manchin coming up who was part of these negotiations overnight so we'll seeg's going to happen this morning. thank you very much for all of the information. >>> president trump is pushing this malaria drug also as a potential treatment for coronavirus. but is it available? and does it work? dr. sanjay gupta investigates next. with high protein and 1 gram sugar. it's a sit-up, banana! bend at the waist! i'm tryin'! keep it up. you'll get there. whoa-hoa-hoa! 30 grams of protein, and one gram of sugar. ensure max protein. and one gram of sugar. i'm finding it hard to stay on a faster laptop could help. plus, tech support to stay worry free woory free.... boom! boom! get free business day shipping... ...at office depot, officemax and officedepot.com are you currently using a whitening toothpaste, but not seeing results? try crest 3d whitestrips. its enamel-safe formula lifts and removes stains to provide 100% noticeably whiter teeth or your money back. try crest 3d whitestrips. resa place to celebrate,been to take a first date, to grab a meal between soccer prac

you had senator joe machine -- manchin of west virginia, widely regarded democrat, denouncing corporations and wall street. corporations will be okay, wall street is okay. we have to take care of the common man. lamar alexander republican from tennessee, what do we think corporations are? corporations employ millions of average americans. that is what a corporation does. melissa: right. >> but nonetheless the democrats seem insist extent a corporation is basically 50 guys in top hats and tuxes running america. i think the average person watching this can see this is simply not what is at stake right now. melissa: all right. just a pox on all your houses, i guess that is a bad analogy right now, republicans and democrats seem like they're not helping. >> i think they will start making some political distinctions after watching this fiasco in congress this week, melissa. not a good look for democrats. melissa: dan henninger, thank you so much. no. thank you. connell: let's go to some numbers we're putting together, trying on a daily basis. more than 372,000 cases worldwide coronavirus. 41,00

joe manchin the senator from west virginia was on the floor arguing with mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader, he said we don't have mass congressional deletmasks,ventild be here rather than on wall street. >> we don't want a bailout again, it is not the fault of these industries that they didn't cause this recession. you are just kind of giving them liquidity so they can keep employees instead of firing them or give them access to capital in terms of loans for small businesses to stay afloat. >> this is not just wall street, this is far from it. these are the company is not all americans work for. this is a large swath of the u.s. economy that has basically been put out of business overnight. they are suffering, no fault of their own. just like individuals, just like the people who have been laid off, the millions who have been laid off and to correct one, the $425 billion goes to the treasury and as a backstop for lending at the federal reserve, which would total about $4 trillion. that is how you can leverage that amount of money, that is why this is critical. while congres

west virginia senator joe manchin says that the state's population is vulnerable and, "when it hits my state, it's going to be absolutely catastrophic." so, whether we like it or not, the coronavirus pandemic is now a fixture in our lives. as this changes our day-to-day routines, there are many questions about what is safe to go about doing. i want to bring in senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen to answer some of those questions. and elizabeth, the president just spoke a short time ago here. he was pressed by our kaitlan collins about the ventilator shortage across the country and why it's taken so long to deal with this. what did you think about the president's answer? >> i think that he put it out there. he said we're ordering thousands and thousands of them, and that's a good thing. it's good that they're moving in that direction. there are some in the stockpile, but we need more. he said something that i found a little curious. he kept saying that a ventilator was a complex piece of equipment. look, i suppose any medical equipment you can call it complex, but i feel like h

first became aware when it was contaminated i learned that all of it is coming from china and most manchin it's a blood thinner but most people are not aware that it's more than that. you cannot have them if they clot. when they flush it is a helper heperin flush so it is essential not only for people who needed is a blood thinner but actually anybody that needs an intravenous drug heperin. and so, it is hard for me to understand how that could have happened. could it have happened if it's something that essential and basic to medical care could wind up being completely offshore here. >> heperin comes from [inaudible] what was going on there became a from the small villages in china that were pulling these animals out in very unsanitary conditions and literally many of them have no running water and then shipping them to distributors and ultimately it wound up in chicago. and it was from that basis that the problem developed. the fda is trying to get in sections on site and they have severely restricted the number of inspectors they would allow and it has become completely ineffective. >>

this say huddle, a gagem we had with senator jill manchin, quu see reporters and senators staying farer apart. i was seeing in the chamber senators are not social distancing all the time. st a give-and-take. but clearly there is more of an understanding of the problem toy than there was yesterday because of senator paul. >> woodruff: perhaps they are all convinced that everybody else is in the clear. we'll see. lisa desjarns, thank you very much. great reporting. >> woodruf as you know, there's growing concern around the country about how frontline healthcare workers will deal th a potential surge of patients and the fears doctors, nurses and others have for their owirsafety, as well as for t families. william brangham and i are going to explore many of those questions this evening with several voices.rs let's focus with william on the biggest hotspot in the u.s. >> brangham: we begin with a view from one emergency room in new york city, one of the cities harde hit by this outbreak so far. for that, i'm joined by dr. billy goldberg he's an emergency room physician at n.y.u. langone heal

manchin: wish to vitiate the quorum call. i will -- i am doing so because i believe he is well qualified for the job. he has been the commission's general counsel for the past two and a half years. he understands the complex legal issues that come before the commission. i voted to report mr. danly's nomination both last november and last week on the strength of his qualifications, not on politics. i urge my colleagues to do the same. but the position to which mr. danly has been nominated is one of five seats on the federal energy regulatory commission. by law, no more than two of the five seats can be held by one party. only three of the seats are now filled. two by republicans and one by a democrat. the other democratic seat has been vacant since last august. traditionally when both a republican seat and democrat seat has been vacant, the president -- past presidents have sent nominations to fill both at the same time. i am deeply disappointed this has not happened this time. the politics involved in this town is outrageous.

chairman murkowski and senator manchin's compromise product will help our nation move toward greater energy efficiency and affordability for years to come. new support for energy efficiency efforts, new incentives for innovation, new tools to secure our electrical grid, new ways to strengthen our domestic supply chain for important minerals, and on and on and on. this chamber got it right last week when it proceeded to the bill by a vote of 90-4. it hadn't suddenly become controversial overnight. everyone knows there are plenty of outside issues that senators do not agree on. we should let ourselves agree on what we do agree on. let me say that again. we should let ourselves agree on what we do agree on and complete this legislation this week. let's keep legislating. let's get it done. the american people deserve it. now, on a final matter, this afternoon all senators will have the opportunity to attend a briefing on election security from administration experts who tackle the issue every day. the f.b.i. director, the acting secretary of homeland security, general nakasone of the n.s

i want to say something else with regard to senator manchin who is sitting over here by his lonesome on the other side of the aisle. i really like this guy. we are good friends. we hit it off right from the first. both of us want the same thing. in particular his comments this morning about the wall healthcare delivery system in west virginia. going through the same tribulation we are going through nationwide with regards to rural areas. i wanted to point out there are $75 million in this bill for rural hospitals to pay doctors and nurses who are dealing with the virus, we are doing that. it lifts the 2% sequester that happens all the time. you've got to go back to 2013 and under the budget control act passed at that particular time and not enforced but at least -- what is the word for it? referring to president obama on the budget control act, the necessity that no matter what we got from the cms, the center for medicare services which is lovingly called out in rural areas, it is a mess, seema verma is doing a good job but when we convince them to raise the medicare reimbursement to

i appreciate secretary esper that you in response to senator manchin said the preferred way would be to have a tough appropriations battle, appropriate money for the border wall and then spend the money within d.o.d. accounts. i think that makes per expefect sense. but it's hard for you to look us in the eye and say this is very focused on the nds when i can't find mention of the border wall or the border in the nds. when earlier witnesses testified though this be an emergency it's not a military emergency. let me dig into another issue. when you -- just using the 3.8 figure, you do that transfer within the d.o.d. into the counterdrug fund and use that for the wall. is that subject to the transfer authority that we give you where there's a general transfer authority in the appropriations act where you can transfer up to $4 billion a year within d.o.d. accounts with notice to congress but without approval, is that 3.8 transfer within that? >> i think so, senator, but i'd want to come back to you to affirm it. >> i'd love that. my belief is it is too. you have $4 billion transfer autho

i appreciate secretary esper, in and your response to senator joe manchin way.uld appropriations b way would be tough appropriations bail, and spend the money appropriated for d.o.d. within d.o.d.. accounts. i think that makes perfect sense. it's per hard for you to look un the eye and say this is focusedv on the nds when i can't find cat mention of the border wall or the border at the nds. earlier witnesses have tests -- testified, though it's not a military emergency, it is an emergency. another .issue, you are using the 3.8 figure. you do that transfer within the d.o.d.in t and to that counter g fund and then use that for the wall. isco unthat transfer subject toe transfer authority that we give au you? y thwhere there is a general transfer authority in the in the appropriations act that you canr transfer up to four billion dollars a year within d.o.t. accounts with no -- no notice to congress withoutappro, approval. is that 3.8 transfer within that four billion dollar transferhin authority? >> ik think so senator but i want to come back to you. belief is that it is to. so you have

voting record, you might see senator sanders voting with democrats more so than someone like senator manchin, who is the most moderate democratic senator. host: this is from new mexico, joan is up next. hi. caller: hello, and thank you for taking my call. this is my first time calling c-span, although i have been listening for more time then i would like to admit. i would really like to work with this idea people calling in, and mentioning the word communism. base from totally off what bernie sanders stands for. to sayeally want something. they midst a great opportunity -- they missed a great opportunity to talk about this. we have socialism for the rich in our country. this whole idea that with the bailing out of trump from his tariffs, and having to give money to the farmers for them to even begin to cut even in the years he has been in charge. the reality is we have many, many programs in place for the rich to continue to dominate the people. what bernie sanders is trying to do is bring that voice to the middle class, the people, who -- in line host: that is joan. guest: the label communi

senator manchin said earlier, need stronger language to prohibit stock buybacks. check. most of us would be for that. to where secretary mnuchin cannot have full latitude on where to direct the funds. i'm a main street guy. i'd go for that, too. don't have enough restraints on the assistance and firing employees at a later time as employers might do. any of us that care about our employees would be for that as well. a couple other things. so i throw the gauntlet out to the leadership who i think trotted out a lot of this other stuff, confused the process, and now we are here to where we have to deal with the unanimous consent. i feel good. i think our side comes along in three key areas. helping the state and local governments, helping the front line of defense, hospitals, and holding the big companies accountable that are going to get the benefit of government assistance. and we need to keep in mind, this isn't 2008 where you're looking at bailing out and helping some of the people that caused the problem. even these larger businesses have been impacted by government ed

i don't think he has behaved like say joe manchin of west virginia has behaved. >> who on top of the ticket could endanger senate democrats in battleground states? that could put senate democrats up for reelection this year like minnesota's tina smith and gary peters of michigan at risk. president trump narrowly lost minnesota last time and carried michigan. >> democrats are moving way far to the left embracing a socialist agenda. there is no moderate lane which will put so many democrats and competitive senate seats in a very vulnerable position. speak of the top of the ticket impacts republicans as well. republican south carolina senator lindsey graham says if president trump wins reelection then republicans will retain the senate. graham says if mr. trump loses, "who knows." >> bret: thanks, chad. we are now just 15 minutes away from the first poll closings of the night and we could have some race calls for you at the top. bernie sanders speaking earlier today saying the democratic establishment is afraid of him. >> it is no surprise, they do not want me to become president. becau

manchin: i'd like to say a few words about what we're going through. in west virginia, i've been on conference calls because of social distancing, as we all are. i've talked to the nurses association, the medical association. i've spoken to the hospital association. the main concern that we have right now is our medical providership being stable enough, being protected enough so they can continue to take care of us if need be. and right now they're scared to death. they're not getting the protective equipment they need. they don't have the personal protective equipment such as the masks or the shields or the gowns and all of the equipment that a first responder should have. that's what we're l fighting for now. we have rural hospitals, rural clinics throughout all of america. with that being said they're scared they're not going to have the finances to stay afloat. the proposal that we have right now that they're working on, both sides are working on does not, is adequately insufficient. mitch mcconnell's proposal falls short of delivery for the protec

manchin: i'd like to say a few words about what we're going through. in west virginia, i've been on conference calls because of social distancing, as we all are. i've talked to the nurses association, the medical association. i've spoken to the hospital association. the main concern that we have right now is our medical providership being stable enough, being protected enough so they can continue to take care of us if need be. and right now they're scared to death. they're not getting the protective equipment they need. they don't have the personal protective equipment such as the masks or the shields or the gowns and all of the equipment that a first responder should have. that's what we're l fighting for now. we have rural hospitals, rural clinics throughout all of america. with that being said they're scared they're not going to have the finances to stay afloat. the proposal that we have right now that they're working on, both sides are working on does not, is adequately insufficient. mitch mcconnell's proposal falls short of delivery for the protec

manchin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: mr. president, before my colleague leaves, i want to thank the senator from alaska and my chairman for all the hard work, because it has been a labor, and both of us have worked together because it is something our country needs very desperately. and it's something that has been worked on for 12 or 13 years, so time has come. with that i'm pleased that we've started the process and turning to the american energy and innovation act. last year chairman mur could you skill kicked off -- murkowski kicked off the congress with the innovation. we've heard from experts who have come before the committee advancing a broad range of technologies. we have no silver bullet to solve the problems we face. namely, maintaining affordable, reliable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring that hardworking families and communities aren't left behind. it's for this reason i say we need to innovate, not eliminate. i repeat that, innovate and not eliminate. there is a misconception that all

manchin: mr. president, i would like to ask for u.c. for my floor fellow, patrick laird for the remainder of the 116th congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: the coronavirus continues to spread. with more than 500 confirmed cases in the united states in two-thirds of the 50 states. given the inconsist tency in the delay of testing, we don't know if the number of cases accurately eflects the number of indicates in the united states. we now know that when the coronavirus first appeared on our soil, the centers for disease control produced kits that did not work properly and sent many of these tests to our hospitals and medical labs. the administration turned down tests from the world health organization. even though 60 countries accepted it, and we have no answers as to why. it took weeks to get an accurate test out. and when it took weeks for the federal government to approve certain sites to run those tests, like the northwell facility on

manchin: i'd like to say a few words about what we're going through. in west virginia, i've been on conference calls because of social distancing, as we all are. i've talked to the nurses association, the medical association. i've spoken to the hospital association. the main concern that we have right now is our medical providership being stable enough, being protected enough so they can continue to take care of us if need be.

senator manchin and i are working together with other members to sort through potential votes on the bill. we're also working to see which ones might fight into a manager's package of easy, noncontroversial, worked out proposals. i know everyone thinks theirs is easy, it's been worked out, and of course it's noncontroversial. but we have a hand full of those and are seeking additional. i would remind members that amendments require cooperation, bipartisan cooperation, especially from those beyond the energy and natural resources committee. those that are on the committee have had an opportunity to go through each and every one of these measures that we've had in front of us that are incorporated as part of the american energy innovation act. that input has been helpful and very, very positive as we have built these proposals. and i know folks are looking at much of this, some of them for the first time as they're not on the committee, and they have ideas that are good and worthy, and we want to respect that process and incorporate them as they are appropriate and enhance this bill. i

the american energy innovation act put forward by chairman murkowski and ranking member manchin is thoroughly bipartisan. it contains provisions sponsored or cosponsored by more than 60 of our colleagues. it's come to include 50 individual pieces of legislation that the energy and natural resources committee considered last year. over the past three years, the trump administration and this congress have worked together to secure historic advances for both the producers and consumers of affordable domestic energy. we've opened access to new energy reserves, streamlined the regulation of liquid natural gas exports, halted or reversed the most egregious obama-era regulatory burdens, the growing record is clear. we've helped to usher in a prosperous new era of u.s. energy independence. the legislation we're considering this week is designed to build on those successes. it takes proactive steps to ensure the security, efficiency, and affordability of american energy for years to come. first, it puts a strong tailwind behind program, grants, and research efforts that are focused on energy innovatio