mr. menendez: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: mr. president, i come to the floor, i've been listening for the better part of well over an hour to my colleagues talk about the vote that we had a little earlier and why it didn't pass and why, from their perspective, it should have. let me start off that there is a sense of urgency, but there's also a sense of getting it right and getting our priorities right the wealth of the nation will only improve when the health of the nation improves, and this package as presently designed falls far short of what is necessary to make the health of the nation whole. we need a surge at the end of the day to ensure that in fact we can have the front lines, the hospitals, the medical workers, the nurses, all of those be able to achieve the most fundamental goal, which is to make the american people safe, safe fro

mr. menendez: thank you. first of all, madam president, i want to thank the staff here in the senate. even in these difficult times, they answer the call of doing the work of the american people, and i want to appreciate their being here so that the senate can conduct its work. they are essential to being able to do that, so i want to acknowledge that. i come to the floor today as our country grapples with a global pandemic that has tragically claimed the lives of thousands of people around the world, including dozens throughout the united states and three in my home state of new jersey. and i come to the floor because i hope that people understand the fierce urgency of now, the fierce urgency of now. this is a public health crisis, and we can't wait to act. the rapid spread of covid-19, also known as the coronavirus, has disrupted our daily lives, it's destabilized our economy, it's imposed enormous strain on our health care system. i think many fail to grasp the scope of this threat. the lack of its national response just as the virus began to reach america's shores, but i'm not her

menendez. >> thank you, mr. chairman for holding this hearing to commemorate and try to grapple with the horrific atrocities of the regime with its backers as perpetrating against innocent people in syria. our witnesses today have literally risked their lives to bear witness to crimes against humanity and for almost a decade as a reign of fear, oppression and torture against his own citizens. a ruthless leader who has no only cooperated with terrorists who incite violence and who has murdered innocent civilians in cold blood, but who has been variously bombed hospitals and medical workers to prevent them from providing relief. your courageous act ensures the world can and must hold the regime accountable for their crimes. your continued efforts to provide relief for the millions remind us we must continue to press for a political solution to provide for those with immediate need. nine years ago, nine years ago, peaceful demonstrators took to the streets to demand change and accountability from their governments.

menendez at, senator for your opening remarks, please. > thank you, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing to commemorate and to try to rapple with the horrific atrocities the assad regime, iranian russian and backers, is perpetrating against innocent people in syria. witnesses today have literally risked their lives to witness to crimes against humanity. barbarity of a dictator who for almost a decade fermented fear and torture against his own citizens. murdered innocent civilians in cold blood, and who bar bearly bombed hospitals and medical workers to prevent from providing relief. our courageous act, caesar, ensures the world can and must hold the assad regime and its iranian backers accountable for their crimes. your continued efforts to relief to the millions who need to remind us that we a t continue to press for political solution and to rovide for those in immediate need. nine years ago, nine years ago, demonstrators took to the streets to demand change and their ability from government. their calls for democratic reform were met with a vicious h

senator menendez has worked on this legislation with me, and i'm grateful to him for his support. mr. president, you are working on legislation that would address some of these issues. bring this pharmaceutical manufacturing back into the united states of america we need to end chinese control over our health and wellness in this pharmaceutical supply chain. this may seem like something that is too r large or too risky and undertaking, but we have already paid dearly for our reliance on chinese drug manufacturers, and it's not a going to stop because that vulnerability is leveraging -- leverage in the hands of madmen in beijing who seek nothing but power and will go to any lengths to acquire that power. they don't care who they hurt. it's clear with this global pandemic. they don't care if it is innocent people that are sick, or maybe even that lose their life, and they define us. they defy us when we try to stop them. it's time that we rise to the challenge and that we return this supply chain. inc yield the floor, and note te absence of a quorum. >> the clerk will call the role. mr

mr. president, is because labor secretary scalia, after meeting with the senate negotiators, myself, senator grassley, secretary mnuchin, senator menendez, senator portman, a big group of us, secretary scalia, after meeting with senate negotiators, left us with no other way to get benefits to workers quickly. secretary scalia said that the states had no other way to get the benefits to workers in time. we needed a simple solution. and i know my colleagues,, distinguished president of the senate and others who are sponsoring this proposal to unravel, what senate democrats did with the secretary mnuchin, the trump administration and chairman grassley may not believe me, but i want to share the words of secretary mnuchin himself, specific on this question, of why we were focused on making sure that workers could get that extra $600 a week. just today, secretary mnuchin said, and i'm going to quote here, most of these state systems have technology that's 30 years old or older. if we have the ability to customize this with much more specifics, we would have. this was the only way we could ensure states could get the money out quickly and in

mr. president, is because labor secretary scalia, after meeting with the senate negotiators -- myself, senator grassley, secretary mnuchin, senator menendez, senator portman, a big group of us -- secretary scalia, after meeting with senate negotiators, left us with no other way to get benefits to workers quickly. secretary scalia said that the states had no other way to get the benefits to workers in time. we needed a simple solution, and i know my colleague, the distinguished president of the senate, and others who are sponsoring this proposal to unravel what senate democrats did with secretary mnuchin, the trump administration, and chairman grassley, may not believe me, but i want to share the words of secretary mnuchin himself and specifically on this question of why we were focused on making sure that workers could get that extra $600 a week. just today, secretary mnuchin said, and i'm going to quote here, most of these state systems have technology that's 30 years old or older. if we had the ability to customize this with much more specifics, we would have. this was the only way we could ensure states could get the money out quickly

senator menendez has worked on this legislation with me, and i'm grateful to him for his support. mr. president, you are working on legislation that would address some of these issues. bring this pharmaceutical manufacturing back into the united states of america. we need to end chinese control over our health and wellness in this pharmaceutical supply chain. this may seem like something that is too large or too risky an undertaking but we have already paid dearly for our reliance on chinese drug manufacturers, and it's not going to stop because that vulnerability is leverage in the hands of madmen in beijing who seek nothing but power and will go to any lengths to acquire that power. they don't care who they hurt. it's clear with this global pandemic. they don't care if it is innocent people that are sick or maybe even that lose their life and they defy us, they defy us when we try to stop them. it's time that we rise to the challenge and that we return this supply chain. ive yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quoru

mr. menendez: thank you. first of all, madam president, i want to thank the staff here in the senate. even in these difficult times, they answer the call of doing the work of the american people, and i want to appreciate their being here so that the senate can conduct its work. they are essential to being able to do that, so i want to acknowledge that. i come to the floor today as our country grapples with a global pandemic that has

mr. menendez: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: we are not in a quorum call. mr. menendez: thank you. first of all, madam president, i want to thank the staff here in the senate. even in these difficult times, they answer the call of doing the work of the american people, and i want to appreciate their being here so that the senate can conduct its work. they are essential to being able to do that, so i want to acknowledge that. i come to the floor today as our country grapples with a global pandemic that has tragically claimed the lives of thousands of people around the world, including dozens throughout the united states and three in my home state of new jersey. and i come to the floor because i hope that people understand the fierce urgency of now, the fierce urgency of now. this is a public health crisis, and we can't wait to act. the rapid spread of covid-19, also known as the coronavirus, has disrupted our daily lives, it's destabilized our economy, it's imposed enormous strain on our health care system. i think many fail to grasp the scope of this threat

mr. president. this is something we need to do right now. and it is why my colleague from new jersey, senator menendez, and i introduced the securing america's medicine cabinet -- or the samc act -- as a way to encourage and increase american manufacturing of these active pharmaceutical ingredients. now, here is what it would do. it would expand upon the emerging technology program that is housed within the f.d.a. to prioritize issues related to national security and critical drug shortages and bring that pharmaceutical manufacturing out of china and back into the united states. not in five years or ten years, but now. it is something that we need to do right now. in addition, the sam-c act authorizes $100 million to develop centers of excellence for advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing in order to develop these innovations. these centers will be a partnership between institutes of learning and the private sector. we talked a lot about public-private partnerships and the necessity of that to move us through this crisis, and we have cheered as the president has brought private sector companies into the white house to work with him on address