mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, the senate had three priorities -- the presiding officer: we're in a quorum call. mr. thune: madam president, i would ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, the senate had three priorities for this week -- reauthorizing the expiring provisions of the federal intelligence surveillance act, passing the second phase of our coronavirus response, and initiating a serious discussion about what else we need to do to help americans address this challenge. and i have to say i'm glad, madam president, that we have already made progress in all three fronts. on sunday, several key provisions of the federal intelligence surveillance act expired, including the provision that allowed the f.b.i. to wiretap lone wolf terrorists, terrorists not affiliated with a specific terrorist organization, and the role being wiretap provision that p

mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. thune: our number one priority is the health and safety of the american people. i think weve heard from a lot of health experts about things the american people need to be doing to and protect themselves and we would suggest continuing to listen to those experts. what we heard from the president today is an array of ideas, the things that could be done to assist with getting the economy ort of back on its feet. and we had great bipartisan cooperation last week between the house and the senate, democrats and republicans, in getting the immediate relief package out there, which has provided the resources and assistance that's necessary for our medical professionals to respond in the best way possible. hopefully we can see that same level of cooperation on whatever it is that ultimately is put forward. but as was clear today, the president, his team, the vice president, the administration is working aggressively to do everything they can to keep the american people safe, protect those who might be having come into contact with the disease. then also to assist those

mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, as i begin this morning, i want to associate myself with the remarks of the republican leader, senator mcconnell, earlier this morning. the attacks that were made by the democratic leader, senator schumer, on the supreme court yesterday were not only irresponsible, they were reckless, and they were shameful. and i think we need to just call that what it is. and for them to suggest -- for him to suggest that this isn't what he meant and that this is somehow manufactured outrage on the part of us or republicans in general doesn't fit with the way that these comments came across either, because i want to read for you from the cnn supreme court reporter, and i quote, schumer speaking at a rally of abortion

mr. thune: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leader is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resum consideration of the s. 2657, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 357, s. 2657, a bill to support innovation in advanced geothermal research and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: thank you, madam president. madam president, the united states is poised for nationwide deployment of the next generation of internet technology, 5g. 5g will mark a giant leap forward for internet technologies, delivering speeds that are up to 100 times faster than today. it will be vastly more responsive and be able to connect 100 times the number of devices that can be connected with 4g. while that will make it even easier to do the things that we do today, like check our e-mail or stream our favorite shows, the bigge

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from -- yes, the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: thank you very much, mr. president. before my colleague leaves from the state of ohio, i would like to note one issue that he did not raise which we have in common, and that is the issue of voting on the floor of the united states senate in times of national emergency. senatorial portman and i have cosponsored legislation to address this issue, acknowledging in our introduction of it a few days ago that we would face something as we did this evening where five of our senate colleagues were unable to come to the floor of the senate and vote because they're in self-quarantine at this moment. this could grow. let's be very honest about it, and the numbers could grow to the point it could reach an extreme where there's a question of an actual quorum on the floor of the senate. what senator portman of ohio on the republican side and what i have introduced with him on the democratic side is an effort to e

mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that with the company to the -- respect to the dally nomination -- dally nomination the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask that the senate proceed to morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i have six 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: mr. president, last week congress provided billions in funding to address the coronavirus outbreak. these funds will help support virus research, testing and medical care. congress is now looking at other measures that may be required, including measures to address the economic impact of the virus. the house may consider an economic response measure today, but my understanding is its bill doesn't yet reflect an agreement wi

mr. thune: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, yesterday afternoon the south dakota governor notified me that multiple residents of south dakota tested positive for the coronavirus. obviously something we wanted to avoid, but we knew it was a possibility and we spent weeks preparing for an outbreak. over the next few days public health officials will be checking where these individuals have been so anyone who came in contact can be notified. my staff and i are working closely with the governor and her team and i will continue to carefully monitor this situation. at the federal level, i'm focused on making sure that state and local governments have the resources they need to deal with the virus. last week i was proud of to support bipartisan legislation committing significant federal resources to the coronavirus

mr. thune: mr. president.the presiding officer: the senator from -- yes, the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: thank you very much, mr. president. before my colleague leaves from the state of ohio, i would like to note one issue that he did not raise which we have in common, and that is the issue of voting on the floor of the united states senate in times of national emergency. senatorial portman and i have cosponsored legislation to address this issue, acknowledging in our introduction of it a few days ago that we would face something as we did this evening where five of our senate colleagues were unable to come to the floor of the senate and vote because they're in self-quarantine at this moment. this could grow. let's be very honest about it, and the numbers could grow to the point it could reach an extreme where there's a question of an actual quorum on the floor of the senate. what senator portman of ohio on the republican side and what i have introduced with him on the democratic side is an effort to es

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: mr. president, i think we all know what's happening here. the leader pointed it out in his opening remarks. everything was going really quite well. there were a lot of working groups that were meeting. there was great bipartisan cooperation. both sides were getting ideas included in a plan. and then yesterday, the speaker of the house showed up with an agenda, and all of a sudden it got taken over at the leadership level. so now instead of talking about helping workers, we're talking about the green new deal and all kinds of other things that demands that the unions and other special interest groups want to see in this deal. but the throwaway line that this is about bailouts for big corporations, really? are we going to do that again? are you guys going to come over here and block votes and use the line that this is a bailout for big corporations? you heard what senator alexander just said. this has money in it for workers. this has money for families. this has money for small businesses.

mr. thune: mr. president, here in the senate we are continuing to move forward with the next installment of coronavirus relief legislation. i suspect later today we will pass the bill passed by the house earlier and looking beyond it to a third bill that will provide additional relief to the american people. as the leader has said, we have three priorities, providing direct assistance to american workers and families, many of whose lives have been disrupted and dislocated in jobs, feeling a lot 0 of economic harm, economic -- a lot of economic harm, economic pain. giving our economy, especially small businesses, the necessary support to weather the storm, and most importantly, providing medical professionals with the resources they need to fight this virus. the house bill addresses these priorities po to some degree but it is not a comprehensive bill and additional legislation is going to be needed. we need to especially make sure that the worker benefit requirements that the house bill places on bu

mr. thune: madam president, this very minute across the country, families are wondering how they're going to survive financially now that mom or dad is out of a job. our workers whose businesses have closed temporarily are praying that they'll still have a job to go back to when this is over. small businesses are facing agonizing decisions about whether they'll have to lay off employees or close their businesses altogether. and democrats, madam president, democrats have been focused on fuel emissions standards and early voting. that's right, madam president. in the midst of an unprecedented health and financial crisis, democrats have been delaying a major relief bill in hopes that they can include a laundry list of their pet projects, projects that have absolutely nothing to do with providing financial relief to americans or ensuring that medical professionals have the resources they need to fight this virus. madam president, republicans developed this legislation in con junction with democrats

mr. chairman, and the senator on our side that is headed this. it's a giant step forward and very important. so thank you very much. >> thank you very much. senator thune the. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you for calling this hearing, and thank thank you, r blumenthal, wherever you are, for offering this bill. i just asked my office mate to sign up as a co-author. i want to move past the issue of the commission and talk about possible solutions. i'd like you to answer my question respectfully with specificity. we understand the problem. i want to talk specifically to the point, meat on the bone about specificity. ms. banker, if you could tell me in 30 seconds the specific things that should be done to solve this problem. >> thank you centrally. i believe the most impactful thing we could do now is to pass legislation that would specifically allow companies to use what is otherwise criminal material to develop new detection technologies using artificial intelligence and machine learning. >> anything else? >> i think resources for ncmec, law enforcement and victims assistance programs is also very helpful. >> anything the companies can do better

thune. >> thank you, mr.chairman, thank you for this hearing and thank you to all of you for everything that you're doing, continue to do to address the crisis and, dr., first of all, i want to-- i say i appreciate the cdc work this containing the spread of the coronavirus and thank you especially for being here today and i want to just follow up and questions i think have already been asked, but my understanding is that c.d.c. has issued guidance to air carriers to ensh your that they're taking precautions necessary to contain and respond to a potential coronavirus on a flight. and the public is aware, can you talk about some of the steps are, that the airlines are following? >> i think the main thing is, identifying patients who have respiratory illness and taking action to really notify. there's a system of communicating with ground, if something like that were to occur and it's really, i think, the standard guidance, but putting a sharper edge on it because of the situation that we're in with the novel co

thune? >> thank you mr. sharon thank you for this hearing and thank you to all of you for what you're doing and continue to do to address the crisis. doctor redd appreciate the cdc's work in keeping with the spread and containing the spread and i want to follow-up on a couple questions it may already been asked. my understanding is cdc has issued guidance to air carriers to ensure they are taking precautions necessary to contain or respond to potential coronavirus cases on international flights. so the public is aware, can you again perhaps talk about some of what those steps are are with the airlines or following? >> i think the main thing is identifying patients who have respiratory illness and taking action to really notify there is a system of communicating with ground. if something like that works recur, it's really, i think, standard guidance. but putting a little sharper edge on it because of the situation we are in with the coronavirus. so do you -- are there instances of domestic community spread th

thune? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for this hearing and thank you to all of you for everything that you're doing, continue to do to address the crisis. dr. redd, first of all, i want to say i appreciate the cdc's work in containing the spread of the coronavirus, and i want to thank you especially for being here today. i want to just follow up on some questions that i think have already been asked, but my understanding is cdc has issued guidance to air carriers to ensure they're taking the precautions necessary to contain or respond to potential coronavirus cases on international flights. so the public is aware can you, again, perhaps talk about what some of those steps are what the airlines are following? >> i think the main thing is identifying patients who have respiratory illness and taking action to -- to really notify -- there's a system of communicating with ground -- if something like that were to occur. and it's really, i think, the standard guidance, but just putting a little sharper edge on it because

mr. thune: mr. president, we just learned our colleague rand paul has tested positive for the coronavirus. our thoughts and prayers are with him for a speedy recovery. we'll consult with the attending physician at the capitol about appropriate measures for those who have been in contact with the senator. but this is the kind of situation that americans across the country are dealing with right now and it underscores the importance of acting immediately to deliver more relief for the american people. mr. president, the senate has been working around the clock over the past few days to put together a third round of coronavirus legislation. we are close to delivering a major bill that will deliver more relief to families, businesses and put more resources into the hands of medical professionals. mr. president, this is a big bill, but this situation requires a big and bold response. across our country american workers and american businesses are struggling. families are scared. businesses have been forc

mr. thune: mr. president, last week congress provided billions in funding to address the coronavirus outbreak. these funds will help support virus research, testing and medical care. congress is now looking at other measures that may be required, including measures to address the economic impact of the virus. the house may consider an economic response measure today, but my understanding is its bill doesn't yet reflect an agreement with the white house which will be needed november any stimulus package. i want to echo the leader's comments from yesterday. this is not a time for partisanship and it is very important that we work together on matters related to the coronavirus so that we can get needed legislation passed in a timely fashion. more americans are testing positive for the virus each day, including eight people in my home state of south dakota, continue is it our responsibility, as members of congress, to work together to ensure that our country has the resources it needs to combat and defe

mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, we just learned our colleague rand paul has tested positive for the coronavirus. our thoughts and prayers are with him for a speedy recovery. we'll consult with the attending physician at the capitol about appropriate measures for those who have been in contact with the senator. but this is the kind of situation that americans across the country are dealing with right now and it underscores the importance of acting immediately to deliver more relief for the american people. mr. president, the senate has been working around the clock over the past few days to put together a third round of coronavirus legislation. we are close to delivering a major bill that will deliver more relief to families, businesses and put more resources into the hands of medical professionals. mr. president, this is a big bill, but this situation requires a big and bold response. a

mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, two years ago at this time we were hearing that the internet as we know it was going to disappear. on february 27, 2018, senate democrats sent a tweet warning that americans would be getting the internet one word at a time. why? because the federal communications commission had repealed heavy-handed obama-era internet regulation. if we didn't immediately undo the f.c.c.'s rules change democrats warned the effects on the internet would be catastrophic. two years later the internet as we know it isn't just still with us, it's flourishing. broadband access has expanded. americans are enjoying faster internet speeds and we're implementing 5-g internet technology across the nation including in more rural places like south dakota. it turns out that the internet doesn't fall apart without the heavy hand of government. in fact, it thrives. and that should be

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, yesterday the senate passed the families first coronavirus virus response act, which is bipartisan legislation that will provide critical relief to american workers, families, and small businesses. two weeks ago, the senate passed the first phase of congress' coronavirus response, and that was $8.3 billion in funding for coronavirus research, testing, and medical care. so yesterday's bill was the second phase of that response. the families first coronavirus response act will ensure that all americans can access coronavirus testing at no cost. the bill also ensures expanded telehealth access for medicare recipients during this outbreak, which i strongly support. as a resident of a rural state, i have long been a supporter of telehealth for the expanded health care access it can deliver for rural communities. but the value of telehealth isn't limited to rural states. during an outbreak like this, for example, telehealth services can help keep patients, particularl

mr. thune: i thank the democratic whip, the senator from illinois, for yielding time, and i would be short here. madam president, we're in a pretty good place in this country right now when it comes to energy. our energy supply is abundant, and energy prices are generally affordable. but we can't afford to become complacent. we're in a good place because of american innovation, because president trump, working with our republican majority in the congress, took steps to expand our domestic energy supply and lessen our dependence on foreign oil. but we need to make sure we stay on the cutting edge of energy innovation and to ininvest in our domestic energy supply -- from oil and natural gas to renewable energy sources like hydropower and wind. we also need to make sure we stay on top of threats to our energy grid and our energy security. our colleagues at the energy committee have spent a lot of time over the past months working on these issues, and yesterday we voted to move forward on bipartisa

mr. president, the goal of the legislation we will be considering has these objectives. keep the paychecks coming as much as possible, relief burdens, the financial burdens on americans, and most importantly, contain the disease. senator thune mentioned that now one of our members, senator paul of kentucky, has tested positive for the coronavirus. that reminds us that every family in this country is going through today and worrying about. it also should remind us of the urgency of moving ahead. we have been working together for several -- for several days with our counterparts on the other side. this is a collection of ideas that will keep the paychecks coming, relieve financial burdens and contain the disease. it's time to vote on it, to approve it by a big margin, send it to the house of representatives so we can intensify our efforts. not in a quorum call. mr. 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 prote