mrs. shaheen: thank you. i wanted to go back to the census. because i know that a number of my colleagues on the committee have expressed a great deal of interest. it's been a huge topic of public interest, sometimes of controversy over the last several years, as we've been gearing up to both provide the money and make sure that we have an accurate census. one of the concerns that has een raised has been around communities of color. also around confusion with respect to the census. i know senator reid talked about the issue with the providence county and people being a little confused. one of the things that i would hope we would all try and do is to do everything we can to reduce confusion around the census. that's why i wanted to show you this blowup of something. this has been in the news recently about misinformation that seems to be deliberate to try and confuse people about the census. as you can see, this is labeled as an official document. it says it's a 2020 congressional district census. it says that

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator shaheen. now the chairman of the committee, senator shelby. mr. shelby: thank you for your service. this is your fourth year as secretary of commerce. that's a pretty long tenure. mr. ross: longevity. mr. shelby: right. thank you very much. i want to have a conversation here with you for a few minutes about the census. the census is very -- is a very important mission of the department of commerce, set out in our constitution, and it's the responsibility of the secretary of commerce and the census bureau under you to meet those responsibilities. bring us up to date on where you think we are or where we are as far as the census which will be upcoming this year. mr. ross: yes, mr. chairman. well, my biggest worries had been twofold. one was, would the systems be up and running, would they be integrateable, would they be ready to perform? because we are in the process of bringing technology to the census. the most prominent form that that has taken is the availability of responding by internet. it's not a requirement. people can still respond by pape

mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator for new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: senator portman and i have been working on this legislation for about ten years u.n. it's gone through committee, multiple times. it's gone through the floor of the senate multiple times. and we're -- we hope that we have it in a position now where we can actually get this done as part of the 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 amendme

mr. secretary. senator shaheen. >> well, thank you, mr. secretary. my question's really about the census, but this exchange raised an issue in my mind, and that is you're aware, i know, we are generally discouraged from authorizing an appropriations bill. and ier understand that there ia bill in the commerce committee that would address the transfer of this responsibility into the department of commerce. can you o give me, give us an update on where that bill is? and why we're trying to authorize through the appropriations process this new entity? >> i'm not quite sure i understood thete question. what is the information you're seeking? >> where the bill is in the committee, the senate commerce committee with respect to this process, because what you're suggesting is that we set up a new bureau within the department of commerce, within the office of the is secretary to do this responsibility -- the office of the is secretary to do this responsibility. and as you know, appropriators are generally discouraged from authorizing new language, new departme

mr. president, the agreement finally reads today includes a $377 billion of this economic relief plan that senator rubio, senator cardin, senator shaheen and i authored along with a small business task force. it is intended to help workers and small businesses just like the one owned by this family. and to work day and night to get the bipartisan package included in the broader legislation. and i want to do was shout out to our staff because i don't think they have been to bed before 4:00 a.m. in the morning any day and the last week. that is so hard they have worke worked. under our bipartisan approach, small businesses areel eligible for a 100 percent federally guaranteed emergency loan as well as certain expenses with utilities. if they keep their employees on the payroll, the loans would be completely forgiven. this is how it would work. one with 500 employees would be in eligible to apply. in order to be available immediately through existed certified lenders including certain banks or credit unions and other financial institutions. and streamlined to bring other additional lenders into the program. the loans would be tied to a fo

mr. secretary, forr joining us today. let me begin by thank chairman moran and senator shaheen for putting in $40 million for noaa construction as we all understand, noaa -- like every other agency -- has significant infrastructure needs. and let me continue by thank you, mr. secretary, because i -- you and the a noaa leadership he prioritized the construction of a multiphase project for noaa ships and weighted assets at naval station newport in rhode island. and i want to make sure it stays on track. i received a letter this morning from dr. jacobs that noaa will be committing the first $22 million to this important project, and i understand that increased cost may somewhat be reflected in the timeline. i received a schedule last february 5th from the navy that showed, it anticipated that noaa will provide the necessary design funds on april 9, 2020, with a projected design kickoff on april 22nd, and the expectation is for that the cont will be awarded later in calendar year 2020. can you confirm that this timeline is still on track? >> to the best of my knowledge, yes,s, senator. >> thank you, mr. secretary. >> noaa is quit

mr. president, the agreement finally reached today includes a $377 billion small business economic relief plan that senator rubio, senator cardin, senator shaheen, and i authored as members of the small business task force. it is intended to help workers and small businesses just like the one owned by the simones family in lewiston. and our group worked day and night to get this bipartisan package included in the broader legislation, and i want to do a shout out to our staff because i don't think they've been to bed before 4:00 a.m. in the morning in any day in the last week. that's how hard they've worked, too. under our bipartisan approach, small businesses would be eligible for a 100% federally guarantee emergency loan to cover eight weeks of payroll as well as certain expenses like rent or mortgage payments and utilities. if these businesses keep their employees on the payroll, in other words if they keep issuing those paychecks, their loans would be completely forgiven. here's how it would work. small employers with 500 employees or fewer would be eligible to apply for these federally guaranteed loans. the loans would be available immediat

mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i call up amendment 1525 to amendment number 1514, as proposed by senator portman. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new hampshire, mrs. shaheen, proposes an amendment 1525 to amendment 1514. on page 28, line 19, strike -- mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. 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 appe

mrs. shaheen: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: madam president, i come to the floor today like so many of my colleagues during what is undoubtedly the worst crisis that i have seen in my lifetime. it reminds me of hearing from my parents and grandparents about what it was like in america during the depression and during world war ii. and this crisis in some ways is even worse because it's an enemy we can't see, the novel coronavirus or covid-19. not since the 1918 outbreak of the spanish influenza has a pandemic posed such an immense threat to the public health of our country. as of this morning more than 47,000 americans have been tested and they have tested positive for covid-19. we have actually tested more than that. that's the number who have tested positive. 593 americans have unfortunately died from this disease, and just yesterday health officials reported more than 100 americans lost their lives in a single day. i know that everyone in this chamber is thinking of those families and those people who have been lost

mrs. shaheen: research shows by decreasing access to information about modern contraceptive options that abortion rates increase. so this policy doesn't stop abortions. it only limits the resources that are available that prevent women from having unwanted pregnancies. so, madam president, i have a statement that i will submit for the record, but given the negative impact that this policy has already had on so many women and families around the world, codifying it would just exacerbate those issues. so i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. lee: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: madam president, it's disappointing that when we take a look at something that is controversial like abortion, we peel it back a layer further. we make it noncontroversial. by making the discussion about something that most americans -- the overwhelming majority of americans agree about, which is regardless of how you feel about abortion, you don't necessarily want your government taking your taxpayer dollars and the taxpayer dollars of a whole lot of people who