Prudent path forward on the health front is that even as we hope for the best, we should continue planning for the worst. If this nasty disease continues to ramp in roughly the same proportions as it has in italy and spain, it would overwhelm our hospitals so i think that the social distancing recommendations from the president and from the c. D. C. Over the last four days are a prudent course of action. At the same time, we are also in the midst of a genuine economic crisis, lots of moms and dads are worried that they might be laid off, and lots of Small Businesses are evaluating whether theyre going to be able to make payroll and whether theyre still going to be in business months down the line. Theyre scared and d. C. Needs to act a lot more urgently than they used to do. But, this is an important but, just saying that we need to act urgently is not a substitute for actually having good ideas and advancing good policies. There is a herd mentality around this building right now where a lot of normally smart people are literally saying things like the most important thing is to be fast, even if the ideas that are being advocated for arent really ready for prime time, and cant really stand withstand the scrutiny of debate. Thats a really dumb idea. It is a ready fire, aim approach. We do, indeed, need to work fast, but working fast is no substitute for working smart. Again, i agree that this virus and the strategies necessary to contain it are producing some of the worst economic upheavals weve seen in a generation and further we need to be preparing for the economic hardships is last for six months or longer, but that fact is a reason to prepare, it is not a reason to panic. That fact is a reason to debate, hard and fast and debate what hard policy looks like and not a reason to allow garbage policies to get by because someone simply says, no, no, youve got to go faster, you cant ask about the policy. The next 48 to 72 hours this body will be making crucial decisions about somewhere between one and four spending packages. I agree with the president that this is an unprecedented Economic Situation and the federal government at the health level obviously has a fundamentally crucial role to play in helping us get through this pandemic which recognizes no borders or boundaries and thus the federal government ises going to have to spend real money and as the third or fourth most conservative voting member, were spending significant amounts of money and thats clearly. Saying we have to spend real money is not the same as saying we should spend like idiots and unfortunately, d. C. So far has been handling our responsibilities exactly as a lot of voters feared. Right now the proposal on the table, which just came over from the house of representatives, is for washington d. C. To pull out its checkbook, which is really your checkbook, and just start firing. If youre an industry with a good lobbying team, youre told to line up to the door of the Treasury Department and get in line because bailout after bailout is probably in the offing. Right now the plan around here is basically just to start shovelling money out of a helicopter and the most important debate is whether or not democrats or republicans get to shovel the money first. This is the bad idea. And washington should know better because 12 years ago something just like this was tried and the consequences were really significant and lasting. Theyre still with us. I want to be clear, i am not talking primarily about the total price tag. The price tag matters. But the thing that im trying to debate today is whether or not were going to spend the american peoples money wisely or foolishly. And were not having a lot of debate about that. Were hearing a lot of people saying the only important question is whether or not we can act fast enough. If you act fast, but you spend money thats ineffective. You didnt effectively act fast. The congress 12 years ago shoveled lots and lots of money into supposedly shovel ready projects, which still cant be found today. A trillion dollars of spending and you go to your grn governor and state legislature and business round table and find people who know where the trillion dollars of shovel ready project money went, i challenge you, thats not an easy thing to achieve. And also, more than just the spending and the debt though, it also produced serious backlashes of National Political moments on both the right and the left. The occupy wall Street Movement some of which became the Bernie Sanders constituency and the tea party that were both spawned out of 20089 are still with us in lots of ways that are not ultimately constructive for our body polotic. We dont need a washington that picks winners and losers, theres no one in the chamber to do that. Were in a period of uncertainty, no politician knows what happens next week let alone six month from now and humanity would have us admit. The bill on the floor from nancy pelosi is to blow through a massive amount of money thats not well thought out. When you ask hard questions about the bill thats come over from the house theres nobody who actually defends it as really good, wellthought out policy and thats why the first version of their bill passed so urgently last week at 120 pages last night required over 90 pages, right at 90 pages of technical corrections. Think about that, your kid does homework and you say you wrote a 12 page essay and after you turn it in you say nine of the 12 pages actually have to be thrown away and rewritten. Thats what happened last night in the house of representatives. They tried to pass a 90page fix to 120page bill that was supposedly really urgent last week. And oh, by the way, when you talk to the architects of that legislation in private, when the cameras arent rolling and you ask them hard questions about how their policy actually works, everybody starts pointing at everyone else, and a lot of people admit that the bill might actually accelerate layoffs from Small Businesses. Think about that. The reason the first bill, if it ends up remaining independent, and isnt bundled with the other ideas down the road in the form of industry specific bailouts. The first bill which is supposed to slow the pace of layoffs from Small Business when you ask questions about it, the architects of the bill will admit to you in private it might actually accelerate the pace of layoffs from Small Business. Nonetheless, despite admitting that todays version of the rup goldberg policies, the answer you get is we have to go very, very fast, that is wildly irresponsible whats happening here. Once the first couple hundred billion dollars of money is gone that means theres left money left for the next round of stimulus and action and recovery and relief thats required, but besides money, it also means that theres less public trust left. There are going to be more rain days ahead. Were leaving senator sasses remarks yesterday for our long Time Commitment to cover the senate which is today is expected to work on the house passed coronavirus economic aid package. Right now no votes on the package are planned, but that could change, according to nbc news the senate planned to pass the legislation yesterday, but an amendment proposed by kentucky senator rand paul delayed the vote. Nbc news is reporting that his amendment would require a Social Security number for the Child Tax Credit and provide the president the authority to transfer funds as necessary among other items. There could be a vote on that amendment today. We take you live now to the senate floor. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Black, will open the senate with prayer. The chaplain let us pray