Democratic leader, who said this is a highly partisan bill, that is just not the case. Lets put the partisanship aside. Lets do what is best for the American People. Ill tell you that for the past several days, through a bipartisan process, we sat down, democrat and republican, in four Different Task and put together this legislation. As a result, the bill before you tonight reflects republican priority and democratic priorities. And i am going to take the time to walk through it and to talk about some of those so people understand what is in this legislation. I was pleased to see the democratic leader say at the end he believes we can figure this out over the next several hours. He said 24 hours, i hope it is not 24 hours. We cannot wait that long. We need to move quickly. We know what the markets are going to do. We have seen with the futures are. More important, we see the impact in our states, among our citizens. The leader said more money needs to be put for hospitals and states and workers. Theres an unprecedented amount of money for all three of those in this legislation. Unprecedented. And necessary, by the way, because we are in a crisis. But to say there is nothing here that helps, helps hospitals, oh my gosh. 100 billion . April he could start. A pretty good start. 75 billion of dollars of which goes to hospitals. To say theres nothing the coast workers, the unemployment provisions in here come from the democratic side of the aisle. It is the most generous Unemployment Insurance by far any history of our country. It adds more money to Unemployment Insurance than the Current System has. By the way, it adds eight times more funding into the unemployment system for the rest of this year than is currently being spent. Think about that. That is not generous. . By the way, we republicans also agree that those who lose their jobs for no fault of their own should get a generous unemployment check while we work through this coronavirus and get our economy up and going again. So let me walk through some of this. This coronavirus is something that is urgent for us to address. It as close to businesses, it has closed schools, it has changed every aspect of our daily lives. It has left us uncertain. And for many americans, it has left them isolated, literally self isolated. Put tremendous strain on our Health Care System, and that is why this legislation addresses that. Are amazing officers are doing their part, as well as our physicians, nurses, other medical professionals who are on the front lines combating this disease. God bless them. It has also done great damage to what was a strong and growing economy. Only a few weeks ago we had unemployment numbers that were at a 50 year low. We had 19 straight months of employment increases and over 3 wage growth every month. But now, now we see businesses shuttering. We see thousands and now millions of americans unemployed, through no fault of their own. The purpose of this legislation is to allow people to get back on their feet, to allow us to get back to normalcy. Extraordinary times like this require us to unify as a country, and i see it in my home state of ohio and around the country, everybody has a role to play, Everybody Needs to be practicing social distancing, as they call it. Be safe, wash her hands frequently, using hansen at kaiser. Part of washing your hands frequently, using hand sanitizer. We need to reduce our overall risk for exposure so we do not overwhelm our nations Public Health system. We can all play a role in this, and in the end that will help save lives. Of our family members, of our neighbors, of people we may never meet but come into contact with, and the most vulnerable in our society. If we follow the guidelines put out by the cdc, we are going to be safer. We going to save lives. It all depends on us. All of us, doing that. But it also depends on what we do here in the United States congress, both in slowing the spread through the legislative efforts im talking about tonight, but also in getting this economy back on its feet so people can get back to work and get a paycheck and begin to make ends meet. In ohio we have been taking the lead on this. We have been pretty aggressive, saying people need to social distance, that restaurants and bars needed to close. We were one of the first states to say that. Schools need to be closed. Governor mike dewine, the department of health, the director, i think they have done a good job in responding to this unprecedented crisis. As of this morning, we have 247 confirmed cases and three dess. By the deaths. By the way, the first person to die in ohio was a man i know. I knew him and i respected him. From toledo, ohio. He contracted this disease and succumbed to it. Unfortunately we are going to see more cases, more deaths. We are doing the things to contain this, to slow the spread, and that needs to happen at every level, including here. That is why this legislation is so important to pass tonight. Starteds ago congress this effort by passing the first major relief effort called phase one, which was 8. 3 billion to address the Health Care Needs associated with this pandemic. Ohio has already received 15. 5 million from that first phase one legislation. But of course much more needed to be done. By the way, one way we can find out what needs to be done is to listen to the people who are most affected by it, and we have been doing by doing it. I was joined by an Infectious Disease expert on a Facebook Live town hall last week so we could answer questions from ohioans about the crisis. He told us what the Health Care System needs. We know what it needs, and we are responding in this legislation. Last week i hosted Conference Calls when i was here in washington with a number of heavily impacted groups, including the hospitals back in ohio and other people, health care providers, with our food banks, Small Business owners, workers, nonprofits, the charities out on the front lines doing all they can to help. We spoke to employers of all sizes, we had Conference Calls with hotels, restaurants and more, hearing directly from those Key Stakeholders helps us to understand what the needs are and is legislation reflects with the needs are in our communities. We have got to continue to listen to people, because things are changing. And as there is an evolving threat out there, Congress Needs to be needs to be evolving as well. Last week we passed the second major bill called the phase two package, which provides federal funds to individuals exposed to the virus to get healthy. As an example, if you want to get tested for the virus, that is now free. Our hospitals needed more resources to combat the health crisis, so we provided more care and funding for our health care networks. Im glad the president signed that bill immediately into law. We also provided Additional Resources to state Medicaid Programs to ensure hospitals concerned with living rep revenue would know elective surgeries anymore, and being overwhelmed by individuals suffering from the virus. Phase ii two also provided needed help in terms of more masks, more gowns, and other protective dear. Gear. And more funding for antiviral therapies that are coming. That is incredibly important. People know if they get this virus, that they can have a loting that gives them of reinsurance and comfort, and is necessary to protect the health of our citizens. That phase two legislation also puts more money into getting a vaccine going as quickly as possible. It will not be here soon. It takes a while to get a vaccine going. But it will be done at unprecedented speed because of the funding we put into it. It also provides funding for emergency food assistance, including children getting free or reduced lunch. It also provided paid sick leave and family leave benefits to someone who has to leave work because of the coronavirus, now they know they can still pay the bills. Most important this paid leave is provided 100 from the federal government dollar for dollar. That is really important. Larger businesses have paid leave, but now we have a way for everybody, era under 500 employees, to be able to get that paid leave under federal reimbursement. But it is clearly not enough. Things have not gotten better in the meantime, in the last few days. They have gotten worse. A lot more has to be done to contain this virus to help people weather the storm in the meantime. The crisis is unprecedented. In the best interest of Public Health, we have effectively chosen to pump the brakes on our economy. We had decided to do that as a country, because that is in the best interest of our Public Health. Unfortunately that means businesses of all sizes, small, medium, large, are having to either shudder their doors, or slow down their production, letting people go, in so many parts of our economy now are feeling the pain of this rapid slowdown. Applications for unemployment in ohio this week compared to last week increased 20 fold. That means there was a 2000 increase in ohio on claims run employment. Obviously that is overwhelming the system. I have worked with my colleagues nonstop for the past three days to to the millions of American Workers and Small Businesses who made our country and our economy the strongest in the world. Our goals are simple. First, slow the spread of the virus. Again, if that doesnt happen, Peoples Health is at risk and the negative Economic Impact that is hurting so many families will continue. So slowing the spread of the virus is also about our economy. Second, we need to help employers continue paying their employees through this crisis. Our objective should be to keep people at work, keep them connected to their employer as much as possible. Thats where they get their health care. Thats where they get their retirement for the most part. That enables us to be able to assure that as we ramp up our economy, it can ramp up more quickly because people will be there at work. They wont be in the process of hiring and retraining. One of our objectives in this legislation is not just us to slow the spread of the virus but also keep people at work to the extent possible. Third, recognizing that not every employer is going to be able to keep employees. Even though you have some businesses going that dont have enough business, we want to be sure we are providing the resources to help those who are falling between the crocs. Their work no longer has any revenue previewed we need to assist those people. Ohios unemployment claims have skyrocketed but so have unemployment claims around the country. The bottom line is that our country is not going to be up to come back until we slow the spread of this virus. The package we have negotiated accomplishes all three of those objectives. For majorhrough policy areas, now, right away, to bring relief to the people we represent. Which is why we have to pass this legislation now. In terms of helping people, the package provide direct payment, checks to individuals. 1200 per person. If you are a couple, it is 2400. Then it is 500 per child. Give people some extra dollars to make the difference in being able to pay bills, paying a car payment, rent, putting food on the table, give people some comfort to know there is at least a little help coming directly and quickly. For those out of work, these checks also serve as a bridge to getting into the new Unemployment Insurance system i will talk about now. Because the checks will be necessary in most cases will take a couple of weeks, a few weeks, in some states several will several weeks. In ohio, they say two weeks. Its a most significant expansion of our employment system by far. Broadens those who qualify for Unemployment Insurance. Never beenave covered by Unemployment Insurance before. It provides a flat increase of 600 per week per person in the Unemployment Insurance system. This means that for low and low medium income folks, 40,00050,000 dollars a year, they will essentially have wage replacement through Unemployment Insurance. This is a big difference. In ohio, unemployment is one third. Now it will be topped up. To the point that this is a highly partisan bill, i am sorry. This legislation reflects the priorities of democrats and republicans. This is an example of that. We have to acknowledge it. Is the bill perfect . No, no bill is perfect, certainly not when we are trying to respond to a crisis such as this. When you add up phase onephase three. This is a bill that represents ideas from both sides of the aisle. Are there some things that might need to be adjusted by the democrats in order to support it . Whatss so, because that is we heard tonight from the democratic leader. Folks. Cannot start over, this legislation does exactly what so Many Democrats and republicans have call for to help people, to have the Financial Security to pay the bills and stay afloat. As we shift to this dramatically for people that is directly. Second come the stimulus package will provide relief for Small Businesses trying to stay afloat by ensuring they have access to credit and liquidity needed to adapt and retool their businesses to weather the storm. We can accomplish this in a couple of ways. Is the sevenday loan program. This will go through businesses that are currently providing funding to Small Businesses. It is a community bank. It is a savings and long. Savings and loan. Wherever people are banking they can get these loans directly. Providing hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to small and mediumsize businesses they can use for a of expenses, including payroll, including paying rent, mortgages, and if they use it for that, the loan is forgiven. He converts into a grant. If they use it for payroll, to keep workers, because that is one of the objectives, if they use it for rent or mortgage payments, the loan is written off. Entirely. It essentially is a grant to those Small Businesses. They want to keep their employees. On the edge ofg their seats, seeing what we do tonight and tomorrow. I have talked to many businesses who are saying i can wait until monday but i cannot wait any longer. I am bleeding cash. I have no revenue. I want to try to keep the doors open. Youve got to give us some help. Before, the best way to protect workers is enable employers to keep paying employees. This program does that. For businesses that might not be eligible for these loans, phase three stimulus helps provide immediate the quiddity through a number of different ways. These are larger businesses, over 500 employees. Our bill includes provisions that allow businesses to print cash in the hands of Companies Put cash in the hands of companies so they can be back up and running when the crisis is over. Things like not having to pay the employer side of the payroll tax. That is incredibly important. Theyve told us that, give us a break on that for this year and we can keep our doors open. That is probably the biggest single one here. But guess what, and 20212022, theyve got to pay that back. The majority of them are simply timing changes. Of the reduction will be paid back in coming years. Based on the rough estimates, it could provide up to 500 movie dollars in immediate cash for increases with more than half of that paid back to the federal government during the budget window. Phase three package takes precise and targeted measures to relieve Distressed Industries at risk of hemorrhaging jobs and closing down if we dont. I know the democratic leader said he doesnt think help should go to businesses. Guess they will pick and choose the businesses, but in this case, these are the businesses we all know. , we are facing the possibility of shutting down unless we do something. Think of the airline industries, the airlines that have seen their passengers reduced by some say 90 . Think of the airports that are closing. Think of the hotel businesses. Andk of the other travel tourism businesses. Entertainment businesses. These folks will be able to access what is called the stage Stabilization Fund to be able to get alone. And by the way, they will have to pay back that loan, but it is the federal government stepping in and providing a backup so they can get that loan and be able to stay in business. Thats the three aspects that businesses, small and help with regard to all businesses, and finally and i think most importantly in this legislation is funding and policy changes to slow the spread of the virus. Frankly, as i view this, this is to buy time for us to be able to increase the capacity of her Health Care System. This phase three package ensures that the men and women on the front lines of this epidemic every day get more support. It increases funding which has already increased once, but an additional four point 5 billion for the centers for Disease Control. Billion of it has to go to the states. To continue to monitor and respond to this virus as the pandemic continues. This is incredibly important. It sends more money out to ensure that we can get these antiviral therapies going. Think of tamiflu for influenza, key to dealing with the crisis as we begin to turn things around. To keep people healthier should they contract the virus. The most important parts of the legislation, because i believe in order to get our great country back on track and get people back to work, we need to have some sort of metrics in place. Maybe the most important part is to get better data on the true Public Hea