More than 36 million have lost their jobs because of coronavirus. While congress has taken significant action, we must do more. On wednesday, Federal Reserve chairman jay powell urged congress to think big, address this crisis. The heroes act is a bold step to provide that support and ensure our nation meets the challenge of the pandemic and the ensuing economic recession. Within the appropriations division, this bill deploys more than 1. 5 trillion in federal funds to address this health and economic crisis. First, the bill delivers nearly 1 trillion to states and local governments so that they can keep our heroes, First Responders, health workers, teachers, and other Public Servants paid and working for the American People. I am proud that this bill will provide 67 billion to my home state of new york. Which has been hit so hard by this crisis. Second, we will only beat this disease with a Robust National strategy for testing, tracing, and treatment. Yesterday, dr. Rick bright, one of the federal governments top scientists, warned us, and i quote, if we fail to develop a National Coordinated response based on science, i fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities. To that end, the bill builds on 75 billion with for a nationwide testing and Contact Tracing strategy and an additional 100 billion for the Health Provider relief fund. Third, we must meet the challenge they economic effects of lockdowns and stay at home orders are having on families. As a mother, and a grandmother, i am deeply concerned about the effects of coronavirus on children and their education. We are including 100 billion to support k through 12 and Higher Education systems as they respond to this crisis. To address rising hunger, this bill funds an expansion of snap benefits and other nutrition programs so that children and families have enough to eat. To prevent a housing crisis, we are deploying new funds worth nearly 200 billion to help struggling families make rent or pay their mortgages. Finally, to stop this crisis from weakening our democracy, we have included funding to hold safe elections. To carry out a fair and accurate census. Nd to ensure that the Postal Service can continue safely delivering mail to american households. I am so i am so proud of the hard work of so many to ensure this bill provides the help that families, businesses and communities need. Mr. Speaker, the heroes act will meet the challenges this pandemic poses to our nation. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. Mrs. Lowey i urge a yes vote and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. The gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. Thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. And i rise today in opposition to h. R. 6800. Not only is the bill premature, it was crafted behind closed doors and without any republican input at all. The pandemic we currently face is unlike anything weve experienced in modern history. Mr. Cole and so too has been our response. Im pleased with how the congress has worked together and quickly to provide urgent aid to those on the front lines and those struggling with Economic Impacts of this disastrous scourge. Every bill that has been enacted up to this point was ultimately the product of cooperation and bipartisan support. And each of those bills passed this floor with essentially no partisan division at all. So its very disappointing to come before you today, mr. Speaker, on this onesided bill thats loaded with provisions unrelated to the crisis that we faced. This is not in the spirit of cooperation that the American People expect from their leaders during difficult times. Indeed, the bill before us today has three 3 trillion in spending, we think, we dont know, we dont have a c. B. O. Score yet, nearly 10,000 for every person in the united ates, and 1. 5 trillion of discretionary funding provided in this bill is more than typically appropriated in an entire fiscal year. This includes almost 1 trillion in new funding for states, cities and counties, on top of roughly 1 trillion weve already provided over the last two months. These new dollars are made available without any safeguards against funds going to jurisdictions that had financial problems long before the crisis and are unrelated to the crisis. The bill gives the u. S. Postal service a 25 billion windfall without requiring any reforms to their operations. And it bails out multiemployer Pension Plans. Theres also sweeping changes to our election system, requiring sameday Voter Registration, nationwide vote by mail. This is an incredible federal intrusion into the election system that is operated not by the federal government but by the states. I am concerned with this path, mr. Speaker, that leads us in the wrong direction. Theres no reason for us to be here on the floor in this house debating this partisan wish list. I know that we can come i know what can come from members working across the aisle together. Ive done it on many occasions with my good friend, the distinguished chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. Its what led to the creation of the Infectious DiseaseRapid Response fund that allowed the administration to respond immediately to the emerging threat from the new coronavirus as we worked to understand where resources were needed. I was proud to work with my counterpart in the labor, health and Human Services committee, chairwoman delauro, on that fund, and even more proud to see it used effectively. Thats an example of the two parties coming together, working together, to pass a really good idea that benefited this country at a critical time. Thats the cooperative nature thats been the hallmark of our governments response to the pandemic up to now. The American People expect and deserve nothing less. For that reason, i urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill, so that we can Work Together and on a better product that will be a responsible use of taxpayer dollars and truly help those in need. Mr. Speaker, i have full faith that the leaders of the Appropriations Committee, chairwoman lowey, and republican Ranking Member granger, will Work Together to come up with a bill that we all support. That confidence is based on experience. Ive seen them do it over and over again during my time in congress, and particularly in dealing with the last four bills where we did Work Together and manage to craft a bill that not only passed here, but passed the United States senate as well. Essentially without dissent. Mr. Speaker, if we continue down the path with this bill, we know that the senate will not pick it up, we know the president will not sign it. Its much more about political messaging than effective legislating. I would just urge my colleagues, lets return to the path that we walk down together in these recent weeks. We bargained, we debated, but we brought products to the floor that we knew could pass the other chamber and that we knew the president would sign and that we knew would immediately go forward to help with the American People. So with that, mr. Speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Lowey mr. Speaker, i am delighted to yield one minute to the gentlewoman from california, the outstanding speaker of the house, ms. Pelosi. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california is recognized for one minute. The speaker thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished chair for yielding and thank her for her tremendous leadership. My colleagues, a horrible virus has made a vicious attack on the lives and the livelihood of the American People, indeed on the life of the our democracy of our democracy. We have a momentous opportunity and therefore a great opportunity to defeat the virus and to do so in a way that brings us together and takes us forward to a stronger america. Today the house will consider e heroes act, to honor those who are on the front lines. Our Health Care Workers, our First Responders, teachers, sanitation workers, food providers, transit workers and other essential workers. Many of them have risked their lives to save lives and now they may lose their jobs. For many of them, this is just what is happening right now as governors across the country are lanning their budgets. As the coronavirus takes its vicious toll on the lives and livelihood of the country, it is also it has also taken a toll on the states to deliver services to the people. Governors are forced to either cut services or increase taxes or both. The Congress Must honor its responsibility to the American People to lessen the blow of the same irus by making the serious investment of the heroes act to our state, local, tribal and territorial governments. The plan that we are voting on today will make a tremendous difference not only in the budgets in the states, but in the lives of the American People. Public health, education of our children, the sanitation that is so important in defeating the virus, with the support of so many essential workers. Actually, the distinguished gentleman on the other side of the aisle talked about the cost of the bill. The cost to the states, localities, territories and tribal governments is less than the cost of the republican tax break which gave 83 of the benefits to the top 1 . We think this is a major investment in the lives of the American People and in the budgets of our states. Setting aside how we got here, we must approach this tragedy with the deepest humanity, mr. Speaker. All of our hearts are broken by the 87,000 americans who have lost their lives and nearly 1. 5 million who have been infected by the coronavirus. The number of 36 million or more americans who have filed for Unemployment Insurance is almost unimaginable. This is a moment when our fellow americans are in deep suffering. We must have empathy for our heroes, the Health Care Workers, for how exhausted they must be and how stressed they are in doing their jobs. And, again, theyre at risk of losing their jobs in this economy. We must also emphasize the pain of families who do not know where their next meal is coming from or how theyre going to pay next months rent. It is imperative that we address the needs of the American People with clarity as we proceed. Its always interesting to me, mr. Speaker, to see how much patience some people have with the pain and suffering of other people. A tolerance level that is not acceptable and a in a great country like america, with a sense of community and concern for each other. We can all agree that we must open the economy. For sure. As quickly as we can. But we must do so based on science and data. The key to opening this door is testing, tracing, treating and social distancing. Overwhelmingly the scientist community Scientific Community grease. The heroes act has a strategic agrees. The heroes act has a Strategic Plan, something that has been lacking thus far. A Strategic Plan with a vision to end this playing. A strategic, a goal strategic vision, a goal, a timetable, milestone, benchmarks put forth by the energy and Commerce Committee, mr. Pallone, thank you. And that is really important. You have to have a plan. To succeed. As families are devastated by the loss of life, this legislation of putting money in the pockets of the American People, which is also a stimulus for the economy, is essential. Theyre suffering so much in so many ways. We want to lessen the pain for them. As the Federal Reserve chairman powell said, additional fiscal now this is very important because it isnt one of us saying it to each other. The authority of the chairman of the Federal Reserve board, additional fiscal support could be costly. But its worth it if it helps avoid longterm economic damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery. The tradeoff is one for our elected representatives, he says, who wield powers of taxation and spending. As elected officials, he indicated us, we have the responsibility and the opportunity to think big, as he advised, and act now for the people. The distinguished gentleman said, oh, my goodness, we put this bill on the floor. Well, let me just do a little history of the last few months. I too am very proud of the fact that we were able to bring four bills to conclusion in a strong, bipartisan way. First one on march 4, testing, testing, testing. Not really fulfilled. But nonetheless, intended. 10 days later on march 14, masks, masks, masks, masks. Again, p. P. E. , not fully realized. But nonetheless, intended. March 28, the president of the United States signed the cares act. The first cares act. D that was a bill that was developed by the Republican Leadership in the senate. They put forth their proposal, we responded, acted upon it, and came forth with a bipartisan agreement. The next bill, the interim p. P. P. Bill, was also developed by the republican leader in the senate. He put forth their proposal, we put forth our suggestions, we negotiated, we came forth with a bipartisan bill forward with a bipartisan bill. Dont you take pride in the house of representatives having the same opportunity and privilege as the Republican Leadership in the senate for us to put forth legislation in this terrible fight . And more than 80 of what is in this legislation has already been supported in a bipartisan way. Weve agreed on state and local in other bills. Weve agreed on testing and at least two other in at least two other bills. Have agreed on supporting hospitals, weve agreed on Unemployment Insurance. Weve agreed on direct payments. So much that is in this legislation has appeared in previous Bipartisan Legislation. So were not asking people to do something they havent done before. But there are some things that we want to add. The postal system, more for voting. But they did vote for voting vote by mail legislation before. A very strong osha regulation that mandates certain conditions so that our workers will be protected and that our employers will know what the standards are clearly that they must honor and therefore theyre protected as well. Now some of the members say, lets take a pause. Lets take a pause . Do you think this virus is taking a pause . Do you think that the rent takes a pause . Do you think that putting food on the table or the hunger that comes if you cant takes a pause . This is the hardship of losing a job doesnt take a pause. Or tragically, losing a loved one. It doesnt take a pause. So many lives may have been saved if we had testing and tracing and treatment earlier on. Thats what we must do, so we can end this. But we dont end by pausing in the fight. This virus is relentless. It is possibly mutating and changing its nature. This is a very difficult fight. And it gives us a moment that we must admit that the American People are suffering deeply, suffering deeply. We must have empathy for our Health Care Workers again and again who risk their lives to save lives and again are at risk of losing jobs of their own, as i said before. And we have empathy for the families who are sick and parents struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table. Can you just imagine losing a loved one so mysteriously, so out of the blue and many people cannot embrace them or say goodbye because of the way the virus is communicated. We cannot abandon them in this time of need. Protect lives and livelihoods, house and senate, must come together as we have done responding to the republicans bill that they constructed on their own in the nat senate and now we offered much of what they offered, a little more because the needs are greater. And we must give pass this bill to give families the relief they need. These are the American People. This is our family. They are suffering. They need help. We have the resources and the opportunity to do so. Its interesting to me and sad for me as a mother and grandmother of children who are younger and college age that this is the time that they would have been enjoying graduation. I have spoken at many, many, ny graduations, watching hundreds of thousands of Students Walk across that stage to see the pride in their families. Many of them, the first in their families to graduate from ollege, to see the symbol of success and love and joy that is for those families. They will be missing that ritual. Sadly, whether its college or high school or grade school or even going into middle school. So here we are at a time when these young people president kennedy said Young Children are our greatest resource and our best hope for the future. They are our hope. But we must also give them hope as they go forward by alleviating the challenge our country is facing and