Quorum call mr. Shelby mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from alabama. Mr. Shelby thank you. Mr. President , the American People the presiding officer were in a quorum call. Mr. Shelby i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Shelby mr. President , the American People are apprehensive about the spread of the coronavirus in the u. S. And abroad, as we can always remember. Global Financial Markets are on edge. Both are resilient but vigorous action is needed to calm nerves, stabilize the situation and get our arms around this crisis. I believe Congress Must marshal the resources here necessary for an aggressive, comprehensive, and swift response. Im pleased to report to my colleagues this afternoon that we, with the house, leadership, both sides have reached a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on an emergency supplemental appropriations package to do just that. The agreement provides a surge in funding at every level, local, state, federal, and international to meet the growing challenge that we could face. The total amount, mr. President , included in the package is 7. 76 billion, a little under 8 billion. We arrived at that figure by going back to the agencies, n. I. H. , the centers for disease chrome and so forth and said, what do you think you would need if this virus really spreads and we wanted to make sure they had the tools and the resources that we would not shortchange the American People in any way. So the 7. 76 billion, weve been told by the people who know, that should be sufficient. We hope it is. Mr. President , nearly 85 of this funding will be spent right here in the United States. 2. 2 billion is for the centers for Disease Control that the presiding officer is very familiar with because its located in atlanta, georgia. Including no less than 950 million, just short of a billion dollars, to help state and local governments prevent and to combat the spread of the virus. Mr. President , 836 million will gl to the National Institutes of health to, among other things, train Health Care Workers on the front lines and to develop diagnostics, therapeutics and veens related to the virus. 51 million will be to approve such products for the American People. Mr. President , 3. 1 billion of this package is for the Public Health and social Services Emergency funds, among other things, to supplement the Strategic National stockpile here, develop and purchase diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, provide resources for Community Health centers and to provide hospitals and Health Systems adapt and respond if this crisis grows. Another 30 mol is made available, mr. President , for the purchase of additional diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines should further need arise. In other words a contingency. Finally, mr. President , to fight the spread of the virus abroad, which we have to do, 1. 25 billion is provided to the state department and usaid to continue their work with our international partners. Mr. President , we listened carefully to the agencies and the experts on the front lines in crafting this package. Vice president pence has also been very helpful in this effort and i appreciate president trumps eagerness to sign this legislation. I also want to take a moment to thank leaders mcconnell and schumer, vice chairman leahy of the appropriations committee, the chair of the House Appropriations committee and the Ranking Member for all of us coming together to do the right thing for the American People. We face this crisis together. Were fighting it together. Ultimately, mr. President , i believe we will prevail together. But now is the time for action. The house will act first. All indications are they will pass it swiftly, this package, hope so, and when this package arrives in the senate, i would urge my colleagues to do the same so we can get help to those who need it and will ease some of the anxiety stemming from this outbernanke. I think we i think we owe it to the American People to do no less. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Leahy madam president. The presiding officer the senator from vermont is recognized. Mr. Leahy madam president , i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Leahy madam president , chairman shelby has just spoken, and he and i have worked so hard together on the appropriations on the emergency coronavirus supplemental request, and i am am one, i have always enjoyed working with him. Im pleased that we can announce that we have reached a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on an emergency supplemental to address the spread of the really Novel Coronavirus and protect the health and safety of the American People, something we should do when this happens. So i thank my friend, chairman shelby, chairwoman lowey of the other body and Ranking Member granger for their cooperation. You know, i think one of the things i have found over my decades here in the appropriations committee, we tend to leave our labels at the door. We have worked together, both republicans and democrats. We dont look at each other as a republican or democrat. We look at each other as a member of the house and the senate, trying to get this done, and i would urge the both the majority leader and the democratic leader to move as quickly as possible once the house acts today to get this agreement to the president s desk. As i said last weekend, there is no reason why we cannot, should not finish this bill this week and get it down for signing. We have if we have to on friday or even saturday, get it done, get it done now. Now, with the house of representatives, we must understand what they are debating is vastly different from the 1. 25 billion grossly inadequate proposal from the Trump Administration that was sent to Congress Just nine days ago. This was so poorly thought out that both republicans and democrats said it made no sense. Where president trumps proposal would rob peter to pay paul by stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from funds meant to contain the ongoing ebola crisis and take money from programs the American People rely on like the lowincome heating assistance program, liheap, our agreement provides 7. 8 billion in new emergency funding to address this crisis but does not raid these important programs. Do we want to say okay, we will just turn our back on the possibility of ebola . Of course not. We cant. And liheap, i would invite any of those from the white house that think we dont need heating in my home in vermont just a few days ago it was ten below zero. Right after that we had 1012 inches of snow. Incidentally, everything kept going in vermont. 1. 2 inches of snow in washington, the place would close down, as we know. But i digress. Were not robbing peter to pay paul. Were not stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from funds meant to contain the ongoing ebola crisis. We simply provide 7. 8 billion in new emergency funding to address this crisis without raiding those important programs. We also include a 500 million authorization to enhance the availability of telehealth services, something that could be so helpful to virtually every one of our states. Now, we also reject the president s extreme America First mantra that would include nothing for usaid to help contain the spread abroad. Lets be realistic. At a time when Communicable Diseases are only an airplane flight away, thats a recipe for failure. We can stop this before it gets to our borders, why shouldnt we work with other countries to do that . So what we did, instead of ignoring that that might happen, we have provided 1. 25 billion in new resources for the Global Health response to provide humanitarian assistance and secure funding for emergency evacuations of u. S. Citizens, if needed. Now, we provide 2. 2 billion to support federal, state, and local Public Health agencies. We then prepare to respond to the coronavirus virus. The funds will support laboratory testing, monitoring, infection control, Public Health preparedness. This again taking it completely out of politics, saying lets go where the best people are to work with and have the money. I talked about some of this with the need for help with the governor of our state, who is a republican. We have worked very, very closely together. I applaud what he has been doing to prepare for this virus. Our agreement is going to provide more than 3 billion for research and development of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics to better treat the effects of the coronavirus. Were going to include provisions to ensure that vaccines developed with the support of federal dollars, with our tax dollars, remain affordable to those most in need. The taxpayers pay for it. They shouldnt have to pay for it a second time because a Large Company wants to make a huge profit. In fact, we provide nearly 1 billion for the procurement of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies and funding to support Community Health centers which provide health care to so many in our underserved urban areas but also in our Rural Communities. And we provide 61 million to the food and Drug Administration to fast i facilitate the develof new therapies and vaccines to combat the coronavirus, but also to mitigate the potential medical supply chain interruption. Importantly, this agreement includes 7 billion in Small Business disaster loans. Whats happening can really hit these Small Businesses which are the backbone of americas economy. We have this money, the Small Business disaster loans, to help mitigate the Economic Impact on the spread of the coronavirus in the United States. So, madam president , when we confront this crisis, its important to remember were not doing it as republicans or democrats seeking to score political points in addressing this threat. Its not something for the Republican Party or for the Democratic Party to deal with. We should deal as what we are. We are americans and were United States senators. The 100 of us have to speak to our own conscience in time of crisis in our nations history, the senate has proven its ability to be the conscience of the nation, a steady guiding hand. Thats what we have to do now. I am pleased that the house measure does not include legislation related to extending fisa, the foreign Intelligence Surveillance act. We have had months to deal with that. It has no place on urgent funding legislation to combat the Current Health situation. And im confident we can once again put aside partisan squabbles and help lead our nation forward. Taking up this agreement as soon as possible is the first step. I will work with chairman shelby, the two of us will Work Together to shepherd this bipartisan, bicameral agreement through the senate and to the president. I would note and i will speak further on this later on, that there are an awful lot of members of our staffs, both republican and democratic, who have worked and worked and worked late nights, worked weekends, worked on days off to get us here, and i applaud the men and women who have done that. Madam president , i see my distinguished colleague on the floor so i will yield the floor. Mr. Barrasso madam president. The presiding officer the senator from wyoming is recognized. Mr. Barrasso i come to the floor today to address americas aging roads and bridges. Our highways are in need of repairs all across the country. In some places, we actually need to do rebuilds, new roads. Thats why i along with senators carper and capito and cardin have introduced americas transportation infrastructure act. This Bipartisan Legislation is going to make a significant investment in our roads, in our bridges, in our tunnels, and will fund our highways at historic levels. Now, these investments are critical. But just as critical is speeding up governments approvals for important road projects. Last congress, the environment and Public Works Committee, which i chair, heard testimony about a highway project in my home state in wyoming. The project took a decade, a full ten years to get the required federal permits, one after another after another, and then it only took a couple of months to get the project done. A project thats going to make our roads safer and more efficient, which is what the whole desired effect was of this project, it was held up because of ten years of waiting for washington permits. A decade to permit, months to build, any american of common sense knows that that is absurd. Americas transportation infrastructure act cuts through washington red tape so projects can get done faster, better, cheaper, smarter. Thats a key. We used president trumps one federal decision policy as a model. Its a great plan, a great policy put forward by the president. Sunned the policy under the policy environmental reviews will be completed within two years. Its a goal i applaud. Our legislation will codify key elements of that into law. It will streamline duplicative projects. The permitting process will be simplified and will occur faster. Our bill also gives states increased flexibility, something that states want. So federal approvals can get moving and the project construction can get started sooner. It reduces the amount of paperwork needed from states to complete the projects. Its unacceptable that the federal government would hold up state projects and put drivers at risk. Washington should never prioritize paperwork, which is what washington tends to do. Prioritizing paperwork over peoples safety. Americas transportation infrastructure act cuts red tape. It makes safety a top priority. Our legislation is bipartisan. Passing the environment and Public Works Committee unanimously, 210. President trump called on congress to pass the bill. He did it during his state of the Union Address last month. This is a win for the entire country. The time is to americas information infrastructure act so we can reduce the costly regulations and improve highway projects so that they can get built. Thank you, madam president. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call mr. Murphy mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from connecticut. Mr. Murphy were in a quorum call. I ask it be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Murphy thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , am i recognized . The presiding officer yes. Mr. Murphy thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i am coming to the floor today as we have just passed the oneyear mark since h. R. 8, the bipartisan background checks bill passed the house of representatives. This is a piece of legislation supported by 90 of the American Public. Its hard for anything to enjoy 90 support in this country these days. And the data shows us that this is a piece of legislation if enacted that would save lives. We have begged and pleaded for this piece of legislation to come before the senate. I understand that there may not be 60 votes on the senate to pass the exact piece of legislation supported by the house, but we could engage in a process of amendment, a process of compromise that could end up saving lives and getting a piece of legislation passed that is supported as i miptioned by nine mentioned by nine out of ten americans. So i have some remarks after i expect there be an objection to my motion from the majority party. But i will ask unanimous consent of my colleagues that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 29, h. R. 8, the bipartisan background checks act. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Enzi mr. President , reserving the right to object. The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Enzi if this unanimous consent were passed without a vote or even debate, that would become law. Passage of this request could infringe on the constitutional right of my constituents and many others across the United States. I believe firmly that that would be the case and it could even result in criminal charges against law abiding firearms owners. So i object. The presiding officer objection is heard. Mr. Murphy mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from connecticut. Mr. Murphy mr. President , im sorry to hear the objection. Its obviously not surprising. We have been waiting for a year for this body to act on the issue of gun violence. And though there are a range of measures that may actually be controversial, this is not one of them. This is not one of them. Its really hard to find folks out there in america that object to the idea that somebody should have to prove that theyre not a criminal, that they dont have a history of