Guide our senators to live so honorably that they will bring glory to your name. Lord, inspire them to yield their allegiance to you, striving always to receive your approval. Thank you for hearing and answering their prayers, as they fervently seek your wisdom. Guide them through the challenges of these times. Lord, remind us all that we are mere sojourners in time, heading for the better land of eternity. We pray in your loving name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. Mr. Grassley madam president. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley much has been said on the senate floor these past few days regarding our nations response to the coronavirus. But this morning, after our prayer to the lord and a the other challenges that these families are parents are raising americas future, and i want to recognize the importance of what you do every day. I yield the floor. Mr. Mcconnell madam president. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell yesterday, President Trump and his Team Announced several new actions to help contain and combat the coronavirus. The president invoked the defense production act, laying groundwork to manufacture more medical equipment. The department of health and Human Services will let medical professionals practice across state lines. The department of defense will employ hospital ships and transfer millions of respirator masks and thousands of ventilators to new hampshire. The f. H. A. Will deepen partnerships with commercial laboratories to expand testing. The department of housing and urban development will suspend foreclosures and evictions on f. H. A. Insured mortgages. And agreement with canada to close our northern border to nonessential travel. Major steps, madam president , as we confront a major crisis. Here in the senate, we are prepared to take further bold steps of our own. Yesterday, we passed legislation from the house that will provide some American Workers with additional benefits during this emergency. As i explained yesterday, that legislation was hardly perfect. It imposes new costs and uncertainty on Small Businesses at precisely the most challenging moment for Small Businesses in living memory. So the senate is even more determined that our legislation cannot leave Small Business behind. Support for Small Business is one of the four key components of the much bolder proposal we are finalizing. Chairman rubio and chairman collins have been crafting a major plan to help Small Businesses survive this crisis and help workers continue to get paid. Were talking about new federally guaranteed loans on the order of hundreds of billions of to address immediate cashflow problems. No massive new bureaucracy. We want to let qualified Small Businesses get liquidity through familiar institutions, their own community banks, credit unions, or nationwide lenders. As chairman collins explained yesterday, owners will not be able to use the funds to give themselves raises or increase their own profits. The point is to help Small Business endure, help workers keep their jobs, and help both businesses and workers emerge from this ready to thrive. As chairman rubio explained, the portions of these funds that Small Businesses use on core expenses such as paying workers and paying their rent or mortgage will convert into grants they will not need to pay back. This will make sure that even lower profit margin main street businesses get a fighting chance to stay open and continue paying workers. This is straightforward, a rapid injection of cash to help Small Businesses through this turmoil. Not some brandnew program with a long lead time, but an existing program thats been tested. The second major pillar of our legislation will be even more straightforward. Direct financial help for americans. Senate republicans want to put cash in the hundred dollars of the American People. Chairman grassley and a number of our colleagues are finalizing a structure that will get assistance to individuals and families as rapidly as possible. No tangled washington process with a thousand cooks in the kitchen. No piles of forms for laidoff workers or busy families to fill out. Money for people. From the middle class on down, period. For laidoff americans, this infusion would complement Unemployment Insurance and could put and could be put toward immediate needs during this crisis. For americans who are still working, the money would provide some extra certainty in this uniquely uncertain time and help remind everyone that temporary shutdowns at bars and restaurants does not mean all commerce has to halt. For retirees, the money would complement Social Security and help seniors navigate the unusual routines that have suddenly become necessary for their own safety. This is a form of emergency tax relief that we want to push to taxpayers right away. Its not an ordinary policy, but this is no ordinary time. The American People need help, and they need it fast. This will deliver it. We believe this rapid assistance is rural, but more broadly we believe we need to keep as Many Americans on the job and connected to their employers. This Small Business relief will help, and so will a number of additional tax relief measures which will be designed to help employers maintain cash flow and keep making payroll. Preserving employment and protecting economic foundations. Thats also why the third pillar of our proposal involves targeted lending to industries of national importance. Chairman shelby, chairman wicker, and senator thune are leading this component. Just like Small Businesses, entire sectors are being crushed, crushed by Public Health guidance, which is obviously no fault of their own. For example, our nation needs airlines, yet they have ongoing maintenance costs that do not disappear just because the government has chased away all the customers. We cannot expect this key industry to mothball itself overnight, then dust off in weeks or months and pop right back online as the nation will need and expect. So lets be clear about something. From Small Businesses to key sectors, were not talking about socalled bailouts for firms that made reckless decisions. Nobody is alleging a moral hazard here. None of these firms, not corner stores, not pizza parlors, not airlines, brought this on themselves. Were not talking about a taxpayerfunded cushion for companies that made mistakes. Were talking about loans which must be repaid. For american employers whom the government itself, the government itself is temporarily crushing for the sake of Public Health. The fourth piece of our proposal goes to the heart of this crisis, the health of the American People. Chairman alexander and grassley will be rolling out proposals to get more resources on the front lines of our fight against the virus itself, because to be clear, madam president , nothing i have laid out so far will represent a typical economic surplus in the way that we think of that term. Nobody, nobody expects that employment figures or the stock market or g. D. P. Growth will bounce right back to where they were a few weeks ago. No policy, no amount of money could return things to normal overnight. There is an underlying medical reality that is in this disruption. In the words of one journalist, this is primarily, quote, a Health Crisis with an economic crisis strapped to its back. So yes, our proposal will immediately help American Workers, families, and businesses. Yes, it will help position our economy to thrive once again after this Public Health menace is behind us. This may not be the last economic legislation we pursue, but fundamentally we have to beat back this virus. We have to beat back this virus. Thats why our proposal will go even further to remove barriers to care, speed innovation, fund the hospitals and Health Centers that will treat patients, and expand Health Care Workers access to the tools they need, including respirator masks. And immediately after we pass this legislation, Congress Must begin a bipartisan, bicameral appropriations process to address the administrations new supplemental funding request so we can keep Funding Health care and other priorities. So, madam president , i think every american shares the sense that the last several days have felt more like several months. Just last saturday, our nation had fewer than 3,000 confirmed cases, and 58 americans had lost their lives. Already the number of cases has nearly tripled. Tragically, so has the number of deaths. The crisis is moving fast. Our Health System is under strain, and our economy is hurting. The legislation i have just laid out will not be the last word. As i said, we will need to turn right away to a bipartisan appropriations process. This is not Congress Last chance to legislate. But it is critical that we move swiftly and boldly to begin to stabilize our economy, preserve americans jobs, get money to workers and families, and keep up our fight on the health front. That is exactly, exactly what our proposal will do. These are not ordinary policies. This is no ordinary time. The American People are strong, they are brave. There is no doubt the American People will come through this battle and then soar to new heights on the other side. The American People will win this fight against this virus. The senates job is to give them the tools that they need. And were not leaving until we do our job. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Schumer madam president , are we in a quorum . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer in the space of 24 hours, yesterday, the anymore of coronavirus the number of coronavirus cases in my dear home state of new york has more than doubled. The spread of the virus has been rapid. The consequences severe. The coronavirus is slowing our economy to a near standstill. Promoting widespread layoffs and the likelihood of a deep recession that will be painfully felt in households from coast to coast. From new york to california and every other state. Were living in a time of public emergency in our Health Care System, in our economy, and indeed in our society itself. Separated from one another, we are going to have to pull together in spirit. The American People have to sacrifice their routines. They dont want to, but we have no choice, if we want to stay healthy and arrest the spread of the disease. And our Health Care Workers and our First Responders every day are being asked to perform daunting and horrific tasks and heroic tasks for which we are already in their debt. The anxiety, the fear, the confusion that new yorkers and americans feel today is palpable, but i would remind them that there has never been a challenge too great for our country to overcome. I remember the dark days after 9 11. So many were prepared to write new york city off the map. They said no one will live or do business in the southern part of maps. They said the whole city and its suburbs would never come back. But we do did come back. Stronger, more resilient than we ever were before. We can and we will do it again in new york and throughout the nation. But we must act urgently and boldly now during what may still be the early days of this crisis. Regarding the business before the senate right now, yesterday we passed the second phase of legislation to respond to the coronavirus, which included important provisions to extend paid sick leave, Unemployment Insurance and provide free free no copays, no deductibles coronavirus testing free coronavirus testing for all americans. That bill was a first step. Im glad its now down. Im glad it got support from both sides of the aisle. I believe 90 votes on passage, and the aid will begin to flow. Now, leader mcconnell has just outlined and will soon announce plans of what the Senate Republicans believe should be included in the third phase of legislation to confront the coronavirus. We are ready and eager to look at what republicans have put together and to work with them, but we believe that whatever proposal emerges and it will be bipartisan that it must be a workers first proposal. Workers first. Thats our motto in what were proposing. That means help for all workers, service workers, industry workers, factory workers, office tower workers, Small Business workers, gig workers, freelancers, bartenders, retail workers, Airline Attendants and so many more. We owe a great deal of gratitude to the working people of america, whether they be blue collar or white collar. Whether they work in high office towers, on the farms, or in a local drugstore. Those who clean our buildings and streets, those who are still working to collect the garbage and keep the power on, and of course our Health Care Workers who are risking everything to keep the rest of us safe. Workers first. That is the motto that i have and i believe Speaker Pelosi has as well. As we democrats seek input into the joint bipartisan package that will be put together. Our goal is to make sure that no one, no worker, no family, no one loses a paycheck or goes into financial ruin as a result of the coronavirus, and that will take strong, bold, immediate action. Thats why we must work so quickly but carefully as well to put together a bipartisan package. I spoke with secretary mnuchin several times. I think he is of that view. I have heard leader mcconnell has said he will sit down with our Democratic Senators to come up with a bipartisan package. Thats what we must do. And so let me outline a few of our priorities. First, if theres going to be a bailout of any sort of industry, worker priorities and Worker Protections must be included. Corporations should not get a bailout and then be allowed to fire employees or cut their salaries, cut their benefits. The Airline Industry just spent billions and billions in stock buybacks in the last two years. Liquidity that would come in handy at a time like this. If there is a bailout, there needs to be conditions to make sure the interests of labor are given priority, that corporations cant buy back stock, reward executives, or lay off workers. We cannot repeat the mistake that was made in 2008 where the big boys and big girls benefited and no one else did. Workers first. Second, phase three must include a massive infusion of resources for our Health Care System, for hospitals, and medical supplies. America needs a Marshall Plan for Public Health and Public Health infrastructure. In the wake of world war ii, america helped rebuild a continent. Right now, we need to rebuild our Health Infrastructure on a continental scale. We need a Marshall Plan for our Health Care System. Without a massive commitment from this congress, our Health Care System will not be able to handle this crisis. There are not enough workers, not enough supplies, not enough beds, not enough state and local funding. Theres a major concern that as this virus spreads, countless americans will not be able to access or afford treatment if they get the coronavirus. It goes from the very big we need lots of ventilators to the smaller. A hospital in new york told us that they didnt have enough nasal swabs to conduct the coronavirus test. Health care workers in Washington State are fashioning homemade masks out of vinyl, elastic and doublesided tape. The need for ventilators, which will save the lives of those who are afflicted by the disease in a severe way, is desperate. Yesterday President Trump finally he took our suggestion and invoked the defense production act. But what is happening now, we dont know. Whos in charge . Which factories are being asked to make the ventilators . And which factories are being asked to do other things as well . We need that kind of information, but, more important or just as important as the information is the urgency of getting these things done. Machines like ventilators can be the difference between life and de