Quorum call a senator madam president. The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. Mr. Udall thank you very much, madam president. Are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are in a worker. Quorum call. The presiding officer we are. Mr. Udall i wish to vitiate the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Udall today we face a pandemic the likes of which we have not seen in over 100 years and today the Senate Must Act to pass the largest relief package for the American People in our history. First id like to extend my thoughts and prayers to everyone who is personally affected by this coronavirus pandemic. I thank the Health Care Workers who are working long hours and risking their own health to save lives. They are performing a national service. The numbers of infected individuals and the rapidly rising death toll with staggering. If we do not follow Public Health experts advice, the totals could be truly horrifying. In new mexico we have over 100 diagnosed cases and today the first death in our state was reported, a Senior Citizens from edy county in the southeastern part of our state passed away. All americans are facing new challenges, a threat to our health, a threat to our economy. My top priority is easing this hardship and making sure new mexicans have what they need to stay healthy and to stay economically afloat. With that in mind, im rising it today to tell new mexicans relief is on the way. We relief to American Workers who have been put of work and to Small Businesses that are making impossible decisions because of the coronavirus pandemic. Relief to our hospitals and frontline Health Care Workers facing an overwhelmed Health Care System in the coming weeks and months and relief to local states and governments that are doing their best to take care of their residents and maintain essential services. State and local governments are desperately in need of assistance only the federal government can provide. And tribal governments to whom we owe trust and treaty obligations to provide health care, education, and community assistance, particularly in times of need. After days of furious negotiations, im pleased and relieved that democrats and republicans were able to Reach Agreement on what will be the largest federal relief effort in our history. The times demand a response of this magnitude. The stayathome orders which make no mistake are necessary to stop the virus, threaten the livelihood of millions of working families that live paycheck to paycheck. Millions of Small Businesses are in dire need of help. They power our economy but simply cant survive during the kind of economic downturn we now face. The federal government has the power to make sure that people can take the Public Health measures that are necessary while also staying afloat financially. We are here in the senate we here in the senate need to make absolutely sure that everyone, not just those at the top that everyone is taken care of and can weather this crisis. Im strongly supportive of the Small Business relief in this bill, which includes loans of up to 10 million that can be forgiven and turned into grants if employees are kept on the payroll. This relief will go through the Small Business administration and be available to any business or nonprofit under 500 employees. With democrats at the negotiating table, we worked toward that goal, and as a result, American Workers will receive four months more of Unemployment Insurance instead of just three because so Many Americans are now out of work we need an expanded Unemployment Insurance plan. This plan extends unemployment to the selfemployed for the first time, it increases the maximum benefit by 600 per week. Many workers will receive their full pay under this expansion. Just to give an idea of the magnitude of this problem in my home state of new mexico, during the week of march 9, we had fewer than 800 claims for unemployment. This last week we had 11,000 and now we are receiving 7,000 every day. Also, because democrats stood firm, our Health Care System will see an infusion of 55 billion into the marshal plan for health care. The total Public HealthCare Investment in this bill is now 150 billion. We will establish a 150 billion relief fund for state, local, and tribal governments to help cover costs of fighting this virus. New mexico is eligible for up to 1. 25 billion from this, and we will bring accountability and transparency for the relief of industries and large corporations. This relief bill puts in transparency and independent oversight and also makes sure that elected politicians, including the president , are not the beneficiaries of this fund. We face a National Crisis of monumental proportions, and im heartened that republicans and democrats in this body join together over joined together over the last several days to face this crisis to the as a nation together as a nation. This is what we do as americans. And i have hope that as we continue to face down this crisis in the coming weeks months, we will continue to do so in a united fashion. As vice chair of the Senate Indian affairs committee, ive been particularly focused on making sure that Indian Country is not left out, and ensuring that tribes who are on the front lines of this Public Health and economic crisis have the resources they need and deserve. Together, with my democratic colleagues, i fought for and secured an 8 billion set aside for tribal governments and their enterprises. This Tribal Relief Fund will provide the 574 federally recognized Indian Tribes with flexible resources, resources they need during the covid19 response. And im glad we found bipartisan agreement on this. We also secured over 2 billion in emergency funding for tribal needs, and this includes over 1 billion for the Indian Health service that will be used for everything from expanding medical services to purchasing equipment to promoting Public Health education to expanding Telehealth Services and increasing disease surveillance. And over 700 million that will go to the bureau of indian affairs, the bureau of indian education, and the h. U. D. Office of native american programs. These funds will assist tribal governments as they make their way through this crisis and support their members, support the i. B. E. Schools and tribal colleges and universities so that students continue with their education, and provide housing for those most in need who were impacted by this terrible virus. These are key victories, but were not done. We must uphold our trust and treaty responsibilities to all American Indians and alaska natives, and so Congress Must do more to respond to the unique covid19related Public Health and Economic Crises in Indian Country. Tribes are some of the most vulnerable populations with the least robust Health Care Systems. We have a very scary outbreak on the Navajo Nation and im sure that beneed to weigh in we need to weigh in and help there. For our next response package, and believe me were going to have to monitor this closely and were in all likelihood going to be back here again. We must make sure that Indian Country has equal access to federal coronavirus resources. Senator heinrich and i fought hard for new mexico priorities. We are working hard on issues that have to do with our national labs, one of our very, very top employers, in fact, probably the biggest. New mexicos Creative Economy cant be left behind. Sitting at the lead democrat on the appropriations subcommittee that funds the National Endowment, i pushed for an additional 75 million for both the National Endowment for the arts and National Endowment for the humanities. These funds will support local artists and arts programs through this tough economic ti time, when arts and cultural venues are shuttered and artists and all others are out of work, theres no doubt that these are exceedingly difficult times but together we can get through this. I would like to remind everyone to follow the Public Health measures recommended by the experts. Staying at home is the best thing we can do to slow the spread of this virus and ensure our Health Care Systems are not overrun. These measures are a fire break that cuts off the fuel for this virus and prevents a catastrophe that overruns our hospitals. Social distance, wash your hands for 20 seconds. We all have an important part to play in containing covid19 and keeping ourselves and our neighbors and our communities safe. The state of new mexico is under a stayathome order. I commend governor grisham for the quick and Decisive Action that she has taken and she is focusing in like this like a laser beam. I know these measures are difficult and a hardship for many, but we will only be able to revive our economy once this Public Health crisis is abated. If we just let the virus run its course, we could lose over a million people. Some estimates are two million, one to two million. That would be totally unacceptable and devastating. And because of the frontline Health Care Workers, the doctors, the nurses, and the technicians and all those who support that work, hospital janitors, cafeteria workers and so many others, this Public Health crisis will see an end. Thank you to everyone who is risking their own safety to help others and thanks to all the senate staff that is here on the floor and the people that work here. In the days and weeks and months ahead, we must continue to closely monitor all as pepghts of the impact of coronavirus on our Nations Health and economy and continue to decisively and aggressively respond to the needs of the American People. I am confident that working together as one nation and one people we will meet and beat this crisis and come out on the other end stronger. To conclude we must pass this bill without delay. This is a good compromise and we must act now. Madam president , i note 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. Mr. Leahy madam president , i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Leahy madam president , senators have been working very hard to respond to the crisis thats facing our whole nation. Each one of us has certain things that our states in our states that might be unique, but we also are here for all of america. And all of america is suffering. I know my my staff, my staff in vermont, my staff down here, the appropriators, the appropriations staff have been working every day, every night until midnight or later, weekends. Nobody has had any time off. I have been proud to work with them even though we have set up, as i would hope all would do, so we could teleconference and we could work remotely. Earlier this week, we were faced with the prospect of a bill that was very onesided. Republicans and democrats have not done what we do best, sitting down and putting it together. We were given almost a take it or leave it bill. And i applaud senator schumer who said come back together. Lets not pass that bill which leaves out so much of america, so much of the people that we represent. Left us come together, both as republicans and democrats, and find a better bill. Now, late last night actually, closer to this morning, an agreement was reached in principle on such a bill. The appropriators do only a part of it. Senator shelby and i tried to Work Together to have something where all the Appropriations Committee or the vast majority of the Appropriations Committee, republicans and democrats would agree, and we did that. Thats what we have before us. Im sorry that there seem to be some now i think that senators have and senators again on both parties have worked so hard to put together something we can all agree on. We have something we should be able to agree on, we should be able to vote. I agree with the discussions that speaking of just our party. Discussions that senator schumer had this morning. We all know that none of us got every single thing we want. Just as im sure my republican friends have not got every single thing they want. And is any bill perfect, especially something of this unprecedented magnitude . Of course not. But we are at a point where reality has to overcome rhetoric. We have to stand up and be the conscience of the nation, as we have been in the past, and can be today. It is time for senators to come together and vote. I know on our side, senator schumer, that under his leadership and the others are ready to do that. I dont think people realize in our caucus, we go across the political spectrum. We have something that we all want. Im the dean of the senate. Ive been here the longest. Im not going to get everything i want and neither is the presiding officer nor is anyone. But america is going to get a lot more than it has now. Lets do this for america. Lets pass this bill. Lets bring it up. Lets vote on it. Lets stop saying, oh, but, yes, you have 98 , 99 of what i want, but ive got this other little piece. No, as americans we should say its reality time, not rhetoric time. Reality trumps rhetoric any day. Lets go ahead and vote. I commend those senators, the Republican Party and those senators in the Democratic Party who have worked so closely with each other. I know we have in appropriations, but in so many other parts we have. And its time to say, okay, lets vote. With that, mr. President , i will suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley i ask that the quorum call be suspended. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley i know we have a very important piece of legislation before us to turn this economy around and help out in our battle against the virus. While were waiting to vote on that, i come to the floor for a couple points that i would like to make. The first one is to honor a famous iowan. This month is called iowa history month, so i come to the floor to speak about one of iowas favorite sons, dr. Norman borlog, whose birthday is today. Hes considered the farmer of the green revolution. Raised on a farm near cresco, iowa, he is credited with saving more lives than anyone in history with his breakthroughs in agronomy. It took him several years to accomplish what a lot of scientists do now in a laboratory in regard to fighting diseases in plants, and he did this in mexico and india. His work helped to overcome malnutrition and famine across the world, saving over one billion lives in the process. His achievements won him the nobel peace prize. But not only that famous prize but also the president ial medal of freedom and the congressional gold medal. I think that theres only five or six people that fall into the category of winning all three of those prizes. His achievements also prompted the state of iowa to honor him with one of iowas two statues in the in the statuary hall year in the u. S. Capitol. On another subject, some pundits and even members of this body have suggested that its inappropriate to criticize the Chinese Community party for its mishandling of the coronavirus that originated in wuhan, china, because it distracts from bashing the president. We went from Mainstream Media outlets routinely referring to the virus by its origin to this being totally politically incorrect. Theres an excellent timetable published by axios that lays out the chinese coverup that prevented early action to contain the virus. The chinese prodemocracy activist, mr. Wei you warned that general secretary xi is ordering people back to work prematurely, risking another massive outbreak of what he calls wuhan pneumonia. Telling the truth about the Chinese Communist partys misdeeds does not preclude talking about how we can improve our own response. We can learn from free countries like south korea, which has been able to contain a widespread outbreak, and taiwan and japan, who appear to have been able to prevent widespread outbreaks. So this is not the time for Political Correctness or political pointscoring to get in the way of telling the truth or working together in a cleareyed way to address the challenges at hand. 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 quorum call