Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., March 24, 2020)

Summary

Senate section of the Congressional Record for Tuesday, March 24, 2020, Volume 166, No. 58. The Senate met at 10 a.m. with Mr. Grassley presiding and the Chaplain's prayer is printed. A speaker calls the situation a national crisis and the most serious threat to Americans' health in over a century, noting that Army field hospitals are on the way to major cities and that food comes from farms rather than grocery stores. The senior assistant legislative clerk reads H.R. 748, on repeal of an excise tax. A speaker says the bill should have passed three days earlier and blames the Democrats, which is that speaker's view.

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“Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., March 24, 2020).” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-03-24-crec-2020-03-24-pt1-pgs1975-6-6e0af92a80/, SHA-256 6d696918979dbf213b95219ca24d43094eba915ddace2505f25e563eccf2a602.

Full text

Congressional Record
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116 th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
United States
of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE

Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2020 No. 58

Senate
The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was world. Our daily lives have become crying out for support. We literally
called to order by the President pro transformed for right now and maybe, have Army field hospitals on the way
tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). to some extent, for a longer period of to being set up in our major American
f time. cities.
Grocery stores have been open—in In the space of just a few weeks, this
PRAYER fact, one of the few businesses that has become, unfortunately, our new
The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- need to stay open. While it may shock normal. This is a national crisis. It is
fered the following prayer: some living in large cities, food does the most serious threat to Americans’
Let us pray. not come from grocery stores; food health in over a century and quite like-
Almighty and everlasting God, mer- comes from farms. ly the greatest risk to Americans’ jobs
cifully look upon our infirmities and, Today, we celebrate National Ag and prosperity that we have seen since
in all our dangers, defend us. Day. Let me assure you, American the Great Depression.
Lord, sometimes You seem so far farmers and ranchers are up to the Hundreds of thousands of Americans
away. We cry out to You and seem to challenge of producing food to fill the have already lost their jobs because so
only hear the echoes of our laments. As shelves of every grocery store and the much of our commerce has been put on
our lawmakers reach out to You night fridges and cupboards of our house- pause. Families are wondering how
and day, enable them to connect to holds. Farmers are only 2 percent of they are going to pay their rent or
Your matchless power. May they find the population, but they will provide mortgage in 8 days. Rent is due on
in You a sure refuge, a shelter from the for the other 98 percent. When you eat April 1. People don’t know how they
storms. today, thank a farmer, as I will thank are going to pay bills or make their car
Lord, strengthen the weakness of our the 88,000 family farmers in Iowa. payment.
Many other hard-working Americans
faith, and give us trust for our trem- I yield the floor.
are still employed for now but fall
bling and hope for our fears. Give us f asleep every night wondering if it will
patience, cheerful endurance, and se-
RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY be there when they wake up to that
renity of mind.
LEADER email or phone call tomorrow.
Lord, place your healing hands upon American seniors have seen decades
John Bessler, Senator RAND PAUL, and The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- of savings cut down in the space of
others who need to feel Your touch. jority leader is recognized. days as the markets literally tumble.
We pray in Your great Name. Amen. f Our national life has literally been
f transformed in less than a month. The
CORONAVIRUS
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE urgency and the gravity of this mo-
Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, ment cannot be lost on anyone. Every
The President pro tempore led the for weeks now, the American people day, every hour the Congress delays in
Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: have been contending with the passing a significant relief package, we
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading risk more American livelihoods and
United States of America, and to the Repub- across our country and the massive, the safety of more healthcare profes-
lic for which it stands, one nation under God, massive disruptions to daily life it is sionals. That is why, right after I fast-
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. creating for all of us. They are grap- tracked the Democratic House relief
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. pling with small business closures, bill through the Senate, I immediately
HYDE-SMITH). The Senator from Iowa. mass layoffs, and uncertainty for their turned the Senate toward developing
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I families. But that isn’t all. For the last an even bigger and bolder relief pack-
ask unanimous consent to speak in several days now, in the midst of all age for the American people.
morning business for 1 minute. that—in the midst of all that—they Nine days ago, I laid out the key ob-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without have also had to watch the Senate spin jectives of our work. We had to send di-
objection, it is so ordered. its wheels. rect financial assistance to Ameri-
f As we convene this morning, roughly cans—direct assistance to Americans.
40 percent of our population is under We had to help Main Street small busi-
NATIONAL AG DAY stay-at-home orders from State lead- nesses. We had to act to stabilize the
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, ers. Employers across America are foundations of our economy for work-
every American is facing a very uncer- wondering how they will keep the ers. And, of course, we had to send
tain future that the new virus has lights on. Doctors, nurses, and more resources to medical profes-
brought to our country and to the healthcare professionals are literally sionals and our healthcare system.

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∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.

S1975

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S1976 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 24, 2020
Five days ago, Senate Republicans Now, at last, I believe we are on the 5- high cost employer-sponsored health cov-
released our initial framework for the yard line. It has taken a lot of noise erage.
CARES Act. We put forward bold poli- and a lot of rhetoric to get us here. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma-
cies like sending cash directly to That, of course, sometimes happens in jority whip.
Americans, pouring money into small this town. CORONAVIRUS
businesses, lending to national indus- At different times, we received Mr. THUNE. Madam President, at
tries to prevent mass layoffs, and surge Democratic counteroffers that de- this very minute, across the country,
resources for doctors, nurses, and pa- manded things like new emission families are wondering how they are
tients. We knew we needed a proposal standards or tax credits for solar pan- going to survive financially now that
to address our Nation’s pain at lit- els. We saw the Speaker of the House mom or dad is out of a job. Hourly
erally every level. release an encyclopedia of unrelated workers whose businesses have closed
Now, in the past few days, some demands as though it were a temporarily are praying that they will
voices have tried to pit some Ameri- coronavirus proposal somehow. In spite still have a job to go back to when this
cans against other Americans and of all that, we are very close. We are is all over. Small businesses are facing
argue that directly helping workers close to a bill that takes our bold Re- agonizing decisions about whether they
and strengthening businesses are some- publican framework, integrates further will have to lay off employees or close
how conflicting priorities. That is ideas from both parties, and delivers their businesses altogether.
utter nonsense. American workers need huge progress on each of the four core And Democrats? Well, Democrats
paychecks. They need jobs. priorities I laid out a week ago. have been focused on fuel emissions
The working men and women of this Today the Senate has a chance to get standards and early voting. That is
country do need direct relief from gov- back on track. Today we can make all right. In the midst of an unprecedented
ernment in this crisis, but for good- of the Washington drama fade away. If health and financial crisis, Democrats
ness’ sake, they also need their pay- we act today, what Americans will re- have been delaying a major relief bill
checks. They need to be able to resume member and what history will record is in hopes that they can include a laun-
their lives and their jobs once this is that the Senate did the right thing, dry list of their pet projects—projects
over. The two things can’t be sepa- that we came together, that we took a that have absolutely nothing to do
rated. There is a term for when you lesson from the way Americans are with providing financial relief to
separate employees from employers. uniting all across the country and Americans or ensuring the medical pro-
There is a term for that. It is called un- working together, that we combined fessionals have the resources they need
employment. Let me say that again. ideas from both sides and took a bold to fight this virus.
There is a term for when you separate step to protect Americans and help our Republicans developed this legisla-
employees from employers. It is called Nation through this crisis. tion in conjunction with Democrats. It
unemployment. That is what we are I am not sure how many ways to say was teed up, being written up Satur-
trying to avoid. it, but the clock has run out. The buzz- day, Saturday evening, ready to vote
This is no time to point fingers or er is sounding. The hour for bargaining Sunday morning, when Democrats
stoke these culture wars. This is the as though this were business as usual voted to block even getting on the
time to unify. Perhaps now more than has expired. bill—even getting on the bill. They
at any moment in living memory, all of The American people need our Demo- said: Well, we need to block it now be-
us Americans are in this together. This cratic friends to take yes for an an- cause we may not be able to block it
pandemic is not the fault of the Amer- swer. I hope that will happen today. later—not, of course, acknowledging
ican workers who make this country Doctors and nurses need masks. Fami- that there is yet another 60-vote hurdle
run. It is not the fault of small busi- lies need help. Small businesses need that we would have to get over before
ness owners. It is not the fault of major cash. Hospitals need funding. Their we get to final consideration of the
national employers. Everyone needs Senate majority is ready to deliver bill. But it has been teed up and ready
help. We are all in this together. We those things. We have been ready to de- to go now since Saturday night. We
need an ‘‘all of the above’’ approach, liver those things for a while. I hope made a lot of changes since then to the
and that is what our framework put today is the day this body will get it legislation to address the Democrats’
forward: help for workers and families done. priorities.
and employers and healthcare pro- I thought we were very close to
f
viders. agreement on a final bill. Of course,
As soon as Republicans put out a RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME then the Democratic leadership of the
draft proposal to treat every aspect of House and Senate stepped in. They ap-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under
this crisis, I immediately called for bi- parently decided this was a perfect op-
the previous order, the leadership time
partisan talks. That is not something portunity to implement a bunch of
is reserved.
you see often in Washington. As soon Democratic pet projects that have
as I released our first draft, I imme- f nothing to do—nothing to do with
diately invited the other side, these CONCLUSION OF MORNING fighting the coronavirus or helping the
folks over here, to make their sugges- BUSINESS American families who are suffering fi-
tions. That is what you call urgency. nancially at this very minute.
We set up bipartisan working groups. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning I know my Democrat colleagues have
I asked negotiators to work together to business is closed. come to regard ‘‘bipartisanship’’ as a
turn our rough draft into something f bad word in the past 3 years, but I had
that could pass the Senate with over- hoped—I really, sincerely had hoped—
whelming bipartisan support. Repub- LEGISLATIVE SESSION that in this hour of serious need, the
licans and Democrats traded ideas. Democrats would be able to put aside
Democrats asked for many changes to their prejudices and work with Repub-
the initial draft and received many. MIDDLE CLASS HEALTH BENEFITS
licans to pass this critical legislation.
The updated text, released a few days TAX REPEAL ACT OF 2019—MO-
Apparently, that was too much to hope
ago, included proposals from the other TION TO PROCEED—Resumed
for from the Democrat leadership.
side. And, of course, as our colleagues The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under Neither my colleagues nor I have
have dragged out the last several days, the previous order, the Senate will re- given up on reaching an agreement. We
even further changes have been made sume consideration of the motion to are still working, and I am still hoping

dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with SENATE
at their request. proceed to H.R. 748, which the clerk we will arrive at a final bill sometime
This majority has gone out of its way will report. later today.
to make this process as bipartisan and The senior assistant legislative clerk We should already have passed this
as open as possible. The administration read as follows: legislation 3 days ago. The blame for
has bent over backward to work with A bill (H.R. 748) to amend the Internal Rev- not passing it lies squarely on the
Democrats and address their concerns. enue Code of 1986 to repeal the excise tax on Democrats’ shoulders. I really hope

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