Congressional Record, May 20, 2020 — Senate
Summary
Page S2541 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for May 20, 2020, in interleaved columns. A speaker describes a researcher who hand-carried samples of biological material from Cleveland to Wuhan and did not disclose that a Chinese grant required him to be in Wuhan for 10 months of the year. The speaker supports allowing the Justice Department to hold grant recipients accountable for failing to disclose foreign ties and Thousand Talents participation. Another speaker says the United States is proud to be the most innovative country in the world, and a final speaker cites about $160 billion and a human trafficking concern.
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“Congressional Record, May 20, 2020 — Senate.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-05-20-crec-2020-05-20-pt1-pgs2541-a96cf5acd8/
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May 20, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2541
that he hand-carried samples of bio- after the Thousand Talents partici- We are very proud of the fact that we
logical material from Cleveland, OH, to pants by allowing DOJ to hold Federal are the most innovative country in the
Wuhan. Those samples are still stored, grant recipients accountable for failing world and we are known for our re-
by the way, in China. to disclose their foreign ties on Federal search enterprise. We want to continue
It also states that he did not disclose grant applications. This isn’t just that, but we want to do it in a smart
that one of his Chinese grants required about more arrests, either. We should way. We want to be sure that we are
that he be in Wuhan for 10 months of all agree that transparency and hon- keeping China and other nations and
the year at the same time he was also esty in grant applications are critical competitors from stealing that re-
employed full time at the Cleveland to the integrity of U.S. research, and search for its own purposes. I know we
Clinic, again, working on NIH-funded this provision will help to promote can achieve that balance. Our legisla-
research. those principles. tion does that.
I commend the Cleveland Clinic for Our bill makes other important I look forward to getting support
working with the FBI and the U.S. At- changes, as well, based on the rec- from both sides of the aisle because
torney’s Office to ensure that we were ommendations in our report. It re- this is a problem we should all be con-
able to stop this from happening. quires the Office of Management and cerned about.
As a Thousand Talents member, the Budget, or OMB, to streamline and co- I yield the floor.
criminal complaint also alleges that ordinate grant-making between these The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
this individual recruited around 40 to Federal agencies, so there is needed ac- ator from Louisiana.
50 other U.S.-based researchers for his countability and transparency when it f
Chinese university by hosting events at comes to tracking the billions of dol-
Harvard and other schools in the UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST—
lars of taxpayer funds in grant money
United States. S. 3608
that is being distributed.
This is a big deal, and it needs to We have worked closely with NSF, Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I want
stop. I commend the Assistant Attor- NIH, Department of Energy, and others to talk for a few minutes about the
ney General for National Security, on this important piece of legislation. Coronavirus Relief Fund Flexibility for
John Demers, for his work on this and State and Local Government Act. Be-
They agree it is important. It allows
other cases and also U.S. Attorney Jus- fore I get to my motion, I just want to
the State Department to deny visas to
tin Herdman of the Northern District make a couple of points.
foreign researchers who are seeking to
of Ohio, FBI Special Agent in Charge Point 1, as you know, we have passed
access sensitive U.S. research when
Eric Smith, and all the members of four bills dealing with the pool of mis-
there is a threat to our economic or
their team for their work on this ery America and the world find them-
our national security. This may sur-
Cleveland Clinic case. selves in with respect to the
Again, these cases are all positive prise you, but they can’t do that now.
Career Foreign Service officers and em- coronavirus. We have spent a breath-
steps in the right direction, but the
ployees of the State Department have taking amount of money. I never imag-
problem, as you might notice, is that
begged us for that authority. ined that I would vote for bills of the
none of these criminal charges and ar-
Our bill also requires research insti- magnitude that I have voted for, but
rests were actually based on partici-
tutions to have safeguards in place to we all did what we had to do.
pating in a Thousand Talents program
prohibit unauthorized access to sen- If you add up the four bills, we have
or even hiding that from the U.S. Gov-
sitive research because we found that spent $3 trillion so far. I have expressed
ernment research institutions or uni-
to be a serious problem. And our bill it this way before, but I am going to
versities. The criminal charges and ar-
ensures transparency by requiring uni- keep doing it because it is just a
rests were all for other crimes, like
versities to report any foreign gift of breathtaking amount of money: $3 tril-
perjury, wire fraud, and tax evasion.
$50,000 or more, and it empowers the lion is 3–0-0–0-0–0-0–0-0–0-0–0-0 taxpayer
That is because, amazingly, failing to
Department of Education to fine uni- dollars. We may have to spend another
disclose on a grant application to re-
ceive U.S.-taxpayer funds that you are versities that repeatedly fail to dis- $3 trillion.
close these gifts. As you know, we set up some facili-
receiving compensation—clear conflict
Right now, our No. 1 priority is and ties at the Federal Reserve. They are
of interest—from a foreign government
and giving them your research is not should be solving the coronavirus cri- called 13(3) facilities, through which
currently a crime. That needs to sis. I get that. By the way, the FBI the Federal Reserve is loaning money
change. sent a notice around last week to uni- to American businesses to try to keep
One example: The Emory University versities and research institutions say- them afloat after the government shut
professor, according to the law, only ing: Watch out because there are actu- down the American economy.
committed tax fraud, while the Arkan- ally Chinese hackers trying to get your The Federal Reserve cannot lose
sas professor only committed wire research on coronavirus. It just hap- money. I am not suggesting that all $3
fraud. The fact that these are tech- pened last week. trillion that the Federal Reserve ends
nically only financial crimes show that I have to tell you that in the context up loaning out will remain unpaid. I
we are still just nibbling around the of this crisis, we have to reevaluate hope not. But for the portion that does
edges of this problem. It is time for us how we do business with China. We go into default, we are going to have to
to get at the underlying flaw in our re- have to look at this with fresh eyes and appropriate money to cover those
search enterprise of talent programs realize that in many areas China has losses. We already appropriated $450
enticing researchers here in the United not been playing by the same set of billion, but if the losses go higher, we
States to steal for other countries. We rules as the rest of the world. have to cover them.
are going to need targeted legislation We talked about that earlier, with re- We have spent $3 trillion for certain
that will take direct action against gard to trade and with regard to re- and, potentially, we are going to have
this practice, and that is exactly what porting on the coronavirus. I think in a to spend another $3 trillion. It is a
we have done. fair and straightforward manner, we staggering amount of money. The en-
Along with a group of colleagues, in- have to lead in insisting that there be tire U.S. economy, the greatest econ-
cluding Democrat TOM CARPER, the a level playing field, whether it is the omy in all of human history, to put
ranking member of the Permanent WHO or whether it is transparency things in context, is $21 trillion a year.
Subcommittee on Investigations, we with coronavirus or trade policy or That is how much we produce a year if
are introducing the Safeguarding how research is acquired. you add up all the goods and services
American Innovation Act, which is My hope is that our PSI report and that we, as Americans, produce.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
going to build on the recommendations the legislation we are introducing will As you know, Speaker PELOSI has in-
made in our PSI report and address let us reset the way we conduct our re- troduced yet another bill, a fifth bill.
some of these root causes of the ongo- search. Our goal should be to continue The House has passed it. It was on a
ing IP theft that is currently going on. to reward those who come to our shores party-line vote. I think one Republican
First and foremost, our bill is going and discover new breakthroughs in voted for the bill. A number of Demo-
to help the Department of Justice go science and technology. We want that. crats voted against it. It was a close
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S2542 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 20, 2020
vote, but the House passed it at Speak- in a pejorative sense. If she takes out ited Florida, it was a mess, and he
er PELOSI’s suggestion. It would cost all the goodies that remake Western cleaned it up.
another $3 trillion. civilization in her bill, I am not sure So when he and others make the
I have to tell you, when I first heard that the leftwing of her party in the point that we shouldn’t bail out mis-
about the bill and after I looked at the House is going to vote for it. What I am managed States, I agree with that. But
bill, I was very, very surprised. I was saying is, for better or worse, I am not I can’t divorce myself from the fact
shocked. I don’t mean to overstate my sure there is going to be a fifth bill. that every State—mismanaged, well
case. I didn’t faint or anything, but That is point 2. managed, medium managed, poorly
maybe it would be fair to say that my Point 3, let me go back to our managed—has revenue losses as a re-
emotions were a cross between surprise CARES Act. In our CARES Act, we sult of the coronavirus. That doesn’t
and shocked. spent an enormous amount of money to mean that they shouldn’t cut their
It is not a coronavirus bill. It is a help States and to help local govern- budgets. That doesn’t mean that they
‘‘remake American society’’ bill. For ments. We gave $150 billion directly to shouldn’t scrub their budgets. We
one thing, it would cost another $3 tril- States and cities to combat the ought to do it at the Federal level.
lion. I am not going to recite the zeros coronavirus. We appropriated extra That will happen, too, when donkeys
again, but $3 trillion is $3,000 billion on money on top of that for public fly. We expect our friends at the State
top of the money we have already schools. We appropriated extra money level and at the local level to scrub
spent. It really would remake Amer- on top of that $150 billion for univer- their budgets, but I still think they are
ican society. sities. We appropriated extra money on going to come up short. I worry that if
The Speaker included provisions top of all that for our hospitals, many they do that and they have to start
about immigration laws. A lot of tax- of which are public. laying off first responders, it is going
payer money would be given to people We appropriated extra money on top to hurt the recovery.
who are in our country illegally. It of all of that to give States extra Med- Now, not everybody agrees with what
would let Federal prisoners go free. It icaid money. My State received $1.8 I have just said, and not everybody
would expand the Affordable Care Act, billion for State and local government, agrees with Senator SCOTT’s position.
which even President Obama calls $300 million for public schools, $200 mil- Reasonable people disagree sometimes.
Obamacare. I remember when lion for universities, over $600 million But this much I also know: Whether
ObamaCare passed. We were promised— and climbing for our hospitals, and you agree or disagree for the next 6
President Obama promised—that if you extra Medicaid money. It is about $3.5 months, Senator SCOTT is not going to
pass this bill, health insurance will be billion in Louisiana. That is a lot of convince, for example, Governor
cheaper, and it will be more accessible, money along the bayou. Cuomo of New York to adopt his posi-
and your life will be better. None of I want to dissuade people who say we tion. I am pretty confident of that. And
those things have any resemblance to haven’t done anything for State and over the next 6 months, Governor
reality. local government. We have. We have Cuomo is not going to convince—I
Of course, I could go on about Speak- done a lot. That is point 3. know this—Senator SCOTT to adopt his
er PELOSI’s legislation. It is not going Point 4, I am not guaranteeing it is position. In the meantime, we have a
to pass the Senate. I suspect she knows my final point, but I intend it to be. problem to deal with.
that. What is going to happen next in Point 4, the $1.8 billion that we gave I will make one final point. Some of
this opera? Well, if past is prologue, State and local government has re- my colleagues have said: KENNEDY, we
the majority leader and the minority strictions. It can only be spent com- don’t need your bill because the Treas-
leader in the Senate and the majority bating the coronavirus. If you don’t ury Department through the Secretary
leader in the House and the Speaker spend it combating the coronavirus, of Treasury has issued directives say-
and Secretary Mnuchin—all of whom I you are supposed to give it back. That ing that the money can be used for
have respect for—will go off and they will happen when donkeys fly. We will first responders.
will negotiate a deal, and then they never see that money again. It is spent, Now, look, I am a big Secretary
will come back and they will present it for better or worse. And I voted for the Mnuchin fan. I think he has been a
to the Senate and the House. I could be bill. I don’t think any fairminded per- rockstar through this process, but I
wrong, of course. I am in labor, not son can deny the fact—and I think it is don’t understand this concept of a di-
management. I could be wrong, of a fact—that as a result of the rective. I know what a rule is. I know
course, but the bill will not go through coronavirus, just as the Federal Gov- what a regulation is. I know what due
regular order. It will never be consid- ernment has had and will have revenue process is. I know what the Adminis-
ered by committee. We probably will shortfalls, so will State governments trative Procedure Act is, and I don’t
not be allowed to amend the bill be- and so will cities. People haven’t been think a directive fits into those cat-
cause a deal has been made. It will be paying sales tax because they haven’t egories.
‘‘take it or leave it.’’ been buying stuff. People haven’t been I also know that a Secretary of a de-
Now, if past is prologue, given the paying income tax at the State and partment, no matter how bright and
circumstances, people will moan and local levels because they haven’t been capable and talented he may be, cannot
groan, but they will vote for the bill, working. I wish that weren’t the case, change an act of Congress, and the
whether they know what is in it or not, but it is a fact. CARES Act doesn’t say a dadgum thing
whether they were included in the dis- My bill would say to those States and about using this money for first re-
cussions or not. That is what happened cities: You can use the $1.8 billion to sponders. If I am a Governor, I am
with the CARES Act. offset revenue shortfalls. Some of my going to worry that, if I do spend the
I am not sure that is going to happen colleagues for whom I have great re- money without an act of Congress, that
this time. I am not sure that this time spect—one of them is here tonight, someday: Knock, knock, knock on my
the non-negotiating Senators and Senator RICK SCOTT, and I mean that. door. Hello? I am from the government.
House Members are going to moo and He was a heck of a Governor. He is a In fact, I am an inspector general, and
follow their leaders into the chute like heck of a Senator. They have argued I want to see your books, and I have
cows. I think this time might be dif- that we shouldn’t give that flexibility looked at your books, and I want you
ferent. I am not saying that is a good because some States are mismanaged. I to give that money back. It has hap-
or bad thing. It depends on what the agree with that. I do. If I were King for pened before.
deal is. I am raising the possibility. a day and had a magic wand, I would The only way to give our friends in
Speaker PELOSI could eliminate take all of the many measures that State and local government security is
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
every other word in her bill and cut the then-Governor SCOTT implemented in for us to pass law, not for the bureauc-
price tag in half and I still don’t think Florida and say we need to do these in racy to tell us what we did. We know
that the Republicans of the Senate are every State. We can debate whether what we did.
going to support it. If she takes out all that would violate federalism, but I Look, I know that some on my side
the goodies for the leftwing—the left watched him carefully as Governor. He of the aisle disagree with me, and I
leftwing—of her party—I don’t use that was a great Governor. When he inher- have learned a little bit in 31⁄2 years. I
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May 20, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2543
have learned two things mostly. I spective, Congress has spent $9,000 for mismanaging Illinois taxpayer dollars.
learned this the first week: Everybody every American—$9,000 for every Amer- The Chicago Tribune said:
up here who smiles at you is not your ican. Preparing for the next recession and the
friend. And, No. 2, I have learned up At some point, we need to start next unanticipated crisis—think pandemic—
here you have got to watch what peo- thinking about the impact this spend- is a huge component of leadership. So when
ple do, not what they say. ing will have on the future of our chil- our politicians whimper that they’re helpless
This bill is not coming to the floor of in the face of disaster, remember: They and
dren and our grandchildren and how we
their forebears had decades in which to pre-
the U.S. Senate anytime soon. I know are impacting our ability to fund our pare for whatever would surprise them. In-
that. I get it. I am just saying it military and our safety nets like Social stead they chose to borrow more money,
should. I am saying it if it does—if it Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. spend on new programs and watch their pen-
does—it will get 90 votes. I am saying, Again, I know everyone here, includ- sion indebtedness sore.
finally, that these revenue losses are ing my colleague from Louisiana, American families make responsible
real. Managed, mismanaged—we can wants to help their State. I want to budgetary decisions every day. Suc-
debate that forever. They are real, and help States too, which is why I support cessful companies make responsible
we have got to get this economy up and continuing the existing restrictions budget decisions every day. Well-man-
going again. If States are laying off tied to the coronavirus relief fund that aged States like Florida have done it
teachers and first responders and po- were included in the CARES Act to for years. It is time for New York, Illi-
licemen and firemen and people at pub- make sure this spending is for nois, and California to do the same.
lic hospitals or raising taxes, it is coronavirus relief and response. Re- Let’s look at—and my colleague said
going to be that much harder. That is gardless of whether we are removing some of this: We have given States $150
why we ought to pass my bill. existing guardrails or talking about billion—billion—for their COVID ex-
It doesn’t spend a single, solitary completely new funding, both actions penses.
new penny—no new money. It just would result in a blank-check bailout Now, to put that in perspective, with
gives Governors and mayors a little for States. hurricanes, we don’t give 100 percent.
more flexibility. Let’s remember, we are talking about We had four major hurricanes while I
For that reason, I have to read this $150 billion. To put that in perspective, was Governor. The Federal Govern-
long script. the median income for a worker in ment, one, did not cover all the ex-
Mr. President, I ask unanimous con- Florida is approximately $30,000; $150 pense of the hurricane and did not
sent that, at a time to be determined billion will pay the total annual in- cover any budget shortfalls I had, any
by the majority leader in consultation come for more than 5 million Florid- lost revenues I had, which I had when
with the Democratic leader, the Com- ians. tourists couldn’t come during a hurri-
mittee on Appropriations be discharged And let’s talk about who we are bail- cane and after.
from further consideration of S. 3608 ing out here: Not those on unemploy- Five hundred billion dollars in short-
and the Senate proceed to its imme- ment, we took care of them in the term loan opportunities for municipal
diate consideration; I further ask unan- CARES Act; not our teachers, we took governments, $45 billion in FEMA dis-
imous consent that there be 2 hours of care of them in the CARES Act; not aster funds, $30 billion for education,
debate, equally divided between the our healthcare workers, we took care and we have no earthly idea whether
proponents and the opponents of the of them in the CARES Act. education costs have gone down or
bill, and that upon the use or yielding We are bailing out liberal politicians gone up. I would assume education
back of that time, the Kennedy sub- who cannot live within their means, costs have gone down; $34 billion for
stitute amendment No. 1581 be consid- and now, we are asking Floridians to mass transit community grants; $270
ered and agreed to; that the bill, as pay for the incompetency of Governors billion for emergency appropriations;
amended, be considered read a third like Andrew Cuomo. We know Cali- $50 billion for Medicaid, and, again, we
time, and that the Senate vote on pas- fornia, New York, and Illinois have no haven’t seen it, but I would assume our
sage of the bill, as amended, with a 60 problem using hard-earned taxpayer Medicaid costs so far have gone down.
affirmative vote threshold for passage dollars to fund their liberal priorities Then on top of it, through the small
with no intervening action or debate; and to backfill their budget shortfalls business relief, individual checks, un-
finally, if passed, the motion to recon- and solve their longstanding fiscal employment, we have given our States
sider be considered made and laid upon problems. But it is not fair to the citi- another $1.3 trillion.
the table. zens of States like Florida, where we Now, put that in perspective, their
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there made the hard choices to put our State annual revenues, not including Federal
objection? on a financially secure path. dollars, is a little over $1 trillion a
The Senator from Florida. The Wall Street Journal laid it out year, so look at what we have already
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, clearly for us this week when they spent. So as you can see from this
reserving the right to object. said: chart, Congress has already allocated
The first thing I want to do is I want Democrats in Albany are claiming to be billions in direct and indirect aid to
to thank my colleague from Louisiana victims of events that are out of their con- States and localities.
for the kind words about my tenure as trol. But they have increased annual spend- Total direct funding from the Federal
Governor and tell him I respect and ad- ing by $43 billion since 2010—about $570,000 Government exceeds $1 trillion dol-
mire his passion for being a U.S. Sen- for each additional person. Florida’s annual lars—trillion. Even this doesn’t begin
ator and his passion for the wonderful budget has increased by $28 billion while its to account for another $1.3 trillion in
State of Louisiana, which is a wonder- population has grown by 2.7 million—a indirect assistance to small businesses,
ful State. $10,400 increase per new resident.
New York has a top state-and-local tax
individuals, and increased unemploy-
As we all know, this is a challenging rate of 12.7 percent, while Florida has no in- ment benefits to families in all of our
time for every level of government. come tax. Yet New York has a growing budg- States.
This crisis was unprecedented, and et deficit, while Mr. SCOTT, as Governor of These numbers, as my colleague has
Congress absolutely took bold action Florida, inherited a large deficit but built a said, are staggering, what we have al-
to stem the spread of the virus and surplus and paid down State debt. The dif- ready spent. We have to get serious
work to save our economy. But if we ference is spending. about how we are spending taxpayer
are not careful, Congress will create The Wall Street Journal concluded: money and the fact that this year’s
another equally devastating crisis The policy question is why taxpayers in Federal budget deficit will be the larg-
down the road, a crisis of our own mak- Florida and other well-managed States est in the history of our Nation.
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
ing. should pay higher taxes to rescue an Albany While it may be tempting and easy to
Our national debt and deficits—al- political class that refuses to restrain its tax believe that removing the restrictions
ready at unsustainable levels—have and spend governance . . . Mr. Scott is right. on the coronavirus relief fund will sat-
skyrocketed as Congress has spent, as The Wall Street Journal is right, so isfy States looking for a bailout, I am
my colleague said, almost $3 trillion to is the Chicago Tribune, which called afraid that we are all mistaken. It will
address this crisis. To put that in per- out its own State leaders this week for never be enough. These funds are still
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S2544 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 20, 2020
needed, one, for coronavirus relief, and, This crisis is unlike anything we have worked a lot in, and he is talking
unfortunately, many States have not have ever seen. I mean, it has dev- about the increase he has seen in do-
been shy about their desire for hun- astated so many families. It has turned mestic violence and human trafficking
dreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer our lives upside down. It has put an and the calls that have increased, the
bailouts for their liberal agendas. enormous strain on our healthcare sys- number of suicides.
I am not going to let this happen. I tem; and our frontline healthcare This is all troubling. This kind of a
think about this in the context of my workers, our researchers, our first re- crisis, therefore, requires swift and de-
seven grandchildren. We cannot saddle sponders are working around the clock cisive action to ensure that we have
them and children like them all across to help patients and look for treat- got the resources and the help to be
our great country with mountains of ments. For the past couple of months, able to respond to both the healthcare
debt. Right now, the debt stands at every American has been asked to do crisis, which we have to address on the
over $77,000 per American. his or her part through social coronavirus front, but also on the eco-
Now, think about that for a second. distancing, through doing smart things nomic and the broader societal issues
The median income for Americans is like wearing masks, like being sure we talked about here and how it im-
about $33,000, and we already have put that we are doing all we can within our pacts us and the rest of our lives. It is
them on the hook for $77,000—$9,000 home, within our workplace, and out in a tough balance.
just with what we have done this year. public to stop the spread of the dan- I think, for the most part, Congress
Now, to put that in perspective, after gerous virus. and the Trump administration have
the first 200 years of this country’s ex- I think these have helped. I think done that. They have responded swiftly
istence, national debt per person was these measures have made a difference, and correctly with major new legisla-
around $3—$3, after 200 years—and now, and I think we are in a better place by tion. We came together here in Con-
we are at $77,000. most metrics on the public health dan- gress, on a bipartisan basis, to pass leg-
I think about that in the context of a ger. I just saw the numbers from Ohio islation already that has addressed the
Social Security recipient like my a moment ago here, and we have fewer healthcare crisis the virus has caused.
mom. How are we helping people like new positive cases today than we have We have also passed legislation that
my mom when we run multiple tril- had over the past week or the past few has helped the economic crisis caused
lion-dollar deficits and grow our na- weeks on average, and so we are begin- by government at all levels effectively
tional debt to an excess of $26 trillion? ning to make progress, but it has come pumping the brakes on the economy.
What happens to those living on fixed at an enormous cost to our economy, The legislation that has been en-
incomes when our deficits and national and I would say even at an enormous acted, of course, isn’t perfect. It is
debt cause high inflation? cost to our culture and our society. thousands of pages, and it is now four
I grew up in a poor family in public Since the crisis began a couple of different bills that have been passed al-
housing. My mom worked three jobs months ago, more than 36 million ready. I think it was necessary for us
and my parents—my adopted dad and Americans have lost their jobs or filed to act quickly, in a unified manner,
my mom—were constantly struggling for unemployment. Some estimates and on a bipartisan basis to get stuff
for work. Even though my mom had no show that we could potentially hit a 25- done around here. By the way, that bi-
money, she told me: You are the percent unemployment rate before this partisanship has been a welcome
luckiest kid alive because you grew up is over. I think we probably will. By change because that is not typical for
in this country. She was optimistic, the way, that would match the worst of this place.
and she was hopeful. She told us that our country’s unemployment that we So far, on each of the 4 pieces of leg-
we were blessed because God and our have ever seen, and that would be dur- islation we passed to respond to the
Founders created the greatest country ing the Great Depression. That is challenges of this pandemic, an aver-
ever, where anything was possible. where we are headed. age of 500 of the 535 Members of both
To take away the same opportunities Some small businesses have had to the House and Senate have voted in
I had to live the American Dream from close their doors; others are teetering favor of passage. That is how bipar-
our children and grandchildren would right on the brink of bankruptcy. Hos- tisan it has been. Five hundred of the
not only be a political failure, it would pitals have been closed for needed pro- 535, on average, have voted yes on
be an abdication of our moral responsi- cedures like mammograms and cancer these 4 pieces of legislation.
bility. screenings. More are being missed These are not small bills. Combined,
It is time we make the hard choices every day, and basic healthcare is at the funds provided by these first four
to put our Nation on a path to recov- risk. So that is one consequence that rescue packages total about $2.8 tril-
ery—recovery from this virus, from the we don’t always focus on, but our lion. That is $2.8 trillion—$2,800 billion.
economic devastation it brought with healthcare system has had to respond Phase 3 of the CARES Act alone—the
it, and the fiscal calamity that decades to the coronavirus appropriately. most recent one we passed—is about
of politicians have ignored. But there is a balance here, and the $2.2 trillion in resources. That is an un-
I hope my colleagues will join me in result has been we have had other precedented amount of spending. It has
this fight to keep our country’s future healthcare needs that have gone never been done before. It has certainly
bright. To do that, we have to make unmet. never been done in such a short period
hard choices; we have to be fiscally re- Without that revenue, by the way, of time.
sponsible. from surgeries—so-called elective sur- Now Congress is talking about a fifth
Mr. President, I therefore respect- geries, although some aren’t very elec- rescue package. The fifth rescue pack-
fully object. tive, like they are necessary surgeries age that is being talked about—it has
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- for a back or a knee or something like already passed the House of Represent-
tion is heard. that—many hospitals now are in very atives. It is being talked about even
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- deep financial trouble because that is though—and this might surprise you—
ator from Ohio. how they make most of their money. only about half of the $2.8 trillion in
f Colleges and universities, of course, the first four packages has actually
are losing revenue, and children are been disbursed. Think about that. Only
CORONAVIRUS out of school, which is not a good thing about half of the money in the first
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I am because our kids, many of whom are four legislative projects that we have
here on the floor to talk about how not able to get the same help at home undertaken here has actually gone out
Congress can do a better job in re- that they can get at school are falling the door to the intended recipients. Yet
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
sponding to the coronavirus pandemic behind. we are talking about another package.
that has gripped our country. We have also got to acknowledge the For example, the Paycheck Protec-
I just thought that debate was great, impacts of isolation on people’s mental tion Program to help small businesses
something we just heard a moment ago health, on substance abuse. I talked to stay afloat still has about 25 percent of
about what we should do going for- an individual earlier today who focuses its original capacity that hasn’t gone
ward. a lot on human trafficking, an area I out, about $160 billion. Well below half
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