Congressional Record — Senate, S2589 (May 21, 2020)
Summary
Page S2589 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for May 21, 2020, in interleaved columns, with several floor statements. A speaker describes unsustainable groundwater pumping in a valley that has reduced the Friant-Kern Canal's ability to deliver water, with more than 50 small, rural or disadvantaged communities relying on groundwater, and asks colleagues to support a bill. Another speaker says the economic data behind the paycheck program reflects real businesses, naming Larry Geaghan, who owns and runs a craft business. A further statement says journalists and activists who spoke up about the virus in China are disappearing.
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“Congressional Record — Senate, S2589 (May 21, 2020).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-05-21-crec-2020-05-21-pt1-pgs2589-933e224868/
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May 21, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S2589
and more than 50 small, rural, or dis- these farmers and communities reliant remains intact so that the workforce
advantaged communities who rely en- of the agricultural economy a fighting can come back to work as soon as pos-
tirely on groundwater for their house- chance to keep their lands in produc- sible.
hold water supplies. tion. It is important, as we discuss the
But unsustainable groundwater I hope my colleagues will join me in economic data behind the PPP, to re-
pumping in the valley has reduced the support of this bill. I yield the floor. member that these are real businesses
Friant-Kern Canal’s ability to deliver with real people—people like Larry
water to all who need it. Land ele- By Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. Geaghan, who owns and runs a craft
vation subsidence caused by over- CARDIN, Ms. COLLINS, Mrs. SHA- brewery and pub in Bangor, ME. Larry
pumping means that not all of the sup- HEEN, and Mr. DURBIN): calls the PPP a ‘‘lifeline bill’’ that has
plies stored at Friant Dam can be con- S. 3833. A bill to extend the loan for- made all the difference in helping him
veyed through the canal. In some giveness period for the paycheck pro- to bring back 25 of his employees and
areas, the canal can carry only 40 per- tection program, and for other pur- reopen for takeout business.
cent of what it is designed to deliver. poses; read the first time. Another Maine borrower—the owner
In 2017, a very wet year in which we Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise of a small marina—told me that the
should have been banking as much today to introduce, with my colleagues PPP was exactly what he needed at ex-
flood water as possible, the Friant- Senator RUBIO, CARDIN, and SHAHEEN, actly the right time. With the PPP,
Kern Canal couldn’t deliver an addi- legislation to strengthen the Paycheck this marina has been able to keep all of
tional 300,000 acre-feet of water that it Protection Program, which has proven its employees on payroll, and because
would have been able to convey had its to be such an important lifeline to they weren’t worried about whether
capacity not been limited by subsid- America’s small businesses and their they would have a paycheck, these em-
ence. This significant amount of water employees during this pandemic. ployees continued spending as they
would have been destined for ground- Senators RUBIO, CARDIN, SHAHEEN, normally would—exactly what our
water recharge efforts in the south San and I worked together as part of the Maine economy needs.
Joaquin Valley, where the impacts of Small Business Task Force to create Another example of a small business
reduced water deliveries, water quality this program during the development helped by the PPP is the Frog & Turtle
issues and groundwater regulation are of the CARES Act 2 months ago. Gastro Pub in Westbrook, ME. This
expected to be most severe. Since its launch in early April, this pub just completed an extensive ren-
California Aqueduct and Delta program has provided forgivable loans ovation and is hoping to reopen June 1,
Mendota Canal: The California Aque- totaling more than $510 billion to ap- the first day that sit-down dining serv-
duct serves more than 27 million people proximately 4.3 million small employ- ice will be allowed again in the State
in Southern California and the Silicon ers across the country. The over- of Maine.
Valley and more than 750,000 acres of whelming majority of borrowers are The owner of this pub wrote to me to
the Nation’s most productive farmland. very small employers. say that the ‘‘PPP program allowed us
But despite its name, much of the Cali- In phase 1 of the program, the aver- to bring back our 15 employees and sus-
fornia Aqueduct is owned by the Fed- age PPP loan size nationally was tain our business during these trying
eral Government and serves portions of $206,000. That translates to an average conditions,’’ and that taking a PPP
Silicon Valley, small towns and com- employer size of just 18 employees. As loan was the ‘‘right decision’’ for his
munities in the northern San Joaquin more loans have been approved in employees and for his small restaurant.
Valley, and farms from Firebaugh to phase 2, the average loan size nation- When we were initially developing
Kettleman City. The aqueduct rep- ally has dropped to $118,000, suggesting the Paycheck Protection Program, we
resents a successful 70–year partner- an average business size of about 10 had no idea how long the pandemic
ship between the Federal Government employees. would last. We did not know that there
and the State of California. In Maine, the average loan size is
In recent years, particularly recent would be virtually universal economic
even smaller, with borrowers having an shutdowns, nor did we know how each
drought years, the California Aqueduct estimated 12 employees in phase 1 and
has subsided. It has lost as much as 20 State would respond to outbreaks in
just three employees in phase 2. Ac- their communities. The bipartisan bill
percent of its capacity to move water
cording to the U.S. Census Bureau, that we are introducing today builds
to California’s families, farms, and
nearly two-thirds of the small busi- on the success of the PPP by providing
businesses. California is leading efforts
nesses in Maine have benefited from small businesses with additional flexi-
to repair the aqueduct and is working
PPP loans, and that is, I am pleased to bility so that they can more effectively
to provide its share of funding, but the
say, among the highest rates in the Na- use these funds in conjunction with
Federal Government will also need to
tion. State reopening plans.
pay its fair share. The bill I am intro-
In many ways, it is not a surprise. And, again, I would remind my col-
ducing today would authorize $200 mil-
Maine is the State of small businesses. leagues that when we were drafting the
lion toward restoring the California
Ninety percent of all the Maine busi- first version of this, it was before there
Aqueduct.
The Delta-Mendota Canal stretches nesses are considered to be small busi- were widespread orders shutting down
southward 117 miles from the C.W. Bill nesses, and they employ approximately restaurants and bars and retail estab-
Jones Pumping Plant along the west- 60 percent of all the workers in our lishments.
ern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, State. Overall, in Maine, the funds are Specifically, the Paycheck Protec-
parallel to the California Aqueduct. sufficient to support approximately tion Program Extension Act that we
The Delta-Mendota Canal has lost 15 200,000 jobs. are introducing today would do the fol-
percent of its conveyance capacity due Let’s think about this. That means lowing: It would allow borrowers the
to subsidence. The bill I am intro- that a business that is seeing receipts flexibility to use their 8 weeks of fund-
ducing today would authorize $200 mil- go down, is in a cash flow problem, li- ing at a point of their choosing within
lion toward restoring its full ability to quidity has dried up can still retain a 16-week period. Small businesses
convey floodwaters to farms needing to employees who otherwise would have could choose the period that they be-
recharge their groundwater, and to been laid off. In more cases, it has al- lieve works best to coincide with the
wildlife refuges for migratory water- lowed a business to call back fur- reopening of their local economy.
fowl. loughed employees. And even in cases So some small businesses took the
In conclusion, this bill responds to a where the business has been forced to loans very early, thinking that the
potential crisis that very possibly close its doors because of government shutdowns would not last or that the
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could cause the forced retirement of orders, it has kept alive the connection pandemic would be on the way down by
nearly one-sixth of the working farm- between the employer and his or her now, which it is in some States, thank
land in an area that produces half of employees. That is so important be- goodness, but not in all.
America’s fruits and vegetables. cause, as the economy does open back Well, this builds in more flexibility.
These are Federal canals, and the up, we want to make sure that link be- You would have 16 weeks to use the
Federal Government must help give tween the employer and the employees loan funds instead of 8.
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S2590 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 21, 2020
Second, it extends the deadline to Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I rise today Xu Zhangrun, a Chinese law professor
apply for a PPP loan from June 30 to to discuss the single most dangerous who spoke out about the Chinese Gov-
December 31 of this year. geopolitical threat that America faces ernment’s handling of the coronavirus
Again, this reflects the fact that now and through the next century— outbreak and criticized Chinese Presi-
shutdowns lasted far longer in vir- China. dent Xi, has been missing since Feb-
tually every State than we anticipated We are in the midst of a pandemic ruary.
when we were drafting the bill in that has infected over 5 million people Chen Qiushi, a Chinese lawyer and
March. and has claimed the lives of over 300,000 journalist who went to Wuhan to re-
Third, the bill would allow borrowers people worldwide. In the United States port on what was happening there, has
to use loan funds to purchase personal alone, the pandemic has infected over been missing since February 6. Fang
protective equipment for employees 1.5 million people and has claimed over Bin, a Wuhan businessman and jour-
and to pay for adaptive investments 93,000 lives. nalist who reported on the number of
needed to reopen safely. The coronavirus pandemic has shat- bodies piling up outside a Wuhan hos-
Adaptive investments could include tered the lives of husbands and wives, pital has been missing since February
modifications to a commercial prop- daughters, sons, granddaughters, 9. Li Zehua, a journalist who quit his
erty to comply with the social grandsons, brothers, sisters, nieces, job as a broadcaster for the Chinese
distancing regulations or guidelines nephews who have lost loved ones to Communist Party’s TV station so he
from the CDC. It could mean creating COVID–19. could report on what was happening in
or expanding a drive-through window It has also shattered the lives of Wuhan, went missing for 28 days and
service, erected physical barriers such those who have lost their jobs, their then was allowed to reappear in public
as we see at the grocery stores now, livelihoods, because of this disease. only after he praised the government’s
those plexiglass barriers or sneeze Thirty-eight million Americans are policy. Ren Zhiqiang, a real estate ty-
guards. It could mean installing ven- now out of work. The unemployment coon, who had been publicly critical of
tilation system upgrades or, as many rate is at the highest it has ever been President Xi’s handling of the
restaurants have mentioned to me, since the Great Depression, and entire coronavirus crisis, has been missing
they would like to add an outside patio industries are on the brink of collapse. since March 12. And Xu Zhiyong, a civil
for outdoor eating, which would allow Just 4 months ago, when the economy rights lawyer and a legal scholar who
them to maintain the same number of was booming, that was unthinkable. criticized President Xi on social media
customers, which they can’t do now, Where did this pandemic start? In for his handling of the coronavirus cri-
and abide by the social distancing China. Whether it began at the Huanan sis, has been on house arrest since Feb-
guidelines. wet market, a barbaric breeding ruary 13.
The bill would also clarify that the If the Chinese Government had acted
ground for disease, where snakes and
current lender hold-harmless provision responsibly and sought the advice of
turtles and puppies and kittens and
relates to all Small Business Adminis- public health professionals instead of
bats and other wildlife and farm ani-
tration and Treasury guidance regard- silencing them, there is a very real pos-
mals are killed and sold, or whether it
ing PPP loans. A lender that in good sibility the coronavirus could have
began due to substandard safety proto-
faith followed Federal guidance related been contained as a regional outbreak.
cols at the Wuhan Institute of Virol-
to PPP would not be later held liable if Instead, we are now dealing with a
ogy, where research into coronavirus
the guidance subsequently changed. deadly global pandemic.
I would like to give a shout-out to was being conducted and specifically These brave men and women are just
our small community banks and credit coronavirus from bats, we don’t yet the latest targets of the Chinese Com-
unions in the State of Maine. They know. munist Government’s relentless at-
have really stepped up to the plate for Here is what we do know: Not only tacks on truth-tellers, on freedom
this program to serve the small busi- did the coronavirus outbreak start in fighters, and on religious and ethnic
nesses, small employers in our State, China, the Chinese Communist Govern- minorities. The Chinese Government is
for the small nonprofits, and that has ment did everything it could to cover a 1984-style dystopian state, and it has
made a real difference to the employ- up the severity of the outbreak, from tracked and imprisoned millions of
ees of these establishments. lying about the origin of the virus to Uyghurs and other religious minori-
And finally, the bill would clarify how it is transmitted, to destroying ties. The Chinese Government is con-
that borrowers who have maintained evidence, to silencing the brave whis- stantly tracking the movements of
payroll for 8 weeks will not lose loan tleblower doctors and scientists and millions of people using cutting-edge
forgiveness due to the extension of the journalists and activists who tried to biotechnology and artificial intel-
program to 16 weeks. warn the world and prevent a global ligence, and it has put 1 million
Now, I would hope that that would be pandemic. Uyghurs, right now, into concentration
obvious, but we wanted to make sure It has been reported recently that be- camps.
that we were explicit. tween January 1 and April 4, the Chi- In 2017, I led a bipartisan resolution
The Paycheck Protection Program is nese Government charged 484 people in this body condemning the Chinese
the single most critical stimulus pro- with crimes because of comments they Communist Party’s persecution of reli-
gram protecting Main Street America made about the coronavirus pandemic. gious minorities, particularly Buddhist
from the economic devastation of the In Wuhan, eight doctors who sounded Tibetans. Last year, I introduced legis-
measures taken to control the spread the alarm about coronavirus in Decem- lation and urged the Trump adminis-
of COVID–19. The bill we are intro- ber were accused of spreading lies, ar- tration to blacklist Chinese companies
ducing today strengthens the PPP to rested, and forced to sign documents that are aiding the Chinese Govern-
reflect the evolving nature of this pan- claiming that they had made false ment in its persecution of the Uyghurs.
demic, the necessity of regulatory ac- statements that ‘‘disturbed the public The administration implemented the
tions that have caused a great deal of order.’’ recommendations in my legislation,
economic harm but were necessary to In reality, they were telling the and as a result those companies are
prevent the spread of the virus, and I truth. They were warning us. now banned from acquiring American
urge all of my colleagues to support One of those doctors, Dr. Ai Fen, has goods. That is a step in the right direc-
this bill. been missing since late March. An- tion.
other, Dr. Li Wenliang, has since died We have known that China’s surveil-
By Mr. CRUZ: from the coronavirus. Dr. Li lance state and censorship practices
S. 3835. A bill to prohibit the use of Wenliang’s wife was pregnant with the are a great threat to human rights, but
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funds for the production of films by couple’s second child when he died. what the pandemic has shown us is
United States companies that alter And it is not just Chinese doctors that China’s surveillance state and
content for screening in the People’s who are paying the price for telling the censorship is also a great threat to our
Republic of China, and for other pur- truth; journalists and activists who national security and to public health.
poses; to the Committee on Homeland courageously spoke up are disappearing Had those doctors, journalists, and ac-
Security and Governmental Affairs. too. tivists who were trying to tell the
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