HEALS Act (Cong. Rec., July 30, 2020)

Summary

This is page S4614 of the Congressional Record, Senate, July 30, 2020, with interleaved columns. Under the heading HEALS ACT, Mr. DURBIN says that the expiration of the Federal unemployment benefit leaves in doubt whether 30 million unemployed Americans will continue to receive support. He recalls that the vote was 96 to nothing for the CARES Act on March 26 and says the $600 weekly benefit is the equivalent of $15 an hour. He cites a Yale University economics report and says there are four unemployed people for every available job. A unanimous consent exchange about making Juneteenth a paid Federal holiday also appears, with Ms. SMITH and Mr. JOHNSON each stating an objection.

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S4614 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 30, 2020
with the same 36 to 49 or 96 to 109 days leaving in doubt whether 30 million un- leading into this, and your credit
off. I am just saying that it strikes me employed Americans will continue to cards. All of a sudden, $600 a week
as kind of strange that the only way we receive support from the Federal Gov- tends to evaporate.
can properly celebrate Juneteenth is ernment. How have we reached this What if you had health insurance
by giving Federal workers a paid day point? where you worked, and they laid you
off, paid by every other American tax- Well, in anticipation of this moment, off or fired you and said it was over,
payer, to the tune of $600 million a 10 weeks ago, the House of Representa- that they are closing down? If you
year. tives passed a rescue package that not tried to pick up the employer’s share of
So, again, what I would recommend only addressed unemployment benefits your health insurance, the average cost
is that modification: Declare but a score of other major concerns we is $1,700 a month. So $600 a week, $2,400
Juneteenth a national paid holiday but have at this moment in our history and a month, and $1,700 of it is just going to
remove one of their paid sick leaves. at this moment in our economy—10 keep the health insurance you had on
So I ask the Senator to modify his re- weeks ago. the job?
quest to include my amendment at the Since then, the burden has been on Then there is this abiding notion
desk; that the amendment be consid- the Republican leader in the U.S. Sen- that people who are unemployed just
ered and agreed to; that the bill, as ate, Senator MCCONNELL, of Kentucky, aren’t trying hard enough to get a job.
amended, be considered and read a to pick up the challenge and to produce They say: You know, the jobs are out
third time and passed; and that the his own approach, whatever it may be, there, and these folks are just saying: I
motions to reconsider be considered representing his caucus—the Repub- would rather not.
made and laid upon the table. lican caucus—on what to do with the Let’s take a look at the facts, and
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the economy and what to do with the pan- here are the facts. For every job that is
Senator so modify his proposal? demic. We stand today, preparing to available in America today, there are
The Senator from Minnesota. leave for 3 or 4 days, with nothing— four unemployed people. So it isn’t as
Ms. SMITH. Mr. President, reserving nothing. if it is the other way around, one job
the right to object, it is notable to me The situation is so bad that an indi- for every four unemployed people. It is
that we are gathered here today, while vidual Republican Senator decided to four unemployed people for each job
in Atlanta we are celebrating the life come to the floor and see if he could fix that is available.
of JOHN LEWIS. In this moment, I think it. I disagree with his approach com- And to the argument by some em-
it is worth remembering that when pletely, but I respect the fact that he is ployers that, well, I just can’t get them
Congress was debating whether to as frustrated as we all are waiting on to come back to work, it turns out that
make a Federal holiday honoring Mar- Senator MCCONNELL to come forward. employers are filling jobs faster now
tin Luther King, Jr.—Dr. King, in the Here is the reality of what we face than at any time. There are people pre-
1980s—people made this same kind of and the reality that Senator MCCON- pared to go back to work. I happen to
argument about its potential cost. NELL should face. Any solution coming believe that many of these people see
Ronald Reagan made this argument. out of the Senate needs to be bipar- returning to work as the right thing to
But President Reagan came around, tisan. Democrats and Republicans need do for them economically. Unemploy-
and he signed into law this bill, and to agree, and we did on March 26. The ment cannot last forever; they know
now that holiday is celebrated nation- vote was 96 to nothing for the CARES that. Secondly, it may not be meeting
wide as a day of reflection and rededi- Act—96 to nothing. I went home to Illi- their needs, as their family requires of
cation to progress toward racial jus- nois and people would come up to me them. Third, the job itself may be
tice. Just as the civil rights movement and say: I can’t believe you did that. I something they had invested part of
is honored as an important milestone didn’t think you agreed on anything in their life into and want to continue.
in the history of this country, so Washington, but you all agreed on one Fourth, there may be benefits in that
should be emancipation. thing, the most significant economic workplace that aren’t available, even
Just as the argument that it is too rescue package in the history of the through the unemployment system
expensive to give Federal employees a United States. available today. So I reject the no-
day off was wrong regarding Martin Well, we were challenged to do it tion—this urban legend—that $600 a
Luther King Day, it is wrong for again, and we have failed miserably in week is so much that people are turn-
Juneteenth. And just as Ronald Reagan the Senate. Under the current leader- ing down the opportunity to go back to
got on the right side of history, I think ship with a Republican majority, they work. It is not an urban legend; it is an
that we will get on the right side of cannot produce a bill to bring to con- urban lie.
history, and we will finally have a full ference or at least to a conference Yale University just came out with a
holiday to commemorate Juneteenth, table between the House and the Sen- report from their economics depart-
not as a holiday with an asterisk, not ate. ment this week. I put it into the
as a half holiday, but as a full holiday; I would like to address directly some RECORD yesterday. You can find it, if
therefore, I object to this modification. of the arguments being made. Here is you wish. It proves the point I just
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- one that you have heard over and over. made. They looked at the statistics.
tion is heard. I think it is an urban legend, and I This is just not a viable complaint
Is there objection to the original re- want to say a word about it. Here is against the unemployment system.
quest? how it goes: $600 a week? At $600 a What Senator MCCONNELL has led us
The Senator from Wisconsin. week, at that level, individuals will not to is this moment, where, when we re-
Mr. JOHNSON. I object. even take a job. They will sit home on turn next week, there will be no Fed-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- the couch and watch another round of eral unemployment benefit—none. It
tion is heard. Netflix, binging, and they will not even will have expired. What do we say to
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- want to go back to work. How many these millions of family members who
ator from Illinois. times have you heard that $600 is just are struggling at this moment? Try
HEALS ACT too much money? I can tell you that harder. Go take anything. That is what
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, if you $600 is the equivalent of $15 an hour, the future is for you.
want to know what is wrong with which many of us believe is at least a I don’t believe that. I think we are a
Washington, take a snapshot of this minimum living wage. It is certainly better nation than that.
day. Take a snapshot of where we stand not a luxury salary for anyone. If you Facing the worst public health crisis
at this moment. have lost your job, that $600 Federal that we have seen in a century, real-

dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
In the midst of the worst health cri- check, together with whatever the izing what it has done to each and
sis in American history in 100 years State sends your way, has to pay for a every one of our lives and families, un-
and in the midst of the worst economic lot of things: rent, mortgage, car pay- derstanding how devastating it must be
setback in 75 years, we have reached ments, utilities—did I mention health to lose a job in the midst of this, that
the point in the U.S. Senate where we insurance?—food, clothing for the kids, sometimes people for the first time
are going to adjourn until next week, the debts you have already incurred aren’t working, realizing how desperate

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July 30, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4615
these families are to keep things to- so people understand that even Trump Right now, we are actually giving an
gether, are we really going to walk Republicans need to take into consider- unfair and unnecessary advantage to
away from them? I think it is time for ation what they are doing to the people the large, sometimes foreign-owned,
Senator MCCONNELL to sit down with around them. That, to me, is the only meat processing facilities.
the Democratic leaders. There is no al- way to get out of this mess and do it These large facilities typically pur-
ternative to this. quickly. Otherwise, we are going to sue licensing through the USDA Fed-
Steve Mnuchin, the wandering mes- face this more. eral meat inspection process, which
senger on Capitol Hill, can do his job— We should have done better. By this gives them a certification allowing
and I wish him well—but it is no re- time, we should have had an alter- them to sell across all State lines.
placement for grown-ups to sit at the native to what the House did 10 weeks However, smaller processors that are
same table, to sit down and work out a ago. We do not. By next week, we have trying to inject competition into a
compromise. We did on March 26. We to do it. market which is dominated by pri-
can do it again. We need to do it for I will just say flat out that there is marily big players, typically pursue
these families. no point in considering going home at State-inspected certifications, which,
I will tell you something else. When the end of next week unless we have unfortunately, today, do not allow
we get reports about the state of the solved this problem. There is no ex- them to sell meat across State lines.
economy—and I have heard numbers cuse. The irony is that the State processors
back and forth—that on an annualized I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- that are out there also need to be fed-
basis it is contracting from 29 percent erally approved to meet or exceed
to 33 percent, that is a big amount. It ator for South Dakota.
NEW MARKETS FOR STATE-INSPECTED MEAT AND
these Federal inspection standards. So
is one out of three businesses. A third our smaller meat processors are
POULTRY ACT
of the goods and services in this coun- achieving a certification of equal or
Mr. ROUNDS. Mr. President, I rise
try—think about that—going away and higher standards but are given a li-
today to urge the Senate to include the
disappearing. We have already seen evi- cense with less ability to market their
New Markets for State-Inspected Meat
dence of that. product. They have to stay within the
What do you do to put life back into and Poultry Act in a COVID–19 re-
sponse legislation that we are consid- boundaries of the State in which they
an economy? Don’t take my word for are produced.
ering during this work period.
it. Listen to the Chairman of the Fed- In my hometown of Fort Pierre, SD,
This is legislation I have worked on
eral Reserve, Jerome Powell. He said it a beef processing company was an-
with my colleague Senator ANGUS KING
again yesterday: We have to deal with of Maine for several years, long before nounced to be opening in May of this
this pandemic; that means more test- COVID–19 disrupted the safety and se- year, 2020. This is the kind of American
ing. curity of the American food supply. It production we want to see more of. But
The Republican proposal that is
has bipartisan support. if this processor chooses to pursue a
floating here and has not been offered, COVID–19 revealed the cracks in mul- State-inspected meat license instead of
is $26 billion more in testing. We are at tiple industries—our food supply, phar- a USDA license, they will not be able
$100 billion. I think we need at least maceuticals, defense, and manufac- to sell across State lines, even though
$100 billion. Why do we need it? So it is turing in general. Every American pays South Dakota’s meat poultry inspec-
generally available, easily available to the price for foreign reliance—every tion program has standards that meet
every person and family in America; so American. This is a moment in history or exceed Federal inspection standards.
that it is affordable—and I hope that when we can rebuild what ‘‘American This is unacceptable and is harming
means free—and, most importantly, so made’’ and what ‘‘made America our small American processors’ ability
that it is timely. great’’ really means in the first place. to compete fairly.
To people who say, well, I took a That, of course, is American produc-
test, I ask: How long did it take to get This is why we should include the
tion and innovation across all indus- New Markets for State-Inspected Meat
the results on your COVID–19 test? tries.
They say: Oh, 6 days, 7 days. That is and Poultry Act in our next COVID–19
As consumers of food—and that is ev- relief legislation.
not a timely test that you can use to erybody, Republican and Democrat
make a plan. It is a piece of medical In recent months, partially due to
alike, Independents included—we
data. It is a piece of history. If we are the toll the COVID–19 pandemic has
should demand that we have this pro-
going to hope to open this economy in had on our meat processing facilities,
duction capacity in the United States.
a responsible way, to get to contact we have seen renewed support for this
Heavy reliance on foreign production
tracing that really works, if we hope to particular effort. In the Senate, we now
and manufacturing is a mistake, and
open our schools so they are safe for have 12 cosponsors from both sides of
America needs to see a renaissance of
the kids and the teachers and the ad- American production and ingenuity. the aisle. Additionally, there was com-
ministrators and everyone else, we Just as an example, on July 29 of this panion legislation which was intro-
need testing available, and we need a year, it was announced that JBS, a duced in the House of Representatives
system of testing that is timely. Brazilian-owned company, intends to by Representative LIZ CHENEY of Wyo-
We have failed in addressing this pan- acquire the Mountain States Rosen ming.
demic. Why do I say that? It sounds lamb plant in Greeley, CO. It has been I would like to explain what our leg-
like an outrageous political statement. reported that JBS will grind ham- islation does and why it is so impor-
Because the United States has 5 per- burger and cut steaks, which, unfortu- tant to include it as part of the Federal
cent of the population in the world and nately, will eliminate the ability of Government’s response to COVID–19.
25 percent of the COVID infections. this plant to process nearly 350,000 The New Markets for State-Inspected
Twenty-five percent of the COVID in- lambs within the United States. This is Meat and Poultry Act would allow
fections in the world are in this coun- yet another example of a foreign com- meat that has been inspected by a fed-
try and 5 percent of the population. pany working to consolidate and to in- erally approved State meat and poultry
Other countries have handled this bet- tegrate the American food supply sys- inspection program to be sold across
ter. We know it. We should learn from tem to the detriment of U.S. ag pro- State lines.
them. ducers. We just simply can’t sit here Currently, cattle, sheep, and swine
This President has to get away from and watch this occur on our watch. We that are raised in South Dakota by
the medical quackery which he spreads are already paying the price of foreign some of the best producers in the world
around on his Twitter account and in ownership in our food supply system and inspected at a South Dakota proc-

dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE
his speeches. He has to stop looking at today. essing facility are limited to markets
these medical gurus, which he dis- The time is now to aggressively pur- within the State. Yet they meet or ex-
covers in the weird corners of the sue American options for production ceed Federal inspection standards. It
internet, and peddling their goods for and processing in order to protect just doesn’t make sense, especially
the rest of America. He has to show American consumers and our entire when there is high demand for locally
some guts and wear a mask more often economy. sourced and processed proteins in a

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