Congressional Record, Senate — Page S5253, August 6, 2020
Summary
Page S5253 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for August 6, 2020. Under the heading Coronavirus, Van Hollen says the Senate majority leader has told people there is no more work to do that week, and says families, workers and small businesses cannot have business as usual. The remarks say the House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act, which would extend the enhanced unemployment of $600 a week, the eviction moratorium and food and rental assistance. The remarks recall that the CARES Act was voted unanimously to deliver $2.3 trillion in assistance, and another speaker from Michigan describes constituents' sense of urgency.
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“Congressional Record, Senate — Page S5253, August 6, 2020.”
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August 6, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5253
Yet that small business person and the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- unemployment—gone. Yet here we are
people I talk to in Michigan feel an in- ator from Maryland. with the majority leader saying: Take
credible sense of urgency. f Friday off. Take Saturday off. Business
I talk to our family farmers who as usual.
work night and day, battling the CORONAVIRUS Well, that is a difficult thing to tell
weather and low prices and chaotic Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, families and workers and small busi-
trade policies. I have talked to some- here we are—another Thursday after- nesses around the country, and it can-
one raising livestock who can’t find a noon in the Senate. It is pretty quiet not be business as usual.
processor that they need right now to around here. It is amazing how quickly The House of Representatives passed
make the food for hungry families. this place gets quiet when the Senate the Heroes Act more than 21⁄2 months
They certainly feel a tremendous sense majority leader, the Republican leader, ago. It realized that after we passed the
of urgency. Senator MCCONNELL, tells people: We CARES Act in a bipartisan way, impor-
The reality is that there are millions don’t have any more work to do today. tant protections were going to expire,
of people across this country who don’t By the way, we don’t have any more and it acted. The House made sure it
understand what is not happening work to do tomorrow, Friday. By the passed legislation to extend the en-
here—why there is no sense of urgency, way, don’t worry about Saturday or hanced unemployment of $600 a week.
why there hasn’t been a willingness to Sunday. Monday, you know, I will be It passed legislation to extend the evic-
come together. Why didn’t it happen here, says the Majority leader, but the tion moratorium. It provided addi-
21⁄2 months ago? What is going on? It Senate doesn’t need to be here doing tional food assistance for our kids. It
appears that too many people don’t its work—maybe not Tuesday or provided important funds for rental as-
care. Wednesday either. sistance, which not only helps tenants
This is the United States of America. I want to thank the Senator from stay in their apartments and homes
We are one of the wealthiest nations in Michigan, Ms. STABENOW, for being but provides the payments to the land-
the world. We invented the assembly down here, standing up for working lords so the landlords can make the
line. We put our footprints on the men and women and families and small payments to the people they owe
Moon. We are seeing what is happening businesses because, for them, it is not money to and on up the economic food
today. We should never have gotten to business as usual. It is not business as chain.
this point right now where people are usual for all the folks who are out of The House did all of that, and what
losing 60 percent of their income on un- work. did the Senate do for 21⁄2 months? Noth-
employment benefits, are hungry try- Thirty million Americans are on un- ing. Nothing. It is like a train is head-
ing to feed their kids, worried about employment insurance, but here in the ing right for you, and you stand in the
losing the roof over their head or their Senate, for the Senate majority leader, middle of the tracks until it hits you
small business or the family farm. We it is business as usual. Take a day off. when any commonsense person would
should never have gotten to this point, Take the weekend off. Be on standby do what the House of Representatives
but here we are. next week. Maybe we will start doing did, which was to take action to make
It has been more than 80 days since something real. sure that we didn’t cross these dead-
the House passed the Heroes Act—more I can tell you the coronavirus is not lines and cause unnecessary harm to
than 80 days. Since that time, our es- on standby. The coronavirus is not tak- millions of American families, work-
sential workers, who deserve hazard ing a day off or 2 days off. It is con- ers, and small businesses. That is what
pay, have been waiting. Those pro- tinuing to spread in many parts of the the Senate has done.
viding public services in our cities and country. We don’t have enough testing Now, even after we are into those
towns and in States have been waiting equipment. We are not able to test peo- deadlines—we have crossed those dead-
for the support they need so that they ple quickly. It takes people days and lines—what does the majority leader
don’t lose their job and we don’t lose days and days and, in some cases, here, the Republican leader, say? Take
those public services. Our businesses, weeks to get their results. tomorrow off. Take the weekend off.
our schools, our farmers all have been We hear the President of the United Take Monday off. In fact, the Senate
waiting, waiting, waiting. The reality States saying he wants to open up the may not come in for a while. I mean,
is it is because it is just another Thurs- economy and open up schools. We all we will come in, but there will be no
day—just another Thursday afternoon want to open up the economy. We all voting, no real business.
in the U.S. Senate. want our children back in school, for Let me tell you what I am hearing
Senator MCCONNELL has made it very classrooms are the best place for learn- from my constituents, because I know
clear that they are just going to have ing. But do you know what? You can’t it is not different from what other
to wait some more. Right now, we just wish for that to happen, just like Members are hearing from theirs. Here
should be voting on an important sur- you can’t wish for the coronavirus to is a letter I received from a single
vival package for people in our coun- go away, and that makes it go away. mom.
try. We should be investing whatever it You need to do real work. You need the I live . . . with my 15-year-old son as a sin-
testing equipment so that we can test gle mother. I am asking for your help in vot-
takes to manage and get our arms
ing to extend the $600 Federal unemployment
around this virus, do the testing, pro- people in realtime and make sure that
benefit. I understand a lot of politicians do
vide the healthcare, remain laser fo- we prevent further outbreaks. We don’t not want this extended due to the thought
cused on getting vaccines. People want bonfires to turn into brush fires that the benefit is too great and will prevent
should have confidence that everything to turn into prairie fires. You need to Marylanders from wanting to return back to
humanly possible is being done and catch the virus and contain it. You work, in that they make more money from
that there is a sense of urgency here. can’t do that if you don’t have testing staying at home off of the State/government
I feel a sense of urgency. My Demo- equipment. this way. Now, we all know, if your job calls
cratic colleagues feel the sense of ur- So the virus is not taking a day off or you back during this time and you choose
2 or 3 or a week, and we shouldn’t ei- not to return, your benefits are going to be
gency. Through the actions on this cut off anyway.
floor, we do not see that the Senate Re- ther. This Senate needs to do its job. As for me, I am losing thousands of dollars
publican majority feels the sense of ur- We are in the middle of a pandemic. each month being out of work and am barely
gency that every single person in This is not a normal August. This scraping by as it is now with the extra $600.
Michigan feels right now. should not be business as usual, and as I desperately WANT TO RETURN to work
We need to take action. People are Senator STABENOW said, we should not and make my regular salary, which is more.
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
tired of waiting. They can’t afford to be here, at this moment, with impor- I am very thankful for the extra $600 a week
wait any longer. This is about their tant protections having already ex- and have no idea how I would have survived
without it during this time. I have zero other
lives and their livelihoods. People need pired. This Senate sat by and did noth-
means to any money or credit. I have been
help. The Congress, working with the ing while the protections against evic- able to pay my rent, feed my son, and pay
President, needs to provide that help, tions expired. The eviction moratorium some bills. I have deferred my car payment
and there is no excuse not to act. that was protecting millions of Ameri- until August and am behind on car insur-
I yield the floor. cans—gone. The extra $600 a week in ance. I am desperately asking for your help
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S5254 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 6, 2020
and the help of the government to extend cent. There are a lot of people out The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
this extra $600 a week benefit for a little there who are looking for work who ator from Delaware.
while longer. Not to sound ungrateful, but an can’t find it. They can’t find it because f
extra $100 or $200 per week is just not enough
we are in the middle of a pandemic, and
to help pay rent and other bills. Cutting this CORONAVIRUS
benefit abruptly will cause such economic that has caused a lot of small busi-
nesses and others to shut down in order Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I rise to
hardship and devastation to so many Ameri-
cans. to make sure that we stop the spread of join my colleagues this afternoon in
the virus. asking: Is this just another Thursday—
This is a single mother, with a 15-
These are people who want to get is this just another afternoon in a
year-old son, who is pleading with the
back to work. They want nothing bet- week, in an average year, or in an aver-
U.S. Senate to do its job. And what age August—when it is fine for all of us
does the majority leader say to Sen- ter than that. They want their children
back in school. All of us do. Yet we to simply head to our other commit-
ators? Take tomorrow off. Take Satur- ments and concerns?
day off. Take Sunday off. Take Monday have a failed, botched Federal re-
sponse, starting with the White Sometimes here in Washington it is
off. awfully easy to feel and be discon-
I want to read another letter I re- House—starting with the President,
who has made this a political issue nected—disconnected from the daily
ceived on this subject. Here is what my concerns and grinding anxiety of the
constituent wrote: when it has to be a health issue. It has
made the problem a lot worse, and we pressing issues that make the lives of
I am emailing in hopes of asking for your the folks we represent so different.
support to extend the $600 Federal assistance all know it. We all know that this pan-
I want to start by reminding us of
in addition to unemployment. While I realize demic is lasting longer in the United
something a Senator—a Senator from
that the country has to spend more and more States and has killed more people in
during this pandemic, many of us are learn-
Minnesota—once said in the 1970s. It
the United States because of a totally
ing our temporary layoffs are now perma- was Hubert Humphrey who said: The
failed response right from the top, and
nent (I received the call yesterday) and our moral character of a society can best
we should not be complicit in that. We
industries are still completely shut down. I be gauged by how they treat those at
should do our job.
have always worked in the hotel industry the dawn of life, its children; those in
and have no further education or experience We have the majority leader, the Re-
the shadows of life, the disabled, the
than that. The hospitality industry is the publican leader. What is he saying? He
disadvantaged; and those in the twi-
hardest hit during this pandemic. While I is not even part of the negotiations,
light of life, senior citizens.
search multiple times a day for jobs, they right? He says: You know, I am in my Well, if that were the measure of this
simply are not open because the industry has Republican caucus lunches, and, re- place in this day and this time, then we
not yet recovered. In fact, our industry is portedly, only half of the Republican
downsizing immensely. are failing.
Senators want to do anything. I think every person here, every per-
I am a single mother to one 5-year-old boy
I don’t know if that is true or not, son listening or watching knows that
who will start kindergarten in the fall. We
do not receive any financial assistance but that is what Republican Senators we are in the midst of three crises at
through the State, such as housing assist- are saying on national television. That the same time: a global pandemic, the
ance or child support. Maryland unemploy- is what we are hearing from the Repub- COVID–19 pandemic, in which a highly
ment of $430 per week will not even cover the lican caucus. So, if that is not true, it transmissive disease has spread rapidly
rent costs, and we will quickly be evicted would be great to hear all of the Re- across the world. Many other nations
with no options for housing. publican Senators come down to the
I am not looking to make more money
have gotten ahead of it, have managed
floor and talk about what they are it, have stabilized it, but here in the
than I was at my job. That is not possible. I
grossed $75,000 in 2019, but I am looking to be
willing to do, not what they are not United States, we have failed to get
able to pay my rent and bills and part-time willing to do. Because there are not the our arms around it, to stop it, and to
childcare because it is in the best interest of votes there, the majority leader has deliver the coordinated resources and
my son to have social interaction and edu- contracted out his negotiation author- supplies needed to give some con-
cation during the pandemic even if I am not ity to the White House, and he has told fidence, some positive direction in our
working. Please—I beg you—please support the Senate to go home. public health infrastructure; in our
the extension of the $600 per week benefit. Let’s just start doing our job here in schools, in our senior skilled nursing
Now, I have heard a lot of Senators the U.S. Senate. Nobody should be con- centers; in our communities. It has
on this floor over weeks and months tracting out his job and his vote and gotten away from us.
talk about how we just cannot extend his negotiating authority to the White More than 150,000 Americans have
$600 a week. Yet we hear from these House. This is the U.S. Senate. I don’t died so far, and States that thought
moms and parents who are pleading for know what people ran for if they just they had it well under control are see-
that help so that they can simply pay want to say: Oh, I can’t deal with this ing it reemerge, and States that early
their bills and get by. Even with that, because my caucus doesn’t support any on saw no impact are seeing record
they are not able to pay all of their response. Go talk to the White House. deaths and infections.
bills. In the meantime in the Senate, take And coming right on the heels of it,
The Republican leader says to the Friday off. Take Saturday off. Take a recession—a recession deep and
U.S. Senate: Take a day off. Take 2 Sunday off. Maybe take Monday, Tues- sharp. In the last quarter, a nearly 40-
days off. Next week, I will be in, says day, and Wednesday off, too. percent drop in our GDP; the sharpest
the majority leader, but I don’t need That is a hell of a message to send to since we began recording that.
for the Senate to be in, doing its work. the American people in the middle of a And then third, a renewed focus on
What are we all here for? We should pandemic during which so many people inequality in our country. We have
be here 24/7, working around the clock are hurting. seen, because of this pandemic and re-
together to resolve these issues. I will end with this. Instead of the cession and because of the brutal kill-
We have a lot of multi, multi, multi- majority leader’s coming down to the ing of George Floyd, a reminder of the
millionaires in this U.S. Senate, and it floor today and telling everybody to go ways in which we are unequal in our
is really rich for all of us to be telling away, we should stay here. We should access to healthcare, our access to op-
families out there that the extra $600 stay here, and we should do our job. portunity, our access to housing.
per week is too much. That is just too Doing our job means coming together So that is the environment we are in.
much. with the next round of emergency leg- Several months ago, we all came to
These are individuals who want to go islation to slow down and then stop the this floor and unanimously voted—
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
back to work. I just read to you a let- spread of the virus and help the mil- unanimously, in this bitter and divided
ter from someone who works in the lions of Americans who are in tremen- partisan time, we unanimously voted
hospitality industry. That is her expe- dous economic pain right now. This is to deliver $2.3 trillion in assistance and
rience. That is what she knows. not business as usual. The Senate support that sent checks to individual
I don’t know if our Republican col- needs to do its job. Let’s stay here and Americans and families, that sent
leagues have checked recently, but the get it done. checks to those who were newly unem-
unemployment rate is around 15 per- I yield the floor. ployed, that sent support for small
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