National Small Business Week (Cong. Rec., Sept. 24, 2020)
Summary
The Congressional Record, Volume 166, No. 166, for Thursday, September 24, 2020, with House proceedings. Mr. Cuellar acts as Speaker pro tempore for the day and the House begins morning-hour debate. A Member remembers a young Lowcountry constituent who attended an early townhall and was known for his compassion. Under the heading National Small Business Week, another Member says the Paycheck Protection Program has saved more than 50 million jobs and describes a visit to Boyer Orchards in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Near the end, a speaker criticizes the effort to get rid of the Affordable Care Act and the response to the coronavirus.
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“National Small Business Week (Cong. Rec., Sept. 24, 2020).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-09-24-crec-2020-09-24-pt1-pgh4887-5-894a1002ee/
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Congressional Record
E PL
UR M
IB NU
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116 th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
United States
of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE
Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 No. 166
House of Representatives
The House met at 9 a.m. and was That involvement brought Amari neighbors. In Pennsylvania and around
called to order by the Speaker pro tem- into my life when he attended one of the country, small businesses are not
pore (Mr. CUELLAR). my very first townhalls and left me only the backbone of our economy,
f with a question. In my subsequent con- they are the heart our communities.
versations with Amari, it was clear This year, they have faced extraor-
DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO that his leadership and vibrancy were dinary challenges. During the
TEMPORE going to take him to big and wonderful coronavirus crisis, many small busi-
The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- places in life. nesses, following Federal, State, and
fore the House the following commu- Anyone who was lucky enough to local mandates, have been forced to
nication from the Speaker: know Amari knew his dreams were big radically change the way they do busi-
but achievable for someone as bright ness or even temporarily close their
WASHINGTON, DC,
September 24, 2020. and determined as him. You just knew doors.
I hereby appoint the Honorable HENRY Amari would find a way to achieve As jobs were put into jeopardy, Con-
CUELLAR to act as Speaker pro tempore on every single one of them, especially gress quickly acted to provide targeted
this day. living up to his name and becoming a relief to American families, workers,
NANCY PELOSI, U.S. President one day. And he would and small businesses. Under the
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
have my vote. CARES Act, the Paycheck Protection
f Beyond his ambition, his family Program was enacted in record time.
knew Amari as compassionate, empa- This unprecedented program served as
MORNING-HOUR DEBATE a vital lifeline to millions of small
thetic, and driven to serve others.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- businesses. Already, the Paycheck Pro-
Amari wanted to spread kindness and
ant to the order of the House of Janu- tection Program has saved more than
joy wherever he went. He went the
ary 7, 2020, the Chair will now recog- 50 million jobs across our country. For
extra mile to be a beacon of light and
nize Members from lists submitted by those workers and their families, this
knew how to brighten your day by
the majority and minority leaders for policy is personal.
sharing his warmth through a big grin. Just last weekend, I stopped by
morning-hour debate. His 16 years have left an incredible
The Chair will alternate recognition Boyer Orchards in Bedford County. As I
imprint on the Lowcountry, and his was waiting to buy their famous ap-
between the parties, with time equally legacy will be found in every heart that
allocated between the parties and each ples, I had the opportunity to speak to
Amari touched, including mine. my fellow Penn Staters Matt and Ellen
Member other than the majority and I mourn this tragic loss with his fam-
minority leaders and the minority Boyer and their sons and all who work
ily, his classmates, and the massive for them tirelessly to keep this family
whip limited to 5 minutes, but in no community that was blessed to know
event shall debate continue beyond business running.
Amari and his greatness. Like many farms and orchards, they
10:50 a.m. f had tough choices when they lost busi-
f ness during the coronavirus shutdown,
NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS
REMEMBERING AMARI PRESIDENT WEEK through no fault of their own; but,
thankfully, they had the support to
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The The SPEAKER pro tempore. The make ends meet and, most impor-
Chair recognizes the gentleman from Chair recognizes the gentleman from tantly, to keep their hardworking team
South Carolina (Mr. CUNNINGHAM) for 5 Pennsylvania (Mr. JOYCE) for 5 min- on the payroll.
minutes. utes. The Boyer family attributes the Pay-
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. check Protection Program with help-
rise today to honor the life of Amari Speaker, during National Small Busi- ing them weather the storm, and they
President. ness Week, I join with my fellow Amer- even called this program a godsend.
Amari was only 16 years young when icans in honoring workers, entre- Today, I am happy to report that the
he passed, but his wisdom was already preneurs, and the small business com- orchard is open and business is boom-
far beyond his years. Despite being too munity. ing and the apples are plentiful. I can
young to vote, he knew the importance From farms and factories to shops confirm that they were well worth the
of his civic duty to hold public officials and cafes, small businesses employ wait.
accountable and to be involved in his hardworking Americans and provide As we celebrate the success of the
local community. important goods and services to their Boyer family, I also recognize that
b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m.
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Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor.
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H4888 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE September 24, 2020
there are small businesses that are still talking about those people in food lines this administration keeps failing and
struggling under the burdensome State or the families who need that payment keeps contradicting our health pro-
and local mandates. of $1,200 and dollars for children. I viders and our experts.
The deadline to apply for Paycheck didn’t hear him say anything about the Based on our population, Mr. Speak-
Protection Program support has, un- testing capability so we can stop this er, if we had the same fatality rate for
fortunately, passed, and yet too many virus. COVID–19 as Australia—listen, my
businesses remain closed or restricted. I do not criticize him for mentioning friends, to this figure. If we had the
Some small business leaders are won- the Chabot bill. I will tell my friends same fatality rate for COVID–19 as
dering how long they can survive. And, on the Republican side, I am hopeful Australia, fewer than 11,000 Americans
frankly, if we do not act, we risk losing that they are going to get the oppor- would have died, if we had had the
them permanently. tunity to vote either for an agreement same success rate. And if we had had
Most of our small businesses have between Secretary Mnuchin and Speak- the same rate as Japan, fewer than
been built by hardworking families er PELOSI and Senator SCHUMER and 5,000 Americans would have lost their
over generations. Will Congress let this others who choose to participate in the lives.
be their end? Will we allow families on negotiations. Yet our President says we have han-
Main Street to be used as bargaining I am very hopeful that we will have dled it the best of anybody in the
chips in Washington? either an agreement or a bill that we world. The facts, of course, do not
Mr. Speaker, we cannot permit small can pass that I hope everybody on this interfere with his conclusions.
businesses to be wiped out by a virus. floor votes for, which will deal with the The Democratic-led House passed the
This is a time for choosing, and we in problems I mentioned, with the chal- HEROES Act in May—May 15, to be
Congress must put politics aside and lenges the gentleman from Pennsyl- exact—more than 4 months ago. More
extend a lifeline to the American small vania mentioned. But, of course, the than 110,000 Americans have died of
businesses. response to HEROES was, from the Re- COVID–19 during the 4 months that
Congressman STEVE CHABOT, the top publican leader in the Senate: Let the President Trump and the Republicans
Republican on the House Small Busi- States go bankrupt. blocked the HEROES Act from helping
ness Committee, has introduced com- I don’t know whether anybody has us defeat this pandemic.
monsense legislation that would reopen any thoughts on, if the States go bank- In that same period, President
the Paycheck Protection Program, free rupt, the impact that that will have on Trump, who in 2011 criticized President
up over $137 billion of unspent funds, the fight against COVID–19. I think it Obama for playing golf, in that same
and extend this program until the end would be substantial, including cities period, President Trump left the White
of this year. This plan makes sense, and localities and counties. House to play golf as many as 30
and I encourage every Member of Con- So we have some time to go before we times—fiddling while Rome burned.
gress to support it. are leaving here, and we have time to That is eight times per month on aver-
If 2020 has taught us anything, it is address not only the challenge that Mr. age.
to plan for the unexpected. While many JOYCE brings up, but the challenges of What did President Trump say when
circumstances beyond our control re- families and children, of people who asked in August about the rising fatali-
main uncertain, Congress has an oppor- are sick. ties? ‘‘It is what it is.’’
All of us ought to be motivated by How recklessly irresponsible, how
tunity now to offer small businesses se-
the fact that 200,000 of our fellow citi- callous and dismissive of people’s pain,
curity, and, most important, we have
zens have died as a result of COVID–19. and how indicative of a lack of decency
the chance to offer hope to these hard-
I am going to speak to that now. and leadership.
working Americans. At the same time, President Trump
As my friend Congressman CHABOT Mr. Speaker, this week, Democrats
are coming to the floor to highlight the and congressional Republicans have
said earlier this week, our economy is
work we have been doing over the past been working hard to eliminate access
depending upon America’s small busi-
2 years governing for the people, in to affordable healthcare for millions of
nesses, and American small businesses
sharp contrast with the way President Americans and remove protections for
are depending on us.
Trump and Republicans have failed the more than 133 million people with pre-
This Small Business Week, there are
people. existing conditions. And they say, of
livelihoods that are on the line. Amer-
First and foremost, they have failed course: Oh, no. We are for preexisting
ican families are counting on us. Amer-
our country by responding inad- conditions. We are just trying to get
ican workers are counting on us. It is
equately to the COVID–19 pandemic. rid of the law that gives protection for
time that we deliver for them.
Now, we started out with bipartisan preexisting conditions.
f Their lawsuit to overturn the Afford-
action, and that was good, over-
REPUBLICANS ARE FAILING THE able Care Act comes amid a deadly
whelming bipartisan action, Repub-
PEOPLE pandemic worsened by their own fail-
licans and Democrats responding to a
ures.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The crisis that was killing our people; and
For 4 years, President Trump and Re-
Chair recognizes the gentleman from then, unfortunately, that bipartisan
publicans have been promising to
Maryland (Mr. HOYER) for 5 minutes. process fell apart.
unveil a secret plan that they say cov-
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am going First and foremost, our Republican
ers everybody. The President says: I
to make some comments, but I want to colleagues have failed our country by
am going to cover everybody—lower
just briefly remark about the gen- responding inadequately to the COVID–
cost, higher quality.
tleman from Pennsylvania’s remarks 19 pandemic by not having the Senate We have seen no such plan in 3 years
about the PPP. respond to our bill and come to a con- and 8 months of this Presidency. That
That program was, of course, a bipar- ference and try to get an agreement. In is because there is no Republican
tisan program that was negotiated be- addition, when we tried to have nego- healthcare plan. They tried one early
tween Mr. CARDIN, Mr. RUBIO, and tiations, as we had successfully had on. It failed. It failed because they
NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ, the chair of the four times, they refused to come to the couldn’t get a Republican vote—John
Small Business Committee here, who table. McCain, who thought it wasn’t a real
played a role. In February, President Trump told bill.
We passed the HEROES Act. We are 4 the American people that the virus, As a matter of fact, the President,
months-plus from passing the HEROES like a miracle, would disappear. He who hailed the bill at the White House
Act, and the Senate has taken no ac- called criticism of his response to the as the most wonderful thing in the
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tion. virus a hoax. More than 200,000 Ameri- world, 2 weeks later, said: It was a
Now, one could say, well, the Senate cans have now died from that hoax. mean bill.
hasn’t taken action because they can’t There has been no miracle. Criticism
get the votes of the Democrats for a of that failure is no hoax. Other na- b 0915
bill that we believe is woefully inad- tions’ governments have figured out There is only the unyielding drive to
equate. I didn’t hear the gentleman how to slow the spread of the virus, yet get rid of the Affordable Care Act and
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