Schumer Floor Remarks Outlining The Bipartisan Agreement On Coronavirus Response Legislation That Puts Workers And Public Health First (Senate Democrats)

Summary

Floor remarks by U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, released by Senate Democrats, on the bipartisan coronavirus response agreement he says puts workers first and was sealed a few minutes after one in the morning after six days of negotiation with Leader McConnell. He lists $150 billion for hospitals, headlined by a $100 billion new fund; unemployment benefits raised by $600 per week so laid-off workers on average get full pay for four months; $150 billion for state and local governments, $8 billion of it for tribal governments; $350 billion in loan forgiveness grants to small businesses plus $10 billion in emergency grants; and $25 billion for public transit. He says Democrats secured a Treasury Special Inspector General, an accountability committee and a congressional oversight commission over corporate loans. The remarks close with thanks to his staff.

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Schumer Floor Remarks Outlining The Bipartisan Agreement On Coronavirus Response Legislation That Puts Workers And Public Health First

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today spoke on the Senate floor,
outlining the bipartisan agreement for coronavirus response legislation that
puts workers and the health of the American people first. Senator Schumer also
explained significant improvements made to the bill following bipartisan
negotiations. B elow are Senator Schumer’s
remarks, which can also be viewed here :

I say to the American people, help is on the way. Big help, quick
help. Because Democrats insisted on making this bill better, we can now call it
a bill that puts workers first, not corporations, that has a Marshall Plan for
hospitals, and that has accountability, transparency, and watchdogs over much
of the lending that is in this bill.

Six days of shuttle diplomacy here, in these now mostly empty
corridors, have shaped a bipartisan agreement on the largest rescue package in
American history, which was sealed last night a few minutes after one in the
morning, when Leader McConnell and I came to the floor to announce we had an
agreement.

It was is not a moment of celebration but rather one of necessity.
Facing an unprecedented crisis, it was the duty of this Senate produce
bipartisan legislation to send an immediate infusion of resources to help our
public health systems, state and local governments, small businesses, and
American workers.

As I said, from the start, Democrats had two main goals: a Marshall
Plan for public health workers and hospitals on the front lines, and putting
workers first—not corporations. Had we not asked for the Republican party to
recognize us by not going forward on those first two votes, this bill would
have been much worse. Our actions made it much better—not everything we wanted,
but much, much better. And we're proud as a caucus—and united as a caucus—of
the job we have done to improve this legislation. Because after all, this
legislation will be with us not for days, not for weeks, not even for
months—but probably for years. To improve this legislation, it was worth taking
an extra day or two, after the Republican Leader put it down without consulting
us and tried to say take it or leave it.

Like all compromises, this bill is far from perfect. But we
believe the legislation has improved sufficiently to warrant its quick
consideration and passage. Because many Democrats and Republicans were willing
to do the serious and hard work, the bill is much better than where it started—and
starting yesterday morning we all came together to get this bill done. We
worked in a bipartisan way as this body should have worked and should work, and
here we are.

Once the language is ready, Democrats are ready to speed up the
consideration of the bill as much as possible. I expect that the Senate
can get the job done in the next few hours.

Now, the American people watching should know what is in this
bill, which has undergone many revisions over the past forty eight hours. Many
of the programs and funding authorities that are being finalized as we speak
will go to them, the American people, and could make the difference in the next
few months between putting food on the table and going hungry, between
surviving this period of unemployment and financial ruin.

So let me briefly run through the major components of this bill.

First, a Marshall Plan for the American medical system is now
under way.

This agreement will inject $150 billion into our hospitals and
health system, headlined by a $100 billion new fund to provide our health
system with whatever it needs to fight back. The grants in that fund will be
available to everyone who is fighting coronavirus – hospitals, nursing homes,
community health centers, and all types of Medicaid providers and safety net
providers.

It also includes funding for personal protective equipment,
testing supplies, a surge in our healthcare workforce, additional Medicare
funding, research into coronavirus treatments and more. This funding will,
literally, act as a lifeline as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to
climb.

So as I said, a Marshall Plan for the American medical system is
now underway.

Second, workers first. Millions of workers, through no fault of
their own, are now losing their paychecks with no way to cover their daily
expenses and monthly bills. Coming to their rescue is a program Democrats
devised to boost unemployment insurance. We call it unemployment insurance on
steroids.

The agreement increases the maximum unemployment benefit by $600
per week and ensures that laid-off workers, on average, will receive their full
pay for four months. These benefits will be much easier to access and will be
expanded to include part-time, self-employed, and gig-economy workers.

And the new program has a second purpose. The first job of this
program, get money into the pockets of people who are losing their jobs through
no fault of their own, and it will come quickly and generously—but it has a
second purpose. It will also allow companies to furlough workers so that they
can stay on as employees, so that when, God willing, this crisis abates, they
can quickly resume work with their employer and businesses can re-assemble.
When this crisis is over, we don't want every worker losing their job to scatter
to the winds and so many good businesses through no fault of their own will
fall apart. By keeping them on furlough, paying them, the businesses can
reassemble quickly.

This proposal—unemployment insurance on steroids—will be the
greatest expansion of unemployment benefits in decades—a social safety net wide
enough to catch the millions of American workers who became unemployed
virtually overnight; woven with fibers strong enough to hold them through the
worst of this crisis.

As I said, we are going to pass unemployment insurance on
steroids.

Third, strict oversight, transparency and accountability of all
loans made to corporations. The Republican bill initially put the focus on
rescuing industry, and did not do enough to protect the hundreds upon hundreds
of thousands of workers those industries employ. But as a result of our
negotiations, Democrats have secured crucial worker protections throughout the
bill as conditions to rescuing large companies, including incentives for
business to keep workers on the payroll during the crisis.

For the nearly 2 million airline employees, Democrats have also
secured direct payroll payments to keep you on the job. Your collective
bargaining rights will be protected. And airlines will not be allowed to spend
any grant money on stock buybacks or CEO bonus pay for the life of the grant
plus one year.

Democrats also secured tough new requirements on federal grants
and loans to any industry:

- No stock buybacks for the length of any loan provided
by the Treasury plus one additional year.
- Restrictions on any increases to executive
compensation.
- A requirement to protect collective bargaining
agreements.
- Democrats secured a prohibition on any Trump
Organization business or any business controlled by other government
leaders receiving a loan from this bill.
- We compelled the creation of Treasury Department
Special Inspector General to provide oversight of Treasury loans and
investments, an accountability committee to protect taxpayer dollars, and
a congressional oversight commission as well.
- And there will be much needed transparency requirements
as well. The Treasury Secretary must, by law, immediately make public the
names and terms of loans or other assistance to corporate borrowers.

I believe it was Justice Brandeis who said ‘sunlight is the great
disinfectant.’ If any of these loans look untoward, if any of these loans don't
look right, if any of these loans shouldn’t go to where they’re going, the
public, the Congress, will know quickly and that will put pressure on the
Treasury Secretary not to do them, and certainly not to repeat them.

Fourth: resources for state, local, and tribal governments who are
carrying the weight of their overburdened health networks on their budgets is
there. This came down to the wire. Our Republican friends didn't want to do it,
but I'm glad they acceded to our wishes here, because local governments are
hurting. They are spending more money than they have ever spent, and at the
same time their tax revenues have declined. And so we must help our local
governments, and we will in this legislation, and it will be distributed
between both the local government, the county governments, and the state.

In the end, state and local governments will now get $150 billion,
with $8 billion set aside for tribal governments. This relief is desperately
needed because state revenues have dried up almost overnight, leaving them with
untenable choices about how to allocate their health care and other resources.

Fifth, urgent help for small businesses. My dad was a small
businessman, an exterminator. He used to pace the floor Sunday nights at 2 a.m.
because he didn’t want to go to work. I know how small business people worry
and suffer under normal times, let alone these difficult times. This bill
offers $350 billion in loan forgiveness grants to small businesses to keep
their existing workforce and to help pay for things like rent, mortgage, and
utilities. It provides $10 billion in emergency grants to provide immediate
relief for small business operating costs.

And of course, there are many more things besides this in the
bill, those were the five we pushed for. Small business was much in the bill
that Leader McConnell put forward. All the rest, we—as Democrats—have pushed
hard for and gotten in the bill. Now, there are other things too: support for
American families including child care, education, senior care, housing and
more.

One thing of particular importance to my state is public transit.
The MTA is drowning after such a steep and sudden loss of ridership. Democrats
asked for, and now secured, a $25 billion life preserver to keep those public
transit systems afloat as well. And it’s not just big cities, the bus systems
in rural areas will depend on this as well.

The bottom line is this: this bipartisan agreement will provide
more resources to our public health system and protect American workers of all
stripes.

Now, as I said before, this bill is far from perfect. Many flaws
remain, some serious. By no stretch of the imagination is this the bill
Democrats would have written had we been in the majority.

If Democrats held the pen, we would have designed the assistance
to troubled industries in a completely different way. We would have added even
more support for Medicaid, hospitals, community health centers, and nursing
homes, and new patient protections to ensure that everyone with coronavirus can
access and afford treatment. We would have increased food assistance. We would
have included more relief for student borrowers and prohibitions on evictions
and foreclosures on Americans for the duration of the crisis. We have gotten
many of those but not all, on evictions and foreclosures.

We would have put workers first in every single part of the bill.
That’s what we tried to do here, as much as possible.

But Senate Democrats are not in the majority. We knew this bill
had to pass muster with a Republican administration. And failure to reach an
agreement, in this time of deepening national crisis, was not an option.

We have before us an imperfect bill but a necessary one. Despite
its flaws, it is far better than where it started, and it is time to pass it.

Now, before I yield the floor, there are some people I have to
recognize. The Republican chairs and Democratic Ranking members and their
staffs who have worked diligently on this legislation. Sens. Leahy and Cardin
and Shaheen and Warren and Reed and Peters and Wyden and so many more, I could
name the whole caucus and their entire staffs. Thank you. This bill is better
because of your long hours and hard work.

The floor staff who kept this chamber open and running at all
hours: we thank you.

Secretary Mnuchin, Eric Ueland, Mark Meadows and their staff who
have spent more time in my office than they’d care to admit: thank you.

Now to my staff: I am blessed with the greatest staff a Senator
could have. They are so dedicated to the public good. They are so dedicated to
this country, and you should have seen them working. Some—Gerry Petrella,
Meghan Taira—have a little baby at home. Both of them have important roles in
my staff, they met here and they got married, they’re still here. They were
day-in-and-day out.

But so was everybody else. So was everybody else. I want to thank
my staff, and if the American people saw the work you did, they’d be so proud.

Our colleagues and our staffs have committed themselves in this
way because they understand the sacrifices being made by the American people in
homes and hospitals across this great nation.

The working families who are at home, missing paychecks, acting as
teacher and provider and caregiver all at once.

The thousands of Americans who are volunteering to help
understaffed medical facilities.

The small business owners who are watching the labor of their
lives evaporate in an instant, but are still paying their workers as much as
they can manage.

The nurses and doctors and healthcare workers who know, better
than anyone, the risks of contracting this disease by treating infected
patients, but go to work every day, working longer shifts, to do God’s work
anyway.

To them and to all Americans, I say this: help is on the way. Big
help. Quick help.

We are going to take up and pass this bill to care for those who
are now caring for us, and help carry millions of Americans through these dark
times.

This is certainly not the end of our work here in Congress, but
rather the end of the beginning. The crisis continues to deepen. There will be
difficult days ahead and the worst may still be yet to come. And we certainly
may have to come back and do further legislation, but we know right now: help
is on the way.

And we will not stop working to see our nation through this time
of extraordinary challenge.

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