[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 39 (Thursday, February 27, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1161-S1162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the continued spread of the 
coronavirus--COVID-19--has the world on notice.
  Here in the United States, we are fortunate not to be facing an 
immediate crisis.
  In response to early reports of the outbreak, the administration 
began monitoring efforts and enacted commonsense travel restrictions to 
help blunt and delay the spread of the virus here in our country.
  Obviously, as our public health experts remind us, a nation of nearly 
4 million square miles and more than 300 million people cannot be 
hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world. There seems to be 
little question that COVID-19 will eventually cause some degree of 
disruption here.
  The question before us now is how we can help the administration and 
our professional medical experts continue their efforts to take 
advantage of this head start. Our task is to make sure these dedicated 
professionals have what they need to continue preparing in ways that 
are calm, smart, and effective.
  Here in Congress, first and foremost, that means providing additional 
surge resources for the comprehensive Federal response. It is our job 
to ensure that funding is not a limiting factor as public health 
leaders and frontline medical professionals continue getting ready.
  That is exactly why, several days ago, the Trump administration 
submitted an initial request for supplemental funding to begin the 
conversation. It was exactly the kind of action that many of our 
Democratic colleagues had been demanding, but as soon as the 
administration did take action, to the apparent puzzlement of basically 
everyone, including his fellow Democrats, the Democratic leader began 
launching partisan political attacks at the White House instead of 
working together to get this done.
  Just days ago, the Democratic leader signed a letter ``strongly 
urging'' this kind of funding request, but almost the instant it 
arrived, he began blasting it as ``too little too late,'' and our 
colleague continued to move the goalpost.
  His strong views on the necessary amount of funds varied daily. It 
has been a strange and clumsy effort to override normal, bipartisan 
appropriations talks before they even happen and replace them with top-
down partisan posturing.
  Everyone from his fellow Democrats to President Trump have seemed 
perplexed by the Democratic leader's political game playing. It is not 
clear to

[[Page S1162]]

anyone why he is prioritizing fighting with the White House over simply 
letting the appropriators do their work.
  I feel confident that the coronavirus does not care about partisan 
bickering or political news cycles. This new disease is not going to 
press pause so that Members can engage in performative outrage that 
gets us further from results rather than closer.
  This is our first step in confronting the challenge. The Congress 
must be prepared to work together across the aisle in a collaborative 
way and actually get results.
  Fortunately, it appears we will have an opportunity to put this 
cynicism behind us quickly and move forward in a unified way.
  Bipartisan discussions are already underway among our colleagues on 
the Appropriations Committee. I have full confidence that Chairman 
Shelby, Senator Leahy, and our colleagues are fully capable of handling 
this quite well.
  I have faith the committee will carefully consider the right sum to 
appropriate at this time to ensure our Nation's needs are fully funded. 
I hope they can work expeditiously so the full Senate would be able to 
take up the legislation within the next 2 weeks.
  And I hope, as we move forward through this challenge, this body can 
put reflexive partisanship aside and uphold the spirit of cooperation 
and collaboration that this will require.

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