[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 51 (Tuesday, March 17, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1772-S1773]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, first of all, I want to thank the 
staff here in the Senate. Even in these difficult times, they answer 
the call of doing the work of the American people, and I want to 
appreciate their being here so that the Senate can conduct its work. 
They are essential to being able to do that. So I want to acknowledge 
that.
  I come to the floor today as our country grapples with a global 
pandemic that, tragically, has claimed the lives of thousands of people 
around the world, including dozens throughout the United States and 
three in my home State of New Jersey.
  I come to the floor because I hope that people understand the fierce 
urgency of ``now''--the fierce urgency of ``now.'' This is a public 
health crisis, and we can't wait to act.
  The rapid spread of COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, has 
disrupted our daily lives. It has destabilized our economy and has 
imposed an enormous strain on our healthcare system.
  I think many failed to grasp the scope of this threat--the lack of a 
national response just as the virus began to reach America's shores. 
But I am not here to talk today about where the administration went 
wrong; I am here to talk about how it can start making things right.
  If there is anything we have learned in recent weeks, it is that you 
have to be proactive. In the past week, the number of confirmed COVID-
19 cases here in the United States jumped from around 1,000 to well 
over 4,000. While other countries were testing thousands of people, the 
United States was testing mere dozens. While other countries were 
staging makeshift hospitals, we were overloading ours. While other 
countries implemented aggressive social distancing measures to limit 
the spread of COVID-19, our government sent mixed signals to the 
American people about the sacrifices they must make in order to save, 
maybe, their lives and, if not, the lives of others.
  State leaders like my own Governor, Phil Murphy, stepped in to fill 
the leadership void. Earlier this week, he, along with the Governors of 
New York and Connecticut, imposed new restrictions on restaurants, 
shops, and other public gathering spaces. These are tough, 
unquestionably, but we need every New Jerseyan, as well as every 
American, to take Federal and State recommendations about social 
distancing seriously, avoiding gatherings of more than 10 people, 
washing your hands frequently, and if you feel sick, staying home and 
calling your healthcare provider immediately.
  We all need to be part of the solution or we can become part of the 
statistics. We all need to be part of the solution. This is one time in 
which we all must come together as Americans and be part of the 
solution so that we are not part of the statistics.
  Already families are feeling the impact, whether in lost wages, 
smaller paychecks, school closures, restaurant curfews, or outright job 
losses. That is why I am calling on the Senate to act today--today--on 
legislation that will provide paid leave and unemployment assistance to 
impacted workers, food assistance to children and seniors, more funding 
for Medicaid. We cannot leave families alone to weather the storm.
  We also need to do more to help restaurants and shops and other 
businesses struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus from 
mandatory curfews to supply chain shortages, to decreased demand for 
their services. They need help. At the end of the day, we want them to 
be able to survive the crisis in order to offer the employment that 
will be necessary to revive the economy.
  But we must remember that this is first and foremost a public health 
crisis. The wealth of our Nation will ultimately depend on the health 
of our Nation. Nothing economically will be solved without dealing with 
the health of the American people, and we cannot ignore the demands 
that COVID-19 will make on our healthcare sector and, especially, 
hospitals in the days and weeks to come.
  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, has 
projected that between 160 million and 214 million people could 
contract COVID-19 in the United States and that between 2.4 million and 
21 million of those infected could require hospitalization. As a means 
of comparison, our hospital system has less than 1 million staffed 
beds, which would be inadequate even under the CDC's most optimistic 
projections.
  Hospitals must also have the resources and equipment available to 
treat the expected influx of patients. There is a significant concern 
that the Nation's supply of mechanical respirators and ventilators is 
inadequate to meet the exponential need we will likely experience in 
the coming weeks and months. The latest data indicates that there may 
be only 62,000 hospital ventilators in the entire nation. Even

[[Page S1773]]

if only half of those hospitalized require ventilation, our supply 
would be wholly inadequate to fill the demand.
  Healthcare workers also need protective gear to do their lifesaving 
work without risking infection to themselves. Unfortunately, there have 
been multiple reports of shortages of personal protective equipment 
even during the opening days of this outbreak. Failure to protect our 
healthcare workers and support staff would cause a cascading effect 
that would cause our entire response to collapse.
  Simply put, we need the Federal Government to step in and provide 
real leadership. In the midst of a pandemic, State and local 
governments should not be left on their own, scrambling to find or 
purchase ventilators for patients, personal protective gear for 
healthcare workers, and other critical medical supplies. The Federal 
Government has a tremendous obligation and an opportunity to help save 
lives by assisting State and local governments in locating resources, 
using existing authorities to increase manufacturing of ventilators and 
other critical equipment, and preparing for the staging of temporary 
hospitals and beds, and more.
  Let's look at military facilities that have been closed. There is one 
in my State. Let's open them up. Let's construct MASH units. Let's not 
wait. Let's rent out hotels that are closing. These are some of the 
many actions that can be taken if we are decisive in our work. That is 
why I am calling on the President to immediately exercise the powers 
authorized by the Defense Production Act to defend the health and 
safety of the American people in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
  While the administration's response has so far lacked the energy this 
crisis calls for, invoking the powers vested in the Defense Production 
Act will enable the Federal Government to step up and take the types of 
aggressive steps needed in this time of uncertainty. It is that act 
that can give the Federal Government the power to say: We are going to 
become your partner. We want to infuse massive amounts of money to 
create the ventilators that we need, the personal protective gear that 
we need, and if we can't get you to produce it, we are going to produce 
it.
  We need to use the power of the Federal Government to have the type 
of response that this moment calls for, that this crisis calls for. 
That is what government in its most significant moment is supposed to 
be all about. That is really what the Federal Government is supposed to 
be all about. What States cannot individually do or individual 
communities cannot do, it is the power of the Federal Government that 
can do it. We must be willing to mobilize that power.
  It is time the United States of America live up to its history of 
defeating extraordinary challenges and prevailing in the face of great 
uncertainty. It is time to harness the ingenuity of our people, the 
might of our manufacturing base, and the wisdom of our healthcare 
experts to confront COVID-19 to protect our families and our 
communities, to slow the spread of the virus so we don't overwhelm our 
hospitals so that we can save lives.
  I have seen some of the projections. I hope, for God's sake, they are 
wrong. But we will lose many people unless we all take this seriously 
and unless we act. This is a moment for action and to show the world 
once again that there is no challenge too great for the American 
people.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.

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