[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 51 (Tuesday, March 17, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1773-S1775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. JONES. Madam President, today I want to talk just briefly about 
all that we can do. I know we are facing an emergency in this country. 
We are facing a healthcare crisis.
  Instead of talking about all that is going on here in Congress--and 
there is a lot going on that the people of America need to understand. 
You see empty Chambers right now, but the fact is, we are trying to do 
those things necessary to stop the spread of this virus as well.
  I want to talk a little bit about what we can do as Americans to 
protect ourselves and our country. In doing so, I am thinking back to 
an old friend of mine from my younger days.
  Back when I was a kid, the National Park Service and others were 
concerned about the forest fires around the country, and they came up 
with what is now an old friend of mine: Smokey Bear. Everybody 
remembers Smokey Bear. You still see Smokey on occasion because only 
you can prevent forest fires.
  Well, folks, we have forest fires raging around this country right 
now in the form of COVID-19, and only you can prevent the spread of 
that forest fire, the COVID-19 virus--only you. We have healthcare 
responders out there. We have emergency responders, people who are 
doing amazing work right now responding to this virus. But it is up to 
us. It is up to you. Only you can prevent the spread by doing those 
things necessary to try to protect your communities. The social 
distancing that people are talking about, the hand washing--all of 
those things are so important that we have to do as individuals to make 
sure we flatten that curve.
  You don't need to be going on spring break or vacation right now--
none of this. With shutting down these businesses and things and people 
being at home, this is not vacation time. You can use it, but it is not 
a time to go out on vacation, to do those kinds of things. It is a time 
to try to protect yourself and your communities.
  Don't go out and try to get tested unless you have symptoms and have 
talked to your healthcare provider. In Alabama right now, we are seeing 
long lines of folks who are lined up at a private testing facility to 
try to get tested. I don't know all the protocols that they have, but I 
know my friends at the University of Alabama in Birmingham--in the 
infectious disease center--with whom I have met and talked on a regular 
basis, say that the odds are that a number of those people in those 
lines don't need to test right now. They are concerned. Everybody is 
worried. Everybody wants to know. But the fact is, there are not enough 
tests out there for everyone just yet. We are getting there. More and 
more tests are coming online.
  We also have to be concerned about the equipment--the swabs that are 
used, the test tubes that have to be used. Those are the things we are 
running in short supply of as well.
  So unless you have those symptoms, unless you see that you are 
getting sick, stay home. Stay with your families. We are going to be 
inconvenienced for some time, but I think we need to do all we can to 
make those inconveniences as short-lived as possible. The short-term 
pain will mean long-term gain for all of us, but only if we follow the 
best practices that the CDC and all our departments of public health 
are talking about right now.
  We have legislative packages that are coming over from the House. We 
have more. I can tell you, for my folks in Alabama and the folks across 
the United States, your U.S. Senators on both sides of the aisle are 
working very hard to try to minimize this impact. There are things we 
can do now, and we are trying to get those done. There are things we 
can do to take care of small businesses and families, and we are 
working very hard to make sure those things get done now.
  Also, keep this in mind: This is going to be a work in progress. This 
is not something we know the long-term implications of just yet. Our 
goal is to blunt that curve, as you have seen Dr. Fauci and others 
talking about, to try to stem the tide of this virus, to make it to 
where it is going to be manageable in our healthcare systems. If we can 
do that, we can better assess how we can protect small businesses and 
how we can protect working families and make sure they have the income 
they need to get by on a daily basis, knowing that when this crisis 
does subside, they can get back to work and we can get this economy 
popping, as the President said earlier today. That is our goal. That is 
what we are trying to do.
  We also have to take a deep look at ourselves, I believe. Folks 
across the country need to take a deep look and see what we can do as 
States, as Members of Congress, and as American people to do better on 
our healthcare system, which right now is under increasing strain and 
stresses with this pandemic virus. We need to see, structurally, those 
kinds of things that can help stem the tide of this virus but also put 
in place things that are going to

[[Page S1774]]

help our healthcare delivery system that we have in this country. Those 
are the kinds of things I hope we will take a look at as we go forward 
and we better understand the problems we are facing in the United 
States.
  For me, ever since I started running for this office, I have talked 
about the need to expand Medicaid in Alabama. Right now, I am concerned 
about all Alabamans, but there are some 326,000 people below the 
poverty line who do not qualify for Medicaid and are wondering right 
now: What is going to happen to me? What is going to happen because I 
don't have health insurance? I can't go get in that line in Birmingham 
that requires a Medicaid or a Medicare card or an insurance card. I 
don't know what to do.
  We are working on things to try to help to do that, but I think 
expanding Medicaid is an important part of this. Those Alabamans who 
are at most risk from the COVID-19 virus are those in rural areas where 
hospitals are closing and who cannot get to a doctor--the community 
health centers are sparsely situated throughout the State--our seniors 
and people of all ages who have preexisting conditions.
  I want folks in Alabama to really think about this. We have now heard 
for a month or so that it is not just the elderly but it is people with 
certain preexisting conditions who are at most risk for the COVID-19 
virus and significant complications from the virus. Those are people 
who are diabetic; people with cardiovascular disease; people with 
kidney disease; people who are, in fact, so much of the demographics of 
the State of Alabama.
  I have said it so many times: We are a relatively poor State. We are 
an unhealthy State. We have more people at risk for this virus than 
probably most because of the preexisting conditions that exist among 
the populace in the State of Alabama. Those are the ones about whom we 
are concerned.
  There are consequences to Alabama's not expanding Medicaid, and there 
are going to be consequences if we don't do things in the future to try 
to make sure we get relief to all people.
  There are going to be consequences if the administration continues to 
fight in court to eliminate the Affordable Care Act and all of its 
protections for those with preexisting conditions. Why in the world, in 
this time of healthcare crisis, would the administration continue to do 
this just now? Now is the time that we need to be putting lawsuits 
aside, taking those lawsuits and putting them away and working together 
to try to do those things within the ACA to get coverage for so many 
more people. We can do that. We are seeing people rallying now here on 
the Hill and with the administration. That is what we need to be doing, 
not trying to work through lawsuits to get rid of the ACA.
  Now is the time that we need to be working together to make sure 
everyone in this country gets the healthcare they need. We need to 
expand Medicaid, work together to keep rural hospitals open, and not 
dismantle the ACA but improve the flaws in the existing ACA, making 
sure that everyone with a preexisting condition is protected.
  So I am once again calling on this administration, calling on the 20 
attorneys general from around the country--including my own in the 
State of Alabama--let's get rid of this, and let's work together to try 
to figure out how we can get healthcare into all ZIP Codes in America, 
including all the ZIP Codes in the State of Alabama.
  Folks, we have amazing opportunities here. It is a challenging time, 
but challenges also give us opportunities. We need to take those 
opportunities. We have that opportunity here in the Senate and the 
Congress and the Government of the United States, but we have these 
opportunities as a country. We have these opportunities for 
individuals.
  We have to act quickly and without regard to politics or party. The 
American people are looking to us--they are looking to this Congress, 
they are looking to the administration--to do those things necessary, 
to take the steps necessary to protect their families, their 
communities, their livelihoods, and our economy. We can do this, but we 
need to rise to the occasion. We need to work quickly. We need to put 
the American people first. It is the American people's interests who 
have to come first.
  As individuals, we have to review the responses to the COVID crisis 
as an act of citizenship. Every response has to be seen, in my view, as 
an act of citizenship, not only for this country but for citizens of 
the world, to do the things that need to be done for yourself, for your 
family, but also for each other in the greater beloved community. We 
have to recognize that we all must make sacrifices. We are in this 
together.
  Our doctors, our nurses, and our healthcare professionals are already 
doing that. They are fighting with everything they have to minimize the 
suffering and to save as many as they can, often putting themselves in 
jeopardy. One of the things we have to do is give them more tools to do 
their jobs. We are working on that. But these folks are those frontline 
folks.
  It is just like the first responders of 9/11, who were running toward 
the danger to try to help others flee from it. That is what our 
healthcare professionals and our first responders are doing today. They 
are running toward the danger to try to minimize the suffering and to 
save lives.
  Folks, everybody in America needs to hear all of this. We need to be 
thanking those people. We need to be thanking the folks who are still 
putting food on the shelves at the grocery stores, the people who are 
still stocking the sanitizer at the drug stores, the people who are 
still doing those routine things to help all Americans.
  We need to hear this as well: Staying at home for the next few weeks 
may be a hardship, but it is the right thing to do. It is the right 
thing to do not just for the obvious reasons of protecting yourself. 
You do it for your neighbors. You do it for your fellow citizens in 
your community. You do it for your grandparents. You do it for all of 
those close to you. That is how we stop this virus. That is how Smokey 
puts out the forest fires. It is each one of us. Only you can do this, 
and none of it will be easy.
  Financial hardships will be faced by far too many Americans already 
living on the edge. It is in our local communities that we have to 
respond to the heroic efforts to bridge these hardships for as many as 
possible and to make this period of disruption as short as possible.
  The truth is, it is you, Mr. and Mrs. America. It is you, the 
American people, who are the best defense now. You are the frontline. 
You are the foot soldiers of trying to stem this crisis. Don't shake 
hands as some sign of strength. Stopping that simple contact is not 
only going to keep you safer but it is going to strengthen the fight to 
stop these fires. Do those little things.
  The American people have to rally to this challenge not just for 
themselves but for each other, for the sick and the elderly and the 
most vulnerable in our society, for the doctors and the nurses who are 
on the frontlines, for the children who will need those school lunch 
programs they can't get because schools are out all across this 
country. We do it for those who can't afford 1 day--let alone 1 week or 
2 weeks or a couple of months--of lost wages. That is who we have to do 
this for.
  Let me mention something. I want to talk a little bit directly to the 
younger folks in Alabama and the younger folks in our country. You are 
perhaps the most powerful voices and examples in this fight. You know 
that it is not likely that you are going to personally suffer the 
hardest of these hardships in the sense of getting this virus. It is 
not going to cause the incredible complications of so many others, but 
that makes you the most powerful weapon that we have in this fight. You 
can lead this country's war against this disease. You can lead the 
State of Alabama and all of your States and your communities, and you 
do so by example, just like young people have done in the history of 
this country. Whether it was with the Vietnam war, whether it was 
through civil rights, whether it was through little things like 
buckling seatbelts, it is the younger folks in this country who have 
led the way and shown the examples. You are the most connected 
generation or couple of generations in the history of the world.
  By having those connections to each other, you have connections to 
your communities and to your grandparents and to your parents and your 
aunts and your uncles and those living down the street who might be 
shut in at this

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point--sick and shut in--whom you can help and get the word out to.
  This is the moment in time where we can come together as a people. We 
can come together, and you as young people, who get so maligned in so 
many different ways--and I see that--you are the prime examples, and 
you can lead this country at a time when we desperately need all people 
in this country to lead by example and by information. I know you will 
step up to do it. I know you will make sure that your kids are 
protected, but I know you will also make sure that you do those things 
and do what Smokey the Bear says, because it is only you that can 
prevent the forest fire of this virus from spreading.
  So that is our challenge today. That is the challenge for America and 
the individuals.
  As a body, I can assure folks that the Senate and the Congress are 
going to do everything we can to do our part to minimize the damage 
that this is inflicting, to help repair the damage, to make sure that 
we get back on our feet at the right time when this fire is stemmed. 
What we know and what is demanded of us as a U.S. Senate, what is 
demanded of us as a government, is nothing short of the same kind of 
government response--overwhelming response--the same kind of commitment 
and response worthy of the sacrifices we are asking all American 
citizens to make in this fight. I believe that this Senate, I believe 
that the House, and I believe that the administration are up to that 
challenge, but we have to remember whom we are fighting for, and that 
is each of you--the American people.
  We will do our part. We will make sure what we do as a response to 
this is worthy of the sacrifices that we are asking each one of you to 
make every day for an unknown foreseeable time.
  I yield the floor.
  (Ms. McSALLY assumed the Chair.)
  (Mr. SASSE assumed the Chair.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. McSally). The Senator from Nebraska.

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