[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 52 (Wednesday, March 18, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1798-S1800]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. MORAN. Madam President, thank you very much. This has been a 
trying and difficult and challenging time in our country and in my home 
State of Kansas. There are lots of conversations, care, and compassion 
going on. We can't give anybody a hug these days. We can't extend a 
hand--at least literally--but we are extending a hand to all of our 
friends and our neighbors--those across our community, those across our 
State, and across the country.
  I am troubled, of course, by what circumstances Americans find 
themselves in. There are those who are in a poor circumstance in which 
they can recover from the circumstances that we face. I want to make 
sure that Kansans know that we hear their cries, that we know of their 
problems, and that work is afoot to try to make a difference.

[[Page S1799]]

  Just a couple of examples of things that perhaps, in the overall 
scale of where we are, don't seem significant enough but can make a 
difference in individual lives and families' well-being: We have been 
successful to this point in getting the school lunch program available 
for students whose schools are no longer in session, who don't go to 
the classroom, and therefore aren't in the school lunchroom. The USDA 
and the school food program are now available for those who are at home 
because their school classes have been canceled as a result of the 
virus.
  We are paying a lot of attention, as I hope Kansans know and 
Americans know, to the veteran and the veteran community. We have had 
success in passing legislation on the Senate floor--waiting for House 
consideration--that will allow those veterans who are no longer in the 
classroom, in a university, or in a technical college and are now 
learning by distance education, by technology, to be able to continue 
to receive their GIeducational benefits. That required a change in the 
law, and it is in the works so that those benefits continue, even 
though the student is not, as now required, in a classroom itself.
  We are trying to make sure the Department of Veterans Affairs has the 
resources necessary to meet the needs of our veterans. It is a 
vulnerable population because of the age and existing condition of many 
of our veterans. We are in constant contact not only with the 
Department of Veterans Affairs but with veterans themselves and with 
our veteran hospitals and clinics and other healthcare providers in 
Kansas.
  Today, we are dealing with economic relief for those who are losing 
their job, fearful of losing their job, or have already lost their job. 
Much of life's meaning comes from our employment, from what we do. A 
job is certainly something that helps put food on a family's table and 
provides some security for an individual, but it also provides meaning. 
No one can understand, unless they are without a job, how devastating 
that can be.
  I am pleased by the number of business men and women who have called 
me to tell me the last thing they want to do is lay off anyone who 
works in their business. We have been through economic difficulties 
before. We have seen the cycle of the economy, the ups and downs, the 
normal flows, but this is something totally different from that.
  Oil and gas--the price of oil is such that keeping our oil and gas 
producers in Kansas in business is a real challenge. Aviation 
manufacturing is an important component of the Kansas economy, and 
today Textron industries, which manufactures Cessna aircraft and 
Beechcraft, announced they are furloughing 7,000 of their 9,000 
workers. That is on top of other challenges in the aviation industry in 
which Spirit AeroSystems, headquartered in Kansas, has already laid off 
2,800 employees.
  From the oil and gas industry of Western and South Central and 
Eastern Kansas to the manufacturing hub of Wichita and South Central 
Kansas, the consequences of the coronavirus are real and felt in the 
pocketbook, felt in the brain, and felt in the heart. Our restaurants, 
hotels, our car rental agencies, and those who serve others--I have 
been in circumstances this week in visiting with the people who work at 
a restaurant, the people who work at a cafe, the people who work here 
in Washington, DC, at the cafeteria where I had breakfast this morning. 
Those who have jobs wonder if they are going to have jobs tomorrow, and 
those who have already lost jobs wonder how they are going to pay the 
bills.
  This morning I had a conversation with an optometrist telling me the 
circumstances of no longer being able to care for patients except in 
the emergency setting, which means that the business in the optometrist 
office--an important healthcare provider--and the business in the 
dental office has been curtailed, and the necessity of considering 
laying off the clinical workers there is front and center in that 
conversation.
  It is a troublesome situation across Kansas. It does not matter what 
city or town you live in. If you are a farmer, the cattle prices today 
are significantly depressed, despite the fact that it is still pretty 
expensive at the grocery store.
  I think about my hometown and the loss of a business. There aren't 
many businesses in many rural communities in Kansas, and many 
businesses don't really earn much of a living or a profit. It could be 
a family circumstance; it could be this is what they did; this is what 
their parents did; this could be a service to the community; and they 
live on a lot less because that business is important to a small 
community. But this kind of challenge is such that if that business 
closes, the chances are that it will not reopen. The financial 
circumstances of smalltown America are such that there is little 
likelihood of recovery and reopening.
  The legislation we passed today is now on its way to the President. 
It included a few things that I was troubled by and think will create 
significant difficulties for some. We need to continue to work to 
change those provisions that are troublesome and cause problems. But it 
was important in my view to make certain the things that were wrong in 
that bill didn't prevent us from passing something to help those with 
the things that are right. None of our economic efforts that we have to 
make certain people feel more secure economically will work until they 
feel more secure in the health and well-being of themselves and their 
families.
  Even though you may get some assistance--a person may get some 
assistance, a family may be relieved of some of the financial burdens 
they now face, a laid-off worker may get unemployment benefits--your 
mind is always going to be on the issue of your health and the well-
being of your children and your parents and your grandparents, those we 
know in the nursing home and those we know in the nursery. And as long 
as we are troubled by what may happen to us and our health, no amount 
of economic stimulus can overcome the fear of one's well-being and 
particularly the well-being of their spouse, their children, and their 
parents.

  So clearly economic relief in and of itself, in my view, is 
insufficient. We need to make certain that our healthcare providers 
have the necessary tools to meet the healthcare needs of American 
citizens. Front and center in that regard is testing, and we are 
woefully inadequate and undersupplied in what we need to test the 
necessary number of Kansans and Americans to know what they face and to 
know what their circumstances are and to respond in the medically 
required way.
  We are working to make sure there are more tests across the country 
and working to make certain those tests are distributed in a way that 
Kansans and their healthcare providers can access them. Most recently, 
we were successful in getting CDC to undo a problem that kept tests 
from being transferred to the Kansas Department of Health and 
Environment in my home State. We are pleased to see that the FDA, for 
example, has modified the necessary steps it takes for a manufacturer 
of these test kits to be certified to be qualified to manufacture them. 
And the amount of test kits that are being produced, the amount of 
manufacturing has increased, and we are expecting significant 
improvements in the next couple of weeks. Yes, I wish they were here 
earlier, but can we fix the problem we face now and get them here soon, 
immediately?
  I sit in the desk of Senator Bob Dole, a predecessor of mine in 
Kansas--his name is etched in this desk drawer--now known for his 
bipartisanship and held in great respect not only at home in Kansas but 
across the country. I stand at the desk that is here in the place of 
Senator John McCain. These are two people who demonstrated the desire 
to work together.
  While I have outlined a few things that I think are important, and I 
wanted Kansans to know, the mission in my remarks today--maybe the most 
important--is to ask my Republican colleagues and my Democratic 
colleagues to set aside the usual bickering and political posturing 
that takes place in the U.S. Congress. No American can feel well, no 
American can feel that things are going to be OK if they don't see 
leadership and cooperation among us.
  So while we today are preparing for the presentation of new 
legislation dealing with the challenges that businesses, employers, and 
employees face, trying to relieve the economic and financial burden 
that many Americans

[[Page S1800]]

are experiencing and more will experience in the future, could 
Americans please see that I and my colleagues are taking every step not 
to make this a political exercise but to demonstrate our care and 
concern for those we represent.
  I mentioned a moment ago about veterans. This is the point in time in 
which, if you take a walk on the National Mall, as I have often done, 
to walk to the Lincoln Memorial, I will walk by now the World War II 
Memorial; I will walk by the Vietnam Wall; and on my return, I will 
walk by the Korean War Memorial. We should hold those veterans--those 
military men and women who are honored in those settings--as our role 
models. We should do that every day, but could we please do it over the 
next few weeks, the next few months, and into the next year as we try 
to address the challenges that America faces today. No person 
memorialized in those settings fought and sacrificed their life for a 
Republican or for a Democrat. They sacrificed because they believed 
they could make life better for the folks back home--their own family 
members, their neighbors, and people they didn't know. They sacrificed 
because they believed they could make the world a more safe and secure 
place. I pledge myself in every way possible to see that I do the 
things today, tomorrow, and into the future that mean that this 
Congress has come together on behalf of the American people, just like 
those who served our country did and now rest in peace.
  To the Democratic colleagues here in the Senate, please consider me 
open to their suggestions. And to my Republican colleagues, please know 
that I am an ally in the things that we believe in. But we may all need 
to give a little so America can return, Americans can be safe, 
Americans can be secure, our health is protected, and our economy 
flourishing.
  I would ask God in these circumstances to bless this country, to 
bring us together, hold us in his arms in a way that we can't do today, 
and to make certain that this Congress represents the will of the 
people, not the will of any political party.
  I yield the floor
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. I ask unanimous consent to speak for as much time as I 
may require.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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