[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 54 (Friday, March 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1863-S1865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CORONAVIRUS
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, yesterday I came to the floor with some
optimism about what we could be including
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in the legislation currently being considered in the Senate to respond
to the coronavirus public health emergency. I laid out priorities
ranging from shoring up the hospital systems to measures to provide
direct assistance to students, workers, businesses, and families
through this economic crisis.
Since that time, Leader McConnell has released the Republican draft
of his offering for this third package. It is a 250-page bill that some
estimate will cost $1 trillion. That is a daunting pricetag, except
when you put it in context of the American economy and what it takes to
keep us on track or put us back on track.
Our top priority must be immediate, direct relief to the healthcare
sector--our heroic doctors, nurses, first responders, lab techs, and
the hospitals and health clinics they support.
Yesterday I spent an hour on the telephone with the Governor of
Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, talking about the reality on the ground in my
home State and the choices he faced. It is a tough job being Governor--
never tougher than when you have to make a decision about the lifestyle
of families and individuals, about the businesses and their future,
and, literally, a life-and-death choice in terms of policy. No one
willingly accepts that, but when you run for high office, there is
always that possibility.
He is concerned--and I share his concern--about the capacity of our
hospitals and clinics in Illinois to deal with the infections that are
becoming more and more common in our State. The numbers of infections
are growing as the number of tests are increasing, which is an
indication that there are many undiagnosed people in our midst, and
that number is likely to continue to increase.
Those who administer the hospitals of Illinois have given us some
yardsticks to measure the future. They suggest to us that if 20 percent
of the population of my State should become infected for a 12-month
period of time, they will need 88 percent of our hospital resources to
respond. If that same 20 percent becomes infected over a 6-month period
of time, it will be double that capacity; in other words, 176 percent
of our current hospital capacity. It would push our system beyond the
breaking point. If the infection rate, though, is double that--40
percent for any period of time--our hospitals, as good as they are, as
big as they are, as prepared as they are, can't handle it.
If that is the situation in our State, it is the situation in many
other States. At that point, we will be dealing with serious
overcrowding and triage decisions being made under heartbreaking
circumstances.
That is why many of us on this side of the aisle feel that this third
package offered by the other side really needs to be changed and
improved so that we do have what Senator Schumer is calling a Marshall
Plan for the hospital work healthcare of America. We desperately need
it, and we need it now. Waiting to come and face us at a later date
makes it that much more difficult.
Our health system is currently stretched to its absolute limit: surge
staffing, emergency protocols, shortfalls of masks and protective
equipment, and cashflow running out in just weeks. The plan that we
have before us--the draft plan from the other side--does not address
these needs. It has no new appropriations, no real funding or
authorization for staffing or equipment and only meager changes when it
comes to programs like Medicare.
What this pandemic demands is that Marshall Plan for healthcare, an
immediate funding boost to our healthcare systems, clinics, and health
departments, mass production of masks, respirators, gloves, and
ventilators.
Two days ago, the President acknowledged that he has the authority,
under what I believe is called the Defense Recovery Act, to say to
manufacturers: change whatever you are making and make more respirators
and change whatever you are making in terms of masks and make more
medical-grade masks to meet the needs across this country. I hope the
President will use that authority. That is why it was created in the
law.
We also need to support our workforce. We need to increase Medicaid
funding, and we need to put an end to Medicare sequestration and DSH
cuts.
I am also calling for the inclusion in this package of a bill known
as the Rural Hospital Relief Act. I am cosponsoring that bill with
Senator James Lankford, a Republican, of Oklahoma. It would keep the
most financially vulnerable hospitals afloat during this challenging
time by providing them access to the stability of the Critical Access
Hospital Program. Every State with smalltown hospitals and rural
hospitals should pay close attention to this bill that we put in. It
could be a great help to hospitals that are otherwise
struggling. Anything less, I am afraid, we will be turning our backs on
the selfless and heroic work of the frontline health workers. How can
we say enough about these nurses and doctors and healthcare workers--
these men and women--who literally risk their lives for every patient
that comes through the door.
We need to maintain access to healthcare for people who lose their
jobs as a result of this pandemic too. We must offer Federal funding to
cover the costs of COBRA coverage for people who lose their jobs but
want to keep health insurance. Currently, if you lose your job and you
have health insurance where you work, you can maintain your current
health insurance, but you have to pay for the employer's share since
you no longer work there. The premiums go through the roof in those
circumstances, and many people can't afford these COBRA payments. Why
don't we include in this third package coming before us a subsidy for
those families so they can keep their health insurance, even if they
are not on the job? We certainly don't want them uninsured. It is not
good for them. It is not good for our country. It is certainly not good
for our health system. It is bad enough that millions of people may
lose their jobs; we don't want to also have them lose their healthcare
in the midst of a public health emergency. Let's step up and help them
now.
I was not included during the drafting of the bill that was presented
by Senator McConnell, but I would like to give two pieces of feedback
from two colleagues from his side of the aisle. The first said,
referring to this package:
Relief to families in this emergency shouldn't be
regressive. Lower income families shouldn't be penalized.
That was a quote from Senator Hawley of Missouri, a Republican
Senator.
A second Republican Senator said, referring to this draft package:
[T]he current bill . . . shouldn't give lower earners
smaller checks . . . that's directly contrary to my proposal
. . . we need to fix this to ensure lower earners get equal
payments.
That quote is from Senator Romney of Utah.
I agree with both of them. We should make sure that if there is any
financial relief coming to people across the country, those in lower
income categories should get as much, or more, than anyone else.
I cannot agree more with their assessment. The direct cash benefit
measure in this plan would give those the most in need of assistance in
the lower income categories sometimes nothing at all.
Additionally, the bill contains a provision that would allow middle
and higher income earners to receive more of a benefit than low to
moderate earners. That is upside down.
Goldman Sachs released projections this week that unemployment claims
may rise to 2.25 million this week. That would be the highest level on
record. This proposal that we have been given by the other side falls
far short of making sure we have enough resources to deal with this
influx of unemployment claims.
The bill also lacks any moratorium on evictions and foreclosures,
leaving those who are particularly vulnerable at risk of being cast out
on the street during a public health crisis. Instead of expanding paid
sick leave to more who need it, I am afraid the new bill tries to
further limit that protection.
The McConnell bill provides no additional funds to the military. We
have a supplemental appropriation which is supposed to be taken up. Why
isn't it married into this bill? Why don't we do it all at once, get it
done? We know we are going to need it, and there is no point in
delaying it.
We need to help our military, and we need to provide resources to
many of
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our States that are high and dry because of the cost of dealing with
this public health crisis and the additional claims on their
unemployment benefits.
We need the National Guard and the Defense Department pushing
assistance to every level of government during the pandemic. That means
supplying masks and ventilators and beds to communities that need them.
I am also, with Senator Duckworth--my colleague of Illinois--reaching
out directly to the Department of Defense. I want to find out if we can
start building field hospitals in the parking lots of major hospitals
across our State. We have done it before when we had to--particularly
when dealing with the Ebola crisis overseas--and we need to do that
right here at home and take the expertise of the Army Corps of
Engineers and other professionals at the Pentagon. They are ready to
move at a moment's notice to build a field hospital, if needed, for our
men and women in uniform. Let's take that same willingness and
expertise and translate it into more bed capacity and room capacity at
the hospitals most in need.
The protective equipment across this country still is not at the
level it should be for the men and women in the military as well as
those in civilian life.
The proposal before us ignores the desperation we are hearing from
cities and town and States. Without tax revenues coming in, they are
running out of cash to keep operating services and meeting payroll. We
need a surge of Federal funding through current programs with
flexibility for States and localities to allow them to keep paying
their workers and ensuring things like transit, airports, schools, and
housing.
The McConnell plan also does not provide much needed education
assistance to deal with the increased expenses related to closing
schools and moving to online learning. We have to make sure that this
new technology keeps our kids learning, even though they may be home in
the process. It provides nothing for these emergency needs. That bill,
I hope, will be improved today as the Democrats get a chance to sit
down with Republicans for the first time and talk about compromises.
The Republican majority leader himself said this is a public health
crisis with an economic crisis strapped to its back. I couldn't agree
more. Where are the test kits? Where is the protective equipment? Where
is the assistance for working families? Let's get it done.
The Senator from Kentucky is giving us a deadline to do it by
tomorrow. I think that is ambitious, but let's try to meet it and do it
on a bipartisan basis.
I couldn't agree more that some affected industries--like the
airlines and hospitality, along with small and midsized businesses--
need to be assisted. We can also take care of American workers and
families at the same time. I think it is incumbent on us to do both.
In short, the Senate needs to act now to fix the major flaws pointed
out by both Republicans and Democrats in this third package. I stand
ready to work on these fixes.
Just a few minutes ago, I left one of the working groups, and it was
a very positive atmosphere and attitude in which the two sides were
sitting down and trying to work out their differences.
For the dark time ahead, we need to continue reminding American
people that we can rise to the challenge--both political parties--not
to politically fight but to find political answers and compromises that
solve these problems I have outlined here today.
The bottom line is, people are sitting at home. Some are even
following C-SPAN in their absolute boredom, trying to figure out what
to do with their lives, and they are listening to our speeches.
My report is this: We passed two major pieces of legislation
involving billions of dollars. We have done it in record time. We have
done it on a bipartisan basis. Both have been signed by the President.
This third measure that may reach a trillion dollars in cost is a
challenge, for sure, but one we can meet again on a bipartisan basis.
We owe America, at this moment in our history, nothing less.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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