[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 54 (Friday, March 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1867-S1869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, this past week, we have seen that the 
spread of COVID-19 has really become a crisis not just for our Nation 
but a crisis for every American. Today, millions of Americans are 
asking themselves how they will endure this crisis, how long will the 
crisis last, how will it affect their families, their communities, and 
their Nation as a whole.
  We have many people who are now trying to do the dollars-and-cents of 
this crisis, literally sitting down to try to calculate how many weeks 
they can stretch the last 2 weeks of pay.
  We see people who have been furloughed, had their hours reduced, been 
laid off.
  We have seen that small businesses--from the mom-and-pop pizza 
joints, to small interior design shops, to barber shops--are all trying 
to determine how they can keep themselves afloat when their doors are 
closed and how they can deal with their fixed costs.
  I have been on the phone with so many employers in my own State who 
have spoken to me about the challenges they have trying to continue to 
cover the health insurance of their employees even with the fact that 
no revenue is being brought in by their businesses.
  Over and over again, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, our sports 
arenas, hotels--all of them have been emptied, and millions of workers 
have been let go and had their hours slashed.
  On top of that, schools across this country, from colleges to 
kindergartens, have been closed, and millions of families are now 
scrambling to try to find childcare. College students are displaced and 
moving back in with families.
  This is, on so many levels, a true crisis like none of us have ever 
faced before in our Nation. The emotions are running the gamut. People 
are angry. People are afraid. People are fearful for their own physical 
safety, as well as their economic well-being.
  This is something that is challenging because we do not know how long 
it will last. The one thing we do know is that this crisis is a shared 
one, but many people face their own privately painful challenges. I 
will give one example.
  There is a single mother in my State--a mother of two--who works at a 
nursing home and is also raising her granddaughter. At work, she cares 
for elderly patients, and because family members can no longer visit, 
she is rising to the challenge of not just being a professional there, 
but she also feels she is serving as a surrogate family member. Now, 
for weeks, the basic personal protective equipment she needs to keep 
herself safe is in short supply and is literally dwindling.
  For all of this incredible work, this incredible dedication literally 
on the frontlines, she makes $14 an hour. With schools now closing, her 
teenage children will be responsible for caring for her granddaughter 
while she works because she can't afford childcare. She doesn't know 
what she would do if she got sick and actually had to miss work. She is 
living every day afraid of getting the coronavirus.
  There are millions of families in a similar situation and millions of 
Americans who are getting up every day knowing that their going to work 
is essential for the well-being of others. Yet they still don't know 
how they will take care of their families.
  The most recent bipartisan relief package that came out of Congress, 
the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, is a very important step 
in helping those families and combating the spread of the virus and its 
effects. It will help to increase testing, ensure the availability of 
emergency paid family and sick leave for many workers, increase food 
assistance programs, and make emergency unemployment insurance 
available for more workers who really, really need it.
  Now, as we turn to the next package of policies and funding to help 
Americans who are suffering now, we know this is a moment that demands 
bold, decisive action and doesn't leave anybody behind. We know we are 
a nation born out of crisis. We know that our founding ideals--you have 
to understand that this government was formed to protect people and to 
defend people. We, in our Declaration of Independence, talk about 
mutually pledging to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honor. The spirit of this Nation is about being there for each other 
and coming together to be stronger despite the crisis, despite the 
challenge.

  I am so grateful at this time that we are seeing bipartisan work on 
both sides of the aisle, as we are all seeing--from our personal lives 
to our States as a whole--we are all seeing the urgency.
  I am worried now that the first proposal that we have seen, though, 
falls short of addressing the needs of our healthcare workers and first 
responders--those Americans who are really putting themselves out 
there. I am confident, though, that we are going to come together in 
the coming hours to try to create a package that rises above or rises 
to meet the moment we are in.
  Right now, our Nation's first responders, our firefighters, and our 
healthcare professionals are being asked to respond to situations where 
they don't have the personal protective equipment they need to stay 
safe. In my own city, I talked to the head of public safety, who talked 
to me about the courage of these folks who, no matter what, are going 
to go to work, even without that protective gear. But, dear God, 
shouldn't we be doing everything we can, because if they get sick, if 
they can't show up, we will see a cascading crisis. It would be 
disgraceful. It would be dangerous.
  It is not an exaggeration to say that if we don't move quickly to get 
personal protective equipment to our frontline responders, we are going 
to be ill-equipped not just to fight COVID-19, but we could see 
widespread interruptions in the delivery of all lifesaving emergencies 
in America. Also, this bill we have seen now, which we must make 
better, must address not just this issue but also do more for 
healthcare workers and first responders to get them the equipment they 
need.
  There are a lot of things that I feel strongly about that I know will 
be in these negotiations.
  We should all be able to agree on supporting our veterans and VA 
facilities as they prepare to fight this virus. There are gaping holes 
in that in this bill.
  We should all agree on funding for our transit systems--like Amtrak--
that are going to make sure to keep our country connected, that those 
systems don't fail and fall, especially when we will need them switched 
on and running vibrantly when our economy gets going. We should all 
agree that this is a time to deal with some of the massive shortfalls 
that we have now more than ever.
  While places like South Korea have universal broadband penetration, 
we should all agree that broadband access in devices for our students 
is critical if we are going to continue to educate our children for the 
months ahead.
  We should all agree on providing tests for our troops that are still 
serving in high-risk areas like Afghanistan. We need to make sure these 
bills address these holes.
  We should all agree on strengthening our community colleges and our 
minority-serving institutions so they, too, can continue to educate 
their students digitally. These are holes that must be filled.
  We should all agree that we need to be providing funding and 
flexibility for our schools and food banks to continue to serve meals 
to children in our country so that, crisis or no crisis, the next 
generation can grow healthy and strong.
  We should all agree that the utilities in our Nation should not be 
shut off during this crisis--we need to address that in this bill--so 
that families, regardless of income, who are already now struggling to 
make ends meet don't see themselves without light, power, and gas. 
These holes in this bill should be addressed.
  We should all agree that everyone must have coverage for testing and 
access to healthcare services that keep them and their families safe, 
and that includes the people who are in our country, whether they are 
documented or not, because our health is directly interrelated with 
their health. And to make sure that the only people who can get 
treatment are citizens of the United States--ignoring the millions of 
people who are not--means that the citizens of the United States are at 
risk.
  We should also think about those folks whom we don't think about

[[Page S1868]]

enough, like those who are incarcerated, as well as the correction 
officers and workers who deal with those who are incarcerated. We are 
not doing enough to address that pending crisis in our country. There 
are holes in this bill.
  I want to take one moment, though, to address an aspect of this bill 
which there seems to be general consensus about but which can be made 
so much stronger, and that is the issue of cash payments.
  Economic relief packages coming from this body should be about 
offering everyone relief, including those who, through no fault of 
their own, now find themselves on that financial brink.
  It is why we must strengthen unemployment compensation that includes 
both increasing benefits across the board and expanding eligibility to 
include more workers, like gig economy workers and other independent 
workers. That is why I specifically want to address this cash payment 
part, because that is not enough. As for the idea of cash payments, I 
am so grateful to see a lot of my colleagues be supportive of that 
idea.
  Earlier this week, Senators Bennet, Brown, and I, along with several 
of our colleagues, proposed sending cash payments directly to American 
families, starting with $2,000 sent immediately to every American, low- 
and middle-income, with additional payments if our economy remains in 
distress. Under our plan, in the worst case scenario, over an entire 
year, with three tranches of payments, if our economy remains in 
distress, a family of four would be eligible for $18,000.
  Critically, our plan would not require an income threshold to receive 
payments, which means that everyone under a certain income level would 
qualify.
  The current proposal would exclude exactly the people and households 
who actually need it most. By creating an income requirement and phase-
in, this plan currently proposed would be skipping over the most 
vulnerable people. That means a mom who quit her job to spend the last 
year caring for her sick child or a husband or a parent with 
Alzheimer's, whose full-time job has been caring for that spouse or 
loved one, would receive nothing under this plan.
  It also means that a college student, forced to leave school, now no 
longer having the sources of support at college, trying to enter the 
job market but not able to, would receive nothing under this plan.
  Some tipped workers, seasonal workers, and people coming out of the 
criminal justice system, who paid their debt to society, would receive 
nothing under this plan.
  This is a moment where we have to understand that we should be 
thinking boldly and acting in a bipartisan way at a scale we have never 
seen before because we have never seen a crisis like this before. This 
is not a time to do something that is anemic, that is inadequate, that 
leaves some of the most vulnerable people out in the cold, when we know 
those people--they are our family members; they are our neighbors--
wouldn't qualify for the plan as it is right now.
  I know those family members because they are people who live in my 
community. Someone who worked their entire life, who has a mother who 
is dying, just last year quit their job to try to support her. These 
are folks we know. They might even be in our own family. We shouldn't 
exclude them at this time. By the way, including them helps to further 
the impact of the stimulative effects of this plan. It literally puts 
more money in our economy and into the hands of people who will spend 
it, and that will have a multiplier effect.
  We need to be injecting cash directly into our economy and giving 
people agency again in their lives at a time when so many people feel 
helpless amidst this health and economic crisis.
  And, God, we need to be doing it quickly, getting payments to people 
as soon as possible. For seniors, these payments should simply be added 
to their next Social Security check. And I remind you that about 7 
million of our seniors live at or below the poverty line because their 
Social Security checks don't go far enough. For veterans, they should 
receive theirs at the same time they get their VA benefits. We can do 
that quickly. For everyone else, the IRS should send checks or deposit 
funds directly into their bank account.
  These are the kinds of actions we need to ensure that, once we get 
through this public health crisis, we have the tools in place we need 
to reactivate the world's greatest economy and enable it to recover.
  The great thing about designing something this way is that we could 
put it in place now, while we are all assembled here as a body. I said 
this to my caucus, and I didn't mean it to be in any way draconian. But 
there are 100 of us, and it is likely some of us could be sick. While 
we are all assembled here, let's put things in place so they are 
triggered. If the economy is still down, it triggers the next set of 
actions. Instead of having to come back here and negotiate more now, 
put things in place with automatic triggers so 3 months from now, if 
the economy is down, it triggers more action, like the next tranche of 
payments. At the end of the year, if the economy is still where it is, 
let's trigger another automatic payment. That is not just common sense; 
it is proactive. It means that people can begin to rely on those 
resources and do that kind of planning, by having predictable sources 
of income, and not having the challenges that I am starting to find 
now, just for a week or 2, which are the emotional challenges, the 
stress of families.
  I talked to medical professionals this week who worry about this home 
isolation, people stressed over bills, and people worried about their 
next paycheck. This is an emotional strain to our country and will have 
physical manifestations.
  I want to say that I love my Nation for so many reasons, but one of 
the reasons is because it has often been my life experience that during 
the toughest times, I have witnessed the best of us.
  I was a college student in 1989, when a horrible earthquake hit the 
Bay Area. In Stanford, we were closer to the epicenter than even San 
Francisco was. I remember the fear, as people were knocked out of their 
homes. But the other thing I saw was America. I saw the best of who we 
are--people pulling together, sheltering friends, sharing food. It was 
one of these experiences, as a young person coming of age, that I will 
never forget. I am not happy an earthquake happened, but, God, it 
so inspired me to see the best of who we are.

  Later, as a young man and a city councilman in Newark, about 10 miles 
from the World Trade Center, 9/11 happened--horrible, horrible things. 
I lost my childhood best friend in one of those buildings.
  God, in that crisis, what did we do in this country? God, I remember 
the lines--people lining up in front of hospitals to donate blood--how 
people pulled together, stood for each other, and sacrificed for each 
other. There was something so powerful and so patriotic--people 
remembering that patriotism is not a flag pin, and patriotism is love 
of country. You cannot love your country unless you love your fellow 
country men and women, and love is not sentimentality. It is sacrifice. 
It is service. It is being there for each other.
  God, when Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey and thousands of people lost 
their homes and power was shut off in our communities for days or over 
a week, again, I saw the best of who we are as a nation. In a crisis, 
in a challenge, we don't pull apart. We pull together. We stand up for 
each other. We serve each other. It may put us back individually, but 
the generosity I saw--people reaching into their bank accounts, buying 
blankets, buying food--was inspiring. They were putting people up in 
hotels who were out of their homes.
  It hearkened me back to the stories I heard from my parents and my 
grandparents about what it was like in the Great Depression in poor 
communities in the South and how much people were there for each other. 
It reminded me of World War II. My grandmother, literally, until the 
day she died, an African-American woman, was bragging about her victory 
gardens, how eagerly and how it gave her pride that she was rationing--
how this poor woman, who worked as a domestic at times, was buying war 
bonds. Everybody was pitching in. That is who we are. That is America.

[[Page S1869]]

  Now the wealthiest Nation on planet Earth is facing one of its 
biggest trials. I pray it is one of the biggest trials in my lifetime, 
if not the biggest trial. The wealthiest country on the planet is 
showing what we are called to be. I have always felt, as the prophet 
Elijah says in the Bible, that we are the light onto other nations--
about how we pull together, stand together, fight through a storm, and 
fight through a crisis. We are showing what we do for each other.
  It is not just the men and women sitting in these seats. It is all of 
us. In the greatest crisis of our lifetime, what are you doing for 
other people?
  I pray our legislation keeps that spirit in mind. When the most 
common faith talks about what are you doing for the widower, what are 
you doing for the orphan, what are you doing for those people in 
prison, I hope we keep that in mind.
  It is not a time for half steps or half measures. It is time for the 
bold spirit of America, where we stand up for each other. We don't pull 
apart; we come together. We don't tear down; we rise up. That is where 
we are right now in American history. In this great global pandemic, we 
are a light unto each other, as well as to the world.
  And for the Senate, right now, while there still are 100 of us here 
doing the work, let's do it nobly and boldly and with generosity of 
spirit. Let's extend civic grace because this crisis is not bigger than 
who we are.
  We will endure. We shall overcome. May God bless America, and may God 
bless each and every one of us.
  Thank you.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hawley). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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