[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 56 (Sunday, March 22, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1895-S1897]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    MIDDLE CLASS HEALTH BENEFITS TAX REPEAL ACT OF 2019--Motion to 
                            Proceed--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 748, which the 
clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read the following:

       A bill (H.R. 748) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 to repeal the excise tax on high cost employer-sponsored 
     health coverage.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.


                              Coronavirus

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, in a few minutes, the majority leader 
will begin a process that will permit the Senate to act for the third 
time to deal with this unprecedented healthcare crisis that we are 
facing. Our message to the American people is this: This is about your 
paycheck. This is a collection of the best ideas that Democratic 
Senators and Republican Senators have that we believe will generate 
trillions in economic support that will, No. 1, keep payroll checks 
coming; No. 2, relieve the financial burdens on Americans; and No. 3, 
begin to contain this COVID-19 virus.
  The legislation we will be voting on will contain about $1.7 trillion 
in Federal spending, and it will authorize the Federal Reserve Board 
and the Treasury Department to generate trillions more in liquidity and 
credit support for companies of all kinds to try to keep payrolls 
checks coming to workers.
  In the end, the only way to end this crisis--and the only way to get 
the American economy moving again--is to contain the disease. This will 
require, as soon as possible, adopting a new goal. That goal should be 
to test every American who needs it for COVID-19 as soon as possible, 
and then isolate and care for the few who are sick and fast-track 
treatments and vaccines so that Americans can go back to work and go 
out to eat and resume a normal life again. This legislation will make 
all COVID-19 tests free.
  The government has shut down the economy to fight this disease, and 
the government has to help pay the cost of the suffering that this 
disease has caused, but the sooner we make more tests available and 
stop telling Americans not to get a test, the better.
  Just yesterday, a California company announced a 45-minute test that 
could be taken in a doctor's office while also getting a flu test. 
Expanding tests like this will do more to get the economy moving again 
than spending trillions stabilizing businesses and supporting 
employees.
  Yesterday, I spoke with the chief executive officer of the company 
that makes that test. This is a well-established company that makes 
millions of flu tests. He said they could make 45,000 tests available 
by the end of the month and 2 million tests by the end of June. More 
instances of expansion of tests that you can get at the same time you 
visit a doctor's office is what we need.
  The legislation the Senate will be considering has three goals: one, 
keep the payroll checks coming as much as possible; two, relieve 
financial burdens on Americans; and, three, contain the disease.
  Keeping the payroll checks coming means $300 billion for loans to 
small businesses. If they use the loans to pay the wages, the loans 
will be forgiven.
  It authorizes the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department 
to create trillions more in financial credit support for States, 
cities, and large businesses so they will be able to stay in business 
and pay their employees.
  It expands the emergency paid sick and family leave passed by the 
House and then the Senate last week--to workers who were laid off and 
later rehired by their employers.
  The second goal is to relieve the financial burden on Americans. That 
section of the bill includes checks to individuals and families: $1,200 
for individuals, $2,400 for a couple, and $500 for each eligible child.
  Federal income taxes don't have to be filed until July 15. Estimated 
taxes can be delayed until October 15. It will make it easier to use 
retirement savings without penalty.
  All student loan payments will be deferred for 6 months. There are 43 
million Americans with student loans. There is priority on both sides 
of the aisle for more Federal funding for State unemployment insurance 
programs, so States can increase benefits, waive the waiting week, and 
expand eligibility to self-employed and independent contractors.
  There is money for block grants for States for K-12 education, for 
higher education, and for children and families, including the child 
care and development block grants, which will provide immediate 
assistance to childcare centers.
  Finally, containing the disease is the third goal. It makes all 
COVID-19 tests free. There is nearly $100 billion for the public health 
and social services emergency fund. That is at least $75 billion for 
hospitals and $10.5 billion for accelerating diagnostics, treatments, 
and vaccines.

[[Page S1896]]

  We are probably a few months away from a treatment for COVID-19. This 
would accelerate the efforts that are being made now to determine if 
these treatments work and if they are safe. We are even further away 
from a vaccine, but if there is any way to accelerate that vaccine, 
this $10 billion will help to do that.
  There is another $1.7 billion for the strategic national stockpile, 
which has the purpose of buying the equipment that our medical 
personnel especially need; $4.5 billion for the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention for State and local preparedness and response 
grants and to improve public health; $80 million for the Food and Drug 
Administration, again, for diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines; $1.32 
billion for community health centers. There are 1,400 centers with 
12,000 sites. They are the hospitals for probably 28 or 30 million 
Americans across this country. And there is $20 billion for veterans 
healthcare.
  The goal of the legislation we will be considering has these 
objectives: keep the paychecks coming as much as possible, relieve 
financial burdens on Americans, and, most importantly, contain the 
disease.
  Senator Thune mentioned that now one of our Members, Senator Paul of 
Kentucky, has tested positive for the coronavirus. That reminds us of 
what every family in this country is going through today and worrying 
about. It also should remind us of the urgency of moving ahead.
  We have been working together for several days with our counterparts 
on the other side. This is a collection of ideas that will keep the 
paychecks coming, relieve financial burdens, and contain the disease. 
It is time to vote on it, approve it by a big margin, and send it to 
the House of Representatives so we can intensify our efforts.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                      Unanimous Consent Agreement

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to 
H.R. 748 occur at 6 p.m.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Young). The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I would like to just say a few words 
about what we are going through and what we are experiencing. I can 
only give you my experiences back home in West Virginia.
  I have been on conference calls because we are social distancing, as 
we all are. I have talked to the nurses' association, the medical 
association, and the hospital association. The main concern we have 
right now is of our medical providerships' being stable enough and 
protected enough so, if need be, they can continue to take care of us. 
Right now, they are scared to death because they are not getting the 
protective equipment they need. They don't have the personal protection 
equipment, such as the masks or the shields or the gowns--all of the 
equipment that a first responder or a medical provider should have. 
That is what we are fighting for right now. Also, we have rural 
hospitals and rural clinics throughout all of America--West Virginia is 
mostly all rural--and they are all scared to death that they are not 
going to have the finances with which to stay afloat.
  The proposal that we have right now, that they are working on--that 
both sides are working on--is inadequate and insufficient. Mitch 
McConnell's proposal falls short of delivering the protection the 
medical providerships need. They talk about the economy and the 
recovery of this economy, but we need to find a treatment for the virus 
as we know it. For the people who do contract it, they will know they 
have a treatment that can cure them, and then we must find a working 
vaccine as quickly as possible. We have been told that this could take 
12 months or longer.
  The treatment is the most important thing, and protecting our 
healthcare workers is the most important thing. Keeping our hospitals 
and clinics and all medical providers vibrant right now and able to 
survive this economic downturn is the first and foremost thing, and it 
is the thing that didn't get the attention that we needed.
  I am hoping that between now and before we vote, at 6 o'clock, the 
two sides can come together. I implore of my colleagues on the 
Republican side to basically express their concerns to their leader, 
Mitch McConnell, that we need to have a balanced approach.
  I am concerned about the economy. I am concerned about the workers. 
Through no fault of their own, we have had workers throughout West 
Virginia who have been laid off. They have done nothing wrong except to 
have been in professions, basically, because of the health concerns of 
our country, that had to lay them off. The businesses they worked for 
had to stop--cease and desist. They had to stop. It was through no 
fault of their own. Basically, for the health of this country, it was 
best if they closed. These people have no control whatsoever over their 
destinies except to ask: When can we get this thing cured? When do we 
get ahead of this cycle, or ahead of the curve, so we may get back to 
normal?
  Wall Street will not return, I can assure you, no matter how much 
money we throw at Wall Street. It is not going to have confidence built 
into it is as long as the virus is out there without any type of a 
treatment or a vaccine coming down the pike that is going to cure and 
protect us. That is what this is all about.
  Don't you think we should be putting the resources on the front end 
to help these providers, to give some assurances to the American 
public, to the people in West Virginia that we have found and we have a 
treatment now that will work?
  God forbid if you contract the disease, and the virus attacks you, 
but we can help you. You are not going to perish from this. But with 
that being said, it doesn't make any sense to me that--the proposal 
that Leader McConnell from the Republican side has put forth is 
absolutely, totally worried about Wall Street at this time.
  I am worried about the people in rural West Virginia and all over 
Main Street. Those are the people we are worried about, and Wall Street 
is going to do just fine. It has always rebounded real well. They 
always come back strong. But the market has to have stability to it and 
it has to have confidence in it and the people have to have confidence.
  So that is where we stand. Let's take care of the people whom we are 
asking to take care of us if we need them. Let's take care of our 
healthcare workers, our nurses, our first responders, all of our 
doctors. Let's take care of the facilities that they are keeping open 
for us, which is the hospitals and the clinics--everything that we 
possibly can to protect them. Let's make sure that our workers and 
these healthcare providers don't go down because if that system goes 
down, I can assure you, you can't print enough money for Wall Street to 
rebound. If the healthcare system in this country is not able to take 
care of the people of America, that will not happen.
  And if West Virginians can't count on our hospitals and clinics to 
take care of them, and if the workers who work there--the nurses and 
all of the different people who work within that system--aren't able to 
go to work because they might have contracted the virus, we have done 
nothing special to help them with their childcare and everything 
because they will be working extraordinary hours. This is where our 
emphasis should be right today. This is what we should be talking 
about.
  Yet we are miles apart now because Wall Street is not maybe taken 
care of to the likes of what they would like. I can't understand it at 
all. I really don't. I want them to succeed, and they will succeed. I 
want them to have a generous loan program--not a gift but a loan 
program--and I want to make sure that people who have lost their jobs 
and the business has closed down due to no fault of their own have the 
backing of this great country of ours and the government right here. 
That is whom I am worried about.
  The proposal that is on the table today does not do that. If we had 
to

[[Page S1897]]

vote today at this time, I would vote no, not to proceed. We will stay 
here all night long. They are worried about what happens when the 
markets open in the morning. We will work around the clock. I am fine. 
I can stay here until 7, 8 o'clock. We can all work around the clock, 
but there has to be a balanced approach and putting healthcare first.

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