[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 75 (Tuesday, April 21, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2178-S2179]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, well, in the month since I last addressed 
this Chamber, life for nearly every American has been upended. Stay-at-
home orders have swept across the country. The monthly toll of new 
unemployment claims are measured in the millions. Our health system has 
been strained to the breaking point. American workers and businesses 
are suffering financial hardship not seen since the Great Recession. 
Almost 800,000 of our fellow citizens have tested positive for COVID-
19. And most heartbreakingly, America has lost more than 37,000 
precious lives to this coronavirus--many, many of them New Yorkers.
  Over the past 2 months, the Senate has come together on three 
occasions to pass legislation in response to this multifaceted crisis, 
to rescue our ailing healthcare system, to cushion the blow to American 
workers and businesses, and to prepare our country for a more 
prosperous future on the other side of this pandemic.
  Our last legislative effort, the CARES Act, was unprecedented in size 
and in scope--the largest stimulus in American history. Remarkably, on 
such a large and complex bill, the Senate came together 96-0 to pass 
this crucial emergency relief, getting ayes from Senator Sanders to 
Senator Cruz and everyone in between. It shows that, even with the 
partisanship here, as tough and harsh as it can be, we can come 
together unanimously in a time of great crisis.
  Still, the depth of the crisis we now face meant that funding for 
certain programs in this bill had already been depleted, and a number 
of required fixes had to be made to make sure these programs worked as 
intended. An interim bill, COVID 3.5, is necessary.
  Now, my friend, the Republican leader, tried to bypass negotiations 
on such an interim measure. He tried to jam through a bill that would 
have increased funding for one small business lending program but not 
others, when they were all running out of funding. His proposal did not 
attempt to fix the dire lack of lending to small businesses that are 
truly small, underbanked, underserved, minority, or women-owned. His 
proposal included nothing at all for our healthcare system, nothing to 
address the national shortage in testing, nothing to help State, local, 
or Tribal governments who are breaking their budgets to fight this 
disease.
  All of us want to help our small businesses--all of us--but this 
emergency demands we take action on many fronts. So we have spent the 
last week negotiating with the administration--Treasury Secretary 
Mnuchin, Chief of Staff Meadows, as well as Speaker Pelosi and House 
Democrats with us, the Senate Democrats, to improve the legislation. We 
reached a final agreement earlier today.
  Now, there are plenty of disagreements between our parties these 
days, but once again, we are coming together to pass this legislation 
by unanimous consent--not a single Senator objected.
  I want to thank Secretary Mnuchin. I spent hours and hours with him 
at all hours of the day. I want to thank someone I didn't know very 
well, Chief of Staff Meadows, who is very good at making sure an 
agreement can come to fruition, even in the wee hours of the morning. 
Of course, I want to thank my dear friend and partner, Speaker Pelosi. 
I want to thank Leaders McConnell and McCarthy who, at the end of the 
day, did not let partisan disagreement stand in the way of doing what 
is right for this country.
  Again, just like the CARES Act, the hard work of bipartisan 
negotiation paid off. The fact that Democrats said, You need to talk to 
us, not try to steamroll us, once again, made a huge and positive 
difference. This legislation is significantly better and broader than 
the initial proposal offered by the Republican leader.
  Republicans asked us to funnel more money into a program that wasn't 
working the way it should. We negotiated a bill that not only provided 
support but made it more effective, more inclusive, and addressed other 
urgent national priorities as well. The legislation before us contains 
220 billion more dollars, including funding for small businesses 
through community financial institutions, new funding for our hospitals 
and healthcare systems, and a substantial downpayment on a national 
testing regime so desperately needed and asked for by one and all.
  Let me repeat that: The legislation now includes an additional $220 
billion, $120 billion for small businesses, $100 billion for our 
healthcare system, divided among healthcare providers and a need for 
testing and contact tracing.
  The new money includes $50 billion in additional emergency small 
business loans and $10 billion in additional business grants. That 
includes $60 billion in new funding set aside for small lenders. If you 
don't know a banker, if you are not a relatively large-sized company, 
you were left out. Two out of three loans in New York were ignored. The 
mom-and-pops, the small businesses, the restaurants, and the barber 
shops, the hardware stores, the butchers, and small startups, both 
service and manufacturing, they couldn't get in. Now, they will be 
because of our work.
  Our bill will help rural small businesses, minority small businesses, 
women-owned small businesses get the money they need. I believe every 
Member of our Caucus heard from businesses in their States who couldn't 
access Federal lending because they didn't have a prior relationship 
with a big bank.
  So what we have done is set aside lending for smaller, community-
based lenders and dedicated half of that funding--$30 billion--to 
Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository 
Institutions. We insisted that this money be separate from the 
competition with the bigger companies, so that moms-and-pops, 
restaurants and nail salons, startups, and minority businesses can get 
some access.
  Unlike Leader McConnell's proposal, this bill also includes $100 
billion in money to fight the coronavirus itself. We are not going to 
cure the economic problem unless we cure the health problem. We can 
give loans to small businesses, but if there are no customers walking 
the streets to go into their stores, what good is that?
  So we insisted that $75 billion go to our hospitals. Our hospitals 
are going underwater--certainly, the big ones in cities like mine that 
have an epicenter of corona, but smaller hospitals in rural areas. Talk 
to our rural representatives, and they are telling you their hospitals 
might go under. And medium-sized hospitals in New York State--St. 
Joseph's in Syracuse and St. Peter's in Albany--each laid off 700 
people this week. They are going to get help because of what we did.
  The experts are clear. To fight this disease and reopen the economy 
safely, we need to dramatically--dramatically--expand testing capacity 
and frequency. We don't have enough tests; that cry rings from one end 
of America to the other. It is urban, suburban, rural, north, east, 
south, and west; we don't have enough tests.
  Well, now, help is on the way because Democrats stood and fought for 
it--$25 billion, $11 billion to go to the States to help them test and 
do the contact tracing they need, money to help create a manufacturing 
and supply chain that will have adequate tests and adequate supplies 
for those tests so we can finally get them going. We need them 
desperately.
  One of the last provisions secured in these negotiations at midnight 
last night was a requirement that the administration report on a 
national strategic testing plan on how it plans to increase domestic 
testing capacity, testing supplies, and the disparities in all 
communities. Thus far, unfortunately,

[[Page S2179]]

the administration has refused to accept responsibility for the sorry 
state of testing in our country. Under this agreement, the Trump 
administration will now, at last, be required to report on what its 
national testing plan actually looks like. Congress provided the 
startup funds for the testing program. It is now up to the 
administration to prepare a national testing strategy and implement 
those funds to proper effect before it is too late.
  Of course, this bill is not perfect. We are sorely disappointed 
Republicans refused to work with us to strengthen food assistance. I am 
sorely disappointed that Republicans turned a deaf ear to Governors, 
mayors, Tribal leaders, county and local officials, Democratic and 
Republican, all 50 Governors who have been pleading with the Federal 
Government for more help. And it is not about abstract government. I 
know we don't like government on the other side of the aisle. It is 
about policemen, firefighters, bus drivers, hospital workers. They are 
being laid off because the local governments and the State governments 
are starving and not getting their revenues. We fought and fought, but 
unfortunately, on the other side of the aisle, they resisted. I hope 
they won't resist in COVID 4. We are going to need a large, large 
amount of money to help our localities so those policemen, 
firefighters, and bus drivers are not laid off. Republicans need to 
come to the table and work with us to give our States the help they 
need. They should be eager to do it.
  Secretary Mnuchin committed--and the President tweeted today--that 
they will support State and local funding in the next round of 
legislation, as well--and this is very important--as a provision 
providing flexibility to use all past and future relief dollars to 
offset lost revenue. The President signaled his support for this 
concept as well in a tweet this morning. We should have passed support 
for State and local governments. Democrats will see to it that it gets 
done in the next package.
  Now, finally, I would remind my colleagues that this is an interim 
measure. There are plenty of hard-won provisions that we Democrats are 
pleased with, but it is, ultimately, a building block.
  In the weeks ahead, Congress must prepare another major bill, similar 
in size and ambition to the CARES Act. The next bill must be big and 
bold and suited to the needs of a beleaguered country. State localities 
and Tribal governments need support, so does the Postal Service. 
Working Americans need rental assistance. Frontline workers deserve 
hazard pay, and it is not just doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other 
medical workers, but truck drivers, grocery store clerks, police 
officers, firefighters, and more.
  We must make sure that our elections this fall are conducted fairly, 
that States have enough money to run them properly, and that every 
American can exercise his or her constitutional franchise safely and 
confidently. This is a COVID-related issue.
  So those issues and more will be priorities for the Senate Democratic 
Caucus in the next bill. Yes, it has been a long few months for the 
American people, but even now, there are signs that the sacrifices 
Americans have made are beginning to slow the spread of the disease. We 
are a long way from the end, but this, too, shall pass.
  Until the day when we can begin to return to normal, it is up to 
Congress and the entire Federal Government to deliver the leadership 
and resources that only we can provide. The private sector will not 
provide the aid our Nation requires. The efforts of individual States 
or even individual citizens, heroic as they are, will not be enough. We 
dare not abandon them in these dark and difficult times.
  The American people need their government. They need their government 
to act strongly, boldly, wisely. Let us do what we were elected to do 
and pass this bill today.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Utah.

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