[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S2280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SENATE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, it is good to be back in session. After 6 
weeks away from this place, it is good that we are all together working 
on some very important things.
  In the past 6 weeks, since we haven't been here in session working 
together, a lot has changed. America has been overtaken, really, not 
just by the coronavirus but by the economic damage it has caused.
  More than 30 million Americans have now filed for unemployment, and 
most believe we are approaching the highest unemployment we have had in 
this country since the Great Depression. It is a concern and 
particularly troubling because, if you think about it, just a few 
months ago, back in February, we hit a 50-year low in terms of 
unemployment in this country. So we have gone from a strong and growing 
economy to one where many people are out of work and many businesses 
have been shuttered. Some of these businesses tell me they may have 
shuttered permanently. I hope not, but it has been a tough time. At the 
same time, churches and schools have been closed.
  Some States have begun to reopen their economies, which is fantastic, 
but a majority of Americans are still living by very strict social 
distancing guidelines.
  I hear constantly from Ohioans about how much this has upended their 
lives. Sometimes small business owners will tell me a heartbreaking 
story of how they spent 30 or 40 years building a business, and now 
they have seen it devastated. They are in a situation where they have 
no cash flow and can't keep the business open.
  At the same time, a lot of Americans have been teleworking. They have 
still been working, but they haven't been going to the office or going 
to the factory. They have been working from home and figuring it out.
  Just like everything else, here in the Senate, we have been affected 
by this pandemic. As I said, we have been shut down for 6 weeks. This 
started back in March. One of our colleagues actually came down with 
the virus, but it was really on the advice of health officials and 
public health experts that we decided not to reconvene. It was probably 
the safe thing to do at the time.
  Again, it is good we are back now. We are back now with the 
recommendation of the attending physician and other top medical 
experts. We have been wearing our masks dutifully and when appropriate. 
We have been keeping our social distance.
  My desk is actually over there, but there was another Senator over 
there, so they put me here, which is good. We have been doing this 
successfully this week, and that is great because we need to be here 
representing the voice of the American people.
  However, I will tell you, during these 6 weeks when we weren't 
convening, there was a lot of work to be done too. Yet Congress was 
unable to do it. Why? Because, unlike probably the majority of the 
people whom I represent, we don't telework. We work, yes. We were home 
working hard. But we weren't involved in debates here. We weren't 
involved in hearings. We weren't involved in debates on the floor. We 
weren't involved in voting.
  During that time period of 6 weeks, by the way, over half a trillion 
was appropriated. In other words, this body chose to spend over half a 
trillion dollars--that used to be a lot of money--of taxpayers' money 
without people being here to weigh in, to vote, to have amendments, or 
to have debate. And that legislation had to be done because it had to 
do with helping small businesses in particular but also healthcare 
providers around the country and getting more testing, which was very 
important. But wouldn't it have been good had Congress been able to 
weigh in? But we couldn't. Why? We don't have the ability to remotely 
vote, much less engage in debate or much less have hearings.
  I think we should be able to do that. I think we should be able to 
meet and discuss things even when we can't physically be here in the 
Capitol.

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