[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 12, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2361-S2363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, my home State of Texas is a great place 
to do business. We keep taxes, government spending, and regulations at 
a rational minimum in order to give people and businesses the freedom 
to pursue their dreams and prosper. Texas is consistently ranked on the 
list of the ``Best States for Business,'' the ``Best States to Start a 
Business,'' and the ``Best States for Female Entrepreneurs.''
  According to the Small Business Administration, there are more than 
2.6 million small businesses throughout the State, accounting for 99.8 
percent of all Texas businesses. Those businesses employ nearly half of 
our State's workforce and account for the massive portion of our Texas 
economy.
  To say that the small businesses are an economic force in Texas would 
only paint half the picture. In big cities and in small towns alike, 
these businesses play a critical role in our communities--the locally 
owned restaurants and bars we visit, the gyms that are part of our 
regular routine, the dry cleaners, the pharmacies and the hardware 
stores we stop at when we run errands. But our small businesses aren't 
just employers or generators of sales tax. They are owned by our 
friends and our neighbors and are part of the very fabric of our 
community.
  Right now, they are under severe stress and in real jeopardy. The 
coronavirus has kept Texans at home and put our small businesses into 
serious financial trouble. When stay-at-home orders were put in place, 
many were forced to close their doors outright. Over the last several 
weeks, like many of my colleagues, I have held innumerable video 
conferences with chambers of commerce, small business owners, and 
others who have told me about the difficult decisions they have been 
forced to make in the wake of this virus.
  Without any demand, without an opportunity to sell their services or 
the food or other material they provide, they had to lay off employees 
or reduce their pay, and some were more concerned that they couldn't 
survive more than a few weeks because they still had to pay the rent 
and their overhead.
  Those struggles are familiar for businesses across the country, and 
that is why we, together--literally, unanimously, in the Senate--
created the Paycheck Protection Program. This new loan program was 
designed to help America's small businesses and their employees manage 
these uncharted waters by providing 8 weeks of cash flow assistance to 
cover payroll and other business-related expenses.
  As we now know, it was so popular and so needed that the initial $350 
billion we funded ran out in less than 2 weeks. From that batch of 
funding bill, Texas received more loans than any other State. Nearly 
135,000 small businesses benefited from the Paycheck Protection 
Program--a sum total of

[[Page S2362]]

28.5 billion. That is just from the first $350 billion we appropriated. 
It became obvious that there was more demand than supply, and so we had 
to then replenish the program with an initial $320 billion. So far, 
$670 billion has gone into the Paycheck Protection Program. These are 
astronomical numbers, but, obviously, the need was serious, and this 
appears to be meeting a very real need to keep these businesses afloat, 
along with their employees.
  Since our small businesses have gotten these funds, there is no 
shortage of stories about the positive impact they have had in my 
State, and I am sure each of us can tell similar stories.
  One of the recipients of a PPP loan is Sevy's Grill, which has been a 
favorite in Dallas for more than two decades. Like other restaurants 
throughout Texas, the stay-at-home order put them in a very tough 
financial spot, and the restaurant closed in March without an end in 
sight. Then a lifeline came in the form of the Paycheck Protection 
Program.
  A Facebook post from the restaurant read: ``We are blessed to be a 
part of the Paycheck Protection Program to help fund our comeback.''
  They reopened at the end of April with a ``Valet-to-Go'' program, 
just in time to celebrate their 23rd anniversary last Friday and 
Mother's Day over the weekend.
  There is also another company called JuiceLand, an Austin-based 
company with locations in Dallas and Houston as well. Matt Shook is the 
founder and CEO. He says they were preparing for a busy spring, but 
instead of having their nearly three dozen locations full of customers, 
he had to close 25 stores and lay off 300 employees. He said: ``Every 
day it's like being at a poker table and getting bad hands every 
hand.''
  But Matt was then dealt with a few good cards. JuiceLand received its 
Paycheck Protection Program loan. He began to reopen the stores and to 
hire back his employees. He said that this loan is going to be the 
difference in keeping his company afloat.
  The businesses that have received these loans were in danger of 
drowning until Congress, working together in a bipartisan way, threw 
them a lifeline. But now they are facing another risk that could bring 
a second wave of devastation and danger. Across the country, we are 
starting to see coronavirus-related litigation filed by the hundreds of 
cases--patients or their families suing doctors, students suing 
universities, employees and customers suing businesses--and this is 
just the beginning. As more States begin to restart their economies, we 
can expect a tidal wave of lawsuits to follow.
  And while there is and should absolutely be legal recourse for those 
with legitimate claims, there are serious concerns about the number of 
frivolous claims and nuisance lawsuits we are expecting to see.
  Imagine you are the owner of a small restaurant. Once stay-at-home 
orders were put in place, you did it the way you were asked, and you 
tried to keep your business going and your employees on payroll. You 
received a PPP loan, which helped you and your workforce survive until 
you could reopen your doors. And once that happened, you took every 
precaution and followed every guideline to protect your employees and 
your customers.
  You did your best to follow all government guidelines and regulations 
to a T. You stayed in close communication with your employees about 
their health and required anyone who was not feeling well to stay home. 
Your employees wore masks and gloves and had their temperatures checked 
at the start of each shift. You did your best to clean high-touch 
surfaces, maintained social distancing in the restaurant, and had hand 
sanitizer available for customers and employees. But then you find out 
you are being sued because someone claims that they contracted the 
virus at your place of business and they claimed that it happened 
because of your negligence and either you knew or you should have 
known. The legal nightmare you are about to enter could have your 
business filing for bankruptcy by the end of the year, even if the 
claim proved to be without merit.
  The expense and the time and the effort that we want people putting 
back into the business to help rebuild our economy--they are going to 
have to use that to defend a nuisance lawsuit and perhaps pay money 
just so they don't have to continue to pay a lawyer to defend them in 
court.
  Without action in this Congress, this is going to be a familiar story 
for small business owners, doctors, nurses, first responders--anyone 
and everyone who could potentially be blamed for another person 
contracting the virus.
  We are all familiar with those who are ready to jump at the 
opportunity to file a suit over this and similar matters, whether or 
not their case has legs. You can imagine the TV ads and the highway 
billboards we will see encouraging you to call some 1-800 number if you 
have been impacted by the coronavirus, only to be connected with a 
lawyer to file a lawsuit--again, regardless of merit.
  Let me be clear. As a recovering lawyer myself, I don't think all 
lawyers are bad, but we do know there are venal people who will take 
advantage of the opportunity.
  Again, let me just say I have no doubt there have been and will be 
legitimate lawsuits targeting bad actors. If there is willful or 
reckless disregard for the person affected, they should have every 
right to sue and be made whole. But we need to take action against 
these frivolous lawsuits tying up our courts, bankrupting our 
businesses, and discouraging our economy from reopening.
  This is not without some precedent. In the past, Congress has 
provided similar protections for businesses and workers who followed 
guidelines and acted in good faith. For example, there was the 
Volunteer Protection Act of 1997, which provided legal protection for 
volunteers who worked at nonprofits. There was the Y2K Act of 1999, 
which gave protections to businesses if they followed government 
guidelines in good faith with regard to Y2K computer glitches. There 
was the Coverdell Teacher Protection Act of 2001, which gave protection 
to teachers and educators.
  It is simply time for Congress to once again exercise our 
constitutional authority to provide reasonable liability protections 
for employers and workers who are operating in good faith and following 
government and public health guidelines.
  There is no effort to allow bad behavior or protect those who are 
grossly negligent, period. In fact, if you think about it, providing a 
safe harbor for those businesses that follow public health and 
government guidelines will actually encourage them to do so, which will 
actually further protect the public and their employees.
  The types of liability limitations my colleagues and I are interested 
in providing would simply prevent frivolous and nuisance lawsuits from 
harassing our frontline healthcare workers and small businesses which 
were acting reasonably and complying in good faith with health 
guidelines.
  If you are a business owner debating whether to reopen once you are 
able, this lawsuit frenzy could be the deciding factor. You may just 
decide to throw in the towel, and we all would be losers, not the least 
of whom would be the employees who get their jobs from that employer.
  Would you risk a potential lawsuit that would tie you up in courts 
for months, if not years, on end and bankrupt your business even though 
you are prepared to follow health guidance? Well, I think many will not 
be inclined to open up under those circumstances.
  Without limiting liability for our small business owners and workers, 
our economic recovery will be stunted as a result of the fear of the 
negative impact of these frivolous lawsuits. That is the situation we 
need to address and prevent.
  Congress has taken unprecedented steps to strengthen our Nation's 
response to the coronavirus and minimize the economic fallout, and we 
have done that together. The tidal wave of lawsuits that could come and 
will come unless we act to limit that liability will undo every bit of 
progress we tried to make. We can't allow our doctors and nurses and 
first responders and small businesses to survive the pandemic, only to 
find themselves battling a second crisis in the courtroom, an 
existential crisis.
  In order to strengthen our response to this pandemic, we must protect 
those who are doing everything in their power to keep us safe while 
following the guidelines their government provides them, and we need to 
keep them

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from having to suffer and perhaps not survive this second pandemic that 
will be caused by opportunistic litigation.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Loeffler). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. FISCHER. Madam 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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