[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 12, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2363-S2365]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Coronavirus
Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, I rise today to speak about the
unprecedented crisis our Nation is facing. In a matter of just a few
months, COVID-19 has completely changed our daily lives. This virus has
forced us to close schools, shut down restaurants, cancel major events,
and temporarily shutter businesses across our economy.
The sacrifices have been necessary for the sake of public health, to
help ``flatten the curve'' so our medical facilities don't become
overwhelmed, but they have also been disruptive, frustrating, and in
some cases, scary.
Despite the emotional and economic toll this crisis has taken, we
have seen countless acts of compassion, generosity, and selflessness
all across the country. Americans have stepped up to help each other to
fight this new threat.
I want to make sure the American people know that since the very
beginning of this crisis, Nebraskans have been on the frontlines.
When 13 Americans were evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan in late
February, they were taken to the National Quarantine Unit at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. As the Nation's only
Federal quarantine unit, they were also trusted to care for Americans
recovering from Ebola in 2014.
Beyond treating those exposed to or infected with coronavirus, UNMC
is also working to test new treatments for this virus. In late
February, the National Institutes of Health announced that the
country's first clinical trial for coronavirus therapy had begun at
UNMC.
Our world-class medical center has been active from the very
beginning of this crisis.
The Nebraska National Guard--our citizen soldiers--has also played an
important role in our response. They have been deployed as distributors
at food banks, as healthcare workers assisting with testing, and as
drivers bringing ventilators to where they are most needed.
One of the first State Department evacuation flights out of China
brought 57 Americans to Nebraska, where they were quarantined at Camp
Ashland, a Nebraska National Guard training site.
It is easy to forget that these first evacuations happened just back
in February. Since that time, we have relied on our amazing healthcare
workers and first responders. These heroes have been working around the
clock to keep all of us safe. They get up every day to fight this virus
in hospitals and in clinics across this country. I can't imagine how
hard it must be for them to see the effects of this new sickness day in
and day out. Yet I know we are in good hands.
We have also relied on our food heroes, many from my home State,
where one in four jobs is tied to production agriculture. If you raise
cattle or grow soybeans, you can't stay inside and work from your
couch. If you package beef or pork, you can't work from a laptop.
Americans should be incredibly grateful for our essential workers
throughout the food supply chain. They are working so that we can
continue to put healthy, safe food on our tables.
Nebraskans and all Americans are making daily sacrifices to slow the
spread of this virus. We have drastically reduced our contact with
others, knowing that short-term sacrifice will lead to long-term public
health. But despite our best efforts, over 8,000 Nebraskans have
contracted the virus, and 96 have died since COVID-19 arrived in the
United States. These people were loved by their families and by their
communities. I grieve for their loved ones. These tragic losses
underscore the seriousness of this virus. They demonstrate to all of us
that we need to keep up the fight.
The changes we have made in our national life, while necessary, have
been difficult. They have come at the cost of the economic security of
many people in the heartland of this Nation. We are seeing record
numbers of unemployment claims, and many people who have never faced
unemployment before now find themselves out of work. More Nebraskans
are now dealing with food insecurity due to unemployment and the
effects of COVID-19.
I have been inspired by the work nonprofits across my State are doing
to address this.
The local chapter of the Salvation Army in Hastings has started a
mobile food unit, which they drive from neighborhood to neighborhood,
and they serve hot meals.
The Central Nebraska Community Action Partnership has begun to box up
food and leave it on people's doorsteps. This has allowed them to
reduce person-to-person contact while helping those who are in need.
The Food Bank of Lincoln, which serves Southeast Nebraska by acting
as a distribution center for food pantries in 16 counties, has seen a
huge surge in demand. They have been able to keep up with this demand
in large part thanks to the innovation of a partnership of Lincoln
business, philanthropy, and government leaders, who together formed the
Lincoln COVID-19 Response Fund.
These are major problems, and there is no easy fix. Even so, it is
our job in Congress to respond to this national crisis and do what we
can to provide relief. That is why I was proud to support the CARES
Act, the relief package this body passed unanimously at the end of
March.
A big part of this legislation was the Paycheck Protection Program,
which was designed to help America's small businesses keep their
employees on payroll by offering forgivable loans.
Upon the creation of this program to provide relief, Nebraskans hit
the ground running. By mid-April, the Paycheck Protection Program had
provided nearly 25,000 loans worth just under $3 billion to Nebraska's
small businesses. This funding was enough to cover more than three-
fourths of Nebraska's eligible payrolls--the highest percentage in the
Nation.
I think it is important to note that none of this would have been
possible without Nebraska's community banks and our credit unions.
While some national banks hesitated, Nebraska's local institutions
stepped up to provide these loans and make sure small businesses in
their communities received assistance.
To our community banks and credit unions, Nebraskans applying for
these loans are not just statistics halfway around the country. The
people hurting are their friends, their families, and their neighbors.
The people who need their help live just down the street.
One of these banks is Union Bank & Trust in Lincoln. This family-
owned bank is not in the top 200 banks by assets nationally, but after
the first 72 hours of the Paycheck Protection Program, they ranked
second in the Nation for the number of loans approved. Like many other
lending institutions, Union Bank & Trust accomplished this while
adjusting to working from home for the first time. Their remarkable
efforts and those of another Nebraska institution, Pinnacle Bank, were
covered in a recent Washington Post story for leading the way
nationally with this program.
It is good to see the Paycheck Protection Program working well in my
State. I am pleased that Congress came
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together to further fund this program so that more small businesses can
receive assistance. The drive to support one another, help out, and
deliver relief to others is something we are seeing all across my
State.
Along with grief, we have seen resilience. Along with sadness, we
have seen hope.
I read a story about young children in Omaha who wanted to visit
their grandfather. They couldn't go into his nursing home, so they
connected a microphone to a speaker inside so that they could talk to
him and sing to him.
I have seen schools that stopped holding in-person classes weeks ago
still serving their students.
On top of instituting remote learning, many are also offering free
meals.
In Gering, teachers organized an impromptu drive-by parade through
their students' neighborhoods.
In Hastings, Longfellow Elementary School has converted old newspaper
vending machines into learning material dispensers. Students walk up to
the dispenser for their grade level, and they take out their weekly
learning packet, just as you would a newspaper.
In short, I have seen neighbors helping neighbors. I have seen
Nebraskans helping Nebraskans.
Much remains uncertain about our future. We don't know how many more
lives will be lost, how long we are going to have to wait for a
vaccine, or how long it will take for Main Street to fully open for
business once again. I think we may have a long and tough road ahead of
us, but I take great pride in the way Nebraska has responded to these
difficult circumstances.
The inspiring stories of kindness and humanity in my State don't come
as a surprise to me.
I have seen our people respond to other disasters, including the
widespread flooding that we faced just last year. I have seen
Nebraskans respond the same way to COVID-19 as we did to that flood--by
putting others first. It is just who we are.
Nebraskans will continue to adapt, to help others, and to lead the
way in addressing and responding to this crisis. We will get through
this, and we will come out stronger than ever before
nomination of Brian D. Montgomery
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, today I will vote to oppose the nomination
of Mr. Brian Montgomery to serve as Deputy Secretary for the Department
of Housing and Urban Development. My vote today is not because I
believe Mr. Montgomery is incapable of doing the job. Across multiple
administrations, Mr. Montgomery has shown himself to be a dedicated
public servant with an impressive understanding of the programs and
policies he would oversee if confirmed. During prior administrations,
Mr. Montgomery demonstrated his commitment to HUD's mission and helped
respond to the early days of the financial crisis. And over the past
year, Mr. Montgomery has done important work strengthening HUD's
reverse mortgage program.
But I will vote against Mr. Montgomery's nomination today because,
like too many people in this administration, over the last 2 years he
has helped advance policies that will have devastating effects for
millions of families. In addition to his role as Federal Housing
Commissioner and Assistant Secretary for Housing, Mr. Montgomery began
performing the duties of the Deputy Secretary at HUD nearly a year and
a half ago. Since that time, he was involved in the decision to advance
a revised disparate impact rule that the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights wrote that it was very concerned would ``impose substantial new
obstacles for victims of discrimination'' and ``undermine the
protections of the Fair Housing Act, thereby substantially undermining
necessary civil rights protection in an area about which the Commission
and its state advisory committees continue to receive compelling
evidence of need for meaningful federal corrective action.''
Mr. Montgomery also helped advance HUD's Housing Finance Reform
Report, which would increase the cost of an FHA-backed loan for those
who can least afford it, restructure FHA in a way that could undermine
HUD funding, and restrict consumers' choice between an FHA and Fannie
Mae or Freddie Mac-backed loan. But when confronted with questions
about these issues that are critical to low- and moderate-income
families, Mr. Montgomery offered little explanation.
Throughout Mr. Montgomery's time performing the duties of the Deputy
Secretary--the No. 2 person at HUD--HUD's budget requests have
repeatedly zeroed out critical housing and community development
accounts, like the community developmental block grant, HOME investment
partnerships, and public housing capital funds, while proposing to
raise rents for the lowest income renters. When asked to justify these
disastrous proposals, Mr. Montgomery again offered no explanation.
Our Nation is facing an affordable housing crisis and a crisis of
equity across our housing system. Before COVID-19 hit, there was a
nearly 30-point gap between the Black and White home ownership rates,
and more than one in four renters paid more than half of their income
for housing. With COVID-19's economic devastation disproportionately
burdening the lowest income households and communities of color, these
challenges will only grow.
We need leaders at HUD who will fight for our housing and community
development programs and the families who depend on them. We need
leaders at HUD who will push for progress and equality in our Nation's
housing system, regardless of race, disability, or family status. We
need leaders at HUD who will advance proposals that support, not
further burden, the lowest income families. Mr. Montgomery has not
shown us a record of fighting for those priorities, and that is why I
cannot support his nomination today.
Mrs. FISCHER. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, all postcloture time
is expired.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Montgomery
nomination?
Mrs. FISCHER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Tennesse (Mr. Alexander) and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr.
Sasse).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr.
Alexander) would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy), the
Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), the Senator from Washington
(Mrs. Murray), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator
from Rhode Island (Mr. Whitehouse) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cruz). Are there any other Senators in the
Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 61, nays 32, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 86 Ex.]
YEAS--61
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Carper
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Enzi
Ernst
Fischer
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Jones
Kennedy
King
Lankford
Lee
Loeffler
Manchin
McConnell
McSally
Menendez
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Paul
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shelby
Sinema
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Warner
Wicker
Young
NAYS--32
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Casey
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Harris
Hassan
Heinrich
Hirono
Kaine
Klobuchar
Merkley
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Smith
Stabenow
Udall
Van Hollen
Warren
Wyden
NOT VOTING--7
Alexander
Leahy
Markey
Murray
Sanders
Sasse
Whitehouse
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table.
The President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
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