[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 19, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2483-S2484]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the Senate Banking Committee this 
morning will hear testimony from Secretary Mnuchin and Federal Reserve 
Chairman Powell about the economic distress caused by the COVID-19 
pandemic. This testimony from the Secretary and the Chairman of the Fed 
is one of the requirements that Senate Democrats secured in the CARES 
Act, and we have been pushing for it to happen for several weeks. The 
fact that it has taken so long is, once again, one more indication that 
our Republican Senate colleagues are not focused on the COVID crisis 
but on other diversionary issues, as witnessed by Leader McConnell's 
speech, which I will have something to say about in a few minutes.
  It could not be more urgent that they are testifying. The COVID-19 
pandemic has thrown over 35 million people into sudden unemployment, 
the highest level since the Great Depression. Chairman Powell has said 
that further layoffs can continue for months. The anguish that so many 
people feel. Without further action, Powell said, we risk ``prolonged 
recession and weak recovery,'' with unemployment reaching 20 percent or 
even 25 percent. In Chairman Powell's words, it may be that Congress 
has to do more, and the reason we have to do more is to avoid longer 
damage to the economy. Those are Chairman Powell's words, a 
nonpolitical appointee by President Trump.
  Mr. Powell's testimony this morning, hopefully, will jolt my 
Republican colleagues into action, finally. At the very least, his 
testimony should awaken them from their slumber and compel some 
understanding of the scope and urgency of the problem at hand. Maybe 
his speech will somehow galvanize our Republican colleagues into coming 
forward and talking about COVID, doing oversight of COVID, and coming 
up with the kinds of plans that we saw in COVID 4.0 in the House that 
are so well needed. Maybe they will talk about things like this. Are 
they for aiding State and local governments? Are they for so many of 
the things in the bill--more help for hospitals, more help for testing, 
more money for PPE, more help for those who have lost their jobs, or 
are they not? All we hear is silence from our Republican colleagues.
  I sat on the House and Senate Banking Committees for decades. I may 
hold the record for attendance at hearings with Fed Chairs, so I can 
state that Chairs of the Federal Reserve, whether appointed by 
Democratic or Republican Presidents, do not frivolously suggest that 
more congressional action is taken--rarely, do they do that. They try 
to avoid it. That is another reason why Chairman Powell's comments are 
so important. If he feels the need to push this Congress, and 
particularly this Republican Senate, to act, problems must be deep and 
real, and most Americans know it, but our Republican Senate colleagues 
don't seem to.
  We are looking at an economic situation ``without modern precedent'' 
in Powell's words. We can either take action to soften the blow to 
businesses, families, workers, and average folks or, through inaction, 
prolong the recession and hamstring our Nation's recovery. Up until 
now, it seems our Republican colleagues are, unfortunately, choosing 
the latter: no immediate need for urgent action. Amazing. Amazing. This 
is the greatest crisis America has faced in decades and decades.
  Now my colleagues like to point out the costs of the House Democratic 
bill to provide another round of emergency relief. Republican 
leadership has taken time to assail parts of the Democratic bill that 
account for 0.0003 percent of the bill. They are not expected to like 
every single piece, but they are expected by the American people to 
act, and, mark my words, the American people will force them to act.
  There are so many costs to inaction, and none other than the 
Republican-

[[Page S2484]]

appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve is saying that those costs 
are likely greater than the costs of any relief bill. When will our 
Republican Senate colleagues start to get the message
  Looking at the floor of the U.S. Senate, you would never guess that 
we are in the middle of a national economic crisis. For 3 weeks, Leader 
McConnell has not scheduled any legislative business related to the 
coronavirus. Senate Republican leadership is not even discussing their 
response to COVID-4 in the House.
  Instead, this week, the Republican leader has scheduled five 
rightwing judges for the floor of the Senate. The Republican chairman 
of the Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow 
designed to slander the family of the President's political opponent, 
delving into a Kremlin-concocted conspiracy theory that has no truth 
and fell over like a dud in the impeachment hearing. Last night, the 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee announced that his committee will 
soon consider subpoenas relating to another conspiracy theory pushed by 
President Trump, this time to try and rewrite the history of Russian 
interference in the 2016 election to match the fantasy in President 
Trump's head. What does Leader McConnell devote more of his floor 
remarks to today? That wild conspiracy theory aimed at somehow smearing 
the fine reputation that President Obama has well deserved. It is 
amazing that was the bulk of the speech.
  Leader McConnell, stop listening to President Trump and his wild 
theories and listen to the American people. We need action. We need 
action now. Every day, every week, and now almost every month we wait. 
The recession gets deeper and worse. More people are unemployed. More 
people lose their jobs, more small businesses are in jeopardy, and we 
are talking about some wild theory because President Trump demanded it, 
when everyone knows the President's penchant for truth is at a bare 
minimum, as exemplified by his hydroxychloroquine comments last night.
  Wow. This is unbelievable. In the midst of historic unemployment and 
economic and health tragedy, Senate Republicans are using their 
majority to simply block and tackle for the President's reelection 
campaign. Senate Republicans are using their majority not to tackle the 
COVID crisis but to block and tackle for the President's reelection 
campaign. In the midst of a public health crisis, Senate Republicans 
are diving headfirst into the muck to smear the family--the family--of 
the President's political opponent.
  It is such a gross misuse of the power of the majority. We were sent 
here to do the Nation's business. At the moment, that means helping our 
constituents through a time of immense challenge and hardship, but 
Senate Republicans are using their committees to hold fishing 
expeditions dictated by the President's Twitter feed, which even his 
supporters don't usually believe.
  If anyone doubts this is about politics; that this is about Senate 
Republicans doing the bidding of President Trump's personal political 
agenda, just remember what House Minority Leader McCarthy said before 
the last Presidential election. Leader McCarthy went on FOX News 
bragging that the Republicans put together a Benghazi select committee 
to bring Hillary Clinton's poll numbers down. Now Senate Republicans 
are using the same playbook to smear President Trump's political 
opponents once again. It will not work.
  The American people know it is a crisis. They know the Republicans 
are doing nothing right now. They know that this is political folderol 
to please President Trump and will not solve America's problems. 
Rightfully, many Americans are just furious at Senate Republicans using 
their majority to pursue the President's political agenda in a time of 
national crisis.
  The President is tweeting insane conspiracy theories, demanding that 
his water carriers on Capitol Hill make them look legitimate. Instead 
of focusing on testing capacity and policies to safely reopen our 
country to help so many individuals and businesses that are in need, 
the President is telling the press that he has taken an unproven 
treatment, hydroxychloroquine, for a disease he doesn't have. That is 
reckless.
  Please, citizens of America, don't take hydroxychloroquine as a 
prevention for COVID, and medical experts have said it is not. 
Remember, it is risky. The FDA has said it has risks. This is a 
medicine that experts say, at best, may not be effective in treating or 
preventing COVID-19 and, at worst, causes serious heart problems in 
patients with certain conditions.
  It is astonishingly reckless. I don't know why the President did it. 
Maybe he has family or friends who stand to benefit from the popularity 
of this drug. It wouldn't be unlike the President that someone called 
him who said it is a great drug, and he just talks about it. He has no 
penchant for research or science or even truth. It just pops into his 
head, and he thinks it sounds good. He thinks it is a diversion from 
his failures--which are so many--for dealing with COVID. He just says 
it. He doesn't care if it hurts people. He just says it. But I do know 
this. If the President was focused on testing or production of PPE or 
fashioning a careful plan to reopen the country instead of pushing 
quack medicines and inventing new conspiracies, the country would be in 
far better shape than it is today, and the country knows it.
  The majority of Americans don't trust the President to handle this 
crisis, and Senate Republicans just say how high when he says jump, no 
matter how off base, false, or unrelated to COVID his theories are

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