[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2513-S2516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, we are going to complete 3 weeks of 
Senate activity, called together by Senator McConnell at a time when 
the House of Representatives, under the guidance of Dr. Monahan, who 
was just praised--and I join in that praise--was not in session when 
the Senate came to session.
  I said at the time that it was our responsibility to be here. That is 
why we ran for office. Important things need to be decided, and we need 
to be part of it for the good of the Nation.
  We are about to complete 3 straight weeks without one measure on the 
floor of the Senate relating to the national public health emergency--
not one. There have been hearings in some committees, yes, but activity 
on the floor of the Senate, no. No bill was brought to the floor.
  In fact, there was an attempt yesterday to bring a resolution that 
said the United States should be involved in the global international 
effort to find a vaccine. It was objected to on the Republican side. 
The reason the Senator objected to it--the chairman of the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee--is that he wants to take up the measure in 
his committee at some later date. I encourage that Senator to do it 
quickly.
  I think there is a sense of urgency across America in terms of this 
national health emergency that we face.

[[Page S2514]]

Yet there is not a sense of urgency on the Republican side of the 
aisle, despite the fact that for 3 weeks we have not considered one 
measure on the floor related to this COVID-19 virus, which is 
unexplainable and indefensible.
  Senator McConnell, of Kentucky, has told us that he doesn't sense the 
urgency for us to take up the measure passed last week by the House of 
Representatives. This was a bipartisan measure that was brought to the 
floor of the House of Representatives, which attempted to move us 
forward from the original CARES Act, the $3 trillion of cumulative 
spending that we have focused on the economy and the public health 
challenge facing our Nation.
  Is there any urgency to it? Well, I sense that urgency every time I 
pick up the phone or read the newspaper in my State of Illinois. I am 
on conference call after conference call with groups across our State 
that are concerned about economic issues, as well as public health 
issues. There is truly a sense of urgency where I live. I cannot 
believe that Senator McConnell doesn't sense it in his own State of 
Kentucky.
  Kentucky hospitals and healthcare providers have received $900 
million in CARES Act funding. I don't question whether they were 
deserving or needed it; we received funds, as well, in the State of 
Illinois. But the Kentucky Hospital Association tells us that the 
hospitals in Kentucky are expected to lose $1.3 billion in March and 
April alone.
  You know, we are next door to Kentucky, and my hospitals in downstate 
southern Illinois, right next to Kentucky, have told me the same thing. 
They are losing money right and left. Do they think this is an urgent 
problem in Illinois? You bet they do, and I will bet the hospitals in 
Kentucky do as well.
  This is what the vice president of the Kentucky Hospital Association, 
Carl Herde, said: ``Since there is no clear path to recoup these 
losses, the hospitals are left with no choice but to look at their own 
operations to cut as much cost as they possibly can.''
  The University of Kentucky is projecting a $160 million loss for its 
healthcare system. It has furloughed 1,500 employees. Jenny Stuart 
Health in Hopkinsville, KY, has furloughed 248 staff members. 
Appalachian Regional Health in Lexington will furlough 500 employees. 
St. Claire Health in Morehead is furloughing 300. Pikeville Medical 
Center has furloughed 200.
  Is there a sense of urgency in these communities, when many of these 
hospitals are the largest employers in town and hundreds of people are 
being furloughed because of the COVID virus, because of the fact that 
they cannot resume ordinary hospital operations with this shadow of 
infection hanging over them?
  The bill that passed the House of Representatives last week, which we 
did not consider or even discuss, to my knowledge, in the Senate this 
week, the HEROES Act, called for more than $100 billion more in relief 
to hospitals. How important is that?
  I know how important it is in Illinois; I can tell you flat-out. As a 
downstater, when you take a look at the rural and smalltown hospitals 
in my State, they are struggling.
  One hospital administrator told me that she had scheduled four 
elective surgeries last Monday, a week ago, and only one patient showed 
up. The other three called in and said they were too frightened to go 
to the hospital and run the risk of being exposed to the COVID virus. I 
cannot imagine there is not the same situation going on in Kentucky.
  Isn't there a sense of urgency in Kentucky, as in Illinois, for us to 
move and move quickly to help these hospitals before they furlough more 
people and ultimately face closure--a disaster in any community that we 
want to urgently avoid?
  State and local governments are struggling now to pay teachers, first 
responders, and healthcare workers as they face record revenue losses 
and increased costs of fighting the virus. The measure that passed the 
House of Representatives last week had almost $1 trillion to help these 
State and local governments--not just in Illinois but in every State, 
including the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
  In States around the country, red and blue--the Center for Budget and 
Policy Priorities estimates that States will lose $650 billion in 
revenues by next summer. By the end of the year, Kentucky is expected 
to lose between 10 and 17 percent of its annual revenues. Without help 
from the Federal Government, Kentucky's Governor announced that 
Kentucky's ``recession will be longer or unemployment will be 
greater.''
  Congress appropriated $150 billion in funding for State and local 
governments in the original CARES Act, but that funding is not enough 
to make up for the enormous losses that are being faced by State and 
local governments across the United States. These Governors, these 
mayors, these leaders have a sense of urgency in making up this 
revenue. They face the reality of cutbacks in police, firefighters, 
first responders, paramedics, nurses, doctors, and teachers
  The HEROES Act which passed the House of Representatives last week 
and which has not been considered this week in the Senate included $875 
billion in fiscal relief for State and localities to help cover the 
shortfall to make sure communities can continue to pay frontline 
essential workers.
  Understand the deadlines that were built into the CARES Act. The 
first deadline is June 8. That is the date by which small businesses 
that borrowed money under the payroll protection part of that act need 
to have spent the money in order to have the loan forgiven--June 8.
  Who among us believes that small businesses will be in a position to 
recover and get back to business as usual by June? I pray that is the 
case, but I know better in my home State and I will bet you in the 
State of Kentucky as well.
  How about unemployment? We came through in the CARES Act and did 
something dramatic and unprecedented. We said that we were going to 
give an extra payment, a Federal payment, to those who were unemployed 
so that they could weather this storm as their families try to adjust 
to no breadwinner in the house--$600 a week on top of whatever the 
State benefit of unemployment might be. For some families, it was just 
enough to get by.
  Understand, though, that benefit--that unemployment benefit of $600 
from the Federal Government each week--is going to end at the end of 
July. That is not that far way. We are talking about 10 weeks at the 
most. Do we honestly believe the unemployment crisis, with 36 million 
unemployed Americans, will be behind us by the end of July? I wish that 
were the case, but we know better. In my State of Illinois, I know 
better.
  We are hoping to start reopening the economy in a safe, responsible, 
careful way and to give these small businesses a fighting chance to 
open their doors again and survive, but it is going to be a struggle, 
and many of them won't make it.
  Earlier this month, 69,000 people filed new unemployment claims in 
Kentucky--a 4,000-percent increase from last year. Do those families 
who are now unemployed feel that this response, this Federal assistance 
in unemployment benefits, is urgent? Well, you bet it is. How many of 
those in Illinois or Kentucky believe they won't need this help after 
the end of July this year? July--the same month the $600-per-week 
unemployment benefits expire--the unemployment rate in Kentucky has 
been projected to be 16.3 percent--the 10th highest in the Nation. Yet 
the Republican leader says there is no sense of urgency in moving on 
this measure that was considered by the House of Representatives and 
passed last week.
  The IRS has sent out almost 2 million economic impact payments to 
that State of Kentucky, worth more than $3 billion, helping families 
put food on the table and pay their rent and their mortgage.
  When you take a look at that economic impact payment, understand that 
the measure that passed the House, which we did not bring to the floor 
this week in the U.S. Senate, calls for $1,200 more for each adult and 
$1,200 for each child. Do families need it in Illinois? You bet they 
do.
  Even though it was originally proposed by President Trump, politics 
had nothing to do with the support that it received from both political 
parties--the support that this measure that just passed the House 
should receive from

[[Page S2515]]

both parties here in the Senate as well. There is a sense of urgency 
when it comes to these cash payments to people who are struggling to 
make ends meet. The bill that passed the House includes a second round 
of these critical payments and makes sure that we extend the 
unemployment benefits beyond the end of July.
  According to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, tens of 
thousands of Kentuckians have lost their health insurance as a result 
of this pandemic. What a moment in life to lose your health insurance--
in the midst of a pandemic, with people facing hospitalizations, 
treatment in and out of the hospital and in some cases ICUs, to think 
that you would be without health insurance?
  The measure that passed the House of Representatives last week, which 
was not brought to the floor by the Republicans this week in the 
Senate, includes a provision to ensure that people who have lost their 
health insurance as a result of becoming unemployed can remain on their 
employer healthcare plan without paying any premiums. In other words, 
we want to make sure that people have health insurance rather than lose 
it. Was that brought up this week for debate and consideration in the 
Senate? No. No, it wasn't. Is it a matter of urgency if you are facing 
the loss of health insurance in the middle of this coronavirus 
epidemic? Of course it is.
  The Paycheck Protection Program still has funding left in it to 
provide some loans, but businesses have to spend the money within 8 
weeks of receiving the loan or it won't be forgiven. Many small 
business owners across the United States are facing a June 8 deadline, 
struggling to spend the money due to the fact that they still haven't 
been able to open their doors.
  The HEROES Act, which passed the House of Representatives and was not 
brought up for consideration in the Senate this week, which it could 
have been, would extend the deadline an additional 16 weeks, providing 
small businesses 24 weeks to spend the money they were loaned by the 
SBA, and it would authorize the Paycheck Protection Program through the 
end of the year to ensure that we can continue to help small businesses 
through this difficult time.
  Is there a sense of urgency in small businesses in my State to extend 
this period that you can spend the money as a small business and have 
your loan forgiven? Of course there is a sense of urgency in Illinois, 
in North Carolina, in Georgia, and in Kentucky--across the United 
States. Why the Senate Republican leader does not feel a sense of 
urgency on this measure, which ultimately ends on June 30, is beyond 
me.
  I have heard from farmers across my State who are struggling to 
survive, asking for help. I have heard from the Census Bureau about the 
need to push back its response deadline to October 31--measures also 
included in the HEROES Act that passed the House of Representatives.
  Three weeks have ended here on the floor of the Senate, and, but for 
a few speeches on this floor, if you read the record of legislative 
activity, you would wonder if the leaders in the Senate even realize we 
are facing a pandemic. We have spent our time on nomination after 
nomination. We have spent our time in hearings on friends and those who 
pass political muster who want lifetime appointments to the Federal 
court. But somehow we have managed to miss the biggest story in 
America--the pandemic.
  I would say to Senator McConnell and the Republican leadership: We 
have wasted an opportunity--a 3-week opportunity--to move forward, and 
we have particularly wasted this week when we could have taken up the 
measure that passed the House of Representatives last week.
  Are we prepared to negotiate a compromise? Of course we are. We have 
done that every time we have brought up a measure related to the 
pandemic. It should be bipartisan in the end. But to say it is ``dead 
on arrival'' and there is no sense of urgency among the Republicans in 
the Senate to take up this measure is to ignore the obvious. Whether it 
is $1,200 payments to American citizens who are struggling to get by, 
whether it is an increased period of time for qualification to receive 
unemployment insurance, whether it is loans to small businesses so they 
can survive, these are the urgent needs of America.

  When we have hospitals furloughing employees in Illinois, in 
Kentucky, and around the Nation, we run the risk of losing these great 
hospitals that are needed for the future.
  Is it urgent that we take up this matter? Of course it is. Yet this 
week we have done nothing, zero, when it comes to this measure.
  We are going to leave now for the Memorial Day week, which means it 
will be about 2 weeks before we return. I can just about guarantee that 
the sense of urgency across America will be palpable at that time. The 
question is whether there will be a sense of urgency felt by the 
Republican leader from the State of Kentucky.
  The other day, my friend and colleague from Texas, Senator Cornyn, 
came to the floor, as he has before, to discuss the issue of liability 
and immunity as part of the conversation on the next measure of relief 
and rescue for our economy.
  For weeks, Senator McConnell and Senator Cornyn have said that unless 
Congress gives broad legal immunity to corporations, they would block 
emergency aid to help States and local governments avoid massive 
layoffs of policemen, firefighters, and teachers. The logic behind this 
position is hard to fathom.
  There has been no flood of COVID-19 lawsuits. There is a website 
maintained by the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth that tracks all the 
lawsuits filed in America based on COVID-19. Senator McConnell has 
cited this tracking. That tracker updated its numbers as of yesterday. 
It reported that out of 1.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 90,000 
deaths, there have been 2--2--COVID-19 medical malpractice cases filed 
in the United States in over 1,000 complaints that have been filed and 
26 cases alleging workplace exposure to COVID-19. The Senator from 
Kentucky has called this a tidal wave of lawsuits, a windfall for trial 
lawyers--2 cases of medical malpractice and 26 cases for workplace 
exposure?
  The other cases that mention COVID-19 relate to prisoners in prisons 
and jails, who are questioning whether their rights are being violated 
because of the health circumstances in the prisons. There are lawsuits 
against insurance companies as to whether the policy covers a business 
that has suffered losses because of the COVID virus. There have been 
lawsuits as well between businesses as to responsibility for it. But 
this notion of a tidal wave of lawsuits being filed--2 medical 
malpractice cases across the United States of America and 26 workplace 
exposure cases.
  Keep in mind that if you do get sick and you want to file a lawsuit, 
a good lawyer will advise you: Be careful. Proving where you were 
infected is not an easy thing. And they also look at the standard of 
conduct of the business or individual who could be the defendant. Did 
they act reasonably?
  We had a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week on 
liability during the COVID-19 pandemic. I have quoted this before, but 
it is worth repeating. One of the witnesses called by the Republicans 
was a very good man, very thoughtful. His name is Kevin Smartt, and he 
is the chief executive officer and president of Kwik Chek Foods in 
Bonham, TX. He went through a litany of things that he had done in his 
workplace to make it safer, not just for his employees but also for the 
customers who came in. It was impressive. If the statements he made to 
us were accurate--and I believe they were--he is doing his part to try 
to make his workplace safer.
  Here is what he said:

       This was a challenge because the guidance provided by the 
     CDC, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as 
     well as state and local governments, often conflicted with 
     one another in addition to being vague and difficult to 
     follow. Yet, despite many uncertainties, including the 
     constantly fluctuating public health guidelines, we began to 
     adjust to the pandemic.

  The point I am making--and I see our Democratic leader on the floor; 
I am going to wrap it up quickly--the point I am making is this: We 
should establish reasonable standards through the Centers for Disease 
Control and OSHA so that conscientious businesses can in good faith 
know what needs to be done to protect their employees and their 
customers. When they follow those guidelines, I believe they have 
absolved

[[Page S2516]]

themselves of liability. They certainly have a valid defense to any 
claims of wrongdoing. But this notion that comes before us on the floor 
from the Republican side goes to an extreme--asking for government 
immunity from the conduct of businesses in the midst of this pandemic 
without holding them to any standards. We are still waiting for an 
explanation. Why would we allow the workplace to be more dangerous for 
employees? Why would we allow the business place to be more dangerous 
for customers?
  If the owner is willing to live up to reasonable standards 
established based on science and health, in my mind, that is a good 
defense, and that is the way it should be. To do otherwise is to give a 
green light to businesses that don't follow standards, endangering 
their workers, their employees. It means more people are going to get 
infected and sick in America--the last thing we need.
  I yield the floor.