[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2523-S2524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              U.S.A. Rise

  Mrs. LOEFFLER. Madam President, 8 weeks ago today, the Senate passed 
the CARES Act, an unprecedented $2.2 trillion package of legislation 
aimed at providing relief as our country took steps to respond to the 
threat of COVID-19.
  Previously, we passed legislation to expand free access to testing 
and paid leave, accelerate vaccines and treatments, and to support the 
Federal agencies leading our pandemic response.
  The CARES Act was designed to support the health of our citizens and 
the economy. It included direct payments to American families, grants 
to hospitals, and the Paycheck Protection Program--forgivable loans to 
small businesses to keep their employees on the payroll. The program 
was so successful that a month later, Congress approved the additional 
$310 billion for PPP loans, $75 billion for hospitals, and $25 billion 
for testing.
  Georgia hospitals have received over $1.7 billion, including at least 
$328 million for our rural businesses under the CARES Act.
  I worked to include provisions in the CARES Act to expand rural 
health and telehealth program. Our State has received more than 
$800,000 from these programs. They are helping Georgians across our 
State stay connected with their doctors from the safety of their own 
homes.
  In addition, our State and local governments have received $5.8 
billion to help schools adjust to online learning, to provide 
assistance for those who lost their jobs or homes, to keep our airports 
running, and to help our communities respond and serve in this 
challenging moment.
  The action Congress took has helped to meet immediate challenges, but 
it is clear the pandemic has caused significant human suffering and 
staggering economic losses.
  In the last 2 months, I have heard from hundreds suffering the 
effects of this outbreak and the response: first responders, doctors, 
and nurses on the frontline, small business owners and farmers who have 
seen the viability of their businesses threatened, families who have 
suffered job losses, children who are out of school, and food banks 
that have seen an unprecedented surge in demand.
  Before this pandemic, Americans were enjoying a thriving economy, 
with the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. Under the leadership of 
the Trump administration, more families were on their way to living the 
American dream. Then, in late March, the day after the Senate passed 
the CARES Act, we learned that a record 3.3 million workers had applied 
for initial unemployment benefits in a single week. The total is now a 
staggering 36.5 million Americans who filed initial jobless claims. 
This is more than the combined populations of Georgia, Pennsylvania, 
and Ohio.
  In my State, more than one in three Georgians have lost their jobs. 
Watching this unfold, despite the relief of the CARES Act, I recognize 
that it is time to look beyond the immediate response and to focus on 
our recovery. As a member of the President's Opening Up America Again 
Congressional Group, I am putting my nearly three decades of experience 
in building companies and creating jobs and opportunities to work for 
Georgians. With my experience and the conversations I have had with 
Georgians, I developed a U.S.A. Restoring and Igniting the Strength of 
Our Economy plan--or U.S.A. Rise--to bring back our thriving economy. 
The four pillars of the plan are Made in the U.S.A., Grown in the 
U.S.A., Hiring in the U.S.A., and Families in the U.S.A. I started to 
introduce legislative proposals based on this four-pillar framework 
that incentivize companies to invest in America, to grow jobs, and to 
help families.
  I would like to highlight one of those pillars today, Families in the 
U.S.A.
  First, we mourn the loss of those to COVID-19. The toll of this has 
devastated thousands of families. It is also clear that with economic 
damage comes societal damage. Our country needed to take dramatic 
actions to flatten the curve, but those steps meant most Americans were 
confined to their homes. This meant work from home, school from home, 
but also, in too many instances, lost jobs, isolation, depression, 
suicide, and domestic, substance, and child abuse.
  It is timely that May is Mental Health Awareness Month. In a recent

[[Page S2524]]

Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-ed, Eve Byrd and Jennifer Olsen of the 
Cardinal Center wrote: ``Isolation is one of the cruelest components of 
the outbreak.''
  Last week, I spoke with the head of a mental health treatment 
facility in Georgia. They are seeing a significant spike in those 
reaching out for help. The waitlist is growing, and the demand for help 
is rising rapidly. An emergency hotline run by the Substance Abuse and 
Mental Services Administration in HHS saw a 1,000-percent increase in 
calls in just 1 month. That was this April compared to last April.
  I have spoken with local law enforcement officials who have seen a 
serious spike in domestic abuse calls. The nationwide Crisis Text Line 
has seen a 78-percent increase in texts related to domestic violence 
across our country.
  The millions of Americans who have lost their jobs or their 
businesses are suffering.
  Tiffany, a mother of three from College Park, GA, was furloughed from 
her steady job stocking store shelves. She said: ``It is very 
overwhelming when you have rent, when you have children to take care 
of.'' When a parent loses their job, they lose much more. They lose 
their ability to put food on the table, to pay rent, and the 
uncertainty grows for children. It is vital to help families weather 
this crisis.
  We know that Americans who have a steady paycheck are more likely to 
have stable, secure families, and children from stable families are 
more likely to do well in school. That is why I have designed the USA 
RISE Plan as an economic framework that takes the human cost of the 
coronavirus into account. Helping families and job creation today will 
allow parents to get back to work and reduce the fallout from this 
pandemic from permanently impacting an entire generation.
  Importantly, this does not mean we should expand the grip of the 
Federal Government. An American Enterprise Institute report on 
achieving the American dream, released just a few weeks ago, states:

       The power of community has become all the more poignant as 
     we retreated more to isolated lives required by social 
     distancing. Oftentimes, local institutions and neighborhoods 
     have a greater influence on economic outcomes than what is 
     occurring at the Federal level.

  Being in Washington working on behalf of our State, I see that local 
impact firsthand. Often, these organizations are at the heart of our 
communities. It is where people turn for help, for a sense of 
belonging.
  Churches and other nonprofits are doing amazing work during this very 
difficult time. They have been providing childcare, meals, and other 
support for family and children. For example, YMCAs are the largest 
provider of childcare in Georgia. Many have stepped up to provide 
childcare for essential workers. They are providing thousands of meals 
each week to help out needy families.
  That is why last week I introduced legislation, the Limiting Infant 
Fatality and Empowering Nonprofit Organization Workforces Act, or LIFE 
NOW Act. It allows larger nonprofits access to the Paycheck Protection 
Program loans. These loans will help them keep their doors open and 
continue to serve their communities while ensuring that no taxpayer 
dollars go to abortion providers.
  Yesterday, I introduced the Working Families Childcare Access Act. 
This will give more working families more flexibility by allowing 
parents to contribute more to their employer-sponsored dependent care 
cafeteria flexible spending account, or FSA. If a family doesn't use 
all their funds in 1 year, any leftover funds can be rolled over to the 
following year. This will help families make plans for childcare as 
they begin to go back to work.
  I am continuing to work on additional legislation to provide families 
with targeted relief--for example, a bill to codify the Trump 
administration regulations to help Americans who recently lost their 
jobs and their health insurance. The Trump administration expanded 
short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans after President 
Obama substantially restricted those plans just 2 months before he left 
office. These plans had previously been available for nearly 20 years. 
They are an affordable option for Americans who are in between jobs or 
who have been laid off.
  The dramatic economic numbers alone do not convey the full cost of 
this pandemic--the futures impacted, the isolation, domestic abuse, 
substance abuse, and suicide. As our country begins to look forward 
amid the coronavirus pandemic, we must support job growth and families 
to build strong futures.
  In the coming weeks, I will introduce additional bills as part of the 
USA RISE Plan aimed at incentivizing manufacturing in the United 
States, helping our farmers and small business owners, and to ensure 
that America is the best place in the world to do business.
  While I continue to do all I can to fight COVID-19, I will also 
continue to do all I can to help Georgia families and employers recover 
and prosper.
  I yield the floor.

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