[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 96 (Thursday, May 21, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2572-S2573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I know that we are all looking forward 
to trying to finish our legislative work this week. The majority leader 
has announced that next week the Senate will be in recess for the 
traditional Memorial Day recess.
  Let me just urge our colleagues that before we leave for the recess, 
we need to act on the challenges that COVID-19 is imposing on our State 
and local governments. To me, it would be irresponsible for us to leave 
and go into recess recognizing that our State and local governments are 
so much impacted by COVID-19.
  They are making decisions now. They have to put their budgets 
together. They have to adjust this year's budget and plan for next 
year's budget. What is in the balance? Well, it is our municipalities, 
it is law enforcement, it is police, it is fire, it is emergency 
rescue. For our counties, it is our schools and funding of our schools. 
It also deals with public health for our State. It is public health and 
so many other different issues that are dependent upon the State having 
the resources in order to respond to the needs of their citizens--our 
constituents--as well as to deal with the challenges of COVID-19.
  I will give you one example on that. This week, by teleconference 
with representatives of our higher education, University of Maryland--
they depend very much on the revenues they get from the State and the 
revenues they get from their students. Both are very much in jeopardy 
today. The least we can do is to make sure that the States have the 
resources to continue these critical missions. They just don't have it.
  Let me give you some of the numbers so that my colleagues are aware 
of it. For the State of Maryland, in the revenue projections for the 
current fiscal year that ends June 30, the revenues will be off by as 
much as $925 million to $1.25 billion. Those are revenue losses. On top 
of that, their fiscal year 2022 revenue projection is another loss of 
$2.1 to $2.4 billion. That is for the State of Maryland. Those are not 
our subdivisions.
  Baltimore City is projecting a reduction in revenues by $141 million 
this year. That is going to require layoffs. They have already talked 
about layoffs and not hiring additional police officers. Those police 
officers are needed in order to keep Baltimore safe. We know the 
challenges we have in our municipal centers, and Baltimore City is

[[Page S2573]]

under a consent order decree. That is being jeopardized by the 
inability of Baltimore to deal with these costs. They have to balance 
their budget.
  The State of Maryland has to balance its budget. Baltimore City has 
to balance its budget. It doesn't have the leeway we have in order to 
respond to a crisis by pumping money at a problem.
  Baltimore County has a $172 million revenue projection. That is a 22-
percent reduction in this year's budget in regard to income tax 
revenues alone. They have a 70-percent reduction in motel and hotel tax 
revenues.
  For Montgomery County, our neighbor that borders DC, there is a $250 
million projected revenue loss for this year. Prince George's County 
has a $134 million revenue loss for this year, and that includes a 
reduction of $886 million in income tax revenues. Anne Arundel County 
anticipates a $63 million loss of revenue. They have frozen all 
positions. Howard County projects a $30 to $40 million loss of revenue. 
They normally have a growth of $25 million. That is a swing of $55 
million to $65 million for a county that wasn't large enough to get 
direct help under the CARES Act.
  I mention the CARES Act because it was an important bill. When we 
first took it up, it did not include a robust provision for State and 
local. We put that in on the Senate floor, and we are pleased we were 
able to do that. It is limited. It is limited because the money that we 
made available under the CARES Act provided help to State and local 
governments on their direct costs associated with COVID-19. That money 
has been used for direct costs associated with COVID-19.

  I have already pointed out the revenue losses in the State of 
Maryland and in our subdivisions. The CARES Act doesn't provide any 
help in regard to making up for the revenue losses. The CARES Act went 
only to jurisdictions of 500,000 or more--over 500,000.
  Only a few of our counties were eligible for help in my State. Most 
of our counties were not eligible for help directly. They had to apply 
through the State, but they were not eligible for direct help.
  Let me give you one county: Wicomico County, Eastern Shore of 
Maryland. That is where the poultry processing plants are located. That 
is where the problems of COVID-19 needed to be contained. We did not 
provide any direct help to Wicomico County in regard to stabilization 
funds. That was wrong.
  As we all know, we treated our host jurisdiction here, the District 
of Columbia, wrongly by not allowing them to get the same minimum 
distribution as a State. The CARES Act helped, but it didn't deal with 
the current crisis that we now find at State and local governments.
  The Governors have issued a bipartisan plea. Governor Hogan, who is 
the chair of the National Governors Association, the Republican 
Governor from Maryland, and Governor Cuomo, the Democratic Governor 
from New York, have joined with all of our Governors in saying that 
they need help now from the Federal Government in order to maintain 
critical missions of public safety, of public health, of education and, 
yes, to meet the direct needs related to COVID-19. They need help now. 
Yes, we need to respond.
  I am pleased that there is a bipartisan group of Senators who have 
filed the SMART Act. The Governors say they need $500 billion in order 
to get through this immediate crisis--$500 billion more. Well, the 
SMART Act provides $500 billion. Two-thirds would go to the State and 
one-third to the local governments. That is an important start, but we 
could do better than that.
  The HEROES Act, the bill that passed the House of Representatives, 
provides $875 billion, and 57 percent goes to the States, meeting what 
the States need; that is, basically the States' needs. And 42 percent 
goes to local governments, half to the counties, half to municipalities 
over 50,000. That would go a long way to meeting the needs of our local 
first responders, our police, our fire, our emergency rescue, our 
schools. Those types of issues could be addressed under that need.
  We have to respond. We just can't go home and say that this is not 
our problem. These are our constituents. They depend upon local police 
and fire. They depend upon our schools being prepared to educate their 
children. They depend upon sanitation being collected. They depend upon 
the public health capacities. That is where they get those services. If 
we don't provide the wherewithal under the balanced budget rules, they 
are not going to be able to provide those essential services.
  My plea is that before we go into recess, let us take up at least the 
issues affecting State and local governments and do something to help 
so that they can continue to provide essential services to our 
constituents and they can deal with the direct costs associated with 
COVID-19 in their communities.
  As we are beginning to reopen our communities, we need to make sure 
our State and local governments have the resources to respond to the 
challenges when more people are getting together. We also need to 
respond if we are going to get our economy back on track. It is not 
going to get back on track if our State and local governments are 
laying off their workers. We need to respond in a positive way, and we 
need to do that now.
  I urge my colleagues to take up legislation before we go into recess 
in order to help the people of our Nation through our State and local 
governments.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Young). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Cruz pertaining to the introduction of S. 3835 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.''
  Mr. CRUZ. I yield the floor.