[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 99 (Wednesday, May 27, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H2286-H2287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                NEED FOR FIFTH CORONAVIRUS STIMULUS BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor to echo the rising 
chorus for a fifth coronavirus bill and to applaud three vital 
provisions addressed to the special circumstances of the District of 
Columbia in that bill.
  Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have taken needed initiative 
in introducing the HEROES Act to get ahead of this virus, instead of 
chasing it.
  The first four bills have proven themselves. Jurisdictions following 
the CDC guidelines, like the District of Columbia, are seeing deaths 
decrease. Across the country, careful reopenings are occurring. To be 
sure, scientists are warning of prolonging the virus unless there is 
more social distancing and masking, because that is far from universal.
  But my Republican friends have called for a pause. Of course, we have 
seen unprecedented spending, but this is an unprecedented virus. The 
virus has shut down the entire world.
  I am pleased that Republicans may be declaring the end of their pause 
barely a week after House passage of the HEROES Act. Yesterday, the 
Senate majority leader said Congress will probably have to pass a fifth 
bill. Thank you, Senator McConnell.
  President Trump said--and I am quoting him--``I think the United 
States will need another round of stimulus.''
  They may be following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who 
said more is needed for the economy shortly after the April report 
showed a 14.7 percent unemployment rate.
  Mr. McConnell only wants to fund increased losses due to COVID-19, 
whatever that means. But tailoring the next bill based on whether 
COVID-19 or something else caused the losses would require an inexact 
calculus that itself could bog down the next bill, particularly what I 
regard as the most essential part of the HEROES Act, $1 trillion for 
State and local government.

[[Page H2287]]

  This is the government, State and local government, that is closest 
to the people. This is the government that funds first responders and 
healthcare workers in local hospitals. This is the government that 
funds the workers who pick up your garbage twice a week. This is the 
government running on fumes.
  So are the American people who need another cash payment, an 
additional $1,200 per family member, up to $6,000 per household, and 
other essentials like unemployment benefits and housing benefits, a 15 
percent increase in nutrition programs. People have got to eat during 
this crisis.

                              {time}  1015

  I also have been able to get included in the HEROES Act a trifecta of 
provisions that the District must have, beginning with the $755 million 
in retroactive funding Republicans in the Senate removed from the CARES 
Act by treating the District for the first time in American history as 
a territory, when we have always been treated for what we are, a State 
for funding purposes, and, of course, the D.C. statehood bill has 
enough cosponsors to pass this very year.
  We have always received State-level funding because we pay the 
highest Federal taxes per capita in the United States. The HEROES Act 
also includes money for State, county, and city funding, the first time 
the District has ever had to break down its funding. The District is a 
unique jurisdiction in the United States because it operates at all 
three levels.
  The HEROES Act also authorizes the District to participate in the 
municipal liquidity facilities funding of the Federal Reserve, if that 
should become necessary. The $3 trillion HEROES Act sent to the Senate 
last week is a marker. It will probably not be enough, as large as it 
is, to contain this virus. But, at a minimum, it should get us started 
on sensible negotiations.
  Time, Mr. Speaker, is not on the side of the virus. Let's beat it 
with the HEROES Act.

                          ____________________