[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 99 (Wednesday, May 27, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H2289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  GIVE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FUNDS TO CONDUCT TESTING, CONTACT 
                                TRACING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Malinowski) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MALINOWSKI. Mr. Speaker, for the last 3 months, tens of millions 
of our fellow Americans have chosen to make painful sacrifices to keep 
one another safe.
  They made that choice before any Governor of any State told them they 
had to. They did what they thought was right, what was decent, what was 
responsible. Overwhelmingly, the American people still believe that 
social distancing to protect our neighbors is the right thing to do 
even where States have lifted stay-at-home orders.
  You wouldn't know this by watching the news because the news dwells 
on conflict, not consensus. The loudest voices say: ``Reopen everything 
now. Yes, people will die, but people die of car crashes, of cancer, of 
heart disease. We don't stay home for that.'' The angriest voices say: 
``Go to the grocery store. Throw off your mask. Make them call the 
police.'' They pretend to be brave. They shout childish slogans about 
liberty, as if liberty meant the right to endanger the lives of others 
for our own convenience.
  On social media, there is an effort to make everything about this 
pandemic partisan; as if whether you are a Democrat or Republican 
should determine what medicines you should take or whether you should 
wear a mask.
  I have been to plenty of countries where everything is made to be 
political, where everything is made to be tribal. I never thought I 
would see people in the United States of America trying to make our 
country like that.
  But, Mr. Speaker, America is not like that. The vast majority of 
Republicans and Democrats still say that of course we should do what is 
needed to protect others. We are still a country that cares whether 
people live or die more than we care about the stock market.
  In New Jersey this year, we have had 177 road fatalities. Thus far, 
we have lost more than 11,000 people to the coronavirus, and that 
number would be vastly higher if not for the lockdowns.
  Now, nobody is rushing to our State capital with guns, screaming to 
keep the economy closed. No one ever loudly clamors for shared 
sacrifice. But the quiet majority still say that we should put public 
health first. The vast majority still want to be sure that we have to 
do this only once, and therefore, we have to do it right.
  So, yes, I get a lot of questions back home about when things are 
going to reopen. But the most urgent question I get is not when do we 
reopen, but: How are you going to help us safely reopen? What are you 
doing about that?
  Right now, the only responsible answer is that we must vastly expand 
contact tracing and testing for the coronavirus so that people can go 
back to normal life, knowing it is safe.
  Unfortunately, the administration's plan for testing, which we just 
received, basically states to the States around our country: We will 
give you some supplies, but otherwise, you are on your own.
  It is a shameful abdication of responsibility. At this point, I am 
done with expecting better from our President. We are on our own in New 
Jersey, in Michigan, in Ohio, in California.
  So, let's at least give our State and local governments the resources 
they need to bear this burden that our national government will not.
  The HEROES Act would provide $75 billion to help our States conduct 
the testing and contact tracing that we need if we want to go back to 
work and school safely. The HEROES Act also provides the funding our 
State and local governments have been pleading for to make up for 
revenues lost because of coronavirus.

  Mr. Speaker, in my district, I represent 75 small towns. We have more 
Republican mayors in those towns than Democrats, but this is not 
partisan in my district. Every one of them would rather spend money to 
pay our cops, our firefighters, and our teachers to do their jobs than 
spend money to pay for their unemployment.
  My message to those who are stepping down from responsibility is at 
least help us to help those who are stepping up. You want to go to the 
beach, to a ball game? You want to hold political rallies? Fine, so do 
I. Help the people who are risking their lives to make it safer for us 
to do those things. Help the people who are working, who never stopped 
working, to give us liberty without giving us death.
  That is what the HEROES Act does. If the Senate has a better plan, 
then let's hear it; let's negotiate; let's find our common ground. 
Otherwise, let's send it to the President and get this job done.

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