[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 114 (Monday, June 22, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3122-S3123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, States across this country, including 
New Hampshire, are beginning to reopen after this pandemic, although, 
the pandemic isn't really over. The ongoing economic and public health 
fallout from COVID-19 continues to affect families and businesses in my 
State of New Hampshire and across this country.
  Every day, community leaders, public health professionals, and 
frontline workers tell me about what they are facing. They have raised 
concerns

[[Page S3123]]

about the massive reduction in local tax revenue and the very difficult 
decisions that will soon need to be made if Federal assistance doesn't 
arrive soon.
  I have heard from teachers and school administrators about the 
challenges they have encountered trying to educate their students 
during the pandemic and the difficulties they are anticipating as they 
begin to plan for the school year coming in September.
  The shift to remote learning has exposed the disparities in broadband 
access across New Hampshire and across this country that leaves behind 
many students and makes it extremely difficult for teachers to deliver 
a quality education, especially for students with disabilities.
  So many small businesses, while they are very grateful for the 
Paycheck Protection Program and the loans and grants that have been 
made available through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, are 
telling me it is not enough; that revenues for many of these small 
businesses are still at unsustainable lows, particularly for those in 
tourism, entertainment, and hospitality--in New Hampshire, tourism is 
our second largest industry--and that they need help if they are going 
to weather this storm.
  So I can't understand why this body and why Majority Leader McConnell 
doesn't feel a sense of urgency to pass legislation that will continue 
to help Americans during this time of crisis.
  It has been more than 1 month since the House of Representatives sent 
to us the Heroes Act to continue to provide assistance to Americans who 
are in need. In the time since, we have not taken up any proposal that 
would provide comprehensive relief for the sectors of our economy that 
are still hurting.
  We just can't wait until the end of July, when we know that there 
will be so many families, workers, and businesses across the country 
who will be in an even more dire position than they are now.
  Americans are urging Congress to act, and we should work together in 
a bipartisan way, just as we did with the first three--really, four, if 
you count the second count of the small business assistance. Those four 
bills all passed with strong bipartisan votes. Now it is time for us to 
do that again, to provide Americans with the relief they so desperately 
need.
  Congress has taken some very important bipartisan steps to provide 
assistance to the Nation, but the conversations I have had with Granite 
Staters on the frontlines are a very powerful reminder of how much work 
still lies ahead.
  We should provide assistance for our hospitals and healthcare 
providers, especially for nursing homes and long-term care facilities 
because, in New Hampshire, they have accounted for more than 70 percent 
of COVID-19 deaths, and across the country, for a very high percentage.
  We need to provide support to all of our essential workers who are 
still on the frontlines getting out there every day, despite the health 
risks; that includes grocery store workers, healthcare workers, and 
first responders who are sacrificing so much for our health and safety.
  We should provide investments in our Nation's infrastructure, like 
broadband, to make sure we have better access to telehealth and 
education opportunities.
  We should provide support for sectors of our economy that have taken 
major losses, like the clean energy sector, which has lost more than 
600,000 jobs over the past few months.
  We should provide help for food and rental assistance for those who 
have lost income and are struggling to make ends meet.
  We should support the Postal Service so it can continue to serve our 
communities and small businesses. In New Hampshire, we have so many 
small towns that depend on the Postal Service for prescription drugs. 
Families in those towns depend on the Postal Service for prescription 
drugs and to communicate with the outside world. Especially now, when 
so many people are still feeling so isolated, they need to know they 
can count on the Postal Service and that it is not going to get into a 
financial crisis this summer.
  Finally, we need to support our States and our local communities. 
They have been on the frontlines fighting this pandemic. As the cost of 
COVID-19 response efforts continue to rise, mayors, town 
administrators, and county officials are all grappling with whether 
they are going to have to lay off first responders, firefighters, 
police, teachers, and municipal workers--all of those people who 
continue to provide services in our communities and without whom people 
are going to face even more dire consequences. States and communities 
need help now. They should not have to cut essential services and 
frontline workers.
  In Congress, we must also provide additional support to small 
businesses. PPP, the Paycheck Protection Program, by any measure, 
despite some of the challenges, has been the most significant small 
business assistance program in our Nation's history. It has delivered 
over $500 billion in aid in a very short time.
  I am proud to have worked with a bipartisan group of colleagues to 
offer that provision, but when we first sat down to design it just over 
3 months ago, none of us had any concept of the magnitude of this 
crisis or what would be its duration. Since then, we have learned just 
how devastating this disease is and how terribly difficult it is to 
defeat.

  I have heard from so many businesspeople in New Hampshire who took a 
PPP loan. They used the proceeds just as we had intended: They kept 
their employees on the payroll or they hired them back if they had 
already laid them off. They have kept their lights on. Now it is time--
when they are beginning to reopen their businesses, and they are still 
running short because those loans are about to run out, they need more 
help. If we don't provide it, they are going to lay off all those 
workers again. For many small businesses, they are going to be forced 
to close their doors.
  Last week, I was pleased to work with Senators Cardin and Coons to 
introduce the Prioritized Paycheck Protection Program, the P4 Act. That 
is legislation that would provide a second round of PPP funding for 
smaller businesses and particularly for those in the restaurant and 
hospitality industries which have been hit especially hard in recent 
months. They were the first to be closed down by government order, and 
they are the last to be able to open back up.
  I am hopeful that, once again, we can work in a bipartisan way to 
make a proposal that will have support on both sides of the aisle and 
that will ensure that more businesses can stay afloat as we reopen our 
economy.
  Our country is still hurting, and the coronavirus isn't going to go 
away without a vaccine. It is going to take a while for us to get back 
on our feet as a nation.
  The devastating health and economic effects from COVID-19 will not be 
alleviated just because we pretend the coronavirus is going away. It 
will not be alleviated unless Congress acts. It was the decisive action 
that we took back at the end of February and March that has allowed so 
many businesses to stay afloat, so many families to continue to feed 
their kids and to pay their rent. It is going to be critical for us to 
continue to take action to provide that assistance.
  We can't wait. We can't take a wait-and-see approach. We know that 
people are hurting right now. So I urge the Senate to take up and pass 
legislation. Let's negotiate what we don't like about the Heroes Act. 
Let's make changes, but let's take up that relief bill and continue to 
provide the help Americans are calling for. We have no more time to 
waste.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.