[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 28, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4517-S4520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, yesterday, after putting the Senate on 
pause for 3 months and after months of blocking nearly every Democratic 
attempt to pass legislation related to the coronavirus, the Senate 
Republicans finally revealed their long overdue proposal for the next 
phase of COVID relief.
  In my many years of serving in this Chamber, I have never seen a 
Republican majority--a Senate majority of any type--respond to a 
national emergency in such a disorganized and disoriented fashion. 
Weeks of infighting among Senate Republicans and the White House caused 
unnecessary and harmful delays.
  Instead of presenting a single, unified bill, the Republicans 
released several separate drafts last night, and there might be more 
today. They can't agree on one bill. They can't get 51 votes for 
anything that is comprehensive and that deals with the very real 
problems the American people face. Even before the Republicans 
announced their bills, senior Republican Senators admitted they lacked 
the full support of the Republicans. Two Republican chairmen have said 
that probably half of the Republican Senate will vote against their own 
proposals. Worst of all, the Republican plan falls dreadfully short. It 
is ununified, unserious, and completely unsatisfactory.
  My Republican friends, this is the greatest crisis America has faced 
in generations--100 years since the last health crisis of this 
magnitude, 75 years since the Great Depression--and you are paying 
attention to your corporate friends and not answering the needs of the 
people.
  We Democrats want a real bill that answers people's needs, that deals 
with the serious problems we face. That is what we are fighting for. We 
will keep fighting for it, and our Republican friends are nowhere to be 
found.
  While the Republican proposal fails to provide crucial relief for 
families, workers, and the unemployed, it is littered with corporate 
giveaways, K Street handouts, and Presidential pet projects. The 
Republican bill includes a $20 billion slush fund for large 
agribusiness and tax breaks for three-martini lunches, but it doesn't 
provide a dime in food assistance for hungry kids. It includes an 
unprecedented, sweeping provision to shield corporations for 5 years 
from liability for negligent treatment of workers and consumers, but 
there is no new, sweeping provision to shield Americans from evictions 
or foreclosures.
  It includes a $30 billion wish list for defense contractors but no 
funding to make sure Americans can vote safely in November. There are 
reports that the Republican proposal may include a provision to lower 
capital standards at the Wall Street big banks but nothing to help 
State, local, and Tribal governments keep teachers, firefighters, and 
busdrivers on the job.
  The Senate Republicans managed to sneak in nearly $2 billion in 
taxpayer funds for a new FBI building, the location of which will 
increase the value of the Trump hotel and enrich the President and his 
family. Yes. In this proposal, the Senate Republicans reward the 
President and his family's business interests but not our essential 
workers.
  Whom do my Republican friends need to help more--President Trump, who 
proudly claims he is a billionaire, or a worker who is about to lose 
his job, a small businessperson whose business is going under, or a 
family who can't feed hungry children? Who needs the help more--they or 
President Trump?
  Perhaps, worst of all, in the middle of the pandemic, the Senate 
Republicans and the White House want to give out-of-work Americans a 
30-percent pay cut. If you have lost your job through no fault of your 
own and you can't go back to work because the administration bungled 
this crisis, the Senate Republicans propose taking $1,600 out of your 
pocket every single month.
  Well, let me show my colleagues what New Yorkers think of the 
Republican proposal: Let them eat cake. GOP plan slices $600 check and 
rejects aid to states. Let them eat cake. That is what New Yorkers 
think. That is what New Yorkers think. That is what Americans think. 
Let them eat cake. Shame. Shame on our Republican friends.
  The cover of the New York Daily News sums it up. Let them eat cake. 
``Let them eat cake'' sums up the Republican proposal in response to 
the greatest economic crisis in 75 years. Let them eat cake.
  People can't feed their kids. People are losing their homes, getting 
kicked out of their apartments. Small businesses are going under. The 
Republican response? Let them eat cake.
  Who are the Republicans fighting for in this proposal? Tax breaks for 
three-martini lunches but no food assistance for the poor? Immunity for 
corporations but no immunity for Americans facing eviction? Twenty, 
thirty million unemployed Americans and Republicans say take a 30-
percent pay cut? Who are the Republicans fighting for in this proposal?
  If you are a big bank, a defense contractor, a member of the Trump 
family, the Republican proposal has some good news for you, but if you 
can barely afford the rent, can't find work, can't feed your kids, or 
are fighting for your family's future, the Republican plan leaves you 
out in the cold.
  The consequences of the Republican policy on unemployment alone would 
be disastrous. Those enhanced benefits have kept 12 million Americans 
out of poverty. Those enhanced benefits are the one bright spot in this 
declining economy--that consumer spending is going up now, in large 
part because of pandemic unemployment insurance as well as PPP.
  One of the few things that has kept our economy from deteriorating 
further is that these unemployment benefits have boosted consumer 
spending. That is why economists say the Republican proposal could cost 
over 1 million jobs this year and 3.4 million jobs next year. The 
Republican proposal is causing us to lose even more jobs.
  States have warned us that the Republican plan on unemployment is 
unworkable, to boot. We called State unemployment offices yesterday to 
ask them what would happen if the Republicans passed this new scheme. 
One State office simply said: Chaos. Chaos. Office after office said it 
would take weeks, weeks, months to even implement the new plan. What 
are people going to do during those weeks and months when they are not 
getting unemployment insurance?
  The idea on the Republican side that we have to slash unemployment 
benefits because otherwise Americans won't go back to work is 
exaggerated. Americans want to work, are ready to work, and are 
desperate to get back to work. Such little faith in the American 
people. Such a bad outlook on human nature. People want to work, 
Republican friends; they just don't have jobs to do it, and we are not 
going to let them starve while that happens.
  God forbid we provide tens of millions of unemployed Americans a 
lifeline until we defeat this disease and get our economy back on its 
feet seems to be the Republican attitude. The Republicans seem to think 
the American people are a bunch of loafers. Well, they are not.
  Now, we Democrats want to get something done. We are certainly 
frustrated with the dithering, the disunity, and the lack of 
understanding of the depth of the crisis coming from the Republican 
side, but that will not stop us. We must press on with bipartisan 
negotiations. Time is running out. We cannot afford to fail. But the 
Republican new proposal is not an adequate starting point.
  History is repeating itself. Each time we came together in the past 
to pass COVID 2, COVID 3, and COVID 3.5, it was because both parties 
sat down with each other and negotiated and did the hard work. But that 
was only after Republicans dared us and put an inadequate proposal on 
the floor and said: We will blame you. We held firm. They came back. We 
negotiated a much better bill. My hope, my belief, is that they will 
have to do that again.
  Leader McConnell is in his ``Alice in Wonderland'' characterizations 
here on

[[Page S4518]]

the floor. I can't believe them. He keeps insisting that a bipartisan 
spirit led to the CARES Act, but he skips over the fact that he dropped 
a partisan bill on the floor, and Democrats had to insist on continuing 
negotiating to make the bill significantly better. There is a lot of 
revisionist history going on on the other side of the aisle.
  This morning, McConnell continued with his ``Alice in Wonderland'' 
logic, suggesting that Democrats are going to be the ones standing in 
the way of more relief. Let's not forget that Republicans dithered for 
3 months while Democrats pleaded for action on COVID. Speaker Pelosi 
and I wrote to Leader McConnell 3 weeks ago and said: Let's sit down 
and talk. We didn't hear a peep out of him.
  When Republicans finally woke up to the calamity in our country, they 
bickered among themselves for a week, as the country approached several 
cliffs--unemployment, eviction, State and local government, and more. 
Now that the Republicans finally have a proposal, it is corporate-
focused, doesn't meet the needs of the American people, and half of 
their own caucus probably won't support it anyway.
  Leader McConnell, a few minutes ago, said: If Democrats don't want to 
negotiate a bill--I will remind the leader that last night, Chief of 
Staff Meadows, Secretary Mnuchin, Speaker Pelosi, and I were in the 
Speaker's office negotiating. Why didn't Mnuchin and Meadows bring 
McConnell along? Because the Senate Republicans can't get their act 
together and produce a unified position.
  So, Leader McConnell, I have a suggestion: Instead of blaming 
Democrats, how about Senate Republicans and Leader McConnell get their 
act together, roll up their sleeves, and actually get to do real work 
and solve these problems.
  Every time--every time we have come to pass critical relief, 
Democrats have forced our Republican colleagues and the White House to 
come to the table and negotiate in a serious way. That is what we have 
to do again. We need bipartisan, bicameral negotiations to produce a 
bill that meets the needs of the American people. We Democrats will 
continue to do that.
  Speaker Pelosi and I will be meeting with Mnuchin and Meadows again 
tonight in an effort to try to get a bill because the needs of the 
American people, the American economy, and the American health are so 
great. Let's come together and get something done. America desperately 
needs our help.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I want to thank my colleague and leader 
on the Democratic side, Senator Schumer, for his specific, articulate, 
and direct analysis of where we stand today in the Senate.
  Faced with the worst public health crisis in 100 years, faced with 
the worst economic crisis in 75 to 80 years, the message from the 
Republican side of the aisle is ``Think small. Do as little as 
possible. Let's see how this works out.''
  At a time when we have unemployment figures breaking all records, 
when we have 10 times the unemployment claims in Illinois that we did a 
year ago--I might add, 10 times the unemployment claims in the 
Commonwealth of Kentucky that they did a year ago--we, instead, are 
hearing from the Republican side of the aisle that the problem with our 
economy is not unemployment; it is the fact that the people who are 
unemployed are being given too much money.
  Right now we have a Federal benefit package worth $600 a week that 
was enacted in the CARES Act on March 26. That expires in 3 days. It is 
a $600-a-week Federal supplement over the State payment. What the 
Republicans have suggested is to cut that $600 Federal supplement to 
$200, and then they turn and say: Well, what we really want to do is to 
compensate the workers with 70 percent of what they were earning when 
they were laid off.
  There is a real serious problem here that they are not disclosing to 
the American people. Back in March, when we proposed a similar approach 
or one that took into consideration the previous wages of an unemployed 
worker, who told us to stop that consideration? President Trump's 
Secretary of Labor. Secretary Scalia came to us, and I was at the 
meeting when he said: You don't understand. You cannot make this kind 
of change in the States because there are 50 different computer systems 
in the employment security offices across each and every State in the 
Union. They cannot make this adjustment. They cannot make this change.
  The only way, they told us--Secretary Scalia told us in March--is a 
flat dollar amount to each unemployed worker, which is exactly what we 
did.
  Now the Republicans come to us and ignore that advice, ignore that 
guidance that led to $600 a week, and say: We will come up with an 
elaborate formula of 70 percent of what you were paid before.
  As Senator Schumer from New York said earlier, we surveyed a dozen 
States, and they all told us: Impossible to 5 or 6 months before we are 
ready to do something in that manner. And that means, for millions of 
Americans currently unemployed, the possibility of only receiving $200 
a week until someday in the future when the State unemployment systems 
can possibly change. That is the Republican approach.
  They have made a big point, as Senator McConnell did this morning on 
the floor, of a $1,200 check, a cash payment such as we had back in 
March. I am not opposed to that. The President is desperate for it 
because he gets to sign the checks. He wants his signature on the 
checks that are going out to these individuals.
  Well, Mr. President, if that is what you want, be my guest if it is 
going to help working families. But make no mistake--a $1,200 check to 
a family who was receiving $600 a week, $2,400 a month, is cold 
comfort, and it won't help them pay the bills they face every single 
month.
  I only wish that the Republicans who are calling for these dramatic 
cuts in unemployment compensation for millions of Americans--30 million 
Americans--I only wish they would go home to Kentucky and other States 
and sit down for a meal with an unemployed family and let them tell 
these Republicans what they are facing each and every month, trying to 
get by, even with this unemployment check.
  You see, there is an assumption that these people have a lot of money 
in savings. It is not reality. In the real world, half of American 
families have little or no savings to turn to--even before this current 
economic downturn. Imagine what they are going through now and the 
sacrifices they have to make.
  Surely the Republican leaders have heard the stories or seen 
firsthand, as I have, the families showing up at food banks and 
pantries, looking for a helping hand to put something on the table to 
feed their families, some of them with their eyes down to the ground, 
tears in those eyes because they never dreamed they would be in this 
position in life. And what is the alternative suggested from the 
Republican side? Cut the unemployment compensation for millions of 
Americans at this moment in history. Think small, Republicans say. We 
can get through this by doing as little as possible.
  That is not true. We have been told over and over again that if we 
take our foot off the accelerator to try to move this economy out of 
the ditch, it will crash even further, and we don't want that to 
happen. We want people to get back to work and businesses to reopen and 
schools to reopen, but we have to do the right thing in terms of 
providing compensation to individuals.
  I reject the premise that many Republicans bring to this conversation 
that if you are not rich, you must be lazy in America. I don't think 
unemployed people in this country are lazy people. I think they are 
hard-working people who have been dealt a tough hand of cards. They are 
trying to keep their families together until they can get back to work 
and to a decent job. Cutting unemployment compensation at this moment 
in history is cruel, inhumane, and insensitive to the realities these 
families are facing every single day.
  There is one provision that came out yesterday that I want to speak 
to for a moment. For months, literally for months, Senator McConnell 
has come to the floor and criticized Speaker Pelosi for her efforts to 
pass the Heroes Act almost 10 weeks ago. Ten weeks ago, the House of 
Representatives, under Speaker Pelosi, passed legislation to provide 
COVID-19 relief that we knew was coming because we

[[Page S4519]]

knew the unemployment benefits were going to expire in just a few days. 
She saw that coming and 10 weeks ago did what was the right thing to 
do. She mustered her troops and provided a majority to vote for a 
package that moves us forward, helps State and local governments face 
the reality of this economy, helps hospitals, and helps individuals pay 
for their health insurance--a good package and one that I could readily 
support.
  Senator McConnell came to the floor frequently, regularly, several 
times a week, saying how bad that package was, how terrible it was, 
while he did nothing, while the Republicans proposed no alternative. It 
is just like the Affordable Care Act. They have done everything they 
can 150 times to try to repeal it and never once proposed an 
alternative. The same thing is true when it comes to this COVID-19 
relief. In this circumstance we received finally, yesterday, this 
proposal that was brought by Senator Cornyn on behalf of himself and 
Senator McConnell to address the issue of the immunity of corporations 
from lawsuits that have any relation to COVID-19--immunity for these 
corporations so that they will not be held liable if, in fact, they are 
not performing up to the standards necessary to protect employees and 
customers.

  It is 65 pages long. It is a big giveaway to the biggest corporations 
in America. The Republican corporate immunity bill does nothing to 
protect workers, improve safety standards, or give business incentives 
to take proper precautions to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
  In fact, this bill does the opposite. It views workers and victims as 
the problem, and it sets high hurdles that prevent meritorious COVID-
related crimes from having their day in court. What the bill would do 
is impose sweeping Federal preemption on the rights of workers and 
victims to bring cases in State courts for COVID-related harm. It would 
supplant State laws that require businesses to act with reasonable 
care. Then it would say that businesses are shielded from liability in 
Federal court if they merely make an effort to comply with the weakest 
available mandatory safety standard that applies to them so long as 
they are not grossly negligent.
  So what are the kinds of safety standards that the bill would urge 
businesses to follow? Well, it certainly wouldn't be the guidelines of 
the Centers for Disease Control because those aren't mandatory. So, 
amazingly, a business can get shielded from liability under this 
Republican approach even if they make no effort to comply with the 
Centers for Disease Control guidelines. How does that make us any 
safer?
  Not only that, but if workers or sick Americans want to try to bring 
a meritorious COVID-related case in this bill, this bill puts them 
through a gauntlet of tort reform obstacles that will make it nearly 
impossible to prevail: a heightened burden of proof, heightened 
pleading requirements, limits on discovery, damage caps, restrictions 
on joint and several liability, and so much more. The Republican bill 
also creates sweeping Federal preemption of medical malpractice cases, 
including claims under medical malpractice not even related to COVID-
19. It would upend the medical liability laws of all 50 States for 5 
years.
  Instead of sending a strong, clear, and enforceable Federal safety 
standard like an OSHA emergency temporary standard, the Republican bill 
would actually shield businesses from regulatory enforcement 
proceedings under OSHA, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Americans 
with Disabilities Act, and more.
  The liability immunity under this bill would last for 5 years, from 
December 2019 to 2024. The fact that Republicans are proposing 5 years 
of liability immunity for corporations while promising just a few 
months of assistance for workers tells the whole story about priorities 
and values.
  Let's be clear. Republicans have not made the case for why we would 
even consider Federal liability immunity for corporations. Remember, 
under current State tort law, if a business has taken reasonable 
precautions, it will not be held liable for negligence. State laws give 
incentives for businesses to act reasonably, and most businesses do. 
Also, time and again, I have heard Senator McConnell and Senator Cornyn 
come to the floor and talk about the tsunami of lawsuits. This morning 
Senator McConnell said ``an epidemic'' of frivolous lawsuits.
  It so happens we keep track of lawsuits filed in the United States of 
America, and we can look to the pleadings in those lawsuits to see how 
many times they mention coronavirus or COVID-19. We know how many 
lawsuits have been filed since the first of the year related to this 
pandemic. We know that despite the fact that 4 million--at least 4 
million--COVID-19 infections have been established in the United 
States--4 million--do you know how many medical malpractice cases have 
been filed by any of those 4 million Americans or anyone else against 
doctors, nurses, hospitals, and providers? What is the epidemic number? 
We have it. Here is the exact number of medical malpractice cases filed 
in the United States in the last 6 months: six--six. An epidemic? A 
tsunami?
  How about personal injury lawsuits, Senator? How many have been filed 
listing COVID-19 or coronavirus as one of the reasons for these 
lawsuits? Fifteen. With 4 million infected Americans, there are 15 
lawsuits, and the Republicans have come to us and want to turn upside 
down the immunity and liability questions before the States and the 
Nation.
  How about unsafe workplace lawsuits? Now, that has to be a big 
category. With 4 million infected Americans, how many workers have 
brought lawsuits? Seventy-one. In the entire 50 States of America, 
there are 71 lawsuits.
  There is no flood of worker or victim lawsuits. It is a figment of 
the imagination of Senator McConnell, Senator Cornyn, and K Street. But 
we certainly shouldn't, at this moment in time, ignore the obvious. 
Over 20 States have stepped forward and established their own standards 
for lawsuits when it comes to the pandemic they face. This effort by 
the Republicans would preempt that State action. There have been 
hundreds and hundreds of COVID lawsuits that have been filed, business 
to business, on questions like insurance liability. You don't hear the 
Republicans wanting to stop businesses from filing lawsuits--no, just 
workers and the people who get sick.
  There is no need for the Federal Government to step in and override 
50 States' liability laws, especially after the Federal Government has 
been deferring to the States on every other aspect of this pandemic: 
testing, PPE, masks, stay-at-home orders. Time and again, this 
President has said to leave it to the Governors and leave it to the 
mayors, except when it comes to protecting big corporations. If States 
need to adjust their liability laws, they can do so, and 28 States have 
already done it.
  So here is the bottom line. The Republican immunity bill would upend 
State laws, give businesses incentives to cut corners, jeopardize the 
safety of workers and families, and risk further spread of this virus. 
It is a big business giveaway, and that is not what America needs.
  This is not a small challenge; it is a historic challenge. We 
shouldn't take the Republican lead and play small ball. We ought to 
address this head-on.
  First, we need leadership from the top, which we have not had from 
the President. He has deferred time and again to Governors and mayors 
and other officials at the local levels, telling them: Find your own 
masks. Establish your own testing regimes. Find your own way out of 
this crisis.
  When we needed Federal leadership from the President, we did not 
receive it. America knows that. Why is it that this Nation, with 5 
percent of the world's population, has 25 percent of the COVID 
infection cases in the world? Why? What happened here? Why didn't we 
follow the lead of other countries that stepped up with Presidential 
leadership--countries that have found dramatically less infection, 
dramatically fewer deaths. That is the reality of where we are today 
with this pandemic.
  The reality of our economy--we stepped in on March 26 and passed the 
CARES Act. We have managed to keep some businesses going. We have 
managed to keep millions of unemployed Americans together with their 
families through the most difficult period in their lives. Now, at this 
moment, the Republican leadership says: Think

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small. This is all going to pass quickly. Don't worry about these 
families who don't have enough to provide food and shelter and the 
basics for their families. They will get by with a lot less--from $600 
a week to $200 a week. They will do just fine, according to Republicans
  I disagree. Our first obligation should be to these working families 
who are going through the toughest period they could ever imagine. 
Stick with them. Stand with them. Be prepared to put the money on the 
table, which we know they will spend right back into the economy.
  We will see more unemployment if we follow the Republican approach. 
It is estimated that some 3 million jobs will be killed by the 
Republican approach of cutting unemployment and the consequent downturn 
in spending by these same families.
  Let's stick with those families now. They need us.
  I yield the floor.
  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. GARDNER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.