[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 28, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S4530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday, Senate Republicans introduced 
the next phase of our coronavirus relief effort, the Health, Economic 
Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools Act, or the HEALS Act.
  This bill has been carefully targeted to address the most pressing 
issues facing our Nation right now: getting kids back to school, 
getting workers back to work, and ensuring that we have the healthcare 
resources necessary to defeat the virus.
  The HEALS Act will provide economic incentives to help businesses 
retain workers. It will give additional support to hard-hit small 
businesses. It will provide checks to American families to help them 
weather the economic challenges that they are facing. It will give 
schools more than $100 billion to help them safely reopen so kids and 
college students aren't missing out on the academic, social, and 
emotional benefits of in-person learning.
  It will direct funds to diagnosis, vaccines, and treatments. It will 
ensure that medical professionals, small businesses, and school 
districts doing their best to protect Americans don't face frivolous 
lawsuits from predatory trial lawyers.
  It will provide incentives for manufacturing personal protective 
equipment in the United States to help ensure that we never again face 
the kinds of shortages we have seen with the coronavirus. And more.
  Now it is time for Democrats to come to the negotiating table so that 
we can arrive at a bipartisan bill and get this relief into the hands 
of Americans. I was disappointed to hear of the Democratic leader's 
partisan screeds yesterday and today on the Senate floor, although I 
did appreciate his ability to--with a straight face, I might add--
simultaneously characterize Republican relief efforts as insufficient 
while touting a House bill that mentions the word ``cannabis'' more 
often than the word ``job'' and actually contains less money for 
schools than the Republican bill.
  No one is going to get everything they want with this bill, and 
Democrats are not going to be able to implement their socialist wish 
list, but if we work together, we can get real relief into the hands of 
Americans. I hope the Democrats will join us.

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