[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 137 (Monday, August 3, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4662-S4663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. President, I would also like to make a few comments on what my 
good friend Senator Murkowski from Alaska said.
  People are depending on us. This is not time to have political 
battles. People are hurting in West Virginia; they are hurting in 
Arkansas; they are hurting all over. The uncertainty hurts them more 
than anything else. We have to make sure that we understand this is a 
health crisis.
  A health crisis needs to have its attention. We can't be closing 
hospitals in the middle of a health crisis. I have three rural 
hospitals that closed. We have to make sure that they stay open to 
fight the fight. Also, I am certain of one point. Unemployment is not 
going to come back full force until people know they have a vaccine or 
an antibody that will protect them from a fatal disease. They are 
concerned and worried about that.

  With that being said, right now they are asking us to continue on for 
the next 5 months. We don't have connectivity. You talk about telework, 
distance learning, telehealth. They can't have any of this if they 
can't connect. So we have to make sure that one

[[Page S4663]]

major infrastructure project has to be connectivity--broadband and high 
speed. We have been working on hot spots just to get through these 5 
months.
  There are things we agree on. Democrats and Republicans are coming 
together as Americans. We agree. We would like to help. They are just 
arguing over amounts and this and that and the other.
  The bottom line is that we have to agree on what we can agree on and 
meet the needs of the people on the frontlines. That is the most 
important thing. So I whole-heartedly engage in any type of bipartisan 
cooperation or bipartisan talks that we can move along to show people 
that we can put the needs of the public above the partisan divide that 
we have here and have had for a long time--since I have been here--and 
for decades.
  I am happy to support Mr. Menezes, and I appreciate the bipartisan 
support we have for him.
  I yield the floor.