[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 140 (Thursday, August 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5242-S5243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the 
people doing the truly essential work in our country, and it isn't the 
Fortune 500 CEO, hedge fund manager, or investment banker. It is the 
home healthcare worker providing essential care to homebound seniors or 
the disabled. It is the delivery truckdriver working a 12-hour shift, 
bringing food and medicine and other critical supplies to people who 
need it. It is a grocery store clerk, working a checkout line or 
stocking shelves to keep up with the skyrocketing demand. It is the 
migrant agricultural worker picking berries or standing on an assembly 
line at a meatpacking plant. It is the housekeeper or custodian working 
longer hours to clean our hotels, offices, and other public places. It 
is the childcare worker coming in every day to care for other children, 
while being unable to afford care for their own. And it is the 
busdriver who, despite operating on a tightly enclosed space, 
transports hundreds of people to work every day.
  These people, and others like them doing essential work, are 
literally risking their lives every day for the rest of us, and they 
are earning much deserved recognition during this pandemic. But let me 
be clear. These workers have always been essential, even if our 
economic system has not valued the jobs they do or treated them with 
the respect they deserve.
  Valuing and respecting essential workers is about more than calling 
them heroes when that is the popular thing to do. It is about 
recognizing and calling out how these workers have been treated in our 
economy. And it is about doing something to fix it.
  For too long, people doing the work now deemed essential during the 
pandemic have been forced to work for low wages that are either at or 
just above minimum wage, have jobs that offer no paid family or medical 
leave, have little access to affordable childcare, have jobs that offer 
no employer-sponsored healthcare coverage, and have been forced to work 
in dangerous conditions.
  Coping with these inequities in normal times was challenging enough 
for our essential workers, but the pandemic, exacerbated by Donald 
Trump's failure in leadership, is creating new problems, and it is 
making existing problems worse. The administration's failure to 
implement emergency safety standards is creating unsafe workplaces for 
essential workers.
  Meanwhile, it is pushing to provide businesses immunity from 
coronavirus-related lawsuits. If they are successful, employers would 
have even less incentive to provide safe workplaces for employees or to 
protect customers and consumers.
  Its failure to fully and effectively use the Defense Production Act 
means the most vulnerable workers continue to face shortages of 
personal protective equipment--putting them at greater risk for 
contacting the coronavirus. And its failure to implement a national 
testing and contact tracing program means that essential workers face 
testing delays and may never be notified if a coworker has tested 
positive for COVID-19.
  As Donald Trump refuses to act responsibly to keep our essential 
workers safe, this has fallen to States, local governments, and the 
private sector.
  In Hawaii, we are fortunate to have responsive State and county 
governments, strong unions, and one of the lowest uninsured rates in 
the country, thanks to Hawaii's Prepaid Healthcare Act. These 
advantages, however, have not shielded Hawaii's essential workers from 
the dangers of the pandemic.
  Let me share a few of their stories. A few weeks ago, I spoke to a 
group of transit workers who operate The Bus in Honolulu. A simple 
shower curtain separates the drivers from passengers boarding their 
buses. Many riders do not wear masks, putting the driver and other 
passengers at risk for contracting the virus.
  Drivers are also facing threats and physical violence when they ask 
riders to put on a mask. One passenger even spat upon a busdriver who 
asked the person to observe social distancing.
  Many of the busdrivers live in multigenerational families. They spoke 
about the fear that they will contract the virus on the job and bring 
it home. Three bus operators have already tested positive, including 
one just this week.
  Transit workers in other industries have also experienced challenges 
related to coronavirus safety. A group of Hawaii flight attendants I 
recently spoke with are unable to be tested regularly due to supply 
shortages, despite showing up to work every day. They also spoke about 
their daily challenges convincing passengers to wear masks.
  Essential workers are also providing childcare during this pandemic 
so that other essential workers can continue to do their job. Katie, a 
nanny on Oahu, whom I heard from recently, has provided childcare for 
essential workers and military families on Oahu during the pandemic. 
Katie lives with her mom, who has been battling stage IV cancer for 
nearly 3 years. She is rightly concerned about the possibility she 
might bring this virus home with her from work.
  In April, Katie received a scare when one of the families she worked 
with told her they might have been exposed. Katie is like so many 
essential workers in Hawaii and across the country who live with 
uncertainty about their jobs and families every day.
  More firefighters, grocery store workers, bank tellers, postal 
workers, community health center employees, and paramedics tested 
positive for COVID-19 this week. They certainly will not be the last.
  Something as simple as showing up to work every day shouldn't be an 
act of bravery, but that is exactly what we are expecting from our 
essential workers every day. If they can show up and do their job, 
Congress can certainly step up and do its job.
  It is why Senate Democrats have been fighting so hard to pass the 
Heroes Act--to bring this to the floor, to debate the Heroes Act. The 
Heroes Act includes a number of strong provisions that will support 
essential workers during this pandemic. It establishes a $200 billion 
fund to provide up to $10,000 of hazard pay to each essential worker. 
It requires the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue 
an emergency temporary standard within 7 days of enactment. It prevents 
employers from retaliating against workers who report workplace safety 
issues. It adds another $75 billion for COVID-19 testing, contact 
tracing, and isolation measures. It also provides every American access 
to free treatment for COVID-19. It provides access to free and 
affordable childcare options for essential workers who are expected to 
show up to their jobs regardless of whether they have someone to look 
after their children, and it provides permanent paid sick and family 
leave so that people don't have to choose between their jobs and the 
health of their families
  The Heroes Act is a bold, worker- and family-centric bill. We should 
have passed it months ago. Instead, the bill has been sitting on the 
majority leader's desk for almost 3 months now. He called it ``taking a 
pause.''
  The people suffering in our country didn't have the luxury of taking 
a pause 3 months ago, and they certainly don't have the luxury to take 
a pause now. As Senators, we are able to telework. We can attend 
hearings remotely. We can stay socially distant. Maybe this is one 
reason some Republican Senators don't have sufficient empathy or the 
sense of urgency to pass the next COVID relief bill that would actually 
help the busdriver who

[[Page S5243]]

can't drive a bus from home, the UPS driver who can't deliver packages 
from home, the healthcare aide who can't administer medications to 
seniors from home, the agriculture worker who can't pick coffee beans 
from home, and the postal worker who can't deliver the mail from home.
  Millions of people are suffering in our country today. They should be 
able to count on the Senate to step up and take action to help them. At 
this very moment, negotiators are deciding whom we will help and who 
will be left behind. Democrats are fighting to protect essential 
workers and help the unemployed.
  Republicans are fighting to protect businesses from their own 
negligence and allow corporate executives--corporate executives--to 
write off their business lunches. These very different priorities 
reflect very different values and point out what is at stake in these 
negotiations. Protecting and assisting essential workers is a value. It 
isn't enough to simply tell them ``thank you very much'' and call them 
heroes. Actions speak louder than words. It is time for us to act. It 
is long past time for us to act.
  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. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________