[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 144 (Wednesday, August 12, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5393-S5395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, returning to the latest coronavirus 
emergency aid package--currently, the package doesn't exist. There have 
been no bipartisan negotiations on it since last Friday. That is 
disappointing to all of us who are here, ready and willing to negotiate 
and vote for a strong bipartisan relief package.
  The House of Representatives passed its strong package back on May 
15, now nearly 3 months ago. Today is August 12. There was some hope 
that maybe COVID-19 cases were ticking downward. At the end of May, 
there was some hope that maybe the economic devastation was reducing, 
but COVID cases did not tick down over the summer as some had hoped. In 
fact, they have ticked up in many parts of the country, and the Senate 
has not taken any votes on the House bill or indeed on any bill. That 
is disappointing.
  More than that, it is disappointing for millions of Americans who are 
in the midst of hard times right now. They are worried about their own 
health or the health of their loved ones. They are worried about 
whether they will receive unemployment benefits or how they will make 
rent or mortgage or how their children will get an education. We know 
in this body we can transcend politics as usual to address the 
coronavirus because we did so in March by passing the CARES Act, even 
as Members of the body, including me, were getting coronavirus as we 
were having those negotiations. Even as staffers were getting it, even 
as Senate spouses were getting it, we stayed at the table and found a 
bipartisan bill that helped us deal with the challenge for a few 
critical months.
  But we are here debating this again because the magnitude of the 
crisis is not a crisis of a few months. No, it is such that the aid 
provided thus far is running out while Americans' hardships continue. 
That is why it is essential that we not give up and that we stay here 
as long as it takes to come through for the American people.
  I have heard some in Congress and, indeed, some in this body say 
about more Federal aid for the coronavirus response say: I just don't 
see the need for it. Indeed, the majority leader has candidly 
acknowledged that approximately 20 Members of the Republican caucus 
will not vote for more aid. Well, I want to make the case first that 
there is need for it, and the need is undeniable because the 
circumstances that people are living in are dire.
  Last Friday, we found out that the unemployment rate in July was 10.2 
percent, which is a number that is higher than at any point during the 
2008, 2009 recession. The President called these ``Great Jobs 
Numbers!'' But I don't see anything great about 1 in 10 Americans who 
are in the workforce not being able to find work.
  More than 30 million Americans are collecting unemployment benefits, 
and last week their benefit checks were cut by more than 50 percent. In 
Virginia, just as an example, unemployed workers are now receiving a 
maximum--a maximum--of $378 a week. That is not enough to pay rent, let 
alone rent, groceries, childcare, electric bills, and many other costs 
that families face every day.
  Because they lost their jobs and other income, millions of Americans 
are now at risk of eviction or foreclosure. The $600 Federal 
unemployment benefit and Federal eviction moratorium were holding this 
off for many, but with those relief measures expiring, families are 
unable to continue paying their August or September bills.
  One estimate is that 12 million evictions will be filed by October, 
and 12 million is essentially the combined population of about 6 or 7 
States. There could be that many evictions filed by October. Just in 
Virginia there was a State-imposed eviction moratorium that lapsed for 
5 weeks, and just in those 5 weeks, nearly 10,000 evictions were filed, 
potentially forcing people out of their homes.
  Three in ten Virginia renters surveyed a couple weeks ago said that 
they were uncertain how they could pay August rent, and it was more 
than half of all African-American renters surveyed who said that was 
the case. Housing instability is difficult at any point in time, but 
imagine losing your housing during a pandemic. What are people supposed 
to do during a pandemic? The advice is, if you can stay home and don't 
go out and don't be with others, that will help keep your family safe. 
But how can you quarantine at home if you are in danger of losing your 
home?
  Like the majority leader, who quoted from constituents in Kentucky, I 
am hearing from Virginia constituents every day.
  From Allison in Henrico:

       I have now exhausted my savings account and have rent due, 
     groceries to buy and bills to pay. I am now desperate for 
     immediate help.

  From Rhys in Mechanicsville:

       I have three children, one with significant special needs. 
     My wife cannot work now due to covid-19 and the school 
     closures. I am behind on numerous bills, including mortgage, 
     utility, and other bills.

  From Dominique in Fairfax:

       My rent is now 3 months behind as well as my other bills 
     and I am receiving letters [threatening] evictions and 
     services being turned off.

  Unfortunately, these examples are now not aberrations, but they are 
common. We all know people--we all know people--who are at risk of 
losing their home or being hungry or losing healthcare or their savings 
being depleted because of the absence of work.
  So we have to make sure that people are not removed from their homes 
in the middle of a health crisis. We need to make sure they can 
continue to pay bills until the health crisis is sufficiently addressed 
and the economy gets back to where it was.
  Schools and colleges across the country are trying to reopen right 
now. It doesn't matter if it is in person, online, or a hybrid model, 
we want them to reopen safely right now, and this is the time to 
provide schools with the resources they need to deliver quality 
instruction, not punish them for following public health guidance and 
data.
  Working families are struggling to find childcare options. This is 
critical to reopening the economy. Childcare providers themselves are 
struggling. Virginia, according to national surveys, is at risk of 
losing 45 percent of its licensed childcare capacity; that is, 130,000 
childcare slots in Virginia without the additional support they would 
need to help them stay viable. If we lose childcare capacity, that will 
have a significant consequence in terms of the ability of people to go 
back to work so that the economy can start to grow again.
  On the nutrition front, we are facing an unprecedented rise in food 
insecurity as thousands of Virginians and millions of Americans have 
newly enrolled in the SNAP program. The Brookings Institute estimates 
that nearly 14 million children are living in food-insecure 
households--14 million children. That is nearly six times the number of 
children who were food insecure just as recently as 2018, and nearly 
three times as many who were food insecure at the peak of the great 
recession in 2008 and 2009.

  I bet all of my colleagues have experienced this because we are all 
out in our States talking to folks. Food banks have been slammed with 
demand they have never witnessed before, and it has been harder for 
food banks to get grocery access because grocery store shelves have 
also been ravaged because people are going to grocery stores while 
restaurants are closed.

[[Page S5394]]

  What do food banks do with increasing demand and fewer donations from 
grocery stores? The Capital Area Food Bank purchased 100 semitruck 
loads of food in April, which is triple what the food bank purchased in 
all of 2019. Just in 1 month, they tripled their purchases compared to 
2019. The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, which serves the western part of 
Virginia, saw the number of new families seeking food assistance 
quadruple from last year, just as of May.
  Americans are in a dire state. Their basic needs are at stake. We 
Democrats want to address that hardship. We did address that hardship 
in the Heroes Act, which we passed in mid-May. We want to keep people 
from losing their jobs, being evicted, and going hungry.
  I know there are many Republicans who share these same goals, but the 
proposals that have been on the table in this body are simply 
inadequate. There are areas that we agree on. Aid to small business is 
important. Broadband is important because as people telecommute or get 
telehealth or get educational content online, they have to have access 
to broadband. Testing is important. Childcare is important to open the 
economy. These are important priorities I believe we can come together 
on, but the Republican plan that the Senate GOP introduced in this 
body, which the majority leader again acknowledges that at least 20 
Members of the caucus will not support, has large cuts to unemployment 
aid, no State and local government aid to prevent layoffs of first 
responders and vital programs and services.
  The majority leader characterized State and local government agencies 
as a ``slush fund.'' I was a mayor. I was a Governor. I know what is 
happening to State and local budgets, and when the revenues to State 
and local governments decline, there is about one place they can go, 
and the one place they can go is furloughs, waivers, salary cuts, and 
cutting personnel.
  The overwhelming majority of first responders in this country work 
for State and local governments. It is never a good time to cut police, 
fire, EMT, ambulance, healthcare workers--never a good time--but the 
worst time to do it is in the midst of a global health pandemic. It is 
not a slush fund; it is a necessity that the communities where people 
live and work have basic services to get through this challenge.
  The Republican proposal has inadequate education aid, no aid for the 
eviction tsunami that is facing us to provide rent or mortgage 
assistance, no nutrition aid in the SNAP program or otherwise to help 
the 14 million kids who, today, are living in food-insecure households.
  The Republican proposal did include a comprehensive liability shield 
to prevent anyone from suing if their employer's negligence causes a 
virus outbreak. I thought it was interesting that so often on the other 
side of the aisle in this body, when this prospective bill has been 
talked about, that has been in the front of the line as if the worry 
about lawsuits is the biggest concern that the American people have 
right now. No one in Virginia, when they tell me about their concerns, 
is putting worries about lawsuits up at the top of the list. We are 
talking about food, hunger, healthcare, and housing.
  The liability shield proposal in the GOP goes even further than 
protecting against liability; it wipes out States' abilities to pass 
safety regulations. Virginia became the first State in the country to 
do an emergency temporary standard to provide guidance to public places 
and employers about safety standards that they could use on the job. It 
is good to get advice about safety standards because most businesses 
don't have an NIH or CDC or a health department, so advice about 
standards that should be followed in workplaces is a great idea. 
Virginia became the first State in the country to do that. The 
Republican liability shield would not only give people liability 
protections, but it would take away the ability of the States to do 
what Virginia did to try to create lifesaving protections for workers 
and customers. That is unacceptable--unacceptable.
  Democrats offered to meet halfway. We knew when the Heroes Act 
passed--I mean, we have been around the block a few times. It wasn't as 
if Senate Republicans were just going to say: That is a good idea. We 
will just vote for it.
  That is not the way things work. The Senate Republicans would have 
their proposal just as the House Democrats have their proposal. The two 
proposals have dramatically different pricetags. The Senate proposal, 
together with the White House, came in the neighborhood of $1 trillion 
and the House proposal came in the neighborhood of $3 trillion.
  There is nothing magic about these numbers, but it is important to 
understand that willingness to compromise is something Americans expect 
of us right now. Democrats said: OK, you have a package that is worth 
$1 trillion, and we have a package that is worth $3 trillion. Let's 
split the difference. We will have to decide how to compose the $2 
trillion package, but let's split the difference. The White House 
refused. The White House got an offer to meet halfway and said: That is 
not what we are going to do. We insist on the skinny version.
  The skinny version is inadequate to meet the challenge of the moment. 
This is the worst economic contraction in the 145 years that we have 
had measured quarterly economic growth in this country. This is the 
worst pandemic that the United States has dealt with since the Spanish 
flu of 1917 and 1918. A narrow bill isn't enough.
  If you don't like the Democratic bill because you think the pricetag 
is too big, how about meeting us halfway? That is the way negotiations 
so often happen. After the White House rejected the notion of meeting 
halfway, the President issued Executive orders that he claims break 
through the logjam.
  Like many things the President does, though, an analysis of the 
Executive orders demonstrates there is little substance there. The 
President proposed a deferred payroll tax collection. That doesn't 
actually give Americans more money; it just gives them a larger tax 
bill next year. Because it is a deferral, the President cannot lift the 
obligation off either the employers or the employees. It is also very 
confusing to employers to suggest: OK, you should defer, but it is 
likely to start back up again. That is very, very hard for employers, 
especially small employers, to figure out.
  We all know that the payroll tax is the main pillar of Social 
Security, as every generation pays into the system while they are 
working so they can enjoy retirement with dignity in their senior 
years. President Trump has said that this isn't just a deferral, but if 
he has his way and is reelected, he is going to permanently cancel the 
tax. That would undermine retirement security for all future 
generations.
  The Executive order with respect to housing did actually nothing. It 
just ordered agencies to look into delaying evictions and foreclosures, 
but no assistance and no dollars for those facing eviction or for those 
facing foreclosures. Look into ``can you delay them.''
  Governors are already saying that the Executive order dealing with 
unemployment aid is unworkable. It would be very difficult for them to 
reconfigure their UI systems to do what the President has asked them to 
do and asked them to help pay for in the Executive order. Even if 
States could figure out how to launch a completely new system, the 
benefits would run out in 5 weeks.
  On the surface, the Executive order with respect to student loan 
relief looks like an extension, but if you dig into it, that is not 
what it is. The order still leaves out 8 million Federal student loan 
borrowers, and it doesn't even mention whether borrowers' credit 
ratings and credit scores will be protected if they take advantage of 
what is offered to them under the EO.
  What about the millions of students who are struggling to financially 
find a way to go back to college, or the schools that are trying to 
find a way to still make sure students get an education when they 
reopen, or the working families that are struggling to find childcare? 
School boards and superintendents around the country have come with a 
proposal saying that to open schools safely would cost about $175 
billion, and that is what Democrats have put on the table. That is not 
addressed at all in the Executive orders, even as we stand at the 
threshold of schools reopening.
  In sum, the President's Executive orders address virtually none of 
the hardships, solve virtually none of the hardships, and lift 
virtually none of the burdens that Americans are suffering through 
right now. We are having hard

[[Page S5395]]

times. We are having hard times, and it is our duty to try to address 
that hardship.
  Democrats are willing to compromise. When we say, ``Hey, we have a 
plan but we will meet you halfway in your plan,'' and the White House 
says, ``No,'' you know, what are we supposed to do? What are we 
supposed to do? A skinny version isn't sufficient for the magnitude of 
the crisis.
  The Senate Republican proposal has some elements that we support, but 
it leaves so many others unaddressed that it is not adequate. The 
Republican White House has rejected compromise. President Trump's 
Executive orders are partly illegal, partly unworkable, and completely 
insufficient. It doesn't have to be this way because there are many 
areas on which we can find agreement.
  I know many in this body are hearing from their home States' 
Governors, mayors, local governments, colleges and universities, school 
boards and housing authorities, food banks, hospitals, and the chambers 
of commerce. You are hearing the same thing that I am hearing from 
Virginians.
  So, as I conclude, it doesn't have to be this way. We can put 
together a good bipartisan deal, but it can't be a ``White House my way 
or the highway.'' It has to be a willingness to meet and find 
compromise between a Democratic proposal and a proposal that is 
acceptable to at least some on the GOP side and the White House.
  Any large compromise in a divided government is bound to be 
imperfect. I am reminded of a quote from FDR during the Depression 
years. You never really had to use quotes from the Depression because 
the magnitude of the Depression was different than what I have 
experienced during most of my life, but now quotes from the Depression, 
I think, bear some revisiting. Here is what FDR said as the 
administration and Congress, at the time, were doing everything they 
could to figure out a way to help out needy Americans: ``Better the 
occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity 
than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its 
own indifference.''
  By now, everybody knows somebody who has gotten COVID-19 or somebody 
who has gotten sick or even died or somebody who has lost a job or 
somebody who is worried about rent or food. We all know those people, 
and many of us have experienced this in our own families. Are we going 
to help or are we going to be frozen in the ice of our own 
indifference? Let's surprise the Senate. Let's work together and get 
this done.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Boozman). The Senator from Nevada

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