[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 156 (Thursday, September 10, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5560-S5561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, today as a result of the horrific 
pandemic and economic meltdown, the American working class is hurting 
in a way that they have not been hurting since the Great Depression of 
the 1930s. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens have lost their 
jobs. They have lost their incomes. They have lost their health 
insurance. They have depleted their life savings. They cannot afford to 
pay rent. They cannot afford to put food on the table. And they are 
scared to death that any day now they are going to get a knock on the 
door from a sheriff, evicting them from their homes and throwing them 
and their belongings out on the street.
  This is the United States of America, the richest country in the 
history of the world. None of us--no man, woman, or child--should go 
hungry. None of us should have to live in fear of becoming homeless, 
and no one should be denied the healthcare that they need--especially 
during the worst public health crisis in 100 years. But that is 
precisely what is going on all over our country as we speak this 
evening.
  Just the other day, National Public Radio, NPR, released a survey on 
the unprecedented economic suffering facing the American people. That 
should shock everyone in the U.S. Senate and in our Nation. And here is 
what that survey found: 46 percent of Americans--over 150 million 
people--are now experiencing serious financial problems.
  Forty-one percent of Americans--over 134 million people--have used up 
all or most of their savings. Their savings accounts are now depleted. 
Thirty-three percent of American families have had someone in their 
household who has either lost a job, lost a business, or has been 
furloughed during the pandemic. This is an unprecedented moment in 
American history, and the Senate needs to take unprecedented action to 
improve the lives of the American people.
  Yet in the midst of all of this pain and suffering, what has the 
Republican-led Senate done over the last 5 months to address the 
economic concerns of the American people? The answer is nothing except 
pass a $740 billion budget for the bloated Pentagon and take an 
extended vacation. That is not something that anybody in the Senate 
should be proud of.
  The Senate is now back in session. Senate Republicans have introduced 
a so-called skinny relief bill that is totally inadequate in terms of 
addressing the crisis we are facing today. The Senate Republican bill 
provides nothing for rent, nothing for mortgages, nothing for food, 
nothing for hazard pay, nothing for healthcare, nothing for public 
transportation, and nothing to prevent the mass layoffs of teachers, 
nurses, firefighters, and construction workers that will take place in 
cities and States as cities and States struggle economically.
  In other words, the same Republicans who had no problem voting for a 
trillion-dollar tax break for the top 1 percent large corporations 2 
years ago are now telling 40 million Americans who are struggling to 
pay for housing that we cannot afford to help them pay their rent or 
mortgage. The same Republicans who just voted to provide $740 billion 
for the Pentagon and the military industrial complex to wage endless 
wars are now telling 30 million workers who lost their jobs that we 
cannot afford to continue the $600-a-week supplement they were 
receiving in unemployment benefits. The same Republicans who slipped 
$135 billion tax breaks for multimillionaires and billionaires in the 
last coronavirus relief package are now telling 29 million Americans 
who do not have enough food to eat that we cannot afford to help them 
feed their families.
  But if you are an executive in the coal industry, you are in luck. 
The Republican Senate bill provides your industry with $161 million in 
corporate welfare. That is right. The Republican Senate bill provides 
no money for working families to feed their kids, no money to house the 
homeless, no money to insure the uninsured--no money for them--but it 
does provide $161 million in corporate welfare for the coal industry 
during a climate emergency. That may make sense for the CEOs in the 
fossil fuel industry who are destroying the planet with their product, 
but it makes zero sense to me.
  Further, under the Senate Republican bill, if you are a wealthy 
business owner who forces employees to work in an unsafe and unhealthy 
workplace, you are rewarded. The Republican bill will provide you with 
the immunity you need from lawsuits if your workers get sick or die 
from the coronavirus,

[[Page S5561]]

but if you are an essential worker during this pandemic, you get 
nothing. The Republican bill does not provide a nickel more for hazard 
pay or the personal protective equipment that you need and deserve.
  Needless to say, I am strongly opposed to the Senate Republican bill 
and am glad it was defeated earlier today.
  Instead of listening to the needs of fossil fuel CEOs, we need to 
listen to the needs of working-class Americans, the people who are 
hurting. Instead of providing more corporate welfare to billionaires 
and large corporations, we need to provide more economic relief to the 
tens of millions of Americans who are hurting economically.
  Nearly 4 months ago, the House of Representatives did its job by 
passing the Heroes Act, a $3.5 trillion bill. In my view, the Senate 
has to stand up and do its job and pass the Heroes Act or a bill that 
is even better than that legislation
  I received many, many thousands of letters, emails, and social media 
from constituents in the State of Vermont and, in fact, all over this 
country about how the economic crisis has negatively impacted their 
lives and what that $600 a week in unemployment benefits that expired 
in July meant to them.
  Let me read you just a few of the many thousands of stories my office 
has received. A constituent from North Chittenden, VT, wrote:

       I was laid off in March. Since the end of the extra $600 
     I've been able to eat because of the food bank. I wasn't able 
     to get one of my prescriptions because even with insurance it 
     was $88. I saved as much as I could during the extra $600 
     period, but I'm almost out of money now. Literally enough to 
     make it about 10 days. Then what? I'm 65 [years of age].

  An unemployed worker wrote:

       We can't pay our rent including car payment and car 
     insurance, bills, feed our four kids, or buy necessities. We 
     desperately need the extra $600 to stay afloat. If we don't 
     get our money soon, we could lose EVERYTHING!

  Another unemployed worker recently wrote:

       My State benefit was $127 a week (I exhausted my available 
     State funds last week). My rent is $1,200 a month. Without 
     further congressional action, I will be unhoused within a 
     month or two.

  A constituent from Danville, VT, wrote:

       That moment the government stopped the $600 a week they 
     closed my benefits. I never saw anything other than that $600 
     and it went to bills and rent. Now I am behind on everything 
     again.

  And on and on it goes. For millions of people, that $600-a-week check 
was life and death.
  Clearly, in the midst of this unprecedented crisis, the Senate must 
act and act now, not with a skinny relief bill that does virtually 
nothing to help working families in their time of need, but with 
legislation that responds to the unprecedented economic pain and 
suffering that the American working class is experiencing.
  We need to extend the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits for 
the 30 million Americans who have lost their jobs--like the House 
passed over 3 months ago. This is absolutely essential. During this 
crisis, it would give families the income they need to live with it. We 
need to make sure that every working-class person in America receives 
$2,000 a month until this crisis is over so they can pay the rent and 
put food on the table.
  We need to expand Medicare to all the 92 million Americans who are 
uninsured or underinsured. Nobody should be unable to go to a doctor 
during this crisis because they don't have health insurance. In other 
words, we need a coronavirus relief bill that benefits the working 
families of this country and low-income people, not just the wealthy 
and well-connected.
  I know what my Republican colleagues will say--that it is too 
expensive, and we can't afford it. Maybe, just maybe, our Republican 
colleagues are so concerned about the deficit they might want to ask 
their billionaire campaign contributors to pay their fair share of 
taxes instead of giving them massive tax breaks.
  In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression 
and the worst public health crisis in more than 100 years, I think most 
Americans would be shocked to learn that 467 billionaires in our 
country have seen their wealth go up by $800 billion during the 
pandemic. Let me repeat that: 467 billionaires have seen their wealth 
go up by $800 billion during the pandemic. In my view, at a time of 
massive wealth and income inequality and when so many of our people are 
hurting, it is morally obscene for billionaires to use a global 
pandemic as an opportunity to make outrageous profits.
  Instead of more austerity for the working class of this country, we 
need to impose austerity on the billionaire class and on Wall Street. 
That is why I have introduced legislation to tax the obscene wealth 
gains billionaires have made during the public health crisis. According 
to the Americans for Tax Fairness, if we taxed 60 percent of the 
windfall gains billionaires made during the pandemic, we could raise 
over $420 billion. That is enough revenue to allow Medicare to pay all 
of the out-of-pocket healthcare expenses for everyone in America in the 
next 12 months. Yes, by taxing 60 percent of the wealth gains made by 
just 467 people during this horrific pandemic, we could guarantee 
healthcare as a right for an entire year for every man, woman, and 
child in this country. Billionaires would still be able to pocket over 
$300 billion in wealth gains during the worst economic downturn since 
the Great Depression.
  At a time of enormous economic pain and suffering, we have a choice 
to make. We can continue to allow the very rich to get much richer 
while everyone else gets poorer and poorer or we can tax the winnings a 
handful of billionaires made during the pandemic to improve the health 
and well-being of tens of millions of Americans.
  It is time for the Senate to act on behalf of the working families of 
this country who are hurting like they have never hurt before and not 
just the billionaire class who are doing phenomenally well and have 
never had it so good.
  I yield the floor.

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