[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 194 (Monday, November 16, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6690-S6691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               RISER Act

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I am on the floor this afternoon to 
encourage us in the U.S. Senate to address at least some of the needs 
related to the consequences of COVID-19.
  There is a deadline that is fast approaching. This problem was 
created in the statute by legislation that was passed, the CARES Act. I 
have introduced legislation called the RISER Act to offer a solution to 
the issue I am about to describe.
  As COVID-19 has swept across the country, businesses and community 
institutions have been forced to adapt to the virus, fundamentally 
changing the way in which they operate. More people are working from 
home today than ever before, while others are being asked to dedicate 
increased resources for public health precautions and support 
management. Virtual education and healthcare have also expanded greatly 
as communities are forced to conduct ordinary functions from afar to 
prevent the spread of the disease.
  Adapting to the realities of this newly virtual economy is costly. To 
aid in this transition, as part of the CARES Act, Congress established 
the Coronavirus Relief Fund, or CRF. It is a multibillion-dollar fund 
for State and local governments to disburse, covering a variety of 
expenses that have arisen due to COVID-19. Expenses that can be paid 
from the CRF funds include providing small businesses and other 
organizations with grants to reimburse them for costs associated with 
handling coronavirus.
  This funding was partly intended to address immediate, unforeseen 
costs absorbed by our public emergency officials and healthcare 
providers. Kansas

[[Page S6691]]

counties' health departments have increasingly relied on this funding 
to ensure they are able to meet the needs of their community now and 
into the future as this pandemic stretches on.
  Many States, including my own of Kansas, have also established 
forward-looking programs to distribute grants for economic development 
projects that respond to COVID-19, such as telemedicine, tele-education 
projects, and projects that would improve broadband infrastructure in 
rural and underserved areas. These communities already face a sharp 
divide in terms of broadband availability, and this pandemic has 
highlighted that. Unfortunately, for all the work we have accomplished 
in spreading the use of broadband, the availability of broadband, 
increasing its connectivity, there are still plenty of areas that need 
to be improved for access to quality internet services.
  As more broadband-intensive work like video conferencing and virtual 
appointments now takes place at a much higher rate, the urgency to 
improve these services increases. Rural communities stand to lose the 
most without these types of projects.
  Many of the projects require long lead times to wisely plan, 
appropriate, and expend Federal funding. However--and here is the 
problem--the CARES Act mandates that CRF funds be spent by the end of 
this year, now just a little more than a month away. This is absolutely 
not enough time for preparation-intensive projects to be carefully 
planned and executed. The current deadline puts several long-term 
economic development plans at risk of losing funding if they are not 
completed by December 31, and it also prevents new, meaningful 
proposals from being considered in the first place.
  Many Kansans--from our county health departments to our universities, 
to our schools, to our cities and counties, to mayors and county 
commissioners whom I have visited with--have urged us to extend this 
looming deadline. We need to have a longer period of time so that the 
Federal dollars are not spent--I always try to avoid using the phrase 
``Federal dollars.'' They are really taxpayer dollars or borrowed money 
that has to be paid back by taxpayers. It is a silly proposition that 
we would require the money to be spent when what it will mean is we 
will spend money less effectively and less efficiently than we 
otherwise would in the absence of this near-term deadline.
  That is why Senator Roberts and I have introduced the Remove 
Impediments for a Successful Economic Recovery Act, or RISER. This bill 
would extend that deadline for State and local governments by 2 years 
for a set of currently eligible expenditures that meet criteria for 
qualified economic development plans.
  This bill would allow funds for critical projects that require 
additional attention and time for a more thoughtful investment to be 
spent more effectively without cutting short a strategic investment 
that Congress made back in March to support our communities that need 
it the most.
  I believe that State and local governments know what is best for 
their communities, including where and when to spend these Federal 
dollars.
  Extending the relief for CRF payments dedicated to, particularly, job 
creation projects will allow Kansas and other States to strategically 
target areas of need over a longer period of time, making more certain 
that our taxpayer dollars are making the greatest impact to help our 
people recover from this pandemic. This will better ensure that the 
areas in need identified by States and localities have a stable source 
of investment that will aid in the ongoing economic recovery.
  That said, I remain engaged with the Treasury and Senate Finance 
Committee to improve the RISER Act to ensure the availability of 
bipartisan support. This is a bill I want to pass, not a bill I just 
want to introduce.
  While this thoughtful discussion with Treasury and the Finance 
Committee continues, I recognize that Congress must urgently act to 
extend the deadline in the meantime.
  While I have a particular bill that does things that I think are 
hugely important in this arena, I also recognize that we don't have the 
time to wait. Often throughout these few days that I have been home, 
away from Washington, DC, I have been asked: How is your legislation 
coming? The answer is: There is broad bipartisan support. Most 
Senators--most Republican Senators and most Democratic Senators--are 
supportive of this measure, but the issue is: Will we be able to extend 
the deadline in time for our local units of government to know that 
they have an additional amount of time, or, in the absence of that, 
will we allow them or require them to spend money in ways less 
effective or efficient than they otherwise would?
  I know that there are other pieces of legislation introduced by a few 
of my colleagues that would offer what we would call a clean extension 
of the CRF deadline, and I urge my Senate colleagues to support the 
immediate enactment of these legislative proposals to provide 
flexibility in fostering meaningful investments in our home States.
  Around here, too often, it seems that if we can't do everything to 
solve a problem, we do nothing to solve a problem. I have never 
understood that attitude or approach. The things that we can agree on--
and this is one, I think, on which we can, this extension of the 
deadline--we ought not wait for a larger package that continues to be 
negotiated between the White House and Speaker Pelosi or between 
Republican and Democratic leadership in the Senate or the Republican 
leadership with the Democratic leadership in the House.
  Whatever the negotiations ongoing today to get us to a point in which 
we are addressing what we generally call phase 4, another effort to 
improve the opportunities for us to provide relief to our constituents 
due to the pandemic--whatever all those machinations are--they will not 
happen quickly enough, and they certainly will not happen quickly 
enough to make certain that our local officials and their citizens know 
that they no longer would need to spend the money that we have provided 
them in the next 5 or 6 weeks.
  By including the coronavirus relief fund in the CARES Act, Congress 
extended a hand to States, local governments, and areas in need across 
the country that are looking to adapt to the new realities of the 
ongoing pandemic. In the absence of an extension of the deadline, money 
will be misspent and will certainly not be spent in the most effective 
and valuable way.
  I urge my colleagues not only to support the legislation that I have 
introduced, the RISER Act, but to work with others--all of us--to come 
to a point in which we are capable this week--if it doesn't get done 
this week, it probably means very little in an extension--to this week 
pass an extension beyond December 31 for the use of those CARES dollars 
in States across the Nation.
  I urge my colleagues to join my legislation. I urge my colleagues to 
join to ensure that the hand we offered under the CARES Act won't be 
withdrawn way too soon. I am thankful for the opportunity to address my 
colleagues in the Senate.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Ernst). The Senator from Iowa