March 18, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 52 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages S1786-S1787]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, here in the Senate, we are continuing to 
move forward with the next installment of coronavirus relief 
legislation. I expect, later today, we will pass the bill that was 
passed by the House earlier, and we are looking beyond it to a third 
bill that will provide additional relief to the American people.
  As the leader has said, we have three priorities: providing direct 
assistance to American workers and families, many whose lives have been 
disrupted and dislocated in jobs, who are feeling a lot of economic 
harm, economic pain; giving our economy, especially our small 
businesses, the necessary support with which to weather the storm; and 
most importantly, providing medical professionals with the resources 
they need in order to fight this virus. The House bill addresses these 
priorities to some degree, but it is not a comprehensive bill, and 
additional legislation is going to be needed.
  We especially need to ensure that the worker benefit requirements the 
House bill places on small businesses are accompanied by sufficient 
support. Small businesses are at the most risk economically during this 
time, and we need to ensure they have the resources they need to get 
through this. I am looking forward to continuing to work with my 
colleagues of both parties on the House bill and on additional 
legislation.
  This is a time for all of us to come together to ensure that medical 
professionals, American businesses, and American families have what 
they need to combat the coronavirus and to deal with its effects. I 
can't think of a time at which we have seen schools and businesses 
close on such a mass scale. It is a challenging time for our country, 
but if we pull together, we can get through this and come out even 
stronger.
  All of us have roles to play in combating this virus--washing our 
hands regularly and thoroughly, practicing social distancing, staying 
at home as much as possible, listening to advice from healthcare 
officials. All of these things are essential to our flattening the 
curve and limiting the number of infected Americans.
  It is vital that we keep as many people as possible from getting 
infected so that our hospitals and medical professionals are not 
overwhelmed with cases. Our medical professionals are putting their 
lives on the line every day to care for coronavirus patients. Let's 
make sure we do everything we can to keep the number of cases they are 
dealing with as low as possible.
  In difficult times, Americans rise to the occasion, and I am 
confident that is what we will do again.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I walked outside across the Capitol 
grounds, and it is such a beautiful day. The cherry blossom trees are 
blooming. There were mothers with young children, 3- and 4-year-old 
children, playing on the grass, and it seemed like just so idyllic, so 
perfect. It seemed like nothing could be wrong in America.
  But, in fact, so much is wrong in America. Our everyday rhythm of 
life has been shattered. We are facing a medical pandemic and an 
economic collapse: K-12 schools, closed; universities, shut down; 
grocery stores, empty; restaurants, locked; gyms, movie theaters, music 
venues, closed for business.
  The reverberations of so many core businesses and core retail being 
shut are affecting virtually every family and every small business 
across this country. So many forms of commerce are grinding to a halt. 
The economy is imploding, and it is touching the workers and it is 
touching those small businesses. Workers are experiencing the reality 
of reduced hours, lost shifts, layoffs; and they don't know when they 
are going to be able to pick up that work again.
  Then, they are not sure how they are going to pay their utilities. 
How are they going to pay their rent? How are they going to pay their 
mortgage? And when will America and the economy start to heal, and when 
will they be able to go back to work?
  So the American people are anxious and worried, rightly, about the 
threat of the disease and worried, rightly, about the collapse of the 
economy.
  Coronavirus is marching on America. As of yesterday--or, actually, as 
of this morning--we have almost 6,000 cases here in our United States 
of America--5,881 cases as of this moment. Compare that to a week ago. 
We are talking about 1,200 cases a week ago. That is a five-fold 
increase in a week.
  We now have more than 50 States affected--all the States, Puerto 
Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Then, we can ponder the fact 
that the number of deaths has gone up--51 deaths compared to in the 
thirties a week ago.
  So the coronavirus is marching on America and marching on the 
economy. It is a double hammer affecting families and small business, 
and it is particularly appropriate at this moment to share with all of 
you the stories of small businesses in my home State that are being 
impacted.
  More than 40 businesses sent in their stories, and I am going to 
share 6 or 7 of those stories. But as we think about how we proceed, we 
need to recognize that this recovery needs to be one where we invest in 
the foundation of our economy, we invest in the families, we invest 
with sick leave, we invest with unemployment insurance, we invest by 
covering the health costs of getting tests and the cost of getting 
treatment, and we invest in our small businesses.
  Not so long ago we had a bailout that favored big business, and big 
business went on to make billions of dollars and then get a massive tax 
break in 2017.
  Right now, the airlines are asking for a $50 billion bailout, but 
they have spent almost $50 billion in stock buyouts over the last few 
years because they were so profitable. And why did they do stock 
buyouts? Because it increased the value of the stock options of the 
corporate executives in that industry.
  This is a version of private gain and public pain. When a business 
says, ``During the good times I will keep all that money; thank you 
very much for not charging me any taxes to maintain our infrastructure 
or our military or our medical care system, and then, when we hit a 
hard time, we will ask to be bailed out''--so we will have 
conversations about that strategy for big business.
  How about, instead, we focus on the families and the pain they are 
feeling, and focus on the small businesses and the challenges they are 
facing?
  We need a Main Street recovery, not a Wall Street bailout. We need an 
economy rebuilt from the bottom up, not from Wall Street down--small 
businesses, like Bargaritas, a small Mexican restaurant in Ontario, OR. 
It is a great place for people to gather for a meal, and unlike nearby 
fast food restaurants, they aren't known for their takeout.
  But to combat the virus, the State of Oregon has shut down sit-down 
restaurants and asked them to go to takeout only. Well, that is taking 
a toll on Bargaritas. When a couple came recently in the door and sat 
down for a meal, the restaurant staff had to explain that they could 
make their meal for them, but they would have to make it to go. The 
couple got up, and they didn't order to go. They walked out the door.
  The owner of Bargaritas notes that they are just struggling to keep 
their restaurant open, that business is not coming in enough to pay the 
workers. So if things don't pick up quickly, he is going to have to 
close and ask his employees to file for unemployment.
  Or how about the Paddington family of stores in Ashland, OR, in 
business since 1973? In recent years they have endured all kinds of 
challenges, including a couple of summers in which wildfire smoke 
created major challenges for the businesses in Ashland, OR. But things 
were looking pretty good this year. Business was going OK.
  Now, however, the owner says they ``felt [their] world crumble in 
March with the threat of the coronavirus changing our world.'' They 
have laid off eight staff members just this week. That is 30 percent of 
their staff. In a single day, their sales dropped 50 percent. As things 
are going now, they will need to lay off more staff within the next few 
weeks if the business climate does not change.
  And the story is much the same for the retailers throughout the town 
of Ashland, OR.

[[Page S1787]]

  The story is similar in Portland, where Betsy and Iya, a company that 
has designed and manufactured jewelry for the past 12 years and 
regularly employs about 17 workers, had to downsize. They had to ask 
three of their workers to be let go
  This is a business that has gone out of its way to promote other 
local businesses, but sales have dropped off very quickly. I would 
presume that in this sense of crisis, families are buying essentials, 
and that means those in the jewelry industry are seeing their sales 
drop. The sales have dropped very quickly, and they are seeing the 
virus's huge economic impacts, and they are expecting to have to lay 
off more people soon, and they are looking for help.
  Ultrazone Laser Tag--now, you might think that, with folks being out 
of work, they might go to a place to get some exercise and have some 
recreation, and a sense of separation might be OK. Maybe laser tag 
would see an upsurge in sales--not the case. Lee Sturman, of Ultrazone 
Laser Tag, in Milwaukie says:

       My name is Lee Sturman, and I am the owner of Ultrazone 
     Laser Tag, a family entertainment center Located in 
     Milwaukie, Oregon. As the founder, I have successfully 
     operated for 26 years. During this time, like all small 
     business owners, I have battled competitors and overcome 
     other challenging obstacles. On a level playing field, I have 
     managed to survive and thrive. But, unfortunately, my 
     business has been upended by an invasion of tiny microbes. 
     COVID-19 has struck fast and struck hard. In a matter of two 
     weeks, Ultrazone has gone from busy crowds to near emptiness.

  Steve and Kristi Ball operate Basin Indoor Gardening in Klamath 
Falls, OR. In response to the Klamath County Chamber of Commerce 
collecting stories of the financial impact that COVID-19 is having on 
local businesses, they submitted the following and appreciate the 
opportunity to share, and I appreciate the fact that they responded and 
are sharing. Steve and Kristi note:

       [They have] owned a small retail business in downtown 
     Klamath Falls for nearly 11 years so have experience with 
     seasonal fluctuations and customer trends that affect the 
     cash flow and overall revenues of my store. Things have been 
     shockingly slow since the beginning of March but especially 
     this last week where customer traffic has almost halted. 
     Based on last years total for March and daily sales compared 
     to this years same time frame my store gross sales are down 
     to about 36% of normal, indicating 64% loss in revenues. I 
     hope this is a short lived situation and business can go back 
     to what is normal, more than a month like this will force 
     some difficult decisions for the future of my store.

  April Severson of Portland writes:

       I've owned my event production company for 20-years. My 
     business has always had it's ups and downs but this is the 
     first time I've had all of my contracts cancelled. I am the 
     sole employee of my company however, my cancelled contracts 
     have also cancelled the work for my associates and vendors in 
     audio-visual, entertainment, decor, furniture rentals, floral 
     and catering. Since most of my vendors are small and emerging 
     businesses as well this has had a spiraling effect on our 
     ability to pay for bills, insurance, mortgages and to take 
     care of our families.

  Amy Baker is the owner of Thread Bare Press in Eugene, and she notes:

       My screen printing business relies primarily on schools, 
     restaurants and events to keep our T-shirt presses running. 
     On Friday March 13th as the stock market tanked and major 
     cultural centers shut down across the country, I saw a third 
     of our monthly revenue vanish in one day. In the five days 
     since, my email inbox has remained empty as our client base 
     struggles to shore up their expenses. I have laid off half of 
     my six staff this week and have let the rest know that next 
     week they will temporarily not have a job. It's hard to feel 
     like so many people depend on me for their paychecks, let 
     alone my own children that depend on me for our own 
     livelihood. I have helped my staff apply for unemployment, 
     but there is no unemployment for business owners. We are a 
     small business that essentially lives week to week based on 
     our clients. In a perfect world there would be money to pay 
     my staff paid leave or savings to sustain myself while we 
     close our doors for what I estimate to be a month. However, 
     we are not in that position. What I'm hoping for is to ride 
     out this storm with forgiveness on my own bills and expenses 
     that will not get paid next month. I'll need emergency, low 
     interest capital to get back to work and bring my staff back 
     on.
  Then we have all of our State's music venues, like Mississippi 
Studios and the historic Liberty Theater in Astoria and the Ashland 
Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. All of them are in danger of going out 
of business. With social distancing and prohibitions on large 
gatherings and a sudden cancellation of musical acts, the venues are 
experiencing a sudden and total loss of income.
  Those stories are representative of things happening all over my 
State and I know in every State of the United States of America. The 
economy is imploding, and with each and every small business that can't 
pay its bills, it affects other small businesses and other larger 
businesses. It affects those who have rental housing and those who have 
mortgages. All of us are going to be touched.
  That is why it is going to be so important that we turn to this third 
stage of response by the U.S. Senate. The first stage was to shore up 
the healthcare industry. The second stage was some immediate help with 
sick leave and unemployment insurance and food assistance and free 
testing for the coronavirus. That bill inexplicably has been sitting 
untended in this Chamber. Why aren't all 100 of us here debating it 
before the American people and voting on it?
  I am told now that maybe, possibly, the bill may come to the floor 
this afternoon; that some deal will be worked out. Wouldn't it be 
better that we actually be on the floor talking about it, discussing 
it, and voting on amendments, if necessary? In a perfect world, I would 
like to pass it just the way the House sent it to us and get it into 
law immediately. The President has signed on, the House has signed on. 
You have Republican leadership and Democratic leadership. Why is this 
Chamber not acting?
  Then we must immediately go to this broader strategy--the stimulus to 
support our economy through this collapse to try to keep the collapse 
from being as severe and shortening the period before it can be 
restored. That period is going to depend a lot on how successful we are 
at interrupting the course of this disease. That is why this is so 
important--social distancing is so important. We have to stop the 
disease from moving from one person to another. The disease is on the 
march against America, and we have to interrupt it. We have to bring it 
to a standstill.
  Meanwhile, we have to help those families and businesses being so 
profoundly affected across America. Let's rebuild this economy from the 
bottom up, paying attention to the impact on families and the impact on 
our small businesses. As John F. Kennedy once put it, ``In a time of 
domestic crisis, men of goodwill and generosity should be able to unite 
regardless of party or politics.'' That is what we did after 9/11. That 
is exactly what must happen today.
  Let us not be moved by the powerful and the wealthy to give yet more 
wealth and power to them. Let us be moved by the fact that we are all 
Americans in this together. Let us tend to the fundamental needs of 
healthcare and housing and education and, most importantly, good jobs 
as those jobs disappear across America.
  Let's pay attention and work together to shore up small businesses 
with low-interest loans and with grants to see them and their employees 
through this difficult time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia

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