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[Page S4655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Coronavirus
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I just heard the Republican leader speak
out on the floor. Leader McConnell is busy giving partisan speeches
while for the last 2\1/2\ hours Speaker Pelosi, myself, Secretary of
Treasury Mnuchin, and Chief of Staff Meadows were sitting in a room
working hard, trying to narrow our differences and come to an
agreement. We all want to come to an agreement. We know the gravity of
the situation demands it. We will continue to work and work at it.
We had a productive meeting. We narrowed some differences. Frankly,
there are many that remain, but we must not give up. We must not resort
to stark partisanship. We must come together and find a solution.
If I had to characterize the major difference between our side and
the Republican side, we believe the gravity of the situation--the
economic problems, the health problems--demands a bold, strong,
vigorous solution by the Federal Government. We believe we must meet
those needs. And it will cost money, but mark my words--if we spend
less money now, it will cost us more money later.
We hear from our schools. They very much want to reopen. We hear from
the parents of children. They very much want their kids to go back to
school, but they want to do it safely. It costs a lot of dollars to
make a school safe in this COVID crisis--not only the money for masks
and PPE, but you can't sit two kids next to each other on a bus, so
there have to be many more bus routes. Because some of the learning
will be distant, you need hotspots, and a lot of the kids don't have
them in their homes. You may need new ventilating systems because COVID
demands it for a healthy classroom. You may need to convert gymnasiums
and cafeterias into new classrooms. Teachers may have to teach longer,
and we may even need more teachers. These are very important things we
need to do to open schools safely, but they demand more dollars. As we
sat in a room today, we discussed our views as to how many dollars are
needed.
The same thing with food safety--we Democrats believe that during
this crisis, children and adults should not go hungry, and we proposed
money to ensure that there are SNAP benefit increases to help people to
feed themselves, that there is enough money to feed the kids who used
to get school breakfasts and lunches, and that there is enough money at
food banks and other places so they can feed their families. That costs
money. The Senate Republican proposal here proposed a tax break for a
three-martini lunch and a $20 billion slush fund for big agribusiness
but no money for these kids who need to be fed. That is a significant
difference. There are many. There are many.
We Democrats believe strongly that we have to have free and fair
elections and that the mail must be delivered in a timely way because
so many more people are going to vote by mail. So many polling places
need to be set up because, with COVID, you can't be close together.
There is a long list of things that are needed. The good news is, our
Republican colleagues agree with a few of them, but some they don't
agree with, and we are discussing why we think they need them, and they
will counter with us in the room--Mnuchin and Meadows. But the
discussion is necessary, the discussion is productive, and we will
continue it.
Again, the anomaly of the Republican leader making a partisan speech
on the floor while we--Speaker Pelosi, myself, Mnuchin, and Meadows--
are trying to negotiate and move forward is really a contrast that I
think most people see.
So let's keep moving forward. There is a real crisis here. There are
people who are unemployed, and they don't deserve a pay cut as they go
forward. There are small businesses that need help desperately. There
are schools that have to open. There are State and local governments
that must have funding. This is not an abstract concept; these are
firefighters, our teachers, our healthcare workers, our busdrivers and
sanitation men and women. If the State and local governments don't get
money, they are going to be laid off, and services will be much worse.
Again, we have a wide disparity on what kind of dollars and how to
deal with treatment. It is our belief that this administration's
program on treatment has been a failure, that we don't have enough
treatment, and that we have to redouble our efforts to put more money
into treatment.
These discussions are continuing because we hope we can reach an
agreement. We will keep at it and at it and at it because the Nation
demands a solution--a bold, comprehensive solution that will slay this
awful virus and its consequences once and for all.
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. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Ernst). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
