May 12, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 89 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
All in Senate sectionPrev12 of 39Next
PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 89
(Senate - May 12, 2020)
Text available as:
Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Pages S2361-S2363] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, my home State of Texas is a great place to do business. We keep taxes, government spending, and regulations at a rational minimum in order to give people and businesses the freedom to pursue their dreams and prosper. Texas is consistently ranked on the list of the ``Best States for Business,'' the ``Best States to Start a Business,'' and the ``Best States for Female Entrepreneurs.'' According to the Small Business Administration, there are more than 2.6 million small businesses throughout the State, accounting for 99.8 percent of all Texas businesses. Those businesses employ nearly half of our State's workforce and account for the massive portion of our Texas economy. To say that the small businesses are an economic force in Texas would only paint half the picture. In big cities and in small towns alike, these businesses play a critical role in our communities--the locally owned restaurants and bars we visit, the gyms that are part of our regular routine, the dry cleaners, the pharmacies and the hardware stores we stop at when we run errands. But our small businesses aren't just employers or generators of sales tax. They are owned by our friends and our neighbors and are part of the very fabric of our community. Right now, they are under severe stress and in real jeopardy. The coronavirus has kept Texans at home and put our small businesses into serious financial trouble. When stay-at-home orders were put in place, many were forced to close their doors outright. Over the last several weeks, like many of my colleagues, I have held innumerable video conferences with chambers of commerce, small business owners, and others who have told me about the difficult decisions they have been forced to make in the wake of this virus. Without any demand, without an opportunity to sell their services or the food or other material they provide, they had to lay off employees or reduce their pay, and some were more concerned that they couldn't survive more than a few weeks because they still had to pay the rent and their overhead. Those struggles are familiar for businesses across the country, and that is why we, together--literally, unanimously, in the Senate-- created the Paycheck Protection Program. This new loan program was designed to help America's small businesses and their employees manage these uncharted waters by providing 8 weeks of cash flow assistance to cover payroll and other business-related expenses. As we now know, it was so popular and so needed that the initial $350 billion we funded ran out in less than 2 weeks. From that batch of funding bill, Texas received more loans than any other State. Nearly 135,000 small businesses benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program--a sum total of [[Page S2362]] 28.5 billion. That is just from the first $350 billion we appropriated. It became obvious that there was more demand than supply, and so we had to then replenish the program with an initial $320 billion. So far, $670 billion has gone into the Paycheck Protection Program. These are astronomical numbers, but, obviously, the need was serious, and this appears to be meeting a very real need to keep these businesses afloat, along with their employees. Since our small businesses have gotten these funds, there is no shortage of stories about the positive impact they have had in my State, and I am sure each of us can tell similar stories. One of the recipients of a PPP loan is Sevy's Grill, which has been a favorite in Dallas for more than two decades. Like other restaurants throughout Texas, the stay-at-home order put them in a very tough financial spot, and the restaurant closed in March without an end in sight. Then a lifeline came in the form of the Paycheck Protection Program. A Facebook post from the restaurant read: ``We are blessed to be a part of the Paycheck Protection Program to help fund our comeback.'' They reopened at the end of April with a ``Valet-to-Go'' program, just in time to celebrate their 23rd anniversary last Friday and Mother's Day over the weekend. There is also another company called JuiceLand, an Austin-based company with locations in Dallas and Houston as well. Matt Shook is the founder and CEO. He says they were preparing for a busy spring, but instead of having their nearly three dozen locations full of customers, he had to close 25 stores and lay off 300 employees. He said: ``Every day it's like being at a poker table and getting bad hands every hand.'' But Matt was then dealt with a few good cards. JuiceLand received its Paycheck Protection Program loan. He began to reopen the stores and to hire back his employees. He said that this loan is going to be the difference in keeping his company afloat. The businesses that have received these loans were in danger of drowning until Congress, working together in a bipartisan way, threw them a lifeline. But now they are facing another risk that could bring a second wave of devastation and danger. Across the country, we are starting to see coronavirus-related litigation filed by the hundreds of cases--patients or their families suing doctors, students suing universities, employees and customers suing businesses--and this is just the beginning. As more States begin to restart their economies, we can expect a tidal wave of lawsuits to follow. And while there is and should absolutely be legal recourse for those with legitimate claims, there are serious concerns about the number of frivolous claims and nuisance lawsuits we are expecting to see. Imagine you are the owner of a small restaurant. Once stay-at-home orders were put in place, you did it the way you were asked, and you tried to keep your business going and your employees on payroll. You received a PPP loan, which helped you and your workforce survive until you could reopen your doors. And once that happened, you took every precaution and followed every guideline to protect your employees and your customers. You did your best to follow all government guidelines and regulations to a T. You stayed in close communication with your employees about their health and required anyone who was not feeling well to stay home. Your employees wore masks and gloves and had their temperatures checked at the start of each shift. You did your best to clean high-touch surfaces, maintained social distancing in the restaurant, and had hand sanitizer available for customers and employees. But then you find out you are being sued because someone claims that they contracted the virus at your place of business and they claimed that it happened because of your negligence and either you knew or you should have known. The legal nightmare you are about to enter could have your business filing for bankruptcy by the end of the year, even if the claim proved to be without merit. The expense and the time and the effort that we want people putting back into the business to help rebuild our economy--they are going to have to use that to defend a nuisance lawsuit and perhaps pay money just so they don't have to continue to pay a lawyer to defend them in court. Without action in this Congress, this is going to be a familiar story for small business owners, doctors, nurses, first responders--anyone and everyone who could potentially be blamed for another person contracting the virus. We are all familiar with those who are ready to jump at the opportunity to file a suit over this and similar matters, whether or not their case has legs. You can imagine the TV ads and the highway billboards we will see encouraging you to call some 1-800 number if you have been impacted by the coronavirus, only to be connected with a lawyer to file a lawsuit--again, regardless of merit. Let me be clear. As a recovering lawyer myself, I don't think all lawyers are bad, but we do know there are venal people who will take advantage of the opportunity. Again, let me just say I have no doubt there have been and will be legitimate lawsuits targeting bad actors. If there is willful or reckless disregard for the person affected, they should have every right to sue and be made whole. But we need to take action against these frivolous lawsuits tying up our courts, bankrupting our businesses, and discouraging our economy from reopening. This is not without some precedent. In the past, Congress has provided similar protections for businesses and workers who followed guidelines and acted in good faith. For example, there was the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997, which provided legal protection for volunteers who worked at nonprofits. There was the Y2K Act of 1999, which gave protections to businesses if they followed government guidelines in good faith with regard to Y2K computer glitches. There was the Coverdell Teacher Protection Act of 2001, which gave protection to teachers and educators. It is simply time for Congress to once again exercise our constitutional authority to provide reasonable liability protections for employers and workers who are operating in good faith and following government and public health guidelines. There is no effort to allow bad behavior or protect those who are grossly negligent, period. In fact, if you think about it, providing a safe harbor for those businesses that follow public health and government guidelines will actually encourage them to do so, which will actually further protect the public and their employees. The types of liability limitations my colleagues and I are interested in providing would simply prevent frivolous and nuisance lawsuits from harassing our frontline healthcare workers and small businesses which were acting reasonably and complying in good faith with health guidelines. If you are a business owner debating whether to reopen once you are able, this lawsuit frenzy could be the deciding factor. You may just decide to throw in the towel, and we all would be losers, not the least of whom would be the employees who get their jobs from that employer. Would you risk a potential lawsuit that would tie you up in courts for months, if not years, on end and bankrupt your business even though you are prepared to follow health guidance? Well, I think many will not be inclined to open up under those circumstances. Without limiting liability for our small business owners and workers, our economic recovery will be stunted as a result of the fear of the negative impact of these frivolous lawsuits. That is the situation we need to address and prevent. Congress has taken unprecedented steps to strengthen our Nation's response to the coronavirus and minimize the economic fallout, and we have done that together. The tidal wave of lawsuits that could come and will come unless we act to limit that liability will undo every bit of progress we tried to make. We can't allow our doctors and nurses and first responders and small businesses to survive the pandemic, only to find themselves battling a second crisis in the courtroom, an existential crisis. In order to strengthen our response to this pandemic, we must protect those who are doing everything in their power to keep us safe while following the guidelines their government provides them, and we need to keep them [[Page S2363]] from having to suffer and perhaps not survive this second pandemic that will be caused by opportunistic litigation. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Loeffler). The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________
All in Senate sectionPrev12 of 39Next