encyclopedia and insist on starting there. we built a serious starting place based on the bipartisan programs we passed back in march unanimously by the way and what the country needsnow . our colleagues across the aisle would do the same frankly, if our colleagues across the aisle were even allowed to take part in the discussion, we could get this done for our country. we did it in march. we could do it again on both sides have to actually wanted . >> . madam president i just listened to my friend the republican leader. the republican leader is so tied in a knot by his own caucus and his president cthat all he can do is give alice in wonderland speeches. all he can do is threaten to

force sham votes that will not pass and will not answer the anguished cries for help that are coming from so many of our fellow americans . on the other hand, over the weekend and yesterday speaker pelosi and i continued on negotiations with the white house on the next phase of covid relief legislation. after a week of stalled talks because republicans could not articulate a position on re hardly anything i believe we are making progress . we came closer together on several issues. however, we remain far apart on a number of issues but we're finally moving inthe right direction . reat the moment, the gap between our two parties in the negotiations is about priorities and about scale. as this huge crisis angles our nation, democrats believe

we need a whole strong and vigorous response from the federal government. it will take a lot of resources but if we don't commit those resources now , for sure the cost will only grow in the months to come. democrats are fighting to meet the needs of a desperate nation. our republican friends however, president trump, his age and republicans in the senate do not seem to appreciate the gravity of the situation. they do not understand the needs of the country that are so great and they are not stepping upto meet those needs . this disease has washed over our country like a great flood and republicans are acting like we need to fix a leaky faucet. some of our republican friends seem to be going through the motions, content to pass a bill, any bill so

they can check a box cand go home but a bill thatdoesn't come close to meeting the needs of america . we cannot do that . we cannot pass in an inadequate bill and then go home while the virus continues to spread, the economy continues to deteriorate and the country gets worse . no box checking will work. we need real action. we need a release package that actually rescues american families, american schools and american businesses. that helps defeat this evil virus and prevents our economy from sliding into a depression anddemocrats are going to keep fighting until we get there .but republicans on both ends of pennsylvania avenue are not yet awake to the enormity of the challenge. we see it across a whole range of issues. for exampledemocrats believe we have an obligation to help every american put food on the table . our republican friends start negotiating by saying they don't think we need to do

anything to help hungry families and children but maybe they can compromise and help feed a smallpercentage .ma that's not going to cut it. let's say 1 million families can't feed their kids .ir the republican bill has zero and we cover 1 million. to say let's compromise and omonly cover half of them is crueland not going to solve the problem . we want all to see all our schools open, reopened in the fall. but they need the resources and guidance to do it safely, not 25 percent of the resources , not half . does need funding for masks and pbe, for converting space sinto more socially distant classrooms, for updating their ventilating systems. some need to double the number of buses to prevent packing kids together on the morning route to school . it's going to cost money. republicans have to understand that. parents must have confidence that if their school is going

to reopen it has the protocols and infrastructure in place to keep their children safe. it's the same with unemployment. over 50 million americans filed for unemployment with millions more filing new claims each week. we propose extending the unenhanced benefits that democrats secured in the cares act through the end of the year. the policy accepts as many as 12 million americans out of poverty and boosted consumer spending, one of the few bright spots in our economy but republicans are intent in slashing those benefits or letting them expire long before the crisis is over. one republican proposal would give newly out of work americans a 30 percent pay cut and another would give them a 33 percent pay cut. the trump administrations on department of labor warns us these proposals which would pay a percentage of the workers former wage are unworkable. it will take weeks and months

if we adapt a republican proposal before any checks wind up in the hands of millions of americans . in our state unemployment offices to administer this program agree. so republicans need to step up to the plate and work with us to find a solution that shields millions of jobless americans from further economichardship . state, local and tribal governments have fought this virus on the front lines with budgets strained, there at risk of shedding teachers and firefighters, bus drivers, sanitation workers, slashing public servers. my good friend senator carver is leading a group of centers to talk about these issues today because senate republicans tein the white house do not believe in giving support to our state and local governments and that's not an abstract concept. that's firefighters and teachers and bus drivers and healthcare workers .

and we don't care if they're in a blue state or a red state, they need to help. we must address our elections and make sure americans can both safely and confidently with new challenges of coronavirus forthe first time in a national election . that means theyneed to be able to vote in person and by mail . which ever they choose. adequate funding for state election systems in the post office shouldn't be a partisan issue. this is about preserving elections, making them fair and making every ballot count read at the wellspring of our democracy and its covid related and our republican friends are resistant. we're still fighting to get enough funding for testing and contact tracing. thit's extraordinarily frustrating that seven months into this crisis democrats still have to argue with our republicancolleagues about delivering enough support for testing ,tracing , medicaid and ourhealthcare system .

these are just some of the many issues we need to work through. when people ask what's holding things up it's our view that not only are republican friends disorganized and all over the lot, not only is president trump tweeting about so many different things but not taking any leadership in this crisis but most of all, that we must meet the needs of this enormous prices and help the american people. we need a strong, robust bill . we are working hard for that. our republican colleagues inch by inch are beginning to see the light, i hope more of them will. so there's so many issues we must work through. democrats want to get a deal done but we need answers for all of them, not just a few. can't take out one or two. we will help schools but not kids who need food . thatdoesn't work . that doesn't work. we will help small businesses but not theunemployed . that doesn't work. these are big broad huge crises .

the greatest health crisis in 100 years, the greatest economic crisis since the great depression and we've got a lot of herbert hoover's don't want to do anything. a lot of herbert hoover's on the republican side. beremember what happenedthen . by not meeting the crisis head-on they created the great depression republicans did under hoover.let's hope our republican friends do the light andwon't make that same mistake again . and let me remind my republican colleagues when there's a crisis of this magnitude, the private sector cannot solve it. individuals alone even encouraging sacrifice are not powerful enough to beat it back . government is the only force large enough to staunch the bleeding and begin the healing of thenation . one of the main reasons holding things back, there are so many nrepublicans on the other side who do not believe the federal government even has a role to

play. leader mcconnell has admitted not once, not twice, but four times that there is as many as 20 senate republicans will icvote against any relief package for theamerican people . those republicans who seem to be the tail that wags the dog , it's a pretty big tale of 20 votes. those republicans don't get. we know you like the private sector over government but there are times when there's nothing but government that can step up to the plateand solve the problem and this is one of those times . faced with the greatest economic threat in 75 years, the greatest public health crisis in a century more than a third of the senate republican majority will not to help the american people. those very same republicans gleefully voted to give a $1.5 trillion tax cut to help giant corporations pad their profit margins. put helping americans

food on the table, go back to school safely and keep a roof over their heads and survive a global pandemic is a bridge too far. how out of touch can they be? these folks cannot be allowed to dictate our policy. by their own admission they won't vote for anything. remember that emwhen leader mcconnell claims senate democrats are the obstacles to progress. more than a third of senate republican caucus doesn't want to vote for anything so this week our republican colleagues have two choices. they can engage in the same kind of political fear that precluded the care zach. leader mcconnell can schedule a show vote on legislation that even his own caucus won't support and then is alice in wonderland style, get up on the floor and say democrats are the ones blocking.

he can engage in the same partisan maneuvers that have resulted in failure and won't answer the anguished cries of e americans . as i said earlier i'm going to want to repeat it. the republican leader is so tied in a knot by his own caucus and his president that one of his only options is to give alice in wonderland partisan speeches and maybe force a sham votethat will not pass and not answer the anguished cries for help from so many americans . on the other hand republicans could roll up their sleeves, wake up to the crisis in our country and figure out what they can support. i think we're all readyfor the republican majority to figure this out just what that is . what's dictating our policy and our positions on the democratic side is very simple . the national need for large, large, large. that's our northstar and we're going to keep pressing forward with the hard work of negotiations, hopeful we can get a deal done to help the country in a time of severe crisis.

i yield the floor. >> madam president gentleman from illinois. >> madam president i have a recommendation from my colleagues in the senate . i recommend as the senator from new yorkdoes , i do we go home, literally leave washington. go home and meet up with the people who sent them to washington to work for them. i did last friday as i do every weekend. and i asked specifically to meet with five individuals who are out of work. i wanted them to tell me their story and to share that story with people of chicago. it was quite a moving experience. we have 800,000 illinoisans who are claimingunemployment . and now there's a possibility

of a $600 a week federal benefit that's coming to them to help pay their bills will disappear . technically it ended last friday. so i asked these unemployed illinoisans tell me your story. rush on the williams told me a story of being a bartender for 19 years at the palmer house hilton. she earned significantly more while working and she's receiving an unemployment . she is literally worried he's going to lose her home. and healthcare. if she loses that $600 a week . andre marino worked in a restaurant indowntown chicago before the pandemic . he was pretty proud of his career in working the restaurant business. said i did well. he and his husband had both lost their jobs andtheir health insurance . without the additional $600 a week in unemployment compensation, they won't be

able to even by health coverage. aileen demaray was an interesting person . she's in lighting and technology i. her job involves big events to set up a light for concerts and other gatherings. thousands of people. she said nobody knows i'm there but i do. i'm one of the first women ever been in this profession.pr well, those big concerts and crowded venues aren't there anymore. aileen doesn't have any place to go back to. she said one thing that still sticks with me. she said i started working when i was 15 .ta i worked six years, she said. you know how many weeks that i had unemployment in the 36 year work experience?

i said number she said one. this notion that i would rather stay home than draw unemployment and go back to work , that is into im and i've proven over a lifetime that i'm a person who really does want to earn their pay . her enhanced unemployment if it expires would mean that her bills including paying rent just can't be paid. jesus morale is worked at drake hotel in chicago for 33 years and made up to $1700 a week . it reminds me that i met him 20 years ago when he was a bartender and waiter at an event that i attended. he's been laid off since march and without the $600 payment , he's afraid he won't be able to make his mortgage payments and the copayment which covers his health insurance would be impossible. samantha r say is a mother of three and she just gave birth a few weeks before the lockdown began .

her place of work is closed and her fiancc has lost his job . they quickly went from 2 working parents with three kids to know working parents. enhanced unemployment pay has helped them pay hospitalbills and care for their young kids . she brought a little boy and he's about four months old, a cute little fellow and he smiled during the whole event . little did he know what was going on in the mind of his mom and dad as she tries to cope with political decisions being made in washington. losing that $600 a week payment which the republicans have proposed would really create a devastating situation for these families and these individuals. there's this notion and i hear it regularly and i've heard it for a long time. if you're unemployed you're just not trying hard enough to read there are jobs out there, they say.

that's not what the numbers tell us. there are four unemployed americans for every available job. four for every available job. and and employers who say well, i would come back to work but they're making too much on unemployment. of course that's the case in some instances but it's rare. did you know americans have gone back to work since we began this pandemic assault of those who gone back to work 70 percent are making less then they made on unemployment. why would they make that economic decision to go back to work and make less and unemployment ? well, it's just like a lean area at their heart they are workers. they believe in the dignity of work and they're proud of what they do and i want to go back to doing it number one. number two theynot unemployment is not forever . number three sometimes there are benefits when you go back to work that count. like health insurance policy

that had the doctor in the hospital which she and her family needs and in june the unemployment rate dropped to 14.6 percent and the state added 142,000 jobs but that unemployment rate of 14.6 percent is the greatest we've faced since the great recession. since the beginning of march msaround 1.7 million unemployment claims have been filed in our state, less than 13 million people. that's nearly 10 times the number of claims processed during the same training year ig ago had the same thing is true in neighboring states like kentucky where the unemployment claims are 10 times what they were a year ago. nationwide around 30 million americans arerelying on enhanced unemployment sbenefits just to keep things together . trust me, they tell me. we're not saving this money. we're not investing this money. we are spending thismoney as fast as it's handedto us to

pay for our homes ,our cars , utilities , food area and the republican approach would cut the unemployment benefit check to the federal government from $600 a week to $200 a week. a $400 cut. it would then require states to put in place a complex system of 70 percent wage replacement. it sounds so logical that if you're unemployed you get 70 percent of your paycheck. interesting formula. how do you make a formula like that work mark you have to gather data about what a person was earning when they were unemployed and then put that into your computer in terms of the payout. each state would make under this new formula. it's different than what states are already doing. and what we found out is dates are very different when it comes to their computer technology. we were told that incidentally by the trump administration and we established the $600 a week payment told us in march

don't make this too complicated. make it simple.a flat dollar amount tabecause these 50 states have computers that range in sophistication from primitive to the most modern area they're not going to change these computers in time tohelp the people who are currently unemployed . the republicans deemed to have forgotten what we were told by the trump administration when we initially enacted the $600 a week payment . this 70 percent or unemployment doesn't work if the computers can't make it work and we're told it will take anywhere from two months to five months for these computer systems toeven try . what are these families supposed to do? while the computer systems are being retooled and who's going to pay for the retooling? if the state can't implement this program and instead the flat cash payment goes from $600-$200 for month after month after month, trust me.

the lines at the food pantry will be longer than ever . that economic policy institute has estimated turning this benefit to $200 a week will reduce our gross domestic product by 2.5 percent and cost us three point 4 million jobs. just what we need. more unemployment. thanks to republican formulas. research from the j.p. morgan chase institute suggest the enhanced benefits and help thousands of households continue purchasing critical needs. food, diapers, the basics. and allowing these benefits to expire or will result in household spending cuts and reduction in economic activities. exactly the opposite of what we need to do right now. this weekend on television there was a governor from the federal reserve in minneapolis who basically said this is exactly the ngwrong time to cut back on benefits to the unemployed

area and when the questioner said to him owhat about our deficit, he was very frank about it. yes, for the time being it will add to the debt of the united states if the economy recovers which we have to work to achieve, that recovered economy willbe able to take care of that ebdebt . that's something to keep in mind too. it isn't just for the benefit of the families employed, it's for the benefit of the overall economy to put money tback into it now. we learn in basic economics if you want to get out of the recession the first dollar the government gives away should be to the unemployed. they will spend every penny of it. and they will spend it and then have it re-spent into the economy over andover . that's how you create consumer demand. that's how you create ydemands for business activities, goods andservices . and so madame president i want to make it clear from

what i learned last friday in chicago. no one, no one is getting rich off of unemployment. they're using their unemployment benefits to survive. average rent is about $1400 a month in this country . cobra health insurance where you pick up the health insurance policy from the employer you just who just laid you off runs about $1400 a month for a family, $600 a month for an individual. average cost of food for a male adult in america between 200 and $400 a month and add it all up there isn't much left over and if the republican proposal of cutting $400 a week from each of these unemployed becomes the law of the land to try to make endsmeet , workers of color and had disproportionate impact when it comes to this collapse or overall unemployment was 11.1 percent in june, unemployment

among black workers 15.4 percent, 14.5 percent for latinx workers. uthouseholds can cut their consumption by 15 percent more than latino households than white households. that is the reality area let me address two or three particulars raised by the senator from kentucky about the state of play as we negotiate, try to negotiate a satisfactory conclusion and next step. the first point. this week marks the third month, the third month since speaker nancy pelosi and house democrats passed a rescue package for three months their effort called the heroes act has been sitting on the desk with senator mcconnell. initially, he said i don't feel a sense of urgency to address this issue. then he went on to say we

haven't spent all the money we appropriated the first round . whatever the reason, it wasn't until seven days ago that the senate republicans kind of made a proposal. the only thing we've seen specific in writing was there proposal for liability immunity which i'lladdress in a moment . the rest of the things were oddly presented as potential legislation which would be brought to the floor of the senate. imagine that. wehave the white house and congressional leaders sitting down negotiating and senator mcconnell said the republicans will bring a bill to the floor area well if you follow the senate , six or eight different bills for to the floor , the first go through republican majority committees, the second how long is that going to take for us to debate and then negotiate between whatever we pass and what is pending in the heroes act. it makes no sense but i'll tell you what makes even less sense . in the negotiations these

delicate and important life changing negotiations are taking place on capitol hill, these negotiations to determine what's next now that the $600 federal payment has expired under unemployment t. in these negotiations there are six chairs. one chair is occupied by the chief of staff, president of the united states and mark meadows and another occupied by terry mnuchin. the third chair nancy pelosi, the fourth chair chuck schumer, leader of the united states senate but there are two empty chairs in this room fornegotiations . those two empty chairs should be occupied. one should be occupied by kevin mccarthy the republican leader of the house. he's not there. he doesn't attend these negotiations. on the other of course should be occupied by senator

mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate. he has enough time to come to the floor and criticized speaker pelosi's measure that she passed three months ago. but he apparently doesn't have time to attend the negotiations which could resolve the differences between the house and senate and bring to rest the concerns of millions of americans about whether or not there will be enough money coming in next week to pay the bills . it's pretty tough to come to the floor each day and criticized the democrats for not showing success in negotiations when the republican leader in the senate is boycotting the negotiation meetings. what is that all about? i've been around here fora while and never seen that before . for one leader is intentionally staying away from negotiations. i'll see how that can end well. i see my colleague from texas has come to the floor and i

want to say a word about a proposal which he is promoting and is likely to this morning so i'll turn the floor over to him remember when senator mcconnell came to the floor and said i'm drawing a red line when it comes to any negotiations, this red line is liability immunity for corporations. and if you don't accept my language, my liability immunity negotiations, there will be no positive outcome. red line. you madethat speech over and over again as he warned us about the flood , the tsunami , tsunami was his word. the tsunami of lawsuits filed by people by trial lawyers, these mischievous frivolous lawsuits over the issue of covid-19 so we kept wondering when are we going to get to see senator mcconnell's liability proposal? we waited week after week and nothing, just speeches on the floor and last monday it was

unveiled . a 65 page bill. we finally got to see whathe was talking about . well, it's understandable why they held it back. it is the biggest giveaway to the biggest businesses in america in modern memory area this bill would literally override state laws that have been passed to deal with this issue. of culpability and blame when it comes to the pandemic we face. some 28 states have enacted laws to deal with it. this mcconnell corning proposal would override these state laws. and sadly, there proposal would give incentives to cut corners when businesses deal with health and safety in the midst of this pandemic. this bill would jeopardize front-line workers and families , sadly it would risk further spread of the

virus. here's my top 10 list of what's wrong with this bill proposed on liability immunity. vethe bill does nothing to protect workers, improve safety standards or give businesses an incentive to take the proper precautions. we had a judicial committee and ibelieve the senior senator from texas was at this hearing . and a fellow representing a convenience for chain in texas, his last name was smart was the republican witness and a very good witness i might add i.. >> ..

i'm just committed to it. and you know what, i believed it. i believed his was a good faith position that said he wanted to know the standard, public health standard expected of him and he wouldn't need it. i want to tell you this, if someone turned around and sued him "after words" because of that i am convinced there isn't a jury in america, let alone in texas, that would find him to be guilty of negligence or recklessness. he did what he was asked to do and followed the standards he was given but his plea to us was give us a standard. i don't know where to turn, that is what he told us. second concern i have with this bill, it would got existing estate law and safety standards and it would federally preempt the rights of workers and victims to bring cases under state law to seek accountability for coronavirus related horror

and supplant state laws to require businesses to act with reasonable care. under the bill the only way a victim could hold a business libel is that the victim proves by clear and convincing evidence of a higher standard than most, both that the corporation did not try to comply with the weakest available safety guidelines and also to prove the corporation was also grossly negligent. i can just tell you having spent a few years making a living as a lawyer those are almost impossible standards to meet. third, by setting immunity thresholds and gross negligence, gross negligence, the bill will immunize corporations from accountability that meets the f standard through negligence or recklessness under current state law. you could get away with negligence and even with recklessness but you better not show gross negligence. that is what the bill says.

fourth, the bill would enable corporations to be shielded from liability even if they made no effort to comply with guidelines and centers for disease control. due to the way the bill treats nonmandatory guidelines why would congress federally preempt state laws and then allow businesses to a ignore the federal cdc safety guidelines? fifth, instead of establishing a strong clear enforceable federal safety standards by osha and cdc, the public and bill would go the other direction and shield businesses from enforcement proceedings under federal healthgs safety laws. in other words, specifically protecting businesses from being held accountable under existing health and safety laws. laws like the fair labor standards act, americans disability act, osha and many, many more. my republican colleague say this bill is only frivolous coronavirus lawsuits but the

bill would wipe out legitimate claims by workers and victims. by forcing all covid lawsuits to meet a higher standard of care heightened pleading requirements limits on discovery and other restrictive hurdles the bill would make it again narrowly impossible for workers and victims to even file a claim, let alone prevail. seven, the bill would upend the medical liability laws of all 50 states and impose five years of sweeping federal preemption's for nearly all healthcare liability cases, including for claims that are not related to covid. i went through this and read this over and over because i deal with medical malpractice cases. i've heard on the floor senator mcconnell and senator cornyn say we've got to protect the doctors. we got to protect hospitals. we got to protect the nurses. that, of course, appeals to all of us because we feel such a debt of gratitude to the healthcare workers and what they are going through to protect us. i took a look and it turns out

they compiled the statistics on the number of medical malpractice cases filed in america in the entire nation that mentioned coronavirus or covid-19. do you know how many mount practical cases have been filed during what they call a tsunami, a tsunami of frivolous lawsuits? how many do you think in the course of this year? six. in the entire nation of 50 states, six lawsuits. what a tsunami. and then the provision on medical malpractice goes further and says you don't have to prove that you are dealing with coronavirus to get the special treatment. you can state the coronavirus had some impact on you as a medical provider, some impact? that's it? what does that mean. coronavirus has had an impact on

every single american. some impact? basically means all medical malpractice suits will be put on hold for four or five years regardless of the circumstances, regardless of whether they had anything to do with covid-19 and it aims to solve a problem that does not exist but we are months into this epidemic and nodal title wave of worker or victim lawsuits to justify this massive federal preemption of state law and grants immunity. on the 4.7 million americans and that is a lowball number 4.7 million americans that we think have been infected by covid-19, six covid medical my practice suits, 17 consumer personal injury suits, 75 condition deployment suits and most of the lawsuits involved ii covid-19 are in with insurance comedies and does your policy cover or does yours cover?

sided in favor of corporations. they get immunity as defendants but can still bring covid related cases as plaintiffs and only workers and infected victims have their rights cut off by this bill. and finally, the bill even goes so far as to allow corporations and the permit of justice to sue the workers for bringing claims under covid infections. the liability immunity of this bill would grant would last for five years and the fact that our republican colleagues are proposing five years of immunity for corporations but only a handful of months for assistance for workers and families tells you their priorities. this republican corporate immunity program is not [inaudible] this is an area traditionally governed by state law andgo 28 states have written

laws to cover it and the federal government has deferred to the states in nearly every aspect of covid response in this president said leave it to your governor or your mayor from testing to procuring ppe to mask policies to stay at home orders and there is no reason only the federal government now wants to step in at the expense of workers, at the expense of customers. i urge my colleagues to oppose the bill and i yield to the floor. >> madam president, i guess it was fortuitous i was here on the floor when my friends from illinois decided to talk about the liability provisions of the bill that we filed last week. the next installment in covid-19 response so let me just spend a couple of minutes talking about the issues that he raised. my friend, our colleague from illinois, is a very talented