Sherrod Brown

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, we are in the middle of a pandemic. The President of the United States doesn't act like it, but Americans are still dying by the hundreds--several hundred almost every day. We are in the middle of an economic crisis. Again, the President of the United States doesn't act like it. He crows about the unemployment numbers when they are the worst since World War II. And we are in the middle of a crisis of conscience. Millions of Americans have taken to the streets to protest the murders of Black and Brown Americans by the people supposed to protect them. With all of these challenges, the President of the United States is failing. The Senate should be stepping in right now to fill that leadership void, to get more help to families and to communities that are going bankrupt, to protect workers--to use every tool we have to force the administration to get some kind of test trace isolate regime in place to truly stop the spread of the coronavirus. We should be listening to the protestors demanding justice in communities all across the country, large and small. They remind us this pandemic isn't a separate issue from racial justice--it is all connected. It is not a coincidence that President Trump stopped even pretending to try to fight the coronavirus once he realized it was disproportionately Black and Brown Americans dying, not very often one of his rich friends. In the Senate, we have plans to get help and protections to workers; we have plans to fund a scale-up of testing that gets us closer to the level we need; we have plans to work to hold police accountable; we have begun to tackle the systemic racism in our justice system. Look at it this way: The last time I was on an airplane was in mid- March. I live close enough--6-hour drive between Cleveland and Washington. In mid-March, there were about 90 coronavirus cases diagnosed in the United States--halfway around the world from where the Presiding Officer likes to emphasize it came from, Wuhan. About 900 miles from Wuhan is the capital of South Korea--Seoul. In South Korea, around that same time, there were 90 cases. So South Korea had 90 diagnosed cases; the United States had about 90 diagnosed cases. Since that date in March, fewer than 300 Koreans have died of the coronavirus; over 110,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus. In Korea, their unemployment rate now is under 4 percent; our unemployment rate is somewhere between three and four times that. That is clearly the incompetence--this is not a partisan statement. I have watched my Republican Governor of Ohio, who has done a good job, teamed up with Dr. Amy Acton, the health director, in combating this virus early, while the President of the United States was still blaming the virus on--saying it was a hoax or not real or whatever he said, and then his inept leadership didn't scale up testing, didn't have any national program to provide protective equipment to our people. So we have seen the bungled leadership out of the White House-- 110,000 Americans passed away, an unemployment rate higher than at any time in my lifetime--but we are not doing anything about that here in this body. Why? Because Leader McConnell doesn't want to do anything about it, for whatever reason. Instead of rising to meet the crisis of the pandemic or unemployment or the protests on our streets, Senator McConnell wants to create a new crisis by confirming more extreme judges that are trying to take away America's healthcare. The challenges we are facing as a country are bad enough. Imagine if Leader McConnell and President Trump get their way--their handpicked judges throw tens of millions of Americans off of their health insurance in the middle of a pandemic. That sounds farfetched? Well, no, it isn't. In the middle of a pandemic, this President continues his lawsuit to try to overturn the Affordable Care Act, even though the voters have ratified it through a number of elections in 2012 and 2014 and 2016 and 2018. It still stands, but the President of the United States is trying to take away people's healthcare. They are trying to sneak ACA repeal through the courts since they couldn't do it in Congress. While the rest of the country is distracted just trying to keep their families safe, judges are deciding the fate of America's health coverage right now. The nomination we are considering this week--right now on the floor-- of Judge Walker is part of that effort. Judge Walker has served in the Western District of Kentucky for just 6 months. What makes him qualified for the DC Circuit? It is not the 6 months he served in Kentucky. In fact, the bar association in Kentucky said he wasn't qualified for that job. He has only had it for 6 months. What makes him qualified? Just go down the hall. I am sure you could have seen many, many times Judge Walker when he was Law Clerk Walker or Young Man Walker or Grandson of Contributor Walker going in and out of Senator McConnell's office. He is a protege of McConnell's. He thinks the way McConnell thinks; he acts the way McConnell acts; and that is what it is all about. Before his nomination to the district court, Walker praised then- Judge Kavanaugh for providing a roadmap the Supreme Court could use to strike down the ACA. So it isn't just that Judge Walker is a young, unqualified, extremist, far-right protege of the majority leader. It is not just that. I mean, talk about the swamp. That is what that is. What it is all about is putting another vote in a key place to overturn the Affordable Care Act. He is calling upholding the ACA indefensible and catastrophic. I don't know how, in the middle of a pandemic, you look at the American landscape, you see how many people have been sick--millions of Americans have been sick--110,000 Americans have died, hundreds more every day, and you think one of the most important things you can do is strip millions of Americans of their healthcare. He has continued his attacks on American healthcare protections since he joined the Federal bench. In March 2020, at his formal swearing-in ceremony as district judge, Judge Walker said the worst words he heard while clerking for Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court were the Chief Justice's rationale for upholding the ACA. The worst words he heard from the man for whom he was working were his words to uphold the ACA, the Affordable Care Act. Now, what I forgot to mention was that when Judge Walker said that at his swearing-in ceremony, there were a couple of important visitors there. Although the Senate should have been in session and finished our work on the first round of the coronavirus, Senator McConnell--his office is down the hall. As we know, Senator McConnell decided to adjourn the Senate and go back to Kentucky for this swearing-in. Judge Kavanaugh, another protege, if you will, of Senator McConnell's was there too. So don't forget, Senator McConnell is on the ballot this year. Senator McConnell faces an opponent who is running neck and neck with him. It is a very Republican State, but Senator McConnell is not a particularly well-liked figure in his State, as we have seen through many years. So Senator McConnell didn't do his job here. It is not just he didn't do his job. He stopped us from doing our jobs so he could fly back, be with Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh, to remind the voters in Kentucky that he is the strong man who got Judge Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court and then to celebrate the swearing-in of just another young judge to a Federal district court. That is where Senator McConnell's priorities are. We know Judge Walker is the latest in a long line of judges pushed by President Trump, rammed through by Leader McConnell, as his minions, shills, obedient junior Senators or sheep--you choose the noun for your colleagues--all vote yes so you could put another member on another Federal court who is trying to take away Americans' healthcare. Chad Readler, from my State, who is now serving on the Sixth Circuit, led the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the entire Affordable Care Act, and David Porter, who holds a Pennsylvania seat on the Third Circuit, wrote that the ACA ``violates the Framers' constitutional design.'' What kind of law training do you have, and what kind of upbringing do you have--what kind of way do you think?--that you would think that providing healthcare to citizens is a violation of the Framers' constitutional design? Who thinks that way? On and on it goes. The American people want to keep their healthcare. They have made that clear. They especially want to keep that healthcare in the middle of, for gosh sakes, a pandemic. Leader McConnell needs to stop trying to take it away through the courts and start letting us actually get to work to make people healthier. Let's get to work to save lives from the coronavirus. Let's get to work to save lives from police violence. Let's get to work to save lives from all of the inequities in our healthcare system. Let's get to work to put money in people's pockets, help them pay the bills and stay in their homes, and help State and local governments from laying off thousands and thousands of workers. Leader McConnell, let us do our job, the job for which we were elected. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my appreciation for a great Ohioan and public servant, Dr. Amy Acton, for her leadership and expertise while serving as the director of the Ohio Department of Health. Born and raised in Youngstown, OH, Dr. Acton knew she wanted to be a doctor from a young age. She attended Northeastern Ohio University School of Medicine, studying pediatrics and preventive medicine. Dr. Acton continued her education, earning a master's degree in public health from the Ohio State University, where she went on to teach as an associate professor. In 2019, Governor Mike DeWine appointed her to lead our State' s health department, the first woman to hold the position in Ohio's history. That job is always critical, public health is one of the most important jobs our government does, and until a few months ago, it was too often underappreciated. But 17 months ago, few could have predicted just how vital Dr. Acton's role would be, as she stepped up to lead Ohio's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 22, 2020, while much of the Nation was still in denial about the quickly evolving pandemic, Dr. Acton led the charge and issued a statewide stay at home order, making Ohio one of the first States to do so. Understanding that the best leaders are open and honest, Dr. Acton participated in the Governor's daily press conferences. She answered questions and helped explain the threat of COVID-19 and the actions her department was taking to keep Ohioans safe through clever analogies, from brewing storms to Swiss cheese. Throughout the spring, under Dr. Acton's leadership, Ohio continued to lead the country in taking bold action to slow COVID-19's spread. Dr. Acton's early intervention, supported by science and data, saved lives and significantly slowed the spread of the virus in Ohio. Dr. Acton put the life and well-being of people over politics. She used empathy and honesty to educate, inform, and comfort Ohioans in uncertain times, exceeding the duties expected of her, to ensure the health and safety of her fellow Ohioans. Thank you, Dr. Acton, for your wisdom, bravery, and compassion throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Your leadership saved countless lives in Ohio. I am sure my Senate colleagues will join me in thanking Dr. Amy Acton for her exemplary efforts.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, a letter from Birmingham jail by Dr. Martin Luther, Jr.: In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber. I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: ``All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth.'' Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect in the sense of ``somebodiness'' that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible ``devil.'' I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the ``do nothingism'' of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as ``rabble rousers'' and ``outside agitators'' those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare. Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides--and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: ``Get rid of your discontent.'' Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled through into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist. But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ``Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.'' Was not Amos an extremist for justice: ``Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.'' Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: ``I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.'' Was not Martin Luther an extremist: ``Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.'' And John Bunyan: ``I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.'' And Abraham Lincoln: ``This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.'' And Thomas Jefferson: ``We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . .'' So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I have been thinking about the last time I was in an airplane. It was mid-March. One of the many great things about my State is I can drive back and forth in the car for 6 hours. The last time I was in an airplane was mid-March. That day in mid- March, South Korea had 90 diagnosed cases of coronavirus. On the other side of the world, in the United States of America, we had 90 cases of coronavirus. Since then, fewer than 300 South Koreans have died. Their unemployment rate is under 4 percent. More than 110,000 Americans have been killed by this virus, and our unemployment rate is the worst since the Great Depression. This isn't because South Korea has smarter scientists or because South Korea has better doctors or because South Korea has harder workers. It is because of leadership. Of course, Mr. President, you know because you ran against him. You know the President is going to deny responsibility. He is going to point fingers. He is going to blame others. It is what he did as a failed businessman. It is what he did as a TV celebrity. It is what he did as a Presidential candidate running against you, and it is what he has done as President. It is his whole life. He has denied responsibility. He pointed fingers. He has blamed others. My colleagues all know that the buck never stops in this Oval Office. But what is disappointing is the whisper-in-the-woods silence and feet-in-concrete inaction on the part of so many of my friends this side of the aisle. We know the President's playbook is to divide, to distract, to play to race, to divide the country and distract from his failed leadership. So far, it has marginally been ``like President, like Senator.'' Yesterday, the President started attacking a private citizen whom he is supposed to serve, spreading conspiracy theories about a 75-year-old man peacefully protesting for change. What was my colleagues' reaction? It was the same whisper-in-the-woods silence, the same feet-in-concrete inaction, the hiding behind a column, behind a desk, hiding behind a post, hiding from the media. When the free press tried to ask them about it, when one journalist even printed out a copy of the President's statement, some of my colleagues physically refused to look at it. You might be able to escape to your office in this building, but you can't ignore the people in cities and towns and neighborhoods in your State--in all of our States--who are demanding change. You can't ignore the people whom we serve. I implore my colleagues to listen to the calls for change. The President may ignore them. When he is not dividing, he is ignoring what citizens want to do, but we can do better in the Senate. We can step in to fill that leadership void. We can answer those calls for change. We can tackle the problems we face as a country. We can start with the proposed solutions my colleagues and I have introduced to help people get through this pandemic. We have a rental assistance bill to help people pay their bills and stay in their home. Can you imagine anything worse than when the unemployment benefit runs out at the end of July? In the State of Texas, there are twice as many. In my State alone, there are more than a million people unemployed. They are not all going to get called back to work by the end of July. If the unemployment benefit stops, as a number of people and Senator McConnell seem to want it to, there will be evictions. There will be a wave of evictions and people losing their apartments. Can you imagine anything more ludicrous in the middle of a pandemic than that people are put on the streets or people are forced to move in with a cousin in an already-crowded second floor apartment? Do you think that is not going to spread this pandemic even worse We have to have a rental assistance bill. We have a plan to put more money in people's pockets so they can stay afloat and keep spending in our communities. We have a plan to actually protect workers on the job so they feel safe going back to work. Yesterday, in committee, the Secretary of Labor told us there have been 5,000 workplace complaints against employers by employees saying their workplace wasn't safe. Do you know how many citations the Department of Labor issued? One. There were 5,000 complaints and 1 citation. The Department of Labor is supposed to represent--surprise-- labor, not corporate interests who have corporate leaders who have no interest in keeping their workplace safe. We have a plan to truly scale up testing in this country so we can begin the real test-trace-isolate plan we need to reopen safely. Leader McConnell, the leader of this body, the Republican leader--elected, I assume, unanimously by his Republican caucus--says he sees no urgency. Those are his words. He sees no urgency on any of this. We also have solutions to begin to finally tackle systemic racism that puts Black and Brown American lives at risk. This week my Democratic colleagues and I joined Senator Booker and Senator Harris to introduce legislation to make real meaningful reforms on how we do policing in this country. Americans of both parties agree we need to rethink the role of the police and how we invest our tax dollars in education, healthcare, and housing, and so much else. I am also introducing a resolution declaring racism a public health emergency. Let's be clear: This pandemic and racism in America are not separate problems. They are intimately connected. A headline in the Atlantic put it well: ``The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying.'' It is disproportionately Black and Brown Americans dying of this virus. It is Black and Brown workers who have been on the job for months, exposing themselves to the virus so grocery stores stay stocked and packages keep getting delivered and hospital linens keep getting changed. It is Black and Brown communities grieving the losses of their friends and neighbors. Here is what I wish more of my colleagues would understand: They are our neighbors too. Breonna Taylor was our neighbor. George Floyd was our neighbor. The 110,000 Americans who have died of this virus were our neighbors. Some of you expressed words of sympathy. Thank you for that. Some of you issued statements saying you want to see reform and you will not tolerate racism. All of you wish the President would stop tweeting. But those words aren't good enough. People are dying. Platitudes and press releases don't get us very far. They are not enough. You need to put actions behind your words. It is time for colleagues to join us to pass real solutions. It is time to stand up to Leader McConnell and say: Let us do our jobs. President Trump is not doing his job; that is for sure. Leader McConnell is not doing his job; that is for sure. It is time for all of us in this body to do our job. It is time to stand up to the President, to use every ounce of leverage we all have to stop the racism, to stop the division, to stop inciting violence. There is a leadership void in this country. I am waiting for my colleagues to join us to fill it. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks, the senior Senator from Oklahoma is recognized.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I note with some interest that one Republican colleague after another comes to the floor--their ``protect the President at all costs'' colleagues, no matter what he does, no matter what he says, no matter how he acts, no matter how incompetent, no matter how divisive--and continues to point their fingers at the Chinese for the coronavirus. God knows, China deserves heaps of blame for the outbreak in the early spread of the coronavirus. There is no question they deserve a lot of blame for the outbreak in the early spread, and they are lying about it. But keep in mind that we are 5 percent of the world's population, and 30 percent of the deaths from the coronavirus have been Americans. This President continues to make excuses and point fingers. And the compliant, always obedient, sheeplike Members of the Republican caucus conference of the Senate continue to stay quiet, continue to do nothing about this President's behavior and the 105,000 deaths from coronavirus in this country.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, today I will vote to oppose the nomination of Mr. Brian Montgomery to serve as Deputy Secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. My vote today is not because I believe Mr. Montgomery is incapable of doing the job. Across multiple administrations, Mr. Montgomery has shown himself to be a dedicated public servant with an impressive understanding of the programs and policies he would oversee if confirmed. During prior administrations, Mr. Montgomery demonstrated his commitment to HUD's mission and helped respond to the early days of the financial crisis. And over the past year, Mr. Montgomery has done important work strengthening HUD's reverse mortgage program. But I will vote against Mr. Montgomery's nomination today because, like too many people in this administration, over the last 2 years he has helped advance policies that will have devastating effects for millions of families. In addition to his role as Federal Housing Commissioner and Assistant Secretary for Housing, Mr. Montgomery began performing the duties of the Deputy Secretary at HUD nearly a year and a half ago. Since that time, he was involved in the decision to advance a revised disparate impact rule that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights wrote that it was very concerned would ``impose substantial new obstacles for victims of discrimination'' and ``undermine the protections of the Fair Housing Act, thereby substantially undermining necessary civil rights protection in an area about which the Commission and its state advisory committees continue to receive compelling evidence of need for meaningful federal corrective action.'' Mr. Montgomery also helped advance HUD's Housing Finance Reform Report, which would increase the cost of an FHA-backed loan for those who can least afford it, restructure FHA in a way that could undermine HUD funding, and restrict consumers' choice between an FHA and Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac-backed loan. But when confronted with questions about these issues that are critical to low- and moderate-income families, Mr. Montgomery offered little explanation. Throughout Mr. Montgomery's time performing the duties of the Deputy Secretary--the No. 2 person at HUD--HUD's budget requests have repeatedly zeroed out critical housing and community development accounts, like the community developmental block grant, HOME investment partnerships, and public housing capital funds, while proposing to raise rents for the lowest income renters. When asked to justify these disastrous proposals, Mr. Montgomery again offered no explanation. Our Nation is facing an affordable housing crisis and a crisis of equity across our housing system. Before COVID-19 hit, there was a nearly 30-point gap between the Black and White home ownership rates, and more than one in four renters paid more than half of their income for housing. With COVID-19's economic devastation disproportionately burdening the lowest income households and communities of color, these challenges will only grow. We need leaders at HUD who will fight for our housing and community development programs and the families who depend on them. We need leaders at HUD who will push for progress and equality in our Nation's housing system, regardless of race, disability, or family status. We need leaders at HUD who will advance proposals that support, not further burden, the lowest income families. Mr. Montgomery has not shown us a record of fighting for those priorities, and that is why I cannot support his nomination today.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments from the Senator from Georgia. There are plenty of negotiations going on. I don't know what he means when he says he doesn't have anybody to negotiate with. I just spent 2 hours with Secretary Mnuchin talking about provisions of this bill. We spent hours on Friday and Saturday talking within our committees. I applaud Senator Rubio, what he and Senator Cardin did. There has been bipartisanship but not from the majority leader, and that has really fundamentally been the problem--the Republican leader. Let's back up. Let's back up 10 days. I stood on this floor--Senator Durbin was here, a bunch of us--when Senator McConnell on a Thursday night, we were this close to agreement with the House on the second package, the one that had sick leave policy. We were that close. Senator McConnell decided he had to go back to Kentucky to go to a political event with a Justice of the Supreme Court--a political event with a Justice of the Supreme Court.

Mr. BROWN. Of course.

Mr. BROWN. That is not the point. The point is that--

Mr. BROWN. Certainly.

Mr. BROWN. I don't know the day, but I know it was a day or two later.

Mr. BROWN. I am not yielding now, Senator Cotton. I know you always want to do Trump's--the President's bidding. I have the floor, and I will keep the floor. The fact is, we were in negotiations with Speaker Pelosi, I assume with Leader McCarthy. In the Senate, we were this close to legislation. Senator McConnell went home. Senator Cotton is not disputing the fact he went home for a political event with a Justice of the Supreme Court, for gosh sakes--went home. We didn't vote Friday. We didn't vote Saturday. We didn't vote Sunday. We didn't vote Monday. We didn't vote Tuesday. We didn't vote until Wednesday. So we have tried to be bipartisan. Senator McConnell then dispatched all of us just a few days ago to do negotiations within our committees. I sat with--

Mr. BROWN. Well, I would like to sort of explain the details, but if the time comes out of your time, I would be glad to.

Mr. BROWN. No. The answer to that question is no. It would have been possible. We can always suspend the rules and move if it is in the national interest. But we didn't vote--you know this, Senator Alexander--we didn't vote until Wednesday. But let me back up. This weekend Senator Crapo and I and Banking Committee Members were making progress on Friday and Saturday. Then Saturday night, Senator McConnell decided that he would take everything back and write a partisan bill. So don't tell us that this has been a bipartisan effort. Again, Senator Rubio and Senator Cardin had some bipartisan efforts. We attempted that, but the fact is, we need to learn from 10 years ago. The same people came to us and said: We need this bailout. They promised that it would help people stay in their homes. They promised it would be money in the pockets of workers. The banks have done well, the executives have done well, but since then, wages have basically remained flat. The American people don't want another corporate bailout. They don't want a bailout for Wall Street. They don't want a bailout for the airlines. They want money--if we are going to do a relief package, the money needs to go in the pockets of workers. We know that hundreds of people, thousands of people in each of our States are faced every day with this situation: Do I go to work? I am sick today. Do I go to work and possibly infect somebody else in the workplace or do I stay home and lose the pay I need in order to pay my mortgage or in order to pay my rent? This plan is all about a corporate bailout. The money--$425 billion that the Secretary of Treasury can decide is a slush fund or where to direct that money instead of money going to workers, to food banks, to unemployment insurance, to sick days policy, to all of the things that we need to do to keep businesses going and people in their homes. We have a prohibition that so far Senator McConnell has objected to on foreclosures and evictions. You all know the statistics--40 percent of Americans don't have $400 discretionary money in their pockets that they can use in an emergency to fix their car or whatever. If they go several weeks without pay, they will be evicted; they will be foreclosed on. We need Senator McConnell to actually agree to that. And when it comes to the $425 billion slush fund, we want to help these businesses, especially small businesses. We want to help the airlines, but we need to make sure that this money passes through to employees. That means no corporate bailouts without investing in the dignity of work; it means if you are taking taxpayer money, no stock buybacks, no sending jobs overseas, no outsourcing your jobs to independent contractors, no golden parachutes for executives, no using taxpayer dollars to bust unions, no wage cuts for these employees, no healthcare or pension cuts. If we put money into these businesses, this money is there not for the executives; it is there for the workers, and it is there for the community. It means actually helping people stay in their homes. If you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work. We have to show the people we serve that we have learned from Congress's mistake 10 years ago when the banks did very well, thank you. And Wall Street again will do very well, thank you, under the McConnell plan. We have to come together to put money in people's pockets. We need to help people stay in their homes. We need to invest in healthcare workers who are on the frontlines. We need to mobilize American manufacturers. The partisan McConnell plan doesn't do this. The bipartisan work we are trying to do could do this. We know we can get through this together, put this partisanship aside, and come together for the people whom we serve I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. I think you just watched what is wrong with this place. Senator Durbin comes here and talks about the importance of doing something. Last Thursday, when Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Mnuchin were close to coming up with a deal about what we have to do to stop this virus--keep in mind, the President of the United States first mentioned this in an answer to a question with all the elites in Davos, Switzerland. He first answered a question saying: Oh, this virus is nothing. It will mean nothing. I think it took him 8 weeks before he declared an emergency. Then, last Thursday, we were supposed to start working on this. We should have. I asked Senator McConnell on this floor--I opened this door, and I pointed down the hall. I said: Senator McConnell should come back here, and let's work on this bill. Whether they were actually finished doing it in the House down the hall or not, we should be working on this. Now we have had 4 more days. Senator McConnell had to go back to Kentucky. I don't know what he went back for. We asked him to stay and finish this, to negotiate and do it to take care of stopping this virus, to take care of all the people in my State in Illinois and Senator Markey's State and Senator Coons' State and Senator Boozman's State, to take care of all these people who are losing their jobs and don't know what to do. Senator McConnell went back to Kentucky and wasted 3 days--make that 4 days since today is another day we are wasting. Again, I don't know why he went back. It is 3 more days of people being worried. It is 3 more days of people self-quarantining. It is 3 more days of businesses in Columbus and Dayton shutting down. It is the anguish you feel if you think one of your loved ones is sick. All of this--empty airplanes and all the things that are happening--and we are wasting another day. I always appreciate the Senator from Idaho bringing up a parliamentary technical question, but why aren't we doing this? Why aren't we listening to what Senator Durbin said? It has been 3 days since the House passed the comprehensive package. It is 3 days and counting for people worried about how they are going to take time off from work if they get sick. Think about this. The Presiding Officer knows all kinds of service workers in Arkansas; Senator Durbin knows them in Illinois; Senator Markey, in Massachusetts. I know all kinds of workers who are feeling sick. They are making $12 an hour. They don't have any sick days. They think: Do I go to work and maybe I will get sick and maybe infect my neighbor? Or do I stay home and give up that $12 an hour--that $100 I need to make my rent--and then, tomorrow, face the same question and the day after? That is what we are forcing on people. Instead, we are just playing games. We wasted 3 days, and now we are wasting another day. When a situation changes this quickly, people are scared at home. People are looking for leadership. Leader McConnell and President Trump have failed the people they serve. We need to get help to people today. Let's immediately get to work on the next round of support. Let me tell you what that next round of support is. We should pass the bill today to help people with unemployment insurance, to help people with sick days, to help people with Medicaid. We should do all that. It means putting our workers first. We shouldn't be bailing out Wall Street. That will be next. You can bet Senator McConnell will hurry when the airlines come for their bailout package and hurry when the banks come for their bailout package and hurry when the big hotel chains come for their bailout package. We have to put money in the pockets of individuals first. The IRS needs to send an initial check of at least $2,000 directly to every single working-class, low-income, and middle-class family who can use it so they won't get evicted or won't get foreclosed on. We don't need a corporate middleman to do that. We need to make sure every worker who needs unemployment insurance can get it. I have spoken to my Governor, who has done a good job on this. He served here with Senator Durbin. He is Mike DeWine, a Republican. I talked to him three times this week. He will help us speed up the unemployment checks so that they get to workers. We need to make sure that all workers are eligible for unemployment insurance, including independent contractors and people who are self-employed. Second, we need a temporary expansion of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit for the next several years. Third, we need to hold any company accountable that is getting taxpayer dollars. If we are going to help the airlines--and I think we should--it means the airlines can do no stock buybacks. It means no sending of jobs overseas. It means no outsourcing of jobs to independent and usually low-paid contract workers--food service, custodial, security workers. It means no golden parachutes for executives. It means no using of taxpayer dollars, with which we are bailing them out, to bust unions that are trying to organize in the workplaces. If they want taxpayer money, you commit to using it to help people who make this country work. Fourth, we need to prevent evictions and foreclosures and provide emergency rental and mortgage assistance to make up for lost wages. Millions of Americans are one lost paycheck away from eviction or foreclosure. You all know the number. Forty percent of Americans don't have $400 extra to fix their cars. Also, if they lose their paychecks, they can't pay their rent. We need to look at canceling some amount of student loan debt. Through no fault of their own, we know millions of Americans aren't going to be able to make student loan payments. Canceling debt will allow people to get back on their feet. Since January 22, President Trump has had chance, after chance, after chance to get ahead of this public health crisis. In fact, 2 years ago, I sent him a letter, writing: Why did you fire Admiral Ziemer? Why did you eliminate the office of 40 people in the White House that was in charge of surveilling the world to look for potential pandemics? Why did you fire them? Please reinstate them. He ignored the letter. He hasn't explained why he eliminated that office. He would have known way before January about this potential pandemic, and if it had still existed, he might have done something about it at the urging of that office. The President has failed in this. Congress can't make the same mistakes. We need to get ahead of the crisis facing family budgets before it is too late.

Mr. BROWN. I yield to the Senator from Illinois.

Mr. BROWN. I thank the Senator from Illinois. Yes. Sure, we have. If we want to get something done, we get something done. We find a way, through unanimous consent, for all of us to agree. Who can say that this is anything but a national crisis? Are we going to make our unwillingness to do anything contingent on some parliamentary trick? No. We are paid to do this job. Just because Senator McConnell has taken 4 days and not done it doesn't mean that we shouldn't. We should work.

Mr. BROWN. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, President Trump had chance, after chance, after chance to get ahead of this coronavirus pandemic in the United States. He failed. Congress can't make the same mistakes. Senators should not leave town. I just saw Senator McConnell on the floor. It is his decision. One Senator from one State can make this decision to walk away--to fail to take care of the $12-an-hour worker who is sick, who has to choose between going to work--perhaps getting sicker or perhaps infecting others--or staying home and giving up her $12-an-hour, $96-a-day job when she struggles with her rent. We have put her in that position. Senator McConnell, who was standing right there--his office is just down the hall--could make that unilateral decision as to whether we stay and actually do the right thing. The Senate has no business leaving. We shouldn't leave town until we pass the House package to help workers and to support our communities. President Trump needs to sign it. We need to do our jobs. We need to take care of workers who are going to need help paying their mortgage, paying their rent, and taking care of their children if schools close or they get sick. It is really, really simple. It is why we need to pass paid sick days now and to shore up unemployment insurance funds immediately. We know that hundreds of thousands--who knows?--millions of people are going to get laid off in the airlines, in restaurants, in hotels, in communities where they depend on these businesses to pay property tax. We know there are going to be lots of layoffs. I am not an alarmist. I am not panicky. I think we are going to deal with this right. But we need the majority leader, Senator McConnell, who sits right here and runs the Senate, who makes the decisions on whether we work or don't work, whether he sends us home or keeps us here working--Senator McConnell needs to make the decision to keep us here, and as soon as the House passes this bill, the Senate takes it up. Paid sick days are one of the most important things we can do to stop the spread of this virus. We already know that our economy is going to get hurt. We know the President of the United States judges the economy by the stock market. He is the first President I have ever seen do that, but that is beside the point. We also know that the stock market is up and down and mostly down, and investors are uneasy at best. They want more predictability, and they are not getting it. But we know the most important thing is to deal with the spread of the coronavirus. If we can't contain that, if we can't do anything about that, if we can't stop the spread of this virus, the other stuff just doesn't matter as much. You start with the spread of this virus. The best way to stop the spread of the virus is to say to people if they are sick: You can stay home, and you can get sick pay. Every other rich country in the world provides sick pay for people who can't go to work because they are sick. It is as simple as that. If we don't pass the sick day policy, if we leave town right now, even if we come back next week, which we are not scheduled to--again, Senator McConnell's decision--even if we are only gone a week, that is 5 more workdays of sick people going to work when they shouldn't, getting sicker, infecting others with coronavirus or the flu or anything else, or staying home and giving up their pay, which they need to meet their rent payment. The House package takes care of this. Senators shouldn't be leaving this building until we get this help to the people we serve. People in Ohio and people in Indiana, in the Presiding Officer's State, are scared. They are angry, and I am angry. Many of us have been sounding the alarm for years, warning President Trump and Leader McConnell, who always does President Trump's bidding, as if he doesn't even represent a State--he represents the President in this body--that the President has made us less prepared to handle a crisis like this one. President Trump tried to gut the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health. Think about this: The United States of America, as recently as 10 or 15 years ago, had the best public health infrastructure, the best public health safety net in the history of the world. We have the Centers for Disease Control. We have the National Institutes of Health. In Cincinnati, we have the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health--the only one of its kind in the world--and we have our county public health departments in each of Ohio's 88 counties and all over the country. We had the best in the world until President Trump began to try to gut the CDC and the NIH. He refused to fill key public health positions. Most importantly--this is just unbelievable when you think about it, and I know Senator Young, the Presiding Officer, had concerns about that--he got rid of the White House's entire global health security team 2 years ago. Let me repeat that. For 2 years, President Trump left us without the team that is supposed to manage pandemics. Do you know what that means? It means that there were about 40 people at the White House, led by an admiral who was an M.D.--an admiral who was also a doctor. His job was to survey the world and look around for potential illness outbreaks, to look around for potential pandemics. It might have been SARS. It might have been Ebola. It might have been a resurgence of polio. It might have been any number of things. His job at the White House--we are a rich enough country. We can do this, and we do it to protect--we care about the world. We protect our own people, although, as we see, if we don't, we see what happens. His job was to continue to look around the world and look out for these kinds of pandemics. The President fired him. The President fired the whole office. The President has never replaced them. I sent him a letter at the time, more than 600 days ago--back in May of 2018--telling him to stop dismantling our healthcare infrastructure. Now we are all paying the price for President Trump's decision. We see the real-time consequences. This was unilateral disarmament. We unilaterally disarmed against the world's infectious diseases. We know that international tuberculosis is a problem. We know that international HIV/AIDS is a problem. We know that international malaria is a problem. We work against those. Do you know what? One of the things I am proudest about in our country is what we have done about public health. We led the charge to eradicate small pox. Small pox killed hundreds of millions of people over time in this world--hundreds of millions. We led the charge to eradicate small pox--this country did. Then we led the charge to eradicate polio all over the world. I am old enough to remember children--not children anymore--children I went to grade school with who had had polio. They were recovered, but they still limped. They still had signs of polio--not crippling signs but signs of polio. We did that. We took on tobacco in this body--Senator Durbin, Senator Blumenthal, Senator Merkley, and I and others. People smoke at half the rate today than they did 50 years ago. It is starting to go back up because of e- cigarettes, but we have had huge public health victories in this country. Do you know what? We have a President of the United States now and we have a Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, who--well, he certainly tried to help tobacco, but I won't even talk about that. We have a President and we have a Senate majority leader who simply did all they could to dismantle the Centers for Disease Control and NIH. They left us unprepared when the President fired the global security team at the White House that looked out for illnesses. Now we have a global pandemic on our hands. President Trump needs to stop pretending he can lock out a disease by putting up walls at the border--that he has already allowed to spread-- and he needs to start making up for all the lost time he has wasted, and so does Senator McConnell. We need to make sure we don't end up with a financial crisis on top of the public health crisis. For some of us, this feels like deja vu. We have been in moments like this before. We have seen the market drop. We worried about the financial system. We bailed out the banks, but we didn't do anything for the workers. That is what this body always does. I am certain Senator McConnell will get around to--and President Trump--helping corporations that have been hurt. There have been corporations that have been damaged badly--hotel chains, transportation companies, particularly airlines. They have been hurt badly by this. That part is going to get worse. I am sure they will open the public checkbook to make sure there are billions of dollars for these industries, but we shouldn't do it until we take care of the workers. If we are going to give X number of dollars to the airlines, as we probably should, most of that money better end up in the pockets of the flight attendants, the pilots, the ticket agents, the mechanics, the baggage handlers, and all of the people who work for the airlines whom this body forgets about. Yeah, they serve us when we fly, and we don't even know their names. We probably know the CEOs' names, and we always help them, but we ought to be helping the workers. Right now, we have a chance to stop this from spiraling out of control. We don't have another 2008 on our hands yet, but we have to act now. We don't go home for a week or two or three because Senator McConnell has some whatever it is that would send us home. We need to act now. We need to make sure that we focus our efforts on preventing this virus from spreading and that we don't have one crisis--the healthcare crisis--stacked on top of an economic crisis, making the healthcare crisis worse. We know that job is harder because of all the ways President Trump and Leader McConnell have undone the many protections we put in place after the last crisis. They backed away from Wall Street reform safeguards. The President had a chance to get ahead of this virus and other public health threats, and he failed. He had a chance to get ahead of financial risks, and he failed. Luckily, Senator McConnell and the President haven't succeeded in getting rid of all of our Wall Street reform protections. They haven't succeeded in repealing the Affordable Care Act. Because of that, because of the work we did a decade ago with President Obama, we are in a better position now than we were in 2009. But we have to come together. We have to rise to this challenge. Corporate America needs to, too. One way we can do that is to suspend these stock buybacks. Congress gave a huge tax cut to the wealthy in this country 2 years ago. Seventy percent of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1 percent. I sat in the White House with the President and about 10 Senators. The President said: You know, everybody's pay is going to go up $4,000, some as much as $9,000. Those were the bookend numbers he used. He said that if we do this tax cut, it is going to trickle down and workers are going to get these raises. Well, it didn't exactly happen that way. But do you know what did happen? After they got this tax cut, the executives started to do stock buybacks, taking money that should have been invested in workers, taking money that should have been invested in technology and upgrading their companies, but it went to executives--not exactly a shock to most of us. That is what happened. Banks need to invest in their communities, not invest in their CEOs' stock portfolio. Right now, JPMorgan is in the middle of an ongoing $30 billion in stock buybacks. Wells Fargo is in the midst of a $23 billion stock buyback, as if their executives, in all of their criminality and bad decisions, have earned it. That money would be better spent investing in small business, in medical research, and in relief for people who need help. The reason big banks are supposed to have that money is so that they keep lending and keep communities afloat when we have crises like this. It is time for all of us to come together in the Senate, in the White House, in the communities across the country, and, yes, on Wall Street. That means we don't leave this building until we have done everything we need to do to get this epidemic under control, to get our communities the testing capacity and tools they need to manage this crisis, and to support the workers who are going to get hurt. Leader McConnell's responsibility--I don't care how he votes in the end--is to make the decision to put the House bill on the floor so we can vote on it, and President Trump, the day he gets it, needs to sign it. Let's get help to the people we serve--not next week, not 2 weeks from now, not tomorrow; let's do it today. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, Senator Alexander is here. Senator Murray will be joining us in a moment. They are the chair and ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which has jurisdiction over this very important issue of sick leave with sick pay. Many companies do that in this country. We are the only wealthy country in the world that doesn't have a real policy. As Senator Alexander says, we do this for Federal employees. It should be for more than those of us who are Federal employees. Today, we need to get help to the people who need it now: parents whose children's schools are closed; people who aren't getting paid; people who have trouble making rent or making their mortgage payments or their student loan payments. Paid sick days are one of the most important ways we do that. That is why we need to pass this bill today. Think about restaurant workers preparing our food. Think about what you do if your child's school closes down for a week. For so many people, taking a sick day means going without pay and potentially losing their jobs. Put yourself in their position. It is hard for us to do--we are lucky enough and privileged enough to have these jobs--and for most of our staff also. But think about a worker making $12 an hour. That worker has symptoms. She is the only working person in her family. She might think her illness is the coronavirus; nonetheless, her illness is debilitating enough that it is hard for her to go to work. She is making $12 an hour. She stays home and loses $100 that day. She has a $700-a-month rent payment or possibly lower than that if she is making $12 an hour. She has to make a decision: Do I go to work and potentially infect others but get my pay and maybe make myself sicker, or do I stay home to get well and give up that $100? Then you think about some of those other workers. Someone might be a restaurant worker preparing our food. What do you do if your child's school closes down for a week, as schools--already Ohio State, Kent State, Case Western, and Baldwin Wallace have shut their doors. They have not really shut their doors; they are doing learning by distance, tele-learning. It means a number of people at those schools are in a very different situation with their employment. Taking a sick day means going without pay. Taking a sick day may mean losing your job. It hurts everyone. If you are lucky enough to have paid time off--everybody is at risk when more people are out and about when they are sick. Our office gets calls from workers all the time. Senator Alexander has Tennesseans calling him. Senator Murray has Washingtonians calling her, asking: What do I do if I come down with something? I have to choose between going to work while I am sick or losing a paycheck or losing my job. Because of our policy, we have put people in that situation or they are in that situation, and we have an obligation now to do something about it. It is unacceptable that millions of Americans are faced with that impossible choice. That choice gets worse. I don't know how many people are faced with that choice today. We know it is millions. Tomorrow, it will be 1.2 times that, and the next day, it may be half again. We know this is getting worse before it gets better. I am not an alarmist. I think we have some of the best health officials in the world. We have public health professionals who I think--the Governor of Ohio, a Republican, Mike DeWine, and I have talked a couple of times extensively. People in Ohio are doing this right. We don't always get the leadership out of the White House we would like when we see the President saying something that is almost the opposite of our public health professionals. I tend to listen to the public health professionals. I know Senator Alexander does too. I would be hopeful that the President does. We know this impossible choice is getting more and more serious. Some corporations do the right thing, but many are not doing the right thing. Some are promising they are going to do the right thing, but promises are not enough. We need to pass this bill now. Our legislation would require all employers to allow workers to accrue 7 days of paid sick leave, and the bill would also provide an additional 14 days that would be available immediately in the event of any public health emergency like we have right now. This is a public health emergency. We need to do emergency kind of legislation. This is an unusual, extraordinary problem. We have to do something extraordinary here. Passing this bill allowing workers to accrue 7 days of paid sick leave and providing an additional 14 days available immediately in the event of any public health emergency is what we need to do. Congress can't wait. People are choosing between going to work sick and missing a paycheck. They are making that choice every day. People in Memphis and Cleveland and people in Omaha and Dayton are making that choice every day--do I go to work sick, or do I stay home and miss that $120 I was going to earn this week? We need to do this today. We need this bill to prevent the spread of coronavirus and stop this crisis from getting worse. It is about the dignity of work. It is about public safety. I will wait for Senator Murray to make the UC request. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, as I watch up close and from afar Senator Alexander's and Senator Murray's so often working together on issues like this, I absolutely believe Senator Alexander when he says it is a good idea. Yet, as Senator Murray just said, there are all kinds of costs being imposed on businesses as a result of people who go to work sick. It is also more expensive for public hospitals and more expensive as more people get sick and what that means to Medicaid. These costs are impossible to quantify today with our not having a sick leave policy. A year from now, we will be able to look back on what the costs really were, and they will have been overwhelming. A solid, coherent sick leave policy--something modest like Senator Murray is calling for--could really make a difference.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.