Providing Emergency Assistance and Health Care Response for Individuals, Families, and Businesses Affected By the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you, Mr. President. I am glad now that the Republican leader and his caucus now have a plan, and we look forward to working with them to come up with a bipartisan product as soon as we can, as this crisis grows worse every day.

We believe we need a bold plan, a strong plan. Our plan must put workers--the millions of workers who are adversely affected by this crisis--first. It includes service and industry workers, gig workers, freelancers, bartenders, retail workers, airline attendants, and so many others.

Our plan is entitled ``Workers First''--first and foremost. We owe so much gratitude to the hard-working people of America, and many of them are in trouble now through no fault of their own. This virus has affected some of them, has required others to be quarantined, and has caused businesses to lay off millions. We must protect them, first and foremost.

So our plan has five basic pillars. Pillar 1 is to bolster the healthcare system dramatically. If we don't beat the fight against this virus, if we don't do it as quickly as possible, the economy will get worse and worse, no matter what we do. So we must work extremely quickly and massively to bolster our healthcare system. We need a Marshall Plan for our healthcare system, and that is what we propose.

We need direct aid to hospitals. The larger hospitals in many cities already have patients--many patients--in their beds. The smaller and rural hospitals could well be in danger of closing because of this crisis. We must bolster the hospitals. They need equipment. They need ventilators. They need more ICU beds. They need masks. A simple thing like a nose swab--a hospital told me that they can't do testing because they don't have the nasal swabs. And we need the President to marshal the Defense Production Act to get all of these materials produced on a wartime footing--quickly, dramatically, and in large numbers.

The first plank of our plan dramatically bolsters our healthcare system, which is being overwhelmed through no fault of the hard-working people there in this crisis, and it entails so much. Healthcare workers have to be able to get to the hospitals, to the nursing homes, to the other areas. In many places, they can't if there isn't the kind of public transit available or it is not working.

The second part of our plan deals directly with those who have lost income through no fault of their own. It is a dramatic bolstering of unemployment insurance. We call it ``unemployment insurance on steroids,'' or you might even call it ``employment insurance.''

If a worker loses his or her job through no fault of their own right now, unemployment insurance doesn't cover a whole lot of people. When it does, it doesn't pay them much in terms of salary, in terms of the percentage of income, and it is often hard to get and takes a long time. Our ``unemployment on steroids''--our employment insurance-- provides a full amount of the wages that workers are not being paid, not 20 percent or 50 percent. People desperately need it. They desperately need it.

It is quick and easy to apply for, without all of these hurdles that are now put in the way, and it applies to many more workers than in the past. We have talked to business owners--large, medium, and small. For many of them this is the No. 1 thing they need. While they can't keep their workers on the payroll because no money is coming in, these workers will still be there. They will be furloughed. They will be getting a full salary, and when the businesses come back, they will be back.

The third part of our plan is for paid leave. We must have paid family leave. We must have paid sick leave. COVID 2 did some of that, but too many people are not covered and too many people are not covered in a strong, longer term way. Senators Murray and Gillibrand, working with the House, have put together a very strong package. We must have it in this proposal.

Fourth, I believe--no one has seen the proposal. I haven't seen it, and I don't think anyone has seen the proposal that the leader put on. It had virtually no input from Democrats, but we will look at it and read it tonight. From what I am told, it provides a bailout for a number of industries. Again, we have to put the workers first. We don't want these industries to go under, but we certainly don't want the dollars that are put there to go to corporate executives or shareholders. Again, they must go to the workers first. If they are getting a bailout, they should not cut the numbers of workers, the salaries of workers, the benefits of workers, or the pensions of workers.

None of this money should be used for corporate buybacks. I am outraged that the airline industry in the last 5 years spent about $40 billion on buybacks. They are now saying they don't have enough money. Had they not sent the money to the shareholders and had it there or used it to bolster their workforces, that might not have happened. Nor should the money go to corporate salaries or corporate gain.

Part four of our plan says no bailout that goes to the people at the top. The money should go to the workers. After all, that is who we want to protect. Every one of us knows the workers in these industries. They are hard-working, decent, honorable people.

Fifth is help for small business. Small business has suffered--the little restaurant, maybe it is the small manufacturing business, or maybe it is a little service business. They need help. Their employees, should they have to furlough them, will be taken care of by our employment insurance, but they still have other costs. We have called for forbearance in mortgages. That is a big cost that they will continue to maintain if they rent space. But they will need help with other costs, and we provide them money for those costs, with the view that the money--those loans--could be forgiven if they rehire all of their workers once they are back on their feet.

So there are five points, and I know that the Speaker of the House agrees with these points, the House Democrats agree with these points, and, unfortunately, the leader didn't want them included in negotiations, which could only prolong the length of time before we act. But so be it.

No. 1, a Marshall Plan for our healthcare system and our hospitals. No. 2, employment insurance--you lose your job, you get your pay. No. 3, paid leave--paid family leave, paid sick leave. No. 4, any bailouts must be workers first. And, No. 5, help for small businesses.

We need to act quickly. We need to act in a bipartisan way. I hope the discussions between the various members of the committees will proceed quickly and in a spirit of compromise, and I hope we can come to quick agreement with the House, whose majority's views are much closer to ours than this document, which I haven't read, but I have heard things about. I haven't seen it.

This is a crisis like none we have seen. We don't know how long it will last. We don't know how many people will be affected. We do know it is getting worse every day, and we know also that, while Americans usually come together after a crisis--we all certainly do, as we did after 9/11--we now must be isolated. But we will prevail. We will prevail. We will work together. Hopefully, each side will give. We will come up with a good plan.

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