Coronavirus

Floor Speech

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Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, we just finished here, on the Senate floor, some very, very important work for the people we represent and have the privilege to serve. It is what we are calling phase 3 of our very important response to this unprecedented pandemic that is hitting our country, the health of our country, and the economic health of our Nation.

So we acted. A number of us worked, over the past week, around the clock to put this legislation together, and I think it was a strong showing of bipartisan support.

I was on the floor a couple of days ago saying that what we needed to do were four key things: Put cash directly in the hands of hurting families in Alaska and throughout the country; deliver rapid relief to small businesses that are being crushed by this pandemic and having to lay off workers; stabilize key sectors of the economy to avoid more layoffs that are now quickly coming over the horizon and have started happening; and send a surge of new resources to medical professionals who are on the frontlines. We did that. We did that relatively quickly. It could have been faster, but those were our goals, and that is what we achieved here.

But here is a fact. This was legislation that was very important. It wasn't perfect, and there is probably a lot of mistakes here. We are going to need to correct them quickly. There are probably Americans who weren't covered in some way, shape, or form by this legislation, who need help, and we are going to need to cover them quickly. There are likely new challenges in this pandemic that seems to be changing every day--new challenges with regard to this crisis that we are going to need to address.

The final thing is, when we look at what we just did here, this was focused on the immediate crisis--business interruptions and the health crisis, but what we need to be looking at is when we get through this crisis-- and we will, more resilient and stronger than ever.

As I mentioned in my remarks the other day, some Washington Post reporters a couple of days ago questioned the mettle and resiliency of Americans. Maybe we are not as tough and strong as we used to be to get through these crises. They just need to go to Alaska and recognize how wrong they are in that or see some of the marines that I had the privilege of serving with for the last 26 years. They would recognize quickly that they are wrong. Of course, we have the mettle and tenacity to do this.

We need to be working on phase 4. Phase 4 is going to be the policies that we implement here in the Congress to turbocharge this economy, so when we are out of this crisis, we can come back fully, more strongly in a way that our economy was just 2 months ago.

There is a lot of work that I think we could be doing, and that we are likely going to have to be doing. A number of us are going to begin working on that phase 4 approach to this pandemic to turbocharge this economy once we get out of it. I am glad to start working on that with my colleagues here in the Senate.

So, as I said, there is a lot of work to do, but the Senate is getting ready for a recess for almost a month. That is what we are getting ready to do. The country is facing one of the biggest crises in our history, and the Senate is leaving town for a month. I happen to think this is a mistake. I think it sends the wrong signal to the people we serve. I think our duty station should be here, to be ready on a moment's notice to help the citizens that we have the privilege of serving, because if there is one thing about this crisis that we have already seen is that new challenges pop up every day, every minute, every hour, and, yet, we are going to go on recess for almost a month.

I don't understand this. I don't agree with it, and I certainly hope if and when our country needs us, if we see some big mistakes in this legislation, if we recognize whole groups of Americans don't get the relief they need and the Congress needs to act, that we are not going to just say: Well, we are on recess for 30 days. Sorry. We will get to you when we come back at the end of April.

I think that would be a real mistake because, as we are seeing in this crisis, there are a lot of answers that just can't wait until the end of April. There are a lot of challenges that we need to be addressing daily, and there are going to be more, and, yet, we will not be here to address them.

So, at a minimum, I hope that when our country needs us in the next month--and it is likely going to need us--that my colleagues will be ready, on a moment's notice, wherever they are, to come back to this body and get to work to help the people we serve. I think it is very likely that that is going to happen in the next week or two or three, and I hope my colleagues stand ready to do that and not use the excuse that we will see at the end of April to address your problems, America. That is not what we need to be doing in the midst of this very, very serious unprecedented crisis where our citizens need our help.

We had a good start tonight--a very good start--but there is going to be a lot more, and I hope this body is ready to act quickly.

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