Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, the last time I stood in this Chamber was the first day that my district reported a COVID-19 fatality. At that time, on March 27, my district had just 27 confirmed cases. As of today, the 12th District has 50 deaths and 862 confirmed cases.

COVID-19 has rattled our communities across this country, and our top priority should be and should always be keeping people safe.

But the virus has also forced our economy to a grinding halt. Our small businesses are desperate for a lifeline. And for many, that lifeline is the PPP.

In Illinois, almost 70,000 loans were approved before funding ran out. But funding should have never been allowed to run out. We should have done our job. We should have come back, and politics should not have been played.

The COVID-19 virus is not Republican; it is not Democrat. This hurting economy is not Republican; it is not Democrat. But yet we held it up, and we will never know how many small businesses failed because politics was played rather than getting our job done.

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