Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I have just returned from being in Tennessee this weekend and lots of phone calls, seeing a lot of people out and about. I will tell you, this COVID-19 has changed a lot about how we go about our daily lives, but it has not changed the way Congress works out its differences. We are still arguing about spending and debt. We are still debating the importance of federalism and how the Constitution can help us determine what we can and should do on a Federal level to help our communities back at home.

Now, in Tennessee, our cities all across the State, from one corner to another, are getting back to that daily routine. Many of those businesses were able to improvise their way through the early weeks of lockdown, and now they are finding what they are calling their new normal, their new processes.

Some of them received emergency loans from the SBA. Others became one of the more than 80,000 small businesses and self-employed workers who were able to take advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program.

But no matter how hard they work or how smart their plans are, we know that, in the end, we are going to lose a lot of our favorite neighborhood stops. It is tough. It is really tough out there. Some of those businesses are already gone. And that is going to happen in spite of the unprecedented investment that the Federal Government, working with our State and local governments, has made into our business and our healthcare sectors, making certain people are able to stay afloat and bridging from that rescue to a business restart and bridging on to recovery.

Well, as we saw this week, the more Washington spends, the more Washington's focus drifts away from emergency measures and that rescue, and it doesn't go to a restart or a recovery. What does it do? It goes to, How can we use this crisis to grow government? How can we use this crisis to take away a little bit more of your freedom?

Last week, House Democrats passed a $3 trillion spending package that they used as a vehicle for a lot of their pet projects. We have all heard about it: pension bailouts, unsustainable environmental mandates, fundamental changes to tax policy, all of these line items that have no business being slapped on the coattails of a bill that was sold as being a safety net for panicked Americans.

You will be relieved to know that that bill will never see the light of day here in the Senate. But, you know, it might not be a bad idea just to put it on the floor and see if our friends across the aisle want to vote for it--$3 trillion, $3 trillion.

It is disrespectful to people who are hurting. It is disrespectful to small businesses that they have become a bargaining chip for the Democratic, left-leaning socialist wish list. That is what they think of you. When you walk down Main Street and you see shuttered businesses, I want you to remember that. That is what they think of you: They can use you to get what they want.

In fact, I will say this. We have been pretty busy focusing on bipartisan efforts that will help in the short term and will help with a postpandemic future, something that will really bring relief and clarity to the American people--not things like a liberal wish list. Securing America's Medicine Cabinet Act

Mr. President, here is one I have heard a lot about, especially this weekend, for all the moms and dads out there who are wondering about how safe their child's image and their child's data are in the virtual classroom. Well, this is something that I had lots of questions about also. How do you protect your virtual you?

Last week, I led a bipartisan group of my colleagues and asked the FTC to do a deep dive into how the tech industry collects and stores your child's data and to use that information to make children's online privacy protections stronger.

Let's make certain you can protect them in the virtual space the same as you can in the physical space. My bipartisan SAM-C bill, which Senator Menendez and I have introduced, would offer incentives to American pharmaceutical companies to bring those operations back home.

Let's make that in America. This would create thousands of jobs, and it would help secure our pharmaceutical supply chain.

We are focusing on these things because recovery is going to require more than a blank check. If we want to be successful, we have to learn to recognize the practical damage this disease has inflicted on our economy and then do something to address the many root causes of it.

Every day, we witness local, State, and Federal Government officials struggling to balance the provision of community health with the needs of a struggling economy. Often, regulatory constraints prevent them from implementing the more agile policies so desperately needed by local businesses and service providers.

Last week, I and a number of my colleagues asked Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer to include statutory changes in the next round of relief legislation that would reduce the redtape, the paperwork, and the other requirements that could and will inevitably get in the way of economic recovery.

If we take a hard look at these regulations and strip away those that serve no real purpose, we will save businesses an estimated--get this-- $1.9 trillion, promote competition, and encourage investment. That is $1.9 trillion. That is what the regulatory state costs American businesses.

To survive the pandemic, each and every one of us is going to have to reexamine our approach. We need to ask ourselves: What is the purpose of all the regulations? Do they help? Do they hurt? If we didn't need it in COVID-19, why do we need it now? What is the actual cost to businesses, to communities, to local governments of these regulations? As companies go through the restart, is this something that is going to speed the process or is it something that is going to slow the process, or is it something that is going to be so cost-prohibitive that that small business manufacturing company will just throw their hands up and say: ``I give up. I give up''? That is not what we want. That is not recovery. That is not optimism. That would be defeat. I encourage us all to join in this effort to create an environment that will support a full economic recovery.

I yield floor. Cloture Motion

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