Coronavirus

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Of course, there is another crisis in the country crying out for action and leadership.

The COVID-19 pandemic didn't go away while the Nation rightfully turned its eyes to issues of racial justice.

Yesterday, the United States eclipsed 2 million cases of coronavirus. Another 1.5 million Americans filed for unemployment this week. Federal Reserve officials--sober, nonpolitical--are predicting that, best case, we will end the year around 10 percent unemployment--a staggering figure. One out of every 10.

The disease is spiking in a number of States around the country. Arizona officials have warned that its hospitals could be filled by next month. Texas has gone 3 straight days with record numbers of hospitalizations. North Carolina, New Mexico, California, Oregon, and several other States are experiencing a resurgence or peak levels of COVID-19.

As the President continues to fixate on the stock market and Senate Republicans are prematurely ready to declare victory, we need to wrest the focus back to these crucial issues. So today I am requesting that Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx and other members of the administration's Coronavirus Task Force conduct a briefing for Democratic Senators on the recent spikes and do it next week. We need to understand why these spikes are happening and how to adapt our national response.

The President--always interested in himself, not in the good of the country--was too quick to sideline the Coronavirus Task Force, too eager to pretend that everything was back to normal and better than ever. The country needs Dr. Fauci on billboards, but the President wants to put him on a milk carton.

The Vice President yesterday was photographed with campaign staffers in a tight space, no social distancing, without anyone wearing a mask. The very least the administration could do is lead by example and often cannot even manage that much.

At the same time, we cannot forget that the issues of racial justice and COVID-19 are intricately related. The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately kills Black Americans. Communities of color have less access to quality healthcare, greater food insecurity, greater percentages of poverty, and a disproportionate number of our frontline essential workers--41.2 percent--are African American and Latino. The majority of African Americans are renters and dedicate more than 50 percent of their income to rent.

The truth is, an emergency bill on COVID-19 is a racial justice issue too. Hazard pay for essential workers is a racial justice issue too. Healthcare is a racial justice issue too. Rent assistance and forbearance from eviction is a racial justice issue too. These are all items that must be discussed in another COVID relief bill, and it is past time to get to work.

African Americans, Latinos, and other minorities are taking the economic hit from the coronavirus on the chin, but Senate Republicans, led by Leader McConnell, are reportedly unwilling to consider another emergency relief bill until late July. How many more workers will lose their jobs between now and late July? How many renters will be kicked out of their homes between now and late July? How many State and local government workers will lose their jobs, as State and local governments meet their budget deadlines on July 1 and don't have the dollars to deal with them? How many of them will lose their jobs? Waiting until late July is callous, it is cold, and it is wrong for our economy.

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