Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act--Motion to Proceed
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to devastate our public health and our economy, it is far past time that we reach agreement on another relief package that is so desperately needed. It will require good-faith negotiations on both sides of the aisle, not just saying no and turning the tragedy of 200,000 COVID deaths into a partisan political issue.
For my part, I believe there should be nine elements in the bill. First, there should be an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, known as PPP. This is a program that I crafted with Senators Marco Rubio, Jeanne Shaheen, and Ben Cardin to provide forgivable loans to our small businesses so that they could pay their employees.
I am pleased to report that, in my State, 28,000 small businesses-- that is nearly three out of four of our small businesses--have taken advantage of $2.3 billion in forgivable loans, sustaining 250,000 jobs. It has truly made a difference. Now we need to do a second round of PPP for the hardest hit businesses, those for whom the first PPP loan was the lifeline but they need additional help.
So we have set a revenue test such that, if your revenue is 35 percent below what it was in an equivalent quarter last year, you would qualify for another PPP loan. In addition, those who have never received a first PPP loan could apply under the initial rules. This would make a difference in keeping our small businesses afloat, particularly those in the tourism industry that have been so hard hit, and ensuring that their employees will still have jobs.
Second, we need to provide aid to our schools. I have talked to superintendents all over the State of Maine, and I have visited schools in Hollis and Houlton. I have seen firsthand the enormous investments they have had to make in order to reopen the schools safely or adapt to a hybrid model, depending on where the location is and the incidence of COVID-19.
In one school that I visited, they have replaced all of the round tables around which the elementary schoolchildren would usually be working with desks lined up. It reminds me of when I went to elementary school because that was the style of teaching back then.
They are sanitizing and deep-cleaning the schools. They are trying to figure out what to do with the little toys that are used to teach children how to count: How do they sanitize them? Or do they get each child his or her own set of toys to place in individual bins?
They are cutting new doors into the nurse's office so that no longer will ill children or staffers have to go through the front office. They are putting up plexiglass shields. They are adding additional bus routes in order to safely separate the children.
These changes cost a lot of money, and it is one reason why, in addition to providing direct aid to our schools, we need to provide assistance to our States, our counties, and our communities.
I have talked to city and town managers all over the State of Maine. They did not receive much from the initial allocation of funding that went to State governments, and they need help now.
Let me give you an example. The city of Auburn has had to freeze six vacant positions because of expected revenue losses. That is two firefighters, a police officer, and three public works employees. These cuts come as the city of Auburn has spent $200,000 in new expenses responding to the virus.
I have yet to talk to a city or a town manager who is not experiencing the need due to similar cuts and who experienced delayed or canceled public works projects, like paving local roads. That has a trickle-down effect. It affects the contractor and his or her employees, who will no longer have that work. It affects their suppliers from whom the concrete or the tar is no longer going to be purchased.
This is why I feel strongly that the bipartisan SMART Act, which I worked on with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, led by Senator Cassidy and Senator Menendez, needs to be passed. We can negotiate exactly how much money and exactly to whom it should go, but it is essential that aid go to the community level.
Fourth, we need to help our airlines. Otherwise, come October 1--just right around the corner--we are going to see massive layoffs. We are talking about between 80,000 and 100,000 layoffs of airline employees and also related jobs in airports, such as concessionaires. It will also lead to canceled service, if there are no longer crews for airplanes and ground crews. We are going to lose airline service to communities all over this country.
We need not to forget the motor coach industry, which few people are talking about. They have been hurt by the cancelation of everything from school sports to tours. We need to help them survive this period of economic struggle. Senator Jack Reed and I have introduced a bill with more than 40 cosponsors on both sides of the aisle that would provide that assistance.
No. 6, we need to continue investing in testing. That is key to reopening our economy and safely housing people in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
I am excited by the new Abbott Labs test, which will cost only $5 and give a result in 15 minutes. I take particular pride because Abbott Labs has a large facility in my State, and they are expanding from Scarborough to Westbrook in order to produce these tests more rapidly.
No. 7, we need to provide limited but important liability protections to our frontline hospital workers, to our small businesses, and to our schools and colleges.
One restaurant owner put it this way to me. He said: Susan, what if I get sued despite taking every precaution, following the CDC guidelines, but a customer comes in, later develops the coronavirus, and sues me, saying, I think I got it in that restaurant. Well, I am pretty sure that he didn't, but I still have to pay to defend that lawsuit?
Clearly we should not protect anyone who is guilty of gross negligence, but that is not what we are talking about here.
No. 8, we need to provide a reasonable Federal unemployment insurance supplement to help struggling families during this difficult time when so many people have lost jobs through no fault of their own, but we need to make sure that we are not creating a disincentive to return to work when jobs reopen. That is why I like the approach of either having an 80-percent replacement of the pre-job-loss wage or figuring out a formula that would approach 80 percent. That is far higher than the normal wage replacement under our State systems, but these are extraordinary times.
No. 9, we need an emergency appropriation for the U.S. Postal Service. Otherwise, I am worried that the Postal Service will not be able to meet its payroll starting the second quarter of next year. Think of the costs the Postal Service has incurred. It has had to retrofit every post office, every processing center in this country, as well as provide protective gear to its postal employees who are both essential and frontline workers.
Those are the elements that I believe should be in the next coronavirus package. While there are disagreements on perhaps three of the nine elements that I have suggested, by and large, there is agreement on seven of the elements. There may be disputes about exactly how much money should be appropriated, but we can work those disputes out, just as we do in the appropriations process.
We simply cannot wait and do nothing and just hope for the best. Hope is not an effective strategy when it comes to dealing with this persistent pandemic. The American people have demonstrated resilience, courage, and compassion during this crisis, but they need our additional help.
I hope that next week we will put aside the partisan bickering, the ``just say no'' approach that we have seen, unfortunately, from the Democratic leader, and that we will come together for the good of the American people; that we will come together not as Democrats and Republicans and Independents but as Americans to do what our country needs done right now.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source