Coronavirus
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I want to thank my colleague and leader on the Democratic side, Senator Schumer, for his specific, articulate, and direct analysis of where we stand today in the Senate.
Faced with the worst public health crisis in 100 years, faced with the worst economic crisis in 75 to 80 years, the message from the Republican side of the aisle is ``Think small. Do as little as possible. Let's see how this works out.''
At a time when we have unemployment figures breaking all records, when we have 10 times the unemployment claims in Illinois that we did a year ago--I might add, 10 times the unemployment claims in the Commonwealth of Kentucky that they did a year ago--we, instead, are hearing from the Republican side of the aisle that the problem with our economy is not unemployment; it is the fact that the people who are unemployed are being given too much money.
Right now we have a Federal benefit package worth $600 a week that was enacted in the CARES Act on March 26. That expires in 3 days. It is a $600-a-week Federal supplement over the State payment. What the Republicans have suggested is to cut that $600 Federal supplement to $200, and then they turn and say: Well, what we really want to do is to compensate the workers with 70 percent of what they were earning when they were laid off.
There is a real serious problem here that they are not disclosing to the American people. Back in March, when we proposed a similar approach or one that took into consideration the previous wages of an unemployed worker, who told us to stop that consideration? President Trump's Secretary of Labor. Secretary Scalia came to us, and I was at the meeting when he said: You don't understand. You cannot make this kind of change in the States because there are 50 different computer systems in the employment security offices across each and every State in the Union. They cannot make this adjustment. They cannot make this change.
The only way, they told us--Secretary Scalia told us in March--is a flat dollar amount to each unemployed worker, which is exactly what we did.
Now the Republicans come to us and ignore that advice, ignore that guidance that led to $600 a week, and say: We will come up with an elaborate formula of 70 percent of what you were paid before.
As Senator Schumer from New York said earlier, we surveyed a dozen States, and they all told us: Impossible to 5 or 6 months before we are ready to do something in that manner. And that means, for millions of Americans currently unemployed, the possibility of only receiving $200 a week until someday in the future when the State unemployment systems can possibly change. That is the Republican approach.
They have made a big point, as Senator McConnell did this morning on the floor, of a $1,200 check, a cash payment such as we had back in March. I am not opposed to that. The President is desperate for it because he gets to sign the checks. He wants his signature on the checks that are going out to these individuals.
Well, Mr. President, if that is what you want, be my guest if it is going to help working families. But make no mistake--a $1,200 check to a family who was receiving $600 a week, $2,400 a month, is cold comfort, and it won't help them pay the bills they face every single month.
I only wish that the Republicans who are calling for these dramatic cuts in unemployment compensation for millions of Americans--30 million Americans--I only wish they would go home to Kentucky and other States and sit down for a meal with an unemployed family and let them tell these Republicans what they are facing each and every month, trying to get by, even with this unemployment check.
You see, there is an assumption that these people have a lot of money in savings. It is not reality. In the real world, half of American families have little or no savings to turn to--even before this current economic downturn. Imagine what they are going through now and the sacrifices they have to make.
Surely the Republican leaders have heard the stories or seen firsthand, as I have, the families showing up at food banks and pantries, looking for a helping hand to put something on the table to feed their families, some of them with their eyes down to the ground, tears in those eyes because they never dreamed they would be in this position in life. And what is the alternative suggested from the Republican side? Cut the unemployment compensation for millions of Americans at this moment in history. Think small, Republicans say. We can get through this by doing as little as possible.
That is not true. We have been told over and over again that if we take our foot off the accelerator to try to move this economy out of the ditch, it will crash even further, and we don't want that to happen. We want people to get back to work and businesses to reopen and schools to reopen, but we have to do the right thing in terms of providing compensation to individuals.
I reject the premise that many Republicans bring to this conversation that if you are not rich, you must be lazy in America. I don't think unemployed people in this country are lazy people. I think they are hard-working people who have been dealt a tough hand of cards. They are trying to keep their families together until they can get back to work and to a decent job. Cutting unemployment compensation at this moment in history is cruel, inhumane, and insensitive to the realities these families are facing every single day.
There is one provision that came out yesterday that I want to speak to for a moment. For months, literally for months, Senator McConnell has come to the floor and criticized Speaker Pelosi for her efforts to pass the Heroes Act almost 10 weeks ago. Ten weeks ago, the House of Representatives, under Speaker Pelosi, passed legislation to provide COVID-19 relief that we knew was coming because we knew the unemployment benefits were going to expire in just a few days. She saw that coming and 10 weeks ago did what was the right thing to do. She mustered her troops and provided a majority to vote for a package that moves us forward, helps State and local governments face the reality of this economy, helps hospitals, and helps individuals pay for their health insurance--a good package and one that I could readily support.
Senator McConnell came to the floor frequently, regularly, several times a week, saying how bad that package was, how terrible it was, while he did nothing, while the Republicans proposed no alternative. It is just like the Affordable Care Act. They have done everything they can 150 times to try to repeal it and never once proposed an alternative. The same thing is true when it comes to this COVID-19 relief. In this circumstance we received finally, yesterday, this proposal that was brought by Senator Cornyn on behalf of himself and Senator McConnell to address the issue of the immunity of corporations from lawsuits that have any relation to COVID-19--immunity for these corporations so that they will not be held liable if, in fact, they are not performing up to the standards necessary to protect employees and customers.
It is 65 pages long. It is a big giveaway to the biggest corporations in America. The Republican corporate immunity bill does nothing to protect workers, improve safety standards, or give business incentives to take proper precautions to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
In fact, this bill does the opposite. It views workers and victims as the problem, and it sets high hurdles that prevent meritorious COVID- related crimes from having their day in court. What the bill would do is impose sweeping Federal preemption on the rights of workers and victims to bring cases in State courts for COVID-related harm. It would supplant State laws that require businesses to act with reasonable care. Then it would say that businesses are shielded from liability in Federal court if they merely make an effort to comply with the weakest available mandatory safety standard that applies to them so long as they are not grossly negligent.
So what are the kinds of safety standards that the bill would urge businesses to follow? Well, it certainly wouldn't be the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control because those aren't mandatory. So, amazingly, a business can get shielded from liability under this Republican approach even if they make no effort to comply with the Centers for Disease Control guidelines. How does that make us any safer?
Not only that, but if workers or sick Americans want to try to bring a meritorious COVID-related case in this bill, this bill puts them through a gauntlet of tort reform obstacles that will make it nearly impossible to prevail: a heightened burden of proof, heightened pleading requirements, limits on discovery, damage caps, restrictions on joint and several liability, and so much more. The Republican bill also creates sweeping Federal preemption of medical malpractice cases, including claims under medical malpractice not even related to COVID- 19. It would upend the medical liability laws of all 50 States for 5 years.
Instead of sending a strong, clear, and enforceable Federal safety standard like an OSHA emergency temporary standard, the Republican bill would actually shield businesses from regulatory enforcement proceedings under OSHA, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and more.
The liability immunity under this bill would last for 5 years, from December 2019 to 2024. The fact that Republicans are proposing 5 years of liability immunity for corporations while promising just a few months of assistance for workers tells the whole story about priorities and values.
Let's be clear. Republicans have not made the case for why we would even consider Federal liability immunity for corporations. Remember, under current State tort law, if a business has taken reasonable precautions, it will not be held liable for negligence. State laws give incentives for businesses to act reasonably, and most businesses do. Also, time and again, I have heard Senator McConnell and Senator Cornyn come to the floor and talk about the tsunami of lawsuits. This morning Senator McConnell said ``an epidemic'' of frivolous lawsuits.
It so happens we keep track of lawsuits filed in the United States of America, and we can look to the pleadings in those lawsuits to see how many times they mention coronavirus or COVID-19. We know how many lawsuits have been filed since the first of the year related to this pandemic. We know that despite the fact that 4 million--at least 4 million--COVID-19 infections have been established in the United States--4 million--do you know how many medical malpractice cases have been filed by any of those 4 million Americans or anyone else against doctors, nurses, hospitals, and providers? What is the epidemic number? We have it. Here is the exact number of medical malpractice cases filed in the United States in the last 6 months: six--six. An epidemic? A tsunami?
How about personal injury lawsuits, Senator? How many have been filed listing COVID-19 or coronavirus as one of the reasons for these lawsuits? Fifteen. With 4 million infected Americans, there are 15 lawsuits, and the Republicans have come to us and want to turn upside down the immunity and liability questions before the States and the Nation.
How about unsafe workplace lawsuits? Now, that has to be a big category. With 4 million infected Americans, how many workers have brought lawsuits? Seventy-one. In the entire 50 States of America, there are 71 lawsuits.
There is no flood of worker or victim lawsuits. It is a figment of the imagination of Senator McConnell, Senator Cornyn, and K Street. But we certainly shouldn't, at this moment in time, ignore the obvious. Over 20 States have stepped forward and established their own standards for lawsuits when it comes to the pandemic they face. This effort by the Republicans would preempt that State action. There have been hundreds and hundreds of COVID lawsuits that have been filed, business to business, on questions like insurance liability. You don't hear the Republicans wanting to stop businesses from filing lawsuits--no, just workers and the people who get sick.
There is no need for the Federal Government to step in and override 50 States' liability laws, especially after the Federal Government has been deferring to the States on every other aspect of this pandemic: testing, PPE, masks, stay-at-home orders. Time and again, this President has said to leave it to the Governors and leave it to the mayors, except when it comes to protecting big corporations. If States need to adjust their liability laws, they can do so, and 28 States have already done it.
So here is the bottom line. The Republican immunity bill would upend State laws, give businesses incentives to cut corners, jeopardize the safety of workers and families, and risk further spread of this virus. It is a big business giveaway, and that is not what America needs.
This is not a small challenge; it is a historic challenge. We shouldn't take the Republican lead and play small ball. We ought to address this head-on.
First, we need leadership from the top, which we have not had from the President. He has deferred time and again to Governors and mayors and other officials at the local levels, telling them: Find your own masks. Establish your own testing regimes. Find your own way out of this crisis.
When we needed Federal leadership from the President, we did not receive it. America knows that. Why is it that this Nation, with 5 percent of the world's population, has 25 percent of the COVID infection cases in the world? Why? What happened here? Why didn't we follow the lead of other countries that stepped up with Presidential leadership--countries that have found dramatically less infection, dramatically fewer deaths. That is the reality of where we are today with this pandemic.
The reality of our economy--we stepped in on March 26 and passed the CARES Act. We have managed to keep some businesses going. We have managed to keep millions of unemployed Americans together with their families through the most difficult period in their lives. Now, at this moment, the Republican leadership says: Think small. This is all going to pass quickly. Don't worry about these families who don't have enough to provide food and shelter and the basics for their families. They will get by with a lot less--from $600 a week to $200 a week. They will do just fine, according to Republicans
I disagree. Our first obligation should be to these working families who are going through the toughest period they could ever imagine. Stick with them. Stand with them. Be prepared to put the money on the table, which we know they will spend right back into the economy.
We will see more unemployment if we follow the Republican approach. It is estimated that some 3 million jobs will be killed by the Republican approach of cutting unemployment and the consequent downturn in spending by these same families.
Let's stick with those families now. They need us.
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