Durbin: COVID-19 Numbers Are Sobering, Senate Must Act Now
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today spoke about the importance of helping unemployed and uninsured Americans, hospitals and health clinics, state and local governments, and small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s partisan COVID-19 relief proposal that failed to pass the Senate last week. Durbin urged Leader McConnell to start negotiating in good faith – as the Senate did in March when it passed the CARES Act – with Congressional Democrats on a bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill that provides meaningful assistance to Americans in need.
“The challenges we faced in passing the CARES Act in March are still challenges America faces [today]. When it comes to COVID-19, the numbers are sobering,” Durbin said. “There is no excuse. There are too many unemployed people desperate to get by. There are too many businesses desperate to survive. There are too many tests that we cannot take in America because we haven't invested the resources. There are too many school districts telling me, ‘Senator, reopening safely for these kids and teachers is going to take some money, can you help?’....The demands are out there.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.
-30-