without without guaranteeing they will
have sufficient funds in advance to
finance this new employee benefit
everyone agrees that workers need relief
the Republicans are working on bold
solutions help individuals and families
as we speak but small businesses need
relief as well this is literally the
worst time and living memory to pile
even more burdens and costs onto small
businesses which are themselves fighting
to stay alive unless unless we back it
up with major assistance we all know
what small businesses are up against
just this week New York City joined the
list of towns and cities across the
country where local officials have
shuttered every bar and every restaurant
for the sake of public health at 5:00
p.m. today all public facing businesses
in my home state of Kentucky will do the
same these job creators are literally
being taken offline by their own
governments for the public good and it's
not only bars restaurants and
entertainment businesses we need to
worry about nobody expects Main Street
small businesses of any sort to hold the
kind of cash buffer they would need to
remain in business and wait out a
national economic disruption that could
last for weeks or months the men and
women who pour their entire lives into
small businesses do not need even more
obstacles they need help they need a
lifeline they need to know that Congress
understands these historic obstacles
they are facing and that we have their
back as well there is no moral hazard
here this is not some rescue following
risky business decisions nobody thinks
any of this is the fault of small
businesses so while I will support the
House bill in order to secure some
emergency relief for some American
workers I will not adjourn the Senate
until we had passed a far bolder package
it must include significant relief for
small businesses all across our country
as we speak
Chairman Rubio senator Collins and
others are assembling a historic level
of assistance for small businesses
across America we want to help them
survive this disruption absorb the new
mandate in the House bill and continue
to make payroll and avoid layoffs as
much as they can and emerge from this
storm in the best shape possible that
means an historic injection of liquidity
and access to credit and it means
Washington working directly with the
lenders who already worked with these
small businesses to minimize the new
bureaucracy so the assistance can flow
as fast as possible so we're going to
pass the houses bill but it's
imperfections will just make our more
comprehensive package even more urgent
so we aren't leaving everybody
understands we aren't leaving until we
deliver it the center is not going to
leave small business behind this will be
just one component of our work as we
speak chairman Grassley and others are
determining the best pathway to put
money directly in the hands of the
American people those who are employed
those who may be laid off retirees
disabled Americans families as quickly
as possible of course chairman Alexander
and a number of our colleagues are
working on further steps in our public
health fight against the virus itself
such as getting more tools in the hands
of health care providers removing
barriers to treatment in helping
researchers develop therapeutics and
vaccines and chairman wicker and several
senators are considering the possibility
of targeted relief for key industries
that are shouldering an outsized burden
from the public health directives and
which our nation will need to be
operational on the other side of this
we're crafting bold and significant
legislation to meet this crisis head-on
and to strengthen our nation the
Congress has an enormous role to play
in responding to this challenge and we
are determined to do that duty but at
the same time never in our nation's
history of Americans looked solely to
Washington for answers that's not who we
are and this is no different even amidst
the uncertainty the American people are
stepping up and reminding everyone what
solidarity and citizenship look like in
my home state of my home state
Kentuckians are going out of their way
to stand with their neighbors
stay-at-home parents of volunteering to
help neighbors with child care when
parents are unable to telework grocery
stores in the Louisville area are
setting aside the first hour they're
open each day right after their cleaning
so older shoppers and those with
underlying conditions and shop first and
with less exposure one local restaurant
is distributing free meals to service
industry workers whose hours have been
cut this is what makes the United States
of America what it is and it's what we
are today generosity
friendship resolve and strength this is
not a challenge anyone wanted for our
nation but it is a challenge we will
overcome someday hopefully soon our
nation will have this virus on its heels
Main Street small businesses will be
thriving again families will be flying
around the country again to reunite and
catch up we've gotten through this we
will have gotten through this together
in part it will be because the federal
government and the Congress did our part
but just as important it will also be
because every single American did theirs