Steve Scalise: “Let me remind the gentleman that in the CARES Act, we addressed many of those issues that the gentleman already brought…”

“Let me remind the gentleman that in the CARES Act, we addressed many of those issues that the gentleman already brought up, starting with the States. In fact, I don't know of a single State in this country who has spent all of the money we sent them. Educational opportunities for schools to reopen safely and educate kids are being denied in some places but not in others, but it is not from a lack of money. There is not a single school system I have heard from, where we sent them the money--and by the way, they still have millions, and in some cases, billions of those dollars sitting in their account, idle, that can be used today to safely reopen schools. If the State chooses not to do it or if the school system chooses not to do it, that is on them. But they are denying those kids opportunities. We are seeing report after report, scientific studies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, talking about the damage that is being done to our young children by being denied the opportunity to go back to school in classroom and learn. It is devastating to those kids. Suicides are up and opioid abuse is up, because of all of these things, and it is the small businesses that are paying the biggest price. If you look, people that are getting unemployment insurance at the State level--we did enhanced unemployment insurance for a period of time, and in most cases we were paying people more money not to work than they were making before they lost their job.…”