Chris Van Hollen: “I thank you. I want to thank the minority leader--the Democratic leader, Mr. Schumer--for his remarks. There are not…”

“I thank you. I want to thank the minority leader--the Democratic leader, Mr. Schumer--for his remarks. There are not many of us around here in the Senate today. It is pretty quiet. If you walk through the halls, there is virtually nobody around. That is what it was like last Thursday afternoon. That is what it was like here in the Senate on Friday and again on Saturday and again on Sunday. Here we are again on Monday, and this Senate is virtually a ghost town--a few people here, but for the most part, everybody was sent home by the majority leader, by Senator McConnell. He told Senators: Go home until further notice. Go home. We are going to put the Senate on standby. No need to be here doing the people's business. Well, the coronavirus is not on standby. The coronavirus is very much alive and well and spreading throughout the country--more severely in some parts than others but spreading throughout the country--and with it has come the spread of economic pain and economic harm. So COVID-19 is not on standby, and neither is the economic pain and fallout that it has caused. But here in the U.S. Senate, the Republican leader, the majority leader, has said: Go home and be on standby. That is not leadership at any time. It is certainly not the kind of leadership that the American people need and should expect during a global pandemic and recession- era unemployment levels. So why did the majority leader tell people to just go home and be on standby?…”