On the recordDecember 7, 2020
speaking both as a Senator from Vermont and as vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I am speaking with concern about what has been happening in the Senate. It has been 321 days since the first COVID-19 case was reported in the United States--321 days. It has been 282 days since the first COVID-19 death was reported in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate in November was 6.7 percent, nearly double the rate in November of last year. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the country have closed permanently, all due to COVID. As of today, there are more than 14,800,000 reported cases of COVID- 19 in the United States. To put that in perspective, that is 1 million more than just a week ago. More than 282,000 Americans have died, and it has been 256 days since the Senate passed the CARES Act--256 days since the Senate acted in a comprehensive, meaningful way to address the real and mounting concerns and needs of our constituents. My State of Vermont is like everywhere else. Healthcare workers, caregivers, business owners, employees, teachers, and students are all in need of support during these difficult and uncertain times. We have families wrestling with heightened food insecurity. People for the first time in their lives cannot feed their children and they cannot feed themselves. They have the threat of eviction from their homes hanging over them.…
