Ted Cruz and Michael Knowles talk about the Senate vote on the Coronavirus stimulus package, the largest stimulus package in American history, and why it took so long to get on the Senate floor. They also talk about why the Democrats are holding up the bill, and what happened to get it on the floor.
00:06:07.880Look, if you look at restaurants that have been shut down all across the country, you look at bars, you look at hardware stores or nail salons, there are a lot of people who are hourly workers who are suddenly finding themselves at home and are scared.
00:06:22.640How am I going to make the rent check next month?
00:06:25.000You know, how am I going to pay the basic expenses?
00:06:46.700I mean, people, you know, they can't afford to not work for a month or however long this is going to go on.
00:06:52.140So the idea is that's going to fill the gap.
00:06:54.400And hopefully you can take $1,200 and put it toward your rent or whatever bill is due.
00:06:59.440What else is in the bill, you know, especially in terms of I know it was controversial that there's a loan program for businesses to stay afloat.
00:07:09.940Well, let me get to another major part of the bill that I think is really important is there's $377 billion for small businesses.
00:07:20.760And this is an emergency loan program that is going to go to small businesses, essentially businesses with 500 employees or less.
00:07:28.320So the hardware stores and barbershops and restaurants that we talked about, all these folks that are shuttered right now and are on the verge of bankruptcy,
00:07:37.800they can now you can now go if you're a small business owner, you can go and apply for a loan and you can get it.
00:07:45.200It's a small business administration loan, but you can get it from your local bank.
00:07:48.320It's from all of the local banks in the community that you can go and apply for it.
00:07:54.440So it's small loans, relatively speaking, but they're designed in particular to meet costs like payroll, to meet costs like rent.
00:08:02.500The basic costs that you have that you don't want to lose your business and the way it's designed, if you spend the money on payroll, if you say to your employees, we're going to keep paying you, we're going to keep your paycheck coming, then those loans are forgivable.
00:08:15.700So for the small business owner, you can take the loan, and if you actually pay it out to your employees, the loan obligation goes away.
00:08:25.220And so that's a direct lifeline to these small businesses that are profoundly hurting.
00:08:31.820And a lot of them are making the decision right now, do I stay open or do I shutter the door?
00:08:39.940I mean, this is a very important point here because, you know, as we see the unemployment rate ticking up, you had claims last week for unemployment that were comparable, if not higher, than you saw at the peak of the 2009 crisis.
00:08:53.040I mean, you could have massive unemployment.
00:08:55.260You could have businesses falling apart.
00:08:56.860So this would allow the businesses to continue to employ their workers.
00:09:02.520Right. And that means people keep a connection to their job.
00:09:05.060It means they keep their health insurance, which is a big challenge for everyone.
00:09:08.820If you lose your job, you may be losing your health insurance.
00:09:11.320So we'd rather as many people as possible to stay employed, to stay in a position that when we get past this crisis, hopefully sooner rather than later, that everyone go back to work, that we want to get the economy moving again.
00:09:23.340And so these small business loans, again, are unprecedented.
00:09:26.840I mean, to give you a sense, the Small Business Administration's budget, I think, last year was $23 billion.
00:09:36.360So this is more than 10 times the size of the Small Business Administration's entire budget.
00:09:42.080But all of that money is designed to flow out through the community banks to small businesses and to be used for payroll predominantly and other essential costs like rent and utilities just to keep the businesses open.
00:09:54.900Well, I know that this brings up another question on employment that was really central to the debate today, and you played a central role in this, which is some Republican senators, I think Lindsey Graham mentioned it, and you spoke out very forcefully against it, identified in the bill a provision that would actually incentivize people not to go back to work.
00:10:18.300What was that provision, and where does that stand right now?
00:10:21.540So part of this bill, and one of the things in particular the Democrats demanded as a price of supporting this bill, was increasing unemployment insurance compensation.
00:10:32.040So when you file for unemployment in your states, the federal government is plussing up those weekly compensation, and plussing it up dramatically is basically adding $600 a week to what you can earn from unemployment.
00:10:49.340And listen, most Republicans, I think that is a good thing.
00:10:52.920We are going to see this week when the job numbers comes out, we're going to see millions of Americans who have lost their jobs in the last two weeks.
00:11:01.260I mean, it has been – I've spoken to at least a dozen CEOs in the last week who've laid off thousands or tens of thousands of employees.
00:11:09.460I mean, it's just one after the other after the other, and if you're suddenly laid off, having unemployment and enough to support your family is important.
00:11:57.320There's no constraint on whether it is more than you were making in your job.
00:12:02.680And so I and a number of other senators, we introduced an amendment today, just a common sense amendment, that said, look, you should not make more on unemployment than you were making working.
00:13:24.500But suddenly you're making $25, $26, $28 an hour at home not working.
00:13:31.180And you face the decision, do I go back to work for $10, $12, $15 an hour?
00:13:36.600However, we're creating incentives where it would be perfectly rational to say I'm not going to go back to work because I make a lot more money on unemployment.
00:15:15.080We normally meet in a room in the Capitol called the Bansfield room.
00:15:17.900And, and, and it's, um, and actually, by the way, the minority meets in the LBJ room, which is a smaller room, but the Bansfield room is bigger.
00:15:26.500So it's one of the things, it was nice in 2014.
00:15:34.100But when coronavirus hit, um, we all wanted to social distance.
00:15:39.860And so the Bansfield room, we decided it was too small.
00:15:42.300So we were meeting instead in a conference room.
00:15:44.220And we moved actually to a couple of different conference rooms that were sort of almost like big auditoriums in one of the Senate office buildings.
00:15:50.920And so we were in one of those big, big auditoriums where the acoustics were terrible.
00:15:55.260It's hard for everyone to hear because they're not, they're just, it's not good acoustics.
00:15:58.780But, but Mitch, every, every day we were meeting for lunch and we'd have often a two, three hour lunch because it would be a progress report on the negotiations of the bill.
00:16:09.780And, and there were different committees that were working on different portions of the bill.
00:16:13.680So the people would stand up and say, all right, here's what's going on with this.
00:16:16.420And we'd ask questions and we debate back and forth.
00:16:18.440Um, and so a few days ago we're there and Mitch is talking and he just kind of matter of fact says, um, and so Rand Paul just tested positive for coronavirus.
00:16:29.880And we're all sitting there going, what the what?
00:16:32.700Like, like, like, I mean, it's big news.
00:16:35.180And Mitch just very matter of fact mentions it and keeps going on and a whole bunch of second.
00:17:14.320He hadn't come in direct contact with, with the, the, he was at a gathering with people who were sick, but he didn't come in direct contact with them.
00:18:00.920They'd been there for a couple hours, and so they decided neither of them are feeling sick.
00:18:04.160I talked to both, uh, both Mike and, and, and Mitt this week after they quarantined, they both said they were feeling great, but they self-quarantined because they'd sat next to Rand and spent a couple of hours.
00:18:16.280You know, I thought about it, but as it so happened this past week, I just didn't run into Rand.
00:18:21.280In fact, I didn't even, I didn't know he was around.
00:18:26.640So it was a good, good week not to sit next to Rand Paul, but it puts you in a tough position because as you're all sitting there and, uh, leader McConnell tells you, oh, by the way, one of your colleagues has coronavirus, you know, it's a pretty small club there in the U.S. Senate.
00:18:41.960You're all voting on this very important legislation.
00:18:44.740If all of the Republicans self-quarantined, what happens to the bill?
00:18:49.420That is, was a real issue, and I think that's one of the reasons why all of us said let's move forward and get this done quickly and, and get the hell out of here.
00:18:56.720Everyone's flying home tomorrow morning.
00:18:59.020And, and, and the Senate is, is not expected to be in session for several weeks, but, you know, look, if you look at the Senate, there are a lot of people in their seventies and eighties.
00:19:06.980I mean, you want to talk about a potentially vulnerable population.
00:19:10.660We're trying to stay away from each other.
00:19:34.080He got pneumonia and they did surgery and removed part of his lung.
00:19:37.580And, and so what's scary, what's scary about this is Rand with, with, with part of his lung removed is, is in a vulnerable position where he's more vulnerable.
00:19:48.580If he gets COVID-19, if he gets sick, he's potentially more vulnerable.
00:19:52.380And so that's, he's obviously taking it seriously, but all of us are, are, are, are worried and praying for Rand.
00:20:00.680That, that really does bring it home because some people have even kind of been joking about how the median age of the U S Senate is about 150.
00:20:08.060And so, you know, that's an at-risk population, but of course, uh, Senator Paul in particular is especially at risk here.
00:20:15.240So I, I suppose everybody should pray for his speedy recovery.
00:20:19.060It's, it's, you know, one, one other actual coincidence, I suppose, with Rand Paul being out for this vote is he's been so outspokenly say libertarian, uh, you know, during his political career.
00:20:32.540Um, and conservatives now are struggling with what to think about this bill because it's so much money, you know, it's the biggest package like this ever in American history, but this is a, a totally novel circumstance.
00:20:45.780How should conservatives be looking at this?
00:21:09.820Uh, and the biggest reason their difference is, is the financial meltdown was caused in very significant part by misconduct by the financial services firms who, who, who were taking undue risks, who got all the upside.
00:21:22.980If they made money, they got rich and, and, and got to enjoy the blessings.
00:21:26.400But then when it all cratered, the government had to step in and help them.
00:21:29.720Um, and so it, it, it, it felt very much like a rigged game.
00:21:34.080Um, this is a very different circumstance because the people that are getting relief here, they didn't do anything to cause the Corona virus.
00:21:43.240You know, the, the individual waiter who's been laid off, it's not his fault that, that this started in Wuhan and spread across the world.
00:21:51.280It's, it's not the fault of, of the guy who owns the local movie theater.
00:21:55.480Um, and, and, and so I think that's different.
00:21:59.200I think it's also important that if you look at how this is structured, um, you've got the individual grants, which, which are very important relief.
00:22:08.160You've got the small business piece, which is very important.
00:22:10.680If you look at other elements of it, so there is a hundred billion dollars in this directed to hospitals and healthcare providers.
00:22:18.160Now look, in the Corona virus circumstance, hospitals are panicking.