Previews Commonsense Reforms to Strengthen Nation’s Response & Re-Opening
‘This crisis has every part of our society in dire need of stability, clarity, and certainty. The Senate has already stepped up, but our work is not over. I look forward to seeing all my colleagues next Monday.’
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued the following statement today regarding the upcoming Senate schedule:
“Senators will return to Washington D.C. one week from today. We will modify routines in ways that are smart and safe, but we will honor our constitutional duty to the American people and conduct critical business in person. If it is essential for doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, truck drivers, grocery-store workers, and many other brave Americans to keep carefully manning their own duty stations, then it is essential for Senators to carefully man ours and support them.
“The Senate must focus on concrete steps to strengthen our response to this complex crisis. We cannot get distracted by pre-existing partisan wish-lists or calls to paper over decades of reckless decisions that had nothing to do with COVID-19.
“Here is just one example of an urgent need. While our nation is asking everyone from front-line healthcare professionals to essential small-business owners to major employers to adapt in new ways and keep serving, a massive tangle of federal and state laws could easily mean their heroic efforts are met with years of endless lawsuits.
“We cannot let that happen. Our nation is facing the worst pandemic in over a century and potentially the worst economic shock since the Great Depression. Our response must not be slowed, weakened, or exploited to set up the biggest trial lawyer bonanza in history.
“The brave healthcare workers battling this virus and the entrepreneurs who will re-open our economy deserve strong protections from opportunistic lawsuits. Some such protections were included in the bipartisan CARES Act. We will need to expand and strengthen them.
“Republicans will proudly insist on these and other strong, pro-certainty, pro-growth reforms throughout any and all future discussions. The American people do not need tangential left-wing daydreams. They need commonsense steps that move us toward the response, recovery, and future readiness that Americans need and deserve.
“This crisis has every part of our society in dire need of stability, clarity, and certainty. The Senate has already stepped up, but our work is not over. I look forward to seeing all my colleagues next Monday.”
