Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3768
Floor Speech
Mr. JOHNSON. Reserving the right to object. Mr. President, the fact is, the Senate has acted. We acted very generously. In the CARES Act, we passed $100 billion. In the CARES Act 3.5--phase 3.5--we passed $75 billion for a total of $175 billion for the Provider Relief Fund. That fund allowed reimbursement and financial assistance to skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes.
To date, about $76.9 billion--44 percent of that $175 billion--has actually been expended, and $4.9 billion has been expended on skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes, which means we have $98.1 billion left.
Fifty-six percent of that $175 billion has not been spent, and HHS has a great deal of latitude in terms of how to direct that. If more needs to go to skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes, HHS has $98.1 billion to spend.
Before we authorize another $20 billion and try to pass that by unanimous consent, I say we need to take a very close look at what we have already spent--close to $77 billion--and then either redirect, repurpose, or just utilize it as was intended, the $98.1 billion that remains to be spent.
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Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, first, let me talk a little about the Luke and Alex School Safety Act.
The Luke and Alex School Safety Act of 2020 is named in memory of Luke Hoyer and Alex Schachter, who tragically lost their young lives on February 14, 2018, in the attack at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Luke's parents, Tom and Gena Hoyer, and Alex's father, Max Schachter, turned their tragedy into positive action by dedicating their lives to promoting noncontroversial, commonsense school safety measures so that others don't have to experience tragedies like they have.
Both Tom and Max testified before my committee on July 25, 2019, and presented their recommendations for improving school safety. One of their recommendations was to create a Federal clearinghouse of school safety best practices that schools, teachers, and parents can use as a tool to improve a school's safety posture in a way that best suits that school's community and needs.
Our committee turned this commonsense recommendation into the Luke and Alex School Safety Act of 2020 and passed it unanimously, with bipartisan support, on November 6, 2019. Even though the bill had only cleared our committee, the Department of Homeland Security agreed that it was such a good idea that it actually created and launched this clearinghouse in February of 2020.
By the way, I just quickly printed out the current web page here. What is on it is just very common sense. It reads: ``Find Resources to Create a Safer School.'' It has the latest news and a coronavirus update. Then it has a number of different parts to the site. You can go on School Safety Tips, like bullying and cyberbullying, threat assessment and reporting, school security personnel, physical security, training, exercises and drills, mental health, school climate, emergency planning and recovery.
Again, this is completely noncontroversial. It is just a clearinghouse of best practices that every school in America can go to and cut through the clutter and, hopefully, find very practical solutions to improve the safety within their schools and, again, hopefully prevent tragedies like those that, unfortunately, befell the folks in Parkland, FL.
402, S. 2779. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be withdrawn; that the Johnson substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
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Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, if I could ask the Senator from Pennsylvania, I am not quite sure what that fix has to do with the school safety bill. They are completely unrelated. By the way, I talked to Senator Lankford earlier, and I know he also has a bill to fix that and is trying to get that into the NDAA this year. Again, it seems like there is bipartisan support for that as well.
To me, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to hold up and not pass a bill that is completely unobjectionable and noncontroversial and that really could marginally improve school safety simply because we have not fixed what we kind of botched the last time around even though there is bipartisan support to actually fix it. So I guess I am kind of scratching my head and not understanding that objection.
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Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, I am happy to take a look at that as I am willing to take look at the Lankford bill and get that in the NDAA. So, perhaps, maybe, if that gets included and gets fixed, we can come back at a later date and pass this by unanimous consent.
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