Coronavirus

Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise to honor and pay tribute to our Senate colleagues who are departing at the end of this Congress. I was able to work with all of them in different ways, and we are going to miss them.

Before that, I did want to mention the importance of the continuing negotiations on end-of-the-year pandemic relief. I have been involved in those, and I want to thank those Members who have been at the forefront of this all through the weekend, all through the last few weeks.

I cannot stress how important it is right now. My State just got through a spike in COVID. We lost so many people. We have so many small businesses, like so many States in this country, that are closed down.

While we see the light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine, I talked to a friend of mine whose husband is an infectious disease doctor, and she said when she saw those trucks rolling out in Michigan, she just started to sob just seeing it on TV. I think that is how a lot of people in this country feel, but it is on us right now to make sure we get the funding so that vaccine gets distributed as it should and to also ensure that our economy is in a place that when we start going back into the workplace--not just virtually--we will be able to bounce back as we should, and that means pandemic relief at the end of this year.

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