COVID-19 Q&A

Hey everybody. Derek Kilmer here. I hope everybody's staying safe and staying well and managing through these challenging times. I was in Washington DC last week. I'll be back in Washington, DC next week this week I'm working from home. I want to apologize as we do this. Facebook Live in advance. I have a woodpecker on my roof that began at 50 'clock this morning and has persistently interrupted my morning. so if you're Through the course of this, that will be what it is obviously folks have a lot of questions about what's going on in our country and in our region right now, I always try to do a whole bunch of in-person town halls all over our region, but we can't really do that right now. So I wanna make sure I'm opening up every Avenue. I can we've done a bunch of telephone town halls and Facebook lives and all of that. so today we're gonna take some some questions I have had a few questions. That were submitted on my website and on Facebook that I'll take first is if folks wanna continue to ask questions in the comments below this, I welcome that but let me start with the ones that were submitted. Chris from Tacoma as I wonder if you are someone in your office could tell me if the postmaster General's office has any influence over vote by mail and if the new postmaster general could implement policies that would constrain voting participation voting rights in some parts of the. I'm less concerned, he wrote about this as a problem in our district or in our state, but more concerned about it in swing States or swing districts and battleground States and regions where voting rights have already been restricted by recent Supreme Court actions and state government actions. So Chris thanks for the question and I you know, obviously we we saw some of this come to pass already last month in the state of Wisconsin, where I you saw either on one hand. Thousands of people who've got disenfranchised because they weren't able to go to their polling place and could not receive a ballot and then you saw a bunch of people standing in line in close proximity to each other, even in the midst of this pandemic and I think both of those dynamics are really troubling and you're right. This does get wrapped up a little bit with the Postal Service as well. So let me kind of lay out the two different issues the postmaster. Per say doesn't have a whole lot to say in elections, but there is a tie between elections in the US Postal Service because the Postal Service has said that in the absence of additional funds from the federal government that uninterrupted Mail service may not last past September, and if you think about the timing of that could jeopardize things like voters getting their ballots or getting voter guides or in some States, getting things like motor cards or postcards this. In part by declining revenue for the Postal Service in the midst of this pandemic, the other thing is you know, frankly and not to get too far into the weeds on this. The Postal Service has a requirement that frankly, I don't know of another employer on the planet that has this requirement and this happened before I got to Congress passed a law requiring the Postal Service to pre-fund all employee benefits, including for employer employees that haven't even been born yet in the abs. Of that requirement, the Postal Service would be in the black and so I prior to this pandemic was a sponsor of a bill to try to address that in the Heroes Act that we saw pass out of the House last last week, there was some funding Toure up the solvency of the Postal Service. The other thing, and you mentioned this not every state has provisions for vote by mail or vote or vote at. Option so I I I've been someone who's been supportive of allowing vote-by-mail again even before this pandemic, but I think it's even more important. now. our state has that interesting enough. I got a call from a reporter at the beginning of this and they said cuz we're coming up on the Washington State presidential primary and this reporter from the East Coast, said. You know. so how does this pandemic affect the election in Washington State to which I responded well other than the fact that. Secretary of State says we shouldn't lick our our envelopes. It doesn't really affect us at all and so in the Heroes Act that passed Friday, there was funding for grants for States for things like contingency planning and preparation and elections resilience. It would also require at least 15 days of early voting for elections and ensuring that every single voter can have access to no excuse absentee vote by mail I think that makes a heck of a lot of sense. I'm a sponsor of a standalone bill that would require that as well but the Care Act, which was bipartisan, had some funding for this. I had a 400 million dollars for States to help prepare for the 2020 elections to allow for things like establishing vote by mail to allow for expanding early voting and online registration and those sorts of things. But you know, I think it's really important that nobody should have to put themselves in dire circumstances just to be able to exercise their civic duties. So thank you for that question. Let me see we had a few others that were submitted Judy from Aaha asked she said, As I'm sure you know, Representative Denny Heck is submitting a bill number 6314 entitled the Emergency Rental Assistance Act. Please support this as part of covet assistance bills. People have lost their jobs and owe their rent now and can't afford to wait the time needed before receiving their first payment. Judy I got good news. For you, I am with you I'm actually an original cosponsor of that bill. You know, listen even before any of us had ever heard of Corona virus, we were already having challenges related to housing with the cost and at sustainability of housing and now as we go through the effort to combat this Corona virus, I think it's really important to embrace the notion that people shouldn't lose their home for something that that's not their fault. So the Cares Act had some provisions to make sure that folks were. To avoid eviction and avoid foreclosure but those bills will eventually come to and that's where the bill that you're talking about gets really important. for those who haven't followed this so the bill that Judy wrote in about is called the emergent the Emergency Rental Assistance Act and basically with increase the availability of short-term rental assistance for folks that are going through tough times and it would expand something that already exists called the Emergency Solutions Grant program this bill would provide. A hundred billion dollars to that program for a short term rental assistance and so I'm a sponsor of that bill as a stand-alone bill. the other good news, Judy is that Bill was actually written into the Heroes Act, which passed out of the House last week, and there were some other provisions in the Heroes Act again targeted at housing finance providing more housing assistance to people who might be at risk of homelessness or Maybe dealing with other challenges related to this pandemic so a lot of help for renters in the Heroes Act. That's one of the reasons I'm pushing for the Senate to act on that bill. So thanks for the question, Judy let's see I had a couple of questions all around the issue of Hazard Paymy and Julie both had questions about Hazard pay you know folks who are working essential jobs but only. 1250 an hour and get exposed to the virus. Tamm asked what about for federal workers so good questions. Let me tackle this issue broadly on a couple of fronts first, we know that during this time, it is without a doubt that we've seen countless folks really step up and go above and beyond the call of duty nurses and grocery workers and caregivers and law enforcement. And social workers and firefighters, you know, so many others have stepped up in a really big way So one you're you're question around. Shouldn't we be getting some hazard pay my answer to that is yeah, I think are essential worker should have the Heroes Act, which is a bill We voted on Friday actually establishes a fund for essential workers to receive Hazard pay, and I supported that the other important thing is that beyond the pay. It's important that we provide protections for these workers and for their families so that they don't get this nasty virus and so one of the things I've been working hard on is trying to expand the availability of personal protective equipment. I've heard the President say that we are at war against a an invisible enemy this Corona virus and the reality is we wouldn't send our soldiers to war without the equipment they need to win to be safe and in this war that equipment. Is personal protective equipment and things like masks and gloves and I think it's really important that there are that that are essential workers are able to access those things and so there were actually provisions in the Heroes Act. for that as well, there was some other provisions related to, for example, making sure that they're that employers have in place infection control plan to protect worker. requiring the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to basically put rules in place that are based on science so that as we reopen our economy, we don't see workers put in harm's way and we don't see a whole bunch of additional cases of this nasty virus and then finally Tammy had asked about federal workers and the largest employer in my district is the United States Navy and we have some amazing folks. Women who are showing up every day even throughout this entire pandemic. I give a lot of credit to the shipyard for I'm trying to make sure those workers who are maintaining our carriers and our submarines that they're not put in harm's way So providing things like personal protective equipment and additional screens but this is one where in terms of hazard pay it actually doesn't require passing a law. The Navy could do it on their own and so I let a group of lawmakers who represent our four new. Shipyards across the country in asking the Navy to expand support for these workers and to provide with the Navy calls incentive pay. but what most of us call hazard pay. And so we're pushing for that to happen. I think it actually is important. we also wanna make sure they provide a personal protective equipment. you know throw away as as possible. So thanks for that question. let's see Sarah from Bainbridge Rodin. And so after the passage of the coveted relief bill, it became apparent that many very small businesses were competing with large very large businesses, as well as medium sized businesses for relief funds. I'm wondering why we don't have instead of 23 category 23 categories of businesses large over 500 medium 10 to 500 and small under 10, and that would prevent very small businesses from having to compete with the medium sized and larger Thank you sir. For your question, yeah. I think you guys are really good point and Congress has already passed some things to try to get at that problem by providing a more of the assistance that that's provided under the paycheck protection program. That's that new SBA program that provides assistance to employers. It's loans, but those loans can be forgiven if they hold on to their employees and something. Has already passed that has been signed into law is to have more of those funds run through small community based lenders or small banks and small credit unions so that those are folks that generally have relationships with those mom and pop shops in the community rather than with big business and I think that's important. The other thing is so last Friday, Congress passed the Heroes Act and it did exactly what you suggested it actually made a carve out so that 20 - five percent of the funds that paycheck protection program would be dedicated for employers'. Employees or fewer I've also sponsored a bill that would provide actually some Grant assistance to those very small employers that are really just struggling to make ends meet through this on the other thing that I guess I wanna mention is I think it's really important that the money gets where it needs to go and I was frustrated and I'm sure many of you are frustrated and hearing that the. Protection program You know that was set up to help Main Street employers not to help large publicly traded companies. It was not set up to help the Los Angeles Lakers. I grew up here in the state of Washington. I've lived here with the exception of College and graduate school my entire life. I've always hated the Los Angeles Lakers. I really hate them when I hear that they tried to take money that was intended for mainstream employers. this money wasn't for them. It was intended to help our main Street employers not to pay LeBron's salary and so I think. Really important that that dollars get where they're most intended and we had a hearing of the Appropriations Committee where we had a conversation with Treasury Secretary raised those concerns and was frankly pleased to hear agreement on that front. so so we'll keep pushing on that front too. I had a Twitter question about proxy voting. Can you explain that why? Need that so you know I mentioned last week I was in Washington DC next week. I will be in Washington DC again at to vote having said that there are some communities that are locked down or on stay home orders. There are colleagues of mine that are medically fragile and we're in the midst of a global pandemic and so rules were put in place to allow Congress to do some of it's business remotely. Two big rules changes one was to allow for for for proxy voting, where a member could basically indicate this is how I would want to vote. they would have to have kind of a paper trail to demonstrate that, and then someone could basically do their vote for them while they're why they are self isolated or self quarantined or something like that. the other thing is to. For remote Committee hearings, so that committees can continue to do their work. I think that's actually really important oversight right now is more important than ever. Congress is obviously passed a big chunk of money to address this pandemic. I think it's really important to make sure those dollars are spent efficiently and effectively not wastefully and so part of the role of Congress is to do that oversight not to mention to do legislating and that generally happens best when it happens through the Committee process. So I'm. Hopefully that helps sort of layout some of that let's see Kathy asked what are you doing to help small farms? it's a great question and it's really important. obviously our agricultural providers are an important part of our economy also really important. it really important just in terms of providing food to people in our area, The Cares Act. Was a bipartisan bill that was signed into law actually provided I think it was about nine and a half billion dollars to assist specialty crop producers and folks who support our local food system, our farmers and our farmers markets and as well as our livestock and dairy producers, but in the Heroes Act, which passed Friday and that hasn't become law yet, it's only passed out of the House. There was some additional support for local farmers and for farmers markets and. A local food outlets that have been impacted by all of this I'm also a sponsor of a bill called the Farmers Feeding Families Act, which would provide some direct assistance to purchase goods from small and medium farmers and producers who may have seen their businesses really disrupted right now. I know early on there were some concerns about the paycheck protection program, not providing help to family farms. Thankfully that got fixed. and so now the that paycheck protection program farms are eligible for that assistance and that's a good thing because we need to make sure that they're able to weather whether this storm. Let's see Tim and Eileen Rodin about reopening the economy. Yeah, I think all of us are pretty impatient about things right now that you know this is stuff that you know having to work from home. you know I talked to an employer week or two back who said you know it's took me 32 years to build my business. I have a lot of families who depend on me for a paycheck and you know I'm making decisions in real time about whether or not to just. fold the tent or whether I can hunker down and and and try to plow plow ahead and so I think all of us want to see things get get cook again having said that as much as this stinks, what would really think is having to do it twice. And so that's why you know, I think you see an approach that is probably not gonna be just flipping a switch but rather a dial as the governor has said based on science. And based on trying to void a whole bunch, more people getting sick. a key component of that is something that I've been pushing for since the very beginning and that is really ramping up testing capacity. You know you can go back to the fourth of February Senator Murray and I am 50 odd members of Congress sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control, saying we really have to ramp up testing because the way we can feel comfortable that you know the people who are entering our shops. Our coworkers aren't sick is to make sure that they've been tested and unfortunately we are. As a country way behind on that front now, the Heroes Act provided very substantial funding to ramp up testing you'd already seen a requirement put in place that the administration produced a National strategy around testing capacity. I think that's really important because again testing and contact tracing are gonna be a critical component to getting our economy reopened and keeping people safe. thanks to Tim and Eileen The question let's see Karen and Natalie asked about the development of of a vaccine or treatments. What steps can can Congress take Thank you, Karen and Natalie for that question the the The biggest chunk of this is funding so the carriers Act actually provided more than three billion dollars for research and development of vaccines and therapeutics, and to ensure that once those vaccines are developed that that they're affordable. People can actually get them so that is underway on top of that we've had frequent conversations with the Centers for Disease Control and the NIH and the FDA around vaccine development obviously, and just yesterday I was on a call with Doctor Fuchs and there were questions about this. You know how do we make sure that this can happen both safely but in a in a more speedy fashion and so you're starting to see things like consideration of things like challenge trials that could enable our country to more actively deploy. Vaccines and that's something that you've seen Congress way in on let's see Luke asked about a broadband. Yeah. great question. you know, I think one of the main takeaways that I have is you know we've been working on access to broadband on bridging bridging the digital divide even before any of us had ever heard of Corona virus. But what this pandemic is really shown is just how important that is you know. And you know access to broadband can be the difference between a kid who's school has been cancelled being able to continue learning or not it can mean the difference for an employer who's storefront is shut down. You know it can mean the difference between whether they can keep operating or not for someone who's been laid off. it can mean the difference between being able to apply for unemployment assistance or not, and so you know access to broadband is not just about whether you can watch Tiger King on Netflix, which. If you haven't seen it, it's totally bonkers but it is I think a vital importance you have seen some funding for this, including in the Heroes Act. There's been some funding to try to provide assistance through the E-rate program and to bridge that digital divide, But I actually think far more is required on this front and something that I've been working on. I am also the sponsor of a bill called the broadband for all act, which would the tax code to to try to help folks who are currently don't have access to broadband. So we're working on it. Luke and I think it's just really important. let me just say one other thing on that front. What you've seen out of Congress so far, I've heard the media characterize the stimulus. I don't think it's really stimulus. I think it's really been targeted around stopping the bleeding at some point. Are we we may need to see and you've seen Democrats and Republicans in the House? The Senate and the White House say we ought to be looking at doing some infrastructure investment in this country. Interest rates are low according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, American infrastructure great at a D plus you know not just roads and bridges, but things like broadband and so my hope is that you see some effort to make some smart investments in infrastructure to bridge the digital divide. And to solve some of the infrastructure challenges we have as a as a as a country. let's see Vet Rider ask how much is Bill Gates paying me well nothing I work for you and that's maybe a good opportunity for me to share with you ways in which our office can be helpful to folks who are watching this. A half of my team does what we call casework So if someone's grappling with the federal agency, we go to work on their behalf. I talked last week with the family of a father and a son who We got outreach from and the Sun was stuck in a foreign country and his dad reached out and said, Can you help us get our son repatriated and my office worked on that and actually we were able to help get him home sooner. We and maybe we'll share some more information with folks about that. in another Facebook live at some point. you know my office is working full time and making sure that folks it's one thing to make sure that they. Our resources through the small business administration to help help employers whether the storm, but those resources are no good if employers don't know how to use them and if they don't know about them and so my team and I have been spending a whole lot of time just making sure that our local employers are able to access that information and access those programs you know and sometimes part of the way we work for you is if you raise concerns about an issue, we can go to work on them. so we had a. Someone who reached out to our office who said, you know I contributed to an FSA, a flexible spending account so that I can cover some of my medical costs that my insurance doesn't cover and you know, but there's an expiration date of the end of the year on that flexible spending account, and that doesn't seem really fair because we've just gone through two months where I can't do any sort of. Elective procedures you know someone who need to have their knee scope and you know that's not really happening right now and so I sponsored a bill. It's a bipartisan bill to basically just move that expiration date and the additional year so that those dollars don't disappear and that people aren't getting host for something That's not their fault who is a legislative technical term. in this instance, and frankly, that idea literally came from outreach, we got from one of our constituents so. A Vet Rider thanks for the question, but the short answer is I work for the people of Washington Sixth Congressional district, and maybe that's a good way to wrap up the folks have issues if you're something that I can do to lend a hand please don't hesitate to reach out to our office. if you've got an idea a concern or if you're having an issue with the federal agency, where you think we can lend a hand just give us a call so thanks for watching everybody keep taking care of yourself and take care of. Keep washing your hands and we'll be back to you soon. Thanks.