Sen. Murray Statement on Senate Republicans' Proposed Coronavirus Relief Package

WASHINGTON, March 21 -- Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, ranking Democratic member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following statement on the Senate Republicans' proposed coronavirus relief package:

"Since the beginning of our response efforts I've made two things clear: we need to address this as the public health crisis it is, and the people who are most directly impacted--health care workers, families, communities, small businesses--must be put first.

"Our focus must be on relief for people, not bailouts for big corporations."

"This means we need steps like a massive investment in our public health infrastructure so we have the capacity to test and treat everyone who needs it, we need to ensure all workers are able to get access to paid sick leave and that small businesses can get quickly reimbursed, we need relief for students and others who've had the rug pulled out from under them, and we need to ensure our local economies can survive and recover."

"The Senate Republican proposal is completely inadequate on each of these priorities and I'm going to continue doing everything I can to make sure they are reflected in the final product."