Dear Friend,

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, my top priority has been to provide our nation and our Commonwealth with the tools we need to fight this pandemic and help workers and small businesses make it through these tough times. I want to update you today on the work I've been doing in the Senate to deal with this crisis.

Late last night, the Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan coronavirus relief package—the third piece of coronavirus response legislation we’ve passed this month.

This $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill is intended to help workers who have lost jobs or paychecks due to the coronavirus, small and medium-sized businesses struggling to stay afloat, as well as hospitals and local governments facing financial strain because of the coronavirus. Specifically, the legislation provides emergency cash payments to Americans, loans and grants to rescue small businesses, a “Marshall Plan” for America’s hospitals, and a significant expansion of unemployment insurance.

You can learn more about what’s being called the “Phase III” coronavirus bill in the video below.

For days, I was in direct negotiations with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and my colleagues from both parties, working to include specific provisions that would help Virginia workers and local businesses. I’m proud that the legislation includes several major provisions that I authored to help Virginia families and small businesses who need it most.

In light of the significant size of this legislation, I also worked to ensure that the legislation includes robust worker protections and transparency measures to make sure taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. This includes restrictions on stock buybacks and excessive executive compensation for companies receiving government assistance, as well as full, real-time reporting of government loans to companies, and an inspector general to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

We will get through this challenge, but it is important that we all work together to stop the spread of the virus and help our economy recover. For more information about how you can protect yourself, and for a full list of my efforts on the coronavirus, I encourage you to visit the coronavirus updates page on my website.

Now I want to hear from you. Will you use the survey below to share your thoughts on the coronavirus?

If you want to share your thoughts about an issue that’s important to you, you can send me an email any time using the form on my Senate website. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

P.S. My office also stands ready to assist Virginians with both coronavirus and non-coronavirus federal issues. If you or a loved one is currently experiencing an issue with a federal agency, please click here to contact my office.