Watched C-Span2, US Senate Discussion on Emergency Paid Sick Leave

I was watching C-Span2 yesterday morning...they show live floor proceedings of the United States Senate.  I saw two of the Democratic senators, Ohio's Sherrod Brown and Washington's Patty Murray, try to introduce a bill that would, in light of the coronavirus outbreak, temporarily mandate employers to provide a set amount of paid sick leave for employees who either felt ill or were compelled to care for someone in their family.  On the surface it sounded reasonable, but then Tennessee Republican senator Lamar Alexander arose to respectfully object, saying that the government should fund its own mandates and that he is opposed to legislators patting themselves on the back for passing laws that put the burden on someone else...businesses and the economy in general have their hands more than full trying to endure this epidemic.  I happen to agree with him, on the condition that he back up his words that he would work with Murray to come up with a better bill...

Alexander and Murray work as leaders on the committee responsible for working out this type of legislation before bringing it to the Senate floor.  Let's see whether these two good senators can quickly produce an improved version with the same intent...sometimes I wonder whether some politicians, especially those on the left end of the spectrum, truly understand the small margins that many small business operators survive on.  But I also see another problem: the notion of raising everyone's taxes a little to fund the government's necessary responses to emergencies is anathema to some politicians on the other, right, end of the spectrum...resulting in truly broken government.  Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing if something good can come out of this crisis and our elected officials can actually get together and pass something that works.  For me, I enjoy paid sick leave benefits on my job as well as those with whom I work, but in so many other businesses...many of which you and I frequent...employees either go to work or don't get paid.  With the coronavirus around us, they shouldn't be forced to make such a decision because this just increases the disease's spread and its danger to the community. Maybe the White House and Congress can include government-funded emergency paid sick leave as part of their current negotiations on how to deal with the virus and its transmission...