[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 77 (Thursday, April 23, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E383-E385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SUPPORTING H. RES. 935, CREATING A SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE 
                           CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 23, 2020

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record 
the following letter in support of the creation on the Select 
Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis:

                                   Committee on Homeland Security,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                   Washington, DC, April 13, 2020.
     Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
     Speaker, House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Steny Hoyer,
     Majority Leader, House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. James E. Clyburn,
     Majority Whip, House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader Hoyer, and Whip Clyburn: I 
     write today to express my strong support for the creation of 
     the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, and to 
     thank you for your leadership of the House of 
     Representatives' ongoing work in response to the 
     unprecedented public health and economic crises we are 
     facing. I also thank you for your continued focus on ensuring 
     effective oversight of the trillions of taxpayer dollars that 
     are being directed to support our nation's recovery.
       As work continues on the establishment of the Select 
     Committee, I write to recommend specific cross-cutting issues 
     regarding implementation of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and 
     Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Families First Coronavirus 
     Response Act, and other legislation addressing the 
     coronavirus pandemic that require sustained oversight from 
     the Select Committee. My comments encompass three broad 
     areas, as described in more detail below. I appreciate your 
     consideration of these recommendations and look forward to 
     working closely with you and the Select Committee to address 
     these urgent issues.


              Structure, Operations, and First Priorities

       To be most effective, the Select Committee must be capable 
     of producing hard-hitting findings and concrete 
     recommendations in near real-time to help shape the course of 
     the Federal response. The Select Committee must be organized 
     quickly, and it must be allocated the robust budget necessary 
     to ensure it is staffed by experts in such fields as public 
     health, economics, public finance, and the operations of 
     Federal programs.
       As there may be sustained efforts to impede oversight of 
     the Federal response to the pandemic, the Committee must 
     quickly establish effective working relationships with the 
     oversight entities created in CARES and other legislation and 
     with agency Inspectors

[[Page E384]]

     General. However, the Committee must also be prepared on day 
     one to seek relevant documents and information, particularly 
     regarding those programs deemed to be at high risk, and it 
     must be agile in responding to the information it receives.
       I strongly agree the Committee must work to eliminate 
     ``waste, fraud, and abuse'' and ``price gouging and 
     profiteering.'' The Select Committee must also be the central 
     mechanism the House uses to measure Federal expenditures 
     against two critical, over-arching benchmarks: their 
     effectiveness in supporting recovery among those most 
     affected by COVID-19 and their effectiveness in preventing 
     and preparing for future waves of infection. In addition to 
     examining specific expenditures, the Committee must also 
     closely examine the responsibilities, authorities, and 
     capacities of both Federal and state agencies charged with 
     implementing the CARES Act and other legislation related to 
     the pandemic, and hold senior agency leadership accountable 
     for managing programs in ways that will achieve national 
     recovery and preparedness objectives while effectively 
     stewarding taxpayer resources.
       There are two key priorities that require immediate 
     attention. First, the Select Committee must conduct 
     comprehensive oversight of the supply chains through which 
     personal protective equipment (PPE) and essential medical 
     supplies and equipment are distributed to states. The 
     Committee on Homeland Security has written to the Department 
     of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Health and 
     Human Services (HHS), and the Federal Emergency Management 
     Agency (FEMA) seeking basic information on distributions of 
     PPE and essential medical supplies and equipment from the 
     Strategic National Stockpile, as well as the subsequent 
     Federal role in acquiring PPE and medical supplies and 
     equipment, supporting private supply chains, and actively 
     managing the sale of PPE and essential medical supplies and 
     equipment to states and counties.
       To date, DHS, HHS, and FEMA have failed to provide the 
     documents and information sought by the Committee. Ensuring 
     that all health care workers have the PPE and medical 
     supplies and equipment they need to test and treat patients 
     with COVID-19 is one of the most urgent issues facing the 
     nation at this time, and yet Congress has little visibility 
     into the opaque and evolving roles of DHS, HHS, and FEMA in 
     the acquisition and distribution processes. The Select 
     Committee must quickly initiate oversight over this issue.
       Similarly, the Select Committee must conduct thorough 
     oversight of testing processes, particularly as the country 
     prepares to begin relaxing social distancing protocols. The 
     availability of testing kits and effective contact tracing 
     procedures when new cases of COVID-19 are diagnosed will be 
     essential to enabling the nation to safely resume near-normal 
     economic activity, and oversight of these processes must be a 
     key priority for the Select Committee.


 Focus on Minority Communities Disproportionately Affected by COVID-19

       Although additional data are clearly needed, emerging 
     evidence indicates that communities of color are 
     disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and that mortality 
     may be much higher among minorities than among other groups. 
     For example, in my state of Mississippi, approximately 38% of 
     residents are African Americans. However, the State 
     Department of Health has reported that, as of April 9, 2020, 
     54% of those diagnosed with COVID-19 are African American 
     while 35% are white. Further, 67% of those who had died from 
     COVID-19 in the state as of April 9 were African American, 
     while 33% were white. African Americans who died from COVID-
     19 were also far more likely to have had underlying health 
     conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. These 
     infection, morbidity, and mortality statistics demonstrate 
     the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on communities of 
     color.
       Unfortunately, the trends observed in Mississippi appear to 
     be prevalent across the nation. For example, according to the 
     New York Times, ``The coronavirus is killing black and Latino 
     people in New York City at twice the rate that it is killing 
     white people'' according to preliminary date released last 
     week by the City of New York. And an analysis by the 
     Washington Post found that ``counties that are majority-black 
     have three times the rate of infections and almost six times 
     the rate of deaths as counties where white residents are in 
     the majority. Keeping in mind that minority communities may 
     have more limited access to testing for COVID-19, it is also 
     possible that rates of infection, morbidity, and even 
     mortality among minorities are being under-reported.
       The Select Committee must document the disproportionate 
     impact of COVID-19 on communities of color. All aspects of 
     the Committee's work must be informed by this data so that 
     the Committee can maintain a laser-focus on detailing how 
     Federal policies are responding to this disproportionate 
     impact by addressing the many factors that leave minority 
     communities so vulnerable to this disease.
       The Select Committee must review public health strategies 
     to ensure that they address the heightened risks of infection 
     and death from COVID-19 in minority communities. The 
     Committee must also rigorously assess the extent to which 
     under CARES and other legislation, Federal expenditures in 
     the healthcare, education, social welfare, and industry 
     rescue sectors address the pandemic's disproportionate 
     effects on minority communities, including the extent to 
     which expenditures narrow or exacerbate the inequality 
     prevalent before the crisis, and whether expenditures improve 
     resilience among at-risk communities. Similarly, as part of 
     its review of small business lending, the Select Committee 
     must carefully review lending patterns to disadvantaged 
     business enterprises.
       Finally, it is likely that highly vulnerable populations--
     such as children, individuals with special needs, and the 
     elderly--may face unique and especially difficult long-term 
     consequences as a result of the pandemic and the economic 
     displacement it causes. Of particular concern is addressing 
     the impact of the crisis on children. Just over 16% of 
     children in the U.S. lived in poverty in 2018--and, sadly, 
     that figure is likely to spike as a result of the coronavirus 
     pandemic. Science is also clear that adverse childhood events 
     (ACES) can ``have lasting, negative effects on health, well-
     being, and opportunity.'' While poverty is not itself an ACE, 
     the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 
     identifies it as an associated condition and warns that 
     together, ``ACES and associated conditions, such as living in 
     under-resourced or racially segregated neighborhoods'' and 
     ``experiencing food insecurity'' can lead to ``toxic 
     stress,'' which ``can change brain development'' in ways that 
     have life-time consequences. At a time when millions of 
     families are losing employment and struggling to make ends 
     meet--and children may be unable to attend school for as long 
     as half a year--the Select Committee must examine the unique 
     needs of children during this crisis and assess how Federal 
     aid efforts are meeting these needs.


                 Prioritizing the Protection of Workers

       Obviously, the Select Committee must carefully review the 
     loans, loan guarantees, and other investments made in 
     eligible businesses in distressed economic sectors under 
     CARES and other legislation, including the covenants, 
     representations, warranties, and other requirements imposed 
     as conditions of aid. However, because of the Senate's 
     unwillingness to impose stricter worker-protection criteria, 
     the CARES Act has only limited protections to ensure that 
     businesses receiving aid prioritize the retention of workers 
     ``to the extent practicable.'' The Committee must 
     therefore document the full impact of Federal aid to 
     industry on job retention, workers' wages and benefits, 
     and economic recovery among low-income and middle-class 
     Americans, including assessing the trajectory of recovery 
     among different income brackets and the long-term 
     consequences of potentially uneven recovery on economic 
     inequality among Americans.
       The Committee must also closely assess whether Federal aid 
     is comprehensively addressing what may be the profound 
     cascade of economic harms that the prolonged shutdown of 
     economic activity needed to slow the spread of coronavirus 
     will impose on low-income and even middle-class families. 
     According to the Federal Reserve, even before the pandemic 
     hit, approximately 40% of Americans reported that they would 
     have ``difficulty'' covering an extra expense of $400, and 
     minorities were more likely than other groups to report they 
     would face such difficulty. The harms suffered by those who 
     were already living on the margins as a result of this crisis 
     are likely to be severe and multi-faceted.
       The direct payments and expanded unemployment benefits 
     provided by CARES and other legislation will provide 
     essential support in the short-term, but the disruptions 
     workers and their families face will likely lead to 
     unforeseen conditions that may continue to destroy household 
     wealth. Newly unemployed Americans will also be facing 
     challenges unique to this moment, including the need to seek 
     new work at a time when the national economy will likely be 
     contracting. The Select Committee must assess whether Federal 
     expenditures address in a comprehensive manner the full 
     spectrum of harms families may face.
       Finally, many of those who have lost their jobs as a result 
     of the pandemic will also lose their employer-sponsored 
     healthcare. While newly unemployed individuals and families 
     could seek insurance on the exchanges created by the 
     Affordable Care Act or may even qualify for Medicaid, as you 
     well know, the ``Trump administration in recent years has 
     also added more red tape and obstacles for people looking to 
     sign up for those programs and hasn't shown any signs it will 
     waive those requirements because of the pandemic. It is 
     imperative that the Select Committee examine how the hurdles 
     intentionally placed in the way of accessing health care 
     under the Affordable Care Act are affecting those who lose 
     health insurance when they become unemployed as a result of 
     the coronavirus.


                               Conclusion

       I truly appreciate your leadership in these unprecedented 
     times. A Select Committee is urgently needed to conduct 
     oversight of the issues of greatest concern to the American 
     public during our ongoing effort to combat COVID-19 and 
     restore our economy, and I thank you for the opportunity to 
     share these observations and recommendations regarding that 
     Committee's work. Please do not hesitate to contact me 
     whenever I may be of any assistance.
           Sincerely,
                                               Bennie G. Thompson,
                                                         Chairman.

[[Page E385]]

  

                          ____________________