[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 5, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2235-S2239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Coronavirus
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, when it comes to the virus pandemic
that faces the world, the World Health Organization is not serving its
member nations the way it should. The World Health Organization's
mission is to promote worldwide health, to reduce the burdens of
disease and poverty, and to provide access to healthcare, especially
for the world's most vulnerable populations. The World Health
Organization states as its guiding principle that all people should
enjoy the highest standard of health regardless of race, religion,
economics, social condition, or political belief. It serves primarily
as a coordinating body to share information and best practices by
connecting experts in different countries.
The virus that emerged in Wuhan, China, which has caused the disease
now known as COVID-19, has had a devastating impact on the health of
people worldwide as well as the global economy. Nations, including the
United States, have been scrambling to deal with the impact of the
virus since the beginning of the year. Without a doubt, worldwide
efforts to combat COVID-19 would have been greatly benefited from
independent, unbiased, and informative data from the world's leader in
health, the World Health Organization. Unfortunately, information
coming from this organization since the beginning of the year has left
much to be desired in its often providing information that we know now
to be inaccurate or at least incomplete. The American people and the
citizens of every country--all of whom rely on direct and truthful
information--deserve better from Dr. Tedros and his team who lead the
World Health Organization.
China, which is where the current crisis began, has not done its part
either in its seeking of or in providing that very crucial information
that, had
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it come out sooner, would have saved many lives. As an example of
China's not cooperating, a doctor in Wuhan, China, by the name of Dr.
Li Wenliang, raised concerns about the growing pandemic in early
January. Dr. Li tried to blow the whistle on the spread of one of the
world's deadliest diseases. Do you know what he got for doing that? He
was punished by the Communist Chinese Government for ``spreading
rumors.''
Tragically, Dr. Li passed away in early February due to this virus,
COVID-19. After the death of Dr. Li, he actually became a rallying
point for Chinese citizens who were very upset about their government's
coverup of this virus. Only then, after he died and after the public
outroar, did the Chinese Government apologize to his family and
posthumously drop Dr. Li's reprimand. Throughout this time, the World
Health Organization demonstrated no interest in the accurate and
verifiable information on the true dangers of this virus.
We now know that, in late December 2019, Taiwanese officials sounded
the alarm directly to the World Health Organization about the human-to-
human transmission of the virus. Prior to that, it was only thought
there was an animal-to-human transmission, but Taiwanese officials blew
the whistle. The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control sent an email to
the World Health Organization--an email that has now been forwarded to
my office and has been widely reported. It warned of ``at least seven
atypical pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China.'' Additionally, this email
communication noted that those individuals had been isolated for
treatment, which we now know is said to be the standard operating
procedure for preventing human-to-human transmission, but still, at
that time, it was considered to be animal to human.
Taken together, this information should have been very much a red
flag to the World Health Organization's leadership that the virus was
capable of having human-to-human transmission. Unfortunately, the World
Health Organization chose to ignore these warnings and, thus, failed to
pass on this critical information to other countries. Instead, what did
the World Health Organization do? It was complicit in the Chinese
Government's coverup. It stated the opposite--that there was not human-
to-human transmission. In fact, the World Health Organization even
retweeted Chinese propaganda on January 14--that there was ``no clear
evidence of human-to-human transmission,'' which is contrary to the
information that the World Health Organization got from the Taiwanese.
It ought to be very clear that misleading the public like this is
simply egregious. By sidelining Taiwan's participation, which has one
of the lowest known COVID-19 infection rates per capita, despite its
proximity to Mainland China, the World Health Organization stymied
information about a more effective response to the pandemic. It was
during these critical days back in January when the spread of the virus
could have been greatly slowed or even contained and could have saved a
lot of lives.
The World Health Organization's mandate is to coordinate responses
and facilitate information sharing to all of its members on a health
emergency--members which include probably almost every country on this
globe. This gross mishandling of the organization's most important
mandate has cost countless lives around the world.
While China covered up the extent of the virus's spread, the World
Health Organization continued to praise China for its so-called
proactive response and transparency. General Secretary Xi waited a
crucial 6 days, until January 20, before announcing the findings by
China's National Health Commission about the danger of the widespread
human-to-human coronavirus contagion. Now, just think for a while of
the time lost between Taiwan's warning to the World Health Organization
in late December 2019 and General Secretary Xi's admitting on January
20 of its human-to-human transmission. That time lost could have saved
the whole world thousands of lives because they could have been on top
of the situation as to how bad it was, which was much more than anybody
knew at that particular time
General Secretary Xi's government also delayed an access request for
the World Health Organization's experts to visit affected regions at
the end of January by almost 2 weeks--another 2 weeks lost. He has also
continually fed disinformation to foreign citizens via several
misleading tweets by his foreign ministry and multiple unfounded claims
that have been posted on state-run media websites.
Despite this and also other evidence that China actively silenced
whistleblowers and doctors domestically and that the Communist Party's
officials were aware of the spread well before reporting it, the World
Health Organization's officials continued to praise China's response
and transparency. The World Health Organization lauded China for
releasing the virus's genome in mid-January while it neglected to
mention that it took China at least 14 days to do this even as the
virus continued to spread across Europe and reach America.
Dr. Tedros said in early February that there was no need for measures
that unnecessarily interfered with international travel and trade in
trying to halt the spread of that coronavirus. Now, early February was
a few days after President Trump stopped travel from China except for
American citizens who were coming home. Yet, during that period of
time, Dr. Tedros thought it was unnecessary to interfere with
international travel.
Time and again, the World Health Organization endorsed and also
repeated Chinese Government talking points, and it did it all to the
rest of the world's detriment. We now know that there was a continued
flow of misinformation that came from the Chinese Government since the
onset of the pandemic with there being little to no pushback from the
World Health Organization as to whether that information was accurate.
In mid-February, officials from the World Health Organization--yet
again, uncritically--parroted Chinese Government propaganda by stating
that there were signs that confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19
had declined in China. The U.S. intelligence community has, in fact,
asserted that China misrepresented both the number of cases and its
death toll from the virus, concealing the real extent of the outbreak
in its country, and that China intentionally hid or even destroyed
evidence of the virus' outbreak.
In a dossier that was leaked to the Australian Daily Telegraph, it is
alleged that China began censoring information as early as December 31,
2019--precisely when Taiwan, in its caring about the whole world as it
knew what might be going on, was sounding that alarm to the World
Health Organization.
Previously, Chinese leaders came under incredible scrutiny by the
World Health Organization back in 2003 for the SARS outbreak. China was
not transparent with SARS, just like they weren't transparent until too
late in regard to this virus pandemic that we are fighting today. Back
then, the Chinese Government made sure that information regarding the
outbreak was not made public. At that point, the World Health
Organization did what they are responsible for doing: They publicly
reprimanded China back in 2003 on the SARS outbreak. Chinese leaders
then quickly fell in line with the rest of the world in sharing its
data with the World Health Organization member countries. If the World
Health Organization had been doing its job on this pandemic, then maybe
China would have been quicker admitting that its spread was human-to-
human and how bad it was even in their own country.
However, we are seeing a very different approach now to the
organization's handling of China's information suppression campaign,
with the World Health Organization often praising China for its
information sharing, but make no mistake, China has been nothing but
deceptive in its handling of COVID-19.
We must remember that China has a long history of not being
transparent with respect to the outbreaks of viruses, and there is
little to no evidence suggesting we should start believing China now--
meaning, of course, the Chinese Communist leaders. Nobody in this world
is going to hold the Chinese people responsible for this.
Global leaders are now coming to realize that China is responsible
for this pandemic, with global sentiment
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against the Chinese Communist Party at its highest since the 1999
Tiananmen Square crackdown.
It is important that world leaders, including President Trump, keep
pressure on China to finally be transparent with its data so we can
join together in combating this deadly disease. We have a report from
the Department of Homeland Security that says that China
``intentionally concealed the severity'' of the pandemic from the
world. To make matters worse, the report further states that while
China continues to downplay the pandemic, it began to increase imports
and decrease exports of medical supplies. This report from the
Department of Homeland Security suggests that China was beginning to
hoard these medical supplies from the rest of the world. So they knew
how bad this was in their own country. Secretary Pompeo recently stated
that there is a significant amount of evidence that this virus came
from the laboratory in Wuhan, China, contrary to what Chinese Communist
Party propagandists have been pushing throughout the world.
On April 9, I wrote to the World Health Organization seeking answers
to several questions regarding the organization's handling of COVID-19.
I wanted to know what the World Health Organization knew and when they
knew it. I asked that my questions be answered no later than May 1.
Much to my dismay, the World Health Organization has refused to answer
my questions about its handling of the virus. It would seem that the
organization is much more focused on covering for China than it is in
answering questions that every single American has a right to know.
Not only does the United States have the right to know this
information for the benefit of the world, because transparency brings
accountability, but because we give about $400 million a year to
support the World Health Organization. I believe we are the largest
contributor to it, and I believe China gives about 10 percent of what
the U.S. taxpayers put in. I want to state that I will continue to push
the World Health Organization for answers. There are probably a lot
more questions that ought to be asked in addition to the questions in
my letter.
Ultimately, the primary responsibility for this pandemic lies with
the Chinese Communist Government authorities who actively concealed the
outbreak since the fall of 2019 and suppressed the spread of accurate
information about the virus, but the World Health Organization also
bears responsibility for aiding and abetting the Chinese Communist
Party's coverup. That is why I support a full congressional
investigation into how the World Health Organization has bowed to
Chinese pressure with the COVID-19 outbreak. The leaders of the World
Health Organization need to be held accountable for their role in
promoting misinformation and helping China cover up this global
pandemic. Americans deserve to know what the World Health Organization
leaders knew and when they knew it.
I yield the floor
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Blackburn). The Senator from Wyoming.
Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today as the
Senate returns to help the country recover from coronavirus. This
global pandemic is hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-century
shock, but it has been an earthquake that continues to shake the world
to its core. Tragically, we have lost tens of thousands of Americans to
the disease, and our hearts and prayers go out to each of those
impacted and all of their loved ones.
More than 30 million Americans have lost their jobs in the last 6
weeks due to the virus and the State lockdowns that have been put in
place as a result of the virus. People want and need to get back to
work as soon as possible. It is vital we reopen America smartly and
safely and we do it as soon as we can.
Many States are starting to open. Wyoming did this past Friday. We
must all be prepared and alert for any likely aftershocks that will
occur from the virus.
The economy could not reopen had it not been for the major medical
progress we have been experiencing. Our heroic nurses, doctors, and
others on the frontlines have saved many lives. Testing in the United
States has been dramatically expanded, and we are producing promising
treatments. The American people deserve a lot of credit for their
tremendous sacrifices to contain the spread of the virus. Everyone in
my home State of Wyoming is suffering from the economic fallout, as are
Americans all across the country. The best way to help these people is
to push the start button on the economy.
The Senate is in session and will consider taking targeted temporary
and bipartisan relief measures. We are now assessing the relief money
that has already been spent. We know what has worked--the Paycheck
Protection Program funds that go to mom-and-pop organizations that are
part of the CARES Act has saved 30 million jobs. Small business is the
backbone of our economy, the engine of job creation. In Wyoming, the
program has been very successful and very popular. Before the pandemic,
the United States had record job growth and record low unemployment.
Our economy will bounce back, there is no question in my mind.
As we look to the future, in terms of recovery legislation, what we
need to do is to prevent a second epidemic. I am very concerned that
the second epidemic will be that of frivolous coronavirus lawsuits. Any
future legislation must focus on the virus and must include reasonable
liability protections for the hard-hit healthcare workers and for
American employers.
Opportunistic lawyers are already advertising, and they are targeting
the healthcare workers and small businesses that we have assisted
during the crisis. Ironically, the relief money could end up lining the
pockets of greedy trial lawyers.
As businesses bravely begin to reopen, class action lawsuits are
being planned nationwide. Ambulance chasers are running recruitment ads
right now that read ``receive a free coronavirus lawsuit review.'' They
go on to say: Call if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with COVID-
19 and you believe another party's negligence caused the exposure.
Nursing homes appear to be the prime target. One lawyer who described
himself as a ``coronavirus exposure lawyer'' encouraged action for
nursing home negligence. That is why nurses, doctors, and hospitals are
counting on Congress to pass commonsense liability reform.
Yet Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer say they oppose this critical
liability protection. Instead, Democrats are demanding more aid for
States and local governments. They want American taxpayers to bail out
States with long histories of financial mismanagement. That is already
on top of the $150 billion that the States have just received within
the last 2 weeks. Nancy Pelosi now wants a lot, lot more.
We put the full force of the American Government in this fight
against the coronavirus. We cannot afford to allow an avalanche of
abusive lawsuits to crush our awakening economy. Republicans will
insist on a legal shield for essential workers and for businesses
before spending another dime. It is our job to do everything that we
can to get people back to work and back to work safely.
The physical and economic health of our country is at stake today. We
are continuing to deliver financial support plus medical help to all
people across the country. One thing is clear: trial lawyers should not
profit from our Nation's pain. Together, America will come back and
Americans will come back and it will be stronger and better than ever.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, we are here in the U.S. Senate on
this Tuesday. We had a vote yesterday evening, the first that we have
had in some 6 weeks here. As I walked over to the Chamber just now from
the Hart Building, at 4 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon, the only
individuals whom I saw were the extraordinary men and
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women of the Capitol Police here in the building.
Suffice it to say, these are strange, unusual, challenging, and
difficult times as we face the COVID-19 pandemic and as we address the
challenges that our constituents, our friends, and our families are
dealing with at home, whether it be the impact of the virus itself on
our health and our health facilities or whether it be the impact--
truly, the economic devastation--that we are seeing in all corners of
the Nation.
So the opportunity to be together as a body to address these
challenges is important. It is challenging for us as we adapt to this
time and this situation of wearing protective masks, of being separated
from one another, of teleworking as we are. We are adapting. We are
facing that challenge. We rightly must be doing this because, as the
Nation deals with these matters related to the COVID-19, there are
other matters that are taking place every day--issues that need to be
addressed, problems that must be tackled, and matters of governance
that we must be engaged in.
National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and
Girls
Madam President, I woke up this morning and looked at my little news
caps with which to focus on the day, this Tuesday, and they noted that
today is Teacher Appreciation Day. We thank all of our teachers. Our
teachers are certainly in an unusual situation now, as all of our
students are. It is also Cinco de Mayo. It is also Giving Tuesday. For
many, it feels like Groundhog Day every day because of, again, this
strange time in which we are living. For so many, it just seems that
every day is more and more of the same.
Today, May 5, is also a day that we have recognized for several years
now as being the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women and Girls. It is a matter that I would like to speak
briefly to this afternoon. I recognize the devastation that so many
families have seen when it comes to those they love who have gone
missing or who have been found murdered, and I recognize the dark
reality that many, we know, are still missing.
Unfortunately, for far too long, there has been silence on this
issue. There has been a failure to act in the face of what we know and
sometimes in the not knowing of what we are dealing with because we
haven't asked the questions, which is equally problematic. It tears at
my heart to hear the stories of those whom I have come in contact with
in Alaska--a woman's story, a family's story--in that their words have
been discounted. They have been dismissed because the woman who went
missing or the woman who was murdered was a Native American woman.
We have to change that. We cannot accept that. We cannot let the
statistics that have really just been allowed to accumulate for too
long to remain as statistics. Every single one of these women was her
own person, each story her own life story, each a member of her
community. In addition to their being someone's lost daughters, wives,
mothers, sisters, we should mourn the promise that these missing and
murdered women meant to our communities--their being the next
generations of mentors, role models, and changemakers.
When women are murdered or abducted, when women are trafficked--when
individuals are left missing, discarded, or discounted--there is an
injustice that is being done, and we cannot let that continue. By
raising awareness of the epidemic, by giving these women their faces,
their names, and by telling their stories, we are shining a light on a
problem, and we are giving hope.
I acknowledge the work of a former colleague of mine here in the
Senate, Senator Heidi Heitkamp, who came to this floor often as a
strong, strong advocate for those Native women who have been dismissed
and discounted. She shared pictures, gave names, and went beyond the
statistics. She reminded me--encouraged me--that this is an effort
that, together, we must address.
Unfortunately, we all have the stories--the stories that sicken you
and just literally break your heart. The one that, perhaps, touches me
most immediately and directly is the life of Ashley Johnson Barr. She
was a beautiful 10-year-old girl who was taken from the children's
playground in her hometown of Kotzebue, AK, which is a Native village
on the northwest coast. She was brutally raped and murdered. Again, she
was taken from the kids' playground to just outside her town. Her death
and the tragedy around the circumstances of how she left the world are
still open. It is still raw and has left a permanent scar on Alaskan
communities.
What happened to Ashley is a reminder that, in my State,
unfortunately, there is a darkness that is still, to this day, very,
very hard to talk about, but we must. We have to talk about it. We have
to act on it. We cannot turn a blind eye simply because it is difficult
to talk about. We have to because we are seeing the stories that
represent these statistics in unprecedented proportions. Let me give
you some numbers to just put that into perspective.
Alaska Native women are 2\1/2\ times more likely to be victims of
domestic violence. In Tribal villages and Native communities, domestic
violence rates are up to 10 times higher than in the rest of the
Nation. In 2015, it was estimated that 40 percent of sex-trafficking
victims were Native Americans. Almost 40 percent of those who have been
trafficked have been Native Americans. The rate of sexual violence
victimization among Alaska's Native women is at least seven times
greater than of non-Native females.
Again, I will just say these are unprecedented proportions. So, when
we designate a day as a day of awareness--an awareness of those who
have gone missing and who have been murdered as being indigenous women
and girls--it has to be about more than awareness. It has to be about
action. This is where Senator Cortez Masto and I have picked up on this
work. She and I have worked together on several pieces of legislation
that have helped to pave the way for greater collaboration and data
collection between Federal agencies--our law enforcement and elected
Tribal officials--to not only understand the extent of the issues but
to develop methods with which to end these horrible crimes.
There are two bills. The first one is Savanna's Act. It combats the
epidemic of murdered and missing Native women and girls by improving
the Federal Government's response in addressing the crisis. We do this
through the coordination among all levels of law enforcement by
increasing data collection and information sharing and by empowering
Tribal governments with the resources they need in the cases involving
missing or murdered indigenous women and girls wherever they may occur.
The second piece of legislation is called the Not Invisible Act. It
is aimed at addressing the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked
Native women by engaging law enforcement, Tribal leaders, Federal
partners, and service providers and by improving the coordination
across the Federal agencies. The more we have reviewed this, we have
learned that so much of the data is lacking. We have gaps. We just
haven't been able to get the data that we need in order to do a better
job of coordinating with our agencies.
The good news from all of this is that both of these bills have
passed this body, and I thank my colleagues here in the Senate for
their support of the measures. We advanced them unanimously on March
11, which was just a little while before we left to deal with the COVID
pandemic. I truly want to thank the Senate for helping to prioritize
these measures to protect indigenous women.
In addition to these measures that we have passed in the Senate, we
have done more on the appropriations side. We have worked through the
committees, and for the first time in the appropriations bill that
President Trump signed in December, there was funding specifically
directed to address the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked
indigenous women--$6.5 million included for the BIA to take a really
comprehensive look at the issue across BIA and IHS, the Indian Health
Service.
It covers everything for the funding of cold casework, background
checks, equipment needs, training, and a directive to the IHS with
regard to forensic
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training. It also includes language that does more for the coordination
and data collection amongst Tribal, local, State, and Federal law
enforcement. So that is significant. The Executive order that was
issued by the Trump administration late last year was very important in
this effort.
I personally acknowledge the good work that Tara Sweeney has done,
the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. She has pulled together the
agency coordination to respond to these cases. She has shown
extraordinary heart--real heart--in responding to the calls from Tribes
and advocates to address the crisis of missing and murdered Native
women. So there has been so much at play that has come together.
What we need now is for the House to act on these legislative
measures that we have moved through the Senate so that the President
can sign them into law.
I think we recognize that as we are dealing with these matters that
are directly related to the day-to-day response to COVID, as we have
seen our economies slowed, as we have moved indoors to telework, the
work that is required for us to help protect the most vulnerable among
us continues. We know that work continues.
As we have worked aggressively across the country and in Alaskan
communities to flatten the curve out there as it relates to the
coronavirus, we know, unfortunately, that we have seen an uptick in
domestic violence. Unfortunately, and truly sadly for so many, the
order to shelter in place--``safer at home'' is the terminology used in
some communities, and safer at home doesn't necessarily mean safe at
home for far too many. Shelter in place is not a safe shelter. We are
seeing increased calls to police departments during this time, but,
interestingly enough, we are not seeing an increase in those who are
seeking help or shelter in our women's shelters.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that I had a phone call with
representatives from the various women's shelters around my State, with
probably a dozen or so women on the line, and I asked specifically: How
are we doing in the shelters? What are we seeing? Their numbers are
down, and if you look at it from just a numbers perspective, you would
say ``Good.'' But we know that domestic violence doesn't disappear or
go away at times like the ones we are facing now; it just goes
underground. I think what we are seeing is that concern and fear. As
difficult as the situation may be at home, it might be more frightening
to go to a shelter where one may be exposed to this invisible threat of
the virus.
I wish I could say that, as a consequence of what we are seeing, our
shelters are better off, but I fear that those who would seek shelter
are not better off. So to make sure we are prepared to address these
needs is yet another challenge for us in this body: to come together to
address these issues that we know are with us--not only the levels of
domestic violence but the impact that we know is present when it comes
to mental and behavioral health, when people are fragile and yet are
afraid to seek help because of the exposure to something else. We have
work to do in this area, and that is something I intend to focus on in
the days and weeks ahead.
I was encouraged to hear my friend, the Senator from Texas, Mr.
Cornyn, speaking to just these issues yesterday on the floor. We have
much to do. These are challenging times on many different levels.
As we recognize this day of awareness for those who have gone
missing--for those women and girls who have been murdered--know that
this is more than just raising awareness. It is up to us. We owe it to
them, their families, and their loved ones to act as well.
With that, I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
____________________