[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 84 (Friday, May 14, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H2343-H2345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. FERGUSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. FERGUSON. Madam Speaker, I rise for the purpose of inquiring to 
the majority the schedule for the week to come.
  I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Aguilar), my friend and 
colleague, the vice chair of the Democratic Caucus.
  Mr. AGUILAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  On Monday, the House will meet at 12 p.m. for morning-hour debate and 
2 p.m. for legislative business, with votes expected no earlier than 
6:30 p.m.
  On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning-
hour debate and 12 p.m. for legislative business.
  On Thursday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business, 
with last votes no later than 3 p.m.
  We will consider several bills under suspension of the rules. A 
complete list of the suspension bills will be announced by the close of 
business today.
  In addition, we will consider bills rejecting hate toward the Asian-
American and Pacific Islander community, including S. 937, the Senate-
passed COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which addresses the dramatic increase 
in hate crimes targeting the AAPI community since the start of the 
pandemic.
  H. Res. 275, a resolution condemning the horrific shootings in 
Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, 2021, and reaffirming the House of 
Representatives' commitment to combatting hate, bigotry, and violence 
against the AAPI community.

                              {time}  1115

  We will also consider H.R. 1629, the Fairness in Orphan Drug 
Exclusivity Act, which closes the loophole that blocks pharmaceutical 
competition and prevents innovative treatments for opioid use disorder 
from coming to market, and would help millions of Americans suffering 
from opioid addiction.
  Next week, the House will also consider the Emergency Security 
Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act, 2021, which 
addresses enhanced security needs for the Capitol complex; and House 
Resolution 3233, the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 
Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act, which establishes a 
commission to investigate the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6.
  This is bipartisan legislation. I want to thank Chairman Thompson and 
Ranking Member Katko for their leadership in announcing this bill, and 
I hope that it will have broad bipartisan support next week.
  Mr. FERGUSON. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the majority for those 
remarks on the schedule.
  I also want to take a minute to thank the leader, and others over 
there, for helping pass H.R. 2877, the Behavioral Intervention 
Guidelines Act. It is a really good bill that will go a long way in 
supporting school safety. I know there were many questions about it, 
and everybody worked to get it to a good spot. I would like to, again, 
extend my appreciation for all of the help from my Democratic 
colleagues.
  Turning to the operations of the House, as the gentleman knows, the 
CDC has now lifted all mask and social distancing requirements. 
President Biden has lifted the mask requirements for the White House 
staff. But, amazingly, here in the House of Representatives, we still 
must wear the mask, stagger the vote times, have these long vote times. 
We should be going back to a 5-minute and a 2-minute schedule so we can 
do the work of the House.
  When can we expect these restrictions to be lifted?
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. AGUILAR. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for the 
question and for acknowledging the extraordinary success of the Biden-
Harris administration in putting millions of shots in arms at a 
historic pace.

[[Page H2344]]

  

  Mr. FERGUSON. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time.
  We, as Americans, should all celebrate Operation Warp Speed and the 
work done by the administration to be able to do that and to follow 
through. We greatly appreciate the Biden administration's following up 
on the really great work of Operation Warp Speed and the Trump 
administration.
  Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. FERGUSON. I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. AGUILAR. Madam Speaker, that success that the gentleman talked 
about was fueled by this Congress last year and this year and by a 
science-based investment approach that the American Rescue Plan 
offered. As evidenced by this guidance, we are building back.
  But I want to call particular attention to the ``Dear Colleague'' 
letter that Dr. Monahan sent out to everyone on the Capitol complex 
campus. It says: ``The present mask requirement and other guidelines 
remain unchanged until all Members and floor staff are fully 
vaccinated.''
  Mr. FERGUSON. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time.
  That is in direct contradiction to CDC guidelines.
  And on top of that, will the gentleman explain how in the world you 
are going to get that information that every member of this body has 
been vaccinated without violating HIPAA laws?
  Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. FERGUSON. Please. I would love an answer.
  Mr. AGUILAR. The centerpiece of this strategy that the gentleman just 
acknowledged is vaccinations.
  It is important that we continue to get as many Members as we can 
vaccinated. That is the strategy that Dr. Monahan, Rear Admiral 
Monahan, a distinguished physician, the strategy that he has laid out.
  Mr. FERGUSON. Reclaiming my time.
  Of course, we would like all Americans to be vaccinated. But, again, 
you will never be able to understand or know how many Members are 
actually vaccinated unless you require them to give you that 
information. If you require them to give you that information, then the 
majority will be in violation of the HIPAA privacy laws.
  How in the world can you violate the HIPAA privacy laws on this? What 
does that mean for future pandemics and future diseases?
  There are laws in place that say that Members do not have to disclose 
their health information. And if the gentleman could please explain how 
you force a Member of this body to disclose their personal health 
information without violating HIPAA laws, I would love to hear that 
answer.
  Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. FERGUSON. I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. AGUILAR. Madam Speaker, the cornerstone of the strategy is 
vaccinations. What the gentleman is asking is an important question. 
What the majority is saying is, let's follow the guidance of the Office 
of the Attending Physician.
  We have no interest in knowing individually what Members and what 
staff members are vaccinated. Our interest is in governing this House 
and the operations of this body, and we trust that Dr. Monahan will 
work with both parties and both sides of the aisle and will give us a 
report when this House is fully vaccinated. That becomes our guidance.
  Mr. FERGUSON. Reclaiming my time.
  So the President, the leader of the Democratic socialist movement 
right now here in America, has said that it is good enough for the 
White House, yet you are going to defer to the House physician over the 
President of the United States.
  Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield? We will talk about the 
Constitution.
  Mr. FERGUSON. No.
  My point is that there is so much inconsistency here. You will never, 
ever get to the point, Madam Speaker, that you will ever be able to get 
every Member to show some sort of vaccination card without violating 
the HIPAA privacy protections.
  Again, I am listening to the rhetoric. It is a simple question: How 
do you compel Members of this body to disclose their private health 
information without violating HIPAA laws?
  Not strategy. Not theoretical. How are you going to do that?
  What provision in the law, in the HIPAA protections of an American's 
private information regarding their healthcare record, are you going to 
waive to compel Members of the House to show that they have been 
vaccinated?
  I yield to my colleague from California.
  Mr. AGUILAR. I appreciate the gentleman from Georgia yielding once 
again. I will try to be as clear as I possibly can.
  We will follow the guidance of the Office of the Attending Physician, 
a decorated rear admiral, who is hoping, with the Sergeant at Arms, to 
govern the Capitol complex.
  As the CDC guidelines mention--and I am sure my colleague has read 
the full CDC guidance, which specifically says government buildings and 
local governments and State governments may make separate----
  Mr. FERGUSON. Reclaiming my time.
  I will wrap this topic up with a couple of observations.
  Our colleagues across on the other side of the building are certainly 
following different guidelines than we are here. I think it is 
important to note that what the majority is doing here is that they are 
undermining the vaccination program. They are committing public health 
malpractice by saying, if you get the vaccine, it doesn't work.
  What is the incentive to do this?
  I am going to move on to the next topic. I believe we have beat this 
dead horse enough and there is no answer.
  Mr. AGUILAR. The gentleman knows I am happy to talk about HIPAA and 
your role with it.
  Mr. FERGUSON. Please.
  Mr. AGUILAR. What I would say is, the CDC guidelines, as my colleague 
from Georgia understands, specifically mentions workplaces can set 
their own guidelines. We are following workplace guidance given by the 
Office of the Attending Physician and the Sergeant at Arms. Those are 
the processes that govern this body, whether Democrats are in control 
or Republicans are in control. We should be guided by public health 
guidance. That is exactly what we are doing here.
  Mr. FERGUSON. Could the gentleman answer one question: Is President 
Biden wrong? Or is Dr. Monahan wrong?
  I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. AGUILAR. And I appreciate the question. Because as the gentleman 
knows, we are a co-equal branch of government here in the Capitol. So I 
appreciate his love of the executive branch of government; I really do. 
However, we are governed by different rules. As a co-equal branch of 
government, we should be.
  Mr. FERGUSON. I will say this before we move on to the next topic. It 
does appear that many of us are governed by different rules along the 
way.
  So let's move on to one final thing.
  As you know, this has been police reform week. I was happy to see 
that President Biden set the deadline for May 25 to sign a police 
reform bill. I was also extremely happy to see that Democrat leadership 
has dropped its request to eliminate qualified immunity. I thought that 
was a very strong statement and very positive.
  As the majority whip said on May 9: I know what the perfect bill will 
be. We have proposed that. And I want to see good legislation. I know 
that sometimes you have to compromise. And if we don't get qualified 
immunity now, we can come back and try to get it later. But I don't 
want to see us throw out a good bill because we can't get a perfect 
bill, good legislative action.
  Now, in order to get this bill done by the May 25--that is a fairly 
short timeline. I know that Representative Pete Stauber has a bill 
ready to go--a really good bill--that addresses the things in a very 
bipartisan way that I think we would like to see.
  Based on the schedule that you laid out, do you anticipate that the 
majority would take up Mr. Stauber's bill so that we can meet President 
Biden's deadline of May 25?
  Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield?

[[Page H2345]]

  

  Mr. FERGUSON. I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. AGUILAR. I appreciate the question, and this is such a timely and 
important topic that the country needs to address. I am incredibly 
pleased with the bipartisan success that the negotiations have led to, 
to date.
  As the gentleman knows, those conversations continue to be ongoing, 
but the majority believes that those conversations are progressing in a 
way that is hopeful toward addressing this issue.
  I think both sides realize, and I hope the minority realizes, the 
importance of making changes to protect our communities. I know the 
gentleman is a former mayor, as I am as well. So we have dealt with a 
lot of these issues at the local level.
  So what I would say is, Senator Scott, Congressman Stauber, and 
Congresswoman Karen Bass have been engaged in this discussion. We want 
to give them the latitude and the flexibility to continue those 
discussions. I wouldn't agree with the characterization that the 
gentleman from Georgia made about where the negotiations are, but I can 
tell you that we are committed to seeing this done. We are committing 
to getting this done and putting a bill on the floor that will have 
strong bipartisan support.
  Mr. FERGUSON. Reclaiming my time.
  I implore the majority to put Mr. Stauber and Mr. Scott's bill onto 
the floor as soon as possible so that we can reach a bipartisan vote 
and consensus on this.
  I just want to make one other observation here, knowing that it is 
police week. We have got men and women around this country--you and I, 
again, both as mayors, had the honor of being involved in that, seeing 
the sacrifice that they make, whether it is local police officers or 
deputies out patrolling our country roads in many parts of my district; 
the men and women of the Customs and Border Patrol Agency who are down 
there putting their lives on the line every single day to stop the 
grossness of human trafficking and the horrors of narcotic trafficking; 
or looking around this very building that we are in right now, looking 
at the men and women who have been here, that will continue to be here 
to serve us and protect us.
  What I found very interesting about this week is that the silence 
from the majority is deafening. Not bringing a resolution to honor our 
men and women in law enforcement says an awful lot about how you feel.
  And I will say this: I think the majority should come back in--and I 
think we would all agree to do this next week--to put a resolution on 
the floor to honor the men and women of law enforcement, because I 
can't imagine which group is not worthy of that.
  I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. AGUILAR. As the gentleman knows, there was a lengthy Special 
Order hour led by our colleague from Florida, former police chief 
herself, talking about the importance of these issues, the importance 
of honoring heroes, the importance of honoring people who put 
themselves in harm's way each and every day and are behaving well.
  What I would ask the gentleman from Georgia is, in that similar vein, 
honoring police week, honoring those folks who helped us, who looked 
out for us January 6, I hope the gentleman will encourage the minority 
leader to meet with Officer Fanone from the Metropolitan Police 
Department, who has requested a meeting with the minority leader to 
talk about the events of January 6 and to talk about his experiences, 
which were so impactful as he shared them on national television and as 
he talked about the role that he played and the role that his 
colleagues played in protecting this temple of democracy.
  I hope that the minority leader has the time to meet with Officer 
Fanone. I signed a letter to the minority leader from my colleagues 
encouraging him to do so, and I hope that the gentleman from Georgia 
reiterates the importance to meet with law enforcement heroes.

                              {time}  1130

  Mr. FERGUSON. But, again, I want to go back to it, with the morale of 
the officers here in the Capitol as low as it is right now, the 
tremendous stresses that they are under, the staffing problems that 
they have, wondering whether or not this entire body at times has their 
back.
  Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. FERGUSON. No, not yet. I think it is important that this body 
bring a resolution to the floor supporting the men and women in law 
enforcement around the Nation, but particularly right here in this 
Capitol. I will be the first one, along with the rest of my colleagues, 
to support that resolution.
  And, so again, it is very simple. A lot of words. And I do appreciate 
the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Demings), for leading the Special 
Order. She certainly knows, as a former law enforcement officer and 
leader of a department, how tough that is. But, again, the silence here 
is deafening.
  With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________