[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 29, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H5550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PRIORITIZE PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS

  (Mr. TORRES of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TORRES of New York. Mr. Speaker, one of the central values of the 
Build Back Better Act is pandemic preparedness.
  COVID-19 has left a death toll of more than 600,000 Americans and a 
cost of $16 trillion. If the cataclysm of COVID-19 cannot move our 
country to prioritize pandemic preparedness, then nothing will.
  A wise person once said, Those who fail to learn from history are 
doomed to repeat it. And if we fail to pass the Build Back Better Act, 
we are in danger of reliving a history whose repeat we cannot afford.
  The Build Back Better Act would enable the United States to develop 
and distribute vaccines within a few months of a new pandemic threat. 
It would enable the United States to develop vaccines not only for 
particular viruses but whole families of viruses with pandemic 
potential. It would shore up domestic manufacturing of critical 
supplies so that we are no longer at the mercy of a fragile global 
supply chain.
  We have the resources to prevent the next pandemic. The only question 
that remains is do we have the political will to Build Back Better.

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