[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 30, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1844-S1845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we have some rare good news on the public 
health front. COVID cases are down at the lowest level since July. 
Crucially, hospitalizations and deaths are also down dramatically, more 
than 70 percent lower than they were in January during the Omicron 
wave. Compared to just a few months ago, our Nation is experiencing far 
less suffering and death, thank goodness.
  But despite the progress we have made, COVID continues to be a 
threat. Every day, 800 American families lose a loved one to COVID--800 
a day--and catch new infections, which present an opportunity for the 
virus to mutate.
  We are at a turning point in this fight against COVID. Now, we need 
to strengthen our healthcare system. We need to stay a step ahead of 
this deadly virus. That is especially true since the subvariant of 
Omicron--BA.2, as it is known--has become dominant in America.
  Remember the frenzy last holiday season when we were running from 
pharmacy to pharmacy trying to find rapid tests for our families or 
waiting in the freezing cold for hours on end to get a PCR test? Why 
would we ever want to be caught flatfooted again? We need to sustain 
our public health funding so that our hospitals and healthcare 
professionals have the equipment and tools they need to keep us safe.
  The one thing dramatically worse than returning to the dark days of 
COVID-19 and the deadly variants would be to return unprepared. If we 
want to keep our masks off--and I do--if we want to keep our kids in 
school--and I do--and our businesses open, we need to make smart 
investments in America's capacity to confront future strains of these 
variants. We can't continue this cycle of neglect and panic. These 
pendulum swings harm our health system and contribute to unnecessary 
costs and suffering.
  Congress must come together on a bipartisan basis. And shouldn't we 
all agree on this: that we move as a nation in the same direction? That 
means providing funding to purchase new booster doses, including those 
which the FDA authorized this week for adults over the age of 50. I got 
mine yesterday morning. If we don't purchase these vaccines now ahead 
of time, then we

[[Page S1845]]

will be sleepwalking into the next deadly wave.
  We also need to ensure that as soon as the FDA authorizes a vaccine 
for kids under the age of 5, parents can get their kids protected as 
soon as possible.
  Funding also is needed for oral antivirals and other therapeutics to 
treat patients who contract a serious case of COVID. These treatments 
will keep our hospitals from being overwhelmed.
  And we need funding to maintain the testing infrastructure we have 
built up over the last several months, like President Biden's 
successful program to put up to 1 billion--billion--rapid tests right 
at the doors of every American who wants one.
  The fact is, Congress should have already provided funding for these 
lifesaving resources, but we still haven't done it. This lack of 
funding has already hit my home State of Illinois. Last week, shipments 
of monoclonal antibody treatments to our State were scaled back 35 
percent to preserve the supply. Also last week, thanks to a lack of 
funds, the Department of Health and Human Services announced they would 
no longer pay hospitals and health clinics for testing they have 
provided to 30 million uninsured Americans.
  Several free community-based testing sites and pharmacies in Illinois 
are now closing up. The money is running dry. At one community health 
center in Illinois, one-third of the patients are uninsured. That 
clinic has received more than $150,000 to test, treat, and vaccinate 
the patients--money well spent not just to protect these patients but 
every Illinoisan. If Congress doesn't provide new funding, that health 
center may be forced to close for good.
  All of us want to keep the masks off for good and move past this 
coronavirus, but to think we can just wish away COVID forever would be 
naive, irresponsible, and fiscally unwise.
  I urge my Republican colleagues to join in a bipartisan effort to 
provide new funding for our COVID preparation response efforts. Let's 
be ready for whatever this virus might bring.