[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 191 (Thursday, December 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7060-S7061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         PREVENT Pandemics Act

  Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk about a very 
important issue.
  Our country has made great progress in the fight against COVID-19. 
Families have been getting back to their daily lives. The thing I keep 
hearing from people in my home State is they want to keep it that way. 
They want to keep moving forward and making sure we never find 
ourselves in a situation like that again. I couldn't agree more, but 
that means actually taking action. It means not letting this moment--
this Congress--pass us by and, instead, actually delivering the public 
health reforms that families need, which is why I am here today urging 
my colleagues to ensure that any end-of-the-year package includes our 
bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act.
  Senator Burr and I led the HELP Committee this Congress, and from day 
one, it was clear to us that pandemic preparedness had to be a priority 
because the next time there is a crisis like this, we cannot have 
people asking: Why can't I get a test? Where can I get reliable 
information? How can we be so unprepared for this?
  That means we must learn the lessons of the pandemic and ensure that 
our government actually works better and smarter in preparing and 
responding to public health threats, which is exactly what Senator Burr 
and I set out to do when we crafted the PREVENT Pandemics Act, which 
passed out of our HELP Committee in an overwhelming 20-to-2 vote 
earlier this year.
  Our bill improves our public health system by learning from what 
worked and what did not in our COVID response. A big piece of that is 
establishing the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy at 
the White House to serve as mission control so that we have a team in 
place, ready to go, 24/7, to guide our Federal response to new and 
emerging threats.
  We have also seen how dangerous shortages have been throughout this 
crisis, which is why the PREVENT Pandemics Act strengthens our 
stockpiles and supply chains for drugs and ventilators and testing and 
components and masks and other lifesaving medical supplies. Of course, 
with a new threat, the issue isn't just a shortage of tools; it is that 
the tests and the treatments and the vaccines may not even exist yet. 
So our bill establishes ARPA-H, which is a new Agency focused on 
cutting-edge medical research like the kind that made it possible for 
us to develop a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine in record time.
  Our bill also supports potentially lifesaving research on issues like 
antivirals for pathogens with pandemic potential, antimicrobial 
resistance, better coordination in our blood supply, best practices for 
emergency preparedness and response, and long COVID, which many people 
are still struggling with.

[[Page S7061]]

  This pandemic has also put a spotlight on how inadequate data from 
outdated and often incompatible systems can make it very hard for our 
health experts to do their jobs. In the 21st century, the CDC should 
not be collating data sent to them from fax machines, and incomplete 
demographic data should not hinder our experts in making lifesaving 
decisions.
  Put simply, our government can work better and faster than this. That 
is why the PREVENT Pandemics Act will finally help modernize and 
standardize our public health data practices.
  Everyone should understand that, with some really commonsense 
reforms, we can make our public health system work better for 
everyone--by the way, including our communities of color, Tribes, 
people with disabilities, rural communities, and others who have 
really, as we have seen, borne the brunt of this crisis.
  We are talking about really basic, bipartisan steps, like making sure 
we have Tribal access to medical supply stockpiles, better practices 
for demographic data collection, and improving diversity in clinical 
trials. That is especially critical.
  In fact, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in my home State 
of Washington, just published a new study showing how Black 
communities, Asian communities, women, and others were underrepresented 
in many of the U.S. COVID clinical trials. We have to do better for all 
of our communities.
  And we have to do better for parents too. I have heard from too many 
moms and dads throughout this pandemic who felt like no one was 
listening to them about the challenges that their kids and their 
families were facing. As a mother and a grandmother, I pressed for this 
bill to make sure the National Advisory Committee on Children and 
Disasters, which directly advises the Secretary of Health, must include 
parents, caregivers, and teachers as members.
  Of course, in addition to all of those commonsense steps to 
strengthen our public health system for future health emergencies, 
there is more work to do if we are to fully reckon with the lessons of 
this pandemic, which is why Senator Burr and I worked with our other 
Members to include a bipartisan proposal for an independent task force, 
modeled after the 9/11 Commission, to conduct a comprehensive 
investigation into the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic and issue 
recommendations.
  While there is more to do to strengthen our public health system 
beyond these reforms--and I will keep pushing on this reform no matter 
what--the PREVENT Pandemics Act represents meaningful, bipartisan 
progress carefully negotiated between Republicans and Democrats over 
nearly a year.
  I should say that it also reflects Senator Burr's longstanding focus 
on pandemic preparedness. This has been a life passion for him, even 
before this pandemic. His thoughtful expertise and his tireless work 
has been critical to crafting a strong bipartisan bill. I could not 
have asked for a better partner across the aisle to work with over the 
past 2 years.
  Earlier this week, I listened to Senator Blunt's farewell speech, and 
in his address to this body, he said: We don't have to agree on 
everything; we just have to agree on one thing.
  That is how we help people and solve problems. In our PREVENT 
Pandemics Act, Republicans and Democrats agree on a lot of things.
  Families across the country are watching closely. Let's show them 
that we are taking the lessons of this pandemic seriously. Let's show 
them that we are taking action so we never go through a crisis like 
that again. Let's make sure that the PREVENT Pandemics Act is part of 
our yearend package.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.