[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 79 (Monday, May 11, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2190-S2191]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               HANTAVIRUS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on the hantavirus, earlier today, 17 
Americans--including 3 New Yorkers--who were on the cruise ship at the 
center of the hantavirus outbreak arrived in Nebraska, where they 
remained in quarantine. One has since tested positive for hantavirus.

  They should know that all of us here in the Senate are thinking of 
them and praying for their health. No one should have to go through 
such an ordeal.
  The hantavirus outbreak reminds us of what happened during COVID-19. 
We need to invest in public health and pandemic preparedness. Sadly, 
the Trump administration has not learned that lesson. The Trump 
administration gutted our public health defenses. The public may not 
know it, but Trump fired the workers whose job it is to protect us from 
outbreaks like hanta.
  Donald Trump, Russell Vought, and now Elon Musk purged hundreds of 
Federal workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 
Department of Health and Human Services including--here is who Trump 
fired--cruise ship inspectors, port health station staff, disease 
detectives, and others. He cut all those, and now we have the 
hantavirus. They were there for a purpose.
  Blindly swinging their DOGE chainsaw through the Federal Government, 
Trump, Vought, and Musk also hamstrung the CDC's Vessel Sanitation 
Program--a program that didn't cost the taxpayers any money. The cruise 
ships paid for it, but, of course, they didn't care.
  The solution is a simple one. I put out a plan that calls on the 
Trump administration to rehire these fired outbreak-response experts, 
to restore funding to protect Americans from infectious diseases, and 
to rejoin the World Health Organization and other groups that track 
outbreaks and provide early warning.
  Rehire, restore, rejoin--that is how we keep the American people 
healthy and safe.
  Diseases like hantavirus and COVID don't care what your politics are. 
They threaten everyone. Donald Trump needs to stop politicizing public 
health and start investing in it.

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