[House Report 117-516]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
117th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { 117-516
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RESOLUTION OF INQUIRY REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTING THE
SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TO TRANSMIT, RESPECTIVELY,
CERTAIN DOCUMENTS TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES RELATING TO ANY
COVID-19 VACCINE
_______
September 28, 2022.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be
printed
_______
Mr. Pallone, from the Committee on Energy and Commerce, submitted the
following
ADVERSE REPORT
together with
MINORITY VIEWS
[To accompany H. Res. 1244]
The Committee on Energy and Commerce, to whom was referred
the resolution (H. Res. 1244) of inquiry requesting the
President and directing the Secretary of Health and Human
Services to transmit, respectively, certain documents to the
House of Representatives relating to any COVID-19 vaccine,
having considered the same, reports unfavorably thereon without
amendment and recommends that the resolution not be agreed to.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary.............................................2
II. Background and Need for the Legislation.........................2
III. Committee Hearings..............................................2
IV. Committee Consideration.........................................3
V. Committee Votes.................................................3
VI. Oversight Findings..............................................5
VII. New Budget Authority, Entitlement Authority, and Tax Expenditure5
VIII. Federal Mandates Statement......................................5
IX. Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives...........5
X. Duplication of Federal Programs.................................5
XI. Committee Cost Estimate.........................................5
XII. Earmarks, Limited Tax Benefits, and Limited Tariff Benefits.....5
XIII. Advisory Committee Statement....................................6
XIV. Applicability to Legislative Branch.............................6
XV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Legislation..................6
XVI. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported...........6
XVII. Minority Views..................................................7
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
H. Res. 1244 requests from the President and directs the
Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to transmit, not
later than 14 days after the adoption of the resolution, copies
of any document, record, memorandum, correspondence, or other
recorded communication that refers or relates to any
coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.
II. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Through this resolution of inquiry, the minority seeks to
obtain an unprecedented amount of information set forth in
extremely broad and undefined terms. This is an attempt to
distract from efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and
simultaneously sow doubt and distrust of vaccines as safe and
effective medical countermeasures. Federal agencies have
partnered with private industry to advance the development and
distribution of safe and effective vaccines in the midst of a
pandemic. The science behind the development of mRNA COVID-19
vaccines has been in development for decades, and the vaccines
meet the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) rigorous
scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and
manufacturing quality.\1\ In the first year of vaccine
availability in the United States, it is estimated that vaccine
uptake prevented approximately 1.1 million deaths and 10.3
million hospitalizations.\2\ To date, more than 612 million
COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered.
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\1\Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ensuring COVID-19
Vaccine Safety in the US (July 19, 2022) (https://www.cdc.gov/
coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety.html).
\2\The Commonwealth Fund, The U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Program at
One Year: How Many Deaths and Hospitalizations Were Averted? (Dec. 14,
2021) (https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2021/
dec/us-covid-19-vaccination-program-one-year-how-many-deaths-and).
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In recent advancements, FDA has authorized and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended a
COVID-19 booster vaccine specifically tailored to protect
against severe disease caused by the prominent ``omicron''
variant that continues to circulate and infect individuals. The
``omicron'' variant and its subvariants--including BA.5 and
BA.4--are the most contagious variants to date and account for
88 percent of cases in the United States.\3\ The introduction
of an ``omicron'' specific booster has the potential to slow
the spread of COVID-19 across the United States and paves the
way for new vaccines and boosters to quell seasonal spikes of
COVID-19 cases. The undefined and unlimited scope and absence
of a question within the language of this falls short of the
standard for resolutions of inquiry set by the Committee in
prior Congresses. For these reasons, the Committee ordered H.
Res. 1244 reported to the House adversely.
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\3\Yale Medicine, Omicron and BA.5: A Guide on What We Know (Sept.
7, 2022) (https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/5-things-to-know-
omicron#:08:text=According%20
to%20the%20CDC%2C%20the,the%20end%20of%20that%20month).
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III. COMMITTEE HEARINGS
The Committee on Energy and Commerce has not held a hearing
on H. Res. 1244.
IV. COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
H. Res. 1244 was introduced on July 21, 2022, by
Representative Gosar (R-AZ) and was referred to the Committee
on Energy and Commerce. Subsequently, on July 22, 2022, the
resolution was referred to the Subcommittee on Health. The
resolution was discharged from the Subcommittee on Health on
September 21, 2022.
On September 21, 2022, the Committee met in open markup
session and ordered H. Res. 1244, without amendment, adversely
reported to the House by a recorded vote of 32 yeas and 22
nays.
V. COMMITTEE VOTES
Clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives requires the Committee to list each record vote
on the motion to report legislation and amendments thereto. The
Committee advises that there was one record votes taken on H.
Res. 1244, including a motion by Mr. Pallone ordering H. Res.
1244 adversely reported to the House, without amendment. The
motion on forwarding the resolution adversely was approved by a
record vote of 32 yeas to 22 nays. The following is the record
vote taken during Committee consideration, including the names
of those members voting for and against:
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
VI. OVERSIGHT FINDINGS
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII and clause 2(b)(1)
of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
oversight findings and recommendations of the Committee are
reflected in the descriptive portion of the report.
VII. NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, ENTITLEMENT AUTHORITY, AND TAX EXPENDITURES
Pursuant to 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House
of Representatives, the Committee adopts as its own the
estimate of new budget authority, entitlement authority, or tax
expenditures or revenues contained in the cost estimate
prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office
pursuant to section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974.
The Committee has requested but not received from the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office a statement as to
whether this bill contains any new budget authority, spending
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in
revenues or tax expenditures.
VIII. FEDERAL MANDATES STATEMENT
The Committee adopts as its own the estimate of Federal
mandates prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office pursuant to section 423 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform
Act.
IX. STATEMENT OF GENERAL PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general
performance goal or objective of this legislation is to request
the President and direct the Secretary of HHS to transmit,
respectively, not later than 14 days after the adoption of the
resolution, copies of any document, record, memorandum,
correspondence, or other recorded communication that refers or
relates to any COVID-19 vaccine.
X. DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII, no provision of H.
Res. 1244 is known to be duplicative of another Federal
program, including any program that was included in a report to
Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139 or the
most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.
XI. COMMITTEE COST ESTIMATE
Pursuant to clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII, the Committee
adopts as its own the cost estimate prepared by the Director of
the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
XII. EARMARKS, LIMITED TAX BENEFITS, AND LIMITED TARIFF BENEFITS
Pursuant to clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI, the
Committee finds that H. Res. 1244 contains no earmarks, limited
tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits.
XIII. ADVISORY COMMITTEE STATEMENT
No advisory committee within the meaning of section 5(b) of
the Federal Advisory Committee Act was created by this
legislation.
XIV. APPLICABILITY TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public
services or accommodations within the meaning of section
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act.
XV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE LEGISLATION
H. Res. 1244 requests from the President and directs the
Secretary of HHS to respectively transmit, not later than 14
days after the adoption of the resolution, copies of any
document, record, memorandum, correspondence, or other recorded
communication that refers or relates to any COVID-19 vaccine,
to the extent that any such one or more items are within the
possession of the President or HHS.
XVI. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
There are no changes to existing law made by the bill H.
Res. 1244.
XVII. MINORITY VIEWS
Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans recognize that
that vaccines save lives. Thanks to vaccines, preventable
illnesses like measles, rubella, diphtheria and polio are no
longer endemic to the United States. And thanks to the success
of the Trump Administration's Operation Warp Speed initiative,
vaccines are the reason the world is on the road back to
normalcy from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trump Administration
established Operation Warp Speed on May 15, 2020, to accelerate
the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19
vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.\1\ This public-private
partnership facilitated, at an unprecedented pace, the
development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19
countermeasures. As a result of this ambitious initiative, the
Americans can now choose between four safe and effective
vaccines that help prevent serious illness, hospitalization,
and death from COVID-19.
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\1\U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Trump
Administration Announces Framework and Leadership for `Operation Warp
Speed' (May 15, 2020), available at https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/
2020/05/15/trump-administration-announces-framework-and-leadership-for-
operation-warp-speed.html.
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Unfortunately, the Biden Administration politicized these
life-saving tools by forcing vaccine mandates, which in turn
alienated many Americans and contributed to worker shortages
across the nation. While these mandates were framed as offering
benefits or freedoms for the vaccinated, a sizeable proportion
of Americans saw them as conditioning access to health, work,
travel and social activities, and viewed them as inherently
punitive, discriminatory and coercive.\2\ In 2021, 47.8 million
workers quit their jobs, an average of nearly 4 million each
month.\3\ Hundreds of thousands of these employees who left
their jobs were health and social assistance workers. The
vaccine mandates exacerbated severe workforce shortages that
existed prior to the pandemic, impacting patient care,
especially in rural and smaller health care facilities.
Following this administration's lead, cities across the country
instated their own vaccine mandates for their local employees.
Over 2,600 municipal workers have been fired in New York for
refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination, including police
officers, teachers and classroom aides.\4\ It is wrong for
anyone to be forced to make a choice to either comply with such
a mandate or lose their livelihood, especially when the
President and Democrats' radical spending and inflation crisis
has already made it harder for people to afford everyday life.
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\2\Kevin Bardosh, et al., The Unintended Consequences of COVID-19
Vaccination Policy, The Wire Science (September 10, 2022), available at
https://science.thewire.in/health/unintended-consequences-covid-19-
vaccine-policy/.
\3\Society for Human Resource Management, Interactive Chart: How
Historic Has the Great Resignation Been? (March 9, 2022), available at
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/
pages/interactive-quits-level-by-year.aspx.
\4\Susan Edelman, 850 more unvaxxed NYC teachers, aides fired for
not complying with mandate, New York Post (September 17, 2022),
available at https://nypost.com/2022/09/17/850-more-unvaxxed-nyc-
teachers-school-aides-fired/.
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Vaccine mandates also severely damaged public trust in
public health institutions. Especially for many Americans who
had low trust in the federal government and this
administration, vaccine mandates created a strong confirmation
bias that the powers that be were acting in an authoritarian
and biased matter. This ultimately undermined vaccine
confidence. President Biden normalizing the stigmatization and
bullying of those who declined to be vaccinated by declaring
COVID-19 was a ``pandemic of the unvaccinated,'' was
unproductive and only created further alienation.\5\ H. Res.
1244 is a simple resolution. It requests that the President of
the United States and the Secretary of Health and Human
Services transmit copies of any documents, memoranda,
correspondence or other recorded communications that refer or
relate to any COVID-19 vaccine. The Biden Administration should
never have resorted to using force to increase vaccination
rates. They should have built trust--not resentment--by
encouraging people to talk to their doctors. In order to better
inform future public health policy, the Congress should better
understand the cost benefit analysis undertaken by this
administration on strategies to improve vaccine uptake,
including analysis related to the effectiveness of vaccine
mandates. Evaluating the lessons learned from vaccination
policies of the COVID-19 pandemic is essential to ensuring that
future pandemic policy is effective, proportionate, and
ethically justified.
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\5\Yasmin Tayag, Stop Calling It a `Pandemic of the Unvaccinated',
The Atlantic (September 16, 2021), available at https://
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/persuade-unvaccinated-
protect-unvaccinated/620091/.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers,
Republican Leader, Committee on Energy and Commerce.
[all]