A View from the States: Governors Respond to the Omicron Variant — House Hearing (January 20, 2022)
Summary
Record of the hearing "A View from the States: Governors Respond to the Omicron Variant" before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, House of Representatives, on January 20, 2022 (Serial No. 117-62), conducted via Zoom. Witnesses were Governor Jared Polis of Colorado, Governor Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico, Mayor Muriel Bowser of the District of Columbia, Governor Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Governor Jay Inslee of Washington. Chairman Clyburn stated that Republicans refused to provide the District with $755 million in relief funding via the CARES Act. Ranking Member Steve Scalise stated that the flaw in President Biden's approach has been a vaccine-only strategy. The closing remarks state that daily tests rose from 1.7 million per day in January 2021 to more than 11.7 million per day in January 2022.
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“A View from the States: Governors Respond to the Omicron Variant — House Hearing (January 20, 2022).”
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[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
A VIEW FROM THE STATES:
GOVERNORS RESPOND TO
THE OMICRON VARIANT
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JANUARY 20, 2022
__________
Serial No. 117-62
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Reform
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available on: govinfo.gov,
oversight.house.gov or
docs.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
46-683 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York, Chairwoman
Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of James Comer, Kentucky, Ranking
Columbia Minority Member
Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts Jim Jordan, Ohio
Jim Cooper, Tennessee Virginia Foxx, North Carolina
Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia Jody B. Hice, Georgia
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Jamie Raskin, Maryland Michael Cloud, Texas
Ro Khanna, California Bob Gibbs, Ohio
Kweisi Mfume, Maryland Clay Higgins, Louisiana
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Ralph Norman, South Carolina
Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Pete Sessions, Texas
Katie Porter, California Fred Keller, Pennsylvania
Cori Bush, Missouri Andy Biggs, Arizona
Shontel M. Brown, Ohio Andrew Clyde, Georgia
Danny K. Davis, Illinois Nancy Mace, South Carolina
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Scott Franklin, Florida
Peter Welch, Vermont Jake LaTurner, Kansas
Henry C. ``Hank'' Johnson, Jr., Pat Fallon, Texas
Georgia Yvette Herrell, New Mexico
John P. Sarbanes, Maryland Byron Donalds, Florida
Jackie Speier, California Vacancy
Robin L. Kelly, Illinois
Brenda L. Lawrence, Michigan
Mark DeSaulnier, California
Jimmy Gomez, California
Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts
Russ Anello, Staff Director
Jennifer Gaspar, Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Yusra Abdelmeguid, Clerk
Contact Number: 202-225-5051
Mark Marin, Minority Staff Director
Select Subcommittee On The Coronavirus Crisis
James E. Clyburn, South Carolina, Chairman
Maxine Waters, California Steve Scalise, Louisiana, Ranking
Carolyn B. Maloney, New York Minority Member
Nydia M. Velazquez, New York Jim Jordan, Ohio
Bill Foster, Illinois Mark E. Green, Tennessee
Jamie Raskin, Maryland Nicole Malliotakis, New York
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on January 20, 2022................................. 1
Witnesses
Governor Jared Polis, State of Colorado
Oral Statement................................................... 8
Governor Pedro Pierluisi, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Oral Statement................................................... 10
Mayor Muriel Bowser, District of Columbia
Oral Statement................................................... 12
Governor Pete Ricketts, State of Nebraska
Oral Statement................................................... 15
Governor Jay Inslee, State of Washington
Oral Statement................................................... 17
Written opening statements and the written statements of the
witnesses are available on the U.S. House of Representatives
Document Repository at: docs.house.gov.
Index of Documents
----------
Documents entered into the record during this hearing are listed
below.
* Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers' (WA-05) Statement;
submitted by Rep. Scalise.
* Letters from Governor Kathy Hochul (State of New York) and
Governor Kate Brown (State of Oregon); submitted by Chairman
Clyburn.
* Questions for the Record: to Mayor Bowser; submitted by
Ranking Member Steve Scalise.
* Questions for the Record: to Mayor Bowser; submitted by Rep.
Carolyn Maloney.
* Questions for the Record: to Governor Pierluisi; submitted by
Rep. Nydia Velazquez.
Documents are available at: docs.house.gov.
A VIEW FROM THE STATES:
GOVERNORS RESPOND TO
THE OMICRON VARIANT
----------
Thursday, January 20, 2022
House of Representatives
Committee on Oversight and Reform
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:05 p.m., via
Zoom, Hon. James E. Clyburn (chairman of the subcommittee)
presiding.
Present: Representatives Clyburn, Waters, Maloney,
Velazquez, Foster, Raskin, Krishnamoorthi, Scalise, Jordan,
Malliotakis, and Miller-Meeks.
Chairman Clyburn. Good afternoon. The committee will come
to order.
Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a
recess of the committee at any time.
I now recognize myself for an opening statement.
Since the coronavirus first reached our shores two years
ago, governors have played a critical role in responding to the
spread of the virus. We are fortunate to be joined today by the
Governors of the state of Washington, the state of Colorado,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the state of Nebraska, as
well as the Mayor of the District of Columbia, whose role is
equivalent to that of a state governor.
To learn more about the instrumental role, these chief
executives continue to play in our Nation's response to the
pandemic.
This hearing comes at a pivotal moment in our Nation's
response. As we gather today, we are facing new challenges from
the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which is resulting in
higher case numbers than ever before. However, there is a
reason to be hopeful.
Earlier research indicates that Omicron causes less severe
disease than previous strands of the coronavirus. We have more
effective therapeutics at our disposal than ever to treat the
disease. And, most importantly, all approved coronavirus
vaccines and boosters continue to provide robust protection
against severe disease and death from the Omicron variant.
If you are up-to-date on your coronavirus vaccinations,
that is, if you have received your initial shots and then
gotten a booster when eligible, you have the protection you
need to live your normal life at very low risk to your health
and the health of your loved ones.
Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic remains a crisis
because millions of Americans remain unvaccinated and are
therefore at risk of the Omicron variant. Recent data show that
unvaccinated Americans continue to account for a substantial
majority of hospitalizations and deaths. Given the high
transmissibility of the Omicron variant, these unvaccinated
patients are pushing many hospital systems to their limits,
threatening anyone who may need hospital care.
Many of the Americans who remain unvaccinated have made
this dangerous decision because of coronavirus misinformation,
which is reaching broad audiences and undermining the great
work being done at all levels of government to protect
communities from the virus.
Misinformation has also led to fraud too many Americans
infected with the coronavirus to reject effective treatments.
It is increasingly clear why so many Americans continue to
doubt the safety and effectiveness of lifesaving coronavirus
vaccines.
Republican politicians are among the most vocal proponents
of the misinformation that has generated those doubts. For
instance, Senator Ron Johnson stated last year that there had
been, and I'm quoting him, over 3,000 deaths within 30 days of
taking the vaccine, falsely connecting unrelated deaths to the
coronavirus vaccines.
Congressman Matt Gaetz has dangerously encouraged people to
get infected, saying, and I'm quoting him, the best vaccine we
have found is Mother Nature's vaccine. It's contracting the
virus.
Sadly, these are just two of many falsehoods coming from
our colleagues across the aisle. Other Republican politicians
simply emphasize your right not to be vaccinated, rather than
presenting the decision to get vaccinated as the consequential
patriotic duty that it is. Because getting vaccinated doesn't
just protect yourself; it protects your loved ones, your
communities, and your fellow citizens.
The ranking member of this committee has criticized the
Biden administration's vaccine requirements as, and I'm
quoting, increasing government control of your life, end of
quote. This type of discouragement is legitimizing and
perpetrating people's vaccine hesitance when we should be
working together to vaccinate as many Americans as possible.
The Republican Party's promotion of misinformation has
measurable consequences. One study found that political
affiliation is the strongest predictor of whether someone is
vaccinated, with unvaccinated adults more than three times as
likely to lean Republican as Democrat. Since vaccines became
widely available in May 2021, people living in counties that
voted heavily for former President Trump in 2020 were three
times as likely to die from the coronavirus as those who lived
in areas that voted for President Biden. The irresponsible
legitimization of vaccine misinformation by Republican leaders
is tragically killing their supporters.
This vaccine resistance is among the top challenges facing
leaders at the Federal and state levels as we enter 2022 at the
height of the Omicron wave. I look forward to hearing from
today's witnesses to further understand how the Federal
Government can work with states, territories, and the District
of Columbia to overcome vaccine hesitancy, combat the Omicron
variant, and prepare for any further challenges this virus may
present.
The past two years have shown that Federal-state
collaboration is critical to mounting an effective response to
the coronavirus. We saw the dire consequences of the Trump
administration's abdication of Federal leadership and refusal
to provide support to states in acquiring and distributing
critical personal protective equipment, tests, and other
supplies during the first year of the pandemic, forcing states
to fend for themselves.
Since taking office, President Biden has emphasized the
importance of working with the states, territories, and the
District of Columbia to respond to the pandemic.
Under Governor Inslee's leadership, Washington State
recently set up a mobile vaccination unit in King County with
capacity to administer up to 1,500 vaccines and booster shots
per day, and is working to set up another high-capacity site.
Under Governor Polis, Colorado recently worked with FEMA to
set up mobile bus units to administer monoclonal antibody
treatments in rural areas of the state, congregate living
facilities, and other high-demand sites.
Under Governor Pierluisi, Puerto Rico has worked hard to
build vaccine confidence and get shots in arms, with result
that nearly 80 percent of Puerto Ricans are fully vaccinated--
one of the highest vaccination rates among the United States
and its territories.
Using funds from the American Rescue Act, Mayor Bowser and
the District of Columbia have helped families struggling with
rent and housing security during the pandemic. Of course,
Washington, DC.'s lack of statehood status has impacted the
District's response. Republicans refuse to provide the District
with $755 million in relief funding via the CARES Act that it
would have been entitled to if it were a state.
Now, I'm particularly concerned about this because this is
not just people; these are Americans living in our Nation's
Capital. They are family members. Scores of my family members
left South Carolina and went to Washington, DC, Philadelphia,
New York, other places looking to further--get further access
to the greatness of America. And to be penalized living in the
District of Columbia is just beyond the pale. These people are
American citizens and should have been treated better.
Fortunately, Congress restored this funding, and the Biden
administration, in the American Rescue Act.
I would like to thank today's witnesses for taking the time
to testify about these pressing issues. I look forward to
hearing from our Governors about their responses to the Omicron
variant and gaining more insight into how we can better protect
Americans and end this crisis.
I now recognize the ranking member for his opening
statement.
Mr. Scalise. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to
hearing from our witnesses.
I want to start by making it very clear for those of us who
have promoted the vaccine, who have talked about what President
Trump started under Operation Warp Speed to create, not one,
but two, but three vaccines. The real flaw--and there have been
many flaws with President Biden's approach--has been to have a
vaccine-only strategy where he's tried to shame people based on
whether or not they get the vaccine, trying to divide people on
whether or not they get the vaccine.
It's misinformation to suggest only unvaccinated are dying
or only Republicans or Trump voters are dying. There is clearly
all throughout our country right now a resurgence in COVID.
Affects blue states, red states, Republicans, Democrats, Black,
White, Hispanic, Asian.
What we should be focused on is how to confront it.
Unfortunately, if you look where we are today, today marks the
one-year anniversary that Joe Biden took the oath of office as
President of the United States. Unfortunately, what we've seen
is failure after failure and broken promise after broken
promise. And, unfortunately, it starts with the vaccine and
what President Biden said he would do about COVID and has
failed to do a year in.
He promised Americans that he would, quote, shut down the
virus. How many times did we hear Joe Biden say that, promise
that as a candidate? Unfortunately, what we're going to see is
a very different candidate Joe Biden versus President Joe
Biden. Words versus actions.
Shut down the virus was what he promised. Yet despite
inheriting all three of those proven, safe, and effective
vaccines from President Trump's Operation Warp Speed, as well
as numerous proven treatments, therapeutics. Millions of
people, by the way, with natural immunity, which, Mr. Chairman,
we ought to have a hearing about to see just what kind of
protection natural immunity gives people.
He also had a well-established testing apparatus that he
walked into. Right now, the United States, with all of that, is
being hit with record highs for new cases. Testing shortages
and delays. And there have been more deaths under Joe Biden's
Presidency than under Donald Trump's. Again, a year in, and he
walked in the door with three vaccines ready to go. President
Trump didn't have any of that.
And I know there's been a lot of talk under the Trump
administration about how many deaths there were by Democrats.
Interesting you don't hear them talking about the deaths right
now, that Joe Biden has more deaths under his Presidency than
we had under Trump.
A signature feature of then-candidate Biden's campaign was
a top-down Federal solution to the pandemic. How many times did
we hear him say that he had a national plan, he was ready to
go. On August 18 of 2020, he said, quote, Donald Trump still
doesn't have a plan to get this virus under control. His
failure to lead is costing American lives.
On October 15 of 2020, he said, quote, What, eight months
into this pandemic and Donald Trump still doesn't have a plan
to get this virus under control. I do.
That was Joe Biden as a candidate.
Never mind the fact that President Trump had a very
successful plan. It was called Operation Warp Speed. It was a
bipartisan effort, by the way, in Congress that helped fund
Operation Warp Speed. It should have been bipartisan credit
where everybody bragged about the success of Operation Warp
Speed. It yielded those three safe and effective vaccines. It
yielded multiple therapies like monoclonal antibodies. And we
had a robust testing network.
On President Biden's first day in office, he released a
200-page document titled, quote, National Strategy for the
COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness. And he said,
quote, For the past year, we could not turn to the Federal
Government for a national plan to answer prayers with action
until today.
Well, just a few weeks ago, in a stunning reversal, after
almost a year of broken promises and failed strategy, and the
virus raging worse than ever before, President Biden reversed
course and abandoned that so-called plan.
On December 27 of 2021, just a few weeks ago, President
Biden said, quote, There is no Federal solution. This gets
solved at the state level. I am guessing that's why the select
subcommittee is having this hearing today, titled, ``A View
From the States.''
After campaigning on a national plan and congressional
Democrats, including many on this committee, calling for a
national plan, Democrats have now abandoned any hint of a plan
and instead are trying to dump their failures into the
Governors' laps.
Ironically, President Biden's first goal in his national
strategy was to, quote, restore trust with the American people.
Yet his policy shows he does not trust the American people. He
does not trust the American people enough to be transparent
about the policies and decisions his administration is making
and the data that they are using to make those decisions. He
does not trust the American people to make their own healthcare
decisions. He does not trust the healthcare workers to make
their own healthcare decisions.
Interestingly, if you look a year ago, we were all praising
healthcare workers, unvaccinated healthcare workers as heroes.
Today, President Biden is trying to fire those very same
healthcare workers if they're unvaccinated.
What changed in a year? Why were they heroes a year ago and
today President Biden wants those same people to be fired? Talk
about trusting the American people.
He doesn't trust parents to make decisions about what's
best for their children. He does not trust businesses to make
decisions about what's best for the welfare of their employees.
Trust is a two-way street, and this is but one reason why
President Biden's COVID response plan is in tatters. Instead of
trying to patch the holes in the Biden administration's
messaging, this subcommittee should be fulfilling its stated
purpose; that is, performing congressional oversight of the
COVID-19 response.
The list of issues that we should be having hearings on is
incredibly long. And, Mr. Chairman, you know, because I've
asked many times, that this committee do get engaged in having
hearings on some of the oversight that we're not doing. I'll
just name a few that we've been calling on this committee to
deal with.
The Biden administration's inaction with procuring tests,
and rejection of a plan that was reported last October was
provided to President Biden to provide millions--hundreds of
millions of rapid tests in time for the Christmas holidays.
President Biden, by all reports, rejected that plan.
Americans are still wondering, did the President have that
plan presented to him? Did he reject it? Who was involved in
rejecting that plan and why? And, also, importantly, who's been
held accountable if that really did happen? This committee
should be getting to the bottom of that.
President Biden's plan of shaming and blaming the
unvaccinated instead of focusing on a science-driven approach,
to include not only vaccinations but natural immunity, other
therapeutics. Stop dividing Americans over the vaccine and
start providing Americans with an actual plan to confront this.
The Biden administration commandeered the distribution of
monoclonal antibodies, causing states to jump through more
hoops and making it harder for states to get access to these
lifesaving treatments. We hear from states who are now being
forced to compete against other states, and some states aren't
being given what they need while others are. That's going on
right now under President Biden.
Despite spending about $200 billion to safely reopen
schools, more than 5,000 schools have had some type of shutdown
this month. Why isn't every school open? We've heard from
scientists who said they all should be. Kids are much better
off in the classroom.
We need to have a hearing to examine the severe student
learning loss caused by remote and hybrid learning. We've heard
about the mental health crises that's been caused by students
not being allowed to be in a classroom. And, by the way, if a
school took the money, like Chicago taking $2 billion of
taxpayer money to reopen and then closed their doors on those
same students, shouldn't those schools have to give the
taxpayer money back? Let's talk about having a hearing to give
parents options to send their kids to an open school if their
school doesn't want to educate their kids but wants to take the
money.
And let's not forget that the teachers' union was caught
manipulating CDC guidance on school reopenings. We should have
a hearing on manipulating the science that happened by
teachers' unions in the Biden White House.
The World Health Organization and the European Center for
Disease Prevention and Control do not recommend masking kids
under six years old. Why is America masking kids without
evidence, and what impact is it having on their emotional and
social development? What could be more important than
protecting our kids' mental health which has been under attack
this last year and a half?
The Biden administration has been sidelining the science on
boosters. First, in the summer of 2021, the Biden
administration announced the availability of booster shots for
all adults by September. But amazingly, they made this
announcement before the FDA and the CDC had even finished
reviewing the data to determine the need for booster shots.
Because of this, two senior FDA officials reportedly left the
agency amid alarming reports of political interference with the
science under the Biden administration. This was obviously very
confusing for the public. Misinformation clearly by the Biden
administration.
Most recently, President Biden's administration chose to
add to the confusion by bypassing the FDA and CDC's long-
established vaccine advisory committee process for updating
booster shot eligibility.
Then, there's the Biden's Operation Snail Speed on Covid
Therapies, as The Wall Street Journal editorial board called
it. Instead of taking a multifaceted approach to ending the
pandemic, President Biden went all in on vaccine-only approach
and neglected to focus on therapeutics and natural immunity.
In fact, one year after taking office, President Biden
still to this day does not have an FDA Commissioner in place.
That should have been a day-one decision. President Biden a
year and still doesn't have anybody heading up the FDA. And
many people have called the FDA a rudderless ship on things
like testing, alternative therapeutics.
Republicans on the select subcommittee still are the only
ones in Congress that have held a hearing on the origins of
COVID-19. We've asked, Mr. Chairman, that this committee, the
full committee have a hearing on the origins.
We've seen a lot of scientific data out there that it
started in the lab in Wuhan. There are even reports that some
of Dr. Fauci's own advisors said that it started in the lab in
Wuhan, and then amazingly days later reversed course. Shouldn't
we have a hearing on that? Did somebody interfere with the
science to make those scientists reverse course from emails
that were hidden and just became public?
The U.S. appears to have funded gain-of-function research
at the Wuhan lab in China. Taxpayers should know the truth
about that. And we should have a debate and discussion about
whether we should be funding those types of research if that
was the case.
And, last, newly released unredacted emails, as I talked
about regarding Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins, say that they were
warned that COVID-19 came from the lab. We need to do our jobs
and look into all of these items. This country spent, through
Congress, over $6 trillion of taxpayer money, some of it
directly on COVID relief. Some of it was directed into other
places that had nothing to do with COVID. But we should be
having oversight into all of that.
If we sit idly by as the Biden administration keeps
fumbling this pandemic response, then things will only get
worse.
Americans want accountability, Mr. Chairman. Let's have
hearings to get to the bottom of all of these crises that have
been created by this President's failed response to the
pandemic.
Look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and I yield
back.
Chairman Clyburn. I thank the ranking member for his
remarks.
I would like now to introduce our distinguished witnesses.
Governor Jared Polis, a former colleague, has served as
Governor of Colorado since 2019. Governor Polis has taken bold
action to lead his state through the pandemic, working
tirelessly to ensure children and teachers can attend school in
person safely. His administration has distributed millions of
medical-grade masks and also onsite vaccine clinics at schools.
I would expect no less from a former colleague.
Governor Pierluisi, also a former colleague, has served as
Governor of Puerto Rico since 2021. Under his leadership, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has worked tirelessly to educate
residents about the importance of vaccinations, helping to
achieve one of the highest vaccinated mission rates and one of
the lowest death rates in the country. His administration has
also implemented effective testing and contact tracing efforts,
helping to slow the spread of the virus while sustaining Puerto
Rico's vital tourism industry.
Mayor Muriel Bowser has served as the Mayor of the District
of Columbia since 2015. She has recently overseen an expansive
effort to provide residents free at-home testing kits and
established multiple coronavirus centers around the city
dedicated to expanding access to vaccines and testing. Mayor
Bowser's administration has also implemented commonsense
vaccine requirements which will save countless lives.
Governor Pete Ricketts has served as Governor of Nebraska
since 2015. He has developed a fantastic reputation as one who
is compassionate and sensitive to what needs to be done to get
beyond this pandemic. He also currently serves as a co-chair of
the Republican Governors Association.
Another of my former colleagues and congressional
classmate, Governor Jay Inslee, has served as Governor of
Washington since 2013. Governor Inslee showed tremendous
leadership in responding to one of the earliest coronavirus
outbreaks in the country in February 2020, helping to slow the
spread of the virus and save lives. Governor Inslee's
administration continues to take action to expand access to
testing, increase vaccinations, and distribute masks to the
public for free.
Now I would like for the witnesses, please, raise your
right hands.
Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to
give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?
Let the record show that the witnesses answered in the
affirmative.
Without objection, their written statements will be made
part of the record.
Governor Polis, you are now recognized for five minutes for
your opening statement.
STATEMENT OF GOVERNOR JARED POLIS, STATE OF COLORADO
Mr. Polis. Thank you, Chairman Clyburn, Ranking Member
Scalise. It is good to see my friends and former colleagues and
an honor to be invited to share Colorado's experience fighting
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last two years, we have relied on data and science
to guide our response to the virus. We have taken a balanced
approach, prioritizing the health and safety of our fellow
Coloradans, working to lessen the psychological and social
impact of the pandemic, while minimizing any negative impact on
the economy or on our kids' education.
This has led Colorado to have one of the shortest shutdown
stay-at-home periods in the entire country. One of the lowest
death rates in the entire country as well in the bottom 10
states.
When the lifesaving vaccine became available, we
aggressively launched efforts to protect as many Coloradans who
wanted to be protected. We were proud that we vaccinated 70
percent of Coloradans by--70 and older--early on. And we
reached President Biden's goal of vaccinating 70 percent of all
Coloradans by July 4. And we brought that same intensity to
protecting our kids, our 5-to 11-year-olds, as well as
administering third doses shown to be even more important
against the Omicron variant.
The lifesaving vaccine is our single best tool against the
virus, especially against severe illness and death from the
virus. But early detection also helps prevent the disease
spread, and through more and more effective treatments, also
save lives. And that's why we have worked to make testing free,
quick, and easy. Over 100 community testing sites.
Last year, we made rapid tests available through an at-home
delivery program that continues to this day. We're really
thrilled to see a similar national home test delivery program
rolled out as well. And we're happy to see the Federal
Government step up in that regard.
We also used testing to protect state employees, working
with many of the vulnerable workers under our care, including
at veterans' nursing homes, youth detention facilities. And we
worked with schools to make free testing available onsite for
students and staff to help improve the level of safety in the
classroom.
Earlier this week, Colorado launched a new mask delivery
program that provides free medical-grade masks to every
Coloradan who wants them. They are at dozens of public
libraries, fire stations, recreation centers, YMCA's, depots
that have agreed to be part of a distribution hub. And
Coloradans can pick up five medical-grade masks to add
additional protection to themselves.
These programs are examples of how we've worked to tackle
the virus from every angle. I'm very proud of everyday
Americans, everyday Coloradans, the way that they have stepped
up to protect themselves and their family during this crisis.
But the simple truth is that states alone cannot spearhead
these efforts indefinitely. COVID-19 is no doubt with us for
years to come. And while early data suggests we're entering the
endemic phases of this virus soon, we should also be prepared
for the inevitable lulls and subsequent waves that will
continue to impact hospital capacity as well as, of course, the
threat of future mutations.
Protecting hospital capacity has always been our North Star
in Colorado. We wanted to make sure that if anybody gets a
heart attack, a stroke, a car accident, or sick with COVID has
access to the very best care to make sure that they can
recover. What we simply cannot allow how we live and work and
how our children go to school to be determined by whether or
not our hospitals can keep up or hire staff or maintain
adequate supplies.
We need a national standard of hospital and healthcare
system readiness. And we know that with the disruptions in the
work force, especially in healthcare, like people across the
country, we're losing many nurses, doctors, and staff, and we
need national focus on a plan to improve work force readiness
around the healthcare work force for the future.
Colorado is working on a plan with our providers, with
legislators to invest in our healthcare work force, but we
can't stand alone. This truly needs to be a national effort.
It's not just about the need for hospital beds and workers;
it's also about integrating the pandemic response as an endemic
response into our healthcare system where it belongs.
Colorado, of course, like many states, set up testing
sites, vaccine clinics, distributed therapeutics. But moving
forward, our medical system--doctors, pharmacies, urgent cares,
hospitals--should be providing this care, as they do for all
other conditions.
Coloradans trust their primary care doctors and turn to
them first. But because FEMA is not reimbursing costs
associated with equipping primary care and pediatric physicians
to provide vaccines, many doctors are still not offering this
critical protection to their patients, putting a further onus
on the states and, of course, hospitals and pharmacies.
Similarly, far too many schools in Colorado and across the
country don't have a designated school nurse; someone to
administer tests onsite, take temperatures, catch cases in
their infancy. But because of this, we see a lot of outbreaks
and children needlessly getting sick and contributing to their
family members getting sick who might be more vulnerable.
Colorado has worked to get schools the supplies they need,
including masking. We've distributed over 2 million masks to
teachers, as well as to students, at school and onsite testing.
But both, of course, are opt-in programs. And we need our
schools to have onsite, high-quality care to make sure the kids
get the uninterrupted safe education they deserve.
We know what we need do. It's going to take all of us
working together to get it done.
I want to thank Chairman Clyburn. I want to thank the
subcommittee for inviting me here today. I hope that this
perspective from Colorado can help spur national action to help
our country move forward, protect lives, and keep our economy
growing.
And I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much, Governor Polis.
We'll now hear from Governor Pierluisi. Governor, you are
now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF GOVERNOR PEDRO PIERLUISI, COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO
RICO
Mr. Pierluisi. Chairman Clyburn, Ranking Member Scalise,
and members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to
testify before you today.
As Governor of Puerto Rico and former resident commissioner
of Puerto Rican Congress, I'm honored to represent the unique
viewpoint of the island's 3.2 million American citizens as we
enter the third year of this pandemic.
When my administration took office in January 2021, I put
together a team of highly qualified professionals and
scientists to advise me on how to lead our fight against COVID-
19. We worked tirelessly to educate our citizens on the value
of the vaccine, which bolstered vaccine uptake and staved off
skepticism. Because of these efforts, over 91.4 percent of our
vaccine-eligible population over the age of 5 have received at
least one dose, and an astounding 81.5 percent of our vaccine-
eligible population is fully vaccinated or boosted. Puerto Rico
stands as the leader in the Nation's vaccination effort.
An important aspect of Puerto Rico's successful vaccine
rollout was the connectivity amongst the healthcare providers
on the island. When monoclonal antibody treatments became
widely available, thanks to the hard work of HHS, Puerto Rico
leaned heavily on our strong pharmacy networks to ensure that
there was a coordinated request for therapeutics needed each
week.
Puerto Rico engineered one of the first electronic vaccine
card programs in the United States, the VacuID. Our department
of health, led by Dr. Carlos Mellado, deployed strong contact
tracing teams and effectively monitored visitors, identified
positive COVID patients, and slowed the spread. These efforts
enabled us to sustain much of our tourism industry, an
important component of Puerto Rico's economy.
Puerto Rico is regularly asked to do more with less.
However, with the right leadership and depoliticization of
healthcare, our island stands as proof that it is possible to
achieve successful outcomes. We can only envision just how
resilient our island could be if there was less disparity in
Federal funding for our healthcare programs.
When treated equally with the states, as we have been for
much of the COVID-related Federal disbursements, Puerto Rico
has been able to accomplish a high standard of care for the
citizens of our territory. We have been able to achieve the
near impossible, having no hospitals closing their doors during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last two years, while cases have spiked in the
U.S. and around the world, we have been able to keep Puerto
Rico's case counts comparatively low. However, with the rise of
the Delta and Omicron variants, we have seen the highest case
counts reported to date. We have had approximately 239,000
confirmed cases recorded on the island, with our daily case
count continuing to decline now to less than 2,000 confirmed
cases per day. Throughout the pandemic, we have had 3,593
confirmed deaths due to COVID-19, with our daily average
continuing to decrease. These numbers are comparatively low due
to our high rates of vaccination.
However, given that we are an island, the possibility of
overburdening our health system has always been a concern, as
our people cannot be diverted to a neighboring state hospital.
My administration has been very proactive and creative with
mandates throughout this pandemic. Since midsummer of 2021, we
have required most of our work force to be fully vaccinated.
Although we have always given our citizens the option to
provide negative COVID test results in lieu of proof of
vaccination, we have continuously advocated for vaccination
across all sectors of our society.
In addition, we have not been shy about requiring
restaurants and bars to ask for proof of vaccination or a
negative test result to their clients at all times. And every
time we have faced spikes in cases, we have promptly restricted
both capacity and business hours at our gastronomic and
entertainment venues.
As the U.S.' most populous territory, Puerto Rico's
differential treatment in total healthcare programs creates
gaps in the services we can provide our citizens.
While Congress passed legislation to increase Puerto Rico's
Federal medical assistance percent, the FMAP in the Medicaid
program from 55 percent up to 76 percent, that number has been
allowed to lapse since the December 3 CR. This unanticipated
reversion to a lower FMAP percentage has triggered severe
consequences on the island, potentially causing newly enrolled
Medicaid beneficiaries to lose their health coverage if this is
not addressed.
As the February 18 government funding deadline approaches,
I urge this subcommittee to work with your colleagues to set
Puerto Rico's FMAP to at least 76 percent.
Sustained progress is made difficult by short-term or
altogether insufficient funding. I mention this because it
emphasizes the mountain we in Puerto Rico must climb when
responding to any health crisis. We must lift ourselves to
equal footing with states that have just as many American
citizens to care for.
I assure you that with the Federal funding, Puerto Rico can
prosper and continue to provide Americans a safe place to
invest in, visit, and live.
Thank you, and I look forward to answering any questions
you may have.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you, Governor.
The chair now recognizes Mayor Bowser.
STATEMENT OF MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Ms. Bowser. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to thank
the ranking member as well. And I am delighted to present
Washington, D.C.'s experience with our COVID response. We have
prepared a few slides to go through our response and recovery
from COVID.
Are you able to see those?
And like my colleagues who have already presented, I am
grateful to the outstanding team that has supported our
response in the District, led by Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt at D.C.
Health, and Chris Rodriguez at D.C. HSEMA. They have led 37,000
D.C. government employees and grateful residents, businesses,
and visitors in the District.
We are showing here our experience over the four waves of
COVID and how we focused on six pillars of D.C.'s COVID
response--we can advance the slide--to flatten the curve--we
can go to the next slide--being the first charge to D.C.
residents.
How we have focused on proven public health interventions
throughout these four phases, including what the tools that
have been at our disposal as chief executives, including from
in early days relying on stay-at-home orders, masking, social
distancing requirements and, of course, very timely community
health guidance, travel advisories, and now vaccine
requirements throughout several sectors in the city.
We have also been very focused on our testing and
vaccination capability. I'm very proud. I call it the gold
standard of testing that we've been able to set up throughout
our pandemic response. Including on tapping into other first
responders, we set up PCR testing at our firehouses early in
the pandemic. We've also called on our libraries to be
distribution points for our at-home testing and now our rapid
test distribution.
We have conducted in our city over 800,000 tests that are
walk-up testing sites. And since this surge in Omicron, we have
distributed 329,000 free rapid tests to D.C. residents since
December 2021.
We also are proud that D.C. residents are getting
vaccinated, but we know we continue to have work to do, and so
we are still coming up with new strategies to get more people
vaxxed and boosted.
We also know that the work that we have done in our human
services helped us bend the curve and save lives among our most
vulnerable residents, including those who are experiencing
homelessness, by setting up isolation and quarantine hotels and
alternate accommodations for people who have high-risk health
conditions.
And that work, I must say, has been aided by a very abled
FEMA who worked hand-in-hand with us to make sure that those
pretty significant expenditures would qualify for
reimbursement.
Contact tracing has been a key part of the work that we
have done. And we hired over 500 people to get that work done.
And we have also--next slide--been very focused as it has
been key to our work with COVID at giving our residents direct,
timely, accurate information and dispelling any misinformation
that's out there. We have done that, front and center, with
situational updates that I have delivered on a pretty frequent
cadence. We have experienced significant views on our website
of people wanting to follow the data and listen to the science
so that they can make decisions that keep their families safe.
We're also very proud of the work that we did door-to-door.
You will hear a number of us talk about how to deal with
misinformation and give people--get people to make the decision
to get vaccinated. And we did that by empowering a community
Ambassador corps. So, neighbor-to-neighbor conversations to get
people vaccinated. And we knocked over a quarter of a million
doors to do exactly that.
Next slide.
We, of course, have been focused on making sure our
healthcare system could support, of course, flattening the
curve until the vaccines were available and distributed, and
they were able do that. And now, we are also working to make
sure that the system can support this Omicron variant that
we've experienced the last several weeks and anything else that
we will see with COVID as the months go on.
We, as has been mentioned, established community COVID
centers which are in retail spaces that will give D.C. Health
some permanent space to work out of as we try to advance our
vaccine and booster strategy. Residents will also be able to go
to those locations for testing kits, masks, and to ask
questions.
We have, throughout the pandemic, as I mentioned, also
supported a huge testing program where we use firehouses and
our libraries. And we've partnered with our faith communities,
especially in hesitant communities throughout the District.
Gratefully, we did not have to use our 430 seven-bed
alternate care site, but we did set that up in the case that we
had an influx in the early days of the pandemic.
Next, we have been very focused on all of our social
services as well, and that should be emphasized throughout
this. No chief executive wants to shut down her city, send
people home from work and school and away from their doctors
and other trusted individuals that can help with nutrition,
emergency commodities, and family assistance in a lot of areas.
We did--D.C. residents did--we lost over 1,200 of our
residents to COVID. And many of them were able to take
advantage of the funeral assistance offered by FEMA.
We also were very quick in getting our dollars out that
came through the American Rescue Plan for rental assistance.
Keeping people in housing during this emergency has been one of
our top priorities. We distributed $352 million in our STAY
D.C. program, and more than 50,000 families received
assistance.
So, as we talk about what the Federal Government will
continue to be called on to do, we know that the economic
crisis that COVID created is going to have some long tails, and
so we want to make sure that we're paying attention to that.
And, next, I just mentioned the types of things that it
takes for a government to pivot on a dime to transition to
remote work, to make sure that our facilities are safe for
children to return to school and workers to return. We were
very proud that our government, 37,000 D.C. government
employees returned to in-person work in July 2021.
You're going to, Mr. Chairman, hear us talk about another
thing that the Federal Government can do, and that's get back
to in-person work in the Nation's Capitol as well. And so we'll
continue to talk about ways that Federal agencies can implement
their return-to-work strategies.
We also were able, as I mentioned, to work hand-in-hand
with you, Mr. Chairman, and other Members of the Congress to
restore $755 million in CARES Act funding that the District was
shorted. And that is very important to how we were able to
implement all the testing strategies and responses to COVID
that we've been able to do.
Next slide.
And we also have some--we put this in the category of
unexpected things that have happened as we were also responding
to COVID. Our city was still running. All of the things that
happened in cities were happening. We, of course, in the
District had to deal with large-scale First Amendment protests
in the summer of 2020 that consumed a lot of our emergency
resources and police resources. We, of course, responded to
support the United States Capitol Police on January 6 and
supported the inauguration of 2021.
We continue to be in a posture where we can respond to
these variants and any variants that come in the future. We
should also not forget that we had a very active hurricane
season in 2020. So, I mention those things because the strain
on our response, emergency response, first responders and
police in the summer of 2020 was very significant.
We are----
Chairman Clyburn. Mayor Bowser?
Ms. Bowser. Yes.
Chairman Clyburn. You've gone far beyond the five minutes.
Ms. Bowser. OK. Let me just say, finally, Mr. Chairman,
that the return to school has been a priority for us. We like
others have dealt with Omicron. We saw, we think, our daily
cases peak at the end of December or first part of January. And
now we see all of our daily metrics improving from weekly case
rate, daily case rate, hospitalizations, and all of the--and
even our vaccination numbers improving as we speak.
Chairman Clyburn. Well, thank you very much, Mayor Bowser.
Ms. Bowser. Thank you.
Chairman Clyburn. I feel that all those who have some
questions, you may expand at that time.
It is now my pleasure to recognize Governor Ricketts.
Governor Ricketts, you're recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF GOVERNOR PETE RICKETTS, STATE OF NEBRASKA
Mr. Ricketts. Thank you very much, Chairman Clyburn,
Ranking Member Scalise, members of the committee. I appreciate
the opportunity to be here today. It's an honor.
My name is Pete Ricketts, and I am the Governor of the
state of Nebraska. And as has been pointed out already, the
COVID virus and pandemic has changed the way we do business,
where we learn, the way we go about our daily life. And through
it all, Nebraskans have done the right thing, they've taken
care of themselves and come through this strong.
In fact, one of the recent demonstrations of this was a
Politico report that looked at the state pandemic response. And
across four areas, including health, social well-being,
education, and economy, Nebraska came out ranked No. 1 as far
as overall best response to the pandemic.
And this really goes back to how it all started for us. We
got some great advice early on from the officials at University
of Nebraska Medical Center who told me, Hey, there's a virus.
You can't stop it. You can only slow it down until you can
buildup the resources to fight it, and you have to protect your
hospital capacity.
So, along that line, we were one of the first states to
focused on hospital capacity as driving all of our pandemic
response. And it's been true from the moment this started back
in March 2020 to today.
So, we put together a seven-point plan to be able to
address the pandemic. The first started with create testing
capacity. We set up TestNebraska, which more than doubled our
testing capacity here in the state. We hired over a thousand
contact tracers to supplement our local public health
departments and their efforts. We purchased PPE for our
hospitals and first responders and anybody else who needed it.
In fact, we were one of the first states or the first state to
have 120 days' worth of PPE on supply.
We also created a quarantine space for folks who couldn't
go home for whatever reason, using dormitory rooms or hotels so
that we wouldn't have people spreading the virus.
We focused on at-risk communities, long-term care
facilities, or meat processing, with additional attention to
make sure in those congregate settings we were reducing the
risk of spreading it.
And then, of course, we had our directed health measures
which put restrictions in place early on, such as limiting
restaurants to have only carryouts and so forth. In fact, part
of that was to give them also tools, businesses tools to remain
flexible like allowing for carry-on alcohol, which by the way
was the most popular thing I've ever done as Governor was allow
for that.
And then, of course, we've got the vaccines. And that's
something we've been continuing to emphasize with citizens here
in Nebraska is the importance of getting vaccines. In fact, the
state of Nebraska just released a report last week that showed
with our data that if you are unvaccinated and unboosted, you
were 46 more times likely to be in the hospital, and if you
were just vaccinated but unboosted, that you're 11 times more
likely to be in the hospital. And that's part of our campaign
of continuing to educate people. And that's been a key part of
this throughout the whole thing is communication.
During the height of the pandemic, we had seven press
conferences a week, two in Spanish. We translated our materials
into multiple languages to be able to reach people. We had, as
I mentioned, different groups that we worked with directly,
whether it was folks who were bilingual to be able to help get
the message out, community leaders, and so forth to really help
Nebraskans understand how they can take care of each other and
take care of themselves. And so that's been a big part of this
is doing the communication.
And now, as the chairman pointed out, we've got Omicron,
which is far more transmissible. And certainly as the chairman
pointed out, our experience in Nebraska is also that it is not
as virulent as the previous strains were. So, for example, even
though on January 10 we saw a record amount of testing, over
28,000 tests, we saw that also with the record amount of cases,
as I think some of my colleagues here have expressed, we're not
seeing that turn into the same number of hospitalizations we
would have expected, say, in November 2020.
In fact, we continue to monitor hospital capacity such that
we know that, you know, emergency rooms, for example, typically
operate at 95 to 97 percent capacity. And in Omaha, our large
metropolitan area right now, our emergency rooms are operating
about 90 percent capacity. I know Lincoln is a little over 80
percent.
So, again, we continue to focus on that hospital capacity
to supply that hospital bed, that ICU bed, or that ventilator
to anybody who needs it. We're also seeing from our health
officials, who we stay in constant contact with, that, for
example, the people who are in our ICU beds tend to be more
Deltas--predominantly more Delta. And the folks who do have
Omicron and are on, say, a ventilator are staying on those
ventilators for a shorter period of time.
So, what are we doing here in the state of Nebraska with
regards to this new surge of Omicron? Well, one of the things
we're doing is to supplement the Federal administration's
testing that they're sending out to everybody. We're also
implementing our own at-home testing that includes video links
with medical professionals. And then, as I think one of my
previous colleagues mentioned, importantly it links back into
our health systems so we can track those, should the person
agree to do that. We want to make sure that with that at-home
testing, we're capturing that data as well.
We're also doing something that we did during the pandemic,
which is opening up more hospital capacity by finding spaces
for people who are in the hospitals but don't need that acute
level of care. Maybe they need a skilled nursing level of care,
and they don't have a facility right now, or maybe they just
need that rehabilitation discharge being home. So, we're
looking to be able expand that by about a hundred hospital beds
in Omaha, Lincoln, and Grand Island to be able to create more
capacity for our hospitals.
And then, of course, we're also looking to be able to not
only increase the testing through the home kits, but using a
vast public health plan with our private partners who are doing
testing, to be able to help them be able to find the ability to
be able to get the test done and turnaround quickly.
So, I see that I have already run out of time with regard
to it. So, Chairman, I'll be respectful of the committee here.
But happy to answer any questions. And, again, thank you very
much for giving us the opportunity to talk about what we've
done here in Nebraska to be able to help keep Nebraskans safe
without lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine passports.
We've asked Nebraskans to do the right thing. We've taking
a balanced approach to be able to slow the spread of the virus,
protect our hospital capacity, and let Nebraskans live a more
normal life. And that's how we're going to continue to manage
the pandemic in our state.
Thank you.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much, Governor.
Finally, we will hear from Governor Inslee.
Governor Inslee, you are recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF GOVERNOR JAY INSLEE, STATE OF WASHINGTON
Mr. Inslee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It's a joy to be here. It's a joy to be with my old
colleagues. It's a joy to see three members of the 103d
Congress. You were rookies, now you're running America, so it's
a joy to join you.
You know, our perspective, I think it's interesting,
because we had the very first case on January 21, 2020. We had
our first death in America, which was on February 29. And we
started this with no template. We didn't get to, you know,
cadge ideas from Colorado or anywhere else. We were the first.
And we made some really early decisions that I think have
served us well.
No. 1, we did decide to follow science and the data and our
public health experts, and to be very vocal against the
profoundly malicious efforts to not spread the truth about this
vaccine that had been so damaging.
No. 2, we made a valued decision that saving lives was our
first priority, and it should remain unwavering.
And third, we made the decision that the best way we could
possibly reopen our economy is to knock down the virus.
Now the question is, did those strategies work? They worked
big time. And I want to talk to you about that.
We believe that we saved perhaps 17,000 lives because of
following these policies. I want to show you a graph that I
think is instructive. If we can put up the COVID graph, if you
will, please, on or screens. I look forward to seeing that, if
you can get that up for us. I hope that that can come up fairly
shortly. Are you guys seeing it, because I'm not.
Here we go. OK. So, we're looking at a graph. On the right,
our deaths per 1,000 were about 133. We wish it was zero. But
put that in perspective to other states, many of whom have not
followed the measures that I just talked about. You'll see the
national average is 256. That's in the gray bar. So, our death
rate per 100,000 is just about half what the national average
is.
But it gets more depressing than that. You look at some of
the other states, working up to the left, where the furthest
one on the left has almost, you know, three times the death
rate. Think about that. And so when you look at this from a
national perspective, if the Nation had succeeded the way
Washington State has succeeded, perhaps 400,000 people would
not have lost their lives. Think about that. That's almost the
number of people we lost in World War II.
So, these measures that we have adopted have had profound
success in saving lives. And I just want to talk to you about
the things we've done that I believe have had success.
Let me start with masks. We believe--thank you, you can put
the slide down, I think.
The most successful thing we've done is masks. They have
been embraced throughout Washington. There has been very high
compliance with some of our mask mandates. They have kept our
businesses open. They're now keeping our schools open. And
people have embraced it, and I'll tell you why.
People talk about freedom? I think Americans should have
freedom not to be infected by their coworker, or infected by
their student, their fellow student. That's a freedom. And my
state has embraced that concept that has saved lives big time.
We've made over 5 million masks just available in the last two
weeks. They're readily available and people are using them.
Second issue, vaccinations. We're now at about 80 percent.
This is pivotal because 80 percent of the people that are in
our hospitals are the unvaccinated. This is a serious disease
of the unvaccinated at this moment. And one of the things we've
done has been very successful, which is we have increased
vaccination rates amongst our state employees, our hospital
workers, and our educational community by making it a condition
of employment. That has increased our vaccination rate from 50
percent to 96 percent. Twenty-eight thousand people who are
employees of mine are now protected who were not protected. And
we only lost about three percent of our state employees as a
result, and saved massive amount of time off from these folks
who otherwise would have been hospitalized.
Look, my DOT had 17,000 days lost due to COVID
hospitalizations. We're saving people to keep them on the job.
This has worked big time.
We're helping our economy. Now, some folks thought the
things we proposed would hurt our economy. If you can put up
the economy slide just for a moment. Some folks posited that
the things we did of masking and vaccines would hurt our
economy. I just want to show you what our economy is doing
relative to the rest of the state--country. If you can just put
up that economy slide. I hope you can shoot that one up there
for us in due time.
This is significant. Our unemployment rate dipped about a
percent. Compare this to some other states that took the
position that perhaps they weren't willing to take some of
these measures. You'll see that we have done very well. The USA
average is three percent. Our economy has boomed relative to
other places when we have done these things to keep this down.
Brief note on schools. Ninety-six percent, really about
four percent of our schools are not in person right now. We've
been very successful with our masking requirements. And we
reordered our schools to go back to school in person in June,
and this has worked very, very well.
Last comment on testing. We have increased our capacity. We
do about 500,000 tests a week through our schools. And now we
have--or in the next couple of days, we're going to have, I
think, a unique ability to get your tests through Amazon. So,
you'll be able to go online, and Amazon has helped us
distribute these masks. We're moving forward on that.
Last comment of how you can help, besides sending money,
which, of course, Governors always do, that's our bottom line.
But I would make a note, and I'm following Governor Polis on
this, we need nurses, we need mental health treatment in our
schools for our kids. This is a big time need right now. I'm
proposing a whole bunch in my budget. You can help where you
can.
With that, look forward to your questions.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much, Governor.
Thank you so much to all of the witnesses today.
Now each member will have five minutes for questions, and
the chair recognizes himself for five minutes.
I have one question for, that I would like a quick response
from all of the Governors and the Mayor too, and that is this:
Since we've been putting up charts--Governor Inslee you put up
a couple of charts--I hope that we can get a chart that I have
pertaining to the state of Washington. And this chart showed
something that I wanted to bring everybody's attention to. It's
clear. And this is from the state of Washington.
Among the unvaccinated, literally the numbers are clear as
to what's happening with unvaccinated as opposed to the
vaccinated. And that's a big problem for us. Now, though the
deaths are less, hospitalizations, not as severe, but the
problem is people are getting sick and they're filling up the
hospitals. And hospitals are now complaining that it's going to
be a problem.
These high hospitalizations are a problem for us. Now I
want to know from you, Governor Inslee, why do you believe that
the unvaccinated residents in the state of Washington continue
to remain unvaccinated? What do you suggest? What can we do to
deal with this issue?
And I'm going to come to you next, Governor Ricketts, and
the rest of that. I just want to know what you think we can do.
Governor Inslee?
Mr. Inslee. There we go. Yes. Well, the first thing we can
do is make vaccination as easy and convenient as possible.
We've done that with our max vaxx sites. We've opened up
another one. And it's very important to get people boosted.
Before I leave here, I want to say, look, boosting is
everything right now. It is so much more effective than just
the first two shots. So, focus on the educational component of
that, of letting people know the value of getting boosted.
Second, we can do some of the things for appropriate parts
of our community to make this a job requirement. And as you've
indicated, this has been very successful saving lives of people
who are in the educational community. I believe that if you're
a public servant, you shouldn't go around infecting the public.
So, we decided our folks would be vaccinated to avoid that and
keep you from getting sick so you couldn't work for the state.
And third, in healthcare, obviously, that's been successful
as well. But there is an important point I want to talk, if I
may, just a moment. I know this is a $64,000 question: Why have
about 30 percent of Americans not decided to get the
vaccination right now? And I do tell you it is extremely
frustrating to me to look at this fact. Of the top reddest
counties compared to--areas compared to the top 10 blue areas
in the state of Washington, you have a six time higher death
rate, six time higher death rate because you're not getting
vaccinated amongst people who share more of the red persuasion.
And this is an enormous tragedy.
And we have to ask ourselves, why is there such a disparate
difference between these two groups of people? And,
unfortunately, it is because a lot of folks in the red camp
have created an identity that in order to wear the red jacket,
you shouldn't be vaccinated. And that is a persistent problem
of identity. It's not lack of information. My folks have
information coming out their ears.
It's an issue that the Republican Party has created an
identity, unfortunately, that has bred a mistrust of science, a
mistrust of governmental actions in this regard, and a sense
that you can't be a good Republican if you get vaccinated. I
think this is a tragedy in our country.
And I urge all my Republican colleagues to resist that.
Shoot, I saw the Governor of Florida the other day didn't even
want to admit he was boosted. He thought somehow that would
make him a bad Republican. This is a tragedy. And it's this
issue of identity we've got to get out of our teams and just
help our people save their lives.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you, Jay.
I believe in equal time. I'm not one of those people who
wants to get rid of equal time, so I'm going to give Governor
Ricketts equal time. And I ask the indulgence of the ranking
member as I do.
Mr. Ricketts. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
You know, as I travel the state of Nebraska and talk to
people why they're not vaccinated, the No. 1 thing they tell me
is because they don't know who to believe. And I think one of
the things that we all need to remember is that typically it
takes 10 to 15 years to develop a vaccine. The previous record
time to develop a vaccine was four years, and that was the
1960's and that was mumps. And I am very grateful that this
only took eight years to develop under Operation Warp Speed--
or, sorry, eight months to develop under Operation Warp Speed.
But it also hasn't given the public the time to have this
information disseminated and to be digested, which normally
happens with other vaccines. So, I think that's one thing we've
got to keep in mind.
I think we also have to keep in mind that there's been,
even from the sources like the CDC, you know, different
information coming out. Just start with masks. First, we
weren't supposed to get masks for people and then we were
supposed to get masks for people and so forth.
So, I think that it is one of those cases where we have to
continue to be able to educate people. Again, that's one of the
reasons why we released our report last week.
I think also one of the things at this point--you asked
what more can we do to get people to get vaccinated. I think
that really when it comes down to it, it's going to have to be
that friend, family, neighbor, somebody close to the
unvaccinated person who makes the case for why they should get
vaccinated. I certainly continue to go out and tell people and
make the case why they should get vaccinated. As I mentioned,
providing the data for vaccinated and boosted versus
unvaccinated to people so that they know the risks they're
taking by not being vaccinated.
I personally tell people who've been--I've had people who
tell me, I got the virus, I don't need to get vaccinated. I'm
like, no, you still need to get vaccinated because it will help
you build the antibodies to fight a virus in the future. So, we
are going to have to engage people.
One of the things we've tried to do here at the state of
Nebraska is find local people and run local ads. You know, we--
people who have--you know, we recognize within the community,
and talk about, for example, how severe COVID was for them, and
how it knocked them down and so forth, sent them to the
hospital, so that people they can hear locally and know will
see that and say, oh, OK, that's a local person. I understand.
Maybe I will go get vaccinated.
In fact, I'd say actually just a week or so ago, we had a
record date for people who haven't been vaccinated getting
their vaccine.
So, I do think that we have to continue to educate people.
I think it's got to be local people.
I would disagree with Governor Inslee's characterization
that this is a Republican Party thing. I think what we have to
do if we really went to get past this is we have to get past
the partisanship on this and have to focus on, you know, why
are people are not doing it. And in my experience in Nebraska
is because people still have to have time to digest this
information, and it really needs to be somebody locally telling
them, hey, this is something important to help protect your
health.
Chairman Clyburn. Well, I thank you very much. I know my
time is up.
I just want to say, as I go to the ranking member for his
questions, I've watched over several days ago, as you know, the
lead researcher for the Moderna was a relatively young African-
American woman who was given credit for having come up with
that vaccine. What was interesting to me listening to her when
she talked about how quickly they were able to get the final
product. They had been working on it for years, working on it
for years. They didn't have press conferences every morning
saying, we're going into the lab and do some research today.
For years, they've been working on this, and they had things
all lined up.
So, when they got the information from China and South
Africa, they were able to do things rather quickly because they
had been working for a decade. And people say it happened too
quickly. It did not happen quickly. What happened quickly was
the end result.
With that, I yield to the ranking member.
Mr. Scalise. Thank you for that, Mr. Chairman.
And I know we've got a few of our former colleagues that
are testifying.
I'd ask--Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who's the ranking member
of the Energy and Commerce Committee, also from the state of
Washington, asked if she could have a statement submitted into
the record. So, Mr. Chairman, I'd ask unanimous consent if
Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers' statement could be entered into
the record as well?
Chairman Clyburn. Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. Scalise. Thank you.
I'll start with former colleague Jared Polis, Governor
Polis. I appreciate you being here. I know I've watched, in
your state of Colorado, you've talked about after the vaccine
how that's helped alleviate some of the health crisis in
Colorado. You had said that, quote: Public health officials
don't get to tell people what to wear, meaning face masks;
that's just not their job.
I know with your state, you've gotten rid of the mask
mandate, no vaccination mandate statewide. How has that worked
out in your state and, you know, continued to keep your state
going and protect the health of your people?
Mr. Polis. Yes. This is really a matter--thank you,
Representative Scalise--of us having a lot more tools than we
had in the early days of the pandemic. In the early days of the
pandemic, there was no vaccine. There was not even widespread
ability--availability of medical-grade masks. The few masks we
had had to be used in the hospital setting. There were not
effective treatments. Later on, steroids came, somewhat
effective. But nothing like what we have now in terms of the
monoclonal, the new drugs coming online.
So, it's a very different situation we were in than early
2020. And so it demands a different kind of response that
employs all of the above, right? First and foremost,
encouraging people to get vaccinated, all three doses.
Incredibly important.
If I looked down for a moment while the others were
speaking it was because a friend of mine has COVID. She's in
her 70's, and I think she's only alive now because she was able
to get vaccinated
[inaudible].
Mr. Scalise. And I know my time's limited. And, yes, we've
all seen people who get COVID, as you mentioned, you know, your
friend. I know a friend who's vaccinated who got COVID. You
know, anybody who suggests that if you get vaccinated, you're
not going to get it; only the people unvaccinated pass it on.
That's not science, actually; that's misinformation. But I
appreciate that.
Let me go to Governor Ricketts because--Governor Ricketts,
first, for anybody to suggest that it's a political party
spewing anti-vaccination information. Frankly, it was Joe Biden
and Kamala Harris as candidates for President and Vice
President who tried to put doubt on when Donald Trump was
heading up Operation Warp Speed on what might come out of that.
But it's not a political party that owns it, even though they
did that.
I want to go to success rates. Look, Politico did the
report I think you cited in your opening statements. They
ranked every single state, all 50 states, on how they faired
through COVID. And your state came out No. 1 as the best state
to respond. Frankly, I think if we should be hearing from
anybody about what to do, some Governors shut everything down.
Some Governors have kept things open and mixed results. You've
done both. You've kept things open and you've protected your
people all combined better than anybody. You kept your schools
open, helping those kids, millions of kids across this country
whose lives are being destroyed because of that.
How did you do it so successfully? What can we replicate
with other states who haven't done it as successfully, while
keeping everything open?
Mr. Ricketts. Yes, I think it gets back to, you know, I
laid out that plan that we had, that seven-point plan. And it
is--a lot of that plan also evolves around communication, just
reaching out, as I mentioned, doing it in multiple languages,
getting to different groups that would be more at risk, like
long our-term care facilities. We had a plan from the
University Nebraska Medical Center to address that. Meat
processing plants. We had weekly calls for nearly three months
with those facilities to talk about best practices, to change
the way they were doing things, to slow the spread there.
We worked with our schools on what they could do, helping
them all come up with plans for how they could get kids back in
classrooms. I really want to credit our teachers who were
double-planned sometimes, right, from the kids in the
classrooms and the kids who still wanted to be remote.
So, we really--and then, of course, we looked at areas
where we had folks who were going to come from a disadvantaged
socioeconomic background and work with community health
centers, for example, to make sure that folks had access to the
testing and the contact tracing and the PPE and vaccines when
they became available. But it was a lot of communication to be
able to get that message out.
And then we focused on things such as, you know, keeping
our mortality rate down. According to the Kaiser Family
Foundation, we were tied for the seventh lowest mortality rate
of any state where people have gotten COVID, you know, among
people who got COVID.
We won as best state for kids in classrooms. I think we
were No. 6. Politico ranked us No. 4 as far as kids', you know,
learning loss. We had almost no learning loss in Nebraska.
And, of course, with regard to, you know, protecting
livelihoods, giving people the tools to be able to function in
this new environment, giving them flexibility, whether it was
waiving licensing restrictions or supervising restrictions or,
you know, providing guidance to houses of worship of how they
could still have services and so forth.
All those things allow people to have a more normal life.
And that's what led--you know, for example, we've got the
lowest unemployment rate not only in state history, but in the
history of the United States. So, it really was striking this
balance among all these things that allowed us to really
address this.
And, frankly, it gets back to Nebraskans who, when we
communicated out the right thing, they did the right thing. You
know, over 90 percent of our seniors are vaccinated. That's
where 80 percent of our fatalities come from. So, again,
targeting the most at-risk communities is really one of the
things that helped us be successful.
Mr. Scalise. Thanks a lot for that.
Mr. Chairman, appreciate it. I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you, Mr. Scalise.
I'll now yield to Ms. Waters for five minutes of questions.
Ms. Waters. Thank you very much, Mr. Clyburn. I thank you
so much for this hearing. It's so important.
And let me thank all of our witnesses today for the hard
work that they're doing to save lives. Our cities and our
states with representatives like you have today literally have
been doing the kind of work that not only saves lives, but it
also helps us to understand what else we need do in order to be
of assistance to them.
I am one that understands very thoroughly that resources
make a difference to the degree you have the resources that you
need to fight the fight, and in this case, it means masks. It
means all of the testing materials that are needed. It means
the vaccinations. To the degree that they have this, they can
continue to do the kind of work that they're doing.
I am so worried, however, that this growing political
movement by these anti-vaccine activists and pro-Trump
Republicans, it's undermining their work. We find, I'm told, in
some of the research that's done, that it is found that there's
a huge correlation between belief in misinformation and being
unvaccinated. This was said by a woman named Liz Hamel, who
heads public opinion research for the Kaiser Family Foundation,
a nonpartisan healthcare think tank.
Between conservative media and GOP politicians, many
Republican voters are being pummeled with bad science about
vaccines almost daily. Kaiser's polling found that 94 percent
of Republicans think one or more false statements about COVID-
19 and vaccines safely might be true. Over the past eight
months, Hamel has watched as Republican vaccination rates have
fallen further and further behind the rest of Americans.
While Republicans tracked other groups in terms of
vaccination rates earlier this year, Kaiser's research shows
that now an unvaccinated person is three times as likely to
lean Republican as they are to lean Democrat.
A new analysis by NPR suggests that Republicans are
probably dying at a higher rate as a result. A nationwide
comparison of 2020 Presidential election results in COVID-19
death rates since vaccines became available to all adults found
that counties that voted heavily for Trump had nearly three
times the COVID-19 mortality rate of those that went for Joe
Biden. Those counties also had far lower vaccination rates.
Counties that went heavily for Donald Trump have seen much
lower vaccination rates and much higher death rates.
Now, to our witnesses here today, while you talk about some
of the things that you're doing, you know, having some
Ambassadors, volunteer people going out talking with folks, do
you think that you can be more definitive?
For example, you have someone who is advising people--and
I'm going to see if I can get his name--to drink their own
urine. And so when you have this kind of misinformation that is
constantly, you know, bombarding folks, it undermines all the
work that you're doing.
Can you get more definitive? Can you describe better? Can
you have in your ads, you know, real life information about
people who are not vaccinated are dying at a later rate. Can
you put that up and out as we should be thinking about how we
should do it?
Let me go right to any one of our--Mr. Inslee, since you're
from us and you've worked with us, you know what we try and do.
What do you think about being tougher, more definitive, and
using the words that need to be used in order to dissuade
people from not getting vaccinated?
Mr. Inslee. Well, let me--first, I want to congratulate
Governor Ricketts. He's done some good things in Nebraska,
congratulate him for some of his successes. But I do think
there just is a sad reality we have to recognize, and that is
that there has been a profoundly different approach to this
whole pandemic, you know, based on whether you're red or blue.
That's just the reality.
And when we started this, the defeated President
continually belittled the importance of this, said it's going
to be over by Easter. And I remember asking him for help early
on in this pandemic. He said it wasn't his job to help the
states. And now we've got a President I think who's really
helping out every time we ask for help. And it started there.
But I just want to suggest that this is a larger problem
than just COVID. The virus of deception about our organs of
democracy, there's two viruses: one is a virus of COVID and one
is falsity. And that falsity is not just about COVID. It's
about who won the last election.
Listen, if you have one party telling their Members that
you can't trust government enough to even decide who won the
last election, it's pretty certain they're not going to trust
government when government shares the truth about this virus
and the effectiveness of vaccines. And the sad truth is we have
one party that has created the big lie certainly about who won
the last election and significant mistruths for many--and I'm
not counting Governor Ricketts this camp--but many of his
colleagues have continued to belittle the effectiveness of
these measures. And that's just a sad reality.
Now, how do we change that situation? We try to appeal to
the better angels of their nature to knock it off and stop
supporting and nominating candidates who want to continue to
lie about basic truths in our democracy. That's the infection
we have of willing to infect people with falsity. And we saw it
on January 6----
Ms. Waters. Yes.
Mr. Inslee.--and we saw it every day when I can't get
Republicans to get vaccinated. And by the way, in my state--
unfortunately, I just have to share you this--in my state,
there is a profound difference in the vaccination rates between
the red and blue counties in my state. That's just a reality.
And I can't get Republicans enough to respond to that. Maybe
Governor Ricketts can convince them.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you, Governor.
Ms. Waters. Thank you, Chairman.
Chairman Clyburn. The gentlelady's time has expired.
Ms. Waters. Thank you.
Chairman Clyburn. The chair now recognizes Mr. Jordan for
five minutes.
Mr. Jordan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It's good to see some of our former colleagues. I want to
thank all our witnesses for being here.
I first want to go to what the chairman said in his opening
statement a couple hours ago. He attacked Senator Johnson and
Representative Gaetz about statements they had made. And then
we just heard Governor Inslee say that government shares the
truth. That is--I mean, think about what we have been told
about this virus that turned out not to be true.
The President of the United States said we have a plan. The
President of the United States said we would shut down the
virus. Dr. Fauci and CDC and the government said it didn't
start in the lab. They all said it wasn't gain-of-function
research. They said, we'll never impose a mandate, but they
did, so much so, it went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme
Court struck it down.
They told us that the vaccinated can't get it. They told us
that the vaccinated can't transmit it. They told us there's no
such thing as natural immunity. The last thing you want to do
is trust what these people have told us, because everything
they've told us has turned out to be misleading and not
accurate.
Governor Ricketts, are there more people vaccinated now
than there were a year ago?
Mr. Ricketts. Yes, absolutely. As I mentioned, we just had
a record day for the number of people who have never been
vaccinated to get vaccinated. So, it's a----
Mr. Jordan. Are there more people who--nationwide, are
there more COVID deaths this year than there were last year?
Mr. Ricketts. You know, I have not tracked the COVID
deaths. I heard earlier on a call there were more deaths this
year than last year, but I can't tell you. I've been focused on
my state. I can't tell you.
Mr. Jordan. Are there an uptick in cases, as we speak now,
nationwide than compared to a year ago?
Mr. Ricketts. Well, certainly in Nebraska, we've got an
uptick in cases, absolutely.
Mr. Jordan. Yes. There's an uptick everywhere. So, I think
the simple question is, how can that be? I mean, if mask
mandates and lockdowns work, then why didn't they work? I mean,
we've seen all kinds of restrictions placed on the American
people, all kinds of limits placed on their freedom. If those
things all work, how can we have higher caseloads at a time
when there are more people vaccinated and, unfortunately, more
people have lost their lives this year than before?
Do you have a mask mandate on schools in your state,
Governor Ricketts?
Mr. Ricketts. No. We've never had a statewide mask mandate
ever throughout the pandemic. Different school districts will
choose to do mask mandates, but that is the--that is up to the
local school districts. We've never done it at the state level.
Mr. Jordan. You haven't mask mandated businesses in your
state.
Mr. Ricketts. No, we do not.
Mr. Jordan. Do you have a vaccine passport mandate in your
state, as many cities are now imposing on citizens?
Mr. Ricketts. No, we do not.
Mr. Jordan. And in your state, by just about any metrics
and measure, I looked at some of this prior to the hearing,
you've done very well in all kinds--I mean, one of the things I
noticed is you've actually had more families move into your
state over the time of the pandemic, which cannot be said for
New York, New Jersey, California, and D.C., the hardest
lockdown states in the country. They've actually seen families
and individuals leave their state, move out of their state, and
move to states where they actually had freedom.
So, you actually went up in people moving to your state. Is
that right?
Mr. Ricketts. Yes, we've certainly got anecdotal evidence
to show that there are a lot of people who moved to Nebraska
for the quality of life here.
Mr. Jordan. Quality of life there. That's--I would just
call it freedom and quality of life. It's a great state. I've
been to your state as many of these other places where people
are moving.
When COVID first happened, did you have some regulations
you placed on your economy and on your--on the citizens early
on like most of the country did when we didn't know a darn
thing about this virus? Did you do that?
Mr. Ricketts. Yes. Absolutely. So, it gets back to what I
said earlier about slowing the spread of the virus so we could
buildup the capacity and ultimately get the vaccines, all with
the goal of protecting our hospital capacity. And as we built
up that capacity and got the vaccines, we did not need to have
those restrictions in place. So, we've loosened those up
significantly, really taking almost all of them off in June.
And then with the staffing emergency, we do have some
directed health measures, specifically around hospital capacity
and staffing again, releasing the restrictions on occupational
licensing and supervision requirements, that sort of thing, to
give hospitals more capacity and more flexibility in managing
their caseloads.
Mr. Jordan. Well, I guess maybe one of the questions I
asked too is when you--when you did have those restrictions
early on in this--during the virus, did you follow, you as the
leader of your state, did you follow the restrictions you had
in place?
Mr. Ricketts. Oh, yes, absolutely. I had to quarantine
twice. Most recently, I was exposed and had to wear a mask for
10 days.
Mr. Jordan. Yes. But this is--this is one of the things
that dri---at least the people I talked to in the Fourth
District of Ohio, one of the things that drives them crazy is
this double standard. I mean, Mayor Bowser, she had a
quarantine requirement in place and didn't follow it, because
she had to go visit with Joe Biden after the election last year
when she left the state and didn't follow. The very requirement
she put on her citizens, she wouldn't follow. And time and time
again we have seen elected officials, most often they seem to
be from the other party, who won't follow the very restrictions
they place on the people they're supposed to represent and the
people who pay their salary, won't follow the very restrictions
they put on those people.
So, it's--I'm glad that you--you did that.
Any idea--last question, Governor Ricketts, any idea how
many people work at the CDC?
Mr. Ricketts. I have no idea how many people work at the
CDC.
Mr. Jordan. Ten thousand people, 10,000 people work there.
Any idea how many studies they've done on natural immunity at
the CDC or, frankly, at the NIH?
Mr. Ricketts. I'm not aware of any on natural immunity. In
fact, I think we're the only major country in the world that
does not recognize natural immunity.
Mr. Jordan. Could you hazard a guess of why the NIH and
CDC, with combined over 30,000 employees and an annual budget
combined of over $56 billion, why they wouldn't do a study on
natural immunity? Any idea? Could you hazard a guess?
Mr. Ricketts. I have no idea. I can only imagine they just
were not told to do so.
Mr. Jordan. Yes. OK.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. I thank the gentleman for yielding back.
The chair now recognizes Ms. Maloney for five minutes.
Ms. Maloney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to thank
you for having this very important hearing.
And it is great to see three of my former colleagues here
today. Congratulations on all the good work you're doing.
But I'm going to address my questions to Mayor Bowser. I
have a special relationship with D.C., having spent so much
time there. I would like to explore, Madam Mayor, how
Republican efforts to block D.C.'s statehood could have
possibly hampered the District's response to the coronavirus
pandemic.
Throughout 2020, as the virus crisis took hold across the
District and the country, D.C. residents and businesses
received less than half the amount of CARES Act relief funds
they would have been entitled to as a state, depriving the
District residents of roughly $755 million in pandemic relief
for a year. Thankfully, congressional Democrats, including
myself and those of us on the Oversight Committee, worked with
the Biden administration to retroactively restore this funding
through the American Rescue Plan.
But that critical funding came a year late for the
residents of the District. D.C. residents pay more in Federal
taxes per capita than residents of any other state, and they
have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and its
outsized harm on communities of color.
So, Mayor Bowser, how did the delay in relief funding
impact the District's ability to respond to the coronavirus
pandemic?
Ms. Bowser. Well, thank you, Representative Maloney. And
thank you for your leadership and all of your support for the
District.
And it was a huge distraction, first and foremost, $755
million, three-quarters of a billion dollars is a lot of money
for anybody, and it's especially a lot of money for us. For
some reason we're yet to figure out, in the CARES Act, our
state level funding, which we received for all matters of
Federal funding, was limited. And we received $755 million less
than we should.
What we did in its place not to hamper our building up our
capacity, as you've heard all of the Governors mention, we were
able to tap into some of our reserves so that we could continue
to advance our response. However, your efforts to get that
money restored allowed us to maintain our very critical
government operations and the emergency response.
Ms. Maloney. Thank you.
Now, also D.C.'s lack of statehood creates additional
barriers for its pandemic response efforts. For example,
Governors in other states, including those with us today, have
deployed members of their National Guard to support hospital
staff and testing efforts during the recent Omicron surge. But
as we know, D.C. does not have full authority over its National
Guard and cannot activate them without approval from the
Secretary of Defense.
My question, Mayor Bowser, is: How has the lack of
statehood created unique hurdles for the District? And how has
this undermined your efforts, D.C.'s response, to the
coronavirus?
Ms. Bowser. Thank you, Representative Maloney. It's true
that calling the D.C. National Guard is kind of a misnomer.
It's really the President's Guard. Unlike all of the 50 states,
our Guard is basically under the command of the President of
the United States.
When we use our Guard, I submit a request to the DOD to get
that request met. In years past, that has been pretty pro forma
and it's happened quickly. We saw, however, in the last four
years, that those requests were delayed, sometimes limited, as
with our request for support on January--on the events leading
up to January the 6. They're also limited in the fact that we
can't change them mid-mission, which, you know, circumstances
change, as we saw on January the 6. And the Mayor of the
District cannot direct those changes.
There have been proposals. Our Congresswoman has, you know,
advanced legislation to change that. It's been supported in the
Senate to change that. Unfortunately, that didn't get done this
year, but it needs to get done.
Our National Guard, I had called them up to support the
coronavirus efforts, and they were very helpful in setting up
our testing. We have recently called for them to again to
support testing in Omicron.
Ms. Maloney. Well, also, Madam Mayor, over the recent
holidays, Omicron drove cases and hospitalizations to new highs
in D.C., one of the epicenters of the latest wave of the virus.
And although the District's vaccination campaign has thankfully
worked to reduce the rate of severe diseases and death compared
to prior waves of the pandemic, our colleagues across the aisle
have taken steps in recent weeks to try to impede these efforts
to save lives.
Republicans have introduced no fewer than five bills in
this Congress in an effort to undermine D.C.'s critical work to
increase vaccinations among District residents. Madam Mayor,
how do these efforts risk endangering your government's
response and the health and safety of District residents?
Ms. Bowser. Well, I think the whole point----
Chairman Clyburn. Madam Mayor, cut it real short.
Ms. Bowser. Yes.
I think the whole point of what we've been talking about is
the Governors, the chief, and the mayor here know best for our
states. And we know best for the District of Columbia what
works. We're not all the same. We're urban, we're dense, and we
have to have strategies in place that will keep our residents
and our city safe. And is that is what we have advanced.
Ms. Maloney. Thank you.
My time has expired. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much.
The chair now recognizes Ms. Miller-Meeks for five minutes.
Ms. Miller-Meeks. Thank you, Chair Clyburn.
And first off, I want to thank all of our witnesses for
testifying before us today and sharing their experiences.
As we all know, the Trump administration under Operation
Warp Speed developed three safe and effective vaccines. And as
a physician, former director of public health, I can say that
it's nothing short of miraculous and it was built on decades of
research.
I also want to be abundantly clear, I am fully vaccinated.
I've admitted the vaccine in vaccine clinics in all 24 of the
counties in my district. And I've encouraged people, persuaded
people to be vaccinated, talked with family members of people
who ask for guidance in helping their family members to become
vaccinated, and will continue to recommend to people to seek
guidance from their healthcare providers or physicians about
vaccination should they have hesitancy.
However, I don't stand for government mandates and
political overreach into the healthcare decisions of
individuals. I was pleased to see that the Supreme Court struck
down the OSHA mandate, because--in regards to private employers
because I felt that that was an unconstitutional overreach of
OSHA.
Governor Ricketts, you--can you briefly discuss your
states's participation in the lawsuit to stop the mandate?
Mr. Ricketts. Yes, absolutely. So, again, as I've talked
about on this--in the testimony here that, you know, I
encouraged people to get the vaccines. And we wanted people
to--you know, educate people about doing the right thing, but I
also am opposed to the mandates. In fact, as I talk to people,
again, who have not been vaccinated yet, one of the really
detrimental things that, for example, the mandate on businesses
had was there were a number of people who told me--again, this
is all anecdotal evidence--but they told me that they were
going to get vaccinated but now there is no way they were going
to get vaccinated if the Governor was going to be telling them
that they had to get vaccinated. So, I think that's one of the
downsides when you try to push something.
And, of course, our state, my attorney general and myself,
both agreed that trying to use OSHA and really jam, as I think
even the chief of staff for the White House, to workaround
through this to use OSHA to, you know, push down these vaccines
was really outside the law and very detrimental. And it could
be used in so many bad ways in the future with an executive
branch who then would take this and say, well, I've got a
policy I want to enforce. I'm going to find an emergency to
declare, and I'm going to tell OSHA to go push my policy
through their regulations. That is something that I don't think
Republican or Democrat that we want to see the executive branch
having that kind of authority to without the--know, going to
Congress asking for this kind of authority.
So, that's one of the reasons why our state was one of the
states that was taking this to, you know, court because we felt
that this was an overreach of the Federal Government and also
set a really, really bad precedent for the future. Not--you
know, set aside whether or not you think the vaccines are right
or not, you're expanding the power of the executive branch
hugely by allowing them to go around Congress to enforce this
vaccine.
Ms. Miller-Meeks. And I thank you for that. And I think
what your state and, you know, the other Governors have
indicated from their states shows that the Federalist system
has worked because different states have different makeups,
different rural areas, different population areas, different
densities, and so that approach did work.
The Supreme Court in ruling on the OSHA mandate said the
right to refuse medical treatment could be overcome when
society needs to curb the spread of a contagious epidemic.
Vaccines should prevent transmission. As we saw in the Delta
variant--and this was CDC, Dr. Walensky, this summer, with the
Delta variant and from the Israel study, 45 percent of people
would still transmit and have high--high viral loads. And Dr.
Walensky said that people infected with Delta is
indistinguishable from that--vaxx--unvaccinated people and what
the vaccines can't do anymore is present--prevent transmission.
We've especially seen this with the Omicron variant, that in
the Omicron variant, highly transmissible, less ill.
So what--you know, in mandating a vaccine when there is no
longer a public health benefit, i.e., we're not preventing
transmission of the virus in the Omicron variant, and we may,
in fact, if you read some of the literature on the Danish study
that just came out, that there is a negative effect with the
vaccine lasting 30 minutes. We may, in fact, create more super
variants.
So, I thank you for the job you did, Governor Reynolds
[sic]. And our state also did an admiral job. We know in
schools that there is increased suicide, increased mental
health problems, a detriment to learning, a detriment to not
being able to participate, learning loss, school lunches. And I
think--can you discuss your decision to allow families to
decide what's best for their students and your children in
opening schools?
Mr. Ricketts. Yes. Well, some are like--every state's
different and every school district is going to be different,
so what we encouraged was I got together with the commissioner
of education, who actually is not a cabinet member. He is in a
separate elected state Board of Education in Nebraska, so they
don't report to me, but we work very closely to come out and
set the expectation, in the summer of 2020, that we expected
kids to be in classrooms, because we know that it's not just
about academic progression but also about, as you mentioned,
physical health, mental health, nutrition, socialization. All
those things are a benefit. And really worked with our school
leaders to--the Department of Education published a book that
they worked with us on as well to say here's a roadmap for how
you can open up your school.
And so that's what we really did is allowed the school
districts to make those decisions, and then, of course,
encouraged parents to weigh in with their school boards with
regard to that. But that's really how we got to the point where
I think one study or one group said that we were the sixth best
state for kids in classrooms. As I mentioned, we came out
fourth in the Politico study for learning loss. We had very
little learning loss in Nebraska, because we did really place
an emphasis to try and get those kids back in the classrooms.
Ms. Miller-Meeks. Thank you so much, Governor Ricketts.
And I know my time is up. Chair Clyburn, I just know
Nebraska and I were
[inaudible].
Chairman Clyburn. I understand. Thank you so much.
The chair now recognizes Ms. Velazquez for five minutes.
Ms. Velazquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And it is great to see the many former colleagues on this
call. Thank you so much for the great work that you're doing in
your respective states.
I would like to ask my first question to Governor
Pierluisi. You announced that the American Rescue Plan funding
will be used to invest in essential workers and domestic
development initiatives. How impactful was this funding for
these purposes? And can you please provide specific examples of
how your office allocated and prioritized the disbursement of
these funds?
Mr. Ricketts. Yes. So, specifically when it comes to the
American Rescue Plan Act--I think this question was addressed
to me. Is that right?
Ms. Velazquez. Governor, I relayed my question to Governor
Pierluisi from Puerto Rico.
Mr. Ricketts. Oh, I'm sorry. My apologies.
Ms. Velazquez. OK.
Mr. Pierluisi. I'll start, and if you want to followup,
it'll be fine with me. I'll try to be brief.
It is great to see Congresswoman Velazquez participating at
this hearing. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and she
knows the challenges we face, as well as anybody in Puerto
Rico.
Actually, the American Rescue Plan has been a blessing for
us. We used it, for example, premium pay, hazard pay for
workers, essential workers who were out there in the middle of
this pandemic last year. I'm talking about, of course, the
hospitals, the clinics, but also even restaurants, the
entertainment industry, first responders and so on. All workers
who were doing in--rendering in-person services while being
exposed to this virus deserved this premium pay or hazard pay,
and we did it.
We are now doing it still, because this Omicron variant has
hit us quite hard. Puerto Rico did so well last year. We had
mandates. We had business restrictions and capacity
restrictions on businesses at various times during the year.
Yet our economy grew, because we were a safe destination for
doing business and for visiting us as tourists and so on.
Yet I have to admit, this has been a rough start this year,
because the Omicron variant, as has been mentioned before, is
very transmissible. And we're seeing--we've just seen case
counts that--record case counts, record hospitalization rates.
Finally now, it's starting to come down. But I just decided
recently to give yet another premium pay to clinic workers at
our hospitals and clinics, because we were lucky,
Congresswoman, last year, our hospitals were never compromised.
But this year, they're quite congested with COVID patients.
Last, I'll just say very quickly----
Ms. Velazquez. Governor?
Mr. Pierluisi. I'll keep quiet and I'll let you----
Ms. Velazquez. I just have another question and my time is
limited.
Mr. Pierluisi. I know. I know.
Ms. Velazquez. [Inaudible] You know, for the members of the
committee to see how important the American Rescue Plan and the
impact, the positive impact that it has played in Puerto Rico.
And imagine where Puerto Rico would have been today if it had
not been for the fact that the Trump--during the Trump year, he
withheld disaster relief money appropriated by the Congress of
the United States.
Governor, Puerto Rico established also the local Earned
Income Tax Credit in 2019. And the American Rescue Plan
provided a $600 million supplement for the program. Can you
please expand on how the supplemental funding for Puerto Rico's
EITC will help strengthen its labor market and help reduce
poverty?
Mr. Pierluisi. Yes. That's the best anti-poverty program in
the states. And we've never had a comparable program in Puerto
Rico because of our limited resources. We never had access to
the EITC. So, what Congress did, and it's great, Congress is
basically funding now 75 percent of our local version of the
EITC. This is going to give our workers up to about $6,500, up
to that amount, as an incentive to join the labor force, to
increase our labor participation rate, which has always lagged
the one you have in the U.S. mainland.
So, it's going to start this April. When we file tax
returns in Puerto Rico, our taxpayers will start getting this
for the first time.
We also, as part of the American Rescue Plan, got fully
included in the child tax credit program. Because, believe it
or not, only families with three children or more had access to
the child tax credits. Now, all families will. And that's
another great help from the American Rescue Plan.
And so what I'll say to just close is that--and I was kind
of mentioning it before, the booster is so important. One thing
we did in Puerto Rico, Congresswoman Velazquez, is that science
and medicine have been driving our government decisions. I have
been relying on the medical and scientific community in Puerto
Rico for my decisions. And that has allowed us to keep politics
out of the way.
You know that we're very passionate about our politics in
Puerto Rico. But since my decisions have been driven by science
and medicine, that's why we've had a lot of support from the
public at large, from the political class at large. And if I
have any recommendation or suggestion for the mainland would be
that one.
Ms. Velazquez. Congressman--Governor, I went to Puerto
Rico. I spent two weeks for the holidays. I didn't get Omicron.
I came back to the United States. I went to Washington, DC, and
I came back with Omicron here. So, even after being fully
vaccinated.
So, thank you so much for the work that you are doing.
I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms.
Velazquez.
I don't see Ms. Malliotakis. Has she come back?
The chair now recognizes Mr. Foster for five minutes.
Mr. Foster. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to our
witnesses.
You know, as a scientist, I find it sort of--well, I had a
number of things that I was tempted to react to, but I found it
absolutely remarkable to hear one of my colleagues claim that
there was no public health benefit of vaccines.
You know, also, I'd like to point out that there's a pretty
big difference between absolutely preventing transmission,
which, of course, no vaccine ever does, compared to reducing
transmission, which they unquestionably do. And I think that
the--the fundamental reason why we seem to be talking back and
forth past each other is that--is the question of whether or
not a government of a country has a right to ask its citizens
to take even a small risk or inconvenience for the greater good
of its citizens, or whether this is simply viewed as an
outrageous intrusion on individual freedom.
You know, my draft number was 321. And so--and Hanoi fell
in 1973. And I--my number would have come up in 1974, so I was
never asked to serve. But I had long discussions with my dad. I
would have served. And when the--the soldiers who got drafted
for World War II, they did not get to say, my body, my choice.
You know, they were asked to take a reas---a significant risk
to fight the Nazis. They were not allowed to say, well, I'm
going to wait for more scientific data to see if it is safe to
fight the Nazis or not.
They were asked to take--you know, take a risk and to do
something for their country to keep their fellow citizens safe.
And it seems as though, frankly, today's Republican Party has
raised individual, not freedom, but selfishness to a level that
it would be inconceivable to the greatest generation.
Anyway, so I just--maybe I can see if this--I had a
question actually for Governor Inslee. When you were talking
about what you viewed as the partisan tilt and you're seeing it
even in the death rates in different--do you think that this is
to the extent that it may actually have electoral implications
downstream?
Mr. Inslee. I'm sorry, Bill. I lost the last part of your
question.
Mr. Foster. Do you think that when you look at the
differential death rates in the counties, depending on the
partisan lean of the counties, do you think this is large
enough to have maybe differential, you know, effects on
elections downstream when you just look at very close
elections? That'd be an interesting analysis to do.
Mr. Inslee. Well, here's the tragedy of this, and I do
believe it is a tragedy. We have a disproportionate number of
members of the Republican Party dying in my state. Now, one
would think, if you're Republican, you'd really want to be
aggressive to prevent losing your people. But we hear voices
like Congressman Jordan's, who are continuing to spread
disinformation, which is causing health jeopardizing to his
people that are in his party. That's a real tragedy.
And then--and when other colleagues, frankly, like Governor
Ricketts, who will stand up and try to share valid scientific
information, people don't trust them because the members of
that party has been telling people for 10 years, don't trust
the government. So, that's the situation we're in.
What are the electoral consequences? I'm not sure that's
relevant to this particular discussion, but we have to try and
save everybody's life here. That's what I'm for.
Mr. Foster. Yes. OK. Let's see, there's been also some
mention of the parts of the response that were Federalized, the
part that were left to the states. Do any of you have any
comments on things that the Federal Government should have
taken a bigger role in, just particularly in relation to
collecting data? Governor Polis?
Mr. Polis. First of all, I think, you know, many of my
fellow Governors, including myself, when the Federal Government
can do it well, we welcome them to do it. And that's why I'm
glad you're offering testing. We've been doing that for a
couple months. We're glad somebody--once we see the Federal
Government can do it right, we're happy to stop doing and fold
that in. Same with masks.
The FEMA crews have been indispensable. Our state's used
them during surges. The National Guard has been indispensable.
We've used that during our surges. So, there have been key
components where I just don't know where we would be at. It
would be--not only would it have been much more fatal to
members of the public in many states; it also would have been
much more devastating to the economy without all those areas of
Federal support.
Mr. Foster. Yes. Governor? Yes.
Mr. Inslee. One of the things that is really important in
the healthcare system is to have a robust scale of
opportunities in the long-term care system. That's the one
thing I might suggest we can certainly use more dollars for.
Because if you don't have enough places in your long-term care
facility, you can't discharge people from your hospital. We're
experiencing that problem, so we've been building up our long-
term care facility.
But help from Congress to get more long-term care facility
opportunities for people, this is pivotal for the healthcare
hospital access that we now have shortages of.
Mr. Foster. OK. There appears--OK. Quickly, my time has
actually expired.
Ms. Bowser. I just wanted to say quickly, I think the
Federal Government getting income in people's hands----
Chairman Clyburn. Madam Mayor, I'm sorry, the time has
expired.
Ms. Bowser. OK.
Chairman Clyburn. The chair now recognizes Mr. Raskin for
five minutes.
Mr. Raskin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks for
conducting this very important hearing.
One of the things we've learned during this grim period in
our history is that propaganda works on a lot of people. So,
misinformation and disinformation are actually undermining the
public health. They promote vaccine hesitancy, they generate
social discord, they've destroyed the cohesiveness of our
public health efforts. And yet to this day, Members of Congress
are spreading anti-public health propaganda.
Let's take a look at some of the examples, if you'd be kind
enough to put it up on the screen.
Last month, Representative Gaetz said that, quote: The best
vaccine we've found is Mother Nature's vaccine. It's
contracting the virus.
Well, this is false and dangerous. The best vaccine we have
is a vaccine. Yesterday, the CDC published a study which found
that vaccination remains the safest strategy for averting
COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death. So, his
statement is like saying the best vaccine for polio or the
German measles is contracting the disease.
Representative Boebert said: Biden has deployed his Needle
Nazis to Mesa County.
This is a dangerous lie. It equates state, local, and
Federal public health efforts with history's worst fascist
dictatorship, a regime responsible for genocidal violence
against millions of people. The analogy is an affront to
millions of doctors, nurses, and medical personnel, and
government workers on the front lines of the struggle to
protect us against COVID. And it's an insult to the memory of
millions of people slaughtered by the Nazis.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene told her supporters,
quote: Biden is going to homes to push shots. Just say no.
This kind of propaganda and anti-public health advocacy has
created dramatically higher vaccine hesitancy among Republicans
than Democrats, and even contributed, as we heard from Governor
Inslee, to the disproportionate rates of COVID-19 deaths among
Republicans.
And, finally, as the Omicron variant was spreading, the
House Judiciary Committee Republicans amplified false
insinuations about the effectiveness of booster shots,
tweeting: If the booster shots work, why don't they work?
These are just a handful of numerous examples of
politicians spreading dangerous misinformation and confusion.
Governor Polis, do you think that false statements like
these have undermined vaccination efforts in your state? What
have you done to combat them?
Mr. Polis. Look, I think that everybody should look at the
data and make factual statements. Obviously, we have free
speech in our country, but we've seen the danger in the tunnels
of misinformation that people will go down, spread through,
often through social media; sometimes amplified by people in
positions of power and authority.
I hope that everybody takes a hard look at the data and
uses whatever soapbox they have, however large or small, to
really use a fact-based approach to save lives and move past
this pandemic.
Mr. Raskin. And, Mayor Bowser, what would you say to fellow
elected officials who continue to spread propaganda that
discourages Americans from getting vaccinated or from wearing
masks?
You got to unmute.
Ms. Bowser. I think it's especially problematic,
Congressman, because they themselves have been vaccinated and
boosted and are enjoying the benefits of those vaccines. And
they know better. And they also, probably more than most of
their constituents, know of people who have suffered and died
because of this virus.
Nobody should die in our hospitals attached to a ventilator
and have to say goodbye to their families when there is a safe
and effective vaccine. And we all need to be saying that.
We've heard it said that the vaccine should stop--public
health has always said that the vaccine was effective against
serious illness, in hospitalization, in death. That has always
been the promise of the vaccine, and it is working.
Mr. Raskin. Thank you.
Governor Inslee, about 75 percent of coronavirus deaths in
your state since February 2021 have been among unvaccinated
people. And a study conducted last year found that the highest
rates of coronavirus death in Washington State were
concentrated in the 15 most Republican counties, which is an
alarming statistic.
How do you account for this dramatic divide, and what does
it tell you about what we need to do?
Mr. Inslee. Well, No. 1, you mentioned at the outset that
propaganda works. Propaganda worked, you know, in the forties,
but it works a hundred times more now because of the internet
and the algorithms that we have and the ability of the internet
to spread a lie. If a lie went 25 miles an hour two decades
ago, it goes 250 miles an hour now. And we have seen the impact
of that. Just some of the quotes you showed up are certain
somebody made egregious things.
But, listen, we have a guy who's been appointed by the
Republican Party to sit on the Subcommittee on the Coronavirus
Crisis, Congressman Jordan. He's been given by the Republican
Party a soapbox to talk about this, and he comes before this
committee and spends his five minutes basically saying, you
shouldn't trust science. You shouldn't trust the CDC. You
shouldn't trust people who tell you vaccine works. And that's
what the Republican Party put up as their spokesperson.
We need the Republican Party to take some responsibility
here and not put their Members, who are spreading this
dangerous filth, to America. And I'm urging all Republicans in
good faith to do that.
Mr. Raskin. Thank you.
And, Mr. Chairman, we've got to stop inflaming people's
misunderstandings with propaganda, with conspiracy theory.
Let's invest in the health of all Americans.
Thank you for this hearing, and I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you, Mr. Raskin.
The chair recognizes Mr. Krishnamoorthi for five minutes.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Governor Ricketts, you've been vaccinated, correct?
Mr. Ricketts. Yes, I've been vaccinated and boosted.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Excellent. And I presume that the
reason that you were vaccinated and boosted is because you
believe in the vaccines, right?
Mr. Ricketts. That is correct.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Now, President Trump recently said,
according to The Hill, that elected officials and politicians
should disclose that they received a vaccine and booster. And I
agree with that sentiment too. And I'm glad that you've
publicly stated your vaccination status.
I want to turn to another subject. On June 18, 2020,
according to the Omaha Herald World, you told local government
officials that they won't get Federal coronavirus relief
funding if they require individuals to wear face masks in
government buildings.
Now, Omaha, the capital--I'm sorry. Omaha, the largest city
in Nebraska, has a mask mandate, including in buildings, and it
renewed that mask mandate last Wednesday.
Have you withheld any coronavirus Federal funding from
Omaha?
Mr. Ricketts. So, with regard to that, specifically,
actually, Omaha let their mask mandate that passed by city
ordinance expire. The county health official has tried to
implement a mask mandate illegally, and we're actually going to
court over this one.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. But have you withheld any coronavirus
funding from either the county or the city?
Mr. Ricketts. No, I have not.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. OK. And how about Nebraska Medicine?
Both Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical
Center both have mask mandates. Have you withheld any Federal
coronavirus funding from either of those two entities?
Mr. Ricketts. No. And getting back to Omaha as well, the
difference in the Omaha one that they did, they also exempted
government services from the mask mandate as well. So, again,
they were compliant with what I asked, which is don't prohibit
people from getting government services because of the mask
mandate.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. No. But in your pronouncement, you said
wearing a mask in a Federal Government--I'm sorry--in a
government building would be enough to trigger your not giving
them relief funding that was provided to you by the Federal
Government. Now, has that----
Mr. Ricketts. Right.
[Crosstalk]
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Has there been any entity--has there
been any entity in Nebraska that did not receive Federal
coronavirus relief funding because of your policy that you put
in place?
Mr. Ricketts. No.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. OK. So, that was just political
rhetoric. I get it. Now, in----
Mr. Ricketts. No. It was because they--no, it wasn't
political rhetoric----
Mr. Krishnamoorthi [continuing]. response to the----
Mr. Ricketts.--the government services, was what I
requested.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. In response to the President's vaccine
mandate--let me repeat it. A tweet that you put out on
September 10, 2021, at 11:10 a.m., you said--in response to the
President's mandate, you said: Vaccine mandate. President Biden
has forgotten we live in America, quote/unquote.
Quote: He thinks we live in the Soviet Union.
Now, Governor Ricketts, I just want to ask you this
question: You don't really believe that President Biden has
forgotten we live in America, do you?
Mr. Ricketts. No. I believe that he forgot that the
Federal--the executive branch does not have the authority to
issue that----
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. No. I'm just asking you----
Mr. Ricketts.--which is consistent with what happens in an
authoritarian regime.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi [continuing]. you don't believe--you
talked about a lot of heated political rhetoric. You don't
stand by those statements that you made in that tweet, do you?
Mr. Ricketts. The point of the tweet was to say that the
executive branch does not have the authority to issue a vaccine
mandate such as he was doing, similar to what happens in
authoritarian----
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. I'm just reading your tweet, Governor,
and you said: He thinks we live in the Soviet Union.
That's what you said in that tweet. You don't really
believe that he thinks we live in the Soviet Union, do you?
Mr. Ricketts. As we all know on this, we've heard plenty of
it today, there's plenty of political rhetoric to go by.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. And you are one of the primary sources
of this heated political rhetoric.
Now, sir, you are against government-mandated vaccine
mandates, correct?
Mr. Ricketts. That is correct.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. And you are also against employer-
mandated vaccines?
Mr. Ricketts. No. Actually, I believe employers have the
ability to do that, but I discourage it.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. You discourage it.
Now, sir, you and I share something in common. We are Cubs
fans. Did you know that?
Mr. Ricketts. I did not know that. Thank you for being a
fan.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. And you are a part owner of the Chicago
Cubs. Isn't that right?
Mr. Ricketts. Well, no, not me personally, but a family
trust, yes.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. I understand a family trust owns the
Chicago Cubs that you benefit from. Now, you know that the
Chicago Cubs have mandated vaccines for their employees, right?
Mr. Ricketts. Actually, I'm no longer a part of the
management of the Cubs, so I was not aware that they had
actually mandated vaccines. But as I mentioned before.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Well, hold on. Hold on a second. Hold
on a second, Governor. The Ricketts family owns the Chicago
Cubs. You benefit from the ownership of the Chicago Cubs. The
Chicago Cubs requires vaccines and they require masks indoors.
I know. I'm a lifelong Cubs fan, and my friends and family all
know that you wear a mask when you go to a Chicago Cubs-owned
facility, a Ricketts-owned facility.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. I thank the gentleman for yielding back.
Unless I have missed someone, I think that all attendees
have asked their questions, and we've come to the closing.
And I don't see the ranking member. If he's here, I'm going
to yield to him.
I don't see him.
So, let me thank all of the witnesses for being here today.
And before we close, I want to enter into the record the
letters to the committee which were received from Governor Kate
Brown of Oregon and Governor Kathy Hochul of New York. I ask
unanimous consent that these letters be entered into the
official hearing record. So ordered.
Chairman Clyburn. I want to once again thank Governor
Inslee, Governor Polis, Governor Pierluisi, Governor Ricketts,
and Mayor Bowser for testifying before the select subcommittee
today. We appreciate your insight, your expertise, and your
advice on how Governors are responding to the Omicron variant.
I applaud the Biden-Harris administration for its
leadership in responding to the Omicron variant and working
hand-in-hand with states to support their pandemic response
efforts. Among other steps, the Biden-Harris administration has
worked with our states to add 10,000 more vaccinationsites, to
open additional testing sites, to deploy medical personnel, to
help healthcare providers, to order and administer millions
more doses of coronavirus treatments, and to make available
hundreds of millions of high-quality N95 masks and rapid at-
home tests to Americans for free, starting later this month. We
are in a better position today than we were a year ago.
As this chart shows, the Biden administration has increased
the number of daily tests performed from 1.7 million per day in
January 2021 to more than 11.7 million per day in January 2022,
a number that is expected to continue rising.
The Biden administration has increased the number of free
testing sites around the country eightfold, and worked with the
private sector to get 375 million at-home rapid tests on the
market this month when there will be zero available just a year
ago.
The Biden administration has presided over a historic
vaccination campaign that administered more than 500 million
vaccines and booster doses over the last year, helping get more
than 73 million of adults fully vaccinated.
Our vaccines remain the most powerful tools we have to
fight all variants of the coronavirus. Vaccines are free and
readily available at more than 90,000 convenient locations
across the country.
I encourage everyone to get vaccinated immediately and get
their boosters as soon as they are eligible.
All of these steps have helped to reopen more than 95
percent of schools and our economy safely, and will remain
critical to our effort to quickly and decisively combat the
Omicron variant.
I look forward to working together with leaders at all
levels, including and especially today's witnesses, as we
continue this progress.
With that, without objection, all members will have five
legislative days within which to submit additional written
questions for the witnesses to the chair which will be
forwarded to the witnesses for their response.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 5:26 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
[all]
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