Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Dec. 8, 2021)
Summary
This is S9015 of the Congressional Record, Senate, December 8, 2021, with interleaved columns. The page records a cloture vote on the nomination of Michael D. Smith to be Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service, with the vote shown as yeas 60, nays 39. Under the heading Coronavirus, Mr. Durbin says Chicago reported its first case of the Omicron variant, cites a $400 million USAID investment in a global vaccine access program, and urges quick action on the surgeon Dr. Gawande's appointment at USAID. He says the Build Back Better plan proposes nearly $10 billion for public health, with the views attributed to Mr. Durbin.
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“Coronavirus (Cong. Rec., Dec. 8, 2021).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-12-08-crec-2021-12-08-pt1-pgs9015-3-9829341fea/
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December 8, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S9015
The question is, Is it the sense of the Mr. DURBIN. Therefore, for the in- roaring back into the United States
Senate that debate on the nomination formation of Senators, there will be continues to be real.
of Michael D. Smith, of Virginia, to be two rollcall votes beginning at 6:45 Fortunately, the Biden administra-
Chief Executive Officer of the Corpora- p.m. tion has already taken important steps
tion for National and Community Serv- CORONAVIRUS to address global vaccine inequality
ice, shall be brought to a close? Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, yester- and get more shots to low-income
The yeas and nays are mandatory day, Chicago reported its first case of countries. Just this week, USAID an-
under the rule. the new coronavirus variant, Omicron. nounced a $400 million investment in a
The clerk will call the roll. Our State’s health officials predicted new global vaccine access program to
The senior assistant bill clerk called this day would come; it did. They are deliver vaccines to remote parts of the
the roll. actively preparing for additional cases. world.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the The World Health Organization has I just got off the phone with Dr. Atul
Senator from Vermont (Mr. SANDERS) identified it as a variant of concern. It Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and
is necessarily absent. has the potential for increased trans- Women’s Hospital, a prolific author,
The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 60, missibility and could possibly—I under- and a man who is very insightful. He
nays 39, as follows: line ‘‘possibly’’—evade some protec- has agreed to step forward and to work
[Rollcall Vote No. 487 Ex.] tions from existing vaccines. with Administrator Samantha Power
YEAS—60 But as we begin to learn about this at USAID. He is the right person for
Baldwin Gillibrand Padilla variant, some hopeful signs have this job at this very moment. So I en-
Bennet Graham Peters emerged. On Sunday, Dr. Fauci de- courage my colleagues to let him move
Blumenthal Hassan Reed scribed early data on the severity of off the calendar and into the job as
Blunt Heinrich Romney quickly as possible. We need his exper-
Booker Hickenlooper Rosen
Omicron as ‘‘encouraging.’’ Addition-
Brown Hirono Schatz ally, today, we received preliminary tise at USAID.
Burr Kaine Schumer findings that patients are better pro- The third point I would like to make
Cantwell Kelly Shaheen tected against Omicron with a third is that we need to build on the Amer-
Capito King Sinema ican Rescue Plan’s investment in pub-
Cardin Klobuchar Smith Pfizer dose.
Carper Leahy Stabenow And while it is still too soon to draw lic health. Effective public health sys-
Casey Luján Tester any definitive conclusions—too soon— tems are like smoke detectors: They
Cassidy Manchin Tillis what is clear is that the historic in- can alert us to deadly dangers long be-
Collins Markey Van Hollen
Coons Menendez Warner vestments we have made—the Senate fore they threaten.
Cornyn Merkley Warnock and President Biden—these invest- At the start of this pandemic, Amer-
Cortez Masto Murkowski Warren ments in public health are paying off. ica’s public health system had been ig-
Duckworth Murphy Whitehouse nored and underfunded for years. That
Durbin Murray Wicker
Thanks to the American Rescue
Feinstein Ossoff Wyden Plan—which we passed earlier this year is the reason why we proposed nearly
on, sadly, a partisan rollcall without a $10 billion in the Build Back Better
NAYS—39 plan, which we are currently working
single Republican vote—America is
Barrasso Hawley Portman on, to improve laboratory capacity,
Blackburn Hoeven Risch
more prepared. That rescue package
Boozman Hyde-Smith Rounds not only funded production and dis- disease detection, the workforce, and
Braun Inhofe Rubio tribution of lifesaving vaccines; it public health preparedness. This fund-
Cotton Johnson Sasse paved the way for public health offi- ing will fortify our public health sys-
Cramer Kennedy Scott (FL)
Crapo Lankford Scott (SC) cials to detect and track new variants tem at a time when it is absolutely
Cruz Lee Shelby like Omicron. It provided more than a necessary.
Daines Lummis Sullivan billion dollars toward expanding and BUILD BACK BETTER ACT
Ernst Marshall Thune
Fischer McConnell Toomey
accelerating genomic sequencing, the Mr. President, on a related matter,
Grassley Moran Tuberville process that allows us to analyze how just before Thanksgiving, the House of
Hagerty Paul Young the coronavirus is evolving and spread- Representatives passed the Build Back
NOT VOTING—1 ing in realtime, so we can respond. Better Act. It is one of the most pro-
Thanks to this investment today, family pieces of legislation in modern
Sanders
America is sequencing roughly 80,000 history.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. virus samples a week. Before President For nearly 50 years, the wealthy in
HICKENLOOPER). On this vote, the yeas Biden took office, we were sequencing America have gotten richer while the
are 60, the nays are 39. fewer than 3,000; now, 80,000 a week. middle class has been squeezed. Build
The motion is agreed to. That has made a world of difference Back Better is about restoring fairness.
f when it comes to tracking the spread Four years ago, when the Repub-
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR of a variant. licans had their chance to use the rec-
In less than 2 weeks since the variant onciliation process, they really identi-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The was discovered in South Africa, it has fied their highest priority: tax breaks
clerk will report the nomination. been identified in at least 19 States in for the wealthiest Americans. They
The senior assistant bill clerk read addition to Illinois. continue to hold to the philosophy that
the nomination of Michael D. Smith, of As we await more data on the risk if you give tax breaks to wealthy peo-
Virginia, to be Chief Executive Officer Omicron poses to the public, here are ple, eventually people who are in the
of the Corporation for National and three things we know. First—and it middle-income categories—working
Community Service. bears repeating—the best protection is families—will start to see some bene-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- to get vaccinated. Ninety-five percent fits coming their way. I couldn’t dis-
jority whip. of Americans are eligible, and 70 per- agree more.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT cent have already gotten at least one I believe investing in working fami-
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask shot. Within days, we will hit the im- lies in America has always been the
unanimous consent that the vote on pressive milestone of 200 million Amer- best investment. These are families
the confirmation of the Smith nomina- icans getting fully vaccinated. We need with kids who are destined for college
tion scheduled for 5:15 p.m. instead to continue to promote this incredible and even better jobs if we invest in
occur at 6:45 p.m.; that upon disposi- safety tool, and that means booster those families and give them a fighting
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
tion of the Smith nomination, the Sen- shots as well. chance. The wealthy are going to do
ate resume legislative session and that Second, America must continue to just fine by themselves, and they are
all time in relation to S.J. Res. 29 be support the global vaccine campaign. doing pretty well, I might add.
expired. As I have said before, COVID doesn’t We have got to make sure that this
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there know borders. As long as it is circu- Build Back Better Act, which Presi-
objection? lating across the globe, the risk of dent Biden supports, really focuses on
Without objection, it is so ordered. virus mutation growing stronger and working families. And that is why the
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