Congressional Record, Senate, December 8, 2022: Page S7060
Summary
Page S7060 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for December 8, 2022, in interleaved columns. One senator recalls working with Senator Portman on legislation, including the Portman-Cardin pension reform bill, and praises a record on retirement and trade bills. Another speaker, under the heading Prevent Pandemics Act, urges colleagues to ensure that any end-of-the-year package includes the bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act, saying pandemic preparedness had to be a priority in leading the HELP Committee with Senator Burr. A third passage questions whether to spend $80 billion on a proposal.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, December 8, 2022: Page S7060.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2022-12-08-crec-2022-12-08-pt1-pgs7060-3feeacdb49/
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S7060 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 8, 2022
PORTMAN and I got together and we solid legislation accomplished because PREVENT PANDEMICS ACT
worked on a bill, and we followed in he has that ability to work across Madam President, I come to the floor
Bill Gradison’s footsteps to get that party line. He is very engaged on the today to talk about a very important
legislation accomplished. That was the issues. He knows the issues. He knows issue.
beginning of a three-decade relation- the substance. He knows your con- Our country has made great progress
ship that the two of us have had in pur- cerns. So we can work it out and reach in the fight against COVID–19. Fami-
suing legislation. a common level of agreement so we can lies have been getting back to their
Perhaps our best known legislation is get a bill to the finish line. daily lives. The thing I keep hearing
the PORTMAN-Cardin pension reform So that is why he has such a remark- from people in my home State is they
legislation. For many years, people able record in getting retirement legis- want to keep it that way. They want to
thought my first name was Portman lation enacted into law, getting trade keep moving forward and making sure
because of the association with Con- legislation enacted into law, dealing we never find ourselves in a situation
gressman PORTMAN at the time. with our National Park Service en- like that again. I couldn’t agree more,
And I must tell you, we got amazing acted into law, fighting drug addiction, but that means actually taking action.
things done to expand retirement sav- which has been one of his major pas- It means not letting this moment—this
ings opportunities. sions, making a huge difference on our
We are very proud that several bills Congress—pass us by and, instead, ac-
war against drugs. tually delivering the public health re-
were enacted and signed into law, but And as was pointed out earlier, and I
we are equally proud of the process forms that families need, which is why
just really want to underscore that, his
that was used in order to put that leg- I am here today urging my colleagues
values of promoting human rights.
islation together. In so many cases, he has been the to ensure that any end-of-the-year
We invited all stakeholders to join key supporter, initiator, and had the package includes our bipartisan PRE-
us. It was truly bipartisan. We wanted ability to reach the finish line on bills VENT Pandemics Act.
to get the best policy, and it was that that affect the basic rights of Ameri- Senator BURR and I led the HELP
process that led to the successful pas- cans going against such issues as Committee this Congress, and from day
sage of the first Portman-Cardin bill human trafficking and so many other one, it was clear to us that pandemic
that dramatically expanded retirement areas. preparedness had to be a priority be-
savings opportunities. Even though it So I just really wanted to take this cause the next time there is a crisis
was not in either the Democrat or Re- time to say to my friend ROB PORTMAN, like this, we cannot have people ask-
publican leadership package, we were through the Presiding Officer, thank ing: Why can’t I get a test? Where can
able to get it into the Balanced Budget you so much for your many, many I get reliable information? How can we
Act. years of public service. be so unprepared for this?
I mention the process because that is We wish Jane and you and your en- That means we must learn the les-
the process that Senator PORTMAN— tire family only the best going forward. sons of the pandemic and ensure that
Congressman PORTMAN—has always You have left the legislature once be- our government actually works better
used. He has used the bipartisan proc- fore and returned. Maybe, you will re- and smarter in preparing and respond-
ess to try to bring us together to get turn again. We will see. But I wish you ing to public health threats, which is
the very best possible solutions to only happiness and success in what fol- exactly what Senator BURR and I set
problems. It has been the bedrock of lows your Senate career. Thank you for out to do when we crafted the PRE-
his career, and that is why he has been sharing your talent with the American VENT Pandemics Act, which passed
so successful here in the U.S. Senate, people. out of our HELP Committee in an over-
and so many of our colleagues on both The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- whelming 20-to-2 vote earlier this year.
sides of the aisle have expressed our ator from Ohio. Our bill improves our public health
gratitude for his public service. Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, system by learning from what worked
Now, I must tell you, he used that re- we have talked about more important and what did not in our COVID re-
lationship sometimes to move issues legislative measures, and I just want to sponse. A big piece of that is estab-
that were not necessarily his partner’s say thank you to all of my colleagues lishing the Office of Pandemic Pre-
top priority. As he mentioned on the and to my colleague from Illinois who paredness and Response Policy at the
floor, he got me engaged in the IRS re- spoke and to the others who were over- White House to serve as mission con-
form bill that dealt with the nuts and ly generous in their comments. I appre- trol so that we have a team in place,
bolts of the IRS. ciate it. I think my mom would have ready to go, 24/7, to guide our Federal
Now, I ask you: How many people believed it, and my dad would have response to new and emerging threats.
want to be known in their district for liked it.
improving the IRS services for col- We have also seen how dangerous
Seriously, you can see why I will
lecting their taxes? shortages have been throughout this
miss this place and why I believe that
But ROB PORTMAN was the leader on crisis, which is why the PREVENT
these colleagues, who talked all about
this, and he needed a Democrat in the Pandemics Act strengthens our stock-
the need for us to find that common
House, and he was very persistent, and piles and supply chains for drugs and
ground and make a difference for our
we were able to get significant reform ventilators and testing and compo-
constituents, are people I have enjoyed
done in the IRS when we were both nents and masks and other lifesaving
working with and look forward to stay-
Members of the House. medical supplies. Of course, with a new
ing in touch with.
Well, as you know, ROB PORTMAN So this is a bittersweet moment. I threat, the issue isn’t just a shortage of
moved on to become the USTR, to be- am looking forward to getting back to tools; it is that the tests and the treat-
come the budget director, and then re- Ohio full time with family and friends, ments and the vaccines may not even
turned to the U.S. Senate. And I was so as I have said, and the private sector. I exist yet. So our bill establishes
pleased to be able to partner with him have a deep respect for my colleagues, ARPA–H, which is a new Agency fo-
again when he returned to the U.S. and I thank them for being on the floor cused on cutting-edge medical research
Senate. today even though the jet fumes can like the kind that made it possible for
On the Senate Foreign Relations already be smelled and people are al- us to develop a safe, effective COVID–19
Committee, we talked about some of ready heading back for their weekends vaccine in record time.
his major accomplishments. The two of and important meetings back home. Our bill also supports potentially
lifesaving research on issues like
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us have worked together to promote So thank you, Madam President.
the U.S.-Israel special relationship, to I yield the floor. antivirals for pathogens with pandemic
fight against anti-Semitism and the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- potential, antimicrobial resistance,
BDS movement, and there has been no ator from Washington. better coordination in our blood sup-
stronger advocate in the U.S. Senate Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, let ply, best practices for emergency pre-
for the defense of Ukraine. me add my thanks to Senator PORTMAN paredness and response, and long
His record has been an unbelievable for his tremendous work here. I wish COVID, which many people are still
amount of accomplishments of getting him the very best in his future as well. struggling with.
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December 8, 2022 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7061
This pandemic has also put a spot- pandemic. His thoughtful expertise and There is no debate, and there is going
light on how inadequate data from out- his tireless work has been critical to to be little debate here, in part, be-
dated and often incompatible systems crafting a strong bipartisan bill. I cause the process of passing this bill is
can make it very hard for our health could not have asked for a better part- pretty broken.
experts to do their jobs. In the 21st cen- ner across the aisle to work with over Thanks to Senator REED, the Armed
tury, the CDC should not be collating the past 2 years. Services Committee is a functioning
data sent to them from fax machines, Earlier this week, I listened to Sen- committee. The Democrats and Repub-
and incomplete demographic data ator BLUNT’s farewell speech, and in his licans on that committee write this
should not hinder our experts in mak- address to this body, he said: We don’t bill together with an open amendment
ing lifesaving decisions. have to agree on everything; we just process. If you are a member of the
Put simply, our government can have to agree on one thing. Armed Services Committee, thanks to
work better and faster than this. That That is how we help people and solve Senator REED and Senator INHOFE’s
is why the PREVENT Pandemics Act problems. In our PREVENT Pandemics leadership, you have a lot of opportuni-
will finally help modernize and stand- Act, Republicans and Democrats agree ties to weigh in on the size and scope of
ardize our public health data practices. on a lot of things. the U.S. defense budget.
Everyone should understand that, Families across the country are But the problem begins once the bill
with some really commonsense re- watching closely. Let’s show them that leaves the Armed Services Committee.
forms, we can make our public health we are taking the lessons of this pan- Then the bill kind of disappears and
system work better for everyone—by demic seriously. Let’s show them that gets changed. That is not Chairman
the way, including our communities of we are taking action so we never go REED’s fault. That is our collective de-
color, Tribes, people with disabilities, through a crisis like that again. Let’s cision to endorse that process.
rural communities, and others who make sure that the PREVENT The first thing that happens, particu-
have really, as we have seen, borne the Pandemics Act is part of our yearend larly this year, is that many, many
brunt of this crisis. package. big, important pieces of policy get
We are talking about really basic, bi- I yield the floor. added to the Defense bill. Some of
partisan steps, like making sure we I suggest the absence of a quorum. them are good policy, but some of them
have Tribal access to medical supply The PRESIDING OFFICER. The aren’t. But there is no democratic
stockpiles, better practices for demo- clerk will call the roll. process in which Members of this body
graphic data collection, and improving The bill clerk proceeded to call the get to review what is added to the De-
diversity in clinical trials. That is es- roll. fense bill. There is no notification of
pecially critical. Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, I rank-and-file Members so that we can
In fact, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer ask unanimous consent that the order provide input.
Research Center, in my home State of for the quorum call be rescinded. Again, as I understand it, the Armed
Washington, just published a new study The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Services Committee doesn’t want to be
showing how Black communities, objection, it is so ordered. in this position. They would rather just
Asian communities, women, and others NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT have a vote on their original bill, as we
were underrepresented in many of the Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, $847 did for decades until just recently,
U.S. COVID clinical trials. We have to billion is a lot of money to spend on when all of this extra policy got added
do better for all of our communities. anything in 1 year, even in Washington to the Defense bill. But because today
And we have to do better for parents terms. It is enough money, for in- there are so few avenues for that other
too. I have heard from too many moms stance, to make sure that not a single legislation to find a path to the floor,
and dads throughout this pandemic child goes hungry anywhere in the in large part because Republicans are
who felt like no one was listening to world ever again. It is enough money using the filibuster to clog up the floor
them about the challenges that their to end homelessness in America, pro- of the Senate, the Defense bill becomes
kids and their families were facing. As vide free preschool and college for this kind of evacuation helicopter car-
a mother and a grandmother, I pressed every American, build high-speed rail rying all the passengers they can fit in
for this bill to make sure the National between every American city, and it.
Advisory Committee on Children and make childcare free for families. For the first time this year, there are
Disasters, which directly advises the Frankly, come up with five problems more pages in the Defense bill dedi-
Secretary of Health, must include par- that plague parts of the world or parts cated to nondefense items than to de-
ents, caregivers, and teachers as mem- of the country, design a solution, and fense items.
bers. you could probably solve all five for a This might be acceptable if Senators
Of course, in addition to all of those year for $847 billion. could offer amendments on the floor,
commonsense steps to strengthen our Here is another number that is big: remove parts of the bill we don’t like,
public health system for future health $80 billion. Now, that is smaller than make other parts better—at least have
emergencies, there is more work to do $847 billion but still a lot of money. our day. But the other new normal here
if we are to fully reckon with the les- For $80 billion, you could build a is that there is going to be zero amend-
sons of this pandemic, which is why high-speed railroad from New York to ments, amendment votes, likely in the
Senator BURR and I worked with our Washington, you could build 4,000 Senate debate.
other Members to include a bipartisan brandnew, state-of-the-art high schools It is the same problem. There are a
proposal for an independent task force, in underserved communities, or you handful of Republicans here who don’t
modeled after the 9/11 Commission, to could hire—wait for it—a million pub- want to legislate, and so they are like-
conduct a comprehensive investigation lic school teachers. ly going to refuse to give consent to
into the U.S. response to the COVID–19 Here is why I tell you this. Next vote on amendments, and, plus, as I
pandemic and issue recommendations. week, likely, this body is apparently mentioned, they clog up the floor with
While there is more to do to going to be on a glidepath to pass an filibuster votes, which means that you
strengthen our public health system $847 billion Defense budget authoriza- can’t get big, important pieces of legis-
beyond these reforms—and I will keep tion for the current fiscal year. That is lation done, and so they all find their
pushing on this reform no matter an $80 billion increase over last year. way onto the Defense bill.
what—the PREVENT Pandemics Act That is a 10-percent increase in just 1 But I just want to plead with my col-
represents meaningful, bipartisan year. leagues for a moment that there is a
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progress carefully negotiated between There has been very little public de- better way to do this. We don’t have to
Republicans and Democrats over near- bate, and there is going to be very lit- look too far in the past to see what a
ly a year. tle debate on this floor over whether real debate on the Defense bill could
I should say that it also reflects Sen- this is a good idea, about whether we look like. I just want all of my col-
ator BURR’s longstanding focus on pan- should spend $80 billion on this or leagues to think how much more inter-
demic preparedness. This has been a whether that $80 billion would be spent esting this place would be, how much
life passion for him, even before this better on something else. healthier the Senate would be if we
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