Require Federal Coronavirus Preparedness

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, our Nation is in crisis. Yesterday, the United States added more than 1,000 names to the already unbearably long list of 140,000 people killed by COVID-19. There have been nearly 4 million confirmed cases in the United States, and the CDC believes the number is many times greater. There are hotspots around the country, most notably in Southern States.

Many States like California and my State of Illinois that have taken measures to reopen are now looking at rolling back these measures and reinstating greater restrictions to keep their citizens safe.

The pandemic has affected all of us, putting our loved ones at risk, keeping our kids from school, overwhelming our healthcare systems, and devastating our businesses while costing 40 million people their jobs and pushing State and local governments to the brink.

With so many people and communities suffering, we desperately need a national strategy to beat back this virus. Unfortunately, while families, students, community leaders, and citizens are all making great sacrifices, and local governments are being forced to cut vital services, leadership and support from the administration have repeatedly fallen short. The American people deserve better.

All the sacrifices made since March were and are meant to buy us time to bend the curve, knock down this virus, and, ultimately, stand up our economy. But the sacrifices are only valuable if we are using the time to prepare for what many experts believe will be a spike come the fall.

Sadly, around the country, testing capacity remains below where it needs to be. Hospitals in many States are over capacity in their ICUs, understaffed, and anxious about still looming shortages of personal protective equipment, or PPE.

Six months into this pandemic, it is simply unconscionable that there are still shortages of PPE, the masks, gloves, and gowns we need to safely treat patients, protect workers and residents in our nursing homes, confidently open our schools, and get our economy on the road to recovery.

In Illinois, we have lost nearly 7,500 lives to this disease already. With concerns that the disease may get worse this fall, and with conditions already worsening as States struggle to reopen, I am calling on Congress and the administration to take urgent action to address our immediate needs while at the same time preparing for the challenges that lie ahead.

It has been nearly 10 weeks since the HEROES Act passed the House and was sent on to the Senate. States and local governments, hospitals and nursing homes, and schools and businesses need the aid provided by the HEROES Act. The Nation needs the supply chain czar included in the HEROES Act. We all need the testing capacity funded by the HEROES Act.

Yet, after 10 weeks, the Senate still has neither taken up our legislation nor offered a plan of their own. Instead, they are delaying the Federal response to an urgent national crisis.

Ending this pandemic should not be a partisan issue. We need to move forward together, Democrats and Republicans.

That is why I am asking my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the COVID PREPARE Act. I introduced this commonsense, bipartisan legislation with my colleague, John Katko, to assure the American people that their Federal Government is prepared to address this ever-changing public health crisis.

This legislation would require Federal agencies to submit to Congress their plans for addressing COVID-19 in the fall, anticipating a potential increase in infections and even greater demands on our healthcare system and pressure on our economy.

The COVID PREPARE Act will provide bipartisan oversight and full transparency into both the planning and execution of our national response. We all certainly hope for the best, but we must responsibly prepare for the worst.

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