Coronavirus

Floor Speech

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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I rarely come to the floor to directly respond to speeches given by my colleagues. I normally like to use the Chamber to make my own arguments on their merits rather than to make arguments against specific colleagues.

But yesterday I listened to a speech by Senator Cruz of Texas, and it was one of the most dangerous speeches that I have ever heard given on the Senate floor, and it deserves a response.

Now, I understand that Republicans don't want to talk about the economy. They don't want to talk about the fact that we have had more jobs added to the economy in the first 5 months of President Biden's term than any other first-term President. I know they don't want to talk about the rapid expansion of the economy that is happening.

I understand Republicans don't want to talk about what we are debating on the Senate floor right now, which is the biggest bipartisan investment in infrastructure in the history of the country.

And I also understand that the Senator from Texas doesn't like the new guidance announced this week by the CDC. And he is not alone. From what I can tell, a lot of Republicans here are upset, as are a lot of nonpolitical Americans. Nobody likes to wear a mask. Nobody likes that the new recommendation is that some Americans need to wear them. Again, I don't like wearing a mask. I hate it. My kids hate the masks more.

But here is what the CDC said. The CDC's scientists have been carefully following this dramatic increase in cases that we have seen all across the country as the Delta variant spreads, even through vaccinated people. First, we can't ignore this, the fact that there has been this huge increase in cases. The national 7-day average is triple what it was from a month ago. We are averaging 40,000 new cases a day.

This is a big problem, and it is overwhelming parts of our healthcare system. Now, I wish this weren't the case, but it requires us to think about adjusting policy.

Second, the CDC is looking at this new evidence that indicates that even fully vaccinated individuals who become infected with the Delta variant can carry the virus and transmit it to others, even if they don't get sick. Now, this latest development is important because it allows the Delta variant, the more contagious variant, to spread faster. Early information from the CDC shows that the Delta variant is as contagious as the chickenpox, more contagious than earlier strains of COVID.

And, remember, not every American today is vaccinated. For instance, my youngest son is 9 years old. He can't get vaccinated. If the evidence suggests that I can transmit the virus to him, even if my vaccine prevents me from getting really sick, then that matters.

Finally, with so many Americans still unvaccinated, the virus still has plenty of bodies in which to mutate. Right now, the good news is that we have got three authorized COVID-19 vaccines that are pretty effective against severe illness. But the worry is that eventually the vaccine is going to mutate into a version of itself that is resistant to the current vaccines. And with so many Americans choosing to stay unvaccinated and evidence suggesting that vaccinated people who are infected with the Delta variant can transmit it to people who are unvaccinated, the CDC has concluded that, right now, we need to take additional steps to cut down on the pathways that the virus has to spread and keep mutating before it is too late, and we have a virus that our vaccines don't work against at all.

Now, what does the new guidance say? It recommends that fully vaccinated people wear a mask in public indoor settings, in places in the country where there are a lot of cases. And since most young kids aren't vaccinated, the CDC is also recommending that, when school opens, teachers and kids should wear masks.

That is the argument that the CDC is making. That is the evidence upon which they have issued their new guidance. And it is perfectly legitimate to contest the CDC's decision or the reasons that they gave for making the decision. It is OK for anybody in this body to disagree with the conclusions that they reach.

But that is not what Senator Cruz did yesterday. He didn't come to the floor and argue against the merits of the CDC's argument. No. In fact, not once during the speech--and I watched the whole speech--did he ever reference the actual reasons for the CDC's new guidance, not once.

In fact, he claimed that the CDC offered no explanation. At one point, after mischaracterizing the CDC's announcement, he asked rhetorically why the CDC changed the guidance. ``Who knows?'' he said. Anyone who listened to that speech or, frankly, many other speeches that are being given by Republicans all across Capitol Hill this week would logically come to the conclusion that the CDC had offered not a single explanation for the new guidance.

Then, after creating the impression that the CDC didn't have any reasons for the new recommendation, the Senator from Texas announced that he had discovered the reason. He said that the real reason the CDC changed their guidance was because the CDC is ``an arm of the Democratic National Committee'' and that Democrats in Congress are ``faithful little foot soldiers'' of the CDC

He offered no explanation as to why it would benefit Democrats politically or the DNC or the CDC to recommend mask wearing. He just simply claimed that the CDC was a political puppet of the DNC and the guidance was politically motivated.

The closest he came to a more detailed explanation of this claim was when he talked about the school guidance. There the Senator from Texas claimed, without any evidence, that the only reason the CDC made this decision was because it was demanded by ``union bosses'' and that the ``CDC said `Ma'am, yes, ma'am, we will issue the order demanded by the union bosses.' ''

That is all made up. And the Senator from Texas isn't the only Republican saying things like this. There are dozens of national Republicans making these same wild, unfounded allegations.

The political agenda at the CDC that Republicans allege is a fiction. It is constructed out of thin air. And it is, frankly, an insult to the thousands of dedicated, nonpolitical public health professionals at the CDC who just go to work every day trying to keep Americans safe.

These aren't politicians. These are epidemiologists and scientists and doctors who have worked their entire lives trying to keep this country safe. I am not saying they get it right every time. I have criticized many of the decisions made by the CDC during the pandemic. It is OK to criticize their decisions, but to claim that they are all corrupt, they are these politically controlled ``hacks,'' that is an outrage.

And rhetoric like that is going to get people killed because we are still in the middle of the epidemic, and what anti-CDC Republicans are doing through these attacks on our public health agencies is to intentionally undermine people's faith in the Nation's preeminent public health institutions right at the moment where we need people to believe in them.

I am not saying they should be immune from criticism, but criticism should be based on the science. Contest the new evidence the CDC says that requires people to wear masks again, but saying that the scientists are deliberately ignoring the science to effectuate some top-secret political agenda--give me a break.

And, by the way, what political interest is served by recommending that people wear masks indoors again? People hate masks. There is only political downside to suggesting that people start wearing them again. It just belies plain old common sense to say that politics is behind the new guidance.

If the CDC was worried about politics, they certainly wouldn't be recommending anybody wear masks again. And, by the way, that is all the CDC is doing: They are giving guidance. Over and over, Republicans refer to this new guidance as an ``order'' or, as the Senator from Texas said repeatedly, an ``edict.'' They know that is not true. They know that is not true.

But Republicans want to scare you into believing that the Federal Government has more power than it does. The CDC doesn't require people to do anything; they issue recommendations. But that doesn't suit this narrative about socialist, statist Democrats secretly pulling the strings of their marionettes at the CDC.

It is ridiculous. It is ridiculous.

Don't come to the Senate floor and make things up. Don't destroy people's reputations and careers with wild, unsubstantiated allegations about political motivations. The CDC doesn't get it right 100 percent of the time, but they don't have some secret political agenda. But the more people believe that they do, the less likely it is that people will follow their recommendations the 90, 95 percent of the time that they do get it right, and that will guarantee that this virus never disappears.

I understand there is an element of the Republican Party that just wants to destroy all government institutions and is seeking to discredit any effort by any public agency to do good in this country. In normal times, I would argue that that is dangerous, but in the middle of a pandemic it is deadly. And Republicans of conscience should come to this floor and start telling the truth.

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