[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 30, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5075-H5077]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COVID PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE, AND EFFECTIVE PLANNING FOR ADVANCED
REQUIREMENTS BY THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH ACT OF 2020
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 7496) to require Federal agencies to submit plans for
responding to any resurgence of COVID-19, and for other purposes, as
amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 7496
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``COVID Preparedness,
Response, and Effective Planning for Advanced Requirements by
the Executive Branch Act of 2020'' or the ``COVID PREPARE Act
of 2020''.
SEC. 2. COVID-19 RESURGENCE PLAN.
(a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the head of each agency shall
submit to Congress an initial report detailing an action
plan, informed by research and best practices learned from
the onset of COVID-19 and previous presidentially declared
emergencies, for addressing the needs and mitigating and
eliminating the risks and challenges associated with any
resurgence in COVID-19 cases, that includes--
(1) agency priorities for preparing for and responding to
any resurgence of COVID-19, including continuity of
operations and fulfilling the mission of the agency;
(2) measurable goals specific to priorities and a time line
for addressing each priority;
(3) anticipated challenges to addressing priorities and how
the agency will address such challenges;
(4) how the agency will consult with Congress, the public,
State and municipal governments, and relevant stakeholders
while working remotely; and
(5) how the agency plans to issue relevant guidance to
entities under the jurisdiction of the agency.
(b) Subsequent Reports.--Not later than 60 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, and quarterly thereafter
until the President ends the declared emergency, the head of
each agency shall submit to Congress a report that provides
an update of the details submitted in the plan under
subsection (a), including--
(1) the status of each priority;
(2) an explanation for any goal that has not been met
within the specified time frame; and
(3) any changes or updates to the plan.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given that
term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, each commonwealth,
territory, or possession of the United States, and each
federally recognized Indian Tribe.
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall
be determined by reference to the latest statement titled
``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act,
submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the
Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such
statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) and the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs.
Miller) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.
General Leave
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the measure before us.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives Brad Schneider and John Katko
for their strong bipartisan work on this good-government bill.
Reflecting back on the outbreak of the pandemic, I think we can all
agree that our Nation and the Federal Government were not prepared for
what lay ahead. Conflicting safety and work-from-home guidelines caused
confusion across the Federal workforce. We didn't have a clear
understanding of how the virus spread or how best to respond to it, so
agencies managing offices and priorities across the country were left
to make their own best decisions as they saw it. Many agencies were not
telework-ready, and we did not grasp the sheer length of time that this
pandemic would last, let alone plan for it.
Now with the winter months approaching, the projections are grim. In
June, the University of Washington School of Medicine predicted 200,000
U.S. deaths by October, a number we had already passed by September 22.
Their model now predicts, sadly, the death rate will more than double
by the end of this year. In all likelihood, the worst is still to come.
But this time we can and must be prepared.
To make sure the Federal Government is ready for the challenges
ahead, the COVID PREPARE Act would require each Federal agency submit
to Congress an initial action plan for addressing and managing any
resurgence of coronavirus cases. The plans would use the important
lessons learned since the onset of the coronavirus crisis to develop
data-driven blueprints for anticipating and addressing any resurgence.
The bill also would require agencies to provide quarterly progress
reports to Congress.
Agencies should already be engaging in the strategic evidence-based
planning required by this bill, so compliance ought not to be
difficult. Adding this important step would maximize the impact of
these plans by ensuring transparency and accountability through
oversight.
It is more urgent than ever that Federal agencies ensure the
responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars while protecting their
workforces and the most effective pandemic response possible by
committing to a sound and transparent planning and preparedness
process.
Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this thoughtful bill as a complement
to the bill we just passed, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. MILLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on H.R. 7496, the COVID PREPARE Act of
2020.
[[Page H5076]]
The bill requires every Federal agency to report COVID-19 resurgent
action plans to Congress. These plans will cover agency pandemic
resurgence preparations to assure agency mission continuity.
The bill also requires agencies to outline their communication plans
to necessary stakeholders, including Congress, States, and localities,
and entities in the agency's jurisdiction. Finally, the bill requires
quarterly updates on these plans through the end of the pandemic. This,
of course, presumes a resurgence of the pandemic, which we hope will
not happen.
In discussing this bill, we would be remiss if we did not commend the
work the Federal agencies and their workforce have already done and
continue to do combating COVID-19 across our Nation.
We should recognize the progress we have made as a nation in fighting
this global pandemic. Thanks to this administration's leadership, we
are seeing continual progress in the coronavirus fight.
The President's Cabinet and agency leaders have been constantly
evaluating the pandemic and making decisions in real time, with the
safety of the Federal workforce and the American public as their
primary goal.
As our collective knowledge of COVID-19 evolves, Congress needs to
ensure that the legislation we advance empowers Federal agencies to
make these critical real-time decisions. Congress needs to be careful
about continually laying on new reporting requirements to already-
strained Federal agencies.
{time} 1300
These agencies are currently responsible to congressional oversight,
and new, broadly defined reporting requirements can have the unintended
consequences of redirecting scarce agency resources during a national
emergency.
H.R. 7496 requires, within 30 days of the legislation's enactment,
that every Federal agency communicates plans to Congress for how they
will handle the unthinkable; this pandemic worsening.
The bill's language is broad, and we didn't have the opportunity to
fully engage in debate on what it means and what metrics we are using.
Legislation like this could have benefited from additional work in
our committee to clarify its intentions.
Fortunately, the agencies already have plans in place, and we hope
the resurgence action plans envisioned by this bill won't be needed.
Thanks to the administration's Operation Warp Speed, the American
people are optimistic that the Food and Drug Administration will
shortly announce a safe and effective vaccine.
In the meantime, we need to work in Congress to assure that Federal
agencies are able to remain fully focused on handling their present
work and challenges so that we can stop this virus.
Our constituents sent us here to work together, put partisanship
aside, and ensure our Nation's government has the resources that it
needs.
I look forward to working with my colleagues on legislation that
helps our government remain effective at fighting this pandemic.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I do think it is important when we talk about Operation
Warp Speed and we talk about the promise of vaccines, that we remind
ourselves that not all vaccines are curative. In fact, many vaccines
exist to lessen the severity of the illness that could follow.
We are 100 years after the Spanish flu, and we still don't have a
cure for the flu. We have an annual vaccine to lessen the severity of
the illness should you get it and to prevent it in some cases, but not
a cure.
We have been grappling with AIDS for over 40 years. We don't have a
drug or a vaccine that completely cures AIDS.
So when we talk to the American public, we have to be careful about
the implied promise or explicit promise those of us in public life
make.
That is why I think Mr. Schneider's bill and Mr. Katko's bill is so
important. In the event we don't have a vaccine that is efficacious, we
need to have contingency planning.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Schneider), the author of this bill and my friend.
Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Connolly), my friend, for yielding me the time.
I rise today in support of the COVID PREPARE Act, H.R. 7496.
As I stand here, our Nation stands at more than 7 million Americans
confirmed infected with the SARS-Cov-2 virus and more than 206,000
American lives lost to COVID-19.
The scale and scope of this pandemic is unprecedented in American
history, causing dual national crises: one of public health, the other
of economic calamity.
Over the past 6 months, the pandemic has affected all of us, putting
our loved ones at risk, overwhelming our healthcare systems, keeping
our kids out of school, devastating our businesses, and pushing State
and local governments to the brink.
Most experts agree that things are likely to get worse before they
get better. According to Reuters, for the week ending September 27,
total new cases are up 10 percent from the prior week. Daily new cases
are again rising, with The New York Times reporting a 23 percent
increase in average daily cases over 2 weeks ago. And The Times shows
that more than half of U.S. States already have high rates of
infection--at least 15 cases per 100,000 population--or are
concerningly facing rising rates of infection.
So many people are suffering and looking to their government for
relief. They needed help as they navigated the daunting challenges of
spring and summer, and they want confidence that the Federal
Government, our entire government, has a plan as we head into the fall
and winter.
Every day I hear from constituents in my community, Illinois' 10th
Congressional District, about how they are struggling to cope. I hear
from parents juggling full-time jobs while schooling their children;
from small business owners scraping to pay their bills and worried they
may have to shut their doors forever; from healthcare workers forced to
use and reuse their PPE, the personal protective equipment that keeps
them safe--for up to an entire week because of ongoing shortages of
supplies; from city mayors and village presidents forced into cutting
essential services and laying off critical workers; from individuals of
all ages and in all stages of life concerned about their future and the
future of our country.
With the timeline for rolling out a safe and effective vaccine still
unknown, it is imperative that the government develop and implement
comprehensive strategies for beating back this virus and mitigating its
effect on our healthcare system, on our economy, and our lives and our
livelihoods.
This is not about politics. Congress and the administration must work
together to provide immediate relief to those suffering now and get us
on a path to full recovery as soon as possible.
We can't get there by ignoring our challenges or by wishing them
away. We can only get to the other side of these crises with clear-eyed
assessment and realistic, fact-based, science-driven solutions.
These are the ideas that lie behind the COVID PREPARE Act. This is
bipartisan, commonsense legislation, crafted with my friend John
Katko, to assure the American people that their Federal Government is
fully prepared to address this ever-changing public health crisis and
economic crisis.
This legislation would require Federal agencies to submit to Congress
their plans for addressing surges of COVID-19, anticipating a potential
increase in infections and even greater demands on our healthcare
system and pressure on our economy.
Trying to anticipate the unforeseen is always a difficult task, but
any number of our ills--from shortages of PPE, to nationwide testing
strategies, to school reopening protocols--could be at least partially
cured by thoughtful planning and careful preparation.
The COVID PREPARE Act will provide bipartisan oversight and full
transparency in both the planning and execution of our national
response.
The goal of this legislation is not to tell our Federal agencies what
to do. Rather, this bill provides the American people transparency and
confidence that their government is putting their
[[Page H5077]]
needs and the needs of our Nation front and center; that the government
is anticipating what resources and responses will be required in the
immediate, middle, and long-term battle against COVID; and that we are
taking the necessary steps at the Federal level to maximize our
likelihood of national success.
In a time of such great uncertainty, any reassurances we can provide
our country should and will be a welcome salve.
I will say it again: ending the pandemic should not, should not be a
partisan issue. We need to move forward together, Democrats and
Republicans. My bill seeks to do just that, and to take an aggressive
approach to tackling this urgent public health crisis.
We can certainly hope for the best, but we must responsibly prepare
for the worst.
Mrs. MILLER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am
prepared to close.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further comments on this legislation, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I would just simply close by reminding
everybody that bad planning exacerbated greatly the severity and
duration of this pandemic. And if we have learned anything, we have
learned that we need to plan, we need to have a plan, and that is
certainly true with our Federal agencies.
I believe this bill is a commonsense bill that will add to our
capability to respond quickly in the event of a resurgence of the
coronavirus, and I urge its passage.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Heck). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 7496, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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