The publication is reproduced in full below:
PRIORITIZE PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS
(Mr. TORRES of New York asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. TORRES of New York. Mr. Speaker, one of the central values of the Build Back Better Act is pandemic preparedness.
COVID-19 has left a death toll of more than 600,000 Americans and a cost of $16 trillion. If the cataclysm of COVID-19 cannot move our country to prioritize pandemic preparedness, then nothing will.
A wise person once said, Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And if we fail to pass the Build Back Better Act, we are in danger of reliving a history whose repeat we cannot afford.
The Build Back Better Act would enable the United States to develop and distribute vaccines within a few months of a new pandemic threat. It would enable the United States to develop vaccines not only for particular viruses but whole families of viruses with pandemic potential. It would shore up domestic manufacturing of critical supplies so that we are no longer at the mercy of a fragile global supply chain.
We have the resources to prevent the next pandemic. The only question that remains is do we have the political will to Build Back Better.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 170
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