Murray Continuing Push to Strengthen Pandemic Response in End-of-Year Package

Speaking to CSIS Health Security Commission, Murray reiterated she is pushing for PREVENT Pandemics Act, COVID funding, and more to be included in funding package

Murray: “We know how our COVID response was undercut by a system that was underfunded, understaffed, and just plain unprepared—and the consequences for families and communities have been devastating. We simply can’t afford to go through something like this again. “

(Washington, D.C.) – Yesterday, at a meeting of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Commission on Strengthening America's Health Security, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), spoke about her continued efforts to get her PREVENT Pandemics Act, as well as additional COVID and public health funding, into the end-of-the-year funding bill.

“We are at a moment when people understand better than ever just how connected our world is—how a virus across the globe can threaten families across the street, how one link in the medical supply chain can jeopardize care for countless patients, and how the decisions we make today can save lives tomorrow,” said Senator Murray. “Now is the moment to make sure we not only remember those lessons, but that we come together and act on them.”

Senator Murray is a leading voice on global and public health issues, and has been a member of the CSIS Commission since it formed in 2018. As Congress negotiates an end-of-year spending bill, Senator Murray has been pushing her colleagues to include her bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act which she drafted with Senator Burr (R-NC) to strengthen the nation’s public health preparedness and response policies. The bill passed out of the HELP Committee in an overwhelming 20-2 vote earlier this year.

Senator Murray has also been clear she wants Congress to pass more funding to support the ongoing response to the COVID pandemic as part of its spending package. She continues to champion funding to build the nation’s public health infrastructure as well. Earlier this week, with funding passed through the American Rescue Plan Act, CDC announced grants to health departments across the nation—including in Washington state—to help them build their infrastructure, workforce, and capacity.

From Senator Murray’s Remarks

“Now more than ever, people across the country understand that when it comes to global health and public health an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We know how our COVID response was undercut by a system that was underfunded, understaffed, and just plain unprepared—and the consequences for families and communities have been devastating. We simply can’t afford to go through something like this again.”

“That’s why I’ve been working with Senator Burr, another leader on these issues, to pass our bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act which will strengthen medical supply chains, support cutting-edge medical research, enhance the pipeline and approval process for tests, treatments, and vaccines, bolster our public health and health care workforce, update our data systems and practices so experts can get the information they need to make lifesaving decisions, fight misinformation, and establish a Task Force to look back at our pandemic response so we can fully reckon with, and learn from, what went wrong. We are both determined to get our bill in the end-of-year package and show families Congress is serious about getting this right.”

“I’m also continuing to push for more robust public health investments. That starts with the immediate need for more COVID funding, which I am fighting to include in the omnibus. But we can’t stop there—ending the cycle of crisis and complacency means making investments that look beyond the end of this pandemic, and last for years to come. It means stronger investments in global health security so we, and our partners, can build the kind of preparedness we need to protect families from future threats. And it means stronger, sustained investments in basic public health systems—especially local health departments which are the foundation and frontline of our response to health threats.”

“Just this week, CDC awarded funding that I helped pass in the American Rescue Plan to public health departments across the country so they can hire, train, and retain staff, update the tools they use to identify and track new threats, modernize their data systems, improve their communication to fight misinformation, build local partnerships, address inequities, and do whatever they need to ensure they have the infrastructure, workforce, and capacity to serve our communities effectively. That’s a great start—but I want to make sure we keep it up. So I am pushing to triple that program in our funding bill for next year. And I want to pass my Public Health Infrastructure Saves Lives Act so we can end the cycle of crisis and complacency by making this kind of investment every year.”

“I’ve worked from our first meeting, to make sure that we remember every global health crisis, is also countless personal tragedies. That we make the connection between issues of national security, issues of international relations—and issues parents face at work, issues kids face at school. Four years later, we are at a moment when people understand better than ever just how connected our world is—how a virus across the globe can threaten families across the street, how one link in the medical supply chain can jeopardize care for countless patients, and how the decisions we make today can save lives tomorrow. Now is the moment to make sure we not only remember those lessons, but that we come together and act on them. So I am going to keep working with President Biden, with my colleagues across the aisle, and of course, with all of you, to make sure we do just that.”

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