Fund Local and State Public Health Workforce

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, in the coming days, the House is expected to vote on a $1.9 trillion spending bill that the majority claims will help fight the COVID-19 crisis. Despite this massive price tag, less than one-half of 1 percent of those dollars in this bill will go to fund a local and State public health workforce.

As a former director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, I have seen firsthand the great work our local public health departments do, and I know how necessary they are in this fight against COVID-19. It is unthinkable to me that any so-called COVID relief bill will dedicate such a miniscule portion of its funding to local public health departments, the same departments that are in our community, with us every day, working around the clock to defeat this pandemic. In contrast, FEMA is allocated $50 billion, and they have no medical personnel to dispense vaccines.

Mr. Speaker, if we are serious about defeating this virus, I urge my colleagues to prioritize our public health officials and those on the frontline against COVID-19, instead of directing billions of dollars to programs and initiatives unrelated to this crisis.

This funding should go as a passthrough to the CDC and directly to noncompetitive, local public health grants.

In our 99 counties in Iowa, local public health officials are intelligent, experienced, and capable to dispense vaccines in a rapid and efficient process. They have proven their capabilities by setting up drive-through clinics for flu vaccines, and also in the H1N1 pandemic as well. And given their preparedness training, they have worked with our local emergency management associates to do drive- through testing. These are the same nurses and individuals who live in your communities and who have vaccinated your children and have been the source of information and calm and support throughout this crisis.

Mr. Speaker, let's work together to defeat this virus by supporting our State and local public health teams by getting them the funding they need directly to them at the community level through noncompetitive, local public health grants. Acknowledging the tremendous work that our local public health workforce does on a daily basis and funding their efforts will defeat this virus and get America back on its feet.

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