Motion to Discharge

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. I am there with them. The cruise industry in my home State supports over 5,500 jobs and creates $900 million in annual local business revenue. Those jobs and that impact on the local economy have been severely disrupted, but we have to ensure the safety of our friends and our families on these cruises before they disembark.

We have seen firsthand how devastating COVID outbreaks on cruise ships can be. Just last year, we saw thousands of passengers stranded on cruise ships--people put in quarantine or refused entry to ports as borders closed.

Over 31 million Americans have contracted COVID, and 560,000 have died from this disease. Cruise ships require specific focus and protocols in place to prevent future outbreaks.

While I am as eager as anyone else to see a return to travel, we cannot cut corners. Doing so risks lives and will only further delay returning to normal, hurting our economy more in the long run.

We must trust the science, and we must allow the CDC to continue its work to help us return to what we love as safely as possible.

So I will continue to work with the CDC and the administration as they develop the next phase of their cruising guidance, but for now, I object.

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