Global Health Security Act of 2021

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the chairman for his leadership bringing this very timely bill to the floor. I want to thank Mr. Connolly for his leadership, and Mr. Chabot, who, I think, is trying to get here as well.

COVID-19 could end up, at the end of the day, costing the global economy upwards of $10 trillion. Of course, the full impact of viruses like COVID-19 is not just measured in economic disruption around the world, but also in the millions of lives that have been lost, somewhere upwards of four million people.

COVID-19 has proven viruses know no borders, as the chairman said. It is imperative the United States work to prevent future pandemics and be prepared to respond to diseases with pandemic potential.

So, again, I want to thank my colleagues who have been involved in this for introducing the Global Health Security Act and for their work to address this important issue.

This bill ensures a whole-of-government approach to prepare for and, hopefully, prevent future pandemics. It also establishes a new multilateral fund that will ensure all countries have access to the necessary resources to prevent and respond to future outbreaks.

Our committee has a history of working together to achieve bipartisan success, but particularly on legislation related to global health. It is not Republican or Democrat. This is an American issue. It is also a human issue and an international issue.

The Global Health Security Act is just yet another example of this great bipartisan work that we do and that makes me so proud to be a Member of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, this is a very timely bill. We have seen utter devastation, in terms of human lives, and the economy being impacted by this.

We need to ensure, Mr. Speaker, this never happens again. There will be another COVID-like virus that will be a variant. We need to work with the global community to ensure this never happens again.

We also need to find out the origins of COVID-19, how this happened in the first place. Not for revenge, but to find out how it happened so we can stop it from ever happening again.

I give my strong support to this important legislation. The timing couldn't be more relevant and appropriate. I thank Mr. Connolly for his leadership and the chairman for bringing this bill to the floor.

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