Issues Facing America
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, right now, the end of the pandemic may be--I underline ``may be''--within our reach. The Delta surge is finally waning. Over the past month, coronavirus case numbers have fallen by more than 40 percent, thank goodness. The average number of daily vaccinations has increased by more than 25 percent--not an unrelated statistic--and COVID death rates are finally starting to decline. These are all promising developments, and they demonstrate that President Biden's response to the coronavirus is working.
But as winter approaches, we need to ask ourselves a serious question: Will we continue to take the steps that are necessary to save lives and beat this virus once and for all? Or will we do nothing, as some of our Republican colleagues seem to urge, and allow the pandemic to come roaring back for another deadly wave?
Millions of American families have already suffered the consequences of denial, deception, and inaction. A report released earlier this month found that since June--just since June--nearly 100,000 American lives could have been saved if there were more vaccinations. But we can save the next 100,000 lives in America if we rally behind the President's call for his vaccination policy. The American people are already with him. The majority of people support mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for students 12 and up.
Business owners across the country have followed President Biden's lead by instituting their own vaccine mandates. They have helped increase vaccination rates by more than 20 percent. In Texas, where the Governor is seeking to outlaw vaccine mandates, one hospital CEO said that requiring his workers to be vaccinated is ``unequivocally . . . the best decision we ever made'' and that 98 percent of his staff has now been vaccinated.
President Biden's vaccine policy is supported by parents and business owners alike because they recognize a very simple truth: The only way to keep our kids in school, keep our economy on the road to recovery, and stop the spread of this deadly virus is vaccination. A do-nothing strategy is deadly and disastrous for our economy. Yet that is exactly what many of our Republican colleagues continue to propose that we do: nothing. It is the same response they had earlier this month when it came to raising the debt limit.
Let me reflect for a moment on the effort that is underway by State attorneys general. The Republican attorneys general across the United States represent 24 different States. They have threatened to file lawsuits to try to stop vaccine mandates and mask requirements.
I think it is fair to take a look at the period of June 15, 2021, to September 15, 2021, and ask how the States are doing represented by these attorneys general who are fighting President Biden's coronavirus policy. Well, we took a look at the average of the 24 States that are threatening these lawsuits. Their infection rate is more than twice than all the other States'. So the people in their States where they are supposedly fighting for their well-being are losing when it comes to the infections of coronavirus.
How about the death rates? Of the 24 States in this period of time threatening lawsuits, we have a death rate almost three times the death rate in the other 26 States. The vaccination rate is lower in the 24 States represented by these Republican attorneys general.
So what are they winning? Some political war? What the heck difference does it make who wins a political war when we are talking about a life-and-death issue? And that is frankly what we are faced with.
When it comes to the debt limit, we see the same negative default approach by the Republicans. Senate Republicans were ready to let go of the steering wheel and swerve into oncoming traffic with the debt limit. Right up until the eleventh hour, they wanted to use the filibuster to block Democrats from addressing the debt, the limit of the debt. Do you know when that debt was incurred? It was incurred during the Trump administration, with many of these same Republicans voting for the spending that stands behind it.
Now the minority leader, Senator McConnell, has once again pledged that Republicans refuse to lift a finger to deal with the debt limit when it expires in the first week of December. Think for a moment what defaulting on the debt would mean to American families. It is fodder for even more inflation.
So don't come to the floor with your posing for Holy pictures on the issue of inflation and then turn around and say: I don't care what happens to the debt limit. Americans will pay more each month because of that for their mortgages and credit card bills and student and car loans. Fifteen trillion dollars in household wealth and retirement savings would be wiped out if Senator McConnell and the Republicans have their way in the first week of December.
If our Republican colleagues are truly concerned about the economic well-being of America, work with us to put together a sensible response to the debt limit. Senator Schumer and the Democrats have said to the Republicans: If you won't lead, if you can't follow, then get the heck out of the way. Democrats, with a majority vote, will enact a new debt limit. We understand our responsibility to this Nation.
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