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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, 1 million deaths--unbelievable. But this week, it became very, very real. One million of our fellow Americans now have died from COVID, 1 million parents, grandparents, siblings, children, friends, neighbors. That is more Americans who lost their lives than the casualties in World War I, World War II, or the Civil War. That is the size of San Jose, CA, the 10th largest city in our Nation.

But behind those 7 stark figures are real people, including more than 33,600 in my home State of Illinois. One of those was a woman named Maria Elena Sifuentes. Maria lived in Chicago, where she worked at Communities United and organized for housing and education equity in her community. She had received her first COVID shot when she contracted the virus last summer. She passed away on June 10 at the age of 57 and left behind five children.

We also grieve the loss of Sergeant Ken Thurman and Officer Brian Shields, two 51-year-old veteran police officers who worked in Aurora at the police department. They succumbed to COVID infections last year, both within the same week.

When the pandemic first hit, this degree of loss was unimaginable. Some people dismissed COVID-19 and said that it was just like the ordinary flu and that it would go away and mysteriously disappear. But now that we have crossed this tragic threshold, we must take stock of where we are and where we are headed.

More than 2 years into this pandemic, COVID is still a threat to America and the world. In fact, infections nationwide are up 50 percent over the past 2 weeks. Hospitalizations are up 20 percent. That is the case in Illinois as well as our neighbors in the region. The Commonwealth of Kentucky, home of Minority Leader McConnell, had the highest COVID death rate in the country over the past week.

The one thing worse than being swamped with another wave of COVID cases is being caught unprepared. Right now, we are sleepwalking into the next potentially deadly wave, and we know the virus will continue to mutate and pose threats. We need to learn from our 2 years of experience with Delta and Omicron and act now and be ready, be prepared.

Over the weekend, the Biden administration warned that new subvariants could fuel a wave that is forecast to infect 100 million Americans--almost a third of our population--over this fall and winter. Yet last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra testified to the Senate Appropriations Committee: ``[B]ut in order to be ready for that, we have to start purchasing today.'' That is what Secretary Becerra said. If we wait for the surge to hit, it is too late.

Last week, it also was reported that the administration will run out of COVID vaccines by September 1 if the FDA authorizes second boosters for all adults. How can America be caught in this situation again--even with vaccines--unprepared?

Because Federal funding has dried up to reimburse hospitals and health centers for testing, we don't have a complete picture of how many new infections are actually showing up. The University of Washington estimates the true number of infections is five times higher than official reports.

So the alarm bells are ringing, and a looming vaccine crisis is right around the corner. Other countries in the world get it. They understand it. They are racing ahead of us to secure supplies of vaccines, but because of resistance from Republicans in Washington, we are not doing that.

So why won't the Senate act to pass this COVID legislation--obviously necessary legislation--right now? It was more than a month ago that Senators Schumer and Romney, together with half-a-dozen bipartisan Senators, announced a $10 billion emergency COVID package. It is not everything we want; it is not everything we need; but it is an urgent measure that seeks to address the crisis.

Instead of just getting this done, politics were inserted. There were demands for amendments or else. The process broke down. Instead of getting the job done, Republicans are playing politics. They are demanding poison pill riders on issues unrelated, like immigration.

With summer approaching, Americans are eager to keep the face masks off for good and move past the pandemic. I get it. Everybody wants the kids back in school. They want them home for vacation. They want to take family vacations. They want to go out to dinner--all things that are part of the joy of life. I share the sentiment, but we have to deal with the reality of this virus. It is changing every day, and it has surprised us so many times before.

Even the most persuasive political speech isn't going to change the course of this virus. Rather than reacting to whatever deadly curve ball gets thrown at us next, we must be ready beforehand with the right tools to keep us moving in the right direction. I don't want to come to the floor to mark 1\1/2\ million dead Americans or 2 million dead Americans due to the virus.

The time to provide additional funding is not now; it was weeks ago. It is incredible to me that, after what this Nation has gone through--1 million dead Americans--we are still debating over whether we should be prepared for the next stage of the virus. Shame on the politicians who are inserting politics into a life-and-death debate.

Without this funding, we could very well lose the progress we have made in containing COVID. We cannot tolerate that sort of setback, especially at this pivotal moment where continued progress puts us on the cusp of what we dreamed of 2 years ago: finally putting an end to this pandemic, finally returning to normal.

While Senate Democrats and the Biden administration have taken tremendous strides with getting shots in arms, supporting local businesses, and getting our kids back in school, we still have a lot to do.

To my Republican colleagues: Drop the political antics. Join us in making this responsible investment to save lives and prevent the pandemic from once again spinning out of control. We know a new wave could be coming, and we need to sit down and face this public health issue for the reality that it is.

Let's not waste time with irrelevant, anti-immigrant rhetoric. Let's do something that helps the American people and work together to drive America's recovery forward.

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