Pandemic is Over Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pallone for yielding time.

I rise today in opposition to H.R. 382, the Pandemic is Over Act. This is an effort by our Republican colleagues to hastily terminate a public health emergency designation that will have damaging effects on our Nation's veterans and those who care for them.

Currently, this emergency designation grants our government a number of critical flexibilities that not only allow it to work more efficiently and effectively but that are essential to support America's veteran population.

When we passed the CARES Act in 2020, we did so carefully and thoughtfully to ensure that veterans would be able to safely and quickly access the care they needed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We also ensured the Department of Veterans Affairs and its employees had the tools and flexibilities they needed to meet their mission.

I am especially concerned by the risk that would be caused by hastily terminating healthcare providers' ability to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth. This will severely impact millions of patients' access to medications they need to manage chronic pain, complex mental health conditions, and substance abuse disorders.

Veterans who experience these conditions at greater rates than their nonveteran counterparts are among those who would be severely affected.

VA estimates at least 47,000 veterans have active controlled substance prescriptions from prescribers they have never seen in person. A sudden termination of the public health emergency would mean all of them would need immediate in-person visits with their prescribers in order to continue their treatments.

An additional 247,000 veterans have active controlled substances prescriptions through virtual care at VA, and many of these veterans' continued access to medications could also be at risk.

During the public health emergency, we also specifically addressed the unique health and safety needs facing homeless veterans. Those actions included ensuring that veterans experiencing homelessness had access to basic needs, like shelter, food, clothing, and transportation, while also ensuring service providers had the funding they needed to maintain social distancing and distribute those in need across multiple facilities to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

What we learned from the pandemic is that providing these foundational basic needs to homeless veterans and service providers works in promoting housing security.

Last week, VA announced it housed over 40,000 veterans experiencing homelessness in 2022, surpassing its goal of housing 38,000 veterans. That tremendous accomplishment can be directly attributed to the authorities Congress put in place during the pandemic.

Rolling back those flexibilities now would mean more veterans would go without the resources they need to survive.

If my Republican colleagues are so insistent on ending the public health emergency prematurely, I hope they are equally insistent on ensuring that we quickly make permanent those pandemic authorities that veterans need.

I am proud to support Congresswoman Nikema Williams' bill, H.R. 491, the Return Home to Housing Act, and cosponsor Congresswoman Cherfilus- McCormick's bill, the Healthy Foundations for Homeless Veterans Act.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. These bills will ensure that there is no lapse in the care and resources homeless veterans need when the public health emergency designation ends, and I hope my Republican colleagues will support them.

The Biden administration announced last night it intends to extend the COVID-19 emergency declarations to end on May 11. Unlike my colleagues on the other side who want to irresponsibly put an end to the national emergency today, the additional time gives the agencies and Congress time to ensure there is no disruption in care and services for veterans.

My Republican colleagues have a choice to make. They can continue to insist on pushing an agenda that politicizes the pandemic, terminate the public health emergency designation prematurely, and wholly disregard the disastrous impact such an action would have on veterans, or they can put aside this shortsighted approach and use their newfound control of Congress to actually do the job they were sent to Washington to do: pass legislation that helps our Nation's veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 382.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source