May 28, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 100 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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ISSUES OF THE DAY; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 100
(House of Representatives - May 28, 2020)
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[Pages H2354-H2357] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] ISSUES OF THE DAY The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Hayes). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. Mr. FORTENBERRY. Madam Speaker, I am going to remove my mask as I speak. We are appropriately socially distanced here. I am grateful for the time. Before I begin my own remarks, I am going to yield to the honorable gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who will be departing from us soon. He is in his last term, has announced his retirement. It has been a pleasure to serve with you, my friend. We have a long way to go, but it is always great to see you, and I look forward to your remarks. Congratulating Reverend Dr. Dale A. Meyer on his Retirement Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the contributions of Reverend Dr. Dale A. Meyer upon the occasion of his retirement as president of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. In May of 2005, Dr. Meyer became the 10th president of Concordia Seminary. Over 15 years later, on June 30, 2020, Dr. Meyer will start a new season in life, retiring and turning over the reins of this beloved institution to new leadership. His contribution to the seminary was immense. During his tenure, Concordia's long-term debt was eliminated, its endowment quadrupled, and it earned top marks from its most recent accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission and the Association of Theological Schools. From the start of his tenure to the end, Dr. Meyer worked alongside his wife, Diane; the faculty; and key staff to cultivate a culture that was service oriented and external facing. This meant instituting activities designed to instill a spirit of community volunteerism into first-year students. This meant adding benches on campus and expanding holiday displays each year so visitors knew they were welcome at this place. It meant working with his wife, Diane, and Gayle Zollmann-Kiel, coordinator of campus grounds, to create community gardens for people to enjoy all summer and fall, thereby feeding the community both spiritually and figuratively. And it meant, during the current pandemic, having the bell tower on campus play music to lift the spirits of all those around. No wonder the seminary received several civic awards, including being named among the 100 Top Workplaces in St. Louis in 2015. Dr. Meyer's retirement marks a season of change for the seminary. However, it also marks the closing of a chapter of a long career of service for him personally. While Dr. Meyer's first job was helping his parents, Arthur and Norma Meyer, deliver milk for Dixie Dairy on the south side of Chicago, he was called to serve on a full and winding professional path. This path was so full of wonder that he would often marvel at the, ``milkman moments'' that unfolded, remarking: ``What am I doing here? God has blessed me so.'' Dr. Meyer completed his bachelor's degree in 1969 at Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and earned a master of divinity from Concordia Seminary in 1973. He earned a master's degree a year later and a doctorate in 1986 in classical languages from Washington University in St. Louis. He also is a recipient of an honorable doctor of divinity in 1993 from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Dr. Meyer first joined the faculty at Concordia Seminary as a guest instructor in 1979, going on to serve as head pastor of St. Salvator Lutheran Church in Venedy, Illinois, and St. Peter Lutheran Church in New Memphis, Illinois, both currently in my district, and at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois, which is my home congregation. These church communities are so beloved by the Meyers that they continue to worship at all three parishes to this day. It was at Holy Cross Lutheran that I and my wife, Karen, came to know Dr. Meyer and his family. Our lives have been intertwined, to say the least: Diane sold us our first home; I taught the oldest of his two daughters, Elizabeth, civics at Metro East Lutheran High School and ran many of 5k races to come with his youngest daughter, Katie; my own children played music in their daughter's wedding; and my wife, Karen, served as the head organist at Holy Cross with Dale; and so on. Dr. Meyer moved on from Holy Cross in 1989 after being selected to serve as a speaker on ``The Lutheran Hour'' radio program at Lutheran Hour Ministries. ``The Lutheran Hour'' is the world's oldest continually broadcast gospel radio program, first airing in 1930. Dr. Meyer also hosted a national television show, ``On Main Street,'' for Lutheran Hour Ministries. In 2001, ``On Main Street'' episodes received two prestigious Emmy awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, St. Louis/Mid-America Chapter. During this time, he took part in some of his favorite ``milkman moments,'' including opening both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives in prayer. In addition to his published writings, Dr. Meyer served in numerous leadership practices, such as third vice president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a charter board member of the Association of Lutheran Older Adults, an honorary director of God's Word to the Nations Bible Society, and as a board of trustee of the American Bible Society. Dr. Meyer finally returned home to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in [[Page H2355]] 2001, serving as the Gregg H. Benidt Memorial Chair in Homiletics and Literature. He became interim president in 2004 and the 10th president of the institution in 2005. For the next 15 years, he could be seen working on the campus grounds, attending ``Bach at the Sem,'' and strolling with Ferdie, the oversized-in-body-and-heart golden retriever that became the quasi- mascot on campus and, sadly, recently passed away. Dr. Meyer likes to tell students: ``It is a great time to be the church.'' As the world suffers greatly from the pandemic, we are grateful for his efforts to raise public servants to serve all those who are hurting and to share the Gospel loud and clear for all to hear. As Dr. Meyer begins his beautiful journey of retirement, he will enjoy more time with his two grown daughters, Elizabeth, known as Lizzie, Pittman and Catherine, known as Katie, Bailey; their spouses, Darren and Charles; and their five grandsons that he refers to as Cinco de Meyer: Christian, Connor, and Nicholas Pittman, and Andrew and Jacob Bailey. Madam Speaker, I want to personally thank Dr. Meyer and his wife, Diane, for their ministry. I thank Congressman Fortenberry for yielding to me. Mr. FORTENBERRY. I thank Congressman Shimkus, because as he was speaking, I was reminded of my own Concordia College I represent, which is a part of the consortium of Lutheran colleges, which I know is very close to his heart. So I thank him for mentioning the gentleman. Madam Speaker, before I begin, may I inquire as to the allotted amount of time. Is it 30 or 60 minutes? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman was recognized for 1 hour. Mr. FORTENBERRY. Madam Speaker, our world has changed. Who could imagine just 3 short months ago where we would be right now as this silent avenger has threatened life, the life that we knew, and we suddenly found ourselves quarantined in our homes and apartments with nowhere to go, no planes to catch, no appointments to make, just quiet isolation with family and neighbors across the way. Many friends are suffering, suffering unemployment or job uncertainty, or the impact of the sickness directly. The trauma of this crisis is so, so real. With that said, Madam Speaker, I am sure all of us in this body are doing quite a bit of reflection, adjustment, and alteration as we go back to what I call first principles, and here is an example. As I was reviewing my mail recently, my daily mail, a gentleman wrote to me. He was concerned about something. It might not be about what we will talk in a moment, our dependence on China for protective equipment and medical supplies, it might not be the latest surge of the virus in cities throughout America, but, nonetheless, it was important to him that he point something out to me: The flag at one of our small post office locations is not flying, and it hasn't been flying for some time. So my diligent staff actually contacted the gentleman. I believe they reached out to the post office themselves, but it sat out there as a lingering issue. So I decided to call the postmaster myself, and I apologized to her. I said: I know this is highly unusual that a Congressman would call you directly. She said: It is about the flag, isn't it? I said: Yes, ma'am. She said: I don't have anybody to help me. I have the equipment to fix it. The top of the pole is broken. I just don't have anyone to help me. I said: Let's get it fixed. I called our electric system. We have a public power system in Nebraska. They deal with us all the time on a whole variety of issues. Their response was: We will get it fixed. There are a couple of levels of issues here, Madam Speaker, and the reason I tell the story. First of all, it was important to that gentleman that that flag, which represents us all, right behind you, the binding notion of what it means to be an American, that people have fought and died for, the symbol of this dignity, this nobility of tradition that defines not only where we have been but, really, what we ought to strive to be. Maybe he didn't think through all of that, but he just wanted the flag to fly at a government building. {time} 1615 The postmaster had no ill will or ill intent, she just didn't have any help. In a previous time maybe we would have just said, well, you need to get the purchase order written, but in my own way, let's just solve the problem. And whether it is a person who has had a problem with their Social Security check or their economic stimulus check, or a farmer who has not been able to get their emergency loan, or a small business tripped up on some aspect of the Paycheck Protection Program--which by the way, has been a bipartisan life-send by this body--to go person by person, business by business, I am sure that many of us have adjusted to the new reality of serving people where they are. And maybe in some small way in the midst of this trauma and crisis, this is a silver lining of returning back to, first, principles versus the abstract discussions that can sometimes consume us, and the ruckus, fighting, and pushing and shoving over things that never seem to come to any end. But hanging a flag in front of a post office is important, because it is who we are and what we ought to be. And I want to thank that constituent for calling me. Of course, in a great Nebraska way, when I told him we got it fixed, he said: Well, is it an all-weather flag? I said: Sir, I don't know that. We did what we could. Madam Speaker, I want to turn back to another set of issues that actually happened before coronavirus hit our country and hit this body as well. One of the most basic expectations of our government is the health and well-being of our Nation. Three months ago, this week, in a timely subcommittee hearing--I sit on the Appropriations Committee and two subcommittees, on State and Foreign Operations, and I am the ranking member of the Agriculture Subcommittee, and we have jurisdiction over the Food and Drug Administration. So in a timely subcommittee hearing, I asked the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services this question--it is a simple question, it is just three words--are our drugs safe? Four words. Are our drugs safe? This raging coronavirus has drawn much attention to this much overlooked problem. And in the name of global profiteering, what has happened is that we have enabled a dangerous outsourcing of pharmaceutical production to foreign countries. A significant portion of that outsourcing is to the very origin of the place where coronavirus came from, China. Over 80 percent of active drug ingredients and 40 percent of finished drugs on the American market, from ibuprofen to reduce your fever, to antibiotics to treat infection, they are produced outside the United States. Even if we vigilantly inspect our domestic manufacturing processes, we cannot possibly get a handle on drug safety when our drugs are sourced from over 150 countries, including a significant portion from China. The Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, has a daunting task in managing the spending and performance of agencies that are so large they can be bigger than some countries' GDP. And one of those agencies is the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA. There is an inherent and unfair duality, however, in how FDA's foreign and domestic inspection regimes are carried out. FDA inspectors routinely conduct surprise inspections in America to ensure that drug companies are producing medicine in a clean, safe, and responsible manner. But when it comes to foreign inspections, the FDA customarily gives companies advance notice, often as much as 12 weeks, enabling drug suppliers plenty of time to clean up their acts. This is counterproductive and it is wrong, and it creates an unlevel playing field for companies trying to manufacture drugs right here in the United States of America. Compounding these problems, the FDA inspectors also face obstruction, coercion, and deception in foreign countries. In one case, a Chinese company reportedly imprisoned an inspector in a conference room for an hour to force her to destroy the photographs that she took of its facilities. [[Page H2356]] Madam Speaker, this inadequate monitoring of foreign production of medicine, it really does have dire consequences. In 2008, a tainted batch of the blood thinner, heparin, which is made in China, killed over 100 people worldwide, including 81 in America. It led to this drug's recall. In August of 2018, the FDA issued an alert that a Chinese manufacturer of a thyroid medicine was recalled due to inconsistent quality. At this hearing that I am referencing with the Department of Health and Human Service's Inspector General, I asked: Why has so much of our drug production moved overseas? Why? Now, of course, in asking that question, Madam Speaker, I basically knew the answer, it has to do with capitalization on low wages, lax safety, environmental and labor standards in those countries. But my fuller intention in asking the question was to probe as to whether or not we have inadvertently, in U.S. law and regulatory structure, perversely encouraged offshoring. These troubling dynamics take on a special urgency given the massive spread of COVID-19. Several months ago, the FDA identified 20 drugs that exclusively source their active pharmaceutical ingredients or finished drug products from China. The agency then issued an alert that at least one Chinese drugmaker had ceased production of a human drug due to coronavirus infection at its manufacturing facilities. So drugs with short expiration dates are particularly vulnerable to these supply-chain disruptions. Another level of problem. So solving these issues can become easier when we can fully identify and inspect foreign sources of medicine. But with the bulk of our foreign drug supply originating from a country that suppressed news about the coronavirus origins, its severity, and its timing, and to this day prevents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from fully accessing the actual virus, I am not optimistic that we will gain better information. I get it, Madam Speaker, it is convenient in this moment to point a finger at China, but we have plenty to do in our House to restore some order here. The Inspector General promised me an answer within 2 weeks to my question. Do you remember what it was? Have we inadvertently through our legal or regulatory structure perversely incentivized the offshoring of drug production from America? The Inspector General promised me an answer in 2 weeks. I have heard nothing yet. The reality here is that we have to change how we do public policy in our country, just like so many other processes--business and society are shifting. Coronavirus has caused a tectonic plate shift. We are seeing massive spikes in the use of digital technology, which has huge implications for telemedicine, telework, and tele-education. In a bit of a silver lining in this time of crisis and suffering, I am frankly proud that this body has come together to protect healthcare, to protect individuals and families, and to protect small businesses and farmers. Once our body itself recovers our rhythm and order here, there are some particularly good places to start thinking about action around our healthcare security. So policy question one: How much of our drugs come from foreign sources? To solve this, we should enhance the FDA's powers to track the ingredients. We should require labeling as to where they come from. And, third, increase reporting requirements for the pharmaceutical companies themselves, particularly within the precursor ingredients. Bottom line, we need clear answers about how we oversee the foreign production of drugs and drug ingredients. We also need the right incentives to ensure that U.S. companies will produce more and more drugs and drug ingredients right here, here at home in America. It is about healthcare security. If it is made in America, we will all feel much better about knowing that it is safe. But going beyond these policy considerations about our healthcare security, Madam Speaker, I want to take a moment to possibly pull back the curtain and read into what we are experiencing now, some future trends. It is not to diminish in any way the trauma, disruption, and suffering that has hit our country, but there are many open-ended questions that we are facing now. And it might be helpful to look into what some new realities are going to be in short order. We have adopted masks and social distancing. We casually use terms like ``herd immunity,'' ``flattening the curve,'' and ``community spread.'' We have also accepted a world with less noise, less urgency, but more intimate connection with those in our immediate orbit. We wonder what we will encounter when the doors fully open once again and we are uncaged to see the world through an entirely new lens. So perhaps here is a little bit of a sneak peek. First, Madam Speaker, our relationship with work has substantially changed. For those fortunate to still have good employment, telework has arrived. While many Main Street businesses are really hurting, many have also transformed themselves into online, brick-and-mortar hybrids. Like never before, people are ordering groceries online, medical supplies, and other essentials through their phones for pick up and delivery. Doctors are seeing patients remotely. And in a little-known shift, we are actually reimbursing properly for telehealth. It is here to stay, and it is going to make some huge advances in our well-being, and perhaps save some funds. School, of course, has temporarily centralized in the home, reconnecting families in important, beautiful, exciting, if not sometimes stressful ways. The handshake may be in decline, but the elbow bump, thumbs-up, and head nod are, of course, enjoying a renaissance. As we extrapolate from these changes to a world in which we are hopeful that better treatments are right around the corner, we are seeing less dependence on automobiles, more connectedness to the outdoors, an increase in victory gardens, and local foods. A nice side effect, nature is recovering. The air is cleaner. Traffic is down. Cities feel calmer. This reality presages the aligning preferences, and this is a fascinating fact, the economic preference curves of the baby boom generation and the millennial generation are aligning for livable, walkable, nurturing communities. But even while we consider the rosier side of this predicament, we have urgent questions. When are we getting back to normal? When can we hug those we love? When can we visit those incapable of visiting us? What does normal even mean? Madam Speaker, here is one aspect of what normal may look like. A new intrusive reality, I have an acronym for it, I call it SSTT, screening, sanitation, testing and testing. So let's unpack this. SSTT is a suite of best practices that will gradually enable the full reopening of our State in Nebraska, where I live, and our country, while ensuring those who are vulnerable, especially the elderly and those with underlying conditions, are fully protected. On screening, you will see more high-tech thermal scans when you enter large public places. As we experienced after 9/11 with the dramatically-enhanced security screening, your temperature will be regularly taken. As for the next S, sanitation. I found a new respect for medical personnel who must wear these surgical masks hours on end through the day. They are hot. They are bothersome, as I am sure you can attest, Madam Speaker. But they are now part of the normalization of our own personal protective equipment routines at retail establishments, at work, and on public transportation. You are already seeing the sneeze guards and other physical barriers at grocery store check-out stands. Hand sanitizer sales are not declining any time soon, as the surprisingly fragile COVID-19 is easily killed through basic hygiene and surface disinfectants. {time} 1630 Social distancing is a subset of sanitation. Perhaps we should change the name. Perhaps we should call it social respect because this is what it means. It is an embrace of a necessary constraint out of concern for the public good, and it also lessens our own individual vulnerability. When combined with advancing our ability to work from home if sick, these factors are certainly lessening the disease's impact, thankfully. New configurations for workplace foot traffic and airflow will emerge as [[Page H2357]] we embrace the need to consistently and vigilantly fight this virus. Look for TSA-style COVID prechecks at airports, on trains, and at hospitals. Watch for new office architecture: open floor concepts and lunch buffets being out; plexiglass partitions, staggered desks, one- way walkways will be in. Zoom is the new communal coffee break. As offensive as this seems, look for social distancing monitors on elevators in large office buildings. Again, the acronym is SSTT. The first ``T'' stands for testing. There will be a dramatic increase in onsite work testing. Early diagnosis of those who show symptoms or who have some reasonableness to think they may have been exposed is one way to significantly reduce the spread of the disease. I have been very proud to continue to work with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. During the Ebola epidemic, we worked with the Obama administration to help the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a long history in infectious disease and virology, to build out containment facilities just in case Ebola would impact us significantly in America. You might recall, Madam Speaker, that the first coronavirus cases that came off the cruise ship went immediately to Nebraska. Our National Guard hosted people. Those who needed to be in isolation and then those who needed to be quarantined who had the disease went to the University of Nebraska. That is because we have led the country in forward-thinking as to how to create the possibility of containment for some type of pandemic. We have a lot more to do, such as creating a surge hospital concept for our military and our country at large. Nonetheless, in working with the University of Nebraska Med Center, trying to think about how we just don't sit back and let the sick come to us but that we go forward and use institutions that have occupational health specialists and larger capacities to become the center for controlling the diseases themselves in a manner that parallels the necessary public health response that is going on. Again, sanitation and screening are part of that and onsite work testing. The second ``T'' though in the SSTT is for serological testing. This test determines whether you have developed antibodies to the virus, which are needed for immunity. As we are discovering, a number of people who have had the disease don't have any symptoms. They didn't know they had it. They could have antibodies, which will help them fight the disease, should they be reexposed in the future. Said another way, it means a person who has had the virus recovered, and it lessens the possibility of reinfection for them. Both types of testing will become widespread, faster, cheaper, and ordinary--again, helping us control the spread. As we work toward a vaccine or effective treatment to stop the serious effects, this SSTT suite of approaches--again, the University of Nebraska, I am proud of them for developing this and their outreach to the community. It may not be a panacea, but it will give us the data and confidence to more robustly and quickly open our economy and gradually reduce the need for strict containment measures. It is changing a bit now, Madam Speaker, but on an earlier trip to D.C. for some votes we took several weeks ago in which we replenished the funds for the highly successful Paycheck Protection Program--Madam Speaker, if you don't mind, I am going to divert for a moment because I am proud of my State. Again, this was a bipartisan airlift, the Paycheck Protection Program, to help small businesses maintain personnel on the payroll while we tried to get in front of the disease spread, creating a one- two simultaneous step to protect our healthcare system and protect our economic well-being. The Paycheck Protection Program was vital to this effort, widely supported by many of us, as well as the replenishment. Nebraska has a very robust community banking system. We worked very aggressively with the small business associations and got the word out so we, on a per capita basis, have the largest number of loans for the Paycheck Protection Program, which, again, is so important to the well- being of our economic vitality as we fight our way through this virus. The point being, though, I went to get on the airplane, and I stood in Omaha Eppley Airfield and then later at Chicago O'Hare and witnessed this eerie stillness around me: vacant terminals, closed businesses, nearly empty planes, a science fiction movie come to life. Madam Speaker, the Earth has really stood still for a moment, but perhaps in this stillness, just perhaps, we have rediscovered some important things, and we do see some trends that will mark a new way forward. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________
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