mrs. murray: mr. president --. mrs. hyde-smith: reserving the right to be 0, i am disappointed but can't say i'm surprised that the senators on the other side of the aisle have objected to my save moms and babies act. the democrats have shown time and time again that they would rather put the profits of the abortion industry over protecting women. that's what's happening again today. make no mistake, the democrats are trying to change to another bill because they want to distract you from what my bill is about. my bill is about protecting women from dangerous at-home abortions without a physician involved whatsoever. that's what my bill does. and sure women have to see a doctor to get this drug and a doctor has to examine her to see if she has any conditions that might make her at a higher risk for complications, make sure she is fully informed and consent that she is not coerced. that democrats are objecting to this shows you how far to the left the democratic party is on abortion. passing my bill should be a no-braine

mr. murray or miss dick-endrizzi? seeing none, are there any members of the public on this item one for public comment? >> clerk: thank you, mr. clerk. it looks like we have 11 listeners and three in queue. d.t., if you can let us know when the callers are ready. >> chair peskin: first speaker, please. >> i apologize. i raised my hand too early. i was hoping to speak on this, the next item. >> chair peskin: okay. we'll get back to you, so if you'll get back in the queue. next speaker, please. >> [inaudible] i'm sorry. i want to also comment on the item number 2. >> chair peskin: okay. we'll get you back in the queue, and next speaker for item number 1. >> i'm sorry. i'm also -- i need to wait for my [inaudible] chec. >> chair peskin: sounds like the next item is going to be pretty popular. all right. are there any other speakers for item number one with regard to extending the retrofit compliance deadline? madam clerk? operations? >> operator: there are no more callers. >> chair peskin: all right. why don't we wait fo

mr. murray or miss dick-endrizzi? seeing none, are there any members of the public on this item one for public comment? >> clerk: thank you, mr. clerk. it looks like we have 11 listeners and three in queue. d.t., if you can let us know when the callers are ready. >> chair peskin: first speaker, please. >> i apologize. i raised my hand too early. i was hoping to speak on this, the next item. >> chair peskin: okay. we'll get back to you, so if you'll get back in the queue. next speaker, please. >> [inaudible] i'm sorry. i want to also comment on the item number 2. >> chair peskin: okay. we'll get you back in the queue, and next speaker for item number 1. >> i'm sorry. i'm also -- i need to wait for my [inaudible] chec. >> chair peskin: sounds like the next item is going to be pretty popular. all right. are there any other speakers for item number one with regard to extending the retrofit compliance deadline? madam clerk? operations? >> operator: there are no more callers. >> chair peskin: all right. why don't we wait fo

mr. murray or miss dick-endrizzi? seeing none, are there any members of the public on this item one for public comment? >> clerk: thank you, mr. clerk. it looks like we have 11 listeners and three in queue. d.t., if you can let us know when the callers are ready. >> chair peskin: first speaker, please. >> i apologize. i raised my hand too early. i was hoping to speak on this, the next item. >> chair peskin: okay. we'll get back to you, so if you'll get back in the queue. next speaker, please. >> [inaudible] i'm sorry. i want to also comment on the item number 2. >> chair peskin: okay. we'll get you back in the queue, and next speaker for item number 1. >> i'm sorry. i'm also -- i need to wait for my [inaudible] chec. >> chair peskin: sounds like the next item is going to be pretty popular. all right. are there any other speakers for item number one with regard to extending the retrofit compliance deadline? madam clerk? operations? >> operator: there are no more callers. >> chair peskin: all right. why don't we wait fo

mrs. murray: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to be allowed to finish my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: madam president, i rise to speak about three critical matters impacting families in washington state and across the country today. first of all, i'd like to say that even though the wildfires in my state are being contained thanks to the skilled work of brave and dedicated firefighters, wildfires and health impacts of smoke are still creating hazardous conditions throughout the pacific northwest. and until we begin addressing the drivers of those natural disasters, like climate change, we know these crises and the suffering they bring will only continue getting worse. secondly, i want to talk about three nominees under consideration for the equal employment commission or the eeoc. one of these nominees is jocelyn samuels. she is exactly who workers need right now. as the coronavirus continues to impact workplaces across the country, workers are facing un

mr. chairman. >> thank you so much, senator murray. senator baker told me one time that the key to being an effective senator was to become an eloquent listener. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> you do pretty well at that and i try to as well. welcome our witnesses today. our first witness is dr. bridget terry long the dean and professor of education in economics at the harvard graduate school of education. dr. long is an economist who focuses on the transition from high school to higher education and beyond. her research examines the impact of factors of affordability and academic preparation on college student outcomes appointed to the national board for education sciences at the u.s. department of education where she served as vice chair and chair. she holds a ph.d. in master degree from the harvard university department of economics and bachelor degree in economics from princeton. our second witness is dr. kim -- miss kim cook, executive director of the national college attainment network. miss cook has worked in the higher education

mr. chairman, i return to you. >> thank you, senator romney. senator murray. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. huma, you were a college football player at ucla, a large division i program that brings in millions of revenue, but in your role as director, you work with college athletes, men and women, participating in a wide range of sports, those we see playing on tv and whose name we recognize, that are never aired on tv and whose names we may never know. in your work with college athletes, what are some of the biggest health and safety concerns for players? are these issues different between sports or across the three ncaa divisions? >> thanks for that question. their issues are very common across all divisions. the problem is there's no health and safety standards enforced by the ncaa, but they are life-and-death issues that keep coming up. some of members may remember the death of jordan mcnair at maryland. that was completely preventable. it would happen. we don't know exactly when, but it will happen under there's enforcement of those rules. sickle cell deaths from trainers

murphy law that would have said that if mrs. murray wants to rent her spare bedroom out, that she could not discriminate. he has a longer history of pro civil rights activity. >> let me ask you about the relationship between barry goldwater and john kennedy. both can to the senate together in 1952. >> they had affection for each other. one barry goldwater was rising in the early 1960's, he was very much compared to john kennedy. this handsome, charismatic guy. there was a famous store they talked about campaigning together and writing the same campaign trail and debating each other lincoln and douglas style. this is often taken as a testament of this old civil time. i suspect that john kennedy was speaking cynically and thinking if he could get this guy on a platform and forced into mouth his what were then unpopular views, i can wipe the floor with him. >> history changed in dallas on november 22, 1963 following the assassination of president kennedy. senator barry goldwater said this. >> he was a very decent fellow. he is the kind of

mr. murray excuse me. >> good morning chairman and ranking member and members of the committee. on behalf of the men and women of the four board thank you for the opportunity. with the women's suicide among veterans is what is shared as a top priority. the most recent analysis of veteran suicide data found suicide is fairly consistent in recent years an average of 20 veterans and servicemembers die by suicide every day. those who are not using healthcare has an increase of risk of suicide. it comes as no surprise members have continued to inform us because of the high quality of veteran centric care that v.a. provides. to better assist organizations and v.a. congress must know more about the two thirds of veterans to die by suicide each day without contact from v.a. that's why this discussion is so important the compact act is seeking to change the focus on suicide prevention. working with community partners and engaging holistic programs about pharmaceuticals and for extended eligibility and rigorous studies to determine as many quantitative factors that lead to suicide as poss

murray. senator enzi. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for continuing to hold these regular hearings so that we and the american public can check on the federal efforts to fight the coronavirus. i know it can be hard for our witnesses to find the time to testify since they're all working very hard to respond to the pandemic. but i appreciate them being here and their information. i'm glad to see that we're making progress in planning how we distribute a safe and effective vaccine when it's ready. i'm optimistic and pleased that there are all these efforts going forward. i hope we're thinking through how to insure access, though, to rural areas. one of the things that i'm asked about, people have heard that some of the vaccines -- this is a question for dr. redfield and dr. hahn. some of the vaccines in phase 3 testing evidently need to be stored at extremely cold temperatures. that's even by wyoming standards, and that would be potentially as low as negative 94 degrees fahrenheit. hospitals and nursing homes, pharmacies, doctor'

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator hassan. that will complete our questions from senators. but let me go to senator murray and see if she has any closing remarks or additional questions. >> i don't have any additional questions. but let me just thank the witnesses for joining us today and, mr. chairman, thank you, again, to you for all of the work you've done to simplify the fasfa -- >> we take you to a house natural resources committee hearing on the use of cameras by law enforcement officers at the interior department. >> failures and consequences. any oral opening statements of the hearing are limited to the chair and the ranking minority member or the designees. this will help us and allow us to hear from our witness sooner and help members keep their schedules. therefore, i ask unanimous content that other members' opening statements be made part of the hearing

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator murray. again, let me welcome our guests today witnesses. admiral is the assistant secretary for health. dr. robert catlick is the assistant secretary for preparedness and response and dr. robert redfield is the director for the center for disease control prevention. we're pleased you're here. like to give you time to make an opening statement. we have the statements you've presented. you can summarize those if you want, but we are eager to get to questions, but we're also eager to hear from you, so admiral, why don't you start with your opening statement. >> chairman blunt, ranking member murray and distinguished members, i'm honored to update you on our nation's efforts to combat covid-19 with a specific focus on testing. testing is an essential component of america's public health response to the pandemic. recommended practices like wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, especially indoors, and washing your hands combined with smart testing is the formula to effectively slow the spread, flatten the curve and save lives. by being evidence based,

mr. chairman. chair alexander: thank you. senator murray. sen. murray: thank you. mr. huma, you are a college football player at ucla, a large division i program that brings in millions of dollars in revenue. but in your role as executive director of the national college players association, you work with college athletes participating in a very wide range of sports, those we see playing on tv and names recognized in the vast majority who play sports that are never aired on tv and whose names we may never know. i want to rescue, the near work with -- ask you, in your work with college athletes, what are the biggest health and safety concerns for these players? are these issues different across sports or divisions? mr. huma: thank you for that question. there are issues very common across all divisions. there are no health and safety standards enforced by the ncaa. they continue to game coming up. some of the members may remember the death of jordan mcnair at maryland a couple of years ago that was completely preventable. it will happen. you set your clock to it. we don

senator murray. >> will thank you mr. chairman. the me ask you, and overseeing the federal financial aid, you see firsthand how just one part of a complicated financial aid enrollment process. and firstly families face a lot of barriers in the support they need for higher education. and you're on campus saying the impacts of trying to make this process work during a pandemic. as a former congress myself, i know how any headaches for families this is. unfortunately, there are it has only gotten worse with students and families facing more challenges to get into college. it also get into the financial aid and the support. so i want to ask you, what are the biggest hurdles that families face in getting access to the financial aid they need. speech of thank you senator, there certainly are more hurdl hurdles. principally the fafsa alone . think we mentioned several of them in particular. there is a process which is like an audit of what they have already filled out in the form. but in fact, students are verified on the financial applic

murray. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. redfield, we know that a lot of patients avoid getting unnecessary tests or treatments because of costs. i've been pushing to make sure ensurers have to cover covid treatment at no cost to patients as we fight this deadly disease. meanwhile, president trump, as we all know, is fighting at the supreme court to overturn the affordable care act which would leave 23 million more people without health insurance and allow insurers to once again discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, leading to higher costs. covid-19 actually itself could become a pre-existing condition. dr. redfield, let me ask you straight out, will increasing the number of uninsured by tens of millions and increasing costs for the 133 million people with a pre-existing condition make it easier or harder to contain this pandemic? >> thank you, senator, for the question. clearly access to timely health care is critically important in terms of public health. in terms of this pandemic, it's also true access

mr. chairman. >> i've got a couple other questions and senator murray has another question or two. on the point that senator moran raised, what is going to happen at department is an increasing reluctance by the committee to appropriate money and give the department flexibility. you know, we appropriate money for the provider fund, we expect that money to go to the provider fund. not to go to whatever other fund the department thinks it is better spent. in fact, when we appropriated the second $75 billion to the provider fund, we absolutely prohibited spending that money any other way or some language close to that and that is all because of the department's actions. the appropriating committee appropriates based on your request and response to that request in ways we think is appropriate and you can't just decide to ignore that. on the vaccine, dr. kadlec, we did not appropriate to warp speed, we appropriated money to the partners, nih and barta, my understanding is at least $16 billion has come through those agencies for the vaccine up until now. hhs has told us that to have 300

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator murray. we will now introduce the witness. we ask them to summarize their comments at five minutes each. our first witnesses doctor anthony fauci director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases at the national institute of health. he's held his position since 1984 and led the agency's research related to hiv aids, influenza, malaria, a bola and other infectious diseases. he's advised six presidents and was one of the principal architects of the presidents emergency plan for aids relief. next, doctor robert redfield, the director of the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention for more than 30 years he's been involved with clinical research related to chronic infections and infectious diseases especially hiv. he served as the founding director of the part of a department within the u.s. military is hiv research program retired after 20 years of service in the u.s. army medical corps. third witness, the assistant secretary for health and oversees the commissioned corps of the united states public hea

murray. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman.hile you still have a few more hearings, i want to start off by saluting you for your many years of service to the country. i know my democratic colleagues and i will miss you next year. on the topic of today's hearing, mr. chairman, our country is in the middle of a painful crisis. the covid-19 pandemic has crowded hospital intensive care units, it has emptied schools and shuttered businesses. it has deepened damaging health disparities among black, latino and tribal communities, people with low incomes and people with disabilities. it has ravaged prisons and nursing homes and other congregant care facilities. it has strained our economy, our mental health and more. it has claimed around 190,000 lives so far and more each day. unfortunately, instead of leading in the war against this virus and fighting the pandemic, president trump is fighting public health experts. instead of supporting facts and science, he is supporting conspiracies. he has spread absurd false , theories about fda

senator murray. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr.know that a lot of patients avoid getting unnecessary tests or treatments because of costs. i've been pushing to make sure ensurers have to cover covid treatment at no cost to patients as we fight this deadly disease. meanwhile, president trump, as we all know, is fighting at the supreme court to overturn the affordable care act which would leave 23 million more people without health insurance and allow insurers to once again discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, leading to higher costs. covid-19 actually itself could

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator murray. again, let me welcome our guests today, our witnesses today. admiral brett giroir, the assistant secretary for health, and dr. robert redfield is the director for the center of disease control and prevention. we're pleased you're here, like to give you time to make an opening statement. we have the statements you've presented. you can summarize those if you want, but we are eager to get to questions, but we're also eager to hear from you. so admiral giroir, why don't you start with your opening statement? >> chairman blunt, ranking member murray, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, i'm honored to update crow on our nation's effort to combat covid-19 with a specific focus on testing. testing is an essential component to america's response to the pandemic. recommended practices like wearing a mask, avoiding crowds especially indoors and washing your hands combined with smart testing is the formula to effectively slow the spread, flatten the curve and save lives. by being evid

murray? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i have been concerned about political interference and decision-making we have seen in the administration's response and the impact it might have on the acceptance of a vaccine. i want to ask you what steps you think federal agencies should be taking right now to build trust with the american people and develop processes to make sure science and public health, not political interest dictate decision-making for covid-19 vaccines. dr. collins: thank you, senator. i believe the best way we can engender that kind of trust is by being as transparent as possible and you used the same word in your opening statement, so that people can see the facts. there are so many conspiracy theories right now. even before we have a vaccine that has come anywhere near to being effective. some of those are breathtaking in terms of their stretch of the imagination and sometimes people seem to attach themselves to those. our best antidote is to say exactly what we are doing. i hope it will be reassuring to y

murray. >> thank you very much mr. chairman and i just want to say i am deeply troubled by reports of rampant political interference in scientific decision-making atat the cdc. it is unprecedented and it's unacceptable. we learned last week that in january how serious covid-19 was him president trump has been working to downplay this crisis and on friday night we learned that trump was on cooperate if in hhs communications office and manipulating cdc's blank ship publication for months to align with that messaging. doctors redfield did anyone is cdc advised the president to downplay this crisis? >> no. >> did you agree with the president. >> no would advise the president to downplay this crisis. >> well understanding the danger, why have you not done more to push back on president trump's political interference and his efforts to downplay this? >> i want to make it really clear senator and i appreciate your question and the opportunity about the respect for what science, the cbc and the independent integrity of the hh

murray. senator enzi. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for continuing to hold these regular hearings so that we and the american public can check onned federal efforts to fight the coronavirus. i know it can be hard for our witnesses to find the time to testify since they are all working very hard to respond to the pandemic, but i appreciate them being here and their information. i'm glad to see that we're making progress in planning how we distribute a safe and effective vaccine when it's ready. i'm optimistic and pleased that there are all these efforts going forward. i hope we're thinking through how to ensure access, though, to rural areas. one of the things i'm asked about that people -- this is a question for dr. redfield and dr. hunt, some of the vaccines in phase three testing, evidently need to be stored in extremely cold temperatures. that's even by wyoming standards and that would be potentially as negative 3 degrees fahrenheit. hospitals, nursing homes, doctors offices, all of the places where americans can go to get

murray. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr.know that a lot of patients avoid getting a test or treatment because of cost and i've been pushing to make sure insurers have to cover covid treatment at no cost to patients as they fight this deadly disease. meanwhile president trump is fighting at the supreme court to overturn the affordable care act leaving 23 million people without health ininsurance and allow insures to discriminate against people with pre-existing condition. covid-19 could become a pre-existing condition. will increasing the number of ininsured by tens of millions and increasing costs for the $133 million with a pre-existing condition make it easier or harder to contain that pandemic? >> thank you, senator, for the question. clearly access to timely healthcare is critically important in terms of public health. and in terms of this pandemic it is also true. access to timely effective healthcare remains an important public health measure. >> i take that if bomb yeah care is overturned it will be harder with the pa

is murray myles or a representative here? >> mr. president, my staff are indicating to me that she may not be online with us. i would like to provide a little bit of information. on friday afternoon the appellant emailed to say she was not equipped to use microsoft teams platform. we offered ms. myles call-in instructions and looped in our ada coordinator in case there was a request for accommodations. by friday evening, the appellant provided us an email and a phone number, which we invited her with, but then indicated to us that she may call in from a completely different number than the number she gave us. she did not want us to publish her secondary number. of course we wouldn't, but then we weren't able to call her on a -- give her the invitation on another line. to our knowledge today, she's not picking up her phone. my staff have been trying to call her for the last 20 minutes, and they -- again, they do not see here in the invited list. i mean, she was invited, but she is not present in the remote meeting. unless she's being

is murray myles or a representative here? >> mr. president, my staff are indicating to me that she may not be online with us. i would like to provide a little bit of information. on friday afternoon the appellant emailed to say she was not equipped to use microsoft teams platform. we offered ms. myles call-in instructions and looped in our ada coordinator in case there was a request for accommodations. by friday evening, the appellant provided us an email and a phone number, which we invited her with, but then indicated to us that she may call in from a completely different number than the number she gave us. she did not want us to publish her secondary number. of course we wouldn't, but then we weren't able to call her on a -- give her the invitation on another line. to our knowledge today, she's not picking up her phone. my staff have been trying to call her for the last 20 minutes, and they -- again, they do not see here in the invited list. i mean, she was invited, but she is not present in the remote meeting. unless she's being

mr. chairman. happy to answer questions later. >> thank you, dr. fauci. let's go to dr. redfield and then admiral giroir and then dr. hahn. dr. redfield, welcome. >> thank you, chairman alexander and ranking member murrayhe committee, and i want to thank you for the opportunity to be here today. on behalf of cdc, i also want to thank you for your continued support of our public health professionals and their life-saving work that they're committed to 24/7. over 6700 cdc staff have been engaged in our agency's covid-19 response so far and more than 1200 have been deployed to more than 200 locations, traveled to nations, in the united states and abroad. i know you join me in expressing our collective deep gratitude to the men and women for their resilience, their dedication to our nation. cdc has brought its science expertise to the front lines grounded in science and data, conducting rapid investigations of disease outbreaks that identify the highest risk populations and settings and putting place measures to prevent further spread of covid-19. understanding which populations are most at risk and how this virus spreads in various settings is critical in developing guidance and protecting the health of a

is murray myles or a representative here? >> mr. president, my staff are indicating to me that she may not be online with us. i would like to provide a little bit of information. on friday afternoon the appellant emailed to say she was not equipped to use microsoft teams platform. we offered ms. myles call-in instructions and looped in our ada coordinator in case there was a request for accommodations. by friday evening, the appellant provided us an email and a phone number, which we invited her with, but then indicated to us that she may call in from a completely different number than the number she gave us. she did not want us to publish her secondary number. of course we wouldn't, but then we weren't able to call her on a -- give her the invitation on another line. to our knowledge today, she's not picking up her phone. my staff have been trying to call her for the last 20 minutes, and they -- again, they do not see here in the invited list. i mean, she was invited, but she is not present in the remote meeting. unless she's being

murray and see if she has any closing remarks or additional questions. >> i don't have any additional questions. but let me just thank the witnesses for joining us today and, mr. chairman, thank you, again, to you for all of the work you've done to simplify the fasfa -- >> we take you to a house natural resources committee hearing on the use of cameras by law enforcement officers at the interior department. >> failures and consequences. any oral opening statements of the hearing are limited to the chair and the ranking minority member or the designees. this will help us and allow us to hear from our witness sooner and help members keep their schedules. therefore, i ask unanimous content that other members' opening statements be made part of the hearing record. so ordered. i ask unanimous consent that representatives join the hearing to ask questions of the witnesses. hearing no objection there, so ordered. without objection, the chair may also declare a recess subject to the call of the chair. as described in the notice of statements, documents or motions must be submitted to the repository at hnrc@email.house.gov. members can be muted by staff only. finally