neal smith.porter: george told detectives how he and shauna had befriended this neal smith. tried to help him get back on his feet. >> me and the wife kind of looked at him like our little charity case because he was a nice guy and was down on his luck. >> reporter: by now the detectives knew greyhound was an addict and a big drinker. so they asked george. >> was he a drug user? >> nothing. >> okay. alcohol? >> yes. he would drink alcohol, but not a lot. just a beer or two. >> just a beer or two every now and then? >> yeah. >> reporter: that raised the antenna a bit. in his interview with detectives, greyhound said he and george were great friends, worked out together, drank together a lot. but then, listen to this. as george kept talking, the man he said he knew as neal became noel. >> she said, "can noel help us out with this?" if it was something i wasn't good at, well, maybe noel is good at it because noel seemed to be good at everything i wasn't good at. >> reporter: remember, george said he

smith: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. mr. neal: i thank the gentleman. with that let me recognize the gentlelady from california, ms. inquire. ms. chu: thank you, chairman neal. holding this absolutely critical hearing illustrating the grave that communities of color are facing as a result of covid-19. of incredible importance to the asian american, pacific islander community. i appreciate the opportunity to discuss the impact that is having on these communities. in fact, mr. chairman, i'd like for the record a written statement from the health cific islander forum which details the impact to our community. mr. neal: so ordered. so chu: dr. samoa, i'm sorry you contracted covid-19 yourself. am so thankful that you recovered, especially since you worker.ssential and let me say that in my home california, i am so alarmed because native hawaiians and pacific islanders have a that's nearly triple their population portion utah, the on and in mortality rate for nhpi's has oubled their representative population. this is a critical disparity these only know beca

neal powell, orlando, air force veteran and dentist that made central florida smile brighter. bill smith who worked on nasa car h pads and a retired pen ter who loved to sing mexican ball adds. these and other stories will continue in our hearts as we do everything we can to get beyond and survive this pandemic. thank you. and i yield back. . . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. the gentleman is recognized. mr. sherman: our work now is to negotiate a new relief bill. so far we've spent trillions of dollars, bandaging our economic wounds. yet less than 1/2 of 1% has gone to beat the disease through research on therapeutics. all hands should be on deck, every reasonable idea should be tested. but our professional medical researchers are today sitting at home because their non-covid research has been suspended and our covid research funding has been mo

chairman neal: let me recognize the gentleman from nebraska, mr. smith. rep. smith: thank you, mr.irman, and thank you to our witnesses. i appreciate this opportunity. it is certainly an important topic. i know many of the dynamics of this issue are not new but that the pandemic brings new attention to some of the same problems and i am hoping we can make some progress on these very issues. i have been working a lot on telehealth issues. i think telehealth is a great approach to reaching underserved communities. minority communities, rural populations, and others. obviously with the evolving technology, as indicated here today, i think this does pose some opportunity. also, we want to get it right. a lot of folks depend on this. i know that some legislation i have worked on, the rush act, reducing unnecessarily senior hospitalizations, this would allow medicare to reimburse for telehealth that would replace the need to transfer a nursing facility to from a an emergency room. a very fragile population that can be serviced in telehealth. i'm hoping we can update our reimbursement pol