Congress is expected to include the bulk of a plan to better prepare the country for the next pandemic in a sweeping package to fund the government through September, according to multiple people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations.
But the legislation probably will not include an effort to establish an independent task force to probe the U.S. response to the pandemic amid a slew of partisan investigations in both chambers.
In January, the leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) — released their bipartisan plan to overhaul the country’s pandemic strategy, which included measures to improve disease data collection, bolster oversight of health agencies and establish a government panel modeled after the 9/11 Commission that would probe the origins of covid-19 and the resulting federal response.
Most of the legislation, known as the Prevent Pandemics Act, will be included in the government spending bill Congress could release as soon as today. Axios first reported the news. The bill is expected to include a measure requiring the Senate to confirm the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a Senate GOP aide. However, the measure requiring lawmakers representing both parties to choose a 12-member task force to probe the pandemic response will not be included in the package. The final text of the government spending package has not been released, meaning some provisions could still shift.
Burr and Murray had been pushing congressional leadership hard to include their pandemic bill in any year-end package, believing it would be more difficult to get passed next year. The legislation has added significance for Burr, who is planning to retire and wants to further cement his legacy on pandemic preparedness legislation. And the prospects for sweeping bipartisan legislation next year are dim, with Republicans controlling the House.
Some advocates and experts have said the bill is simply a down payment on what is needed to bolster the nation’s defenses for the next pandemic. In two recent reports, Democratic congressional investigators called for significant investments and large-scale changes to the nation’s pandemic response, such as increasing public health funding, clarifying federal agencies’ roles during an emergency and boosting the nation’s stockpiles of medical and protective supplies.
