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Floor Speech

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, this resolution threatens fundamental life sciences research. Research is medicine's field of dreams from which we harvest the findings that give hope to families.

Over 1 million people died from COVID-19, and tens of thousands of Americans die annually from the seasonal flu. It is scientific research that develops the vaccines and treatments that save lives.

It is clear that we need every tool at our disposal to combat viral illnesses and pandemics, and labs across the country are developing research that will create the vaccines and the therapeutics of tomorrow. But what this resolution does is create overbroad restrictions on scientific research in order to accomplish a goal which unfortunately is unrelated to what should be our highest goals.

Bans like those envisioned by this resolution would tie the hands of researchers who are doing lifesaving work. This resolution would send a dangerous signal that the U.S. Senate does not value lifesaving research being conducted by our Federal research Agencies and at our world-class research universities.

We must be prepared for future pandemics, especially as climate change accelerates the transmission of deadly diseases.

In the last few months, we have seen H5N1 bird flu transmitted from dairy cattle to humans. This resolution could block researchers from understanding the mutations that allow bird flu to infect humans, effectively banning us from preventing outbreaks and protecting farm workers.

Medical research is an issue of national security. Stronger research means stronger security. This resolution would not prepare us for emerging disease threats, and it would not make our Nation safer. Bowing to political pressure to promote a research ban without understanding the implications on research, biosecurity, biosafety, or public health is dangerous, and it is reckless.

Investments in biomedical research are investments in hope and health and safety that serve our country today and into the future.

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