Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) issued the following statement in response to Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Richard Burr’s (R-N.C.) introduction of the PREVENT Pandemics Act in the Senate HELP Committee, which includes key provisions modeled after his bipartisan National Coronavirus Commission Act of 2021 and DIVERSE Trials Act:
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I have worked diligently to make sure the federal government has the resources necessary to sustain a robust pandemic response to keep all New Jerseyans safe and curtail the economic impact on families here in New Jersey and across the country. I have worked with Republican and Democratic colleagues, as well as dozens of COVID-19 survivor groups, medical associations, civil rights groups and activists, to propose common-sense solutions to assess our national pandemic preparedness and response and improve our country’s readiness for future public health crises. One of the driving forces in my efforts has been to address the stark health and economic inequities compounded by the pandemic which led to disproportionate illness and death in minority and low-income communities.
“I am proud that key provisions modeled after my bipartisan National Coronavirus Commission Act of 2021 and DIVERSE Trials Act have been included in the PREVENT Pandemics Act introduced today in the Senate HELP Committee. I want to thank Senators Susan Collins and Tim Scott, respectively, for their partnership on these bills and appreciate the opportunity I had to work closely with Senators Patty Murray and Richard Burr to ensure these critical solutions were included in this historic legislative package.
“As we continue to recover from this crisis, I will keep fighting to ensure we create an independent, non-partisan commission to conduct a thorough review of what happened, what went wrong, and what we can do to improve our response to any future public health emergency, including in minority and low-income communities that bore the brunt of this pandemic. In order to fully address these inequities in our response, we must also ensure that clinical studies on life-saving vaccines, drugs, and treatments include people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds to create more diverse clinical trials that can improve long-term health outcomes across the nation. My provisions included in the PREVENT Pandemics Act will help accomplish these critical goals and I look forward to working with all my colleagues until they are passed as part of this legislative package.”
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