[Pages H5880-H5882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

SECURING AMERICA FROM EPIDEMICS ACT

Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 6334) to authorize United States participation in the Coalition
for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and for other purposes, as
amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 6334

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Securing America From
Epidemics Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) Due to increasing population and population density,
human mobility, and ecological change, emerging infectious
diseases pose a real and growing threat to global health
security.
(2) While vaccines can be the most effective tools to
protect against infectious disease, the absence of vaccines
for a new or emerging infectious disease with epidemic
potential is a major health security threat globally, posing
catastrophic potential human and economic costs.
(3) The 1918 influenza pandemic infected 500,000,000
people, or about one-third of the world's population at the
time, and killed 50,000,000 people--more than died in the
First World War.
(4) The economic cost of an outbreak can be devastating.
The estimated global cost today, should an outbreak of the
scale of the 1918 influenza pandemic strike, is 5 percent of
global gross domestic product.
(5) Even regional outbreaks can have enormous human costs
and substantially disrupt the global economy and cripple
regional economies. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa
killed more than 11,000 and cost $2,800,000,000 in losses in
the affected countries alone.
(6) The ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak reflects the
pressing need for quick and effective vaccine and
countermeasure development.
(7) While the need for vaccines to address emerging
epidemic threats is acute, markets to drive the necessary
development of vaccines to address them--a complex and
expensive undertaking--are very often critically absent. Also
absent are mechanisms to ensure access to those vaccines by
those who need them when they need them.
(8) To address this global vulnerability and the deficit of
political commitment, institutional capacity, and funding, in
2017, several countries and private partners launched the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
CEPI's mission is to stimulate, finance, and coordinate
development of vaccines for high-priority, epidemic-potential
threats in cases where traditional markets do not exist or
cannot create sufficient demand.
(9) Through funding of partnerships, CEPI seeks to bring
priority vaccines candidates through the end of phase II
clinical trials, as well as support vaccine platforms that
can be rapidly deployed against emerging pathogens.
(10) CEPI has funded multiple partners to develop vaccine
candidates against the novel coronavirus, responding to this
urgent, global requirement.
(11) Support for and participation in CEPI is an important
part of the United States own health security and biodefense
and is in the national interest, complementing the work of
many Federal agencies and providing significant value through
global partnership and burden-sharing.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR UNITED STATES PARTICIPATION.

(a) In General.--The United States is hereby authorized to
participate in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness
Innovations.
(b) Board of Directors.--The Administrator for the United
States Agency for International Development is authorized to
designate an employee to serve on the Investors Council of
the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations as a
representative of the United States.
(c) Reports to Congress.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit
to the appropriate congressional committees a report that
includes the following:
(1) The United States planned contributions to the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the
mechanisms for United States participation in such Coalition.
(2) The manner and extent to which the United States shall
participate in the governance of the Coalition.

[[Page H5881]]

(3) How participation in the Coalition supports relevant
United States Government strategies and programs in health
security and biodefense, to include--
(A) the Global Health Security Strategy required by section
7058(c)(3) of division K of the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-141);
(B) the applicable revision of the National Biodefense
Strategy required by section 1086 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (6 U.S.C. 104); and
(C) any other relevant decision-making process for policy,
planning, and spending in global health security, biodefense,
or vaccine and medical countermeasures research and
development.
(d) United States Contributions.--Amounts authorized to be
appropriated under chapters 1 and 10 of part I and chapter 4
of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C.
2151 et seq.) are authorized to be made available for United
States contributions to the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations.
(e) Appropriate Congressional Committees.--In this section,
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Engel) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.

General Leave

Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have
5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include in the Record extraneous material on H.R. 6334.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, we are in a time of crisis. The coronavirus pandemic has
devastated our Nation: over 200,000 Americans have died, our economy is
in shambles, our lives have been turned upside down.
The virus continues to spread and worsen. Part of this is because
there had not been the steps taken that we know are needed to protect
the American people and address this virus head-on.
There is a clear road map ahead on how to beat this. We need to
establish a robust contact tracing and testing system and flatten the
curve by increasing mask wearing and social distancing, all while we
develop a safe and effective vaccine.
We have heard some good news over the past few days about some safe
and effective vaccines. Over the past weeks we have seen this
encouraging news, and two, in particular, are showing real promise. To
further develop, produce and distribute vaccines, we need to work with
our partners around the world and harness the resources of the
government's multilateral organizations, public health experts, and the
private sector.
We are not satisfied--I am not satisfied--with what has been done so
far. I am glad that we are going back to the World Health Organization
and will reboot our coordination with countries around the world. We
cannot go this alone. This is a worldwide pandemic, and we need to work
with all the other countries to defeat it head-on.
This bill puts us on the right track to do just that. Mr. Bera's
Securing America from Epidemics Act would allow the United States to
participate in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a
public-private partnership to speed up vaccine development for
infectious diseases like COVID-19 and Ebola.
Mr. Speaker, this is a good measure that would put our country in a
stronger position to respond to the coronavirus and future pandemics. I
am proud to support it and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Securing America from
Epidemics Act.
I want to thank my colleague, Congressman Dr. Bera, for introducing
this bill--and I co-introduced it--for his work to address this
important issue.
COVID-19 has shown that pandemics know no borders and that the United
States must be prepared to respond to disease outbreaks around the
world. This bill authorizes the United States to participate in the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, an alliance of
countries and private partners that are financing and coordinating the
development of new vaccines for infectious diseases. These are the
emerging diseases that they are studying so that we are prepared for
them.

{time} 1245

In addition to COVID-19, CEPI has developed a list of priority
diseases with epidemic potential, including viruses that cause Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome, MERS. By leveraging contributions from
member states with expertise and funding by private partners, CEPI
seeks to develop vaccines before the disease outbreak occurs.
CEPI estimates that COVID-19 could cost the global economy $4.1
trillion, or close to 5 percent of global GDP.
Of course, the impact of viruses like COVID-19 is not just measured
in the disruption of economic stability in nations around the world,
but also, unfortunately, in the lives lost.
Developing vaccines and treatments for emerging infectious diseases
is not just an issue of individual health but of national security. Our
committee has worked together on many pieces of legislation in response
to COVID-19. The SAFE Act is another example of this bipartisan effort.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues who believe we must do all we
can to prevent another pandemic like COVID-19 from emerging in the
future to support this legislation, as it is a critical component to
that effort.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Bera), author of this important bill, the chair of the
Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation.
Mr. BERA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Engel for his leadership and
support.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bipartisan measure, H.R.
6334, the Securing America From Epidemics, or SAFE Act. This
legislation, which I introduced alongside my friend, Congressman Ted
Yoho, would authorize U.S. participation in the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI.
CEPI was created in the aftermath of the 2015 West Africa Ebola
epidemic. Its founders understood that due to factors like climate
change, overcrowding, malnutrition, and the proximity of people living
next to animals, the world would see deadly epidemics more and more
frequently. The most effective countermeasures to these epidemics are
vaccines.
CEPI sought to fund vaccines for several pathogens like MERS that
could potentially explode into pandemics. And it sought to help develop
universal vaccine platform technologies that could be adapted to
quickly address emerging outbreaks. The individuals in CEPI could not
have predicted the current COVID-19 pandemic, but they knew it was just
a matter of time until we would see something like this.
Since the start of the pandemic, CEPI has devoted major funding to
nine vaccine candidates to defeat COVID-19. In January of this year,
CEPI was one of the first investors in Moderna, providing catalytic
funding to spur additional research and development. That early funding
has paid off. It looks like Moderna's Phase 3 trials have been
successful.
CEPI's early investment in Moderna is a reminder of the critical role
CEPI plays and will continue to play: investing in smaller companies to
boost their capacity, so that larger players and actors can help scale
and bring those vaccines to market. This is what happened with Moderna
and may happen with other vaccine candidates.
USAID recently announced the collaboration with CEPI, funding $20
million over 5 years to combat noncoronavirus priority diseases, like
Lassa fever and Ebola, but we need to do more. By authorizing U.S.
participation in CEPI, this bill will enable the United States to
firmly claim a seat at CEPI's table, shape its priorities and
governance, and allow Congress to provide contributions to the
organization.

[[Page H5882]]

U.S. participation in CEPI was one of the recommendations of the
final report issued nearly a year ago at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies Commission on Strengthening America's Health
Security. It was prescient in its recommendations, and I am proud to
have served as a commissioner. We knew then that the next epidemic or
pandemic was around the corner. It is here with us now, but it will not
be the last one.
We need to be a full and active participant in CEPI's work. By
working through organizations like CEPI to develop new vaccine
technologies, we will ensure the world is far more ready for the next
pandemic.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Yoho and all the cosponsors of this
important legislation, as well as the work that the Committee on
Foreign Affairs staff, like Katy Crosby, and my own staff, like Ryan
Uyehara, did to bring this legislation to the House floor.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure and call on
the Senate to pass it as well.
Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I once again thank Representative Bera for
his work on this important legislation. The U.S. international
community and the private sector must continue to work together to
develop the tools we need in response to emerging infectious diseases.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this legislation, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to once again thank Mr. Bera for
his leadership and hard work on this legislation that everyone should
support, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 6334, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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