Last week, U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., and Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., the chairs of the congressional GOP’s Healthy Future Task Force, offered solutions to permanently ban illicit fentanyl and ensure the United States is fully prepared and mission ready for the next pandemic.
In an op-ed for the Washington Times, Buchanan and Guthrie teamed up with other congressional Republicans to offer proposals to strengthen our medical supply chain, secure our borders from illicit drug trafficking and hold China accountable for their role in exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic.
“America learned a costly lesson regarding our public health security as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to Representatives Hudson, Banks and Cole for their work on developing the Republican recommendations to ensure America is well-prepared for future health emergencies. Public health security is national security, and Republicans are ready to tackle future health crises head-on to keep Americans safe and help save lives,” said Buchanan and Guthrie.
The proposed solutions include:
Strengthen America’s supply chains and hold China Accountable: Provide tax reform that energizes domestic manufacturing and innovation, support investigations into COVID-19 origins, ensure American research dollars are not funneled towards foreign adversaries, permanently schedule fentanyl-related substances
Ensure America is prepared for future pandemics: Strengthen and clarify the role of the Strategic National Stockpile, streamline leadership and delineate authority across public health security and response infrastructure, require the Department of Health and Human Services to collaborate with the private sector, build upon the successes of Operation Warp Speed to combat future infectious diseases
Secure public health: Require transparency from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about the data used to develop their guidance and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), hold NIH and CDC accountable to their core missions and not political agendas, ensure flexibility and authority to state and local governments for public health decisions, conduct thorough oversight over all federal taxpayer-funded public health programs, especially those dollars sent overseas
U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, created the 17-member Healthy Future Task Force to develop solutions to modernize the American health care system to lower costs, keep Americans healthy, develop better therapies and cures, and provide Americans with more choices. The Security Subcommittee is one of five subcommittees part of The Healthy Future Task Force, which also includes the Treatment Subcommittee, Affordability Subcommittee, Doctor/Patient Relationship Subcommittee and Modernization Subcommittee.
