Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Urging The Trump Administration To Rehire. Restore. Rejoin. & Invest In Public Health Preparedness Amid The Hantavirus Outbreak

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor condemning the Trump administration for cutting vital public health and pandemic preparedness programs amid the hantavirus outbreak. Leader Schumer unveiled his three point plan to keep Americans safe - rehire, restore, rejoin. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Earlier today, 17 Americans, including three New Yorkers, who were on the cruise ship at the center of hantavirus outbreak arrived in Nebraska where they remain in quarantine. One has since tested positive for hantavirus.

They should know that all of us here in the Senate are thinking of them, praying for their health. No one should have to go through such an ordeal.

The hantavirus outbreak reminds us of what we learned during Covid-19: we need to invest in public health and pandemic preparedness. Sadly, the Trump administration has not learned that lesson.

The Trump administration gutted our public health defenses.

The public may not know it, but Trump fired the workers whose job it is to protect us from outbreaks like hanta. Donald Trump, Russell Vought, and Elon Musk purged hundreds of federal workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services, including - here's who Trump fired: cruise ship inspectors, port health station staff, disease detectives, and others. He cut all of those and now we have the hantavirus. They were there for a purpose.

Blindly swinging their DOGE chainsaw through the federal government, Trump, Vought, and Musk also hamstrung the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program - a program that didn't cost taxpayers any money. The cruise ships paid for it, but of course they didn't care.

The solution is a simple one.

I've put out a plan that calls on the Trump administration to rehire these fired outbreak-response experts, to restore funding to protect Americans from infectious diseases, and to rejoin World Health Organization and other groups that track outbreaks and provide early warning.

Rehire, restore, rejoin - that's how we keep the American people healthy and safe.

Diseases like hantavirus and COVID don't care what your politics are - they threaten everyone. Donald Trump needs to stop politicizing public health and start investing in it.

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