WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today led 39 of his colleagues in introducing a resolution that encourages U.S. engagement with the international community on the COVID-19 response given the Trump Administration’s failure to participate in global summits on vaccines and therapeutics. The resolution focuses on the indisputable facts that only with concerted global collaboration and coordination can the COVID-19 pandemic be addressed, and that the U.S. has failed so far to participate in a number of key global collaborative efforts on this issue.
“I was dismayed when amid the devastating global coronavirus pandemic, the United States sat out a recent virtual conference to collaborate and raise funds to research, manufacture, and distribute possible coronavirus treatments and a vaccine. It was yet another short sighted and critically missed opportunity by the Trump Administration,” Durbin said. “We should be a part of these efforts to not only offer American expertise, but to also share in the lifesaving benefits. That is why 39 Senators have joined me in introducing a straightforward resolution that calls on the United States to join these global efforts.
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“We cannot petulantly isolate ourselves from the international race to find treatments and develop a vaccine. Doing so will only waste more time and cost more lives.”
The following Senators joined Durbin in introducing the resolution: U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tom Udall (D-NM), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bob Casey (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-NJ), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Angus King (I-ME), Mark Warner (D-VA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Tom Carper (D-DE).
A copy of today’s Senate resolution is available here.
