Legislative Program

Floor Speech

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Mr. AGUILAR. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for the question and for acknowledging the extraordinary success of the Biden- Harris administration in putting millions of shots in arms at a historic pace.

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Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield?

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Mr. AGUILAR. Madam Speaker, that success that the gentleman talked about was fueled by this Congress last year and this year and by a science-based investment approach that the American Rescue Plan offered. As evidenced by this guidance, we are building back.

But I want to call particular attention to the ``Dear Colleague'' letter that Dr. Monahan sent out to everyone on the Capitol complex campus. It says: ``The present mask requirement and other guidelines remain unchanged until all Members and floor staff are fully vaccinated.''

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Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield?

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Mr. AGUILAR. The centerpiece of this strategy that the gentleman just acknowledged is vaccinations.

It is important that we continue to get as many Members as we can vaccinated. That is the strategy that Dr. Monahan, Rear Admiral Monahan, a distinguished physician, the strategy that he has laid out.

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Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield?

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Mr. AGUILAR. Madam Speaker, the cornerstone of the strategy is vaccinations. What the gentleman is asking is an important question. What the majority is saying is, let's follow the guidance of the Office of the Attending Physician.

We have no interest in knowing individually what Members and what staff members are vaccinated. Our interest is in governing this House and the operations of this body, and we trust that Dr. Monahan will work with both parties and both sides of the aisle and will give us a report when this House is fully vaccinated. That becomes our guidance.

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Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield? We will talk about the Constitution.

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Mr. AGUILAR. I appreciate the gentleman from Georgia yielding once again. I will try to be as clear as I possibly can.

We will follow the guidance of the Office of the Attending Physician, a decorated rear admiral, who is hoping, with the Sergeant at Arms, to govern the Capitol complex.

As the CDC guidelines mention--and I am sure my colleague has read the full CDC guidance, which specifically says government buildings and local governments and State governments may make separate----

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Mr. AGUILAR. The gentleman knows I am happy to talk about HIPAA and your role with it.

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Mr. AGUILAR. What I would say is, the CDC guidelines, as my colleague from Georgia understands, specifically mentions workplaces can set their own guidelines. We are following workplace guidance given by the Office of the Attending Physician and the Sergeant at Arms. Those are the processes that govern this body, whether Democrats are in control or Republicans are in control. We should be guided by public health guidance. That is exactly what we are doing here.

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Mr. AGUILAR. And I appreciate the question. Because as the gentleman knows, we are a co-equal branch of government here in the Capitol. So I appreciate his love of the executive branch of government; I really do. However, we are governed by different rules. As a co-equal branch of government, we should be.

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Mr. AGUILAR. Will the gentleman yield?

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Mr. AGUILAR. I appreciate the question, and this is such a timely and important topic that the country needs to address. I am incredibly pleased with the bipartisan success that the negotiations have led to, to date.

As the gentleman knows, those conversations continue to be ongoing, but the majority believes that those conversations are progressing in a way that is hopeful toward addressing this issue.

I think both sides realize, and I hope the minority realizes, the importance of making changes to protect our communities. I know the gentleman is a former mayor, as I am as well. So we have dealt with a lot of these issues at the local level.

So what I would say is, Senator Scott, Congressman Stauber, and Congresswoman Karen Bass have been engaged in this discussion. We want to give them the latitude and the flexibility to continue those discussions. I wouldn't agree with the characterization that the gentleman from Georgia made about where the negotiations are, but I can tell you that we are committed to seeing this done. We are committing to getting this done and putting a bill on the floor that will have strong bipartisan support.

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