Terminating Cdc Requirement for Proof of Covid-19 Vaccination for Foreign Travelers

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 185, which provides another opportunity to recognize COVID-19 as an endemic and move our country back to normal.

Last week, we had a couple of bills dealing with COVID--one vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, which is the only CMS vaccine mandated for healthcare workers--and my bill to declare the emergency over.

President Biden actually did announce that the emergency is going to be over May 11, so we have a lot of work to do moving forward.

Now we move forward to ask for support for H.R. 185, which provides another opportunity for us to move our country back to normal.

H.R. 185, introduced by Mr. Massie, a member of the Rules Committee and a fellow Kentuckian, would finally put an end to the CDC's requirement for international travelers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination before entering the United States through air, through flying to this country.

The bill would also prevent the CDC from implementing any similar mandates to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter into the United States through air.

This policy is out of touch with the rest of the world. The U.S. is the only country in North America with this requirement, and most other countries have no testing or vaccination requirements at all. Also, the Biden administration fails to provide exceptions for religious or moral reasons.

As with other vaccine mandates, this requirement will not end on May 11, and thus far, the administration has not indicated any plans to change it.

It is long past due to end this mandate. Doing so will align the United States with the rest of North America's COVID-19 vaccine policy for people coming into the country and recognize COVID-19 is an endemic rather than a pandemic.

Further, this will serve as an important check and balance against President Biden's overreaching policies by requiring the President to come to Congress in order to enact similar policies in the future.

I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Massie), my good friend, to speak on the bill. We have the great privilege of sharing Bardstown in Nelson County in our districts.
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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), my good friend.
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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, before I yield, I want to point out that this doesn't do anything to undo the restrictions on people traveling from China.

As a matter of fact, the Rules Committee made an amendment in order that will pass today, and I hope my friends will support it. That will reiterate that this doesn't do anything to undo the restrictions on people traveling from China.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon), my good friend and vice chair of the Health Subcommittee.
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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford).

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Miller-Meeks), a member of the Subcommittee on Health.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker).

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I heard several Members that were talking, saying that they were vaccinated and encouraged people to be vaccinated.

I actually did my vaccination on Facebook to encourage people to be vaccinated.

The question is: Is it a choice or a requirement to move forward?

So I am not here to disparage the vaccine at all. I just think it should be the people's choice.

To clarify--this was brought up, and I want to reiterate again--this does not affect any of the entry requirements that have been put on people coming from China. There will be an amendment in the package to reinforce that it doesn't do anything to move forward.

We had a hearing earlier today, and for the first time, I heard there is actually a plan to try to unwind the emergency pandemic. That is the first time I heard of that. We have been asking for that for a year.

We want to move these bills forward because other countries have started opening up. Other countries have moved forward.

We heard the President say the pandemic is over. We heard the President say in this Chamber last night that COVID doesn't run our lives anymore. So we need to do our proper role of oversight.

I will point out that if there is another strain of COVID--when it says that not only does it undo the mandate, it will also undo any similar mandates, it is only for COVID. So if there is another kind of pathogen, unfortunately--hopefully not--that comes into our country, it can be addressed.

We can come together. We came together when COVID first broke in 2020. I remember flying back on an airplane that had three people on it right in the heart of COVID so we could come back and cast a vote.

We all came together and did that. We will rise to the occasion as we move forward.

The question is: Can we get back to normal?

This is a bill that brings us back to normal.

It has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the vaccine. As I said, I took mine on Facebook so people would see that I felt it was safe. I just don't want to force somebody else to do it.

This is an opportunity for us to end this mandate and continue to work because I want to work with my colleague on the Energy and Commerce Committee as we unwind this pandemic before May 11, so that we do it together, and we do it in a way that we recognize COVID is still here.

When they say it is not a pandemic, it is endemic. That doesn't mean it has gone away. It means we still have to mitigate and deal with it.

There will be opportunities for us to work in a bipartisan way and do so as we move forward out of this emergency order, which was last week's bill.

But in this bill, it is time for us to move forward like the rest of the world, as well.

Mr. Chairman, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill. There will be some amendments also to move forward on as we debate later today.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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