Dick Durbin: “I see my friend from Wyoming, who spoke on the floor earlier and is in the Chamber, and I wish to publicly…”

“I see my friend from Wyoming, who spoke on the floor earlier and is in the Chamber, and I wish to publicly acknowledge--and I hope he will too--that we are friends, but we disagree on the nomination of Dr. Murthy to be the next Surgeon General. I will speak for a few moments about why I support him, and I hope a majority of Members will join me in supporting his nomination. This is an indication of what can go wrong in the Senate. We received this nomination from the President of the United States to fill the post of Surgeon General, which was reported from the committee in February of this year. Obviously we are in December. It has been sitting here since February. In fact, the post of Surgeon General has been vacant since July of 2013. The Surgeon General is supposed to be one of the leaders in America speaking to issues on public health. Can anyone think of a public health issue we have had to face since February when Dr. Murthy was reported to the floor of the Senate? Perhaps one of the deadliest diseases that has ever been recorded is being fought in west Africa, and we are being asked on a regular basis how we will respond in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control plays a major role in it but, historically, Surgeons General have played a major role when we faced similar public health challenges. I can remember coming to the U.S. House of Representatives years ago when President Reagan had been elected, and he had chosen C.…”