On the recordFebruary 5, 2021
I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding. Madam Speaker, lifesaving COVID vaccines are going to waste. Seniors and frontline workers in my State, the State of North Carolina, have had their vaccine appointments, which they depended on, forcibly canceled. We have got to do better. Madam Speaker, I have two amendments to this budget resolution that would address these issues, but the majority has blocked a vote. Instead, we are passing a budget resolution to set up a trillion--with a ``T''--a trillion-dollar spending bill. My first amendment, the Vaccinate More Americans Act, would prevent leftover COVID vaccines from being wasted by allowing vaccine providers to administer shots to the next allocation group automatically. My second amendment addresses an issue that affected over 10,000 North Carolinians who had their vaccine appointments forcibly canceled. This is unacceptable and something has to be done about it. My amendment says that any State health department that receives vaccines must distribute them in an equitable way without forcibly canceling appointments. We should be addressing these issues as a body instead of stuffing trillion-dollar spending bills into a rules package.
