Ron Wyden

Thank you, Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Crapo, for your continued commitment to supporting individuals living in nursing homes.

We appreciate that this bipartisan bill also directs HHS to utilize focus groups and consumer testing.

I was disappointed, earlier this year, when every Senate Democrat voted against my proposal to ensure accurate State reporting of nursing home resident and staff fatalities related to COVID-19.

The AGS greatly appreciates the opportunity to submit this statement and be part of this important conversation.

Members can start by agreeing on basic facts.

I support GAO's recommendation. Having accurate data is essential not only to fighting a pandemic but to analyzing which practices and policies worked and which did not.

Yes, it is important for us to be able to look back at the beginning of the pandemic to see what went wrong so that we can make sure something like this does not happen again.

By not requiring nursing homes to submit data from the first 4 months of 2020, HHS is limiting the usefulness of the data in helping to understand the effects of COVID-19 in nursing homes.

A National Tragedy: COVID-19 in the Nation's Nursing Homes

The terrible impact of COVID-19 on seniors in long-term care is not a red State or a blue State issue.

The previous administration actively impeded efforts to address long-running problems in nursing homes.

The Trump administration dramatically reduced the penalties for failing to meet basic protective Federal standards.

These disparities in COVID-19 deaths are the result of generations of inequity in society and in health care.

The Biden administration is working to turn things around.

When COVID-19 arrived, the Trump administration came up small by withholding data, failing to distribute protective equipment, and issuing guidance that put seniors in harm's way.

Ms. Ramos has made it really clear. She is going to hold the Congress of the United States accountable.

I have long known that, from sea to shining sea, there are persons who care deeply about the well-being of those patients in nursing homes.

We have still seen in the last year what I describe as a collision of mismanagement at every level.

Today the committee meets to discuss another challenge that the pandemic exposed: the fragility of our supply chains, and the need to boost manufacturing in America.

The Finance Committee has worked hard over the last year to tackle the public health and jobs crises brought on by COVID-19.

I intend to work with Senator Crapo and all of our colleagues to come up with a strong policy--and I think it can be bipartisan--that creates the conditions for the kind of home-grown industry that ensures that we can out-compete China.

It seemed like the supply ran out in the blink of an eye, and overnight nobody could get their hands on a package of toilet paper.

It only makes sense that American workers benefit from projects funded by American tax dollars.

There is a real job-creation tool kit for reshoring and bolstering American manufacturing.

Helping U.S. companies strengthen their supply chains to better protect these critical technologies is vital to safeguarding our national security and the health of our economy.