Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4738 establishes a COVID-19 history program within the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center. March 11 of this year marked the second anniversary of the World Health Organization's official designation of COVID-19 as a pandemic. Since then, more than 6 million people worldwide have succumbed to the disease, almost a million in the United States alone, and hundreds of millions more have suffered from its debilitating effects. Experts agree that current statistics are likely undercounting the disease's actual toll. Indeed, the true scale of social and economic devastation caused by the virus may never be known. Although the virus continues to disrupt daily life in ways both seen and unseen, through American ingenuity and sheer force of will, several effective vaccines were developed in record time. These vaccines continue to be an important tool as the fight to eradicate the coronavirus goes on. As the country and world enter this next phase of the pandemic, it is important that we preserve the stories of those who lived through it. COVID-19 is not the first pandemic, and it will not be the last. Humanity has endured Black Death, cholera, influenza, HIV, AIDS, and the list goes on. As devastating as these diseases can be, there are lessons to be found in each: lessons of love and loss, of peace and strife, of failure and triumph.…”