WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, on Friday delivered remarks on the U.S. Senate floor about the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) masking guidance and Republicans’ attempts to discredit the science as we work to fight COVID-19 and the delta variant.

“Yesterday, I listened to a speech by Senator Cruz of Texas. And it was one of the most dangerous speeches that I've ever heard given on the Senate floor, and it deserves a response. Now, I understand that Republicans don't want to talk about the economy. They don't want to talk about the fact that we've had more jobs added to the economy in the first five months of President Biden's term than any other first term president,” said Murphy. “And I also understand that the senator from Texas doesn't like the new guidance announced this week by the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)]. And he's not alone. From what I can tell, a lot of Republicans here are upset. As are a lot of non-political Americans. Nobody likes to wear a mask.”

“[I]t's perfectly legitimate to contest the CDC’s decision or the reasons that they gave for making the decision. It is okay for anybody in this body to disagree with the conclusions that they reach. But that's not what Senator Cruz did yesterday. No, in fact, not once during the speech––and I watched the whole speech––did he ever reference the actual reasons for the CDC’s new guidance. Not once. In fact, he claimed that the CDC offered no explanation,” said Murphy.

On Republicans’ attempts to discredit the CDC, Murphy said: “There are dozens of national Republicans making these same wild, unfounded allegations. The political agenda at the CDC that Republicans allege is a fiction. It's constructed out of thin air. And it's frankly an insult to the thousands of dedicated non-political, public health professionals at the CDC, who just go to work every day trying to keep Americans safe. These aren’t politicians––these are epidemiologists and scientists and doctors who've worked their entire lives trying to keep this country safe. I'm not saying they get it right every time. I've criticized many of the decisions made by the CDC during the pandemic. It's okay to criticize their decisions. But to claim that they are all corrupt. They're these politically controlled hacks. That's an outrage.”

Murphy continued: “And rhetoric like that is going to get people killed. Because we are still in the middle of the epidemic. And what anti-CDC Republicans are doing through these attacks on our public health agencies is to intentionally undermine people's faith in the nation's preeminent public health institutions right at the moment where we need people to believe in them.”

“[W]hat political interest is served by recommending that people wear masks indoors again? People hate masks. There's only political downside to suggesting that people start wearing them again,” Murphy argued. “If the CDC was worried about politics, they certainly wouldn't be recommending anybody wear masks again.”

Murphy concluded: “Don't come to the Senate floor and make things up. Don't destroy people's reputations and careers with wild unsubstantiated allegations about political motivations. The CDC doesn't get it right 100% of the time, but they don't have some secret political agenda. But the more people believe that they do, the less likely it is that people will follow their recommendations the 90–95% of the time that they do get it right. And that will guarantee that this virus never disappears.”

A full transcript of Murphy’s remarks can be found below:

“Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I rarely come to the floor to directly respond to speeches given by my colleagues. I normally like to use the chamber to make my own arguments on their merits rather than to make arguments against specific colleagues.

“But yesterday, I listened to a speech by Senator Cruz of Texas. And it was one of the most dangerous speeches that I've ever heard given on the Senate floor, and it deserves a response. Now, I understand that Republicans don't want to talk about the economy. They don't want to talk about the fact that we've had more jobs added to the economy in the first five months of President Biden's term than any other first term president. I know they don't want to talk about the rapid expansion of the economy that's happening. I understand Republicans don't want to talk about what we're debating on the Senate floor right now, which is the biggest bipartisan investment in infrastructure in the history of the country.

“And I also understand that the Senator from Texas doesn't like the new guidance announced this week by the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)]. And he's not alone. From what I can tell, a lot of Republicans here are upset. As are a lot of non-political Americans. Nobody likes to wear a mask. Nobody likes that the new recommendation is that some Americans need to wear them again. I don't like wearing a mask. I hate it. My kids hate the masks more.

“But here's what the CDC said. The CDC’s scientists have been carefully following this dramatic increase in cases that we've seen all across the country as the delta variant spreads––even through vaccinated people. First, we can't ignore this––the fact that there's been this huge increase in cases. The national seven day average is triple what it was from a month ago. We’re averaging 40,000 new cases a day. This is a big problem, and it is overwhelming parts of our health care system. Now, I wish this weren't the case, but it requires us to think about adjusting policy.

“Second, the CDC is looking at this new evidence that indicates that even fully vaccinated individuals who become infected with a delta variant can carry the virus and transmit it to others––even if they don't get sick. Now this latest development is important because it allows the delta variant, the more contagious variant, to spread faster. Early information from the CDC shows that the delta variant is as contagious as the chickenpox—more contagious than earlier strains of COVID. And remember, not every American today is vaccinated. For instance, my youngest son is nine years old. He can't get vaccinated. If the evidence suggests that I can transmit the virus to him, even if my vaccine prevents me from getting really sick, then that matters.

“Finally, with so many Americans still unvaccinated, the virus still has plenty of bodies in which to mutate. Right now, the good news is that we've got three authorized COVID-19 vaccines that are pretty effective against severe illness. But the worry is eventually the [virus] is going to mutate into a version of itself that is resistant to the current vaccines. And with so many Americans choosing to stay unvaccinated and evidence suggesting that vaccinated people who are infected with a delta variant can transmit it to people who are unvaccinated, the CDC has concluded that right now we need to take additional steps to cut down on the pathways that the virus has to spread and keep mutating before it's too late and we have a virus that our vaccines don't work against at all.

“Now, what is the new guidance say? It recommends that fully vaccinated people wear a mask in public, indoor settings in places in the country where there are a lot of cases. And since most young kids aren't vaccinated, the CDC is also recommending that when school opens, teachers and kids should wear masks. That's the argument that the CDC is making. That's the evidence upon which they have issued their new guidance.

“And it's perfectly legitimate to contest the CDC’s decision or the reasons that they gave for making the decision. It is okay for anybody in this body to disagree with the conclusions that they reach. But that's not what Senator Cruz did yesterday. He didn't come to the floor and argue against the merits of the CDC’s argument. No, in fact, not once during the speech––and I watched the whole speech––did he ever reference the actual reasons for the CDC’s new guidance. Not once. In fact, he claimed that the CDC offered no explanation. At one point after mischaracterizing the CDC announcement, he asked rhetorically, why the CDC changed the guidance. ‘Who knows?’ he said.

“Anyone who listened to that speech, or frankly many other speeches that are being given by Republicans all across Capitol Hill this week, would logically come to the conclusion that the CDC had offered not a single explanation for the new guidance. And then after creating the impression that the CDC didn't have any reasons for the new recommendation, the senator from Texas announced that he had discovered the reason. He said that the real reason the CDC changed their guidance was because the CDC is, quote, ‘an arm of the Democratic National Committee [(DNC)]’ and that Democrats in Congress are, quote, ‘faithful little foot soldiers of the CDC.’

“He offered no explanation as to why it would benefit Democrats politically, or the DNC or the CDC to recommend mask wearing. He just simply claimed that the CDC was a political puppet of the DNC and the guidance was politically motivated. The closest he came to a more detailed explanation of this claim was when he talked about the school guidance. There, the senator from Texas claimed without any evidence that the only reason the CDC made this decision was because it was demanded by quote, ‘union bosses.’ And that, quote, ‘the CDC said, ma'am, yes, ma'am. We will issue the order demanded by the union bosses.’

“Mr. President, that's all made up. And the senator from Texas isn't the only Republican saying things like this. There are dozens of national Republicans making these same wild, unfounded allegations. The political agenda at the CDC that Republicans allege is a fiction. It's constructed out of thin air. And it's frankly an insult to the thousands of dedicated non-political, public health professionals at the CDC, who just go to work every day trying to keep Americans safe. These aren’t politicians––these are epidemiologists and scientists and doctors who've worked their entire lives trying to keep this country safe. I'm not saying they get it right every time. I've criticized many of the decisions made by the CDC during the pandemic. It's okay to criticize their decisions. But to claim that they are all corrupt. They're these politically controlled hacks. That's an outrage.

“And rhetoric like that is going to get people killed. Because we are still in the middle of the epidemic. And what anti-CDC Republicans are doing through these attacks on our public health agencies is to intentionally undermine people's faith in the nation's preeminent public health institutions right at the moment where we need people to believe in them. I'm not saying they should be immune from criticism, but criticism should be based on the science. Contest the new evidence the CDC says that requires people to wear masks again, but saying that the scientists are deliberately ignoring the science to effectuate some top secret political agenda––give me a break.

“And by the way, what political interest is served by recommending that people wear masks indoors again? People hate masks. There's only political downside to suggesting that people start wearing them again. It just belies plain old common sense to say that politics is behind the new guidance. If the CDC was worried about politics, they certainly wouldn't be recommending anybody wear masks again.

“And by the way, that's all the CDC is doing. They're giving guidance over and over and Republicans refer to this new guidance as an order. Or as the senator from Texas said repeatedly––an edict. They know that's not true. They know that's not true. But Republicans want to scare you into believing that the federal government has more power than it does. The CDC doesn't require people to do anything. They issue recommendations. But that doesn't suit this narrative. About socialist, statist Democrats secretly pulling the strings of their marionettes at the CDC. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous.

“Don't come to the Senate floor and make things up. Don't destroy people's reputations and careers with wild unsubstantiated allegations about political motivations. The CDC doesn't get it right 100% of the time, but they don't have some secret political agenda. But the more people believe that they do, the less likely it is that people will follow their recommendations the 90–95% of the time that they do get it right. And that will guarantee that this virus never disappears.

“I understand, Mr. President, that there's an element of the Republican party that just wants to destroy all government institutions. That is seeking to discredit any effort by any public agency to do good in this country. In normal times, I would argue that that is dangerous. But in the middle of a pandemic, it's deadly. And Republicans of conscience should come to this floor and start telling the truth. I yield the floor.”

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