Hello everybody, thank you all for taking the time to join me today. 

  

This is the first time I’ve sat down formally with CDC workers since the horrendous act of political violence against your workplace. I’ve heard from workers about how terrifying that day was, and I’m sorry that your organization’s leadership has been so uncompassionate and unresponsive.  

 

The same corner where bullets crashed through the windows of the CDC, is the same corner where I stood protesting, only a few weeks beforehand, fighting for your jobs to be reinstated, and for CDC workers to be treated with the respect and dignity you deserve.  

 

I know these past few months have not been easy, but your tireless work to protect our health and national security means so much more than those who preside over the Department of Health and Human Services, and who sit behind a desk in the White House. I’m sure you don’t hear it often from folks in Washington, so I want you to hear it from me: thank you for your tireless efforts.  

  

I am proud to be a champion for the CDC, and I will keep fighting for you here in the Senate, no matter what. I’ll continue my work to advocate for robust funding for your agency. And I’ll continue to push the Administration to rehire your wrongly and illegally fired colleagues. 

 

As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, I’ve taken seriously my oversight role over HHS and the CDC. 

  

Earlier this year, I demanded Secretary Kennedy re-instate the hundreds of your colleagues back into full-time employment. I voted against Dr. Monarez’s nomination to lead the CDC in July as well. To my surprise, she ended up defending established science until she was fired for doing the right thing. 

 

I understand that people take the CDC for granted because you do your work so well that many folks have the luxury of never thinking about infectious diseases—we’ve never had to. But now, for the first time in decades, children in the United States are dying from measles. It’s what led Robert Kennedy Jr. that the biggest risk to American’s health is the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

 

I know that many of you have been furloughed. I want nothing more than for you to get back to work as soon as possible. Please know I am actively working with my colleagues to reopen the government, fund health care, and end this shutdown.  

 

Thank you again for the important work you do everyday. 

 

Now, does anyone have any questions for me?