AUSTIN, Texas — Four years after the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the world, a bicameral, bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a plan to ensure the United States would not be caught off-guard and rendered helpless at the mercy of a contagious disease.
But health experts who track fungi and spoke at the SXSW Conference on Monday evening lamented how Congress has failed the public for 3 1/2 years by refusing to pass a bill that would give the U.S. an advantage in preparing for the growing likelihood of a fungal disease pandemic.
The Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance, or PASTEUR, Act was introduced by Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Todd Young (R-IN) alongside Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA), Drew Ferguson (R-GA), Mike Levin (D-CA), and Jake LaTurner (R-KS) in September 2020 and reintroduced twice.
Democrats and Republicans have failed to
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