See the biggest picture for yourself. And make up your own mind. With cspans campaign 2020, brought to you as a Public Service by your television provider. And live today here on cspan 3, we will be hearing about the u. S. Response to the coronavirus before a house submit. Testimony from the director of the centers for Disease Control and prevention and other officials. The hearing starting a bit later than scheduled. It should begin in about five minutes or so. New york times reporting that Vice President mike pence whos been put in charge of the response, by president trump, will control all coronavirus messaging from health officials. The Administration Says they want to coordinate efforts, not control the content of what experts and officials are saying. Both officials and scientists will have to clear statements with the Vice President s office. That again, from the New York Times. While we wait for the hearing to start, there is currently a vote on the house floor to move toward regulating tobacco and vaping products. Some details on that now while we wait for the coronavirus hearing to start. The Health Care Reporter with cq roll call, the house this week is taking up legislation to regulate flavored tobacco products. Whats the purpose of the legislation . And give us some of the key details in it. So this bill is meant to build upon and cover some gaps that Many Democrats feel were left after congress raised the tobacco age to 21 nationwide, and after the Trump Administration issued a temporary ban on flavored cartridges and pods that fuel ecigarettes like juul. So this bill would ban more broadly flavored tobacco products, so flavored cigars, which are still pretty ubiquitous, and becoming more popular, among young people, would be banned under this, as would menthol cigarettes, and the flavors of ecigarettes that remain on the market, such as in larger tankstyle vaping devices which apparently are more popular with adults but the flavors that they use are still concerning, and there are enough loopholes in the current policy that democrats believe more tighter regulations are needed on the flavors in ecigarettes to prevent more youth use from occurring. On the issue of menthol, the measure passed out of the energy and Commerce Committee in november, 2824 vote, a number of those voted against, raised concerns about the bills regulation of the menthol flavor. Can you tell us more about that . And also some of the issues that were raised then at the Committee Level . So among africanamerican smokers, menthol is more popular, and some of the members who were, are africanamerican, and also from tobacco growing states are concerned that this bill would have a discriminatory effect, especially if there is some sort of policing, more policing against, you know, potential black market sales of Menthol Tobacco products. That is the energy and commerce markup, they agreed to add more language for outreach to minority communities for smoking prevention programs, but there are some signals that members of the Congressional Black Caucus could oppose the bill on the floor this week, because of those concerns over the menthol policy. The bill is called the protecting american lungs and reversing the Youth Tobacco epidemic act. Tell us about the opposition and support of the bill. Is it largely along party lines . Is it also by region, opposition by region, particularly in some of the tobacco growing areas . I think that this will mostly be a party line vote. Although like i mentioned, some democrats from tobacco growing states and some members of the Congressional Black Caucus may vote against it, on the other hand, there will likely be a handful of republicans supporting it. Peter king of new york, and Brian Fitzpatrick of pend, are both cosponsors and michigans fred upton voted to support the bill in the energy and commerce markup. What is the Trump Administration, what has the Trump Administration done to reduce youth vaping . The most notable thing they did was to ban the sale of flavored pods and cartridges that are used in the devices like juul, and that went into effect in the beginning of february. The National Survey data on Youth Smoking and vaping shows that devices like juul and flavors like mint, mango, and fruit, were overwhelmingly the most popular among young people. And they hope that by limiting the flavored pods and cartridges to just flavors like tobacco and menthol, that will reduce youths desire to try the products, but maintain an ability for adults who would rather use vaping products rather than cigarettes to continue with that. But there is a loz of concern that young people will just switch to whatever flavor is available, especially menthol. You wrote recently, at cq. Com, about the change in the purchase age for vaping products, and the headline says that success of tobacco age change will depend on state efforts, why is that . Thats because the states take the lead on enforcement of this, at the retail level. What the law now says is that it is illegal for retailers to sell to anybody under the age of 21. They, thats enforced by the state tobacco and health agencies, and they are the ones who conduct sting operations at retailers, to check, you know, that theyre in compliance, and the fda does do compliance checks of its own, and helps support state efforts to do it. But really, the bulk of it is handled by the states. Following the issue is andrew siddens with cq roll call, a Health Care Reporter, and you can follow him on twitter at a siddens, thanks so much. Thanks for having me. And live today, here on cspan 3, we will be hearing about the u. S. Response to the coronavirus for this house subcommittee. Testimony from the director of the centers for Disease Control and prevention and other officials expected. Starting a bit later than it was originally scheduled. And well let you know that one of the people here that we are expecting in the chair, omni barra of california also a doctor as well as a lawmaker, witnesses will include officials who led the response to the virus as well. And the chair of the subcommittee says the hearing is an opportunity for the American Public to hear directly from the Trump Administration about the steps being taken to keep people safe as well as understanding the Economic Impact on world economies. And again, just waiting for this hearing on the coronavirus to start shortly. Hearing on the u. S. Response to the coronavirus before a house subcommittee. We will be hearing testimony from the director of the centers for disease and prevention as well as other officials. Robert redfield is the director of the cdc. He has worked on chronic human viral infections and diseases, especially hiv, for more than 30 years. The New York Times reporting today that Vice President pence, who has been put in charge of the response by president trump, will, quote, control all coronavirus messaging from health officials. The Administration Says they want to coordinate efforts not control the content of what experts and officials are saying. Both officials and scientists will have to clear statements with the Vice President s office. That, again, from the New York Times. Expecting the hearing to start shortly. The subcommittee will come to order. I appreciate the audiences patience. We dont control the schedule, so thank you, and the witnesses. Without objection, all members have filed statements, extraneous materials for the record. Subject to the rules i will make an Opening Statement and turn it over to the Ranking Member for his Opening Statement. And i