The bill creates an independent, nonpartisan commission to assess the U.S. pandemic response. It will illuminate our successes and uncover our failures, and it will provide Congress with actionable recommendations to improve our readiness and prevent future public health crises and the massive loss of life we have suffered from Covid-19. The commission will have a broad mandate to investigate our pandemic response from all angles, including international disease surveillance; federal, state and local government coordination; private sector engagement; and vaccine development and distribution. It will also examine why some of our communities, especially communities of color, experienced disproportionately higher rates of sickness, death and economic harm. Covid-19 is not the first pandemic to hit our shores, and it won’t be the last. Scientists predict that pandemic diseases will become more common in the 21st century, and we must be far better prepared for the next one. That is why a comprehensive analysis of our Covid-19 response is critical to ensuring our readiness and safeguarding our nation’s long-term health, security and economic interests.