Retirement Parity for Student Loans Act

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, along with my livestock producer protection bill, I am also introducing legislation today to eliminate the November 1 haying and grazing date for cover crops.

Cover crops provide a lot of environmental benefits. They improve soil health, reduce erosion and nutrient runoff, improve water quality, and sequester carbon. They also benefit farmers, since their animals can graze these crops, or the cover crops can be harvested to provide forage for livestock. Currently, the haying and grazing date--the date on which farmers can start harvesting or grazing cover groups on prevent plant acres--is set for November 1, which is too late in the year for farmers in more northern States like South Dakota. Early winter weather in these States can cause cover crops to freeze before they can be used for hay and grazing.

The legislation I am introducing today with my colleague Senator Stabenow would fix this problem by letting farmers harvest and graze cover crops outside of the primary nesting season, which ends August 1 in South Dakota, allowing for both farmers and our environment to benefit from these crops.

Protecting our planet is imperative, and government certainly has a role to play in promoting clean energy and sound environmental policy, but putting the government in charge of our economy--in fact, putting the government in charge of pretty much every aspect of American life, as the Green New Deal would do--is not the answer. Innovation, not government, is the key to addressing environmental challenges.

Unfortunately, President Biden is embracing a whole host of Green New Deal-like policies. Take his so-called 30-by-30 directive directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other Agencies to provide recommendations to conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

I have already heard from ranchers and landowners in South Dakota who are concerned about the measures the administration could pursue to meet this goal, including Federal land acquisitions and burdensome regulations on private landowners, many of whom are already doing everything they can to promote the health of their land.

There is also serious reason to doubt the government's ability to manage a vast new amount of land. The Federal Government already frequently fails to properly manage the land it already has. Yet some believe that we can give the Federal Government huge new swaths of land, and somehow the government will manage it properly.

Yet that is the problem with a lot of these socialist fantasies. They assume that the government will achieve levels of efficiency and productiveness that the government has simply never demonstrated. It is the triumph of fantasy over experience. Surely, the people espousing socialist fantasies have sat in long lines at the DMV or remember how the Obama administration had more than 3 years to prepare for the opening of the ObamaCare exchange yet couldn't even come up with a working website in that time period. Yet the Green New Deal's proponents are advocating that we put the government in charge of pretty much every aspect of American life.

Socialists and the Democrats parroting their ideology don't want to believe it, but the truth is that private individuals are often a lot more efficient, effective, and innovative than government, and we should be focusing our energies on supporting that efficiency and effectiveness and innovation instead of attempting to solve our environmental problems by giving the government more than it can handle.

I will continue working here in Congress to advance policies that promote clean energy and improve our environment without placing heavy burdens on American workers or American families. I will continue to advocate for policies that encourage and harness the ingenuity of the American people in facing our environmental challenges, and I will continue to oppose legislation that prioritizes supposed environmental gains over the well-being of the American people

Mr. President, last week, the junior Senator from Massachusetts and the Congresswoman from the 14th District of New York reintroduced their Green New Deal resolution. I think most Americans remember this socialist fantasy from when these Members introduced it 2 years ago. It would be hard to forget a proposal with that pricetag. There was one think tank that analyzed the initial proposal and released a first estimate that found that the Green New Deal would cost between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over 10 years. Let me just repeat that--between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over 10 years.

To put that number in perspective, our entire Federal budget in 2019--our entire Federal budget--was well under $5 trillion. It would be interesting to learn where we are going to get that kind of money. A massive tax hike on the rich wouldn't get us close to paying for this, but I don't think I am the only one who isn't sure where we would get the money for this. I don't think the plan's authors have a very clear idea of that either. In fact, the entire Green New Deal resolution is notable for its complete lack of specificity.

It proposes outlandish, impossible goals, like upgrading every single building in the United States--every single building--in the next 10 years for maximum energy and water efficiency, as well as comfort, but it offers zero--zero--specifics for how we might actually accomplish them. I am not surprised, because there is no way to come close to accomplishing everything the Green New Deal's authors want to accomplish over the next decade without enormous economic pain.

So often, when hearing the policies of the far left, environmental and otherwise, I am struck by how they leave people out of the equation. Now, of course, the individuals proposing these plans don't think they are leaving people out of the equation. The Green New Deal's authors are clearly under the impression that they are creating a paradise for American families--if paradise includes the government supervision and administration of just about every aspect of American life. Yet the reality is that, like so many utopian plans, most of the environmental left's sweeping ideas for remaking our society would have nightmarish effects in practice: higher energy costs, reduced economic growth, sharp increases in the cost of essential commodities like groceries, huge tax hikes, and job losses.

Today, I want to talk about just one example of the damaging potential of environmental extremism, which has relevance for a bill I am introducing today.

There has been an increasing tendency on the part of the environmental left to demonize the consumption of beef, and this tendency is creeping into the mainstream. Earlier this week, food website Epicurious--a site a lot of Americans turn to when they are wondering what to cook for dinner--announced that it will no longer add new recipes featuring beef. The website said its move is not anti-beef but pro-planet. It is pretty much wrong on both counts.

First of all, the move to demonize beef could have real consequences for a lot of ranchers, like those I represent in South Dakota. If the demand for beef drops, some of these ranchers may be out of a job. Of course, the Green New Deal's authors would probably suggest a government program to help

them out, but I can't think of many ranchers I know who would like to abandon their way of life for their dependence on a government program, and there is no reason they should have to.

Contrary to the story being pushed by the environmental left, beef production is directly responsible for only a tiny fraction of U.S. emissions, and beef cattle actually plays an important role in managing pasturelands that sequester vast amounts of carbon. On top of that, it has become clear that, with certain feed additives, it is possible to significantly reduce cattle emissions, making the demonization of beef even more wrong-headed.

Today, I am introducing the Livestock Regulatory Protection Act with my colleague Senator Sinema. I actually introduced this bill years ago with the Democratic leader, before it became dangerous for Members of the Democratic leadership to support anything that might anger the environmental left. The Livestock Regulatory Protection Act is simple. It would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing emissions regulations relating to the biological processes of livestock.

We really shouldn't need this bill, but it is becoming increasingly clear that we do. This legislation was included in annual funding bills on a bipartisan basis for a number of years after the Democratic leader and I first introduced it, but the House has omitted it from its recent bills, and the Senate has had to secure its inclusion in the final bills. Passing this legislation would give livestock producers long- term certainty that their livelihoods will not be compromised by overzealous environmental crusaders.

I believe very strongly in protecting our environment. I have been an outdoorsman all my life. In many ways, outdoors men and women are the original environmentalists. If you value spending time in the outdoors--whether you are hunting or hiking, fishing or swimming--it is likely you are going to care a lot about keeping our air and water clean, preserving native species, and safeguarding our natural resources.

I have been interested in clean energy issues for a long time and have been introducing legislation to support clean energy development for more than a decade. In February, I introduced two bipartisan bills to support the increased use of biofuels and to emphasize their clean energy potential. Currently, the EPA's modeling does not fully recognize the tremendous emissions-reducing potential of ethanol and other biofuels.

The Adopt GREET Act, which I introduced with Senator Klobuchar, would fix this problem and pave the way for increased biofuel use both here and abroad by requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to update its greenhouse gas modeling for ethanol and biodiesel using the U.S. Department of Energy's GREET model.

I also introduced a bill to advance long-stalled biofuel registrations at the EPA. Regulatory inaction has stifled the advancement of promising technologies, like ethanol derived from corn kernel fiber, even though some of these fuels are already being safely used in States like California.

My bill would speed up the approval process for these innovative biofuels. This would allow biofuel producers to capitalize on the research and facility investments they have made and improve their operating margins while further lowering emissions and helping our Nation's corn and soybean producers by reinforcing this essential market.

Just last week, I joined colleagues from both parties to cosponsor the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which is legislation to make it easier for agriculture producers and foresters to participate in carbon markets. This bill is a great example of the kind of bipartisan process we should be following when it comes to climate legislation.

So, as I said, I strongly believe in protecting our environment, but I believe that we need to protect our environment in a way that takes account of people, too. That means promoting legislation that is good for our environment and for our economy, that is good for our environment and good for agriculture producers, and that is good for our environment and good for American families.

That is why I have introduced proposals like the Soil Health and Income Protection Program, or SHIPP. This program, a short-term version of the Conservation Reserve Program, is a win for both our environment and for farmers and ranchers. SHIPP, which became law as part of the 2018 farm bill, provides an incentive for farmers to take their lowest performing cropland out of production for 3 to 5 years. Like the Conservation Reserve Program, it protects our environment by improving soil health and water quality while improving the bottom line for farmers.

(The remarks of Mr. Thune pertaining to the introduction of S. 1458 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.''

Mr. President. A vibrant and independent media and public access to accurate information are critical to the functioning of any democracy. A free press is so important that our Founding Fathers explicitly guaranteed that right in the First Amendment of our Constitution, and the United Nations defined press freedom as a fundamental human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But today--as democracies worldwide are facing growing challenges from authoritarian leaders, censorship, and disinformation campaigns-- foreign journalists are facing unprecedented dangers that put their profession, and their lives, at risk.

The nature of threats against journalists is shifting. While the number of journalists killed in war zones continues to drop, the number of journalists killed or targeted in countries at peace continues at historically high levels. Fifty journalists were killed because of their work in 2020, and 68% of these deaths occurred outside of conflict zones. Most of those who perpetrate attacks are never held accountable. Worldwide, there was complete impunity in 86% of cases of murdered journalists occurring between September 2019 and August 2020. In addition, the number of journalists imprisoned remains at historically high levels, with nearly 400 behind bars as of December 2020. And authoritarian governments are using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext for censorship, restricting reporters' freedom of movement, and harassing them.

The legislation I am introducing today with Senator Graham marks World Press Freedom Day by honoring journalists not only with words but with action. It builds on the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, signed into law in 2009, to take concrete steps to ensure the wellbeing of journalism as a profession, and of individual journalists themselves. This legislation creates a new fund for programs to help keep foreign journalists safe, whether they are operating in dangerous environments or need to be re-located for their safety, and authorizes $30 million for this purpose. It uses existing funding to help nations prevent, investigate, and prosecute crimes against journalists overseas. It creates a new non-immigrant visa category to allow journalists in danger to come to the United States. And it creates a Coordinator for International Press Freedom at the State Department to serve as a focal point for advancing the right to freedom of the press and freedom of expression abroad.

I am proud to join Senator Graham in this effort to ensure that the free press that we value so highly in the United States is protected and promoted around the world, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that this legislation is swiftly considered by the Senate.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. President. As we work to support American families, stimulate the economy, bolster small

businesses, protect health care workers, and sustain our industries, investing in child welfare is imperative to supporting these efforts. The coronavirus pandemic has further highlighted that the development of a robust, well-trained, and stable child welfare workforce is central to improving outcomes for children and families across the United States. The existence of such a workforce is essential to a child welfare agency's ability to carry out the responsibilities with which they have been entrusted. Child welfare work has been shown to be physically and emotionally challenging, as demonstrated by recent studies into the impact of secondary traumatic stress (STS) on child welfare professionals. The multitude of challenges inherent in child welfare work, combined with relatively low compensation and work benefits, make these careers difficult to sustain, resulting in high rates of turnover and professionals who are more susceptible to burnout and compassion fatigue.

For the past 15 years, child welfare turnover rates have been estimated between 20 percent and 40 percent. In 2017, Virginia reported a turnover rate of 30%, while Washington State reported a turnover rate of 20% and Georgia reported a turnover rate of 32%. These high rates of turnover detract from the quality of services delivered to children and families and result in an estimated cost of $54,000 per worker leaving an agency.

More needs to be done to ensure that individuals pursuing careers in child welfare receive appropriate training and support to improve the sustainability of their important, yet demanding work. Maintaining a high-performing, engaged, and committed workforce is vital to providing families with the quality supports they need to stabilize, reunify, and thrive. Research suggests that positive child welfare outcomes depend largely on the capacity and competence of the child welfare workforce.

This is why I am pleased to introduce today the Child Welfare Workforce Support Act with my colleague Senator Baldwin. This bill directs the Secretary to conduct a five-year demonstration program for child welfare service providers to implement targeted interventions to recruit, select, and retain child welfare workers. This demonstration program will focus on building an evidence base of best practices for reducing barriers to the recruitment, development, and retention of individuals providing direct services to children and families. Funds will also be used to provide ongoing professional development to assist child welfare workers in meeting the diverse needs of families with infants and children with the goal of improving both the quality of services provided and the sustainability of such careers. Investing resources in determining what practices have the greatest impact on the successful recruitment and retention of child welfare workers will assist in developing an evidence-base for future federal investment in this space.

I hope that as the Senate considers reauthorizing the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act that we consider the Child Welfare Workforce Support Act and recognize the vital role that child welfare workers play to improve outcomes and protect our most vulnerable infants and children.

Mr. President. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth are at an increased risk for experiencing maltreatment compared to non-LGBTQ youth. Because of limited exposure to mandated reporters as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unfortunate truth is that the maltreatment that some youth experience have experienced has gone unrecognized and underreported. Research prior to the pandemic demonstrated that LGBTQ youth were more likely to experience physical abuse by a parent or guardian when compared to their heterosexual peers. Risk for harm of vulnerable youth also extends far beyond physical safety. LGBTQ youth are at a disproportionately high risk for depression, suicidal ideation and suicide, and self-harming behaviors, with rates of attempted suicide of around 2 to 10 times those of peers.

These risks for maltreatment often times result in LGBTQ youth entering the child welfare system. Studies have found that, ``LGBT young people are overrepresented in child welfare systems, despite the fact that they are likely to be underreported because they risk harassment and abuse if their LGBT identity is disclosed.'' This overrepresentation of LGBTQ youth in the foster care system raises concerns about issues in the child abuse and prevention space. Additional research is needed to understand the risk of abuse among LGBTQ youth, particularly those identifying as transgender. This information will yield invaluable information to be used in developing targeted prevention strategies to reduce the rates of adverse childhood experiences of LGBTQ individuals.

This is why I am pleased to introduce the Protecting LGBTQ Youth Act with my colleague Senator Baldwin. Our bill amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act and calls for HHS and other federal agencies to carry out an interdisciplinary research program to protect LGBTQ youth from child abuse and neglect and improve the well-being of victims of child abuse or neglect. This legislation also expands current practices around demographic information collection and reporting on incidences and prevalence of child maltreatment to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Additionally, the bill opens existing grant funding opportunities to invest in the training of personnel in best practices to meet the unique needs of LGBTQ youth and calls for the inclusion of individuals experienced in working with LGBTQ youth and families in state task forces. Improving data collection and disaggregation will provide greater insight into the circumstances LGBTQ youth face in the home that, when left unaddressed, lead to entry into the child welfare system. This improved data-driven understanding can then be used to develop appropriate and effective primary prevention practices to decrease the risks faced by LGTBQ youth, and will be pivotal in our understanding of abuse and neglect following the pandemic.

I hope that as the Senate moves to reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act we consider the Protecting LGBTQ Youth Act to better inform our collective understanding of the risks faced by LGBTQ youth and the best ways to protect them.

Mr. President. While cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children past infancy, childhood cancer and other rare pediatric diseases remain poorly understood. According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 15,590 children and adolescents under the age of 19 will be diagnosed with cancer, and 1,780 will die of the disease in the United States in 2021.

This is why I am pleased to be introducing the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0 with Senators Jerry Moran, Mark R. Warner, and Bill Cassidy. The legislation provides a new source of funding for the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First) by redirecting penalties collected from pharmaceutical, cosmetic, supplement, and medical device companies that break the law to pediatric and childhood cancer research. The bill is named in honor of Gabriella Miller, a Leesburg, Virginia resident who died from a rare form of brain cancer at the age of 10. Gabriella was an activist and worked to raise support for research into childhood diseases like cancer until her death in October of 2013.

The Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Program has supported critical research into pediatric cancer and structural birth defects and has focused on building a pediatric data resource combining genetic sequencing data with clinical data from multiple pediatric cohorts. The Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Center is helping to advance scientific understanding and discoveries around pediatric cancer and structural birth defects and has sequenced nearly 20,000 samples thus far. While Congress has appropriated $12.6 million for the Kids First program annually since Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, this legislation would make additional funding streams available to appropriators to further support pediatric and childhood cancer research.

Gabriella Miller was a passionate activist and fighter. In 2014, I was a strong champion of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, which established the Ten-Year Pediatric Research Initiative at the NIH and authorized $12.6 million per fiscal year through FY23. We honor Gabriella's memory by continuing her work in making sure pediatric disease research is a priority. This bipartisan legislation would provide a critical source of funding to improve research in pediatric cancer and diseases, and I urge my colleagues to support it.'

Mr. President, today I am pleased to be joined by my friend and colleague from Delaware, Senator Chris Coons, to reintroduce the Reach Every Mother and Child Act of 2021. Our legislation would make it the policy of the United States to lead an effort to end preventable deaths of mothers, newborns, and young children in the developing world by 2030.

For years Sen. Coons and I have led efforts to ensure robust funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development's maternal and child health programing, which have formed the backbone of the U.S. commitment to help end preventable child and maternal deaths globally.

Due in part to American leadership and generosity, many lives have already been saved. Nevertheless, far too many mothers, newborns, and young children under the age of five continue to succumb to disease and malnutrition that could easily be prevented. The impacts of COVID-19 are exacerbating these gaps and disproportionately affecting the world's most vulnerable, undermining decades of progress.

Nearly 300,000 women die annually from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. In addition, a significant proportion of deaths of children under the age of five occur in the first 28 days after birth, with newborns accounting for nearly 50 percent of all under-five deaths. In 2019, 5.2 million children under the age of five died from mainly preventable and treatable diseases.

Our bill aims to reach these mothers and children with simple, proven, cost-effective interventions that we know will help them survive. A concentrated effort could end preventable maternal and child deaths worldwide by the year 2030, but continued U.S. leadership and support from the international community are critical to success.

To achieve this ambitious goal, our bill would require the implementation of a strategy focused on bringing to scale the highest impact, evidence-based interventions, with a focus on country and community ownership. These interventions would be specific to each country's needs and include support for the most vulnerable populations. We do not have to guess at what interventions will work-- the reality is that thousands of children die each day of conditions we know today how to treat.

These life-saving interventions include clean birthing practices, vaccines, nutritional supplements, hand-washing with soap, and other basic needs that remain elusive for far too many women and children in developing countries. This must change.

In addition, our bill proposes the establishment a Maternal and Child Survival Coordinator at USAID who would focus on implementing the five- year strategy and verifying that the most

effective interventions are being scaled up in target countries. The bill would improve government efficiency across several agencies that would collaborate with the Coordinator to identify and promote the most effective interventions to end preventable maternal and child deaths globally.

To promote transparency and greater accountability, our bill also would also require detailed public reporting on progress toward implementing the strategy.

Other bipartisan initiatives, such as the successful President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which was started by President George W. Bush, demonstrate that results driven interventions can turn the tide for global health challenges. Applying lessons learned from past initiatives, our bill would provide the focus and the tools necessary to accelerate progress toward ending preventable maternal and child deaths.

I urge my colleagues to join Senator Coons and me in supporting this legislation that will save the lives of mothers and children around the world.

Mr. President, I rise to introduce the ``Protecting Unique and Beautiful Landscapes by Investing in California (PUBLIC) Lands Act.'' This measure would increase protections for over 1 million acres of Federal public lands throughout northwest California, the Central Coast, and Los Angeles, including nearly 600,000 acres of new wilderness, more than 583 miles of new wild and scenic rivers, and the expansion of an existing national monument by more than 100,000 acres.

This legislation would preserve our public lands for the benefit of current and future generations and help protect California's communities from the impacts of the climate crisis.

The ``PUBLIC Lands Act'' is grounded in the best conservation principles: it expands access to the outdoors for all, addresses disparities in access to nature, supports locally led efforts, and is based on science.

In Northwest California, this bill would designate new wilderness, wild and scenic rivers, recreation and conservation areas, and forest and watershed restoration areas. Importantly, it would increase wildfire resiliency in Northwest California, where the impacts of the climate crisis have resulted in more frequent and severe wildfires.

Along the Central Coast, the bill would designate nearly 250,000 acres of public land in the Los Padres National Forest and Carrizo Plain National Monument as wilderness, and establish a 400-mile long Condor National Recreation trail, stretching from Los Angeles to Monterey County. The designations in the bill would protect the Central Valley's abundant biodiversity, including threatened and endangered species.

In Southern California, the bill would expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and establish a new National Recreation Area along the foothills and San Gabriel River corridor. Los Angeles County is one of the most park-poor, densely populated, and polluted regions in the Nation--this legislation would begin to rectify that by providing increased outdoor opportunities for all Angelenos, ensuring that disadvantaged communities can more easily benefit from our public lands.

I want to highlight that this legislation protects existing water rights, property rights, and land-use authorities. The bill does not create any new public lands--rather, it protects existing public lands through the high-value designation as wilderness in order to keep these lands as untouched and wild as possible.

The science is becoming increasingly clear that we must conserve 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030 in our efforts to solve the climate crisis, protect nature, and save America's wildlife. This legislation would provide a down payment on that goal, helping California and the Biden Administration meet our 30x30 goals and reverse the worst effects of climate change.

The bill would also provide outdoor recreation opportunities to park- poor communities. It is imperative that as we conserve our public lands, we do so in a way that also reverses racial and economic disparities in access to nature and parks.

This bill enjoys the support of hundreds of local municipalities and elected officials, community groups, and businesses and local outfitters. It is the product of significant public engagement in the legislative process over decades.

I would like to thank my colleagues and conservation champions, Representatives Jared Huffman, Salud Carbajal, and Judy Chu, for championing these bills in the House.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the ``PUBLIC Lands Act'' as quickly as possible.

Thank you, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to reintroduce bipartisan legislation that would better align the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) homeless assistance programs with other federal agencies' homelessness programs and provide greater flexibility to local communities to address youth homelessness.

According to the latest estimate from HUD, there are over 580,466 homeless individuals in the United States. This number includes an estimated 161,548 individuals in California, including children and youth.

However, if you compare that with data from other federal agencies, a different story is told.

For example, the Department of Education identified 1.3 million students experiencing homelessness during the 2018-2019 school year. This includes an estimated 271,528 public school students in California, almost double the total number of homeless individuals (including adults) identified by HUD in California.

The disparity between the homeless numbers reported by HUD and the Department of Education are not just mere statistical differences; they have real consequences.

For instance, only those children and families considered ``homeless'' under HUD's definition are eligible for vital homeless assistance programs. Those children and families who do not meet HUD's definition will therefore continue to fall through the cracks.

Our bill would allow HUD homeless assistance programs to serve extremely vulnerable children and families, specifically those staying in motels or in doubled-up situations because they simply have nowhere else to go.

These children are especially susceptible to abuse and trafficking because they are often not served by a case manager, and therefore remain hidden from potential social service providers.

Communities that receive Federal funding through HUD's competitive application process are also unable to prioritize or direct resources to help children and families who don't meet the current definition of ``homelessness.''

In addition to fixing the issue with competing federal definitions of homelessness, our bill would provide communities with new flexibility to use Federal funds the way they see fit to address local needs. Our bill requires HUD to assess the extent to which Continuums of Care use separate, specific, age-appropriate criteria for determining the safety and needs of children and unaccompanied youth and divert people to safe, stable, age-appropriate accommodations.

Finally, our bill would improve transparency and give a better sense of the homeless crisis facing our country by requiring HUD to include data on all categories of homelessness in its Point in Time count and Annual Homeless Assessment Report.

Mr. President, we must do more to meet the needs of homeless children and youth and stop the vicious cycle of poverty and chronic homelessness. As the ongoing coronavirus pandemic threatens to push more children, youth, and families into homelessness and continues to pose potentially lethal health risks, it is imperative that we do not impose more barriers for these children and families to access services. I believe this bill is a commonsense solution that will ensure that homeless families and children can receive the help they need.

I would like to thank Senator Rob Portman for his support on this critical issue and for joining me in introducing this bill, and I implore our colleagues to support the ``Homeless Children and Youth Act.''

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.