Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Omar for bringing us together this afternoon and for her steadfast leadership on the issue of hunger and food insecurity, an issue that she has been leading on since she was in the Minnesota State Legislature. We are grateful for her shining a light consistently on this and the need for us to address rising hunger and its impact on communities here and around the globe.

Madam Speaker, across Massachusetts' Seventh District and across the Nation, families are facing unprecedented levels of food insecurity. I am reminded of the words of Coretta Scott King, who said: ``Starving a child is violence. Neglecting schoolchildren is violence.''

We can, in fact, do something about this violence.

I am picking up on the words of Congressman McGovern, a global champion in the fight against hunger and food insecurity, when he said that we should stop managing problems and solve them. This is a solvable problem.

A recent survey by the Greater Boston Food Bank found that nearly 2 million adults across the Commonwealth struggled to get enough to eat last year. It was Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ people and their families with children who were most likely to struggle.

No one should know hunger. No parent should know the heartache of putting their baby to sleep with an empty belly.

Our communities were already in the midst of a hunger crisis, one that we knew would be exacerbated by the pandemic. In response, my congressional colleagues and I acted to provide critical resources and flexibilities to support schools and communities in serving and meeting the needs of families and children in need. Schools across the Nation were able to keep school meal programs afloat while providing free meals to an additional 10 million students each day.

Boston Public Schools, the largest school district in my district, was able to serve over 330,000 students with free breakfasts and lunches across all city neighborhoods.

For many families, these meals were the only reliable source of nutrition throughout the day. They were a saving grace and a lifeline for families across my district and across the Nation, Madam Speaker.

In less than 2 weeks, these school lunch flexibilities are set to expire. We must act with urgency to avoid a hunger cliff that will fall hardest on our most vulnerable children. We must act to avoid a scenario where children will face a loss of 95 million meals over the course of the summer alone.

States and districts have been sounding the alarm. It was these calls from the community that prompted my colleagues, Representatives McGovern, Lee, and me, to send an urgent letter to House and Senate leaders, 1 month ago now, urging them to do everything in their power to extend these essential lifelines. Senate Minority Leader McConnell continues to block efforts to get this done. It is shameful yet unsurprising.

In one of the richest nations in the world, it is an absolute disgrace that millions of children struggle with food insecurity every single day. The clock is running out, and we have a mandate and a duty to get this done.

To my Republican colleagues, I urge them to join us in getting this done. Children, families, and school district leaders across the Nation simply cannot wait.

Once again, I thank my sister in service, Representative Omar, for her steadfast leadership.

Madam Speaker, I rise today on the floor of the House of Representatives, the people's House, to declare that Black girls with our braids, locs, Afros, all forms of natural hairstyles and, yes, even our smooth alopecian bald heads, belong everywhere.

Today, we take an important step toward codifying this fact into law by passing the CROWN Act legislation I am so proud to co-lead in partnership with Representatives Watson Coleman, Moore, Lee, and Omar.

For too long, Black girls have been discriminated against and criminalized for the hair that grows on our heads and the way we move through and show up in this world.

In my home State, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, two twin sisters, Deana and Mya, high school students, were disciplined for showing up with braids. They were given numerous detentions, kicked off the track team, banned from prom, solely for their hairstyle.

In their own words, these scholars and athletes were judged more for their heritage than their homework.

No more.

For those sisters and thousands of other students who face discrimination based on their hair, the CROWN Act is for you.

For recent graduates who fear they must change their hair or cut their locs to secure a job, the CROWN Act is for you.

For our elders who have faced and fought this racism for generations, the CROWN Act is for you.

Just yesterday, the Massachusetts State legislature made history by passing similar legislation. By passing the CROWN Act today, we affirm, say it loud, Black is beautiful and so is our hair.

Whether you are a student in a classroom, an employee in the workplace, or the next Supreme Court Justice, or the Speaker pro tem, you deserve to show up as your full self, rocking your crown with your head held high.

I urge a ``yes'' vote for every person who has been asked to shrink or to apologize simply for the beautiful way with which God made them.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of the late State Representative Raymond Jordan, Jr.

Representative Jordan was a good man, a trailblazing man, and a friend and mentor to many. A resident of Springfield and a product of Springfield Public Schools, he went on to become the first African American elected to the Massachusetts State House.

Over the course of his career, he chaired the powerful Ways and Means Committee and the Committee on Housing and Urban Development. His indefatigable commitment to equity and justice earned him the enduring yet fitting nickname of ``Barracuda.''

His impact in his local community and in Massachusetts' history and politics is indelible and enduring--in bills, in laws, in buildings, but, most of all, in people.

But many of his greatest achievements will live on through the loving family that he built alongside the love of his life, Donna Harris Jordan. Of all his most memorable titles and tasks, he would most want to be remembered as a loving husband and father who fought tirelessly for his community and his people.

When I think of the late Raymond Jordan, Jr., I am reminded of the words of the African-American hymn that says: ``May the work I have done speak for me.''

Indeed, the many works of Raymond Jordan speak for him both now and for eternity. May he rest in power and in peace.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and remembrance of legendary retired Air Force Brigadier General Charles McGee, who peacefully departed on the morning of January 16, 2022. He was 102 years young and one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen.

Charles McGee lived a full and beautiful life of bravery and perseverance. He was the embodiment of hope and service.

As a Tuskegee Airman, he made history as one of the first Black military aviators, breaking the color barrier in the armed services during World War II and flying 409 fighter combat missions in three wars.

In addition to his life of service, Mr. McGee created an enduring legacy through the family that he grew. He married the love of his life, Ms. Frances Nelson, in April 1942. The two would go on to be married for more than 50 years.

He is survived by his 3 children, Charlene, Ronald, and Yvonne; 10 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and 1 great-great-grandchild.

Black history is American history, and Charles McGee is an American hero. General McGee's legacy will live on through the pages of our history, the incredible family he created, and the lives he touched, including my own.

Mr. Speaker, to our General, our beloved Papa Gee, I pray that he rests in peace and power, reunited with his love, Frances, with the wind forever at his back and the clearest blue skies ahead.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of a distinguished community member of the Massachusetts Seventh, Ms. Eva Williams.

Born and raised in Boston, Ms. Williams learned the value of hard work and determination at an early age. She embodied resilience and a love for her family and community, and she never let the challenges of life prevent her from following her own dreams.

Ms. Williams worked over 20 years as a bus operator for the MBTA. After retiring, she enjoyed spending more time with her children and grandchildren.

With a heart for traveling and love for interior decorating, Ms. Williams was the kind of person anyone would want to spend time with. She was a caring mother and loving grandmother, and her transition is a deep and profound loss for her family and our community.

Ms. Williams will be truly missed. May she rest in peace and power.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of our bill, the Willie O'Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act, legislation which honors the historic career and life of service of the one and only Willie O'Ree.

With today's vote in the people's House, we honor a giant, and it has been an honor to be a steward in this effort. Willie is a trailblazer, an ice breaker, a hero, and an activist whose powerful story is unknown to too many. That ends here today. We change that.

Mr. Speaker, 64 years ago, in the midst of the fight to end Jim Crow, Willie O'Ree made history with the Boston Bruins by becoming the first Black player to play in the National Hockey League.

A descendant of enslaved people who escaped the horrors of slavery through the Underground Railroad, Willie was born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada, and was the youngest of 13 children. His love of the game began at the young age of 3 when he earned his stripes playing alongside his older siblings.

Known as the Jackie Robinson of hockey, Willie played 45 games in the NHL and spent more than two decades playing professional hockey--all while hiding the fact that he was nearly completely bind in one eye.

Willie O'Ree was a young and fast left winger, but he could not out- skate the racist backlash in response to his desegregating the National Hockey League. As the sole Black player in the NHL at the time, Willie endured relentless bigotry, racism, discrimination, and even violence from fans and players both on and off the ice. And despite it all, Willie embodied resilience, grace, dignity, and never gave up on the determination to live out his dream.

In the decades following his historic career on the ice, Willie has spent his time paying it forward to the next generation of ice breakers. As the NHL's director of youth development and diversity ambassador, he has worked to increase opportunities for young Black and Brown players so that they too can take their rightful place in the big league.

In 2018, Willie was formally inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame; and while his time with the Boston Bruins was short, his legacy lives on to this very day. Earlier this week, Mayor Michelle Wu declared January 18 in the city of Boston Willie O'Ree Day marking the momentous day 64 years ago when Willie hit the ice and changed the game forever.

Just yesterday, the Boston Bruins formally retired Willie's number 22 jersey, raising it up in the rafters at the Garden alongside other Bruins legends.

Mr. Speaker, Black history is American history, and today we salute an American hero and inspiration. Willie demonstrates for us the power of holding on to one's dreams--an ice and ceiling breaker.

I would like to thank my esteemed colleagues, Representatives Quigley, Katko, and Emmer, for their partnership, and the 290 colleagues who cosponsored this piece of legislation in order to get it across the finish line. My team and I have been working diligently pushing and organizing since 2019, and this work would not have been possible without the support and partnership of the longtime grassroots activists who organized to ensure that Willie, who took up space and who created space, now takes his rightful space in our history books.

The Congressional Gold Medal is Congress' highest expression of national appreciation and recognition. With this honor, Willie will join history-makers like Jackie Robinson, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King, and the Tuskegee Airmen-- incredible company for an incredible man.

Mr. Speaker, at the age of 86 years young today, we give Willie O'Ree his flowers.

Go Bruins.

Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Bowman for yielding. There is nothing freshman about him. He has hit the ground running since he has been here, and he has been a leader and partner on many issues, including this issue of student debt. I thank the gentleman for his partnership on our congressional resolution calling for President Biden to provide broad-based student debt cancellation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of more than 45 million people in America crushed by the growing weight of the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis. The grandmother--you heard me right, the grandmother--I have a 76-year-old constituent in the Massachusetts Seventh still paying student loans, all while on Social Security and a fixed income.

I rise on behalf of the new parents struggling to manage the skyrocketing costs of childcare for which Massachusetts is the second highest in the country, $21,000 per child for center-based care; new parents struggling to manage the skyrocketing cost of childcare, rent, and their student loan payments; the teacher who fears losing their teaching license because they have gone into default and can't come up with that monthly student loan payment, not even the minimum.

The irony of it is that this is debt that they incurred in order to be an educator, in order to be a nation builder, to pour into our children, the next generation.

I rise on behalf of an entire generation of young people, young people I met with a couple of weeks ago who, when I asked them about their future, were despondent and expressed great hopelessness: Well, I don't know that I am going to go to college because I don't want to be in debt for the rest of my life, and I fear if there will even be a planet for me to grow up on.

I rise today on behalf of a whole generation of young people grappling with that sense of foreboding and despair, a generation of young folk who have been forced to hold off on pursuing education, starting higher education, starting a small business, purchasing a home because of record levels of student loan debt.

I rise on behalf of Black and Brown folk who, due to generations of precise and intentional what I would characterize as policy violence, have been forced to take on higher rates of student debt for just a chance at the same degree as our White peers.

Madam Speaker, the student debt crisis is one that disproportionately impacts our Black community. For too long, the narrative has excluded us and the unique ways in which this debt is exacerbating racial and economic inequities, compounding our gender and racial wealth gap. We have to borrow at higher rates just for a shot at the same degree as our White peers.

Black women, in particular, bear the largest burden, as they are forced to take on higher student debt loads, all while navigating a persisting wage gap that allows Black women to earn just 61 cents to every dollar earned by a White man. These are systemic barriers that make it significantly more challenging to repay this debt.

There are some who have questioned if this is regressive in impact, to cancel student debt of $50,000. They have questioned the merit as to whether or not this is a racial justice issue. Well, ask the presidents of the historically Black colleges and universities who have been using ARPA funds to cancel student debt. Not regressive in impact. Important, necessary, and long overdue.

These are systemic barriers that have existed long before this pandemic and unjust pre-COVID status quo.

In this moment, as we work to build back better and do so equitably, President Biden has an opportunity and a responsibility and the authority to address the hurt and harm these communities are feeling by using his executive authority to cancel $50,000 in Federal student loan debt.

Doing so is one of most effective ways he can provide sweeping relief to millions of families while helping to reduce the racial wealth gap to lay the groundwork for an equitable and just long-term recovery.

This is a crisis created through policy decisions, and we have a responsibility to address it head on. In this moment of ongoing crisis, our families need every bit of help that they can get.

In just under 2 months, student debt payments are scheduled to resume for millions of families across this country. Families who have been struggling to make ends meet throughout this pandemic, through no fault of their own in this pandemic-induced recession, will have an additional bill to cover.

I have parents in my district in their fifties still paying on their student loans and now helping their children pay for their student loans. This is an intergenerational crisis.

This summer, we applauded the Biden administration for heeding the calls of many of us here tonight, heeding the calls of this movement, the movement that elected him, when they extended the pause on student loan payments. We fought hard for that.

This welcome action gave another layer of protection to the millions of borrowers facing a disastrous financial cliff. But our work here is unfinished.

This isn't a question as to whether or not he has the authority, because that authority has already been exercised. The same authority should be used to extend the payment pause. President Biden must now cancel at least $50,000 in student debt to boost the economy and to close the racial wealth gap.

In this moment of a so-called reckoning on racial injustice, the only receipts that matter are policies and budgets.

The truth, Madam Speaker, is that this economic crisis is far from over. Families in the Seventh District of Massachusetts and all across the country are continuing to struggle to make ends meet. Failure to act would be unconscionable, so we must move with urgency.

As we continue the work of building a just and equitable recovery from the current economic crisis, broad-based, across-the-board, and permanent student debt cancellation must remain front and center.

The people, including the broad and diverse coalition that elected President Biden, demand, deserve, and require nothing less.

Madam Speaker, I thank my dear and fierce colleague from New Mexico for convening us this evening.

Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the communities in my district and across our Nation who for too long have been asked to wait, for those who have had their justice delayed, time and again, by inaction, obstruction, or the status quo.

I rise today because I support the worker and their family, caregivers and childcare workers, parents and essential frontline workers, our disabled siblings, our environmental justice communities, and our immigrant neighbors.

For months, we held the line to ensure that we leave no family, no worker, and no community behind. I rise so that we can secure the strongest policies and investments for our most marginalized communities, to deliver meaningful, tangible change to improve their conditions and to impact their daily lives.

This week, the House has the opportunity and the obligation to legislate justice and begin rebuilding as a stronger, more just Nation that takes care of its people, not because it is good politics--I will let the pundits speak to that--but because as lawmakers we have a decisive mandate from the people to deliver policies and budgets that value the lives and livelihoods of everyone in our communities. That means passing the President's full agenda, which is the people's agenda.

I represent Massachusetts' Seventh District, one of the most unequal districts in the country and in the Commonwealth, where in a 3-mile radius, life expectancy drops from 92 years in Back Bay to 59 years in Roxbury, and the median household income drops by $50,000; where childcare costs remain some of the highest in the entire Nation, $21,000 a child for center-based care; where the rising rates of asthma, extreme heat, and sea level rise disproportionately impact frontline environmental justice communities like Chinatown, East Boston, and Chelsea.

The hurt and harm in my community run deep, and I see it every day. These inequities and disparities are not naturally occurring. They are the direct result of decades of precise and intentional policy violence and underinvestment that has been codified into our laws and our budgets for generations.

In this moment, as we do the work to build back better and do so equitably, we must be just as precise and just as intentional in legislating and investing in justice, equity, and healing. That is why we can't afford to leave any worker, any family, or any community behind.

Madam Speaker, the Build Back Better Act is our chance to chart a new path forward and reverse the generations of policy violence inflicted on our most vulnerable, to finally make universal paid leave a reality for the millions of workers, disproportionately Black and Brown women, who have been pushed out of the workforce, left to make the impossible choice between keeping food on the table or caring for themselves or a sick loved one; for the childcare worker taking care of our babies but can't make enough to take care of their own; to finally invest in home- and community-based services for the elderly and disabled as the critical infrastructure that it is; to finally make affordable childcare and universal pre-K a reality; to combat climate change; to close the homeownership gap; to rebuild our crumbling housing stock; and finally to honor our promises to our immigrant neighbors.

These investments are possible; they are popular; and they are necessary.

We can wait no more. There is no deficit of resources in this country, only a deficit of empathy and political courage.

We must pass the Build Back Better Act this week and make the long- overdue investments that our workers, families, and communities have been denied for too long.

Our Nation is in crisis. The urgency could not be more clear. How we meet this moment will have lasting impacts, and history will remember us for it.

Madam Speaker, I rise in recognition of Transgender Day of Remembrance.

In 1999, Rita Hester, a transgender woman, was murdered in Allston, a neighborhood in my district, the Massachusetts Seventh. In response to this horrific tragedy, this day was created to memorialize the loss of her life and far too many others due to transphobic violence.

The cruelty of transphobia is a threat that we must confront and root out wherever it exists. Whether in music or on television or in the hallowed Halls of the Nation's Capitol, there is no place for hatred because someone is brave enough to show up exactly as they are and to live their truth.

Yet in 2021, we have seen at least 46 transgender or gender nonconforming

people killed. We have been robbed of at least 46 souls, disproportionately Black and Latinx transwomen, and these are only the ones who have been properly reported.

On the floor of Congress, we speak their names:

Tyianna Alexander

Samuel Edmund Damian Valentin

Bianca ``Muffin'' Bankz

Dominique Jackson

Fifty Bandz

Alexus Braxton

Chyna Carrillo

Jeffrey ``JJ'' Bright

Jasmine Cannady

Jenna Franks

Diamond Kyree Sanders

Rayanna Pardo

Jaida Peterson

Dominique Luscious

Remy Fennell

Tiara Banks

Natalia Smut

Iris Santos

Tiffany Thomas

Keri Washington

Whispering Wind Bear Spirit

Sophie Vasquez

Danika ``Danny'' Henson

Serenity Hollis

Oliver ``Ollie'' Taylor

Thomas Hardin

Poe Black

EJ Boykin

Aidelen Evans

Taya Ashton

Shai Vanderpump

Tierramarie Lewis

Miss CoCo

Pooh Johnson

Disaya Monaee

Briana Hamilton

Kier Lapri Kartier

Mel Groves

Royal Poetical Starz

Zoella ``Zoey'' Rose Martinez

Jo Acker

Jessi Hart

Rikkey Outumuro

Marquiisha Lawrence

Jenny De Leon

And Jahaira DeAlto who was murdered in my district.

Jahaira, a friend, a mother, and an activist spoke out 22 years ago when Rita Hester was killed. As a survivor of domestic violence, she advocated for gender affirming shelters and, with kindness in her heart, opened her home to queer and trans people with nowhere to go.

Jahaira DeAlto's compassion will forever be her legacy, alongside her legendary status in the ballroom community for serving ``everyday realness.''

While we grieve the loss of loved ones, neighbors, and colleagues, we must also hold space to celebrate their lives and the differences they make in ours.

Transgender people are community organizers, military soldiers, and justice seekers who have put their bodies on the line domestically and abroad to fight for a safe and equitable society. They are artists, healers, and entertainers who nurture our soul and spread joy wherever they go. Most importantly, transgender people are beacons of hope and pillars of courage serving as living testaments of what it means to be unapologetically you.

While transphobia seeks to erase these truths, we must affirm the dignity of every member of the trans community.

So I rise today to remember Transgender Day of Remembrance and recommit myself to the work of justice and equity for all people, including my transgender siblings in the movement for liberation. Our destinies are tied.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding and sister in service here, Congresswoman Leger Fernandez, for convening us here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of every worker, every parent, and every caretaker that has questioned how they will make ends meet and keep food on the table for their families; the parent that has felt that pit in their stomach, the anxiousness as they look over monthly bills with the growing costs of rent and childcare; the frontline worker, who is terrified to stay home sick and lose their job because of our Nation's failure to provide paid leave; the family afraid of being displaced from their home due to extreme weather and the existential threat of climate change; the student living in a transit desert with unreliable access to jobs, food, community; the daughter who is a caregiver to her parent who is one of 820,000 people on a wait list for much-needed home and community-based services; and our immigrant neighbor who has been unjustly denied a pathway to citizenship.

Mr. Speaker, the Build Back Better Act will help us get one step closer to rejecting the unjust status quo and beginning to build a recovery that centers on the people. As Angela Davis once said: ``I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I can no longer accept.''

Despite what some might argue, the needs of our communities go far beyond our Nation's roads and bridges, and we must ensure that our policies and our investments reflect that reality. Mr. Speaker, I refuse to choose between the union worker who builds our highways and the child worker who protections our babies and sets them on a pathway to a healthy life, to bring into bear their contributions to the world. I would ask every Member of Congress that they do the same. Reject the unjust, false binary choices that force us to choose between the livelihoods and well-being of the two that pit community member against community member. We have the opportunity and responsibility to finally make universal paid leave, home healthcare, and universal access to quality and affordable childcare a reality.

In my district, in Massachusetts, it costs $21,000 per child for childcare. We have the opportunity and responsibility to address climate change to combat our housing crisis, and to finally establish a pathway to citizenship for millions of our immigrant workers. You know, those essential workers that you were all clapping for during the pandemic.

They don't need your applause. They need you to value more than just their labor, but their lives and the preservation of their families. We must rebuild stronger as a just Nation that takes care of its people. In order to truly build back better, we must truly address both the human and physical infrastructure needs of our communities. This is responsive to the needs of the people. We have to focus on impact, advance policies that will be felt by all families. Leave no community behind. This is how we set forth a just recovery and chart a new course forward.

This is the moment to repair generations of hurt and harm and what I would characterize as policy violence inflicted on our most vulnerable and neglected communities. This is our moment to legislate our values; to honor

the decisive mandate that we have from the people. This is our moment to make this Democratic majority--House, Senate, and White House--that that is more than a talking point that we are in the majority. We must affirm and codify once and for all.

Infrastructure are those things that are essential to the functioning of our very society. Care is infrastructure. Housing is infrastructure. Climate justice is infrastructure. Paid leave is infrastructure. Disability justice is infrastructure, and the list goes on.

Here is what I know. There is no deficit of resource in this country, only a deficit of empathy and political courage. Let's pass the Build Back Better Act so that we can deliver for the communities that for too long have been asked to wait. Justice delayed is justice denied. Our constituents deserve more.

Madam Speaker, abortion care is a fundamental human right. Texas' unconscionable abortion ban is further evidence that lawmakers who aim to do harm will stop at nothing to attack our reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. But not on our watch.

It is clear the Supreme Court is no longer on the side of justice and the pro-choice majority of the House of Representatives has a responsibility to stand in the gap and to act.

Today, we must, and we will, pass the Women's Health Protection Act. I am proud to co-lead this bill with Congresswoman Chu to codify the right to abortion care.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with us to reaffirm reproductive justice and protect this fundamental right.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to right a wrong. Shortly after his passing, there was an op-ed written about Bob Moses which characterized him as ``the most important civil rights hero most Americans never heard of.'' I painfully agree.

Bob Moses has never been given the credit he deserved. Fortunately for us, his ego was small, but his impact was giant.

Bob Moses was a relentless organizer and seeker of justice and equitable access to the ballot box as a SNCC organizer and a transformative educator as the founder of the Algebra Project.

He was a loving husband, father, and generous mentor.

Much like his iconic overalls, Bob Moses was unassuming and resilient. Days before he transitioned, Moses was still fighting, this time for critical COVID relief funds to be used to finally reinvent the math classroom.

He said: ``The problem is not the willingness or ability of students to succeed, rather the systemic inequities teachers and students of color face.''

He once posed the question: ``What do you do when the country has a sickness?''

I can say, the cure for our Nation's sickness of systemic racism and inequality is to model that which Mr. Moses demonstrated throughout this life. May we honor him now, in a way that matters most: Change.

Rest in power, Mr. Moses.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to physically record my vote on S. 1910. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 225.

Madam Speaker, long before COVID-19, the education of our most vulnerable students, particularly Black and Brown girls and students with disabilities, had been disrupted by discriminatory and harsh discipline practices.

As early as preschool, discriminatory policies and practices push them out of the classroom. This push-out crisis and its disproportionate impact on our girls continued even as the pandemic hit and schools went remote.

Last year, we learned the story of Grace, a 15-year-old Black student who was sent to juvenile detention for not completing her online coursework. At a time where our children needed to be kept safe in a volatile crisis, Grace was dehumanized and taken away from her family and her health put at risk.

Advocates across the Nation, including my colleagues and I, rallied to call for Grace's release. We were so grateful she safely made her way home to her mother, but her experience is far too common.

My amendment underscores the need for the GAO to study the prevalence of these practices during remote learning periods and provide recommendations on how we can work to urgently address this crisis.

Our young people deserve nurturing, learning environments that support their healing and well-being.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York, my friend and colleague, for convening us this evening.

Care work is the backbone of our Nation's economy. Yet, for too long, policymakers have failed to make the critical investments needed to ensure that everyone, at all stages of life, has access to the high- quality care they need and deserve, and that our care workers are compensated for their essential work with livable wages. Their work is essential and so, too, are their lives.

I rise today on behalf of our Nation's care workers, whose labor continues to be undervalued, undermined, and unprotected, despite its essential role in our society.

I rise to lend my voice to the thousands of care workers, disproportionately Black and Brown women, who spend hours upon hours meeting the care needs of others, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Caregivers often juggling work while also providing care for their own families and struggling to cover the most basic of needs.

I want to take a moment to speak specifically on the critical role of home and community-based services. During the COVID-19 crisis and long before, these services have been a lifeline, supporting people from all walks of life with critical medical care in their home or community. This is an issue of quality care, of healthcare justice, of disability justice, and of liberty.

Again, throughout the pandemic, home and community-based services were a lifeline for so many, but the infrastructure needs resources. The Biden administration has proposed a historic investment in HCBS to meet the scale of the need and demand. This proposed investment is an investment in healthcare justice, but also an investment in human infrastructure, in our essential workers.

We must make these services readily available and compensate our home care workers, the majority of whom are women of color, with a living wage.

To build back better, we must center the people. We must invest in our communities and affirm that a better world is possible, a more just world, where every person can thrive.

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to legislate our values and to create a more just and caring America that takes care of everyone who calls this great Nation home.

Passing a robust infrastructure package that affirms care is infrastructure would leave a profound legacy.

Today, on the floor of the House of Representatives, we reaffirm our commitment to building a nation where every person can live and thrive with dignity.

As we craft a legislative response that actualizes that vision, we must make plain that what is needed in this moment of unprecedented economic crisis is bold, intentional legislation that recognizes the dignity and humanity of all workers, and affirms the right to meaningful, dignified work and a livable wage.

Earlier this year, I introduced a congressional resolution calling for a Federal job guarantee, which would provide every person in America with an enforceable legal right to a quality job. Extending beyond a project-based approach, our resolution calls for the creation of Federal jobs on projects that meet long-neglected community, physical and human infrastructure needs, such as delivering high- quality care for children and seniors, building and sustaining 21st century transit systems, strengthening our neighborhoods, and protecting the environment.

That is the type of bold, necessary approach we should bring to this process and beyond.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated many of these challenges and laid bare the deep inequities and disparities in our Nation.

From paid family and medical leave to home and community-based services, to universal childcare, to a dignified living wage and beyond, the people demand responsive policy that speaks to their lived experiences and struggles. The people are counting on us to deliver.

So let me make it plain: Any infrastructure package must deliver for our care workers, and it must take care of the people, because the care economy is critical infrastructure.

In this moment, as we fight for a strong economic recovery, we must also work to build a better, a more just, and more equitable economy than ever before.