[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 80 (Tuesday, April 28, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E403]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      COVID-19 LANGUAGE ACCESS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GRACE MENG

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 28, 2020

  Ms. MENG. Madam Speaker, I rise to highlight the critical need for 
translated COVID-19 outreach materials during this pandemic response. 
We must ensure that language barriers do not prevent individuals from 
accessing vital and potentially life-saving information.
  No one must be left in the dark. Each of us must do our part to 
overcome this unprecedented public health crisis. And yet, there are 
over 25 million people across our nation who have limited English 
proficiency.
  That is why I introduced the COVID-19 Language Access Act, which 
would require any federal agency that receives coronavirus-related 
funding to provide COVID-19 written resources to the public in 19 
languages: Spanish, Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Haitian Creole, French, 
Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Tagalog, Urdu, 
Vietnamese, Greek, Polish, Thai, and Portuguese. These selected 
languages are based on the languages required in the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency's Language Access Plan for Disaster Assistance.
  The CDC already provides language accessibility telephone services in 
16 languages and some COVID-19-related material in up to 14 languages. 
Additionally, the CARES Act requires the SBA to provide resources in 10 
languages.
  Madam Speaker, fighting this pandemic requires the collaboration of 
everyone. But to do so, we must eliminate any language barrier for our 
constituents, so that they are best prepared, informed, and ready to 
fight against this pandemic. I urge my colleagues to support this 
legislation.

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