[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2270-S2272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMMIGRATION

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I come to the floor today in the midst 
of this national crisis, this pandemic, to talk about one hero among, 
of course, many.
  First, I thank my friend Senator Durbin for his tireless leadership 
on a very important topic--and that is the topic of immigration--and 
for his taking the lead in bringing us together today to recognize 
heroes in healthcare during this coronavirus pandemic.
  As many of you know, this pandemic is personal for me. My husband 
John was hospitalized with the coronavirus not too long ago, and 
although he is a great person and I am so proud of him for coming 
through it all and giving his plasma recently, he is actually not the 
hero I am referring to. I am talking about an immigrant doctor who is 
on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic in Rochester, MN. She has 
asked that her name not be used publicly because she is applying for a 
green card. She came to the United States from her home country for 
postgraduate medical training and completed not one but two fellowships 
in critical care and pulmonary diseases at the Mayo Clinic, which 
happens to be where my husband gave the plasma, which we hope will save 
other lives.
  Under normal circumstances, an immigrant doctor who completes his or 
her postgraduate training in the United States has to leave the country 
for at least 2 years when their residency is complete. Now, let's look 
at that again. They have studied in an American medical school, they 
have completed their postgraduate training in the United States, but 
then they have to leave the country for 2 years when their residency is 
complete, just at a time when we need more doctors and more healthcare 
professionals and not less. Why? Because our immigration laws require 
them to be outside of the country for 2 years before they can apply to 
come back here on a work visa. But under the Conrad 30 program, 
doctors--and that is named after Kent Conrad, the Senator who once 
represented North Dakota. Since he left, I have taken this on, with 
many of my colleagues, to continue this program and make sure it gets 
reauthorized, and we would like to see it expanded.
  Why did he get involved in this in North Dakota? Well, that is 
because they had a shortage of doctors in rural areas, and under the 
Conrad 30 program, doctors who commit to caring for patients in an 
underserved area like rural communities or other areas that may be 
underserved, including urban areas, if they face a shortage of doctors, 
these doctors are allowed to start practicing in the United States 
immediately without having to wait 2 years.
  I just keep repeating this. They got their training in the United 
States. They got degrees in the United States. That is why for years I 
have led bipartisan legislation--which has been endorsed by the 
American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, and 
the National Rural Health Association--that would extend this program 
and allow international doctors trained in the United States to remain 
in the country if--if--they practice in underserved areas.
  It was through this program that this hero I am talking about today, 
this immigrant doctor, was able to stay in

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Minnesota and eventually began practicing at the Mayo Clinic as a 
critical care specialist, where she sees patients from all over rural 
areas of southern Minnesota. She was working in the intensive care unit 
when the first coronavirus cases started coming through the door.
  Critical care and pulmonary disease specialists are some of the most 
in-demand doctors during this pandemic, and as one of these 
specialists, this doctor has been managing patients on ventilators, 
patients with kidney failure, and patients with blood clots. She has 
cared for coronavirus patients on oxygen, and she manages the team that 
resuscitates patients whose hearts have stopped. This immigrant doctor 
has literally saved lives.
  Her hospital regularly provides telemedical support to other Mayo 
Clinic facilities, and they even helped a hospital in Georgia. And when 
the Mayo Clinic received clearance to provide assistance to a hospital 
in the Bronx where the medical staff was stretched dangerously thin, as 
we see on TV every single day, she volunteered. This immigrant doctor 
volunteered during her free time using the hospital's telemedicine 
equipment. Talking about her service during this pandemic, she has 
said: ``This is not a job, this is a calling. We do this for love.''
  Her requirement to work in an underserved area as a condition of the 
Conrad 30 program ends this year. She has no plans to move and to leave 
our country and to stop providing care to patients if she can help it. 
She said: ``I love Minnesota. I hope Mayo never lets me go.'' I hope 
that too. She is an American hero, and we could use a lot more like 
her.
  Over the last 15 years, the Conrad 30 program has brought more than 
15,000 doctors to underserved areas, including many rural areas that 
are short on doctors and rely on the program to fill the gap. I have 
been at VA hospitals in other parts of the country, and their No. 1 ask 
was this because they don't have enough doctors in the rural areas 
where their clinics are located to serve their patients.

  This is a commonsense program with bipartisan support. I introduced a 
bill to reauthorize the program, which we have successfully done in the 
past. I introduced a bill to reauthorize it with Senator Collins and 
Senator Rosen, and it has 15 cosponsors. Listen to the names here: 
Senators King, Ernst, Cramer, Coons, Blunt, Capito, Baldwin, Wyden, 
Thune, Merkley, Wicker, Carper, and Paul. What brings all these 
Senators together? It is not a common ideological belief on many 
issues; it is because they are looking out for their States, and they 
want to save the lives of people in their States, especially during 
this pandemic, by allowing doctors who have been trained in the United 
States of America, who have gotten their degrees, who have done their 
residencies here, to be able to stay in our country.
  Today I am asking all my colleagues to support its inclusion in the 
next piece of legislation that is coming our way that we must pass to 
address the coronavirus.
  I have also called on the administration to take action to increase 
the number of doctors who are here to help fight this pandemic and help 
alleviate the serious strain this pandemic has placed on our healthcare 
system.
  First, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services should resume 
expedited processing for employment-based visas for doctors. On March 
20, USCIS announced a freeze on expedited processing during the 
pandemic, which would exacerbate our shortage of doctors, especially in 
underserved rural areas. With Representative Bradley Schneider from 
Illinois, I led a bipartisan group of 24 Senators--I again thank 
Senator Durbin, who has been such a leader on these issues, for his 
support for this--and 13 Members of the House in asking USCIS to 
expedite processing for doctors again. We still haven't received a 
response.
  Let's think about what has been happening since we sent that letter 
on March 20--the increasing number of deaths in the assisted living 
homes, including those in rural areas, which have been plagued by this 
pandemic, which have lost dozens of their residents to this pandemic. 
Think about some of the rural areas that have been hit hard that simply 
don't have the hospital beds or the ventilators. Think about all that 
is going on, the thousands and thousands of people who have lost their 
lives. And still we wait. March 20--a bipartisan group of Senators has 
asked for help since that freeze on March 20 was put into place. We 
await a response.
  Second, USCIS should give flexibility to health systems so that 
doctors on employment-based visas, like the Minnesota doctor, the hero 
I just told you about today who couldn't even have her name released 
when she is managing teams of people--not because she is here 
illegally, no; because she wants that chance to get her green card. 
Like that doctor whom I told you about today who can provide care where 
they need it the most, many doctors in similar circumstances are 
willing to volunteer to treat patients in the hardest hit areas, just 
like she did when she volunteered to help with the hospital in the 
Bronx. They are worried that doing so and leaving their home hospital 
will put their immigration status in jeopardy.
  Last month, I led a letter with Representative   Tom Cole, Abby 
Finkenauer from Iowa, and Bradley Schneider, that was signed by 18 
other Senators--again, including Senator Durbin and 29 House Members--
urging USCIS to waive restrictions so that doctors can practice in 
crisis locations. Once again, we have not received a response. Is that 
because the President wants to take a back seat again to the Governors 
of this country, when, in fact, Federal policy is holding back not just 
equipment from going where we have hot spots but now also actual 
doctors and medical personnel? And if they are good enough to get a 
degree in a medical school in the United States and if they are good 
enough to practice in some areas of the country, they are not good 
enough to practice where we have the hot spots?
  Rather than acknowledging the help that immigrant doctors are 
providing during this public health emergency, this administration's 
rhetoric has made them feel, well, unwelcome. That would be a 
euphemism. It is one of the reasons that Minnesota doctor asked that I 
not use her name.
  When discussing the process of applying for a work visa, she noted: 
``At the same time you're taking boards [medical boards] you are also 
filling out hundreds of pages of paperwork to prove that you're worth 
keeping.''
  OK, picture this. While she is saving lives, managing the team that 
resuscitates people, volunteering her time to help at the hospital in 
the Bronx, caring for patients on ventilators and bringing their hearts 
back to life, she somehow has to prove to our government that she is 
someone worth keeping. She said: It is very disheartening at times.
  But she isn't giving up on us. She said: All of us who come from 
foreign countries, we are here because we want to be here. We love this 
country.
  For these brave men and women, it is so important that we do 
everything we can to protect them and their loved ones, not just from 
the uncertainty that comes with being immigrants but the risk of the 
current crisis.
  So many of our immigrant medical personnel have died, not just in our 
country but in other parts of the world as well. They have died saving 
lives for people in the country that they love.
  We need to ensure that all our doctors and frontline health workers 
have supplies and equipment, like face masks, gowns, and shoe covers, 
so that no one has to reuse their supplies and risk exposure to the 
virus.
  We need to implement a real national testing strategy so that we can 
get ahead of the virus and target resources accordingly. The testing 
blueprint announced by the administration on April 27 falls well short 
of a comprehensive testing plan and puts all responsibility for testing 
on the States.
  Two weeks ago, I was proud that we passed an interim relief package 
that included $25 billion to expand our Nation's coronavirus testing 
capacity. It will go a long way to ramp up molecular and serum 
testing--something that Mayo was a leader in across the country--to 
diagnose active virus infections, identify antibiotics against the 
virus, and support contact tracing.
  This investment is a start, but we know there is so much more work to 
be done to ensure Americans across the

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country have access to accurate testing technologies and innovative 
treatments that they need to reduce the risk of infection.
  Our healthcare workers on the frontlines, including our immigrant 
health heroes who sacrifice so much in the pursuit of medicine and 
service, deserve better. When the President goes after immigrants in 
his press conference, do you know whom I keep thinking of? I keep 
thinking of this doctor, this hero in my home State who risks her life 
every day managing these patients and managing teams of doctors because 
of her know-how and because of the trust that an institution like the 
Mayo Clinic has put in her. What are we thinking? These heroes should 
be heralded and not condemned.
  In closing, I want to share this quote from President Franklin 
Roosevelt: ``Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the 
assessment that something else is more important than fear.'' That is 
exactly what these immigrant health heroes are doing. They chose to be 
in this country and to come here because, yes, they wanted a good life 
for themselves and their families, and they knew they were going to 
have to work hard to make that happen. They got a degree. They are on 
the frontlines. Then they chose to keep working and to save lives 
during an incredibly dangerous pandemic.
  They understand that courage is not the absence of fear--of course, 
they are afraid when they go to those jobs--but, rather, the assessment 
that something else is more important than fear. Their life's mission, 
to them, is more important than fear. Saving someone's grandma or 
saving someone's husband--they decided that is more important to them 
than fear. They choose service over fear.
  What I am asking our colleagues to do here is--we understand there is 
anti-immigrant sentiment out there. We know it. We hear it every day 
from the President. But I am asking you to actually believe that your 
service is more important than that fear that has been stoked. 
Certainly, a number of our colleagues decided that when they were 
willing to get on that bill--Democrats and Republicans--to reauthorize 
the Conrad 30 program to allow these immigrant heroes, these doctors 
who were trained in our country, to be able to keep doing their work. 
Let me again mention the names of the cosponsors of this bill: Collins, 
Rosen, King, Ernst, Cramer, Coons, Blunt, Capito, Baldwin, Wyden, 
Thune, Merkley, Wicker, Carper, and Paul, and, of course, I mentioned 
Senator Durbin. They are willing to do that, and there is so much more 
we can do. We still await an answer for why the visa processing for 
these healthcare workers was suspended.
  Service first, fear last--that is what these doctors did, and that is 
what we must do first. That is what we must do now.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Blackburn). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered

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