[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 36 (Thursday, February 25, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H627-H628]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          RESCUE AMERICANS NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Alabama (Ms. Sewell) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote 
in favor of the American Rescue Plan. This past January marked 1 year 
since the first case of coronavirus was found in the United States. In 
my home State of Alabama, nearly 10,000 people have contracted COVID-19 
and almost 9,000 have died, and over half a million of the workers have 
filed for unemployment.
  We know that the effects of this pandemic have disproportionately 
impacted our communities of color and low-income workers, who are more 
likely to be frontline workers and less likely to be able to afford 
access to quality healthcare.
  Thankfully, because of the leadership of the new Biden 
administration, we recently witnessed a record drop in COVID cases and 
hospitalizations in Alabama; and with over 815,000 vaccine doses 
administered in our State, hope is finally on the horizon.
  That said, we have a long way to go before there are enough of the 
vaccines available to our communities to be really safe from the virus.
  As this pandemic continues, I know Alabama families are struggling to 
make ends meet.

  The time for decisive action is now. I strongly support the American 
Rescue Plan because it will not only crush the virus, but also help us 
to get back to schools safely, as well as to provide emergency 
financial support to struggling families and small businesses.
  First, the President's American Rescue Plan will create a national 
vaccination program that will make sure that underrepresented 
communities are not left behind. The bill also ramps up testing and 
contact tracing, increases the supply of critically needed PPE, and 
makes healthcare more accessible by enhancing the Advanced Premium Tax 
Credit.
  That was so important to so many Americans who could not afford 
otherwise to purchase quality healthcare coverage. This is critical in 
a non-Medicaid expansion State like Alabama, where people have fewer 
available healthcare coverage options.
  Secondly, the American Rescue Plan delivers immediate financial 
relief to working families. This bill would provide critically needed 
$1,400 economic assistance checks to individuals so we can help 
families recover and cover the costs of necessary expenses, like 
childcare, groceries, rent, utilities, and so much more.
  I also fought to ensure that the unemployment insurance was extended 
and expanded to $400 a week from $300 a week. This is so important. 
When we think about the fierce urgency of now, we know that the 
unemployment, the Federal pandemic unemployment insurance benefits will 
actually expire March 14 if we do not act. That is why it is so 
incredibly important that we here in Congress do our part.
  I also worked with my colleagues in the Ways and Means Committee to 
ensure that the American Rescue Plan includes important provisions for 
our most vulnerable families. I am proud that the package includes an 
additional $7.6 million in childcare funding for the State of Alabama, 
which will help our frontline and hourly workers, who have been our 
true heroes in this pandemic.
  Furthermore, the package provides over $10 million for Alabama 
through a TANF pandemic emergency fund so that families with necessary 
emergency needs get the essentials that are so necessary for their 
survival.
  I am especially proud this bill will also include lifesaving 
expansion to child tax credit and earned income tax credit, and I have 
championed that for many years. In my district alone, 53 percent of the 
children do not receive the full benefits of this credit because it is 
not fully refundable. We will make it fully refundable and we will 
expand it, lifting millions of children out of poverty.

[[Page H628]]

  This bill also provides direct support to local government, cities, 
and counties directly who have not benefited from their States 
directly. This is critically important to small communities and large 
communities all across this Nation.
  Finally, the American Rescue Plan supports our small businesses and 
our frontline workers in our minority communities. In this bill, we 
expand PPP eligibility and we provide critical resources to our 
frontline healthcare workers, transit workers, and teachers.

                              {time}  1100

  Mr. Speaker, economists and healthcare experts agree, if we do not 
take bold action now, we will have more deaths later and risk an 
economic downturn.
  Mr. Speaker, I am asking my colleagues, both Republicans and 
Democrats, to listen to President Biden's call for bipartisanship and 
pass this bill.
  I am reminded during this Black History Month of the powerful words 
of Dr. Martin Luther King, who said, ``We must use time creatively, in 
the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.''
  Mr. Speaker, let's pass this package so that we can begin to Build 
Back Better and reassure our constituents that help is indeed on the 
way.

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