[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 36 (Thursday, February 25, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H719-H720]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DISRUPTING THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY UNIT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr.
Grothman) for 30 minutes.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, in the past, I have taken time to discuss
Black Lives Matter, a powerful group in this past election, which I
think was very instrumental in the Democratic Party retaining their
majority, and talking about the Marxist roots of their founders. In
their statement, ``What We Believe,'' they, Black Lives Matter, clearly
state that one of their goals is to disrupt the Western-prescribed
nuclear family structure.
First of all, to say that the traditional family is a Western family
is insulting to all the people from East Asia, the Indian subcontinent,
the Middle East, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa that already
have mothers and fathers at home. This is not a Western thing.
Nevertheless, it is apparent that the founders of Black Lives Matter
did consider the traditional nuclear family something to be disrupted.
And that is part of Marxism, to get rid of the traditional families.
And it is scary that one of our two major political parties held its
majority by closely aligning itself with this group.
I have asked for a hearing before the Education Committee on the Pell
Grant Program, which already brazenly penalizes nuclear families--no
hearing as of yet. But, today, I ran across an article in the City
Journal called ``Failure Factory,'' talking about the influence of, to
a certain extent, Marxist ideology and, to a certain extent, critical
race theory on their curriculum.
This curriculum itself denigrates the traditional family. I don't
know why we would, in schools--and they are talking about the Buffalo
Public Schools here--why in schools we would denigrate a traditional
family with father at home.
This curriculum appears designed to make young people bitter,
defeatist, and antipolice. Our poor children--and by poor, I don't mean
materially poor. Our poor children have to put up with this sort of
curriculum.
In other countries, strong families are the norm, and children are
excelling at math, reading, and science. They immigrate here, children
from all different racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds, and
they will outperform our homegrown students who get this antifamily,
antipolice drivel.
I would also ask my good friend Education Chairman Bobby Scott to
hold a hearing on critical race theory, which is infecting our schools,
before any more damage is done. The Federal Government puts $40 billion
into K-12 in this country, and we are spending a total of over $12,000
a child. If teachers are going to teach the students that families with
fathers are not good, the police are racist, and that it is so
difficult to achieve in this country, it doesn't matter how much we
spend. Please, chairman of the Education Committee, Bobby Scott, hold
a hearing on critical race theory and the influence it has on our
public schools.
Again, I will mention the article describing the curriculum in the
Buffalo Public Schools would be called ``Failure Factory'' in the City
Journal. So if you want to Google ``Failure Factory,'' City Journal,
you can read about what goes on in our Buffalo Public Schools.
Ice Age Trail
Mr. GROTHMAN. Now, I would like to talk a little bit about an
amendment that was done in a bipartisan fashion, and I know far too
many people outside of Washington don't realize that the vast majority
of things we do here are in a bipartisan fashion.
The amendment concerns the Ice Age Trail, a trail that winds
throughout the Midwest. But in the State of Wisconsin, it begins in the
eastern part of the State in Door County and winds its way out the
western part of the State on the Minnesota border. The Ice Age Trail
goes through Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Columbia, Marquette,
and Waushara Counties in my district.
According to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the
trail has had an annual economic impact of $113 million, drawing 1.2
million visitors.
Currently, the Ice Age Trail is not categorized as a unit of the
National Park System administered by the Department of the Interior.
The bipartisan amendment, which I worked on with my friend Congressman
Pocan from the Madison area, would allow the Ice Age Trail that
opportunity.
As a unit of the National Park System, Federal funds will be allowed
to go to Wisconsin for maintenance and improvement of these trails,
which drive tourism and provide outdoor recreation opportunities for
Wisconsinites and visitors alike.
More than thousands of years ago, an immense flow of glacial ice
sculpted a landscape of remarkable beauty across Wisconsin. And let me
tell you, I think Wisconsin is the most beautiful State we have. So,
please, everybody come visit our Ice Age Trail.
As the glacier retreated, it left behind a variety of landscape
features. These glacial remnants are now considered among the world's
finest examples of how continental glaciation sculpts our planet.
The Ice Age National Scenic Trail is a thousand miles that highlights
these landscape features as it travels through some of the State's most
beautiful natural areas. The trail is entirely within Wisconsin.
The Ice Age Trail is more than a path through the woods. It is a
place for mental and physical rejuvenation, a place to unwind after a
hard day and enjoy the landscape of Wisconsin. More than a million
people use the trail each year to hike and snowshoe, to backpack, to
disconnect, and to reconnect.
Behind the scenes, a vibrant community of volunteers across the State
work to build and maintain the trail, making it one of the country's
best hiking experiences.
I sincerely hope that the bill that is going to come up that we are
going to vote on tomorrow, that this amendment becomes part of that
bill. I am confident that it will.
It is going to improve the Ice Age Trail, making it even more
consumer-friendly for the millions of Wisconsinites who have taken
advantage of the trail. Particularly this year, where we have way too
many people sitting inside, it is going to be a great year to tour the
trail.
The trail was begun in the 1950s as the dream of Milwaukeean Ray
Zillmer, who had a vision of a long, linear park winding through
Wisconsin
[[Page H720]]
along the glacier's terminal moraine. This will be a great addition to
the trail, and it will improve the experience of those who use it.
Benefits of Vitamin D
Mr. GROTHMAN. Let's address COVID. While it appears we have turned
the corner on COVID, it still appears as though we have over 2,000
deaths most days.
For whatever reason, the CDC and the public health establishment have
refused to inform the public of the huge benefits of vitamin D. Almost
40 percent of American adults are vitamin D deficient.
This is a bigger problem in winter in the North, where people don't
get as much sun, and also a bigger problem with darker skinned
populations and a bigger problem with older populations since older
people don't produce as much vitamin D.
You should take 5,000 units of vitamin D a day. If you have COVID,
you should immediately take additional vitamin D. Countries such as
England already inform their population of the benefits of vitamin D,
and in India, there is a study showing potentially huge benefits of
large amounts of vitamin D given to people as soon as they know they
have this disease.
It is unfortunate that our public health establishment has not pushed
vitamin D as much as you would think they should. Please, America, look
up the website vitaminDforall.org. Over 200 experts, led by Dr. Karl
Pfleger of California and Richard Carmona, Surgeon General under
President Bush, are advocates of vitamin D. They believe science is on
our side, and they believe that if we had adequately informed the 40
percent of the population that was vitamin D deficient, we could have
saved hundreds of thousands of lives in this pandemic. Please, we do
not want any more patients to die with a vitamin D deficiency.
An interesting thing about vitamin D, a lot of times the medical
establishment is reluctant to push something forward because something
horrible would happen to a given percentage of the population who take
it, but there really is only a minimal downside to taking vitamin D, so
I really wish the CDC would step up to the plate, as they have in other
countries, and spend some of the time they spend talking about social
distancing or masking, which we hear about all the time, educating
people to take vitamin D.
Dr. Fauci himself let it slip in an interview with a Hollywood
actress that he takes vitamin D. But while he let it slip in kind of a
fun interview, he doesn't routinely tell the American public that, and
I wish he would do that. I don't know why Dr. Fauci would be so quiet
about vitamin D when he, himself, has admitted that he takes a
significant amount of it.
The failure of CDC to issue guidances encouraging people to take
vitamin D is one of the reasons why we have had so many fatalities.
Let's not lose anyone else.
Again, remember to look at the website, vitaminDforAll, and make sure
you take vitamin D both for yourself and for your family.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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