[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.

                          ____________________