[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 3, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1023-S1024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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           VERMONT STATE OF THE UNION ESSAY CONTEST FINALISTS

 Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I ask to have printed in the 
Record some of the finalists' essays written by Vermont High School 
students as part of the 11th annual ``State of the Union'' essay 
contest conducted by my office.
  The material follows:

                               Finalists


        Emily Borrazzo, South Burlington High School, Sophomore

                        Supporting Our Veterans

       Every day, men and women in the military risk their lives 
     for the protection of their fellow citizens. The ideology of 
     our nation depends on their service. Yet every day, veterans 
     across the country face issues regarding claim approvals, 
     mental health, and post-service employment.
       The lengthy claim approval process and 36% claim granting 
     rate is something that many veterans encounter. The issue is 
     not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' generous budget, 
     but how the money is spent, and the efficiency/availability 
     of the benefits being offered. The VA should hire more people 
     to process claims in order to shorten the processing time, 
     which is currently four months or longer on average. Hiring 
     veterans in these positions would also address unemployment 
     issues. Additionally, more guidance should be given on how to 
     file a claim. This includes identifying the quickest claim 
     type and specifying what medical information should be given. 
     Lastly, the VA only approves claims for illnesses and 
     injuries which they deem to be a direct cause of service. 
     Extending this to all serious illnesses and injuries 
     throughout life, or at least partial financial and medical 
     support, would be extremely beneficial to veterans and could 
     even improve their mental health.
       Studies have shown that veterans have a higher risk for 
     alcohol/drug abuse, and suicide. One in five veterans suffer 
     from mental health problems like PTSD, depression, and severe 
     anxiety. Veterans account for 13.8% of the suicides in 
     America, and for over a decade 17-18 veterans have died daily 
     from suicide. We cannot take away their experiences, but 
     offering more support in their recovery is the least we can 
     do. Many veterans with mental health problems are not aware 
     of their condition, or are too embarrassed to ask for help. 
     Educating veterans (especially while serving) about signs and 
     effects of mental health problems, and the care and treatment 
     available to them, could save lives. Additionally, 
     implementing a mental health scan for veterans every few 
     years could be very effective in identifying these issues 
     early on, and opening thousands of veterans' eyes to the care 
     available to them. Enforcing quality-of-care standards for 
     treatment in all mental health care facilities would also 
     benefit the nation.
       American veterans receive very effective military training 
     and preparation, but are rarely prepared for post-service 
     employment. Studies suggest the unemployment rate for 
     veterans is considerably higher than their civilian 
     counterparts. This can be attributed to the rarity of higher 
     education and the numerous mental health issues among 
     veterans. Increasing accessibility and lowering costs for 
     college education would broaden the post-service career 
     opportunities for countless veterans. Lower tuition rates for 
     veterans could be paid for by the VA, with the extra money 
     resulting from having to offer less veterans unemployment 
     benefits.
       Our nation cannot forget the selfless sacrifices our 
     soldiers and military families make. Brave women and men have 
     been taking care of this nation for almost 250 years. It's 
     time we start taking care of them.


           LING BUSHEY, BELLOWS FREE ACADEMY, FAIRFAX, SENIOR

       The sexual health education and curriculum in America is 
     not adequate to our current society, and should be focused on 
     immensely to ensure better health in our youth population. 
     Kids are not educated on the topics revolving around sexual 
     health, and this leads to struggling mental health effects 
     and potentially life changing decisions that teens should be 
     informed on.
       Ignorance on sexual orientation, contraceptives, and 
     diseases leads to a dangerous society, where teens are 
     unaware of consequences and ignorant to possible solutions of 
     preventions. According to the USC Department of Nursing, 
     nearly 750,000 teenagers in the United States will become 
     pregnant this year; and half of the 20 million new cases of 
     sexually transmitted diseases will be diagnosed in young 
     people ages 15 to 24. Being informed about the physical, 
     mental, and emotional changes in a teenagers' life and 
     environment will benefit not only the person learning, but 
     relationships surrounding them for years to come. By starting 
     to educate kids in middle school will normalize these 
     discussions to be had later on, and create a more open and 
     unjudged environment. According to the United Nations, 
     understanding one's own body is a human right, and the US 
     needs to address a human's right to learn about their body 
     and have legislature and youth service providers fund and 
     educate a coherent and inclusive sexual education across the 
     nation.
       A guaranteed cohesive program or set curriculum addressing 
     sexual health, will also allow for schools to help inform 
     kids in the LGBTQ community, what the subject is and how to 
     respect and support members that are a part. The importance 
     of educating a positive outlook sexual orientation, and safe 
     hetero and homosexual activities is crucial. Only 24 states 
     mandate sex education, which is unacceptable. America needs 
     to educate

[[Page S1024]]

     teens on the opposite sex's changes during puberty, and 
     normalize these changes as they are inevitable. Mandating 
     sexual education in schools will give students a coherent 
     safe space to learn about these topics, which might not be 
     offered and found from other inaccurate sources which leads 
     to false information and mis-interpretations.
       While this might be a tedious and drawn out process, our 
     legislature should mandate sexual education across the nation 
     by making a federal law. This law would teach an all 
     inclusive comprehensive curriculum across all states. Overall 
     this would positively affect teens all across America and 
     would take a step towards a brighter and better future. Along 
     with this federal mandate we need to make teens and young 
     adults have access to a planned parenthood or a trusted 
     medically accurate source to trust and rely on for 
     information. Especially during these strenuous times during 
     this pandemic, the availability of these sources are more 
     crucial than ever.


                 FATIMA KHAN, ESSEX HIGH SCHOOL, JUNIOR

       July 17, 2014: ``I Can't Breathe.'' These were the last 
     words of Eric Garner. A 43-year-old father of six children. A 
     man who was known as the ``neighborhood peacemaker.'' Eric 
     Garner was an unarmed black man, who was choked to death by 
     Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City police officer, as he 
     repeatedly pleaded for him to stop.
       May 25, 2020: ``I Can't Breathe.'' These were the last 
     words of George Floyd. A 46-year-old father of one daughter. 
     A man who wanted to ``touch the world.'' George Floyd was an 
     unarmed black man, who died when Minneapolis police officer, 
     Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee into his neck, for 8 minutes 
     and 46 seconds, as he repeatedly pleaded for him to stop.
       The murder of Eric Garner, in 2014, ignited fierce emotions 
     and propelled people into action, all over the country. A 
     developing project which began as a response to the murder of 
     Trayvon Martin, was beginning to receive national attention. 
     It was known as Black Lives Matter. Today, BLM is one of the 
     most influential social movements today, and among many human 
     rights issues, it has awakened the eyes of the nation to the 
     issue of police brutality.
       Although we have come a long way in our work against police 
     brutality since 2014, there is still plenty of work to do. 
     Black Americans are disproportionately affected by police 
     violence across the US. According to Harvard T.H. Chan School 
     of Public Health, black Americans are 3.23 times more likely 
     than white Americans to be killed by police. In order to 
     truly combat this issue, there needs to be a reformation of 
     our police departments.
       To do so, the responsibilities of police officers relating 
     to mental health, homelessness, and drug abuse, needs to be 
     pared back. According to the US Department of Justice, there 
     are over 10 million arrests, annually. Only a small fraction 
     of those are violent crimes. This makes the US the world's 
     largest jailer, housing about 25 percent of the world's 
     prisoners. Police departments are overworked and our jails 
     are overcrowded. Overcriminalization has led to mass 
     incarceration in our criminal justice system. To address 
     overcriminalization, policymakers should consider what 
     offenses result in conviction and prison time, and reduce 
     arrestable offenses. More resources should be put into 
     education and training for officers, not arrests. 
     Additionally, more mental health professionals should be 
     deployed as first responders.
       We also have to hold every police officer accountable to 
     the law. Too many times, police officers who have broken the 
     law, haven't faced adequate consequences for their actions, 
     because of qualified immunity. Qualified immunity has 
     protected police officers in cases where they have 
     disgustingly abused their power. Victims whose constitutional 
     rights have been violated have been denied justice. By 
     altering this doctrine, we can ensure that nobody is above 
     the law. Increasing the consequences of misconduct, will weed 
     out the bad apples in our police departments.
       By critically reforming our police departments, we can 
     ensure a more equitable future for all Americans.

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