[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 10, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H1195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0915
                    IT IS TIME TO PUT STUDENTS FIRST

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, just over 1 year ago, we 
entered a COVID crackdown. Businesses and schools shut their doors--
some of them, sadly, for good. Communities across the Nation continue 
to feel this pain.
  For more than 365 days, far too many of our Nation's school children 
have been confined to virtual learning--forced to sit at home behind a 
computer instead of a classroom.
  The implications of students being left out of the classroom are much 
bigger than parents being inconvenienced or students missing their 
friends. Every day that we wait to reopen our schools is another day we 
look the other way as youth mental health continues to plummet.
  Every day we wait to reopen our schools is another day our students 
fall behind.
  Mr. Speaker, allowing American school children to return to the 
classroom is long overdue.
  It is time to listen to the science. It is time to put the students 
first. And it is time to reopen our schools.

                          ____________________