[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 127 (Tuesday, July 20, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H3679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  OPEN THE UNITED STATES/CANADA BORDER

  (Mr. HIGGINS of New York asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS of New York. Madam Speaker, for the past 16 months, the 
United States' border with Canada has been closed to nonessential 
travel, tearing loved ones apart, preventing people from accessing 
cottages that they own, devastating businesses and local economies on 
both sides of the border.
  This week, the Canadian Government announced plans to reopen the 
border to fully vaccinated Americans on August 9. On January 21 of this 
year, we were promised a plan would be developed by the United States 
to address travel to Canada within 14 days.
  Madam Speaker, 180 days have now passed. We are still waiting for 
that plan. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
publicly advised that fully vaccinated Americans are free to safely 
resume all pre-pandemic activity. It is time for the United States to 
align its border policy with the science, with the facts, and with the 
data. Action is long overdue. Open the U.S. border to our Canadian 
neighbors.

                          ____________________