Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I think we can all agree we have kids in America who need to be in school who haven't been in school over a year now, in some cases. The science is clear that you can open up schools safely. Now, I know different districts have different challenges about opening up. This bill provides money for everybody to open up. We don't want to change that. We want to help every district. Under my amendment, every district in the country would get money, but the more days of the week you are open, the more money you are going to get, which makes all the sense in the world. If you are going to open 4 days a week, you shouldn't have as much money as a district that is going to open 5 days a week. The purpose of the money that is being provided is so that schools can fund the cost of opening safely. All this amendment tries to do is create an incentive for these districts to open up more days because we do have unions--to be fair, not all, but we do have teachers unions in this country that are saying they are not going back until next year, even if they are vaccinated, even if all the measures are put in place. We have a crisis in this country. We have seen now a surge in mental health problems, with young people showing up at hospitals, and across the country, it is a terrible situation, not to mention the year of lost learning. This amendment incentivizes us to get our kids back in school. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.”