Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the bipartisan Global Learning Loss Assessment Act, S. 552, which I introduced along with Senator Boozman last year. This bill requires the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to submit a report to Congress that assesses learning loss, identifies gaps in access to education, and outlines the response that is needed to help students recover from COVID-19 and reach their full potential. I applaud the advancement of this bill, which was voted on favorably in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier today and will now move to the Senate floor for consideration. I should note that the House companion bill passed the House in June 2021. So it is time for the Senate to act. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools around the world to suspend in-person learning as a measure to contain the spread of the virus and safeguard public health. Even before the pandemic began, UNESCO reported that 258 million children were out of school globally, including 130 million girls. Now, the pandemic has disrupted the education of an estimated 90 percent of the world's student population--over 1.6 billion children and youth--who saw their schools close at some point due to COVID-19. We already know that school closures lead to interrupted learning, poor nutrition, gaps in childcare, increased dropout rates, exposure to violence, and social isolation.…”