On the recordNovember 16, 2020
I thank Representative Lee and the caucuses involved for putting this Special Order together. Today in America, there is not one State that has the pandemic under control. My own State of Texas became the first State to surpass 1 million cases. Let me repeat that: 1 million cases. These cases represent many of our neighbors, our friends, and our own family. I personally have self-quarantined once and have already been tested four times for different times I have been exposed to someone with the virus. Thank God all tests have come back positive--I am sorry, negative. I meant to say, ``not come back positive.'' Little misspeaking there. Mr. Speaker, this pandemic is affecting everyone, but it is not affecting everyone in the same way. Black and Latino communities are bearing the weight of this pandemic. While Black and Latino people are being hospitalized and dying at higher rates than White people, they are also the ones most likely to be working jobs that put them more at risk. They have always been essential workers. Now more than ever, this is sadly more true. They are meatpacking workers, farmworkers, sanitation workers, custodians, restaurant workers, grocery clerks, postal workers, police officers, firefighters, longshoremen. These aren't jobs you can do from home. If you don't show up, you just don't get paid. Black and Latino families have had to go into work even when it meant they may get sick. And many of them have gotten sick.…
Source
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