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Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, in the past, I have taken time to discuss Black Lives Matter, a powerful group in this past election, which I think was very instrumental in the Democratic Party retaining their majority, and talking about the Marxist roots of their founders. In their statement, ``What We Believe,'' they, Black Lives Matter, clearly state that one of their goals is to disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.
First of all, to say that the traditional family is a Western family is insulting to all the people from East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa that already have mothers and fathers at home. This is not a Western thing.
Nevertheless, it is apparent that the founders of Black Lives Matter did consider the traditional nuclear family something to be disrupted. And that is part of Marxism, to get rid of the traditional families. And it is scary that one of our two major political parties held its majority by closely aligning itself with this group.
I have asked for a hearing before the Education Committee on the Pell Grant Program, which already brazenly penalizes nuclear families--no hearing as of yet. But, today, I ran across an article in the City Journal called ``Failure Factory,'' talking about the influence of, to a certain extent, Marxist ideology and, to a certain extent, critical race theory on their curriculum.
This curriculum itself denigrates the traditional family. I don't know why we would, in schools--and they are talking about the Buffalo Public Schools here--why in schools we would denigrate a traditional family with father at home.
This curriculum appears designed to make young people bitter, defeatist, and antipolice. Our poor children--and by poor, I don't mean materially poor. Our poor children have to put up with this sort of curriculum.
In other countries, strong families are the norm, and children are excelling at math, reading, and science. They immigrate here, children from all different racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds, and they will outperform our homegrown students who get this antifamily, antipolice drivel.
I would also ask my good friend Education Chairman Bobby Scott to hold a hearing on critical race theory, which is infecting our schools, before any more damage is done. The Federal Government puts $40 billion into K-12 in this country, and we are spending a total of over $12,000 a child. If teachers are going to teach the students that families with fathers are not good, the police are racist, and that it is so difficult to achieve in this country, it doesn't matter how much we spend. Please, chairman of the Education Committee, Bobby Scott, hold a hearing on critical race theory and the influence it has on our public schools.
Again, I will mention the article describing the curriculum in the Buffalo Public Schools would be called ``Failure Factory'' in the City Journal. So if you want to Google ``Failure Factory,'' City Journal, you can read about what goes on in our Buffalo Public Schools. Ice Age Trail
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Mr. GROTHMAN. Now, I would like to talk a little bit about an amendment that was done in a bipartisan fashion, and I know far too many people outside of Washington don't realize that the vast majority of things we do here are in a bipartisan fashion.
The amendment concerns the Ice Age Trail, a trail that winds throughout the Midwest. But in the State of Wisconsin, it begins in the eastern part of the State in Door County and winds its way out the western part of the State on the Minnesota border. The Ice Age Trail goes through Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Columbia, Marquette, and Waushara Counties in my district.
According to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the trail has had an annual economic impact of $113 million, drawing 1.2 million visitors.
Currently, the Ice Age Trail is not categorized as a unit of the National Park System administered by the Department of the Interior. The bipartisan amendment, which I worked on with my friend Congressman Pocan from the Madison area, would allow the Ice Age Trail that opportunity.
As a unit of the National Park System, Federal funds will be allowed to go to Wisconsin for maintenance and improvement of these trails, which drive tourism and provide outdoor recreation opportunities for Wisconsinites and visitors alike.
More than thousands of years ago, an immense flow of glacial ice sculpted a landscape of remarkable beauty across Wisconsin. And let me tell you, I think Wisconsin is the most beautiful State we have. So, please, everybody come visit our Ice Age Trail.
As the glacier retreated, it left behind a variety of landscape features. These glacial remnants are now considered among the world's finest examples of how continental glaciation sculpts our planet.
The Ice Age National Scenic Trail is a thousand miles that highlights these landscape features as it travels through some of the State's most beautiful natural areas. The trail is entirely within Wisconsin.
The Ice Age Trail is more than a path through the woods. It is a place for mental and physical rejuvenation, a place to unwind after a hard day and enjoy the landscape of Wisconsin. More than a million people use the trail each year to hike and snowshoe, to backpack, to disconnect, and to reconnect.
Behind the scenes, a vibrant community of volunteers across the State work to build and maintain the trail, making it one of the country's best hiking experiences.
I sincerely hope that the bill that is going to come up that we are going to vote on tomorrow, that this amendment becomes part of that bill. I am confident that it will.
It is going to improve the Ice Age Trail, making it even more consumer-friendly for the millions of Wisconsinites who have taken advantage of the trail. Particularly this year, where we have way too many people sitting inside, it is going to be a great year to tour the trail.
The trail was begun in the 1950s as the dream of Milwaukeean Ray Zillmer, who had a vision of a long, linear park winding through Wisconsin along the glacier's terminal moraine. This will be a great addition to the trail, and it will improve the experience of those who use it. Benefits of Vitamin D
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Mr. GROTHMAN. Let's address COVID. While it appears we have turned the corner on COVID, it still appears as though we have over 2,000 deaths most days.
For whatever reason, the CDC and the public health establishment have refused to inform the public of the huge benefits of vitamin D. Almost 40 percent of American adults are vitamin D deficient.
This is a bigger problem in winter in the North, where people don't get as much sun, and also a bigger problem with darker skinned populations and a bigger problem with older populations since older people don't produce as much vitamin D.
You should take 5,000 units of vitamin D a day. If you have COVID, you should immediately take additional vitamin D. Countries such as England already inform their population of the benefits of vitamin D, and in India, there is a study showing potentially huge benefits of large amounts of vitamin D given to people as soon as they know they have this disease.
It is unfortunate that our public health establishment has not pushed vitamin D as much as you would think they should. Please, America, look up the website vitaminDforall.org. Over 200 experts, led by Dr. Karl Pfleger of California and Richard Carmona, Surgeon General under President Bush, are advocates of vitamin D. They believe science is on our side, and they believe that if we had adequately informed the 40 percent of the population that was vitamin D deficient, we could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives in this pandemic. Please, we do not want any more patients to die with a vitamin D deficiency.
An interesting thing about vitamin D, a lot of times the medical establishment is reluctant to push something forward because something horrible would happen to a given percentage of the population who take it, but there really is only a minimal downside to taking vitamin D, so I really wish the CDC would step up to the plate, as they have in other countries, and spend some of the time they spend talking about social distancing or masking, which we hear about all the time, educating people to take vitamin D.
Dr. Fauci himself let it slip in an interview with a Hollywood actress that he takes vitamin D. But while he let it slip in kind of a fun interview, he doesn't routinely tell the American public that, and I wish he would do that. I don't know why Dr. Fauci would be so quiet about vitamin D when he, himself, has admitted that he takes a significant amount of it.
The failure of CDC to issue guidances encouraging people to take vitamin D is one of the reasons why we have had so many fatalities. Let's not lose anyone else.
Again, remember to look at the website, vitaminDforAll, and make sure you take vitamin D both for yourself and for your family.
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