Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Ms. TENNEY. 682, the Reopen Schools Act, to get our kids out from behind screens and back in the classroom.

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Ms. TENNEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to oppose the previous question and to offer an amendment to help our schools safely reopen their doors for in-person learning.

Madam Speaker, millions of children around the Nation have been out of the classroom for the better part of a year. This has taken a serious toll not only on their learning and social development but also on their working parents, who have been forced to juggle home-schooling their children and working full-time jobs.

The data is in, and it makes abundantly clear that at-home learning is not a sufficient substitute for in-person education. One recent study found that children began to fall significantly behind in math. The study concluded that it would take students in grades 5 and 6 at least 12 weeks, on average, to catch up to where they were expected to be.

Madam Speaker, the science is in, and it, too, makes abundantly clear that schools can reopen safely if the right precautions are taken. Commonsense social-distancing measures significantly reduce the spread of COVID-19 in schools and make the classroom a safe place for our students and our teachers. The CDC Director said last month that the science shows our schools can reopen safely even before every teacher is vaccinated.

Madam Speaker, this is what the science tells us. Yet, despite these facts, too many children in my district and around the country are still not in the classroom. Students are losing out on a true, sound, basic education guaranteed them by the New York State Constitution, and parents are being forced to choose between going to work to earn a paycheck or staying home to teach their children. It is an impossible decision that no parent should be forced to make.

In my home State of New York, Governor Cuomo has said one thing and done another. The result has been confusion across the State and a patchwork of incoherent and conflicting policies. Governor Cuomo claims to support the science. Yet, it is March 2021, and New York still does not have a statewide plan to reopen our schools. It is clear that he is putting special interests before our students' education.

Sadly, we New Yorkers aren't surprised. Governor Cuomo has already lost credibility due to his unconscionable coverup of nursing home deaths. He failed to put our seniors first, and now he is failing to put our students first. We can and we must do better.

Madam Speaker, under the American Rescue Plan that the House will consider again later this week, nearly $130 billion is set aside for schools. But if you read the fine print, 95 percent of that money won't be spent until after 2021 is over. If you keep reading, you realize that there is no requirement that the funding be used to reopen schools safely, something our Nation is desperately crying out for.

The rescue plan fails to prioritize our students and does not do enough to return safely to in-person learning, which our students desperately need.

If we defeat the previous question, we will move to immediately consider the Reopen Schools Act, which states that schools, which accept a portion of the COVID-19 funding, must reopen. In order to receive full funding, schools are required to allow at least 50 percent of their students in the classroom, in person, at least 50 percent of the time.

This is what New York families are requesting, and it is exactly what families across the country are demanding from their leaders in Washington.

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Ms. TENNEY. Madam Speaker, the money is coming from the American Rescue Act that the gentleman voted for, but what we are doing here is prioritizing the spending.

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Ms. TENNEY. Madam Speaker, I would just like to address the question that the gentleman from Massachusetts posed.

What is allocated for this bill?

$54.3 billion is going to be appropriated immediately.

Madam Speaker, at this point, the bill that he is talking about has no money--only 5 percent until after 2021.

We have students and parents and everyone coming to us, and they want to open their schools because the children are falling far behind. This is particularly difficult in New York, where we have no plan in place and the Governor has failed to give us a plan, and our students are failing and we need to have our students back on track.

That is all that we are asking for, is that this money be allocated now and not wait for only 5 percent to be allocated until after 2021.

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