Honoring National Rural Health Day (Cong. Rec., Nov. 19, 2020)

Summary

House pages of the Congressional Record for November 19, 2020, beginning at page H5936. Under the heading HONORING NATIONAL RURAL HEALTH DAY, Mr. O’HALLERAN says that the COVID–19 pandemic has hit rural communities especially hard. The text states that the CARES Act included $200 million for new rural telehealth services and $3.1 billion for community health centers. Other remarks discuss pandemic restrictions in Colorado, Utah and California, and Miss GONZÁLEZ-COLÓN speaks about Puerto Rico statehood under the heading HONORING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO.

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“Honoring National Rural Health Day (Cong. Rec., Nov. 19, 2020).” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-11-19-crec-2020-11-19-pt1-pgh5936-5da12f0909/, SHA-256 33d0de5f3c7af5d40e56f929e2d1e92c6c8e90889bf956ce55420d43e2120f72.

Full text

H5936 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE November 19, 2020
stayed open while next door, Colorado The CARES Act included $200 million This is something that I signed up
shut down. Utah currently has half the for new rural telehealth services and for, to save lives as a police officer, and
COVID mortality rate and three- $3.1 billion in funding for community to do that here as much as we can. And
fourths the unemployment rate as Col- health centers. we should all be going in that direc-
orado. But the lockdowns have cost But this is not enough. We need to tion. I know you want to. I know we
countless lives from suicides, drug and pass a new, comprehensive COVID–19 want to, but we have to show it.
alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and package now. We can say to leadership, go leader-
deferred health screenings and treat- A TALK ABOUT LIFE ship and negotiate. Us being here is a
ments. Mr. O’HALLERAN. Mr. Speaker, I way of making sure they and our coun-
Recently, Governor Newsom de- want to divert for a second from what try know that we care. We care enough
manded that restaurant diners replace I have written here and talk about life. to not just go away week after week
their masks after every bite, but also When I became a police officer a after week and not allow the people of
minimize the times they are taken off. while back, I did it because I wanted to America to know their leaders are here
I guess that means you take really big save lives. And right now, our doctors for them.
bites. Thanksgiving dinners are al- and our nurses across this country are f
lowed in California, but only when they doing that with limited help and with
are held outside, guests are seated 6 the need for more supplies. HONORING THE WILL OF THE
feet apart, and they last no more than So our businesses are struggling. PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO
2 hours. Now it is all right to use the But when I would go to a door and The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
bathroom, but only if it is frequently knock on that door when I was a homi- Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
sanitized, otherwise presumably you cide investigator and tell someone’s Puerto Rico (Miss GONZÁLEZ-COLÓN) for
will just have to use the bushes. And loved one that their son or daughter 5 minutes.
for God’s sake, no singing. had died suddenly through violence, it Miss GONZÁLEZ-COLÓN of Puerto
I have wondered how much longer the was one of the harshest things I had to Rico. Mr. Speaker, on November 3,
American people are going to tolerate do in life, and I had to do it way too Puerto Rican voters made a clear
this nonsense. many times. choice to become a permanent part of
So let us not criticize Governor And now I sit here almost 4 years and this Union, to become a State in equal
Newsom. Perhaps he has just offered us see a national emergency declared, and footing and equal responsibility to the
all deliverance from his own folly. month after month after month we 50 States.
Nor should we criticize the California have not made a decision to help the As it was done in Alaska and Hawaii,
legislators who ignored travel and American people again. Families are voters were asked a straightforward
quarantine restrictions to junket in being broken up. We all care about question: ‘‘Should Puerto Rico be ad-
Hawaii. Nor should we ridicule Speaker families. People are suffering because mitted as a State of the Union?’’ And,
PELOSI for choosing not to wear a mask they have lost their jobs. We care yes, an absolute majority voted ‘‘yes.’’
in a hair salon that was forced to close about that, I know, all of us. Statehood gained more votes than any
for the rest of us. I know that each and every one of us,
candidate or party ticket on the island.
Good for them. They are dem- if we had a family member that was
I was the most voted candidate
onstrating by their actions the freedom about to die, that we would want to be
there by their side, but also, we would islandwide, and statehood still received
that every American citizen needs to well over 100,000 more votes.
reclaim from these very same people. do everything we could to save that
The people of Puerto Rico have re-
The Governor should make his own de- life. And, yet, here we sit as a body,
and the Senate sits as a body, and the peatedly voted to end territorial sta-
cisions about running his own life. I tus. In 2012, voters answered ‘‘no’’ to
only ask that he and his ilk would stop administration is here, and month
after month after month we have failed the question on continuing the terri-
telling us how to run ours. torial status on the island, and in all
f to address these severe problems with-
in our country. votes since then, the majority of bal-
HONORING NATIONAL RURAL Whatever Governors do, they do. lots for change has favored statehood.
HEALTH DAY That is because part of the issue is that Mr. Speaker, the people of Puerto
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The we haven’t provided enough responsi- Rico have democratically chosen what
Chair recognizes the gentleman from bility and direction. their future should be. What is Con-
Arizona (Mr. O’HALLERAN) for 5 min- But the other part of it is that we gress waiting for?
utes. just haven’t gotten our job done. After It is our duty to respect the will of
Mr. O’HALLERAN. Mr. Speaker, I 4 years I sit here and look out and the people of Puerto Rico. This is a di-
rise today in honor of National Rural know that 1,800 fellow Americans died rect mandate to move to statehood,
Health Day. yesterday and a thousand more the day and it is Congress’ responsibility to act
I am proud to represent Arizona’s before and a thousand more the day be- and do it. Keeping the current condi-
First Congressional District. Our dis- fore that, and the amount of cases are tion cannot be justified by any means.
trict is larger than the State of Illi- going up and spiraling. Thank God the There are a lot of assumptions and
nois, and it is one of the most rural in healthcare industry has found some false claims being made by both sides
the country. ways to help our families. of the aisle on the issue of Puerto
Many of my constituents must spend But the vaccine is not around the Rico’s statehood—claims that are mis-
hours traveling hundreds of miles to corner. It is months away from having taken and only try to invalidate the
access any kind of care, let alone spe- any impact; months away. And people will of the people.
cialist care. will still die; our fellow Americans. We The American citizens in Alaska and
This year, the COVID–19 pandemic cannot allow this to happen. Hawaii were not met with proposals to
has hit our rural communities espe- We are going to be going on Thanks- try some other different solution or
cially hard. giving break. Really? I couldn’t com- meet some special precondition, so why
In March, we passed the CARES Act: prehend it when we left for the summer should we?
Sweeping legislation to address the and our fellow Americans were dying. I Congress needs to respond to this
coronavirus pandemic and provide re- really can’t comprehend going home vote to achieve the goal of getting
lief to struggling healthcare facilities for Thanksgiving and not working as Puerto Rico a legal status where our
workers, families, small businesses, hard as I can before that to make sure American citizens stand on the same
and Tribes. that our American families do not have footing as those in the rest of the Na-

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Within this package, we pushed to in- to suffer anymore. tion.
clude $8 billion in funding specifically When I worked in the Chicago neigh- This is the right thing to do. Inequal-
for our rural Tribal Nations. We also borhoods as a police officer, people ity is not sustainable.
secured over $1 billion to support the were suffering then without this going For over 100 years our young men and
Indian Health Service in Tribal health on. And now they are suffering even women have fought in America’s wars
systems. worse. side by side with their fellow citizens

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