Morning Business (Cong. Rec., March 24, 2021)

Summary

A page of the Congressional Record, Senate, dated March 24, 2021, at page S1759, under Morning Business. Mr. Blumenthal and Mr. Murphy close an evening of Senators reading the names of people killed by gun violence, following the shootings in Boulder and Atlanta, with Mr. Murphy saying the list for 2021 alone reached almost 10,000 people and calling this an inflection point. Mr. Durbin then speaks for Women's History Month about women from Illinois, including Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Senator Duckworth. He also marks the eleventh anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, saying it has provided health insurance to more than 23 million Americans, and says the country is vaccinating more than 2 million Americans a day.

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“Morning Business (Cong. Rec., March 24, 2021).” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-03-24-crec-2021-03-24-pt1-pgs1759-bcfd9d9cc4/, SHA-256 e186b374c0301337a162d3f5e361b756e53bd8a3c0a9da3265e9d291e5a50f8b.

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March 24, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S1759
And I didn’t think too much about it What a morbid thing we have been change and to begin that process in the
because I was running at full speed as doing here tonight, reading the names wake of the shootings in Boulder and
a new mayor. I was 36, 37 years old. The of dead people killed in our country, Atlanta by making sure that every-
violent crime in our city was peaking. hoping that somehow—somehow we body hears the names of those who
There were too many shooters in that could change. Well, I will tell you this have died.
hot summer. I will never forget. And I right now: We are in a distraught mo- I yield to Senator BLUMENTHAL to
would run to every street corner I ment in our Nation, where most of us wrap up for the evening.
could where there was a shooting in agree on solid steps. It won’t solve all The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
our city. And I would stand there, and the problems, but it would make a dif- pore. The Senator from Connecticut.
I would say: This is not who we are. ference. It would save a Hassan. It Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President,
This is not America. This is not New- would save a Shahad. It would save the there is no last word tonight. There is
ark. We are going to overcome this. 3- and 4-year-olds, the names I have no final saying here. There are no final
And I would give street-level sermons read. names. Nora Beller, Tito Roman,
telling people about the vision for our The question is, How courageous are Aaliyah Eubanks, Dominick Boston,
city. And, God, we would eventually we? How much do we truly love one an- Brad Keel, James Ray Huddelston—we
turn down the violence. other? What will we do? This is a mo- could be here a long time. But the trag-
But in those early days, a month into ment in American history that could edy is there will be more names, 100
my office, I show up on a street corner, be the inflection point. If we act now, more, at this time tomorrow night.
and there is a body covered by a sheet we could end some of this nightmare. If And every one of these names is a fu-
and another one being loaded on the we fail to do anything, we will be back ture cut short. Every one of them is a
back of an ambulance. And I barely here again. The list of the dead will be life that could have given so much,
paid attention to the humanity on the longer. The heartache and the pain and bringing more light and joy, pride,
street. I didn’t even ask for the names. the wounds and the grief and the sor- grace, dignity.
I was too busy ministering to the liv- row and the shame will be deeper in My colleagues have come to the floor
ing. America, the world’s greatest country. with great eloquence. I want to thank
I get home that night to steal a cou- We must demand of each other a them. But the most eloquent part to-
ple hours of sleep in my early days as greater love. We must end the poverty night is the names. And we should take
mayor. And I will never forget sitting of empathy. We must free ourselves inspiration from the courage of their
in my bedroom with my BlackBerry, from this prison, from this dungeon. families, the strength of the survivors,
going through it, and I saw the name We must release ourselves from these advocates, and activists who are form-
on the homicide report. At that mo- chains. We must demand that this Na- ing a political movement that is cre-
ment in my life, something broke in tion be the Nation we want it to be, be ating ripples turning into waves that
me that will never fix. It wasn’t an the Nation we hope it should be, be the will overcome. They will overcome the
anonymous name that I didn’t know. It Nation that those in military uniform intransigence and cowardice of col-
wasn’t just a cold issuance of another died for—a nation where we make real leagues who fail to heed the American
crime in a big city. The name was Has- the greatest principles of humanity, public, and they will be held account-
san Washington. Four floors below me the greatest calling of every faith that able.
he lived with his grandma, a kid I there is—not words, but real, true, Thank you.
promised to help with his dreams. manifestation of the principle and the I yield the floor.
I will never forget his funeral for as call. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
long as I live. Perry’s Funeral Home— Will we be silent? Will we be igno- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
God bless them, those professionals. I rant? Will we avoid? Will we do noth- pore. The clerk will call the roll.
entered that funeral home as the newly ing? Will we be passive? Or will we The legislative clerk proceeded to
minted mayor. And I was so upset when truly be a nation that loves one an- call the roll.
I saw it was in their basement room be- other? Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I ask
cause going in that room was like de- I yield the floor. unanimous consent that the order for
scending into the bowel of a ship, a The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- the quorum call be rescinded.
narrow staircase. And I get into this pore. The Senator from Connecticut. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
room. We were piled in on top of each Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, Marcia pore. Without objection, it is so or-
other like we were chained together in Reitman Currie from New York; Mitch- dered.
grief, and people were crying. Every- ell Wright, Jr., from Missouri; Nicholas f
body was showing up. Everybody was Tarpley from Pennsylvania; Reuben
there for what is an American tradi- Lewis III from California; Rhyce MORNING BUSINESS
tion: almost every day, another boy, Wingate-Bey, Maryland; Robert ---
another Black boy in a box killed by a Crochiere, Massachusetts; Samuel La-
mont Smith-Williams, Tennessee; WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
gun.
And I wish I could tell you that I was Spencer Wilcox, Oregon; Anthony Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the
strong in that moment. I wish I could Castillo, New York—we didn’t come clock struck 12, and the chaos of whis-
tell you that I was mayoral, that I was close to finishing this list tonight. We tles, bells, and sirens echoed down
a leader and the father of a city, but I didn’t make a dent in the list of those Michigan Avenue. All across Chicago,
wasn’t. I felt shame. I felt hurt. I felt names of the people who have died you could hear—feel—the jubilance
embarrassment. from gun violence in 2021 alone, a year erupting in the streets. Women of all
I tried to lean on other people in that in which almost 10,000 people have died ages sat on the hoods of Studebakers
room. There were folk I had known for in less than 3 months in suicides and and Model Ts, waving American flags
years, but, finally, I had enough. I had homicides and accidental shootings. as they rode through The Loop in cele-
to run. I left there. I jumped in my It is a choice. None of this is inevi- bration.
SUV, drove to my new office in City table. Almost all of it is preventable. It A decades-long fight for equality had
Hall. And for the first time—not the only happens here in the United States finally come to an end. Just days ear-
last but for the first time as the mayor of America because other countries lier, on August 26, 1920, U.S. Secretary
of New Jersey’s great and largest city, make different choices. of State Bainbridge Colby had issued a

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I sat in that office, and I wept over a Congress goes the next 2 weeks on a proclamation. The 19th Amendment
dead boy. And all I could think about district work period. We wanted to had been ratified, and women in Amer-
was climbing through the feelings of come to the floor tonight to make ica had secured the right to vote, once
shame and hurt and pain. All I could clear that we are not going to forget and for all. And though this victory
think about was that funeral in that those who have died through the inac- was monumental, America still had a
basement room, packed full of people. tion of this body, their national lead- long way to go.
All of us were there for his death, but ers; that we are going to renew our Nearly a century later, on the morn-
where were we for his life? commitment to be better and to ing of Saturday, November 7, 2020,

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S1760 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 24, 2021
jubilance once again erupted in the In 2018, the people of Illinois elected cinated than our total number of
streets of Chicago. Drivers honked Juliana Stratton as our 48th Lieuten- coronavirus cases since the beginning
their horns all along Michigan Avenue, ant Governor, the first woman of color of the pandemic. By the beginning of
while passengers leaned out of their ever elected to hold a constitutional summer, we should have a large enough
windows, waving American flags. Joe office in our State. She is a dynamo supply of vaccines to inoculate every
Biden had finally been declared the vic- and part of a new generation of women adult in America. This is one of the
tor of the 2020 Presidential election, his who are taking their rightful place as greatest scientific feats in modern his-
running mate: KAMALA HARRIS, the political leaders in our Nation. In the tory.
first African-American and first 2020 elections, women across America A major reason we were able to de-
woman Vice President of the United turned out in historic numbers, and velop COVID–19 vaccines at such light-
States. The scene in Chicago was a fit- voters elected a record number of ning-fast speed is because of the pio-
ting tribute to the 100th anniversary of women to higher office. neering research conducted over dec-
the 19th Amendment’s ratification. But we still have a long way to go. ades by a brilliant scientist, one of the
This month, America celebrates America lags well behind other devel- unsung heroes of our world. Her name
Women’s History Month. And the peo- oped nations when it comes to gender is Katalin Karikó. Like many Amer-
ple of my State are proud of the lead- equality in our government. Women ac- ican heroes, she is an immigrant. She
ing role Illinois has played in Amer- count for fewer than 30 percent of our began her research in a lab in Hungary,
ica’s long struggle for gender equality. representatives in either Chamber of when it was still under Communist
In 2018, Illinois lawmakers ratified the Congress. Countries like Finland, Swe- rule. Back then, she believed that syn-
Equal Rights Amendment. Our State den, and New Zealand are far closer to thetic messenger RNA could hold the
attorney general, along with the attor-
50 percent, meaning complete gender key to treating some of the world’s
neys general of two other States, is
parity. most debilitating diseases.
now pressing in Federal court for the So it is certainly welcome news that She followed that dream across con-
ERA to be officially recognized as the
President Biden has nominated 12 tinents, immigrating to the United
28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitu-
women for Cabinet and Cabinet-level States in the 1980s. But people—and,
tion, as it should be.
We are proud of the remarkable positions, including Janet Yellen, the let’s be honest, men—doubted her at
women our State has produced. Some first female Secretary of Treasury, and every turn. Her grants were rejected.
were Illinoisans by birth, others by Congresswoman DEB HAALAND, who She faced demotions. She was even
choice. They include Ida B. Wells, the would be the first Native American to threatened with deportation. One of
courageous journalist, anti-lynching ever serve as a Cabinet Secretary. the few institutions that supported
leader, and suffragist; Jane Addams, While the past year has been one of Katalin’s work was the National Insti-
the first American woman to win the historic triumph for women, it has also tutes of Health. The experts at NIH
Nobel Peace Prize and a cofounder of been one of unprecedented challenge. didn’t just follow the science; they sup-
the Hull House, a Chicago landmark; The pandemic has disproportionately ported the visionary behind the
Mamie Till Mobley, a mother who devastated women. In December, the science. And that investment paid off.
forced the world to reckon with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Her research into messenger RNA even-
brutality of racism when she opened that the United States lost 140,000 jobs tually blazed a trail for the Moderna
the casket of her only son, Emmett; in a single month. A staggering num- and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which
Betty Friedan, author of ‘‘The Femi- ber that is even worse than it seems, are helping curb the spread of COVID–
nine Mystique,’’ a book that inspired a women accounted for every single one 19 at this very moment.
new wave of American feminism; of those job losses. Men, meanwhile, As we turn the corner of this pan-
Gwendolyn Brooks, poet laureate of Il- managed to gain 16,000 jobs that demic, let us remember that it was not
linois from 1968 until her death in 2000 month. a miracle that got us here. It was
and the first Black woman inducted Working women, and especially science. It was dedication. It was the
into the American Academy of Arts working women of color, have been work of trailblazers like Katalin
and Letters; Sandra Cisneros, a re- hardest hit by this pandemic. When Karikó.
nowned writer and educator whose schools across the country were forced As I mentioned, Betty Friedan is one
work is taught in classrooms across to shut their doors, these women were of the great women leaders to come out
the country; Jeanne Gang, a world- thrust into the dual roles of bread- of Illinois. In her seminal work, ‘‘The
class architect whose work graces the winner and primary caregiver. They Feminine Mystique,’’ she asked: ‘‘Who
skyline of Chicago, including the tall- shouldered the burden of keeping our knows what women can be when they
est building in the world designed by a families and children safe. This is es- are finally free to become themselves?’’
woman, the St. Regis Chicago; Jackie sential work. And just as frontline As we celebrate women’s history, let
Joyner-Kersee, one of the world’s workers need PPE to safely do their us also renew our commitment to in-
greatest track and field athletes and jobs, working mothers need economic vesting in women’s futures. Who knows
the founder of the Jackie Joyner- relief to do theirs. how many Katalin Karikós are out
Kersee Foundation, which offers ath- That is what the American Rescue there, ready to change the world?
letic and educational programming to Plan President Biden signed into law For our own good, for the good of hu-
kids in my hometown of East St. this month delivers. It expands the mankind, let’s ensure every woman has
Louis, IL; Precious Brady-Davis, an en- child tax credit, offering up to $3,600 an opportunity to ‘‘become them-
vironmentalist and transgender woman per child; it invests in our families, by selves.’’
who has shed light on the experiences increasing the value of SNAP benefits f
of transgender parents; Oprah Winfrey, and expanding childcare assistance;
the host of a daytime talk show you and it gives every working American AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
may have heard of—her career as a $1,400. The American Rescue Plan will Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, as a
talk show host actually began on help working mothers weather this Member of Congress, I have cast a
‘‘A.M. Chicago’’; Hillary Clinton, the once-in-a-century public health and number of important votes over the
first woman to be nominated for Presi- economic crisis. years, votes on whether to send our Na-
dent by a major political party, she After a year of COVID lockdowns and tion’s brave servicemembers to war or
may have represented New York in the losses, America is finally beginning to to impeach a President, but perhaps

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U.S. Senate, but her roots are firmly feel a sense of hope that the end of this the most important vote I have ever
planted in Park Ridge, IL; Michelle pandemic is coming, and looking at the cast was 11 years ago this week, in sup-
Obama, another former First Lady who headlines, it is hard not to share that port of the Affordable Care Act.
broke barriers—she is the pride of Chi- optimism. Since the law’s passage in 2010, the
cago’s South Side, and I am grateful to Under President Biden, we are vacci- ACA has provided health insurance to
call her a friend; and my colleague in nating more than 2 million Americans more than 23 million Americans, in-
this body, Senator TAMMY DUCKWORTH, a day. As of last week, more people in cluding nearly 1 million Illinoisans.
an American hero. the United States have been fully vac- That is almost 1 out of every 20 people

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