Black Maternal Health Week (Cong. Rec., April 13, 2021)
Summary
Page S1883 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for April 13, 2021, under the heading Black Maternal Health Week, in interleaved columns. One speaker criticizes the new Georgia election law, saying it cuts drop boxes in four metropolitan counties from 94 to 23, makes it a crime to offer water to voters waiting in line and removes the secretary of state from the State election board, which is that speaker's view. Another speaker discusses the MOMMA Act and an Illinois Medicaid section 1115 request to extend coverage for new mothers. A third speaker cites gun violence, saying 109 lives are lost every day and 25 people were shot in Chicago in one weekend.
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“Black Maternal Health Week (Cong. Rec., April 13, 2021).”
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April 13, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S1883
York Times, April 11. Nick Corasaniti minder, one that the Georgia legisla- The Republican-controlled legislature has
and Reid Epstein did an analysis, page ture would like to drop. more control over State Election Board.
by page, of what the Georgia law would Speaking of dropping, ‘‘drop boxes The secretary of state, for his audac-
do, and it was pretty clear why they still exist for absentee ballots . . . but ity in challenging Trump’s vote fraud
did it. President Biden won Georgia by barely.’’ theories, has been officially removed as
just 11,779 votes—11,779—out of 5 mil- For the 2020 election in Georgia, there were a voting member of the State election
lion. 94 drop boxes across the four counties that board by the legislature in Georgia.
The new law that has been proposed make up the core of metropolitan Atlanta: The GOP-led legislature is empowered to
Fulton, DeKalb— suspend county election officials.
and has been signed by the Governor of
Georgia will curtail ballot access for They pronounce it ‘‘DeKab’’; we call The bottom line is this: The Geor-
voters in booming urban and suburban it ‘‘DeKalb.’’ gians didn’t waste any time taking a
counties, home to many Democratic —and Gwinnett. look at the voting results where they
voters. The new law limits the same 4 coun- lost two Senate seats for the first time
Another provision makes it a crime— ties to a total of 23 drop boxes, from 94 in history and decided that they had to
a crime—to offer water to voters wait- to 23. And it won’t just be fewer drop change the rules. Too many voters
ing in line. Of course, those waiting in boxes to deposit your ballot. ‘‘Instead showed up, the wrong voters, so they
line tend to be in densely populated of 24-hour access outdoors, the boxes decided to change the rules and make
communities and largely minority [are] placed indoors at government it more difficult for those, particularly
communities. buildings and early-voting sites and minority, voters who wanted to come
Some of the things that the Georgia will thus be unavailable for voters to and express themselves by the right to
law will do: drop off their ballots’’ in the evening vote.
and nonbusiness hours, which means So the question now is, What are we
Voters will now have less time to request
more reliance on mail and the uncer- going to do about it? Well, the a local
absentee ballots.
Georgia has cut by more than half the pe- tainty of that. chamber of commerce, Coca-Cola,
riod during which voters can request an ab- With mobile voting centers—as they Delta Air Lines, and others have made
sentee ballot, from . . . six months . . . to say in the New York Times, think it clear that this is an outrage. It is
less than three. about ‘‘an RV where you can vote’’— one that we shouldn’t countenance or
This will most certainly reduce the num- ‘‘more than 11,200 people voted at the accept in the 21st century.
ber of people [seeking] absentee ballots and two vehicles at Fulton County in the This, unfortunately, was an exercise
the number of people who actually vote. In in the 19th century to reenslave Afri-
the last Presidential election—
last election.’’ These vehicles traversed
the county during voting periods, effec- can Americans after the Civil War.
And this is the key sentence that defines
tively bringing polling sites to people. Sadly, vestiges of that continued, right
the goal of the Georgia legislation.
In the last Presidential election, 1.3 mil- ‘‘Georgia has now outlawed this prac- up until the 1960s when the new Civil
lion Georgians—about 26 percent of the tice.’’ Rights Act ended up banning some of
state’s electorate—voted with absentee bal- Under the Georgia law, early voting the most outrageous conduct that
lots. Of those who returned absentee ballots has expanded at a lot of small counties came out of the Jim Crow era.
last year in 2020, 65 percent voted for [Joe] but not the most populous ones. The Now the Republican Party nation-
Biden and 34 percent chose Donald J. Trump. strict rules will affect Georgians who ally, the Georgia Republican Party, the
Do you understand why the Repub- actually work traditional hours for a Governor, and the legislature have de-
lican legislature wants to put an end to living. They will have less flexible cided to return to those days. What a
the absentee ballot? schedules and fewer opportunities to sad commentary it is on Mr. Lincoln’s
The shorter window will limit opportuni- vote. Republican Party.
ties for get-out-the-vote efforts and put I spoke to you about the single great- It was embarrassing enough as a
strain on new local election boards, which est outrage: Democrat to realize that the earliest
. . . have less time to process ballots. Offering food and water for voters waiting stages of Jim Crow were created, con-
There are strict new ID requirements for in line now risks [criminal] misdemeanor ceived, and enforced by the Democrats
absentee ballots. charges. of their day. For the Republicans, they
Previously, Georgia law required voters to Long lines for voting in Georgia are an un- fought that effort, as they should, in
simply sign their absentee ballot applica- fortunate reality, and are often found in the the name of Lincoln and what he
tions. Now they . . . have to provide a num- poor, densely populated communities that
ber from a driver’s license or an equivalent
brought to their party nationally. Now,
tend to vote Democratic. During the primary
state-issued identification. This is virtually today, the tables have turned 180 de-
election last June, when temperatures hov-
certain to limit access. ered above 80 degrees with high humidity, grees. It is the Democrats who are try-
It is now illegal [under the new Georgia multiple voting locations across the State ing to bring to the public’s attention
law] for election officials to mail out absen- had lines in which voters waited more than what is happening in Georgia and in
tee ballot applications to all voters. two hours. other States. It is sad that the Repub-
When the coronavirus pandemic hit last Now they will be denied access to licans have decided that the only way
year, Georgia’s [Republican] secretary of to win an election is to control the
state, Brad Raffensperger, . . . mailed absen-
water and food.
If you go to the wrong polling place [under vote, that their ideas can’t be sold any-
tee ballot applications to every registered
voter in the state ahead of its June primary. the new Georgia law], it will be . . . harder more to voters across this country.
This led to absentee voting by record num- to vote. BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH WEEK
bers of Georgians. It put strict requirements there. Madam President, no community in
When Mr. Raffensperger didn’t mail appli- If election problems arise, a common oc- America has been spared from the
cations again for the general election, sev- currence, it is now more difficult [even in COVID–19 pandemic. Nationwide, we
eral local government agencies did so, par- court] to extend voting hours. have lost nearly 570,000 mothers, fa-
ticularly in Georgia’s large urban counties. With a mix of changes to vote-counting, thers, grandparents, neighbors, and
This is a move that is now being high-turnout elections will probably mean
long, long waits for results.
friends. In Illinois, the number is
made illegal by the law created by the 21,000.
legislature and signed by Governor And we remember what happened Like so many other diseases and
Kemp. last year when, during that period of health conditions, the pandemic has in-
calculating, President Trump went to flicted disproportionate harm on com-
With the loss of automatically mailed ap-
plications, some voters will invariably not town with all sorts of bizarre theories munities of color: Black Americans,
request a ballot, since the application served rejected by scores of courts as to voter Native Americans, and members of the
as a reminder to people that were eligible to fraud that never was found. Latinx community. Sadly, these dis-
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
vote. Election officials can no longer accept parities come as no surprise. America
Keep in mind, it wasn’t the ballot third-party funding, (a measure that nods to
has a long history of medical inequal-
rightwing conspiracy theories) [that Presi-
that was sent without solicitation; it dent Trump is also peddling].
ity. From premature births to pre-
was an application that had to be re- With an eye toward voter fraud, the state mature deaths, people of color suffer
turned by the voter before they actu- attorney general [manages] an election hot- disproportionately in America’s trou-
ally received the ballot. It was a re- line. bled health system. People of color in
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S1884 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 13, 2021
America suffer more chronic and acute waiver to allow Medicaid-eligible rying physical and emotional scars for
health conditions; they are likely to go women in our State to keep their a lifetime. These victims are our neigh-
without needed medical care; and they health coverage for a year after their bors, our friends, our families, and even
have shorter life expectancies. The rea- pregnancies. a 1-year-old baby like Kayden Swann.
sons for the disparities are many, but Representatives KELLY, UNDERWOOD, I am glad President Biden is stepping
they include access to affordable Senator DUCKWORTH, and I have been up to this issue and taking action. Last
healthcare, inadequate research, and leading letters and championing this week, the President stood in the White
too few healthcare professionals of effort from our State, and, this week, I House Rose Garden and called gun vio-
color. am happy to announce that the Biden- lence exactly what it is. It is a public
Martin Luther King, Jr., called Harris administration granted that health crisis. He is right. We need to
healthcare inequality the most shock- waiver, making Illinois the very first take a public health approach to re-
ing and inhumane form of injustice. State in the Nation to extend duce the violence that is killing so
Far too often, this inequality begins postpartum Medicaid coverage for new many of our fellow Americans.
even before birth. It should shock the moms. This will ensure access to vital There is a playbook that works. We
conscience of America—one of the health services, help to promote better need to gather data and study the prob-
wealthiest nations on Earth—that we birth outcomes, reduce the rate of ma- lem, identify causes and risk factors,
have one of the poorest records on the ternal sickness and death in my home and develop targeted prevention and
globe for maternal health. State, and, I hope, set the stage as a intervention strategies that will help
Think of this: The United States is 1 model for other States to follow. to bring the number of shootings down.
of only 13 nations in the world wherein I can think of no better way to honor We have stopped epidemics before—we
the maternal mortality rate—the death this year’s Black Maternal Health are in the midst of one now—and we
of mothers—is worse now than it was 25 Week than to support State efforts to can do it again if we are willing to
years ago. How is that possible? Every expand Medicaid healthcare to new stand up and act. It works.
year in America, nearly 1,000 women moms. Another way would be to pass President Biden took action last
die from pregnancy-related complica- Senator BOOKER’s 2021 Black Maternal week and announced a set of common-
tions, and 70,000 others suffer near fatal Health Week resolution, which I am sense steps that are consistent with
complications as a result of pregnancy. proud to cosponsor. the Second Amendment and that actu-
Now think of this: Women of color in As poet Maya Angelou told us, we ally will help reduce violence. He
the United States are two to three cannot change the past, but when we wants to reduce the proliferation of
times more likely than White women know better, we must do better. We homemade ‘‘ghost guns,’’ which are
to die as a result of pregnancy. In Illi- now know that we can do better to pro- untraceable and often undetectable;
nois, sadly, that number is six times tect the lives of pregnant women and regulate the use of stabilizing braces
more likely. What makes these mater- newborn babies, and I am pleased that that can effectively convert pistols
nal deaths even more tragic is that an my State of Illinois will be part of into short-barreled rifles, like the
estimated 60 percent—more than half leading that effort. weapon that was used by the gunman
of them—are preventable. GUN VIOLENCE in Boulder; put forth a model State ex-
I have given much thought to this Madam President, today, in Chicago, treme risk protection order law that
and have spoken with real experts, at the Lurie Children’s Hospital—one would help States that want to use
which is why ROBIN KELLY—the Con- of our best—little 1-year-old Kayden these interventions; restart an annual
gresswoman from Illinois—and I joined Swann is in critical condition, clinging firearms trafficking report that tracks
with Senator DUCKWORTH and a number to life in the pediatric intensive care patterns of illicit gun trafficking;
of other Democratic Senators in intro- unit. nominate a gun safety expert David
ducing legislation to decrease Amer- Last week, at 11 a.m., on a Tuesday Chipman to give the ATF its first con-
ica’s rates of maternal sickness and morning on Lake Shore Drive—one of firmed leader since 2015. I am going to
death, especially among new mothers the busiest thoroughfares in the city— pay special attention to this nominee
of color. We call our measure the 1-year-old Kayden was shot in the head because it will come through the Sen-
MOMMA Act. while riding in the backseat of a car. ate Judiciary Committee.
One of the major provisions of this He was an innocent victim hit in a road How many times have you heard it
legislation is a requirement that Med- rage shooting. said that we don’t need new laws; we
icaid provide health coverage for new As we pray for Kayden’s recovery, as just need to enforce the laws that are
moms for a full year post-pregnancy in- we express gratitude for the medical on the books? One of the Agencies that
stead of just 60 days, which it currently workers who are working around the enforces these laws is the Bureau of Al-
is. Congresswoman KELLY and I worked clock to keep him alive, we have to ask cohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explo-
hard to get a modified version of this ourselves a basic question: When it sives, or ATF. What the gun lobby has
provision in the American Rescue Plan, comes to this sickening gun violence done over the years is to make sure the
President Biden’s singular achieve- that happens every day in our country, ATF hasn’t had the money or hasn’t
ment in his first few weeks in office. what are we going to do? Give up or had any leaders. We haven’t had any-
Thanks to the law, States now have the stand up? one in the post for 6 years at the ATF
option to expand their Medicaid pro- On March 23, I held a hearing on gun with Senate confirmation. I want to
grams for new mothers for the next 5 violence in our Judiciary Committee. change that if we can.
years. There was a mass shooting spree that Last, but certainly not least, the
Making sure that new moms have killed eight people in Atlanta, GA, on President announced billions of dollars
health coverage for a full year post- the day I announced the hearing. Then for evidence-based community violence
pregnancy will go a long way toward there was a mass shooting in Boulder, intervention programs through the
catching, preventing, and treating po- CO, that killed 10 people the night be- American Jobs Plan and other grant
tentially life-threatening conditions fore the hearing. Others have followed. program efforts. These are smart, tar-
and problems. This is critical because, Since that hearing on March 23, ac- geted, and important proposals that
in some States—even in my State of Il- cording to the Gun Violence Archive, are well within the bounds of the Con-
linois—nearly 60 percent of pregnancy- there have been at least 38 mass shoot- stitution and the President’s author-
associated deaths occur between 43 and ings in less than a month in America, ity. I commend him for that action.
364 days postpartum. where a ‘‘mass shooting’’ is defined as Yet we shouldn’t leave it to the
Well, there is good news to report an incident where at least four people President alone. We have a responsi-
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
today. While we are still working to were shot. This past weekend—and I bility, too. We have to make sure we
pass the MOMMA Act, the State of Illi- am sorry to say this is not an excep- close the loopholes in the gun back-
nois pursued another avenue for ex- tion—25 people were shot in the city of ground check system that make it too
panding Medicaid coverage for new Chicago alone. Every day, we lose 109 easy for criminals and those with men-
moms. For over a year, Illinois has American lives to gun violence. Hun- tal instability to get guns. We have
been seeking a Medicaid section 1115 dreds more are shot and wounded, car- known it for years, but we haven’t
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