Muted p. Further, members are required to leave their cameras on the entire time theyre in an official proceeding, even if they step away from the camera in which case we should see an empty chair, as this is an entirely remote hearing. The committees hearing room is officially closed. Members who chose to sit with their individual devices in the hearing room must wear headphones to avoid feedback he can as and disportion resulting from more than one person on the platform sitting in the same room. Were also expected to hear the social distancing Safe Health Care guidelines, including the use of masks, gloves and wiping down the area before and after their presence in the hearing room. And i also note that when you ask questions if youre in the hearing room if the witness is also in the hearing room it would help if you mute while the answer is taking place because the answer is picked up by your mike and then that echoes back in this mutualal distortion. The roll call is not necessary to establish a quorum in official proceedings conducted remotely whenever there is a official proceeding with participation, the clerk will call the roll to help make clear who is present at the start of the proceeding so ill ask the clerk to call the roll. Chairman scott. Present. Mrs. Davis . Present. Mr. Griehal va . Present. Mr. Courtney . Present. Ms. Fudge . Present. Mr. Sublom . Ms. Wilson . Present. Ms. Biamicci . Present. Mr. Tacono . Ms. Adams . Present. Mr. Desagna . Mr. Norcroft . Present. Mr. Ipaul . Present. Mr. Morelli . Present. Ms. Wild . Mr. Harter . Mrs. Mcbabbs . Present. Ms. Shier . Present. Ms. Underwood . Present. Mrs. Hayes . Ms. Shalala . Mr. Levin . Present. Ms. Omar . Mr. Trump . Ms. Stevens . Present, thank you. Mrs. Lee . Mrs. Truhance . Present. Mr. Castro . Mrs. Fox . Present. Mr. Rowe . Mr. Compton . Mr. Wahlberg . Present. Mr. Guthrie . Mr. Burns . Present. Mr. Grossman . Ms. Stefanac . Present. Mr. Allen . Present. Mr. Smuckers . Mr. Banks . Mr. Walker . Mr. Culmer . Mr. Corins . Present. Mr. Fulter . Mr. Watkins . Present. Mr. Wright . Mr. Muser . Present. Mr. Johnson . Present, maam. Mr. Keller . Present. Mr. Murphy . Mr. Va ndrewk . Present. Chairman scott, this concludes the roll call. Excuse me, susan wild, present. Thank you. Anyone else want to note their presence . David trone, present. David trone, mrs. Underwood . Hello . Mr. Chairman, its congresswoman fox. I just want to note that congressman thompson was here and stepped out for just a moment. And also that we have several members at mrs. Barrs funeral today, both kentucky people as well as other states. So there are several absent because of that funeral going n right now. That is certainly understandable. Thank you very much. Pursuant to Committee Rule 7c, Opening Statements limited to chair and Ranking Member alius us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provide members adequate time to ask questions. I now recognize myself for the purpose of making an open statement. First, following up on the Ranking Members comment, i want to express my deepest condolences to our colleagues who are mourning the loss of loved ones. Our thoughts and prayers are with representative omar for the loss of her father, representative bonamicci for the loss of her mother, representative barr for the loss of his wife, and our friend not on the committee but a good friend Jim Sensenbrenner for the loss of his wife. Were living in tough times for everyone but i know that these are particularly difficult times for those mentioned, and we just want to wish them strength and peace and know that we are with them during this difficult time. Today were discussing how covid19 pandemic is exacerbating racial inequalities, education, labor and health and the steps Congress Must take to address these disparities. A mountain of evidence has made it clear that to effectively respond to this pandemic we must address the widening, existing racial inequities in education, the work force, and our health care system. In the area of education, racial bias, both intentional and unconscious and chronic underfunding of schools serving students of color have produced persistent achievement gaps. We know our nations k12 Public Schools entered this pan democrat wick a 23 billion racial funding gap. Thats the difference between the funding of School Districts serving predominantly students of color compared to School Districts serving predominantly white students. As schools abruptly closed this funding gap positioned students of color to fall even further behind their peers. Black and latino students were less likely to attend schools that had the capacity to rapidly establish high quality Distance Learning programs. And also are less likely to have the basic technology such as a personal computer, high speed internet, and the support at home needed to access Virtual Learning. As a result, latino students are expected to lose nine months of learning and black students are expected to lose 10 months of learning due to the pandemic. White students are expected to lose only six months. In addition to the pandemics impact on the achievement gap the center of budget and policy priorities project that states will face a 615 billion revenue shortfall over the next three years due to the pandemic. As the committee discussed during the hearing last week, the Public Education is usually one of the largest expenditures accounting for an average 40 of state budgets and unless the federal government provides immediate relief, the state and local governments, it wont matter the funding of education will be cut it wont matter whether education and funding will be cut but how much those cuts in education will be. While eltier districts can fall back on property tax revenue, low income public School Districts will have to continue to rely heavily on state funding. The School Districts that predominantly serve students of color, severe cuts in education and supporting social Service Programs will come at the time of greatest need. The consequences of these shortfalls are already evident. Nearly 750,000 Public School employees have already lost their jobs since march. In colorado, the state Legislature Just passed a budget that cuts 1 billion in schools next year. In the area of the work force, outlook to workers of color is similarly concerning. Black and latino workers who face significantly higher rates of unemployment and lower wages long before the pandemic have borne a disproportionate share of the lafse you will though the rate for latino workers lowered, rates for black workers increased in weeks and weeks. Among those who remained employed, workers of color are more likely to be employed by occupation such as meatpacking, grocery, health care and transportation with the highest risk of infection. Fewer than 20 of black and latino workers can work from home compared to nearly 30 of white workers. More than 410 black workers lack employment provided sick days. Because of these disparities, workers of color have been disproportionately affected by the department of labors refusal to off to issue enforceable Workplace Safety standards to protect workers from covid19. In addition to working in sectors with the highest risk of covid19 infections, the black and latino workers disproportionately work in low wage jobs. Regrettably congress has not raised the federal minimum wage in more than a decade, the longest period of time in its history. Still weak labor laws in court reeroded Labor Union Membership and workers collective bargaining rights which have left the essential workers vulnerable to poverty and unsafe workplaces and deadly virus. The most profound racial inequality in the society has been the pandemics devastating impact on the health of people of color. Nationwide, africanamericans have been diing from covid19 infections at about 2 1 2 times the rate of white americans. In new york city the epicenter of covid19 infections and death, the death rate for latinos in the month of april was about 22 people per 100,000 adjusted for population size and age. American indian and native communities are suffering disproportionately from covid19 infections and in late may the navajo nations surpassed new york, new jersey with the most infections per capita and follows the pattern of past diseases for native American Communities for the brunt of disease outbreaks due to the chronic longterm underfunding of health care across indian countries. As with these challenges in education and work force issues, the Health Disparities are rooted in structural inequality. People of color in the pandemic with Health Conditions often caused by structural problems including health care discrimination, housing instability, Food Insecurity and limited access to transportation. Years of state led budget cuts and Public Health have led to limited funding of rural health, rural and Community Hospitals in communities of color leaving families with few options to receive quality care. Unfortunately, instead of increasing access to Health Care Coverage, the Trump Administration has been actively working to take it away in the midst of the Public Health emergency. The texas lawsuit affects the entirecy of the federal care acts in all the laws of coverage gains and consumer protections. Hese efforts excuse me. These efforts disproportionately impact people of color. If these efforts these efforts to strike down the law are successful, estimates show that the uninsured rate among the Africanamerican Community would nearly double from 11 to 20 and the share of uninsured hispanic individuals would grow from 21 to 31 . Were not here to talk about the problem or what they call celebrate the problem, were here to discuss solutions. The heroes act which the house passed last month would take important steps towards addressing the racial inequalities that have been exposed and exacerbated through the pandemic. Th respect to education, legislation dedicates nearly 1 trillion in relief for states and localities to help avert painful cuts to Public Schools. It also goes a step further by proposing more than 100 billion in additional emergency Education Funding, to cover the cost of cleaning supplies and other expenses required to reopen, purchase Educational Technology like laptops and hot spots, sustain special education for students with disabilities and help colleges and universities maintain their institutions. To support workers, the heroes act directs osha to rapidly issue Emergency Temporary Standard that would require employees to implement protections for workers who are at highest risk for contracting covid19. It also expands access to emergency paid leave to nearly 140 million workers. While paid leave provisions in the family first Coronavirus Response act took important steps in the right direction, far too many workers including Many Health Care workers were excluded from those protections. So this heroes act puts family and medical back into family and medical leave by dramatically expanding the circumstances in which workers can take 12 weeks of emergency family and medical leave act pay, we should not force workers to choose between a paycheck of health and the health of the people around them. Improved healthy outcomes, the heroes act expands Health Care Insurance coverage for covid19 testing and treatment, provides full coverage for the cost of cobra premiums for laid off and furloughed workers and increases the investment and Health Nutrition and Community Support by including 1 billion to special w. I. C. Funding and an additional 1 billion for Community Services block grant initiatives to help address poverty. Finally, the heroes act invests 75 billion in testing and Contact Tracing to help contain the virus. This includes 500 million to recruit and train contact workers through the public work force system and Community Based organizations. Electively these provisions represent a major step taken by congress to help our nation get through this Global Health care crisis. As we confront this unprecedented challenge, we must accept our responsibility. To build a recovery that uplifts all communities, but if we fail to act well be experiencing a recovery that offers relief to some that leaves many low income communities and people of color to face long lasting or even permanent setbacks in education and access to health care. This systemic problem has sustained our countrys legacy for too long and look forward to hearing from our witnesses who will share with us the scope of the challenge and the policy considerations to get us on the right course. Im now pleased to recognize the distinguished Ranking Member, dr. Fox, for the purpose of her opening statement. Dr. Fox thank you, mr. Chairman. Before we begin, i also want to extend my condolences to our colleagues andy barr, Jim Sensenbrenner, Suzanne Bonamicci and ms. Omar who suffered the loss of a loved one recently. My prayers go out to them and their families during this difficult time. Mr. Chairman, youve heard me express my concerns about these Virtual Committee hearings but it bears repeating, they fly in the face of 230 years of congressional and legislative precedent. These Virtual Events undermine what our founders intended when they created our representative republic. Americans are stepping up to help combat this virus, while the elected leaders in the house entrusted with the job of representing their constituents stay home. Its shameful. Shameful. A number of my and mr. Chairman, just so you know, you mentioned this was an entirely remote hearing. It is not. A number of my republican colleagues and i are participating in this hearing today from the Committee Room in washington, d. C. And i encourage you and all the other members to return to congressional precedent and hold our hearings in person. Now turning to the topic of todays virtual hearing, the coronavirus and related state imposed shutdowns have caused devastating job losses and Unemployment Rates not seen since the great depression. Additionally, schools were forced to close their doors abruptly and switch to Remote Learning overnight which impacted 97 of our countrys students. But lets remember that prior to the covid19 pandemic, the u. S. Economy and labor market were strong. Real g. D. P. Increased 2. 3 in 2019 and 2. 9 in 2018. In february 2020, the Unemployment Rate was at a historic low of 3. 5 . Black unemployment was 5. 4 in august 2019. The lowest ever recorded. In september 2019, the hispanic Unemployment Rate was 3. 9 . Also, the lowest ever recorded. And in june 2019, asian unemployment was a record low 2. 1 . Furthermore, at the beginning of 2020, workers in the bottom 10 of income had higher average wage growth than those in the top 10 . By january 2020, low income workers low income earners saw a 15 increase in pay since the president took office. However, we know that americans, including minority communities, have felt the negative effects of these unprecedented times. The centers for Disease Control and prevention c. D. C. Estimates that blacks and hispanics account for nearly 40 of covid19 deaths in the u. S. Minority communities have also been impacted economically by pandemic related shutdowns with the rate of black owned businesses falling 41 , hispanic owned businesses falling 32 , and asian owned businesses falling 26 . We know the pro growth policies enacted by Congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration benefited workers, employers, and families before the onset of the covid19 pandemic. Reopening the economy responsibly and ensuring Public Health are not mutually exclusive. We can and we must open america again while taking into consideration the recommendations from our Public Health officials. Look at the may jobs report for proof. Last month 2. 5 million jobs were added to the economy. A significant indicator that reopening the economy safely is the best way to help all americans get back on their feet. Also just last week the wall street journal reported that, quote, new layoffs are being offset by employers hiring or recalling workers as states have allowed more businesses to reopen in recent weeks. The white house and c. D. C. Have issued guidelines for opening up america again. These detailed guidelines which include three phases based on professional guidance from Public Health officials are intended to help state and local leaders make timely decisio