Blumenthal Speaks on the Senate Floor to Call for Improved Connectivity & Bridging the Homework Gap for Students Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) spoke on the Senate Floor today to raise concerns about the stark homework and connectivity gap faced by students amid the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in communities of color. Blumenthal highlighted Connecticut as a model for improving kids’ connectivity, and called for the passage of the American Rescue Plan to provide additional funding to close the connectivity and homework gap for students in Connecticut and across the country.

“The homework gap has turned into a homework chasm and a homework crisis that threatens to set back students by months and even more,” Blumenthal said. “The American Rescue Program provides a model. It provides money, but also a model in how the homework gap can be bridged and the chasm avoided.”

“Connecticut has built a program called Everybody Learns at the initiative of our governor, Ned Lamont,” Blumenthal continued. “We've used federal money from the CARES Act, we've used significant private philanthropy, for example from Ray and Barbara Dalio, great citizens of the state of Connecticut and their foundation, which has contributed mightily, particularly in the Hartford area where the leadership of Mayor Luke Bronin has been absolutely critical. And what they've done very simply is provided tens of thousands of tablets, the kind of devices that are necessary for students to connect, and they provided hotspots so that students have that way of reaching the internet. No mystery, simply hard work and money. Most important: commitment.”

Blumenthal also spoke on the Senate Floor to call for strengthening the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and providing more resources for veterans. Blumenthal emphasized the need to pass the American Rescue Plan to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are quickly distributed to veterans and to help veterans with medical debt. Blumenthal touted Connecticut’s distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to veterans and stressed the need to invest in the repair and reconstruction of aging VA facilities like the West Haven hospital. Blumenthal also emphasized the need for rigorous oversight over the VA to ensure that waste or delay in veterans programs is mitigated.

“Under the leadership of Al Montoya at the West Haven VA and his remarkable team, our nation's heroes are receiving the vaccinations they need and deserve, more than 8,000 already. And the staff of the VA, 2,500, have received vaccinations. Not all want it, but the VA is reaching out to them, literally person by person, to ask them to come and assure them that this vaccination is safe and effective. Most assuredly it is,” Blumenthal said.

“This plan, the American Rescue Plan's distributing COVID-19 vaccines to veterans is so critically important,” Blumenthal continued. “These vaccines are reaching the arms of veterans, but the VA system needs support and investment to do its job.”

“A broader infrastructure plan that will, for example, reconstruct and rehabilitate that West Haven hospital. It dates from the 1950's. It has a new shell, but its structure is aging and aged, degrading and sometimes in some ways decrepit. The VA has done a great job of sustaining and maintaining it, but this reconstruction is absolutely necessary,” Blumenthal said. “Just a few months ago we suffered in Connecticut a tragic accident when two workers at that VA hospital were killed while they were doing maintenance. It was unnecessary, avoidable, preventable, but it demonstrates the weaknesses and defects in the construction that remains in that hospital.”

Blumenthal’s full remarks from his speech on the homework gap, as delivered, are available below. The full remarks from Blumenthal’s speech on the VA are copied below.

Floor Speech on Aiding Students Experiencing Homework Gap

Thank you, Mr. President. I'm really honored to follow my colleague from Massachusetts, Ed Markey, one of the premiere founders, the father of E-Rate who knows better than anyone how investment in online learning and connectivity can make a crucial difference in all of our lives. In the lives of seniors, in the lives of people who live in communities of color, and other underserved areas of our country. But most important, it can make a crucial difference in the lives of schoolchildren and most crucially right now. The simple stark fact about this pandemic is that it has locked out of classrooms millions of students around the country. We need to get those students back into the classrooms. It has to be done safely. In the meantime, online learning is going to be critical for them. And yet substantial numbers, most especially in communities of color, lack the connectivity and the devices they need to open classroom doors.

In many of those households, working parents simply can't be around to supervise their children. So it's more than just the nuts and bolts and devices. It's learning about how to learn online. But at the very least the nuts and bolts have to be there, and that's why this American Rescue Program is so critical to the lives and learning of these millions of students.

The simple fact is that this homework gap is no longer a gap. It's a chasm. The homework gap has turned into a homework chasm and a homework crisis that threatens to set back students by months and even more. The fact is right now, students are estimated across the country to have lost three to five years. In communities of color, that loss may be even worse. And once students have suffered that loss in learning, catching up, overcoming it, bridging that gap is very difficult and sometimes impossible to do, which is a lifelong potential setback for them. We are in effect disadvantaging American education by allowing this homework chasm to continue. The American Rescue Program provides a model. It provides money, but also a model in how the homework gap can be bridged and the chasm avoided.

We made a promise. America makes a promise to its students that the basics of education will be provided so they can have an equal chance at the American dream. We are failing to keep that promise. Now, there is really nothing mysterious about how to bridge this gap. In fact, I'm proud to say that my state of Connecticut has done it very significantly. I'm tempted to say has done it, but nobody's perfect. Connecticut has built a program called Everybody Learns at the initiative of our governor, Ned Lamont. We've used federal money from the CARES Act, we've used significant private philanthropy, for example from Ray and Barbara Dalio, great citizens of the state of Connecticut and their foundation, which has contributed mightily, particularly in the Hartford area where the leadership of Mayor Luke Bronin has been absolutely critical. And what they've done very simply is provided tens of thousands of tablets, the kind of devices that are necessary for students to connect, and they provided hotspots so that students have that way of reaching the internet. No mystery, simply hard work and money. Most important: commitment.

I'm asking my colleagues today for that same commitment to our nation, and to Connecticut, which needs to finish the job of connecting. The Secretary of Education, or the nominee for that position, Miguel Cardona knows very well the importance of online working. He has championed it in Connecticut. Yesterday he testified about it to the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, and he is going to be a very steadfast advocate, a trusted champion for online learning. But he too needs the tools and the resources.

Think of it not as a spending item, not as a funding measure, it's an investment. It's an investment in the basics of devices and connectivity. It's an investment in our young people. Connecticut has made that investment and we should not be skimping or cutting corners on our young people. We should not be, in effect, shortchanging them at this critical time when connectivity, broadband, online learning are really the lifeline for them. Let's put them online with this lifeline, give them the ability to continue their education even as the pandemic locks them out of classrooms. They may be physically no longer in person, but online they can connect and if they are denied that online access, they are truly locked out of learning, not just locked out of their classroom, and that would be a disgrace for this nation.

I thank my colleagues for what I hope will be their commitment to continuing American teaching and education online during this unparalleled, uniquely painful and difficult time in our nation's history. We can make it easier for students. We can save them the homework chasm and the homework crisis. Thank you, Mr. President. And I yield the floor.

Floor Speech on Supporting the VA & Veterans

I'm honored to follow my colleague, Senator Brown, on an issue that should be close to all of our hearts, which is strengthening our VA. So that it can provide more assistance, more help, more support for our nation's heroes. I had the great opportunity last Sunday to spend time at the West Haven VA Hospital, where literally thousands of vaccines are being administered hour by hour to our veterans. Around 25 percent of the veterans of Connecticut eligible to receive it have vaccinations administered to them. That 25 percent is way above the 10 percent of the entire population of our state, and it is a great beginning under the leadership of Al Montoya at the West Haven VA and his remarkable team, our nation's heroes are receiving the vaccinations they need and deserve, more than 8,000 already. And the staff of the VA, 2,500, have received vaccinations. Not all want it, but the VA is reaching out to them, literally person by person, to ask them to come and assure them that this vaccination is safe and effective. Most assuredly it is.

So the VA is moving forward, but much more needs to be done. And a lot of that VA target population is among the most vulnerable by virtue of age, by virtue of preexisting conditions, by virtue of their service and exposure and comorbidities. And that is why this plan, the American Rescue Plan's distributing COVID-19 vaccines to veterans is so critically important. Nine thousand VA patients have died of coronavirus, although one million nationwide of our veterans have received vaccinations, there are many, many more who have not. And these vaccines are reaching the arms of veterans, but the VA system needs support and investment to do its job.

Likewise, this pandemic has imposed mental health burdens on our veterans. The veterans who are shut in, likewise, the veterans who have no homes, veterans in all parts of the country have been stressed and strained just like everyone else. In fact, maybe more so. And medical health services available through telemedicine are more important than ever, but they alone are not going to accomplish this purpose. So again, what we've seen in Connecticut through the CBOC’s and what’s accomplished through telemedicine, what is provided through counseling all shows additional investment will produce even better care for our veterans.

A lot of our veterans have debts, some of them medical debts. They need help. And this American Rescue Plan provides assistance for them. I've been a long-term advocate of extending VA health care to more veterans. I'm proud this plan would allow struggling veterans to get more health care at the VA, but relieving veterans from the burden of medical costs is not enough. We need to deliver stimulus payments, unemployment insurance, aid to small businesses so that we can lift the broader economic pain brought on by COVID-19. Veterans are part of our general population. Those general programs are part of what we owe to them.

All these programs need more oversight and more vigorous scrutiny as we go forward to prevent the kind of waste or delay that we've seen sometimes in veterans programs. That's why the funds for the VA would be directed in part to oversight by the VA Office of the Inspector General. Through oversight by the Inspector General in combination with rigorous Congressional oversight, we can ensure that these dollars are being spent effectively in accordance with Congressional priorities in a way that best supports our veterans.

A broader plan is also necessary. A broader infrastructure plan that will, for example, reconstruct and rehabilitate that West Haven hospital. It dates from the 1950's. It has a new shell, but its structure is aging and aged, degrading and sometimes in some ways decrepit. The VA has done a great job of sustaining and maintaining it, but this reconstruction is absolutely necessary. The capital investment must be made. And so our VA facilities, airports, roads and bridges all are in need of vital repair and reconstruction. That is part of the broader plan that must be undertaken. Priority must be given to those VA facilities. Just a few months ago we suffered in Connecticut a tragic accident when two workers at that VA hospital were killed while they were doing maintenance. It was unnecessary, avoidable, preventable, but it demonstrates the weaknesses and defects in the construction that remains in that hospital. It must be remediated and improved, and the best way to do it is through a new building, not just a new exterior, not just cosmetic work, but truly an infrastructure program that keeps faith with our veterans.

There is no excuse for delaying this COVID-19 rescue plan. Delay is unconscionable. Time is not on our side. We need decisive, bold, and big action to meet the needs that our veterans have and all of the American people have in this time of unique, painful, and continuing crisis. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

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