Richard Durbin

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), and the Senator from New York (Mr. Schumer) are necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, February 9, be waived.

Mr. DURBIN. I yield the floor.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 7.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 12.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 15.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman) and the Senator from New York (Mr. Schumer) are necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, every parent in America remembers the first day they sent their child off to school. For many parents, this is a day filled with tears of joy as they send their child off into the world alone for the first time. For others, it is a day of worry and fear. Parents wonder if their child will be able to find their classrooms or if they will make friends. Some even worry if their child's school could be the scene of the senseless violence that occurs all too often in this country. But for the parents of a child with severe allergies, there is another serious fear: the threat of anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis causes blood pressure to plummet, airways to constrict and close, and the heart to beat erratically and stop. It can turn deadly, quickly. Even a trace amount of an allergen can be enough to trigger anaphylaxis. Only one drug can halt and reverse the progression of anaphylaxis: epinephrine. But as miraculous as the drug is, it can't help if it is not on hand when the unthinkable happens. That is why, in 2013, I introduced the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act to make schools safer for children with food allergies. At the time, schools often did not stock epinephrine, or ``EpiPens,'' as it is often called. This left children with food allergies vulnerable at school, especially those who may not have known they are allergic. Sometimes, children forget their EpiPens at home; others don't have EpiPens to begin with. My 2013 bill encouraged more schools to keep epinephrine on hand by providing them with federal grants. It received bipartisan support, and it was signed into law by President Obama. Over the last 10 years, it has saved lives, and it has given parents and students alike greater peace of mind that their school will be prepared to respond to a life- threatening emergency. But, I have thought since then: What more can we do to prevent allergic reactions from occurring in the first place? I hear from parents across my State of Illinois who are concerned about sending their children with food allergies to school. Tamara Hubbard from Lake Zurich, IL, is one of those parents. She is the mother of a teenage son who has food allergies. Ms. Hubbard also happens to be a therapist whose practice includes working with children who have food allergies and their families. She wrote to me and told me that: ``It takes a daily dose of blind faith mixed with hope'' to send a child with food allergies to school. For a child with a peanut or sesame allergy, she said, going to school can be a lot like entering the lion's den. These and other common food allergens are often contained in school meals and in the snacks and lunches of other children. You have to be careful. Ms. Hubbard said that the families she counsels are often left wondering, ``Does our school staff understand allergen labeling? Are they aware of cross-contamination best practices and how to make safe ingredient substitutions for lunches?'' And what if they are not aware? That last one is a hard question to contemplate because we know the worst can--and does--happen. Last May, Tom Shaw, a father in Papillon, NE, just outside of Omaha, dropped his 14-year-old son, Jagger, off at school, gave him a hug and told him to have a good day--just as he had done every school day. But this was not a normal day. You see, like 1 in 50 American children, Jagger was allergic to peanuts. But at snack time, he was given a granola bar that had peanuts in it. Almost immediately, Jagger's heart started racing, and his throat began to swell. He went to the school nurse's office, where he was injected with an EpiPen. But his condition continued to worsen quickly. By the time Jagger was rushed to the hospital, his heart had stopped beating. He had to be resuscitated and put on a ventilator. He suffered serious damage to his heart and brain. Two days after eating that granola bar, Jagger died. Last month, a 10- year-old girl in Amarillo, TX, Emerson Kate Cole, also died after she went into anaphylaxis at school. Nearly 1 million children nationwide have had an allergic reaction at school. And 25 percent of these reactions occur among children who have undiagnosed food allergies. We can and must do more to prevent children with allergies, diagnosed and undiagnosed, from experiencing potentially deadly reactions to food allergens in schools. That is why, 2 weeks ago, Senator Duckworth and I introduced the Protecting Children with Food Allergies Act. Our bill would require cafeteria workers and other school nutrition workers to receive training in how to identify, prevent, and respond to food-related allergic reactions. That is it. It is a simple fix that would make our schools safer for children with food allergies so that they can focus on learning, not on whether or not they might have an allergic reaction at lunchtime. These cooks, servers, and other cafeteria workers already undergo other sorts of trainings, such as to prevent the spread of foodborne pathogens. We think they also should know the basics on food allergy safety, too. The Protecting Children with Food Allergies Act would move us in that direction. We hope our colleagues will join us and support this bill with a strong bipartisan vote, just as we did in 2013. Our kids are depending on us. Let's pass this bill and send it to the President's desk as soon as possible. When it comes to food allergies and potentially deadly anaphylaxis, every minute counts.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) is necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, by all accounts, America has made a remarkable recovery in the last 2 years. When President Biden entered office, we faced the worst public health crisis in the history of our country, the most daunting economic challenge since the Great Depression, and a global upheaval that disrupted every aspect of our lives. Two years later, America is coming back. Thanks to the work of our Democratic majority, the cost of living is finally coming down. But we are not out of the woods yet. If you travel in my State of Illinois, which I have been doing over the last several weeks--especially in Central and Southern Illinois-- you will notice the same sign hanging in one business after another: ``Help Wanted.'' You can't help but notice in my hometown of Springfield, there is a franchise of Chicken Fingers that is going to be opening soon. There is a sign outside the soon-to-be completed building that says $15 an hour, please call us to work in fast food. While businesses are reopening their doors and demand for goods and services is rebounding, America is still struggling with a shortage of workers. I hear it everywhere, particularly in the healthcare sector, where the shortage of nurses and medical professionals really creates a hardship in the center city, as well as in urban areas, small towns, and large cities alike. This shortage of medical professionals is a national emergency, which I will address at another time. In addition to that, we have to ask ourselves, what is the reason for the shortage? Make no mistake, the decision of the Trump administration to cut down legal immigration to the United States is one of the reasons. We usually have about 1 million immigrants a year, legal immigrants, come to work. During the Trump years, a total of 4 years, it was 1 million. So they cut the number by three-fourths. We wonder why we are still looking for workers. Let's be very honest about it. Whether in the city of Chicago, Springfield, or downstate Illinois, these immigrant workers are willing to take jobs many Americans will not take. They work harder at them and really do their best to help their families get started in this country. That is the story of America, and it is a story that needs to be repeated because immigration labor at this point is critical not just in the cities but in the agricultural areas, as the Presiding Officer from New Mexico knows well. We need workers, and we need good ones, and immigrants can be part of that workforce. At the same time, there is a fundamental problem in our economy that we need to be addressing honestly. The work-life balance is out of whack. Today, fewer and fewer Americans are willing to work long hours for survival wages, especially when they have urgent, personal family responsibilities at home, like caring for an infirm parent or a newborn. Last month, I received a letter from one of my constituents in Illinois. It speaks to the problems facing parents and caregivers, as well as many others. She wrote: My husband and I both have good jobs. . . . We have three children. [The cost of childcare accounts for] over a quarter of our monthly take home [pay]. All of our other bills combined don't even equal that. I can only imagine the burden on other families. . . . No wonder unemployment is so high. How are people able to afford or even find childcare[?] This constituent asks if Congress has any plans to revive the enhanced child tax credit that we included in the American Rescue Plan. I wish I could tell her yes, but sadly the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives does not even mention this as a priority in the future. Daycare and childcare and caregivers are a critical part of family life for so many Americans. Yet, the Republicans, at least in the House of Representatives, are ignoring the reality. Beyond the child tax credit, her letter makes one thing clear: Our safety net has too many holes in America, and if a parent working a full-time job can still fall through that, then clearly we have work to do. I think about that constituent's story as we approach the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act this Sunday. Back in 1993, this law passed Congress with broad bipartisan support. In the decade since, more than 315 million workers have relied on that to take care of themselves and their family members. It is hard to imagine, but in the days before the Family and Medical Leave Act, America had zero Federal job protections for workers with a new baby or a sick family member at home. This law was a massive victory for working families, but today, it is just not enough. The Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers. How does that help pay for the diapers, the formula, medications? Well, it just doesn't. Worse yet, many full- time workers are excluded from the law's basic job protections. In Illinois alone, nearly 60 percent of working adults don't qualify for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act--6 out of 10 workers. Here is the bottom line: If you want to get America back to work, you need to back them up. The Family and Medical Leave Act is a promising foundation, but it just isn't enough. We need to modernize the American safety net for a new generation of workers. Think about this: Over the next decade, adults over the age of 65 are projected to outnumber children in America for the first time in our history. That is going to make life even more challenging for the 53 million Americans who are today already serving as caregivers for a family member or partner. This is particularly challenging for young Americans. One in four family caregivers is a millennial who, on average, spends 21 hours a week caring for a loved one at home. That is more than half of a full workweek, and they don't see a dollar for it. These Americans, many of whom are also balancing a full-time job with full-time responsibilities as a caregiver, really need our help. They deserve it--at least a living wage to start with. Our Federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. There is not a single part of the country where $7.25 an hour is enough--not even close. Let's raise it. While we are at it, let's also revive that enhanced child tax credit that reduced child poverty in America by one-third. Think about that. Kids living in poverty--the total was reduced by one-third just from the child tax credit. That is breathing room for a lot of parents to make ends meet. If we really want to help Americans get back to work, we should start by building on the success of the Family and Medical Leave Act. (The remarks of Mr. Durbin pertaining to the introduction of S. 242 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'') Mr. Durbin. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, today I am reintroducing the Caring for All Families Act. It will expand protections of the Family and Medical Leave Act and ensure that a broader range of caregiving relationships are covered. In 2020, the Department of Labor found that one in six people taking leave to act as caregiver was not protected by the Family and Medical Leave Act's definition of ``family.'' It really begs the question: How many of these people decided to drop out of the workforce altogether? How many of them were fired because they missed a shift because their child woke up with a fever or because an elderly relative was rushed to the ER? No one should ever have to choose between caring for a loved one or losing their job. The Caring for All Families Act will help protect these workers by adding domestic partners, in-laws, grandparents, and other significant relationships to the FMLA's definition of ``family.'' Importantly, this legislation will just be a starting point. While it would expand job protections to millions of workers, it would not resolve one crucial flaw in our safety net. America is the only industrialized Nation in the world that does not have guaranteed paid family leave. I am going to repeat that. America is the only industrialized Nation in the world that does not guarantee paid family leave. That is shameful. For the millions of working Americans who have or will be caregivers at some point in their lives, what are they supposed to do? Take on debt? Work even more hours? No. We cannot settle for a system that abandons working families when they need it the most. The American people deserve a safety net that prevents them from drowning, a safety net that provides the peace of mind they need to reenter the workforce, and offers them the assurance that their government has their back. So let's start. Let's pass the Caring for All Families Act and then get to work to ensure access to paid leave for all American workers.

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record: