Unifying Against COVID-19
Our nation has officially begun its next chapter! Over the course of our 245 years as a country, we've had our share of soaring highs and challenging lows. As we move forward, we certainly face our own set of daunting challenges, but as I have shared since the start of this pandemic, I remain confident that, working together, we can get past any obstacle and ensure our best days are in front of us.
After less than a week in office, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have already taken several historic and life-saving steps to heal our nation, ranging from launching the ‘100 Day Masking Challenge' to rejoining the Paris Climate Accords. I am confident, we are once again moving forward with a renewed sense of momentum and unity.
In more personal news, I completed my COVID quarantine late last week. I am excited to be working from my office instead of my basement, and I am grateful to be able to see and spend time with my family once again.
I want to take a moment to express my extreme gratitude to everyone who reached out to me during my illness. The overwhelming outpouring of concern, care and love was the best medicine imaginable, and gave both Julie and me strength through a difficult period. You all will forever be held in our hearts.
As an update on all of this, I recorded a Facebook Live Town Hall last Friday that you can watch here.
Keep reading below for information on what's going on in Washington and COVID-19 updates in the district.
COVID-19 UPDATES
In Washington
As a vocal critic of President Trump's casual attitude toward our nation's health, I was proud to see President Biden start acting on day one to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The president's ‘100 Day Masking Challenge' is a critical public health milestone that will require masks on all federal property and in certain spaces like public transportation. President Biden also showed his empathy and dedication to support working families by extending the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums and by extending the pause on student loan payments to provide economic relief.
In the District
Both Lake and suburban Cook Counties have moved into Phase 1B for COVID-19 vaccinations. Phase 1B includes people aged 65 and over, high-risk adults, and frontline workers including first responders, manufacturing employees and grocery store workers.
The Lake County Health Department vaccination site is housed at the Lake County Fairgrounds, located at 1060 E Petersen Rd, Grayslake, 60030. The county is finalizing plans for certain schools to serve as host sites for vaccine clinics for preK-12 teachers and staff, as well as authorize manufacturing facilities to assist in vaccinating their employees.
Supplies of the vaccine are still limited, and patience is appreciated during the rollout of the next phase.
Lake County Residents:Register for the vaccine at AllVax.
Cook County Residents:Register for the vaccine here.
As always, you can find detailed information, reference data regarding COVID and various assistance programs on my website.
Volunteer to Help Respond to COVID-19
Lake County is calling for volunteers who are able to help the community respond to COVID-19.
There are a variety of ways to get involved, from delivering meals to seniors, donating blood, donating PPE, and more.
Learn more and view a list of volunteer opportunities here.
THIS WEEK IN WASHINGTON
Reintroduction of the Bipartisan Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act
Following the terrifying attack on the Capitol, which left five dead and many injured, including a Capitol Police Officer, the entire nation has been seized by the potential threat of more terrorist attacks in Washington and around the country.
The threat of domestic terrorism is not a new phenomenon. For years, white supremacists and far-right extremists have been threatening Americans with further violence to meet their extreme racially-motivated goals. In 2019, a Trump Administration official explained in the New York Times that "white supremacy and far-right extremism are among the greatest domestic-security threats facing the United States. Regrettably, over the past 25 years, law enforcement, at both the Federal and State levels, has been slow to respond." In 2019, domestic extremists killed at least 42 people in the United States in 17 separate incidents. Last September, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to Congress that racially motivated violent extremism (RMVE), and in particular white supremacists-type ideology, is the greatest domestic terror threat.
That's why last week I was joined by House colleagues, 3 Republicans and 3 Democrats, to introduce the bipartisan Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2021. Our own Senator Dick Durbin, who has led this effort since 2017, will introduce the companion legislation in the Senate. Our bill creates offices in the FBI and Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to identify, monitor and thwart potential domestic terror threats—including from white supremacist groups and individuals. The bill requires the three offices to coordinate their efforts, track their progress, and report to Congress twice a year. It is important to note that this bill does not establish new domestic terrorism statutes or create national listings of domestic groups or individuals. Nor does it create any new investigative powers or authorities for law enforcement, or establish any new law enforcement agency or entity.
Combatting the threat of domestic terrorism and white supremacy is not a Democratic or Republican issue, not left versus right or urban versus rural. Domestic Terrorism is an American issue, a serious threat that we can and must address together.
IMMIGRATION RESOURCES
Join me for an Immigration Webinar on President Biden's Executive Orders
Thursday, January 28 at 5:00 pm
I was excited to see that the Biden Administration is making immigration reform a top priority and has already taken action on DACA and other immigration issues. I invite you to join me this Thursday to learn about President Biden's newly announced executive orders and their impact on our immigration system. I am excited to have policy experts with me to discuss the new policies and help answer any questions that you may have.
Quiero invitarlos a un foro virtual sobre las Órdenes Ejecutivas de inmigración en los que se ofrecerá interpretación simultánea. Espero que nos puedan acompañar.
Foro virtual sobre las Órdenes Ejecutivas de Inmigración
Jueves, Enero 28 a las 5:00 PM
Únase al Congresista Brad Schneider en un foro virtual para conocer sobre las órdenes ejecutivas recientemente anunciadas por el Presidente Biden y su impacto en nuestro sistema de inmigración. Expertos presentarán las nuevas políticas, y responderán preguntas. Interpretación en Español estará disponible.
RECAP: SMALL BUSINESS WEBINAR
Last week, I hosted a webinar with experts from the Small Business Administration to help explain resources available to small businesses struggling due to COVID-19. As a recap, here are some of the tools now available:
- Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) – Applications for first-time borrowers are now open; applications for borrowers who have previously received a loan open Wednesday, Jan. 13
- Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) – Application deadline extended until December 31, 2021
IN CLOSING
If you watched the Inauguration on Wednesday, I am sure you were captivated by the words of Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman. At 22 years old, Amanda is our nation's youngest ever Inaugural Poet! But she will be remembered less for her age than her wisdom and poise on the inaugural stage. And a fun fact: Amanda says she was first drawn to poetry in third grade upon hear Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine (Waukegan's own!).
For those who missed her last week, and even for those who did see it, you can watch her performance here. I think it's worth watching it again to experience the uplift and hope of her vision for our nation. Gorman explained to the New York Times:
"In my poem, I'm not going to in any way gloss over what we've seen over the past few weeks and, dare I say, the past few years. But what I really aspire to do in the poem is to be able to use my words to envision a way in which our country can still come together and can still heal," she said. "It's doing that in a way that is not erasing or neglecting the harsh truths I think America needs to reconcile with."
I've also included a copy of the poem below for you to appreciate the power of her words.
Thanks for reading and, please, continue to remain safe, healthy and hopeful.
Onward,
Bradley S. Schneider
Member of Congress
The Hill We Climb
Amanda Gorman
When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea. We must wade.
We've braved the belly of the beast.
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace.
In the norms and notions of what just is, isn't always just-ice.
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow we do it.
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken, but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one.
And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn't mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge our union with purpose.
To compose a country, committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man.
And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.
That even as we grieved, we grew.
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried that will forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid.
If we're to live up to our own time, then victory won't lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we've made.
That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb.
If only we dare. It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit.
It's the past we step into and how we repair it.
We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We've seen a force that would shatter or nation, rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth, in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. This is the era of just redemption.
We feared it at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it, we found the power to author a new chapter.
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be a country that is bruised,
But whole. Benevolent, but bold, fierce, and free.
We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Our blunders become their burdens, but one thing is certain.
If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children's birthright.
So let us leave behind a country better than the one we are left with.
With every breath in my bronze pounded chest,
We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the West.
We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the Lake Rim cities of the Midwestern States.
We will arise from the sun-baked South.
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover in every known nook in our nation.
In every corner called our country,
Our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful.
When day comes, we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid. The new dawn balloons, as we free it.
For there is always light.
If only we're brave enough to see it.
If only we're brave enough to be it.