Declaring racism a public health crisis.

IV 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 344 Declaring racism a public health crisis. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 22, 2021 Mrs. HAYES (for herself and Mr. CA´RDENAS) submitted the following resolu- tion; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned RESOLUTION Declaring racism a public health crisis. Whereas since the Nation’s founding, the United States has had a longstanding history and legacy of racism, mis- treatment, and discrimination against African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and other people of color; Whereas the United States ratified over 350 treaties with sovereign indigenous communities, has broken the prom- ises made in such treaties, and has historically failed to carry out its trust responsibilities to Native Americans, including American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, as made evident by the chronic and pervasive underfunding of the Indian Health Service and Tribal, Urban Indian, and Native Hawaiian health care, the vast health and socioeconomic disparities faced by Native VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR344.IH HR344 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 344 IH American people, and the inaccessibility of many Federal public health and social programs in Native American communities; Whereas people of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, who became Americans through conquest, were subject to, but never full members of the polity of the United States and experienced widespread discrimination in employment, housing, education, and health care; Whereas the immoral paradox of slavery and freedom is an indelible wrong traced throughout the Nation’s history, as African Americans lived under the oppressive institu- tion of slavery from 1619 through 1865, endured the practices and laws of segregation during the Jim Crow era, and continue to face the ramifications of systemic racism through unjust and discriminatory structures and policies; Whereas before the enactment of the Medicare Program, the United States health care system was highly segregated, and, as late as the mid-1960s, hospitals, clinics, and doc- tors’ offices throughout Northern and Southern States complied with Jim Crow laws and were completely seg- regated by race—leaving Black communities with little to no access to health care services; Whereas between 1956 and 1967, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund litigated a series of court cases to eliminate discrimination in hospitals and profes- sional associations; Whereas the landmark case Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Me- morial Hospital, 323 F.2d 959 (1963), challenged the Federal Government’s use of public funds to expand, sup- VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR344.IH HR344 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 344 IH port, and sustain segregated hospital care, and provided justification for title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Medicare hospital certification program—establishing Medicare hospital racial integration guidelines that ap- plied to every hospital that participated in the Federal program; Whereas, in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, which concluded that White racism is responsible for the pervasive discrimination and segregation in employment, education, and housing, resulting in deepened racial divi- sion and continued exclusion of Black communities from the benefits of economic progress; Whereas language minorities, including Latinos, Asian Amer- icans, and Pacific Islanders, were not assured non- discriminatory access to federally funded services, includ- ing health services, until the signing of Executive Order 13166 in 2000; Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148) included provisions to expand the Medicaid program and—for the first time in the United States—established a Federal prohibition against dis- crimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs, building on other Federal civil rights laws; Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act re- quired reporting to Congress on health disparities based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability; Whereas several Federal programs have been established to address some, but not all, of the health outcomes that are disproportionately experienced by communities of color, VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR344.IH HR344 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 344 IH including sickle cell disease, tuberculosis, infant mor- tality, and HIV/AIDS; Whereas the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion works to raise awareness of health disparities faced by minority populations in the United States, such as Native Americans, Asian Americans, Black Americans, and Latino Americans, aiming to re- duce risk factors for groups affected by such health dis- parities; Whereas the United States health care system and other eco- nomic and social structures remain fraught with racism and racial, ethnic, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), and class biases that lead to health in- equity and health disparities; Whereas life expectancy rates for Black and Native American people in the United States are significantly lower than those of White people in the United States; Whereas disparities in health outcomes are exacerbated for LGBTQIA+ people of color; Whereas disparities in health outcomes are worsened for peo- ple of color with disabilities due to bias and inequitable access to health care; Whereas several States with higher percentages of Black, Latino, and Native American populations have not ex- panded their Medicaid programs pursuant to subclause (VIII) of section 1902(a)(10)(A)(i) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(a)(10)(A)(i))—continuing to dis- enfranchise minority communities from access to health care; Whereas 16 States have failed to take advantage of the Fed- eral option to expand access to the Medicaid program VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR344.IH HR344 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 344 IH under title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) and the Children’s Health Insurance Pro- gram under title XXI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.) to lawfully residing immigrant children within the first 5 years of lawful status, and 26 States have failed to do so for similarly situated pregnant women; Whereas between 2016 and 2018, the child uninsured rate in- creased from 4.7 percent to 5.2 percent and the Latino child uninsured rate increased from 7.7 percent to 8.1 percent, and children of color are far more likely to be uninsured than White children; Whereas a climate of fear and confusion for immigrant fami- lies due to the public charge rule discourages such fami- lies from enrolling eligible children in the Medicaid pro- gram and the Children’s Health Insurance Program; Whereas Pacific Islanders from the Freely Associated States experience unique health disparities resulting from United States nuclear weapons tests on their home is- lands, but such people have been categorically denied ac- cess to Medicaid and other Federal health benefits; Whereas the United States has historically facilitated out- sider status toward Asian Americans and Pacific Island- ers, such as the authorization of the internment of Japa- nese Americans during World War II, which resulted in profound economic, social, and psychological burdens for the people impacted; Whereas the history and persistence of racist and nonsci- entific medical beliefs are associated with ongoing racial disparities in treatment and health outcomes; VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR344.IH HR344 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 344 IH Whereas implicit racial and ethnic biases within the health care system have an impact on the quality of care experi- enced by communities of color, such as the undertreat- ment of pain in Black patients; Whereas the historical context of unethical practices and abuses experienced by Black patients and research par- ticipants, such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, serve as symbols of the Black community’s mistrust of the med- ical system; Whereas women of color continue to face attacks, docu- mented throughout history, on their prenatal, maternal, and reproductive health and rights; Whereas enslaved Black women were forced to endure egre- giously unethical and cruel treatment, as subjects of in- sidious medical experiments, to advance modern gyne- cology; Whereas through the late 1960s and early 1980s, physicians routinely sterilized people of color, performing excessive and medically unnecessary procedures on patients of color without their informed consent; Whereas Black and Native American women are 2 to 4 times more likely than White women to suffer severe maternal morbidity or die of pregnancy-related complications, and implicit racial biases and lower quality care are contrib- uting factors to the health care disparities that lead to these outcomes; Whereas Black and Native American infants are twice as likely to die as White infants, and the Black infant mor- tality rate in the United States is higher than in 97 countries worldwide; VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR344.IH HR344 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 344 IH Whereas researchers have developed the analytical framework of ‘‘weathering’’ to describe how the constant stress of racism leads to poor health outcomes for Black Ameri- cans; Whereas the daily experience of racism is associated with stress, depression, and anxiety, and may cause physio- logical reactivity or contribute to chronic health condi- tions; Whereas racism is linked to mental health challenges for chil- dren and adolescents; Whereas children of color are overrepresented in the United States child welfare system, and up to 80 percent of chil- dren in foster care enter State custody with significant mental health challenges; Whereas disparities in educational access and attainment, along with racism experienced in the educational setting, affect the trajectory of academic achievement for children and adolescents, and ultimately impact health and racial inequities in school discipline, which has long-term con- sequences for children; Whereas racism and segregation in the United States con- tribute to poor health outcomes by segregating Black, Latino, and Native American communities from oppor- tunity; Whereas, for decades, discriminatory housing practices, such as redlining, systemically excluded people of color from housing, robbing them of capital in the form of low-cost, stable mortgages and opportunities to build wealth, and the Federal Government used its financial power to seg- regate renters in newly built public housing; VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR344.IH HR344 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HRES 344 IH Whereas environmental injustices, such as proximity and ex- posure to toxic waste or hazardous air pollutants, con- tinue to harm the health of communities of color, low-in- come communities, and indigenous communities around the Nation; Whereas social inequities such as differing access to quality health care, healthy food and safe drinking water, safe neighborhoods, education, job security, and reliable trans- portation affect health risks and outcomes; Whereas during the COVID–19 pandemic, the effects of rac- ism and discrimination are seen in COVID–19 infection, hospitalization, and mortality rates—disproportionately high among Black, Latino, and Native American popu- lations compared to the overall population—exacerbating health disparities and highlighting barriers to care for Black, Latino, and Native American patients across the United States; Whereas because of racial and ethnic disparities, people of color are more likely to have preexisting, preventable, and chronic conditions, which lead to higher COVID–19 mor- bidity and mortality rates; Whereas people of color are overrepresented in the number of people in the United States living under poor air quality conditions, which can increase the likelihood of COVID– 19 morbidity and mortality; Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic has worsened barriers for Black, Latino, and Native American households that suf- fer from disproportionately higher rates of food insecu- rity; Whereas Black and Latino workers make up a dispropor- tionate number of frontline workers, are less likely to re- VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR344.IH HR344 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HRES 344 IH ceive paid sick leave or have the ability to work from home, and have been excluded from many forms of relief readily available to other groups; Whereas people of color are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice and immigration enforcement systems and face a higher risk of contracting COVID–19 within prison populations and detention centers due to the over- incarceration of people of color; Whereas during the COVID–19 pandemic, an increased use of anti-Asian rhetoric has resulted in Asian Americans being harassed, assaulted, and scapegoated for the pan- demic; Whereas communities of color continue to bear the burdens of inequitable social, economic, and criminal justice poli- cies, practices, and investments that cause deep dispari- ties, hurt, harm, danger, and mistrust; Whereas over 40 percent of Latinos report being discrimi- nated against or harassed because of their race; Whereas approximately 24 percent of the Latino population in the United States identifies as ‘‘Afro-Latino’’ and is thus potentially subject to both race and national origin discrimination; Whereas because of racism, Black people in the United States share a unique set of challenges and experiences that require heightened levels of awareness and risk while performing everyday tasks—such as jogging in neighbor- hoods, ‘‘driving while Black’’, or playing in a park—that are not experienced by other populat [Text truncated for display. 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