Covid-19 Language Access Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. MENG. Madam Speaker, I rise to highlight the critical need for translated COVID-19 outreach materials during this pandemic response. We must ensure that language barriers do not prevent individuals from accessing vital and potentially life-saving information.

No one must be left in the dark. Each of us must do our part to overcome this unprecedented public health crisis. And yet, there are over 25 million people across our nation who have limited English proficiency.

That is why I introduced the COVID-19 Language Access Act, which would require any federal agency that receives coronavirus-related funding to provide COVID-19 written resources to the public in 19 languages: Spanish, Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Haitian Creole, French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese, Greek, Polish, Thai, and Portuguese. These selected languages are based on the languages required in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Language Access Plan for Disaster Assistance.

The CDC already provides language accessibility telephone services in 16 languages and some COVID-19-related material in up to 14 languages. Additionally, the CARES Act requires the SBA to provide resources in 10 languages.

Madam Speaker, fighting this pandemic requires the collaboration of everyone. But to do so, we must eliminate any language barrier for our constituents, so that they are best prepared, informed, and ready to fight against this pandemic. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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