Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, let me just say, right at the top, how grateful I am to stand on the Senate floor again with Senator Chuck Grassley. He has been one of the great partners I have had in my short time in the Senate, and I am honored to have gotten a lot of good work done and good law passed. I thank him and his entire staff. They were all tremendous to work with and went above and beyond for us to get this done at a very quick pace. I thank our colleagues for acting with the urgency that this issue demands.
I am excited that this bill was able to pass, for it will ensure that the families of first responders who lose their lives to the coronavirus will be taken care of under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program. We expect now that over 100 of these death benefit claims will be submitted to the Department of Justice in the coming days and weeks, and we cannot leave these grieving families to fight alone for the benefits they need and deserve. As Senator Grassley very pointedly put it, we hope that the House of Representatives will pick up this legislation for immediate consideration.
While COVID-19 has changed daily life across this country, for so many of us, I am grateful that my colleague and so many of my colleagues understand that our firefighters, our EMTs, our police officers, and our other emergency service personnel continue to put their lives on the line to protect our communities and have done so at significant and increased risk to themselves and their families.
In hard-hit areas across our Nation, we see first responders stepping up to enormous risk. Being a first responder during this pandemic is not a job; it is an all-consuming mission and, unfortunately, a tremendous sacrifice. It is responding to a call and knowing that, just by stepping inside someone's home, you are running a high risk of exposing yourself to the virus. It is wondering whether your personal protective gear--or PPE--that you have on is enough. In many cases, it is wondering whether your PPE is even real, with there being so many of our first responders, unfortunately, using whatever they can scrounge up. Whether it is the buying of foreign masks that are not designed for use in the United States or the buying of them from unknown vendors, they are doing what they can to protect themselves as they go about their urgent mission.
When they remove their PPE, there is a concern with their gloves or goggles or gown as they take them off piece by piece. They strain to remember what they touched, washing their hands repeatedly but wondering and worrying if it is enough. When performing lifesaving procedures like CPR, which may aerosolize the virus, you hope that the PPE you are wearing is enough to protect you. These are the daily, hourly, moment-by-moment concerns our first responders have.
Senator Grassley has worked with first responders in so many ways, and he knows the challenges this brings, from having to meticulously clean every surface of an ambulance, cleaning the squad houses, police stations, knowing that the virus could be lingering there, and when they are going home, undressing in the basement, garage, or even outside their homes, heading straight into the house for a shower but still worrying if it is enough to protect their family.
We know that many of these first responders aren't actually going home to their families. They are separating themselves for periods of time because they live in fear of spreading the disease to a spouse, child, or parent. There is emotional stress and strain when responding to a call, doing everything they can to save someone from this virus. But we know our first responders are often seeing death in areas of the country at a rate and at levels that they have never experienced before. This all adds to the fear and anxiety, the worry about their families, and the worry about their communities.
Our first responders are doing what very few of us will ever have to do. They put their lives, their health, and often the health of their families on the line to protect their communities. They have always helped, but now, in the time of coronavirus, their sacrifices are intensified.
The very least we can do is to ensure that they don't have to worry about what will happen to their loved ones if something should happen to them. The Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program that Senator Grassley mentioned was created to provide death and disability benefits to families of law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMS, and other first responders who are killed in the line of duty. Their benefits come in the form of financial support, as well as educational scholarships, for surviving spouses and children.
As Senator Grassley said, it cannot replace the life that is lost, but it is something that could give comfort to those families and even to the first responders who themselves are being put in grave danger.
Infectious disease is currently covered under the program, though the officer's family or department is required to provide evidence that the disease they contracted occurred while on duty. Providing that evidence can be straightforward, when the first responder came into contact with a dirty needle, for example, and then was infected by something that caused their death.
The problem with COVID-19 is that it presents an entirely different challenge. While the Department of Justice works to ensure that families who have members who are killed by COVID-19 are covered, we must eliminate the instances when families are asked to prove what is unprovable, to prove that somehow they caught this while they were in the hours of their duties. This is why our bill makes urgently needed changes to the PSOB program to reflect the unique threat that COVID-19 poses to first responders in putting their lives on the line in this crisis.
Many first responders have already made the ultimate sacrifice. I am so grateful that Senator Grassley mentioned that. In New Jersey alone, 29 first responders have lost their lives to coronavirus just in the past 7 weeks. We know this crisis is ongoing in our country.
The bill that Chuck Grassley and our team wrote creates a presumption that, if a first responder contracts COVID-19 during this pandemic and tragically dies, their death will be treated as a line-of-duty death without the need to affirmatively prove their illness was contracted while on the job. When this bill is passed by the House and signed by the President, this presumption will be retroactive to January 1, 2020. It will last until the end of 2021. The bill ensures that the families of first responders have the support they need and deserve when they face unimaginable loss.
Twenty-seven years ago, New Jerseyan John Careccia watched as two EMTs saved his son's life. That same year, he became a volunteer EMT so that he could pay it forward. Since then, he has worked as an EMT and served as the chief and training director at the Woodbridge Township Ambulance and Rescue Squad in Woodbridge, NJ.
John passed away on April 17, after contracting COVID-19. He is survived by his children, Toni, Roseanne, and John, and his 10 grandchildren.
John's loved ones shared in his obituary that he ``will be remembered for his contagious laugh, big heart and greeting you with `hey guy.' He loved to spend time with his family and always had a story to tell. His favorite place to eat was the Reo Diner. He always chose to bring a chocolate cream pie for his dessert contribution to any family gathering.''
His family asked that in lieu of flowers being sent, ``John would hope that you will perform an unexpected act of kindness for someone in his name.''
Charles ``Rob'' Roberts joined the Glen Ridge, NJ, Police Department in 2000. He lived in Glen Ridge with his wife, Alice. Together they raised their three children, Shea, Natalie, and Gavin, right there in Glen Ridge.
Officer Roberts contracted COVID-19 in the line of duty in April and was rushed to Mountainside Medical Center after being resuscitated in his home by his fellow officers and members of the volunteer ambulance squad. On May 11, Officer Roberts passed away at the age of 45.
Last week, hundreds of residents of his town of Glen Ridge stood on their front lawns and sidewalks to pay tribute to Officer Roberts' life, his service, his love of community and family.
In a New York Times article published after his passing, many of Officer Roberts' colleagues and neighbors shared stories about his kindness and his calm demeanor in the face of challenges. Quoting from the article:
There was the couple who remembered how calm he was when he helped deliver their baby in their kitchen.
There was the older woman, forever grateful for the gentle way he held her hand when she broke her hip and they waited for an ambulance. And there was the father who struggled with a difficult son and remembered how Mr. Roberts looked him in the eye and reassured him that his boy was a good kid.
Officer Roberts' father shared at his memorial that he ``wanted to make others happy.'
Israel ``Izzy'' Tolentino served in the U.S. Marine Corps before becoming a volunteer EMT and then a firefighter for the City of Passaic, NJ. Izzy contracted COVID-19 in the line of duty and on March 31 passed away at the age of 33, the first New Jersey firefighter to be killed by the virus.
Israel is survived by his wife, Maria, and their two children, daughter Ailani, age 9, whom he called his princess and his son Israel, age 7, whom he called his best friend.
I would like to share a few words from an NJ.com article published in the wake of Izzy's passing.
Israel Tolentino was born to be a firefighter.
It wasn't out of love of the uniform, though Tolentino beamed with pride everyday he walked out wearing the Passaic Fire Department emblem. It wasn't even out of a mountain of bravery or a penchant for running towards the flames.
It was, his wife Maria Vasquez said, because he couldn't help but be selfless.
``It fulfilled his urge to serve others,'' said Vazquez, his wife of more than 10 years. ``He was so selfless. It drew me closer to him. It drew everyone closer to him.''
These are only 3 among the 29 heroes just from New Jersey. There are countless more first responders across the country who lost their lives in responding to this crisis. Some of their names we know, and some we will learn in the weeks and months to come. What we do know is, we owe it, as a nation, to their families and to the departments they served to be there for those families and to be there for those children. Their families and the families of all first responders across the country who have lost loved ones to this virus deserve to be taken care of. For their sake, I hope the House of Representatives will act quickly to pass this legislation and that the President will sign it into law.
Our first responders in this unprecedented global pandemic did not hesitate or equivocate. They did their duty. They stood up and faced danger. They answered the call. We now must answer the call, and we must have their backs just as they had ours.
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