Democrat senators reintroduce bill to declare racism public health crisis

Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Alex Padilla of California and Sherrod Brown of Ohio have reintroduced a Senate resolution that would "declare racism a public health crisis."

Brown and Padilla are also cosponsors of the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act that would establish a federal commission to study slavery reparations. Booker, the sponsor of the reparations study bill, wrote a letter to President Biden in June calling on him to support the commission. 

Brown, Booker, and then-Sen. Kamala Harris had originally introduced the legislation to deem racism a public health crisis in July 2020, and Booker and Padilla reintroduced it in April 2021 and again on Tuesday.