Supporting the goals and ideals of a Day of Hearts, Congenital Heart Defect Day in order to increase awareness about congenital heart defects, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for allowing me to speak on this issue. I appreciate her leadership in this. I want to thank my Georgia colleagues and all colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have assisted in supporting this endeavor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to wish a happy Valentine's Day to Sarah Anne Voyles. Sarah is a 15-year-old young lady who happens to live in my district. She is a special young lady who just happened to be born with a congenital heart defect who brought this whole issue to my attention.

As a physician, I practiced for nearly 20 years in my community and I understand the medical importance of being able to treat congenital heart defects. But as a Member of Congress the issue becomes all that more important as we work to bring attention to this remarkable challenge.

So I am proud to stand today and present and support H. Res. 629, a resolution that will identify today, Valentine's Day 2006, as a Day of Hearts, Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day.

What is a congenital heart defect? Well, congenital means it is present at birth, so it is an abnormality that is present at birth. It is a birth defect. It is a birth defect of the heart. It is a birth defect, though, that we don't often hear about.

It occurs during the development of the heart, which begins for a baby shortly after conception. These defects can involve the walls of the heart, or the valves of the heart, or the blood vessels, the arteries and veins that supply the heart itself. They are often able to disrupt the normal flow of blood in the heart, slowing that blood down or having it flow in the wrong direction or wrong place, or it might even block the flow of blood altogether. They also can be conduction defects, defects that make it so the heart doesn't beat in the correct way.

More than 35,000 infants, about one out of every 150 births, are born with heart defects every single year; and these defects can be very minimal in nature and not even be noticed by the family or the child or the physicians, or they can be life-threatening. Heart defects are among the most common birth defects, and they are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths in the United States.

The good news is that with significantly improving treatment over the past few decades there are now more adults living with congenital heart defects than ever before, having been treated in their infancy for those defects. And this means that there are new medical challenges that we as a society will confront, and confront them we will.

So it is perfectly fitting and appropriate that we pause today and recognize Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day in order to do three specific things: One is to increase the awareness of congenital heart defects; two is to encourage research with respect to this disease; and, three, to support the millions of Americans who are affected by this disease.

So I join with the others and ask my colleagues to support this resolution and join me in wishing Sarah Anne Voyles, and all Americans living with congenital heart defects, a very happy Valentine's Day and a Day of Hearts for Congenital Heart Defect Day.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 629) supporting the goals and ideals of a Day of Hearts, Congenital Heart Defect Day in order to increase awareness about congenital heart defects, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H. Resolution 629, offered by the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price), would support the goals and the ideals of a Day of Hearts, Congenital Heart Defect Day.

Today in the United States, heart disease and stroke, the basic components of cardiovascular disease, are the first and third leading causes of death for both men and women, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all deaths. Over 900,000 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each year, Mr. Speaker, which amounts to a death every 34 seconds. Even though this dangerous disease attacks those over the age of 65 most commonly, the number of sudden deaths from heart disease among people between the ages of 15 and 34 has increased dramatically.

Along with the individual effects of this vastly growing disease, there is also a widespread economic impact. The U.S. health care system continues to be hit with the cost of heart disease and stroke in the U.S. Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of permanent disability in the U.S. workforce, and there are over 6 million hospitalizations each year due to this disease. As our population ages, the cost of heart disease and stroke was projected to be $394 billion in 2005, last year, which includes health care expenditures and lost productivity from death and disability.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask all Members to support H. Resolution 629 with the hope that, because cardiovascular disease is preventable, increased awareness and research could enable us as Americans to cut down on the unnecessary deaths due to this disease each year in our country.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my distinguished colleague from the State of Georgia (Mr. Price).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my distinguished colleague from the State of Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is especially appropriate that today on Valentine's Day, when we celebrate love and affection from the bottom of our hearts, that this House passes a resolution that seeks to provide protection from our hearts being damaged from disease. I urge all Members to support the adoption of H. Res. 629.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the resolution to recognize the goals and ideas of a Day of Hearts, and I commend the gentleman from Georgia for making use of Valentine's Day as a way of highlighting and bringing awareness to one of our major health problems and health issues.

Every year, eight out of every 1,000 children are born with some form of congenital heart defect, or CHD. CHDs are the number one killer of infants in the United States, and while treatment is available for many of these defects, a number of them are not treatable. Sadly, too, many families lack the resources necessary to obtain proper treatment for even the most common and easily treatable defects.

Because CHDs are long-term or often lifelong afflictions, the life of a child who survives a CHD is made more difficult by restricted behavior and the laborious effort needed to carry out the daily tasks of life.

A Day of Hearts is an international effort to raise awareness of this all-too-common problem. CHD lacks the visibility of some of the diseases we all know well, yet the effects are no less tragic. Much progress needs to be made in fighting the disease and in finding and funding facilities that are dedicated to cutting-edge research related to all aspects of CHDs, especially factors that contribute to their occurrence.

In addition, developing countries are far behind the developing world in treating CHDs. Defects that are easily treatable here in the United States can be killers in those countries, and our sense of humanity can no longer tolerate easily preventible deaths from CHDs.

Mr. Speaker, February 14 is a day that many people around the world associate with love and companionship, and the enduring symbol of Valentine's Day is the heart. I can think of no day more appropriately tailored towards raising the public's awareness of CHDs than Valentine's Day. Therefore, I join in support of this important resolution and call upon all of my colleagues to support this effort so that hopefully we will generate the kind of awareness and the kind of resources that are necessary to fight this tragic and debilitating illness.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H. Res. 629, supporting the goals and ideals of a Day of Hearts, Congenital Heart Defect Day in order to increase awareness about congenital heart defects. I think it's fitting that on Valentine's Day, we can discuss a resolution that will help protect our hearts.

Heart disease can affect every aspect of your life: your ability to work, your ability to get adequate insurance, your ability to exercise or play sports, and your ability to have children, not to mention your ability to enjoy your life and live it to the fullest.

Estimates suggest that about 1 million Americans have a congenital heart defect. If time in the hospital and recuperating from heart conditions could be measured in years of life, over 91,000 life years are lost each year in the US due to congenital heart disease. For inpatient surgery alone, charges for care exceed $2.2 billion every year.

Even our most vulnerable and innocent citizens are not exempt from the risk of heart disease: around 35,000 babies are born with a heart defect each year. Out of 1,000 births, 8 babies will have some form of congenital heart disorder, although for the most part, these are mild. Severe heart disease generally becomes apparent during the first couple of months after birth. Doctors know to watch for certain clues, including when babies are born blue, have very low blood pressure, breathing difficulties, feeding problems, or poor weight gain. In addition, most minor defects are diagnosed on a routine medical check up.

We've made significant improvements in the treatment of congenital heart conditions, from preventive treatment, to surgery, to research, to education and outreach. In the 1960s and 1970s the risk of dying following congenital heart surgery was about 30 percent and today it is around 5 percent.

However, recent statistics show that heart disease is still the No. 1 killer of American women, and heart failure is on the rise in the elderly. This bill is relevant and timely, and a noble effort to bring much needed awareness and crucial outreach to men, women and children across the Nation. Knowledge can make all the difference in quality of life, and a Day of Hearts is the perfect way to start the conversation and spread the word.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Dr. Price and my other colleagues who have cosponsored this Day of Hearts resolution, recognizing congenital heart defects and the impact they are having on American society and American families.

As has been mentioned, approximately 35,000 babies are born each year with some variety of a congenital heart defect. Five years ago, my wife Celeste and I had a beautiful baby girl, and we named her Kathryn, and she was one of those 35,000 babies. She was diagnosed shortly after her birth with a complete atrial ventricular septal defect.

It was a normal birth. Afterward, during a regular checkup, our family doctor heard something that almost jumped through his stethoscope. As we later found out, he was holding back his own emotion as he heard this. So that launched us then on a path, a very intense, difficult, 3-month period, until she had her first surgery.

But one of the most encouraging things that happened for us then were other parents who found out we were suffering through this and who took initiative to call us, to extend a hand of friendship. Because when this happens to you, your world spins around 360 degrees. It is very hard to know who to turn to and where to go. So the support network of parents who simply took their own initiative to contact us was very deeply meaningful and helped us through this very difficult time.

Kathryn, as many of your saw this past weekend, is a very vibrant, happy, 5-year-old. She wears a pacemaker, which obviously causes some security difficulties here and there, but, nonetheless, we are grateful to the advances that medicine has given us in the last 30 years to be able to deal successfully with this form of defect.

I am just really thankful that Congress is taking the initiative today to actually propose a Day of Hearts, not only to bring more emphasis to the issue, because it does affect so many families, but to potentially help spur additional research into the potential of finding a cure, or at least helping parents who have to deal with the management of this issue for a lifetime.

Thank you, Dr. Price, for proposing this; thank you to my other colleagues who have cosponsored this; and I urge passage of H.R. 629.