Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3788) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3900 Darrow Road in Stow, Ohio, as the ``Corporal Joseph A. Tomci Post Office Building''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

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

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the House subcommittee with jurisdiction over the United States Postal Service, I am very proud to present H.R. 3788 for consideration. This measure will designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3900 Darrow Road in Stow, Ohio, as the ``Corporal Joseph A. Tomci Post Office Building.''

H.R. 3788 was introduced by my colleague Representative Steven LaTourette of Ohio on October 13, 2009, and favorably reported out of the Oversight Committee by unanimous consent on October 29, 2009. Additionally, this legislation enjoys the overwhelming support of the Ohio House delegation.

After graduating from Stow-Munroe Falls High School in 2003, Corporal Tomci joined the U.S. Marine Corps and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Tragically, on August 2, 2006, while conducting combat operations during

his second tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Corporal Tomci was killed in a roadside bomb in al Anbar province, Iraq. He was only 21 years old at the time.

Although Corporal Tomci is no longer with us, his spirit will endure in the memory of his mother, Gayle, his stepfather, Phil, his friends, and all those who were fortunate enough to know this brave young man. In fact, every year since his death, a group of Corporal Tomci's friends gather together in Silver Springs Park in Stow, Ohio, to remember the life of their friend and hero. Affectionately called ``Joe Tom Day'' after Corporal Tomci's nickname, about 150 joined in this year's commemoration and wore black T-shirts with Corporal Tomci's quote, ``You guys will be telling your kids about me,'' on their backs.

And so, Mr. Speaker, let us, as a body, take this opportunity to recognize the life of Corporal Tomci, which stands as a testament to the bravery and dedication of the heroic men and women who serve our great Nation.

I urge all of our Members to join in support of this resolution.

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1211) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 60 School Street, Orchard Park, New York, as the ``Jack F. Kemp Post Office Building''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

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

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I am very proud to present S. 1211 for consideration. This measure would designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 60 School Street, Orchard Park, New York, as the ``Jack F. Kemp Post Office Building.''

S. 1211 was introduced July 9, 2009, by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and passed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on September 4, 2009. The bill was then favorably reported out of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform by unanimous consent on October 29, 2009.

Mr. Speaker, S. 1211 will designate the postal facility at 60 School Street in Orchard Park, New York, as the Jack F. Kemp Post Office. Mr. Kemp launched his first political campaign in 1970 and ran for the congressional seat in upstate New York's 39th District. Mr. Kemp won his first election and proceeded to serve eight additional terms in Congress.

In addition to his tenure in Congress, Mr. Kemp's political career also includes his service as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the administration of President George Herbert Walker Bush from 1989 to 1993 and as the Republican Party's Vice Presidential candidate in 1996.

Mr. Speaker, regretfully, Jack Kemp passed away on May 2 of this year. In honor of his legacy of public service, Mr. Kemp was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2009. Let us continue to honor this dedicated public servant through passage of this legislation to designate the School Street post office in his name.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 1211 and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as he might consume to Representative Brian Higgins of New York.

Mr. Speaker, it's my pleasure to yield such time as he might consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Representative Fattah.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, I would urge the passage of S. 1211, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to cast votes on the following legislative measures on November 2, 2009. If I were present for rollcall votes, I would have voted ``yea'' on each of the following:

Roll 832, November 2, 2009: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended: H.R. 1168, Veterans Retraining Act of 2009.

Roll 833, November 2, 2009: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree: H. Res. 291, Recognizing the crucial role of assistance dogs in helping wounded veterans live more independent lives, expressing gratitude to The Tower of Hope, and supporting the goals and ideals of creating a Tower of Hope Day.

Roll 834, November 2, 2009: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass: S. 509, To authorize a major medical facility project at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Walla Walla, Washington, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me express my appreciation to Chairman Berman for yielding time and also for the expeditious manner in which this measure has been handled.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 711, a bipartisan resolution calling on the Sri Lankan Government and the international community to address the human rights and humanitarian needs of Sri Lanka's Tamils. I urge all Members of the body to support it.

Mr. Speaker, May of 2009 marked the conclusion of the 26-year struggle between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan Government. As a result of this war, tens of thousands of Sri Lankan citizens have been displaced and are without homes.

The Sri Lankan Government believes that among their displaced citizens are former Liberation Tiger militants. As part of the vetting process, the Sri Lankan Government has set up make-shift camps to house over 280,000 internally displaced persons and allow the government to relocate these suspected militants. Allegations are being reported that the standard of treatment and the living conditions afforded to people in these camps is grossly inadequate.

Mr. Speaker, the United Nations Human Rights Council's 11th special session on Sri Lanka met on May 27, 2009, to address the internally displaced persons in government-run camps. During this session, the Sri Lankan Government made commitments to improve the conditions for the people housed in these camps and stated that the bulk of the people would be resettled within 180 days. After the first 150 days passing with no progress, the Sri Lankan Government has just released some 50,000 people, which is a good first step; although nearly 230,000 internally displaced persons still remain held in camps.

So, Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution that calls on the Sri Lankan Government to release their citizens and allow them to return to their homes and properties. I, again, urge my colleagues to support the internally displaced persons in their quest for freedom.

Again, I would like to thank Chairman Berman for his expeditious handling of this matter. I urge its support.

Madam speaker, I rise to express my best wishes to celebrate the life and achievements of Joyce Ann Brown. I had the pleasure of having Ms. Brown serve on a reentry panel during the 39th Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference. Ms. Brown was unjustly convicted of a crime she did not commit and served nine years, five months and 24 days in prison before this injustice was realized and the guilty verdict was reversed. Upon release, Joyce started the not for profit organization, Mothers (Fathers) for the Advancement of Social Systems Inc. (MASS Inc.) in Dallas, TX. This organization focuses on assisting released ex- offenders reintegrating into society.

The reentry of ex-offenders is an issue of very high priority and importance to me and I am personally invested in the success of organizations like MASS, Inc. With the passage of the Second Chance Act in 2008, organizations such as MASS will benefit from additional federal grant funding to strengthen programs that aid ex-offenders in becoming productive contributing members of society.

Throughout my career, I have fought for the underserved and underrepresented and on my journey have come to admire Joyce Ann Brown for all her work and achievements in the area of social justice. Ms. Brown spent three years writing letters to appeal the atrocious injustice she faced and continued to fight upon release. Therefore, I am delighted to be included in commending Joyce Ann Brown and would like to thank her for her assistance with our work here on the hill. The organization she has created has helped many

ex-offenders as well as their families, and has provided the support needed for a healthy society.

Providing support to ex-offenders is paramount to becoming productive citizens, taxpayers, mothers and fathers. Research has shown that successful employment interventions among ex-offenders benefits not only the ex-offender, but also his or her family, social networks, communities and society at large. The benefits reaped by society through the MASS organization and the work of Joyce Ann Brown are vital to the preservation of a healthy society and should rightfully be congratulated and recognized.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 831) supporting the goals and ideals of National Adoption Day and National Adoption Month by promoting national awareness of adoption and the children in foster care awaiting families, celebrating children and families involved in adoption, recognizing current programs and efforts designed to promote adoption, and encouraging people in the United States to seek improved safety, permanency, and well-being for all children.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 831, a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Adoption Day and National Adoption Month.

I am pleased to have worked with Congresswoman Brown-Waite, Congressman Tiberi, and Congressman McDermott on this legislation.

On any given day, there are over a half million children in our Nation's foster care system, of which nearly 130,000 are waiting for a permanent home through adoption. While 51,000 children found a family to call their own last year through adoption, far too many children in the foster care system remain waiting for some level of permanency.

Adoption provides children who are unable to return to their biological homes with the opportunity to be raised in a safe and loving home, providing them a level of stability that

generally cannot be found in foster care.

Adoption is an important option for many children in the foster care system. It allows children to be raised as a member of a new family, a family that will provide the love, security and support that every child deserves.

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act supported adoption as an important pathway to permanency. This historic law also recognized the need to support multiple avenues to permanency, given that adoption may not be the best option for all children and families.

I have worked with Representative Jim McDermott and my colleague from Illinois, former Representative Jerry Weller, to include language in the fostering connections law to provide additional opportunities to children in foster care via kinship guardianship. Kinship guardianship gives a child a permanent home with their grandparent or other relative, providing the same level of love, security and support that an adoption home provides but without the termination of parental rights.

An evaluation of Illinois' subsidized guardianship waiver found that children in kinship guardianship fair as well as those in other permanency settings on measures of well-being, including school performance, engagement in risky behaviors, and access to community resources.

A recent GAO report identified kinship guardianship as a key Federal policy to decrease the overrepresentation of African American children in our Nation's child welfare system. African American children enter foster care at higher rates and remain in foster care for longer periods of time when compared to children from other racial or ethnic groups.

Indeed, African American children make up nearly one-third of the children waiting for adoption in this country. There are a variety of reasons why these children remain in the system longer, with one reason being that adoption is not equally availed by families from different races and ethnicities, especially among African American and Native American communities. Research shows that allowing a child to achieve permanency with a relative enhances their development and long-term well-being by maintaining their cultural identity and sense of family belonging, which, understandably, is particularly important for African American and Native American children.

I personally know the value of kinship guardianship because Illinois has been a leader in developing and demonstrating the effectiveness of pioneering child welfare reforms such as kinship guardianship and extension of foster care to age 21, also included in the fostering connections legislation.

In addition to seeing the positive effects of kinship caregiving Statewide, I have seen the importance of kinship guardianship in Chicago. My congressional district has the highest percentage of children living with kinship caregivers in the Nation, followed by the First Congressional District of Illinois with the second highest percentage, and the Second District with the 10th highest percentage in the Nation.

I am proud that the fostering connections law worked to increase adoption and other avenues to permanency such as kinship guardianship to help children find the permanent, safe homes they deserve.

Despite the reforms that we have achieved in this legislation, more work needs to be done to improve the experiences of all children and all families in the system and to end racial disparities that continue to persist.

This spring, I joined with Representative Jim McDermott and Todd Platts to introduce legislation that would provide Federal funding to support evidence-based early childhood home visitation programs. These programs provide important home-based instruction and services to pregnant mothers and families with preschool-age children that help to improve the health and educational outcomes of children and their parents.

A growing body of evidence has found that early childhood home visitation programs serve as an effective child abuse prevention strategy, reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect by nearly 40 percent. Home visiting also produces significant health benefits to children and their families, such as improved child health, child development, parenting skills, and school readiness.

I am pleased that it was included as part of the health care reform proposal that was reported out of the Ways and Means Committee. A similar proposal was included in the health proposal that was reported out of the Senate Finance Committee earlier this month.

I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to improve our Nation's foster care system through adoption, guardianship, home visitation programs, and other important initiatives.

I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the ideals and goals of National Adoption Day and National Adoption Month by voting in favor of H. Res. 831.

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

I want to thank Representative Brown-Waite for her introduction of this legislation and also for her remarks.

It's my pleasure now to yield such time as he might consume to the chairman of the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, the gentleman from Washington, Representative Jim McDermott, one of the real champions of child welfare in this

country and one who knows exactly what is needed to make sure that children have safe and comfortable environments in which to live.

(Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 831.

To close, Mr. Speaker, let me just commend Representative Brown-Waite, Chairman McDermott, Mr. Tiberi, and all those who have worked on bringing this legislation to the floor. Our children are, indeed, the future, and it's our responsibility to provide every opportunity that we possibly can for them. I think this legislation and this resolution all combine to help make America a better place for children, so I would ask that all Members support it.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and congratulate Tibotec Therapeutics, part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, for demonstrating continued innovation and corporate responsibility in the fight against HIV/AIDS by conducting the groundbreaking GRACE study. GRACE, which stands for Gender Race and Clinical Experience, is the largest study to date in treatment- experienced women with HIV to examine gender and race differences in response to an HIV therapy. Findings from this historic study were recently presented at the International AIDS Society conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

In the United States, women are increasingly affected by HIV/AIDS, accounting for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses, with African American and Latina women representing seventy-nine percent of women living with the disease. People of color, both women and men, have been historically underrepresented in clinical trials in the United States, and HIV/AIDS disproportionately impacts our African American and Latino communities. In my home State of Illinois, there are over 35,000 people living with AIDS: African Americans represent 50% of these cases, and Latinos represent 13%. In terms of new HIV infections, African American women are infected at a rate fifteen times higher than white women, and Latino women are infected at a rate almost four times as high as white women.

In recent HIV studies of treatment-experienced patients, women accounted for less than 11 percent of the patients being studied, on average. This trial was designed to help overcome some of the barriers, identified by the advisors, which have historically deterred women and people of color from participating in clinical studies, including stigma, lack of child care, transportation and personal support systems. Based upon advisor and community input, study participants could obtain assistance to cover costs associated with their participation in the study, including funds for travel and childcare, as well as food vouchers. Through innovative strategies like these, the GRACE study was able to enroll nearly seventy percent women, sixty percent African Americans and twenty-two percent Latinos. I am proud to say that two of the study sites in this historic clinical trial are located in my congressional district.

Results of the GRACE study showed that there were no statistical differences in the safety, tolerability or effectiveness of the HIV regimens used in the study between male and female participants, or for people of different ethnicities. Importantly, from my perspective, the GRACE study clearly showed that, with the appropriate commitment from the trial sponsor and input from affected communities and providers, clinical trials can, indeed, enroll meaningful numbers of women and racial and ethnic minorities.

With the GRACE study, Tibotec Therapeutics and Johnson & Johnson continue to demonstrate their leadership and corporate social responsibility as innovators and leaders in the pharmaceutical industry. I commend them for their continuing commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS and for their leadership in addressing the disproportionate impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on women and people of color.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to cast votes on the following legislative measures on September 29, 2009. If I were present for rollcall votes, I would have voted Yea on each of the following:

Roll 740, September 29, 2009: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended:

H.R. 905, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve Boundary Modification Act.

Roll 741, September 29, 2009: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree: H. Res. 16, Supporting the goals and ideals of National Life Insurance Awareness Month.

Roll 742, September 29, 2009: On Motion to Instruct Conferees: H.R. 2997, Making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman McDermott for yielding. I also want to commend him and the ranking member for expeditiously getting this legislation to the floor. Mr. Speaker, when President Obama took office, we were in the middle of an economic recession which showed itself for real in December of 2007. Notwithstanding economic recovery activities, stimulus activities, green initiatives and other efforts that are beginning to take hold, we still hear the song. And I turned my radio on just the other day, and I heard a song from probably the seventies that said, Every morning about this time, she bring my breakfast to the bed crying, get a job.

It said, When I read the papers, I read it through and through, trying to see if there is any work for me to do.

Unfortunately for many people, there is no work for them to do at the moment, but we know that the time is coming. But in the meantime, they need help. And the help that we can give them today is the help of knowing that their unemployment benefits are extended. That's the very least that we can do while we continue to work to try to make sure that our economy regroups, re-energizes itself so that that song does not have to be played, ``Get a Job.''

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the chairman for yielding me this time. I also want to commend him and the ranking member and the members of the subcommittee for the great work that they have done on this bill.

I am very pleased to be a cosponsor, an original cosponsor of H.R. 22. I am basically pleased to have been so because for a number of years we have known that the postal service was operating in a different environment. We have seen the tremendous increase in e- commerce. We have seen the utilization of other means and methods of communicating, and we have always known we were going to have to do something.

The something we have done does not cost the taxpayers any additional money. As Delegate Norton said, it is not a bailout. It is a sane, rational approach to dealing with the problem, and I want to commend the postal service for their efforts to operate in an environment of diminishing returns.

So, again, I commend the chairman and the ranking member. I strongly support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, as we enter into the month of August, I would like to take this opportunity to commemorate the anniversary of The Voting Rights Act of 1965. On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. The date marks a pivotal moment in our country's progress in extending equal membership in the political processes to every American. The right to vote is a fundamental principle of all democracies. Yet, in our great nation whose founding fathers and documents boasted of its creation to promote equality, there was a substantial period of history during which minority men and women were barred from that very right. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to vote for every citizen, but the discriminatory practices of Jim Crow in the antebellum south used taxes, literacy tests, gerrymandering, and language discrimination to prevent Blacks from voting and taking part in the government. Without the right to vote, many African Americans were subject to intolerable injustices and appalling prejudice.

The Voting Rights Act represents a culmination of the great efforts of civil rights organizations and activists to inform the nation of the extensive disenfranchisement taking place throughout the country. The anniversary of the enactment of this historic law provides an opportunity to acknowledge these activists. Most notably, their tremendous dedication and uncompromising pursuit of equality took the form of peaceful marches from Selma to Montgomery that were met with vicious attacks by state and local police forces. These events caught the attention of the President and Congress, contributing to a commitment to new civil rights legislation to counter the resistance and discrimination laws within the states. The enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 allowed African-Americans across the country to finally have a say in the functioning of the country. Today, I celebrate the anniversary of this law as a reflection of what our country represents: a nation pledged to representing the views, values, and beliefs of all the people it serves.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to cast votes on the following legislative measures on July 27, 2009. If I were present for rollcall votes, I would have voted yea on each of the following:

Roll 647, July 27, 2009: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree, as Amended: H. Res. 593, Recognizing and celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the entry of Hawaii into the Union as the 50th State

Roll 648, July 27, 2009: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended: H.R. 1376, Waco Mammoth National Monument Establishment Act of 2009

Roll 649, July 27, 2009: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended: H.R. 1121, Blue Ridge Parkway and Town of Blowing Rock Land Exchange Act of 2009

Madam Speaker, as we enter into the month of August, I would like to take this opportunity to commemorate the anniversary of The Voting Rights Act of 1965. On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. The date marks a pivotal moment in our country's progress in extending equal membership in the political processes to every American. The right to vote is a fundamental principle of all democracies. Yet, in our great nation whose founding fathers and documents boasted of its creation to promote equality, there was a substantial period of history during which minority men and women were barred from that very right. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to vote for every citizen, but the discriminatory practices of Jim Crow in the antebellum south used taxes, literacy tests, gerrymandering, and language discrimination to prevent Blacks from voting and taking part in the government. Without the right to vote, many African-Americans were subject to intolerable injustices and appalling prejudice.

The Voting Rights Act represents a culmination of the great efforts of civil rights organizations and activists to inform the nation of the

extensive disenfranchisement taking place throughout the country. The anniversary of the enactment of this historic law provides an opportunity to acknowledge these activists. Most notably, their tremendous dedication and uncompromising pursuit of equality took the form of peaceful marches from Selma to Montgomery that were met with vicious attacks by state and local police forces. These events caught the attention of the President and Congress, contributing to a commitment to new civil rights legislation to counter the resistance and discrimination laws within the states. The enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 allowed African-Americans across the country to finally have a say in the functioning of the country. Today, I celebrate the anniversary of this law as a reflection of what our country represents: a nation pledged to representing the views, values, and beliefs of all the people it serves.

Thank you very much, Representative Ellison.

Let me, first of all, commend you for the leadership that you continue to display as the message leader for the Progressive Caucus. I see you here every week and oftentimes Representative Edwards is here with you. So I'm pleased to join you and her and Representative McDermott, with whom I serve on the Ways and Means Committee, and I know that Chairman Rangel was here a few minutes ago and others.

You know, as I listened to Representative Edwards and as she talked about the winners and the losers, it is amazing that individuals in the health care arena are earning these kind of salaries, and that people are able to somehow or another not want to pay, and people somehow or another don't want to add a few extra dollars.

I come from a county with over 5 million people, and unfortunately, many of them are low income. They are poor. Many of them don't have any insurance at all. They don't have any way to access care, any way to be taken care of. Some of them go to emergency rooms of hospitals that are as many as 8 and 10 miles away in an urban area, and they can't get there.

To think that we now have an opportunity to reform, in a real way, health care delivery and to create the kind of health care delivery system that says that all of our citizens have worth, I don't know how those who are opposing a public option, I don't even know how you could begin to talk seriously about reforming our health care delivery system without a public option.

I have sat through the many hearings that we have had in Ways and Means. I have sat through countless hours of discussions with staff and experts. No matter what we come up with, we know that we need a robust, not a minuscule, not a weak, not an anemic public option, but we need a real public option, one that can help build upon the network of community health centers that we have spread across the country, which have proven to be worth their weight in gold, which have proven that they can deliver first-rate health and medical care in a cost-efficient way with individuals who understand the language, the culture, and the lifestyles of the people who come.

I agree with the Progressive Caucus members, as well as others, that there just ought not to be a plan without a serious public option.

Again, I want to commend both of you for the tremendous leadership that you continue to display. I know with the kind of attention and care that you give to these issues, that our Congress and our people are going to be in good shape for many years to come.

So, it has been a pleasure for me to stop by and to join with you and have a few words to say. Of course, you know, I remember a term we used to use a lot back in the sixties and seventies. We used to say ``a luta continua,'' meaning that the struggle must continue and we will conquer, without a doubt. If we dare to struggle, we dare to win.

Thank you so much. It is a pleasure to be here.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Speaker, as we continue with the debate surrounding health reform, I wish to take a moment to recognize the anniversary of the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid into law. Since July 30, 1965, when Lyndon Johnson signed the bill creating these fundamental health initiatives, these two programs have evolved together to reliably meet the demands of aging and medically vulnerable Americans who may not have had access to medical attention otherwise. Medicare and Medicaid currently provide a lifeline to over 100 million Americans. In my district, I can attest that Medicare and Medicaid serve as an indispensable safety net for many constituents. The Seventh Congressional District of Illinois includes some of the most medically underserved communities in America. Census data show that 24 percent of families and 44 percent of children under 18 live below the poverty line. In fact, some communities on Chicago's west side experience infant mortality rates comparable with third-world countries. In the State of Illinois, 14 percent of all residents are enrolled in Medicare and 19 percent in Medicaid. Clearly these government health programs provide vital health care coverage to Illinoisians when almost one- fifth of the State is covered by Medicaid and one-sixth by Medicare. Indeed, Illinois' mothers and children are the biggest beneficiaries of Medicaid. This Federal program finances 40 percent of total births in Illinois and helps ensure that over 1 million children in Illinois receive access to affordable health care. It is this commitment to our citizens that drives Congress to work actively for comprehensive health reform. We must provide a public option within that reform. Further, we must continue to support and expand community health centers as outstanding deliverers of primary care. These providers are proven to reap solid benefits to our patients, communities, and State and local governments in terms of efficiency. For example, Medicaid beneficiaries relying on health centers for usual care were 19 percent less likely to use the emergency department than Medicaid beneficiaries using outpatient and office-based physicians for usual care. Overall, health centers save the health care system between $9.9 billion and $17.6 billion annually, a figure that will grow.

I acknowledge the tremendous step that Lyndon B. Johnson took 44 years ago when he signed the Medicare and Medicaid bills into law as titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act. We must continue to make use of these programs because they have served us well and will continue to do so.