Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, finally a strengthened Medicare system that includes prescription drug coverage seems to be the number one priority for both houses of Congress. The time is right to make progress. We have a tremendous opportunity to reform Medicare and help our seniors. The budget of $400 billion over the next 10 years is enough to strengthen and improve Medicare, so we do have the resources to make reform work.

Our Nation has made a binding commitment to bring affordable health care to our seniors. We must honor that commitment by making sure Medicare stays current with the needs of today's seniors. When Medicare was launched 38 years ago, medicine focused on surgery and hospital stays. Today doctors routinely treat patients with prescription drugs, preventive care and groundbreaking medical devices. Our goal is to give seniors the best, most innovative care. This will require a strong, up- to-date Medicare system that relies on innovation and quality delivery, not bureaucratic rules and regulations. We can reach that goal now.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the Mayor of Hurricane, West Virginia, the Honorable Raymond Peak, who has served his fellow citizens for five decades.

The Regional Intergovernmental Council, whose mission is to assist local governments and bring economic development to Kanawha, Putnam, Clay and Boone counties in West Virginia, is dedicating its headquarters to honor the service of Mayor Peak.

It is altogether fitting that this wonderful new facility would carry his name. Raymond Peak is a leader who has always brought people together to solve serious problems with a spirit of cooperation and determination.

He was first elected as Town Recorder in 1951, and has since been elected State Legislator, and Mayor of Hurricane for 40 years. His progressive management skills have been the force in development and construction of millions of dollars worth of modern water systems, extensive improvements to Hurricane City Park, and the wonderful new Hurricane Municipal Complex.

He has also been a teacher, friend and counselor to thousands of young people in his 38 years in education. He was a noted band director, Student Council Advisor, and coach for Hurricane High's first girl's basketball team. In addition to his school ``family,'' Mayor Peak and his wife Gloria have two daughters and a son, and five active grandchildren.

Raymond Peak has also fulfilled his commitment to community service as a volunteer, as a Trustee of Putnam General Hospital, member of the Putnam County Transportation Committee, Salvation Army Board and American Heart Association.

With this dedication, the leadership and spirit of Mayor Raymond Peak will guide the work of the Regional Intergovernmental Council in bringing infrastructure and jobs to our four counties for generations to come. His commitment to a high quality of life and a bright future for all West Virginians will truly be our inspiration.

I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mayor Raymond Peak on this great honor.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here today as a Member of Congress to emphasize the importance of passing a meaningful, comprehensive prescription drug package now. But I know my voice is small, even as a Member of Congress, compared to a senior citizen who has to choose between paying for living expenses or prescription drugs. That voice needs to be heard in Congress.

I heard that voice in Paw Paw, West Virginia. I heard that voice in Martinsburg, West Virginia. And I heard that voice again in Mill Creek, Moorefield, Franklin, Gassaway, and Cedar Grove. Those are all of the towns in West Virginia that I visited and have visited during my year- long district tour of rural health centers and during the last two district work periods.

I am sure I will hear that voice again when I visit more rural health care centers. I will probably hear it more from women, because women represent 72 percent of the population age 85 and older.

Mr. Speaker, women are more likely to have lower incomes in their retirements. There are twice as many women as men 65 years or older with annual incomes less than $10,000.

I want to modernize Medicare with a guaranteed prescription drug benefit so when I visit my district again and resume my rural health tour, it is not to hear what the problem is, but to say that the problem has been worked on and a solution has been passed by this Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of myself, Representative Slaughter and the rest of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. Today, the 6th Annual Women in Military Wreath Laying Ceremony hosted by the Caucus was held at Arlington Cemetery. The purpose is to honor our nation's servicewomen and women veterans for their courage and achievements, and to remember women who have died in service to the United States.

I would like to take some time to recognize the five honorees of this ceremony. These women serve their respective branches with honor, dignity, and courage. These highly decorated leaders chose to defend our freedom and embody the spirit of those that served before them.

Command Sergeant Major Michele S. Jones, U.S. Army Reserve, has held many leadership positions within the Department of the Army. She entered the Army in September of 1982. As the first woman to serve as class president at the United States Sergeants Major Academy (Class 48), she distinguished herself and went on to be the first woman to serve as the CSM of the Army Reserve.

CSM Jones has held every key NCO position, to include squad leader, section leader, platoon sergeant, first sergeant and command sergeant major. Her awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Army Achievement Medal just to name a few.

Master Chief Petty Officer Darlene M. Gemuend was honored, representing the United States Naval Reserve. She completed Basic Training in January 1978 and went on to attend Personnelman ``A'' school.

Master Chief Gemuend has served the Navy at a variety of duty stations and capacities. She is currently serving as the Naval Operations Reserve Battle Force Integration Manpower Analyst at the Arlington Navy Annex. Master Chief Gemuend's personal awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Navy Recruiting Excellence Awards and various other service and campaign awards.

Master Sergeant Leandria L. Hollinshead is the superintendent of the Command Post, 347th Rescue Wing, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. She was awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal for her sustained efforts of Hurricane Elena. From 1990 to 1992 she continued to sharpen her Command and Control skills as Combat Alert Center Controller, King Salmon AFS, Alaska. As the single point of contact between NORAD and the alert aircrews, she was solely responsible to decode emergency orders, scramble, and launch alert aircraft to intercept Soviet Union air vehicles attempting to penetrate U.S. borders. Following the incident of the USS Cole, she deployed to Saudi Arabia to establish theater command post operations for the Commander of the Joint Task Force-- Southwest Asia.

Continuing to excel in her professional education, she captured the John L. Levitow award at her NCO Academy graduation in June 1999 and was soon after promoted to Master Sergeant. MSgt Hollinshead is the recipient of the AF Meritorious Service Medal, AF Commendation Medal, AF Outstanding Unit Award, and the AF Good Conduct Medal.

Master Gunnery Sergeant Carole A. Hawkins enlisted in the Marine Corps in February of 1973. Currently, she is the senior enlisted female in the Marine Corps, and the senior enlisted administrator. Master Gunnery Sergeant Hawkins is assigned as the Administrative Chief for the Personnel Management Division, Manpower and Reserve Affairs Department, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Quantico, VA.

Master Gunnery Sergeant Hawkins has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Navy, Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.

Master Chief Linda Reid enlisted in the Coast Guard Reserve in 1975. She drilled at Coast Guard Reserve Unit Seattle before moving to the Washington, DC, area in 1977. Master Chief Reid has been with the Coast Guard's Sea Partners Campaign since its beginning in 1994. As director, she oversees policy, budget and operations for this nationwide environmental public outreach program. Master Chief Reid coordinated Coast Guard participation in the 1985, 1989 and 1993 Presidential Inaugurals.

Master Chief Reid was advanced to the grade of Master Chief Petty Officer in May 1993, the first woman in the Storekeeper rating to achieve that rank in the Coast Guard. She is a Silver Lifetime Member of the U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Association (CPOA) and a member of the Foreign Joint Service Non-Commissioned Officers Association, the Fleet Reserve Association and the Non-Commissioned Officers Association.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great admiration and pride that the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues honor the five servicewomen and their accomplishments. We are living in a day and age when the thought of a woman serving in the military is not the exception, it's the norm. There are over 2 million women serving and they are making a huge contribution to America's military operations around the world . . . as so many us have seen from America's recent victory in Iraq.

It is an honor for each member of the Caucus to highlight these exceptional women. The Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard are well represented by our 2003 Women in Military Service Honorees.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage my colleagues in the House to work together in a bipartisan manner to enact meaningful prescription drug relief for America's seniors. During the first week of the spring district work period, I toured five rural community centers across my district, and I will be continuing that tour, but the thing I heard on the first tour and will hear through the rest of the year is why has Congress not passed prescription drug reform? Guaranteeing all senior citizens the right to choose a voluntary prescription drug plan under Medicare while strengthening Medicare for the future are fundamental building blocks to improving the overall health care system. Congress has risen to meet many challenges in the past and we must meet this one.

Mr. Speaker, it is time to ask ourselves, why have we not passed prescription drug reform? The time has passed for partisan politics. There are too many seniors facing the horrific choice of whether to buy food, pay their mortgage or rent, or purchase the prescriptions that they need.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend an exceptional organization in West Virginia on its receipt of a prestigious certification of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The Center for Rural Health Development has been working since 1994 to make sure that West Virginians in rural communities have access to the highest standards of health care services. Its dedicated Board of Directors and professional staff have worked effectively to bring essential infrastructure, equipment, technical assistance, and skilled health care providers of all types to rural counties in our beloved State.

Ever mindful of the fact that a community's economic health is linked to the quality of its health care delivery system, the center has played a vital role in the growth and development of many rural and underserved areas, opening up opportunities for jobs, both in health care fields and in new businesses attracted to the high quality of life in West Virginia.

Its loan partners in the private sector and sponsors, including the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Appalachian Regional Commission and the State of West Virginia, have long recognized the financial expertise of the Center for Rural Health Development.

It is now my pleasure to note that the U.S. Department of the Treasury, through its Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, has certified the Center for Rural Health Development as a ``Community Development Financial Institution''. The CDFI designation is a testament to high standards of practice and exceptional results, and serves as a signal to financial markets and West Virginia communities that the confidence they place in the Center for Rural Health Development is well deserved.

I ask that my colleagues join me in commending the Center for Rural Health Development and its Director, Ms. Sharon Lansdale, on its CDFI certification, and in expressing our appreciation for the vital role they have played in the lives of so many West Virginians.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment and would like to express my sincere appreciation for the importance of coal industry health care benefits. I would like to remind my colleagues that while my own State of West Virginia has roughly 15,000 retirees and dependents in the combined benefit fund, the overall plan covers nearly 50,000 retirees with total benefits paid out last year of over $368 million.

The viability of this health care program is extremely important to those of us in the body who represent the countless hard-working men and women in coal country who have helped provide this country's energy needs for so many years.

In addition, I would like to express my gratitude and support for recognizing the significance of clean coal tax provisions that are going to be placed back into the bill. These incentives will allow the coal industry to invest in cleaner coal technology, and ensure the country continues to have affordable and reliable energy for our homes, hospitals, schools and factories.

I support this amendment because this makes a bold statement to our coal miners that we support them not only while they are working with their health benefits, but in their retired years.

Mr. Speaker, this is a good morning to be a West Virginian. We found out last night one of our own is coming home.

Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old private first class from the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company is in safe hands right now because of the heroism of her rescuers, the coalition forces. Jessica had been missing for 10 days. She is from Palestine, West Virginia, in Wirt County. Wirt County residents are resilient people who epitomize the can-do spirit of West Virginia, and it was their prayers that brought Jessie home. All of us West Virginians and every American across the Nation can feel the Lynch family's relief now that their daughter is in safe hands.

I stand here today wearing my yellow ribbon because we are waiting for other Americans to come home. We are joyful, thankful, grateful as we see the miraculous rescue of Jessie Lynch.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of both a friend and constituent of mine, the Honorable Vicki Douglas. Tonight, Vicki Douglas is receiving the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Shenandoah Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, in Martinsburg, West Virginia for her years of continuous service to her community and state government.

Serving as my first committee chair in the West Virginia House of Delegates, Vicki was a colleague and a mentor. To this day, I value her leadership and tenacity and applaud her dedication. Throughout her career, Ms. Douglas has worked tirelessly to bring women's issues to the forefront and promote the well being of all West Virginians.

It is a great honor to commend Ms. Douglas on her service to the great state of West Virginia and recognize this extraordinary achievement.

Mr. Speaker, I would indeed like to debate the issue, I would like you all to live in my State of West Virginia over the last year. Our Trauma I Medical Center in the State's Capital, Charleston, West Virginia, closed. No specialist. It was reopened, but it was closed for 2 or 3 months.

In September of 2002, a young boy who had something lodged in his windpipe, his parents had to drive him 4 hours to get a specialist in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank goodness it had a good ending, but it might not have.

In January, a group of Wheeling surgeons left the emergency room to illustrate the deep and devastating problem that West Virginia doctors are suffering with the high cost of medical liability. And, guess what happened? Our State legislature, which is predominantly Democrat, in probably the largest way of any State legislature, we have a Democratic Governor, they passed and signed the day before yesterday a medical liability bill that does in fact have caps on non-economic damages. Because, you know what? When your grandmother, when your mother, when your husband or wife cannot find medical care at a trauma center, cannot find an OB/GYN, when their general practitioner leaves to go to California, North Carolina, Georgia, that is a human problem. That is a health problem.

So the answer to this is the legislation that we are going to pass today. I proudly voted for it last year. I think it will help not only my State of West Virginia, but it will help every State in the Union.

We cannot retain and recruit physicians in the State of West Virginia because of this problem. We have had a brain drain because our older physicians are leaving, they are practicing defensive medicine, and they are afraid of the lawsuits that are pending in front of them. Sixty-three percent of them say they considered moving to another State, 41 percent are considering retiring early, and 30 percent are considering leaving the practice of medicine altogether.

Mr. Speaker, this is a devastating problem. Come to West Virginia and see. It is a quality of life issue, it is an economic issue.

Today I join with my colleagues to vote for H.R. 5, and I will be extremely happy to see national legislation.

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) for putting this together in anticipation of what I think will be a great day for this Chamber and a great day for America and that is going to be the passage of H.R. 5, the HEALTH Act.

I am a co-sponsor of the HEALTH Act, as I was last year when it passed through this Chamber. I was pushing for medical liability reform at every level, on the Federal level most certainly, but in our own State of West Virginia.

Everybody has a story to tell, and certainly in West Virginia last year we had quite a story to tell. I just want to talk about two incidents that happened in our State of West Virginia.

I live in Charleston, West Virginia, the capital of our State. And the largest medical center there lost its trauma-1 status, which means that if I were to be in a car accident and my family were to suffer like the woman that we talked with earlier today whose husband was in a car accident, they too would have to be transported to find a neurosurgeon to be treated in a trauma-1 center outside of our State.

To me, to live in a capital city and say you cannot provide that kind of care in our capital city does not speak very well for our State or our capital city. I am happy to say that that hospital has since retained its Trauma 1 status through great efforts by our governor, and we now do have our full emergency care, but in that point in time it was a devastating event.

We also had an event in September where a young boy had something lodged in his windpipe, went to the hospital, could not find a pediatric surgeon, had to be taken to Cincinnati, 4 hours away, before he could have that removed from his windpipe. Luckily, everything turned out all right, but if it had been a true emergency to the point where he was obstructed and could not breathe, it could have had a different ending.

I likened a lot of what was happening in West Virginia to the Perfect Storm. Our doctors were leaving in droves, our Trauma 1 center was closing, our doctors in Wheeling actually took a month long leave of absence in January to illustrate the devastation that they have felt in their emergency room with the skyrocketing costs of medical malpractice insurance.

According to the Chamber of Commerce, West Virginia has one of the largest problems. Let me just say, 65 percent of our physicians have said they would consider moving to another State to practice medicine; 41 percent said retiring early; 30 percent said leaving the practice of medicine altogether. And what does that say? To me, that says when a doctor who is in the prime of their lives and practicing medicine, not only do we lose access to quality care, but we lose that physician's expertise to train doctors that are coming through in medical school and the doctors to come, and it is a very discouraging fact.

Doctors are practicing defensive medicine all across this country, and they are ordering test after test because they are afraid of the consequences if they were to miss something or if they were to not order a test that could be in some form or fashion thought to have been not in the patient's best interests or in the patient's best interest to have. So they are ordering test after test. They are referring to specialist after specialist to get more judgments. They have prescribed more medicine.

This is what defensive medicine is about, and every physician or most every physician in my State and across the Nation knows exactly what it is to have somebody looking over their shoulder. These professionals train for years and decades, many of them, to provide good, safe, quality health care to our citizens, to provide access to our citizens.

I am particularly interested in rural health care because if our doctors leave, they are going to leave the rural areas first, and it is going to be a devastating situation for our country.

So I am extremely pleased that we are going to have H.R. 5 in front of us tomorrow. I am going to be voting yea very proudly. I think it is going to help in our States for our recruitment of our young physicians, retention of our physicians, and provide that quality health care and success that is extremely important.

I would like to tell the rest of the Nation that my State, because we were in the Perfect Storm last year, because we were in this devastating situation, our State legislature stepped up to the bat, and yesterday our governor signed a bill, a medical liability reform bill, a medical justice bill, that goes to a lot to lawsuits abuse and lawsuit reform and tries to get a handle on the lottery system of medical liability court cases. I am proud of our State. I am proud of

our legislature for stepping up and answering the call and answering the question.

We need to pass this reform at the Federal level and vote for this HEALTH Act. Our court system is overwhelmed with these frivolous cases. Everyone in this body and everyone across America wants to see when an error has been made, when something unfortunate has happened, wants to see that person get what is rightfully due to them and to see that they are made whole because of an error that might have inadvertently been caused or intentionally been caused in a medical situation, and if we allow our court system to proceed the way it has with these frivolous suits and clogged up, the folks that are really due and that are really hurting are not going to have the access that they need.

This is also an economic development issue. If our health system is failing, we cannot develop our communities and a State like mine, if our health system is not standing, all the businesses are not going to come and bring employees into a State or a city that does not have good quality health care and good quality access to health care.

I think a lot of us across the Nation have a personal relationship with our physicians, and I think what happened in my State is what is happening across the country. With the personal relationships that we have with our physicians, that I might have with my OB/GYN or my mother might have with her physician, when those physicians leave in an untimely way because they are forced out of practicing medicine because of the high cost of medical liability, because of the fear of lawsuits, when those physicians leave, it breaks a serious bond in all of our lives. We have lost one of our friends, our advocates and somebody that we trust, and that is our physician.

I want to see our physicians be able to practice the way they have been trained, the way that they in their hearts know that we want to be treated, with good quality health care, and I believe that this health reform bill that we are going to pass tomorrow, modeled after the California bill, will go a long way to seeing that happen.

Mr. Speaker, as many of us know, February has been designated American Heart Month. Too many Americans are suffering from heart disease, especially women. It is a little known fact that heart disease is a leading cause of deaths among women, with over 370,000 deaths every year. In fact, heart disease kills more women than all forms of cancer combined.

Sadly, 1 in 25 women will die from breast cancer but 1 in 2 will die from heart disease. In my home State of West Virginia, heart disease statistics are staggering. Thirty-one percent of all deaths were from heart disease in the year 2000.

This month the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have made it their mission to educate women about heart disease, because regardless of their age, it is never too late to combat heart disease.

A woman's risk of heart disease starts to rise gradually between the age of 40 to 60, but heart disease develops gradually and can start at a very young age. Older women need to take action to prevent and control the risk factors for heart disease. Regardless of our ages, it is never too late for women to combat heart disease. We should be spreading that message today and every day.

Mr. Chairman, I stand before you today to offer and lend my support to H.R. 4, and most specifically because of the essential $2 billion in additional funds for child care.

As a representative of an economically distressed State, thousands of women and men in my district are reliant upon government-assisted child care so they can be on their road to self-sufficiency. Over 25 percent of the children in the State of West Virginia are reliant on government-supported child care. This increase in funding will ensure that these families will benefit, grow and prosper and go on to new and better lives.

People are in genuine need of quality, safe and affordable child care for their children. H.R. 4 will not only continue to guarantee this, but will also, with the increased $2 billion in child care, open the program up to more and larger families.

Mr. Chairman, I urge all of my colleagues to stand up and support the increased funding for child care. It is desperately needed by parents and children alike.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting efforts to adequately address one of the most vulnerable aspects of the health care system, rural America.

This very minute, over 60 million rural Americans live with the risk of being without critical health care services. We must make sure that we have meaningful health care reform, guaranteeing all Americans access.

In my home State of West Virginia, 50 of the 55 counties are designated as ``medically underserved.'' In addition, physicians in our State, like many other States, are experiencing a medical liability crisis that threatens to deprive us of critical care specialists. This situation has the makings of a ``perfect storm.''

Whether you live in New York City or Moorefield, West Virginia, we should all have access to proper health care. From ambulance service to community health centers to hospitals to nursing homes, millions of Americans are counting on us to make sure that rural health care delivery systems will be there for us when we truly need them.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express the appreciation of the citizens of West Virginia to Bob Bowen for the invaluable contribution he has made to our beloved state.

The Polymer Alliance Zone was developed in 1996 as private/public partnership designed to promote the polymer industry in West Virginia. It has been cited as one of West Virginia's most successful initiatives and has been emulated in the chemical and wood industries.

One man, Robert E. ``Bob'' Bowen has served with great distinction as the Chairman of the Board of Directors since its inception. During that time, his leadership has brought the organization to a level of success that far exceeded all expectations, creating and saving thousands of jobs and attracting millions of dollars in new investment.

Mr. Bowen has leveraged resources from education, labor, management and government to bring worldwide recognition to PAZ, and focus attention on the many opportunities available for companies and workers in West Virginia.

After six years of successful leadership Mr. Bowen is retiring as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. His vision and skill have secured the jobs of thousands of West Virginia families, and brought growth for the future of many communities.

On behalf of the people of West Virginia, I wish to express a very sincere ``thank you'' for a job well done.