Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, last week new data was released in Pennsylvania which found more than 11,000 patients acquired infections that resulted in 1,500 deaths and $2 billion in additional charges. These are new numbers for only one State and are almost half of the previous estimate for infection costs nationwide where tens of thousands of deaths and tens of billions of dollars are spent on infections and errors.

When staff are encouraged to immediately report safety concerns, it saves lives and money. For example, at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, when staff were encouraged to bring attention to medical staff errors, it resulted in a 90 percent decrease in infections and half a million dollars in savings annually just in intensive care units.

Congress owes it to the American people to improve the quality of health care in this country. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, of which I am a cosponsor, will increase legal protections for providers who disclose errors and a step in the right direction towards achieving this goal.

I would urge my colleagues to visit my Web site at Murphy.house.gov to learn more about improving errors and improving patient safety.

Mr. Speaker, obesity and obesity-associated annual hospital costs for children and adolescents have more than tripled over 2 decades, rising from $35 million in 1979 to $127 million in 2000.

This alarming rise in childhood obesity has resulted in a generation of children with many of the medical complications historically associated with adults, such as hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, and heart disease. Adult obesity increases risks for over 20 medical conditions costing about $75 billion in medical expenses.

Obesity prevention starts at home. Parents need to begin to teach personal responsibility early on, to eat healthy meals, and establish an exercise routine for their families. There is no Federal program that can improve the habits of our Nation's children better than a team of responsible parents.

For our part, Congress should work with local communities to promote access to nutritious foods and physical activity programs that make healthy life-styles a priority, both in schools and the workplace. I ask that Members learn more about the costs and medical problems associated with obesity and other health care issues and urge them to visit my Web site at murphy.house.gov.

Mr. Chairman, I support the amendment under consideration. I also want to say that I am pleased to work on language that was included to authorize the Army Corps to study ways to provide additional flood relief in southwestern Pennsylvania, particularly the Chartiers Creek watershed.

Over the years, many flood control projects have been built to minimize flood damage. However, as Hurricane Frances and Ivan made so clear, existing projects are inadequate. Last year's floods caused more than $260 million in damage in Pennsylvania, with Allegheny County the unwilling victim of most of it. Towns in my district incurred an estimated $60 million in damage; floodwaters killed one person and damaged more than 30,000 homes and businesses.

To this day, many of my constituents in an already depressed area struggle to rebuild. Seventeen existing flood control projects have yet to be repaired or restored, and just this week, many of my local communities met to discuss leftover debris. Our towns cannot wait any longer for the projects authorized in this bill, and I encourage my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Chairman, due to official business speaking to the Circle of Friends for American Veterans, I was unavoidably detained and not present in the Chamber on Wednesday, June 29, 2005, and was regrettably unable to cast my vote on rollcall No. 336.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 336.

Amendment Offered by Mr. Kennedy of Minnesota

Mr. Chairman, speaking as a psychologist and one who has spent a career working with children, let me say that this amendment is misguided, misinformed, wrong for America, and wrong for medicine.

First of all, this bill does not fund universal screening. HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt and SAMHSA Director Charlie Curie have both testified that mandatory screening of all children for mental illness has never been, nor will it ever be, a part of the Federal plan to respond to the Nation's mental health crisis.

The President's New Freedom Commission on mental health clearly stated that schools should work collaboratively with families on mental health services and support to children.

This amendment is another witch hunt against mental illness and its passage will only serve to further stigmatize mental illness. If our concern is about overmedicating children, let us deal with that. You do not deal with it by attacking screening.

Just as pediatricians routinely screen newborns for heart and liver diseases and sickle cell anemia, appropriate mental health screening done by qualified professionals is vital to identifying mental health and the potential substance abuse problems of our youth. Screening does not cause diabetes, screening does not cause metabolic disorders, screening does not cause cancer, and screening does not cause hyperactivity. With over 75 percent of all prescriptions for antidepressants prescribed by non-psychiatrists, including pediatricians, OB-GYNs, and primary care practitioners, with little or no training in psychiatry, the answer is to do screening the right way with parental consent and by qualified mental health professionals, not to take away the ability to do it at all.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the Paul amendment to do what is right for medicine, what is right for mental health, and what is compassionate for those with mental illnesses.

Mr. Chairman, I understand one of the objections to the Obey amendment will be that it takes money from worker training programs and community health services. But I want to state that as a child psychologist, I cannot overstate the need to make the ability of quality, wholesome media a priority for our children, and I am certainly concerned about reducing these funds that would affect children's programming, as I am sure every Member is.

In southwestern Pennsylvania, it has been the home of WQED, the first community-owned TV station, production center for many PBS programs, and also the home for Fred Rogers' programs with Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

It is extremely important, and I am hoping in conference, as I expect this amendment may fail, in conference the chairman may work to help restore some programming funds for public broadcasting. I believe it is important to have nonviolent, noncommercial programs, because so many other programs still have so much in there that appears to be just infomercials for children's programming.

So I ask that as this proceeds, that the chairman work in conference and in other areas to help restore some of the programming funds that would help us with such important children's programming.

Mr. Speaker, due to official business relating to the visit of BRAC Commissioner General Lloyd Newton to the 911th Airlift Wing, Air Force Reserve in my Congressional District, I was not present in the Chamber on Tuesday, June 21, 2005, and was regrettably unable to cast my vote on rollcall No. 288, rollcall No. 289, rollcall No. 290, rollcall No. 291, and rollcall No. 292.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 288; ``no'' on rollcall No. 289; ``yea'' on rollcall No. 290; ``yea'' on rollcall No. 291; and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 292.

Mr. Speaker, so often people come to this Chamber and say the way we deal with health care costs is to change who pays. What we need to talk about is what we are paying for.

The Department of Defense Extended Shelf Life Program evaluated over 312 drug products and found that even though they were given a date of shelf life, many of them maintain their stability, safety and potency up to as much as an additional 107 months past their expiration dates.

For the $3.9 million the military spent on stability testing on expired drugs, it saved $263 million. These are savings worth exploring, and I would urge my colleagues to support careful scientific review of expiration dates for prescription drugs and ask if the savings gained by the military can be applied to general health care spending.

My colleagues can learn more about these ideas for savings and health care by visiting my Web site at Murphy.house.gov and continue to change the way we look at health care to what we are paying for.

Mr. Speaker, although I disagree with much of what the WTO does, I do not think it is in the best interest of our Nation to withdraw from that organization at this time. Doing so would give the United States little bargaining power as we work to promote a global economy that is both free and fair. Withdrawal would put in jeopardy negotiations that are necessary to meet that goal.

However, my support for the long-term goal of more equitable international trade does not translate into blanket support, but it is difficult to ignore the fact that the U.S. is increasingly the target of WTO action. We are sued more than any other country, and our laws seem to be condemned by the WTO every month. We have been the defendant in 19 of the last 36 cases decided by the appellate body. These negative decisions have threatened American products and American businesses with sanctions. For example, in recent years the WTO has disapproved everything from our tax policies and trade laws to our sovereign right to regulate activity such as Internet gambling and set tariffs against unfair pricing by foreign countries.

It is becoming all too clear that these decisions are not the result of any shortcomings by this country or any true violation of international rules; rather, one must wonder if we are facing a forum that sees our country's prosperity and economic success as an opportunity to further bolster their own industries and markets. It seems as though nations are using the WTO to gain through litigation that they could not secure through negotiation.

But to help our economy, we cannot turn toward a simplistic, bellicose jingoism approach that blames the WTO and seeks protectionism as the answer to all. What we need to do on our own is to pass our energy policy that is otherwise costing us millions of jobs and to pass our own health care reforms to cut costs and not cut care.

Free trade is in everyone's best interest, and the WTO negotiations are vital to securing new markets for American products and creating new jobs for American workers. The negotiations must ultimately bring us to a system that is fair for all member countries while respecting the fundamental rights of a nation to determine its own law.

This administration needs to pay very close attention to the issue as we cannot sit idly by while the world unfairly threatens U.S. laws and remedies designed to protect our Nation against unfair practices.

The WTO clearly is not operating always in the best interests of the United States of America. However, it is the forum that exists; and as such, we need to remain partners with those that are vigilant and vigorous defenders of both free and fair trade in that forum for the benefit of our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding his time.

You know, you cannot divorce medical research from medical ethics. And as such, it is critically important we are dealing here with medical facts.

First of all, although many Members and the public and the media seem to get this wrong, the truth is, I believe we will have probably close to unanimous support for using Federal dollars for stem cell research, but it is important to understand the different types:

Adult stem cell, which has much promise to harvest and grow these, although it has some risk for infections and other problems. Some 30,000 people have been treated.

Umbilical cord, which is pluripotent. It can be used in multiple ways. Over 6,000 cases have been treated.

Frozen embryo research, zero. And cloning has its own problems with that as well.

In the area of umbilical cord blood, one of the cases, because in my practice, I oftentimes dealt with children with developmental disabilities. One case of the New England Journal of Medicine reports 90 percent success rate with Hurley's syndrome, a developmental disorder, autosomal dominant one, which ends up in severe developmental delays and death. Those are incredible results, incredible results that come from looking at the facts of what cord blood stem cell research is about.

Let us not distort this discussion and confuse cord blood and embryonic, because when you are using cord blood, umbilical blood, you are not killing anyone. You are not limiting or destroying a life. You are taking something that has been discarded in the normal process of pregnancy and birth.

Let us help support the continuation of this vital research which does not just show promise, but shows demonstrable results. And it does not involve the ending of any life in the process. This is where we should continue our research. This is where we must continue our work. This is where we must take our stand today, to continue to support medical research that is important. Look also at medical ethics.

Mr. Speaker, Leon Koss said that good things men do can be made complete only by the things they refuse to do.

Now I have no doubts about the compassion and convictions of both sides on this issue, but I take issue with the direction of their convictions, because in the end a life without a name is still a life.

Words cannot take away that this is a life. By calling them ``discarded'' or ``unwanted'' embryos does not take away that they are still lives. While some may see this as scientific efforts of ingenuity and future Nobel Prize work, it does not take away the lethality of this research.

Further, let me state that President Clinton's Bioethics Council stated: ``Embryos deserve respect as a form of human life.'' In 1999 the council said: ``Funding of embryonic stem cell research should be done only if there are no alternatives.'' The research that we have reviewed today and has been reviewed by this Congress in the past when these amendments have been looked upon over the last decade, is that there is still no alternative in the sense that the research is showing that cord blood stem cell research and adult stem cell research is where the results are found.

I have as much compassion as anybody. I have worked with developmentally disabled kids all my professional life and would love to see cures for them, but I want to see the funding go in the direction where we can see success, where that direction has been achieved and we will continue to see that.

But above all, let us remember that there are other things in medical research and medical ethics which come together here because you cannot divorce the two. If we say it is all right to use lethal methods in our research to remove the life of an embryo, what next? What next?

Mr. Speaker, two quick health care issues. Each year vaccinations save $52 billion in health care costs and 33,000 lives. However, the government's policy of selecting the lowest bidder, combined with a fear of lawsuits, has driven manufacturers out of the United States. This contributed to last year's flu vaccine shortage, where 30 million doses were lost due when a foreign manufacturer's supply was contaminated. The U.S. Congress needs to follow through with incentives to secure more U.S.-based vaccine manufacturers.

Secondly, today's news in the paper about Type II diabetes was disturbing. One point two million more cases appear per year, costing $132 billion. Type II diabetes is caused by poor diet and lack of exercise, and as Members of Congress we need to urge all Americans to make sure they take better care of themselves for this disease that causes stroke, heart attack, kidney failure,

and blindness. The risks are huge. The costs are huge. The benefits are great if we take better care of ourselves.

Madam Speaker, today I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of bright students from Jeannette High School in Jeannette, Pennsylvania. In today's world, so many high school and college students make information technology a common part of their everyday lives. They have learned so much about technology that it is commonplace in America to use a card to access your bank machine. In fact, anywhere in the world one can do that. We even take it for granted that you can take your car to have an oil change, and the person who is doing that oil change will be able to tell you all about your car, when your last oil change was done, where, how much, et cetera.

But in America today if you try and access the same sort of information about your own health, your needs in a hospital, hospitals are often at a loss to gather that information. Even the best hospitals in America have that trouble. So today in America thousands of patients are having unnecessary tests, undergoing surgeries they do not need and taking harmful drugs due to our paper-based health care system, and the consequences are deadly and costly. Because of this, sadly, hundreds of patients will die today and thousands more will be put at risk. And all of this can be prevented. Simply put, paper kills.

To solve this problem, I have introduced, along with my colleague the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy) the 21st Century Health Care Information Act, to make it easier for doctors to take advantage of new technologies, including electronic medical records and electronic prescribing into their everyday practices. Electronic medical records and electronic prescribing centralizes patient information in a secure and confidential manner to improve patient safety and increase the quality, availability and accessibility of health care.

Congress can no longer ignore the over $100 billion in savings and the countless number of lives that can be saved by these new technologies. If you believe in saving lives and saving money, I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation to prevent further medical errors from taking the lives of those whom we hold dear.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues if they wish to learn more about the benefits of health information technology and this act to visit my website at murphy.house.gov.

Mr. Speaker, we are all concerned about the high cost of health care. Americans can take action to reduce costs by taking better care of themselves, and the Federal Government should play a lead role in helping out.

For example, obesity-related diseases have annual costs of $100 billion. Yet 7

out of 10 adults are overweight and obesity rates among children have doubled in the last decade. Diseases associated with a lack of physical activity amounted to a yearly cost of $76 billion. The direct and indirect medical costs of smoking are $138 billion per year, and the costs of alcohol abuse are about $184 billion in one year.

Businesses that educate people about healthy lifestyles can reduce health care costs. Companies like Motorola, Caterpillar and Johnson & Johnson have saved $1 to $4 in benefits for every dollar spent on these programs.

The Federal Government should lead by example and leverage Federal resources to promote preventive health care solutions to educate the public on health risks and personal responsibility to prevent these avoidable conditions and health care costs.

Want to learn more? I encourage my colleagues to visit my Web site at murphy.house.gov to learn more about these issues.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Commerce be

discharged from further consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 250) supporting the goals and ideals of National Hepatitis B Awareness Week, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.