Edolphus Towns: “I'm very pleased that the House approved H.R. 4365, the Children's Health Act of 2000, reflecting a compromise agreement…”

“I'm very pleased that the House approved H.R. 4365, the Children's Health Act of 2000, reflecting a compromise agreement that was reached on a bipartisan basis with the Senate last week. This legislation will establish various children's health research and prevention programs conducted through federal public health agencies. The legislation will amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize additional federal resources targeted at many children's diseases, such as traumatic brain injury, autism, Fragile X, juvenile arthritis, childhood skeletal malignancies, diabetes, birth defects, hepatitis C, and epilepsy. Today, however, I want to specifically make mention of title 22 of the legislation, which mandates increased research by the National Institutes of Health into Muscular Dystrophy. Passage of this title represents the first time that Muscular Dystrophy, and specifically Duchesne Muscular Dystrophy, has been acknowledged in a federal statute. This is long overdue.”