Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague for yielding, and I rise to extend my support for this rule and the underlying legislation. This legislation funds critical, bipartisan health programs that help keep our communities healthy. Mr. Speaker, I have long been a strong supporter of CHIP because I have seen it in action back in my home State of Alabama. I served on the Alabama State School Board back when Alabama implemented our CHIP program, known as ALL Kids. ALL Kids was the first CHIP program in the country, and it has made a real difference. In fact, the uninsurance rate for children in Alabama has gone from 20 percent pre-CHIP to 2.4 percent today. For 83,000 Alabama children under 19, the program offers low-cost, comprehensive healthcare coverage that includes regular checkups, immunizations, sick child doctor visits, prescriptions, vision care, dental care, and much more. CHIP has always been a bipartisan program, and I hope this reauthorization will earn bipartisan support for the children of America. This legislation also reauthorizes the community health centers fund. I am a huge champion of community health centers because, again, I have seen them work in Alabama from the Mostellar Medical Center in Bayou La Batre to Franklin Primary Health in Mobile to Southwest Alabama Health Services in McIntosh. These centers are vitally important to so many Americans, but especially to low-income families and those in rural areas.…”