Political Quotes

“I rise to offer what I think is a very important amendment to increase the funding this bill provides for a vital piece of our Nation's health care system--our community health centers. This amendment, which I am very pleased to offer in conjunction with my colleague, Senator Hollings of South Carolina, who has been a long-time supporter of community health centers--as was the late Senator from Rhode Island, the father of the distinguished occupant of the chair, who was a great champion of community health centers--along with a total of 58 cosponsors, would increase funding for community health centers by a total of $50 million for this coming year. That is a $50 million increase over that which is already included. The offset we use to fund this health center increase is a reduction in the departmental management fund for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The managers of this bill, Senators Specter and Harkin, clearly had a very difficult task in crafting this bill. There is a lot of money in it, but there are even more demands and requests for good things that this bill does. And they have to compete for the funds that, although they are significant, are still limited. Despite the competing demands, the underlying bill has a $100 million increase for community health centers. I sincerely commend the chairman and the ranking member for their efforts to include this very needed increase in the funding for the CHCs.”