Barbara Boxer: “people are unemployed. Mortgage foreclosures have reached a record high. Forty-one million Americans have no health…”

“people are unemployed. Mortgage foreclosures have reached a record high. Forty-one million Americans have no health insurance--no health insurance--whatsoever. Nine million children do not have health insurance coverage; 1.6 million children in California have no coverage. Over 15 million Medicare beneficiaries have no prescription drug coverage. And 1.5 million violent crimes were reported in the U.S. in 2001. The crime rate is going up again, along with the unemployment rate. We are talking about banning a medical procedure--or more than one, because the Supreme Court, by the way, in its ruling, claims the wording actually bans more than one procedure--we are doing that instead of this. Mr. President, 13.5 million eligible children do not have child care assistance. And 280,000 children in California are on waiting lists to receive assistance. There is a lot of passion about kids here. I share the passion. I share the love. I share the anxiety for those children. Let's do something to help them. Mr. President, 15 million children have no access to afterschool programs, and the President cut the afterschool program by 40 percent. One million children live within 1 mile of a toxic Superfund site, and the Superfund is in danger, and Superfund cleanups are now cut in half. Talk about how it affects children. Why don't we do our job instead of trying to be doctors? If we do our job, we will have healthy children, get the parents health insurance, and the rest.…”