Political Quotes

“I do not disagree with the thrust of what my colleague is saying, that parents should be responsible for immunizing their children. But I am afraid that we are aiming at the parents, but hurting the child. If the child is not fully immunized, to cut off that child from necessary food, medicine, or other resources is, I think, misguided. We need to encourage and promote immunizations, but we do not want to simultaneously deny a child--through the fault of the parent who does not get the child fully immunized--the benefit of the necessary nutritional and medical services they would otherwise get. That is the effect of this amendment. I respect my colleague's thrust, but do not penalize the child. The child would be the one to suffer. In cases where a child is behind in immunizations, that child could lose access to food and SSI for as long as a year while they catch up on their immunization schedule. Immunizations cannot be given all at once, I am told.”