Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I join my colleague from Maine on the floor this afternoon to talk about what we can do to save the lives of newborn children and their mothers in some of the poorest communities around our globe. I wish to start by thanking Senator Collins for her impressive leadership and for the energy she has brought to this work. I share her belief that our bipartisan bill, which is called the Reach Every Mother and Child Act or just the REACH Act, will go a long way toward eliminating preventable maternal and child deaths and will do so in an impressively targeted and cost-effective way. The preventable death of newborns, their mothers, and children under 5 is a genuine tragedy that remains a widespread reality in far too many places around our world today. As Senator Collins said, 17,000 children a day lose their lives to preventable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria--illnesses we know how to not just treat but prevent--and worldwide, 3 million children will lose their lives to malnutrition this year. Nearly 3 million newborns die every year, 1 million of whom don't live to their second day, and 300,000 women don't get to experience the joy of raising their child as either pregnancy or birth takes their lives. I doubt it would come to any surprise to those in this Chamber today that it is the families who are living in the poorest communities in the developing world who are most at risk.…”