Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act, and I'm pleased that policy language that I authored regarding emergency medical technicians has been included in the committee report. With this inclusion, reciprocity between the armed services and States regarding certification for emergency medical technicians, EMTs, will be established. Last year, the State of Illinois passed legislation which allows military ``emergency medical technician'' training of an honorably discharged member of the Armed Forces to be considered as reciprocal for its licensure requirements. Working with Representatives Harman and Herseth Sandlin, I included such a provision into H.R. 3199, the Emergency Medic Training, or EMT, Act which was later incorporated into the House Health Insurance Reform Bill. Although the provision was not included in the final health reform legislation, the need for such direction to States has now been addressed. Our men and women in uniform will be able to use their real- time training and education in the field to help those in emergencies here at home, if they so choose, without the cost and redundancy retraining upon their return. I thank Chairman Skelton for his support and his efforts on the underlying bill.”