Political Quotes

“first of all, let me commend and congratulate all of the members of the Committee on Commerce, especially its leadership, the gentleman from Louisiana (Chairman Tauzin); the dean of the House, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell); both the chairman and the ranking member of the subcommittee; and especially my colleague, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps). They have all put their fingers on a most severe problem in our country, and I was just sitting there thinking how much of a Christmas present this is going to be for all of the hospitals. I represent a district that has 23 hospitals, four university medical centers, nine nurses' training programs, 25 community health centers. Health for my district is one of the most important elements of it. I just finished meeting with the deans of our nursing schools. Every one of them recognizes this shortage. I just finished meeting with the owners of nursing homes, and they all point out the problem that they have. As a matter of fact, we have even had hospitals seek waivers so that they could import nurses from other countries. So we thank the gentleman for America, but especially do I want to thank this committee for the people of the Seventh Congressional District in Illinois. They have given us a tremendous Christmas present.”