Nancy Kassebaum: “I, too, wish to thank my colleague from New Hampshire for raising the serious problems posed for many states by the…”

“I, too, wish to thank my colleague from New Hampshire for raising the serious problems posed for many states by the reduction in Federal support for State public health vaccine distribution programs proposed in the administration's fiscal year 1995 budget. In my State of Kansas, for example, the public health department has taken a leadership role in the effort to ensure that all children are fully immunized against potentially devastating childhood diseases, not only by conducting ambitious outreach programs but also by providing affordable immunization services through local public health clinics. As we move forward with the budget and appropriations process, I am strongly committed to working with the administration and with my colleagues in Congress to maintain a firm Federal commitment to State public health vaccine distribution programs. In Kansas, as in many other States, these programs are and will likely remain an essential avenue to achieving the early childhood immunization goals that we share and that inform the Childhood Immunization Act provisions we have approved again today as part of S. 1597.”