Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today on the occasion of Black History Month to recognize the accomplishments of three leading Marylanders in American medicine. Established by Howard University historian Carter G. Woodson in 1927 as Black History Week, this now month-long celebration is an opportunity to elevate awareness of Black Americans' contributions to our Nation's history. It is customary for American families to spend time in February learning more about famous Black Americans who helped shape our Nation, including Marylanders Harriet Ross Tubman, the ``Moses of her people,'' who ran the Underground Railroad, and Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court Justice and the architect of the legal strategy leading to the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Today, I come to the Senate floor to highlight the contributions of three Marylanders who are currently at the pinnacle of the medical profession--Dr. Ben Carson, Dr. Eve Higginbotham, and Dr. Donald Wilson. I have spoken before on the crushing burden of health disparities on our health care system and the urgent need to eliminate them. It is an issue directly affecting one out of every three Americans: 37 million African Americans, 45 million Latinos, 13 million Asians, 2.3 million Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, and 400,000 Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in our Nation. While minorities represent one-third of our Nation's population, they are fully one-half of the uninsured.…”