Edolphus Towns: “let me begin by first congratulating my colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Meek), of course and the ranking…”

“let me begin by first congratulating my colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Meek), of course and the ranking member of the subcommittee, as well. Let me just say that this is a very important piece of legislation. As we walk and we talk to people who are suffering from this disease, we think about the fact that maybe we need to do more. I think that this is a giant step in the right direction because we need to do more in terms of research and need to make certain that treatment is available to those that suffer from this illness. I think that access to treatment is very, very important. I think that when we look at many people in some of the rural areas of this country that are having great difficulty getting treatment, I think that this is the right step. I would like to again congratulate my colleague from Ohio and, of course, my colleague from Florida, both colleagues from Florida, for their outstanding work in this effort and to say to them that they probably do not realize how many lives they are saving and how many people that are encountering all kinds of difficulties that they are going to make life better for all of them. And I want to salute them for that.”