Jon L. Christensen: “I rise today, to support the Labor Health and Human Services, and Education appropriation bill today, and to applaud the…”

“I rise today, to support the Labor Health and Human Services, and Education appropriation bill today, and to applaud the chairman, Mr. Regula, and ranking member, Mr. Obey, for their hard work, willingness to work with all of us, with our many and varied interests, and demands, and their unwavering commitment to the people of this country who depend on the work done in this important committee. As a family physician and chair of the Health Braintrust of the Congressional Black Caucus, I want to speak specifically to the Health funding. Mr. Speaker, while we may not have gotten all that we wanted, I am pleased that funding that would have been flat or reduced under President Bush's budget request was restored or even increased. Although there are many instances where this has happened, I want to make specific reference to Healthy Start, the Health Careers Opportunity Program and the Minority AIDS initiative. On the Minority AIDS initiative we regret that the funding did not come closer to our request of $540 million that we determined was needed to extend the programs for HIV and AIDS to our hard to reach people of color who are at disproportionate risk, and suffer the most from the scourge of this virus.”