On the recordJune 22, 2011
I rise today to introduce the Border Health Security Act of 2011. This legislation is designed to make several important changes to current law to address pressing public health challenges along the U.S.-Mexico border. In 1993, along with Senators Hutchison and McCain, I introduced the original United States-Mexico Border Health Commission Act. With the support of Members from both chambers, and from both parties, we passed this landmark legislation, which was signed into law in 1994 by President Clinton. I was gratified when the bi-national agreement to establish the Commission was signed in 2000. And, I have monitored with interest the important work of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission in the years since. As the Commission enters its second decade, the problems it seeks to deal with are no less pressing than those we originally set out to tackle with the Border Health Commission Act. Health disparities and chronic diseases for the over 14 million people who live in the border region, comprised of two sovereign nations, 25 Native American tribes, and four states in the United States and six states in Mexico, remain at unacceptable levels, far outpacing rates in most of the United States. Far too many border residents remain uninsured. Texas and New Mexico, for instance, rank first and fifth, respectively, in the percentage of residents who are uninsured.…
