Political Quotes

“I thank Senator Isakson. I am so appreciative of the work the Senator has done with the Centers for Disease Control in his home State of Georgia. There is no Federal agency that is quite like the CDC in this country or across the world. Our Nation's fiscal health cannot be strengthened at the expense of our Nation's public health. In the 21st century it is easy to overlook this country's public health safety net. Too often we take for granted that our children are not being crippled by polio or dying from whooping cough because we have immunizations. We take for granted that we have stronger teeth and less tooth decay because of water fluoridation in many of our communities. We take for granted that few people in this country now die of infectious diseases such as cholera and tuberculosis because we have made the kind of remarkable progress we have in sanitation, in hygiene, antibiotics, and disease surveillance. We take these advancements for granted because for over six decades the CDC has been doing an extraordinary job of ensuring Americans have basic health protections. The CDC's work, along with that of other public health advocates and researchers, is credited with increasing the average American's life expectancy over the last many decades, increasing the average American's life expectancy by 25 years--25 years, a quarter of a century longer because of our investment in public health.…”