Elizabeth Furse: “last week there was a historic meeting here in Washington. All the organizations who are working to end diabetes came to…”

“last week there was a historic meeting here in Washington. All the organizations who are working to end diabetes came to Washington for a call for action. The reason for this event was to celebrate that there are now 234 cosponsors of H.R. 1073 and 1074, but they also came here to call on the Speaker to bring those bills to the floor so we can vote on them. These bills are bipartisan. They were introduced by myself and the gentleman from Washington [Mr. Nethercutt]. As parents of children with diabetes, we know that if we can improve coverage for diabetes education and supplies, people can better manage this disease, which affects over 16 million Americans. We know that that will be a saving in the long run. As a result of this knowledge, we formed the Diabetes Caucus last year and we have introduced these bills. However, it is the Speaker who is able to bring bills to the floor. So today we ask the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Gingrich] to bring these bills. He has previously stated his support for this issue. Bring them to the floor for a vote. Let us make a difference now for those 16 million Americans.”