Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to speak about a serious public health issue in Rhode Island and to commend the EPA for its actions to address it. Rhode Island has the sixth highest rate of asthma in the country. According to our Department of Health, more than 25,000 Rhode Island children or 11 percent of children in our State--more than 1 in every 10 kids--suffer from asthma, and 82,000 adults in Rhode Island, which is also about 11 percent of our adult population, also suffer from this chronic disease. From 2005 to 2009, asthma was the underlying cause or a contributing cause of death for 240 people in Rhode Island, including 4 children. In 2009, there were 1,750 hospital discharges in Rhode Island for asthma cases. Those hospital stays cost about $8 million--in just that 1 year--in direct medical costs, not counting the costs associated with days of work and school missed or the medication for ongoing treatment. On a clear summer day in Rhode Island, many of us have had the experience commuting to work and hearing a warning on drive time radio: Today is a bad air day in Rhode Island. Infants, senior citizens, and people with respiratory difficulties should stay indoors today. In fact, yesterday was just such a day in Rhode Island. An air quality alert was issued by our State Department of Environmental Management, warning that ozone was expected to reach dangerous levels in the southern half of our State by afternoon.…”