Joe Barton: “I thank the distinguished Appropriations Committee chairman for yielding me time. I rise in support of this continuing…”

“I thank the distinguished Appropriations Committee chairman for yielding me time. I rise in support of this continuing resolution. Obviously, we would rather fund the government for the entire year before the start of the fiscal year, but that is in a perfect world, and one thing that the Congress has never been accused of is being a perfect world. So we are here dealing in the real world. To my good friend from Connecticut who just spoke, and she is my good friend, I would point out that the bill before us doesn't cut money from the Prevention Fund. It directs money from the Prevention Fund to spend on healthcare programs. In other words, it is taking some discretion from the executive branch and directing that spending that Congress thinks it should be spent for. One of the programs that we are going to fund for 2 years is the community health centers. Twenty-four million people each year get their healthcare from these community health centers, and one of them is in my home county, the Hope Clinic. Its main facility is in Waxahachie, Texas. But in my hometown of Ennis, we have the Nell Barton Hope Clinic Annex. These two facilities in Ellis County this year are providing healthcare for over 10,000 Ellis Countians. This is not exotic care. It is checkups, screenings, mammograms, and all the odds and ends that you have in your basic healthcare facilities. If they need more specific treatment, they are referred to specialists in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.…”