Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 2408, the Scleroderma Research and Awareness Act, would expand research and education for scleroderma. There are an estimated 300,000 people in the United States who have this disease. The exact cause or causes of scleroderma are still unknown, but scientists and medical investigators in a wide variety of fields are working to make those determinations. Scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis, is a chronic connective tissue disease generally classified as one of the autoimmune rheumatic diseases. This bill will provide the Department of Health and Human Services flexibility to help us in the fight against scleroderma in the following ways: First, the bill would allow but not require the director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health to expand, intensify, and coordinate the activities of the institute with respect to scleroderma. Second, the amended bill would allow but not require the Health and Human Services Secretary, acting through the Centers for Disease Control, to carry out an educational campaign to increase public awareness of scleroderma. This bill underwent some very important modifications at the committee level. I think it is a better bill for that bipartisan effort. I do urge my colleagues to support this legislation.”