Political Quotes

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's efforts in this regard. I would like to take a few moments and clear up some of the mischaracterizations that have occurred, unfortunately, around the debate of this bill as it has worked its way through both Houses. There have been some who have claimed that my side, the Republicans, do not support providing treatment for 9/11 first responders, and that these first responders are currently going without treatment for the illnesses and injuries they suffered as a result of serving at the World Trade Center. Both of those claims are simply not true. According to President Obama's administration's own Centers for Disease Control, the agency said, ``We will continue to provide monitoring and treatment services for mental and physical health conditions related to World Trade Center exposures for both responders and for eligible non-responders. The World Trade Center program is critical in meeting the ongoing and long-term specialty needs of individuals that were exposed to dust, smoke, debris, and psychological trauma from the World Trade Center attacks.'' As of September 30, 2009, the World Trade Center program had enrolled over 55,000 responders in its monitoring and treatment programs. This is in the CDC's budget justification for 2011.…”