Sheila Jackson Lee: “I urge support of this amendment. Mr. Chair, I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules…”

“I urge support of this amendment. Mr. Chair, I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order. I thank Chairwoman DeLauro and Ranking Member Cole for their hard work in bringing Division A, the Labor-HHS portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor. I thank them all for this opportunity to explain the Jackson Lee Amendment, which makes a good bill even better by providing $10 million more to help ensure that the national goals of finding and bringing more and better treatments for diabetes is aided by an expanding pool of diverse and talented medical researchers and clinical trial participants. Many racial health disparities, including diabetes, stem from lack of access to quality healthcare and proper health awareness. Unfortunately, this means that incidence of kidney disease does not always match trial populations. For example, consider that: 1. African-Americans represent 12 percent of the U.S. population but only 5 percent of clinical trial participants. 2. Hispanics make up 16 percent of the population but only 1 percent of clinical trial participants. 3. Sex distribution in cardiovascular device trials is 67 percent male.…”