Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to thank chairman Smith for his inclusion in En Bloc Amendment No. 2 of my bipartisan amendment regarding efforts to reduce maternal mortality among servicewomen. I would like to thank Congressman Steve Stivers for joining me in this effort. Our nation's overall maternal mortality rate is terrible, there is no way to sugar coat it. And we all know, that women of color suffer rates that are abysmally higher. This amendment, which has been endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, will send a strong signal to the Defense Department that Congress supports and encourages the work it is already doing with CDC to establish an Maternal Mortality Review Committee or MMRC so that we can identify the causes of servicemembers' and their dependents' pregnancy-related deaths and act to prevent them. As long as there are any maternal deaths occurring among our servicemembers and their dependents in the military, there is a distinct need for a Maternal Mortality Review Committee that will help dig deep into each maternal death and get the answers that can save other lives. I remind my colleagues, that just in the last Congress, we enacted legislation into law that would strengthen the ability of States to form these committees comprised of experts in maternal health.…”