[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 31 (Thursday, February 16, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S2808]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               DR. HENRY FOSTER, SURGEON GENERAL NOMINEE

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, Dr. Henry Foster has been nominated by 
President Clinton to be the U.S. Surgeon General. I rise today to 
express my support for Dr. Foster, and to urge my colleagues to give 
him a full and fair hearing.
  Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Foster, and I am 
very impressed.
  Dr. Foster is a physician with vast experience who has dedicated his 
life to maternal and child health. He is a man who speaks from the 
heart, a person who cares deeply about the health of families across 
this Nation.
  Dr. Foster is one of the country's leading experts on preventing teen 
pregnancy and drug abuse, as well as reducing infant mortality. He is a 
public health professional with vision.
  I urge my colleagues to meet with Dr. Foster, to talk with him, to 
ask him tough questions. I have. I believe they too will be very 
impressed.
  Dr. Foster has tested his ideas about public health interventions 
that can greatly benefit this Nation. He wants to continue his career-
long focus on maternal and child health, on adolescents, and the on 
prevention of teen pregnancy. He wants to fight AIDS, and combat the 
epidemic of violence that has taken hold across our Nation.
  I also want to stress the importance and relevance of Dr. Foster's 
practice area. For far too long, women's health concerns have been 
neglected by this Nation. I am heartened that our next Surgeon General 
can be a physician who has dedicated his life to women's health--an 
obstetrician/gynecologist.
  Women's health is critical to every family--every man, woman, and 
child--in this Nation. As a woman, and a mother with a son and 
daughter, I find the selection of Dr. Foster reassuring. I urge my 
colleagues to stop and think about the importance of women's health to 
families everywhere.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Labor Committee 
as they prepare hearings for Dr. foster. I believe when my colleagues 
and the American public get to know Dr. Foster, they will be as excited 
as I am to have him as our Nation's next Surgeon General. You, too, 
will recognize his honesty, his passion, and his commitment to children 
and families.
  I thank you and yield back the remainder of my time.
  

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