[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 23 (Thursday, February 27, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H678-H679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                INVESTING IN THE HEALTH OF OUR CHILDREN

  (Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to also challenge my colleagues to 
begin to think that we as a Nation have an opportunity to say that our 
children indeed are important, not only as we want to use them to talk 
about the balanced budget or use them to talk about education. But when 
it is said, really when one thinks of how a society reacts, it is how 
it takes care of its children. Surely, surely, the health of our young 
people is equally as important as the opportunity for them to pay 
taxes.
  Their health indeed may mean that we may pay less taxes if we invest 
early. Recent reports have indicated that if we take care of our 
children early in their life, not only their carpentry skills but their 
health skills and education skills are better. And, therefore, if we 
invest in our children we have an opportunity not to have such severe 
health costs later in life.
  So investing in our children is not a Democratic issue, it is not a 
Republican; it should be an American issue because we care about our 
children.

[[Page H679]]

  Mr. Speaker, I hope the 105th Congress will seriously consider what 
we can do to make sure the lives of our children are more healthy than 
they are now.

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