[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 30 (Tuesday, March 11, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H817-H818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       OUR CHILDREN NEED OUR HELP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am dismayed that in our great 
country, there are children who do not have health insurance. There are 
10 million children. That is not right. That is not fair. That does not 
make sense.
  Our country is too rich, too powerful, too strong to have children 
without health insurance. We cannot call ourselves truly great when we 
do not provide for our most vulnerable and most precious, our children.
  This is a problem that we can fix and we must fix. As a nation we 
made a commitment to educate our children. We do this because it is 
good for them and it is good for all of us. Now we must make another 
commitment. It is time to keep all of our children healthy. Each and 
every child, rich and poor, black and white, in the big cities to the 
suburbs of rural America. Each and every child should be able to see a 
doctor, to get medicine when they are sick, to have medical care when 
they need help. A sick child cannot go to school, cannot learn. A sick 
child cannot build for the future. A healthy child can study, work, and 
dream.

[[Page H818]]

  Mr. Speaker, there is no one right way to solve this problem, but we 
must solve it. We must focus our collective energy, the House, the 
Senate, and the White House, to solve this problem for the sake of all 
of our children. Let us come together and make a real commitment to 
find a solution. Let us put aside partisan differences, and let us join 
together to help each and every one of our children.
  None of our children, not one, should be left out or left behind. We 
can, we must work together to provide health care for all of our 
children. The future of our children and the future of our Nation 
depends upon it.

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