[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 32 (Thursday, March 13, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           WE MUST DO MORE TO PROTECT CHILDREN IN OUR SOCIETY

  (Mr. GEJDENSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, never in the history of the world have we 
had a country with resources abandon its own children. I say to my 
colleagues, ``It is one thing to say that you are poor, that you don't 
have the money, that you don't have the resources to get the job done. 
Well, we have the resources, and in this Congress we're making the 
choice not to put them where they are needed.''
  Frankly, the cost is far more. Many of these children, once crippled 
by their illnesses, end up in emergency rooms where the cost far 
exceeds anything that coverage would cost.
  This Congress embarrasses itself to talk about bipartisanship and 
family values and not have the audacity to sit back and take the 
action. We sit back, we take no action when it comes to the most 
helpless in our society.
  These children are without care. We are a country with the resources. 
There is no other country today in the world with the resources we have 
that does not protect its own children.

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