[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 157 (Sunday, November 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S12284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    FISCAL YEAR 1998 LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND EDUCATION 
                    APPROPRIATIONS CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I would like to discuss an amendment that 
this body passed as part of the Labor, Health and Human Services and 
Education Appropriations bill. That amendment, S.1101, would have put 
into motion a strategy aimed at confronting fetal alcohol syndrome 
(FAS), the number one cause of mental retardation in this country. Even 
though S.1101 was a modest, non-controversial and wholly beneficial 
addition to the Labor/HHS bill, the House refused to accept it. There 
were no funding trade-offs involved, no unresolved policy concerns. 
Instead, the measure was killed because of ``jurisdictional issues.'' 
To quote the conference report: ``This matter is one that is more 
appropriately considered by the authorizing committees; those 
committees have objected to the inclusion of the provision in the 
conference agreement.''
  Mr. President, those committees have had five years to consider this 
matter. That's how long there have been bills in both the House and 
Senate that would do exactly what the amendment aimed to do. While 
Congress considers this matter, tens of thousands of children are being 
denied the capacity to live a normal life. Tens of thousands of 
families are confronting overwhelming obstacles as their children drift 
in and out of hospitals, mental health institutions, detention centers, 
and substance abuse treatment.
  We can label it inertia, a lack of understanding, or bad timing, but 
there is no sufficient explanation for the lack of attention that has 
been paid to this issue. Fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol 
effects (FAE) are 100 percent preventable, yet new cases are identified 
every single day. Up to 12,000 children are born with FAS in the United 
States each year. Thousands more are born with FAE. The incidence of 
FAS may be as high as one per 100 in some Native American communities.
  FAS and FAE are characterized by multiple physical, mental and 
behavioral problems, handicaps that interfere in tragic ways with a 
child's ability to live a normal, productive life.
  The costs associated with caring for individuals with FAS and FAE are 
staggering. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 
that the lifetime cost of treating an individual with FAS is almost 
$1.4 million. The total cost in terms of health care and social 
services to treat all Americans with FAS was estimated at $2.7 billion 
in 1995. This is an extraordinary and unnecessary expense.
  Aggressive action to fight back against FAS--to detect it and prevent 
it and help FAS children and their families cope with it--is long 
overdue. I am asking this body to work with me to ensure that we pass 
meaningful, targeted FAS legislation next year. Frankly, I am not 
particularly concerned about which protocols we follow to get us from 
here to there. Those details pale in comparison to the magnitude of the 
problem confronting us and the opportunities we have missed to address 
it. What I am concerned about is that we finally, finally, get the job 
done.

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