[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 28, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1276-H1277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today to show my support for 
the community health centers and the vital services provided to the 
medically underserved, rural areas and the minority communities 
throughout this country.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the $250 million budget increase for 
the year 2002 for the community health centers. The funding level will 
allow centers to expand and deliver health care services to those in 
need who need it most.
  I would like to acknowledge the fact that President Bush pledged to 
provide $3.6 billion over 5 years to build an additional 1200 community 
health centers. The request of a $250 million increase will put us on 
the right track to meet the President's funding goals.
  Mr. Speaker, I think that is something that is viable and something 
that we can continue to work on.
  In 1999, these centers performed primary and preventive health care 
and dental services for more than 11 million children and adults. We 
have a total of 44 million uninsured Americans that lack access to 
health care services.
  I want to talk to my colleagues briefly about that, because of the 
fact that these are working Americans. These are individuals that are 
up there, and families that are working hard in small businesses. I 
would attest to my colleagues if my colleagues have someone out there 
that is not working with a major corporation, that is not working for 
Federal Government or State or local government, most of those 
individuals do not have access to health care. They are in dreaded 
need.

                              {time}  1800

  They do not have enough resources to be able to purchase it. They are 
not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, not old enough to qualify for 
Medicare. Yet they find themselves uninsured, yet working and trying to 
make things come together. The community service centers provide that 
access to them.
  One in six or 4.6 million low-income children are served by the 
health centers. There are over 400,000 births that are delivered. 
Imagine how many kids we could reach out to by increasing the budget by 
$250 million. This is a small price to pay for our children to have 
healthy bodies and strong and clean teeth.
  Community health centers are critical because they provide treatment, 
they provide preventive care, and they provide access.
  In my district back in Texas, we have five health centers with 23 
sites. Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with some of them from 
the Atascosa Health Center in Pleasonton, Texas, and Centro del Barrio 
in the south side and east side of San Antonio, and the Barrio Clinic 
at the Ali Austin Center. These services are continued to be provided 
by these centers. I want to thank them for their services.
  Nearly 70 percent of those served in community health centers are 
minorities. One out of every 10 rural Americans is served by these 
centers. I represent 13 other counties, a lot of rural area; and these 
centers pay a very vital role in that area. Hispanics make up also 
close to 68 percent of my district, and many of the benefits of these 
centers go to that population.
  As many of my colleagues know, also, we are having a real serious 
problem in the area of tuberculosis. My district goes all the way to 
the Mexican border. Almost one-third of the cases in this country are 
along the border, from Texas to California, in the area of 
tuberculosis. We know that that is a disease that we are having some 
real serious problems with. These centers play a very significant role 
in providing that treatment in that area.

[[Page H1277]]

  Not to mention the fact that when we look at the problems that we are 
encountering with other infectious diseases such as HIV, AIDS, and 
others, at a time when we feel we are making the gains, we still have 
20 percent of the cases among Hispanics when we only represent 12.5 
percent of the population. So there are still strides that need to be 
done.
  Let me just say why we should support and reauthorize this $250 
million. First of all, millions of Americans are uninsured and need 
that access to care. Secondly, health centers are an inexpensive way of 
providing access to quality affordable care to these communities. 
Thirdly, health centers help make the benefit of public insurance 
programs available to more eligible children and adults. Not to mention 
that the expansion will provide primary care infrastructure in this 
country that is needed and drastically needed for us to continue to 
move forward.
  I want to thank the chairman and ask my colleagues to support this 
effort in assuring that the community health centers get an additional 
$250 million as we move forward and meet the President's goal.

                          ____________________