[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 14 (Thursday, February 14, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H511-H512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AMERICAN HEART MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I know how proud the residents of the Old 
Dominion, Richmond, Virginia, are to see you in this chair leading this 
great Congress today. I also want to wish a happy Valentine's Day to 
all of the employees of our Capitol complex and their families.
  As we continue to work on issues that are important to America, I 
wanted to talk about, since today is Valentine's Day, some issues we 
are identifying by the Congressional Heart and

[[Page H512]]

Stroke Coalition for American Heart Month.
  The heart, of course, represents Valentine's Day, and it is more 
important to the body than anybody can ever imagine.
  Let me give you a little background. About 62 million Americans 
suffer from some form of cardiovascular disease. One million die from 
such conditions each year. One American every 33 seconds dies of 
cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is the number one killer in the 
United States, followed by cancer, Alzheimer's and HIV and AIDS.
  For women heart disease is the number one killer of American women. 
Heart disease and stroke kill more American women than men, and one in 
five women have some form of cardiovascular disease.
  Economic burden: Heart disease and stroke are expected to cost the 
U.S. $392.2 billion in 2002.
  Though heart disease was once considered an inevitable consequence, 
if you will, of aging, today these diseases can be treated aggressively 
with a variety of procedures. Treatment options include medicines for 
high blood pressure, a leading risk factor of heart disease and stroke; 
medicines that lower cholesterol; clot-buster medicines that can save 
the lives of heart attack patients; and drugs that can prevent second 
heart attacks from occurring.
  Education of the American public is still necessary. Over 61 percent 
of the American public is considered overweight by the U.S. Surgeon 
General. We must enforce the idea of including diet and exercise into 
daily living.
  I would like to talk about a few things I cosponsored along with 
Senator Bob Graham of Florida, and one is House Resolution 2508, which 
is the Medicare Wellness Act of 2001. Congress added, due to our 
legislation, the first preventative benefits to Medicare in the 
Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Medicare Wellness Act of 2001 seeks to add 
more benefits. Among other things, the bill provides for Medicare 
coverage of cholesterol screening and medical nutrition therapy for 
those with cardiovascular disease. The bill has been referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, and I will work with the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Levin) and, of course, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Thomas) and the House leadership to try to move that bill forward this 
year.
  The greatest challenge will be the cost of the bill, but let me 
suggest that cost of doing nothing is enormous, as I mentioned that 
$300-plus billion tab that we are paying one way or the other.
  Another bill we have filed is H.R. 630, which is the Teaching 
Children to Save Lives Act, and that authorizes the Secretary of 
Education to make grants to State agencies to award grants to local 
agencies in targeted schools or school districts for cardiopulmonary 
resuscitation, CPR, training in targeted localities; requires such 
training to use nationally recognized training courses and to be in the 
public schools which includes students of any age between the ages of 
grades 6 through 12. Grants must be to ensure in conjunction with local 
efforts that training sites have the ability to start up and foster 
community partnership among public and private agencies to help provide 
such training.
  I work with the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps), my 
cochairman of the caucus, in which to see this legislation come to 
fruition.
  Health care is probably the number one domestic issue facing Congress 
this year. The President articulated it in his State of the Union 
message, and he also spoke about it while he was in Wisconsin, and he 
continues to remind the public of the importance of health care as we 
deliberate the important issues of the day.
  We must continue to provide funding for research to stop the number 
one killer of Americans this year. And I will continue to work as 
cochair of the Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition to increase 
awareness of heart disease and stroke among the Members of Congress and 
the administration.

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