[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 30, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H1713-H1716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORTING NATIONAL BETTER HEARING AND SPEECH MONTH
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to
the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 358) supporting the goals and
ideals of National Better Hearing and Speech Month, and for other
purposes.
[[Page H1714]]
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 358
Whereas the National Institute on Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders (NIDCD) reports that approximately
42,000,000 people in the United States suffer from a speech,
voice, language, or hearing impairment;
Whereas almost 28,000,000 people in the United States
suffer from hearing loss;
Whereas 1 out of every 3 people in the United States more
than 65 years of age suffers from hearing loss;
Whereas although more than 25,000,000 people in the United
States would benefit from the use of a hearing aid, fewer
than 7,000,000 people in the United States use a hearing aid;
Whereas sounds louder than 80 decibels are considered
potentially dangerous and can lead to hearing loss;
Whereas the number of young children who suffer hearing
loss as a result of environmental noise has been increasing;
Whereas every day in the United States approximately 33
babies are born with significant hearing loss;
Whereas hearing loss is the most common congenital disorder
in newborns;
Whereas a delay in diagnosing a newborn's hearing loss can
affect the child's social, emotional, and academic
development;
Whereas the average age at which newborns with hearing loss
are diagnosed is between 12 and 25 months;
Whereas more than 1,000,000 children received speech or
language disorder services under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.) during
the school year ending in 1998;
Whereas children with language impairments are 4 to 5 times
more likely than their peers to experience reading problems;
Whereas 10 percent of children entering the first grade
have moderate to severe speech disorders, including
stuttering;
Whereas stuttering affects more than 2,000,000 people in
the United States;
Whereas approximately 1,000,000 people in the United States
have aphasia, a language disorder inhibiting spoken
communication that results from damage caused by a stroke or
other traumatic injury to the language centers of the brain;
and
Whereas for the last 75 years May has been celebrated as
National Better Hearing and Speech Month in order to raise
awareness regarding speech, voice, language, and hearing
impairments and to provide an opportunity for Federal, State,
and local governments, members of the private and nonprofit
sectors, speech and hearing professionals, and the people of
the United States to focus on preventing, mitigating, and
curing such impairments: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That Congress--
(1) supports the goals and ideals of National Better
Hearing and Speech Month;
(2) commends the 41 States that have implemented routine
hearing screenings for every newborn before the newborn
leaves the hospital;
(3) supports the efforts of speech and hearing
professionals in their efforts to improve the speech and
hearing development of children; and
(4) encourages the people of the United States to have
their hearing checked regularly and to avoid environmental
noise that can lead to hearing loss.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis).
General Leave
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material on H.
Con. Res. 358.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 358, which
supports the goals and ideals of a National Better Hearing and Speech
Month. Approximately 42 million Americans suffer from a speech, voice,
language or hearing disability. For the last 75 years, the month of May
has been celebrated as National Better Hearing and Speech Month to help
raise awareness on how to prevent, mitigate and cure these impairments.
Communication is indispensable for learning, working, playing, and
enjoying family life and friendships. Children with listening
difficulties due to hearing loss continue to be an underidentified and
underserved population. The earlier the problem is diagnosed and
addressed, the less serious the long-term impact. That is why I was so
pleased that provisions relating to hearing loss in infants were
included in the Children's Health Act of 2000. My good friend from New
York (Mr. Walsh) was instrumental in this effort.
This resolution commended the 41 States that have implemented routine
hearing screening for every newborn delivered in a hospital. I am happy
to report that my home State of Florida vigorously promotes this policy
by screening the newborns at all birthing facilities prior to
discharge. Recent developments have shown that interventions to address
auditory problems in newborns greatly enhanced the success rate in
overcoming hearing-loss issues. Each adult and child with hearing loss
is affected differently, which is why it is critical to detect hearing
loss early and to determine the extent of loss in order to intervene
appropriately.
This resolution encourages all Americans to have their hearing
checked regularly and encourages individuals to avoid environmental
noise that can lead to hearing loss.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 358.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, the National Institute of Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders reports that some 40 million people suffer from
a speech, voice, language, or hearing impediments.
Many of these impairments are found at birth. Every day about 33
babies are born with hearing loss, the most common congenital disorder
in newborns. For the past 75 years, May has been celebrated as National
Better Hearing and Speech Month, raising awareness about speech, voice,
hearing, and language impairments.
Federal, State, and local governments, as well as members of the
speech and hearing profession, have used May as an opportunity to
educate the public about preventing, mitigating, and treating these
impairments.
This resolution commends their work and that of the 41 States that
have implemented routine hearing screening for every newborn.
I want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Ryun),
and others for introducing this resolution; and I hope my colleagues
would support it.
I would add, Mr. Speaker, as we occupy time on the House floor today
doing not inconsequential things but things that do not directly have
major positive impact on people's lives, passing resolutions like this,
which I do support, and using them to educate the public about
preventing and mitigating and treating speech and hearing loss, I think
this Congress needs to do more on real health issues. That means issues
like prescription drugs, issues like access to health care, issues like
ensuring 40 million Americans are insured. Because to be sure, Mr.
Speaker, checking for hearing, doing screenings, all of these things
are programs that we can do something about.
In addition to doing a resolution, I would hope this Congress would
put aside its fervor to cut taxes on the wealthiest people and instead
would be using some of those resources for prescription drugs, for
hearing and speech screening, for all the kinds of things that will
make people's health care better and make people's lives better.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to
the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Ryun), who not only is the author of
this resolution but who has personally experienced this problem and who
has shared that with many of us over the years.
Mr. RYUN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, today I come to the House in support
of the National Better Hearing and Speech Month. For 75 years, the
month of May has been designated as a time to celebrate the hope
available to Americans with speech and hearing impairments and to raise
awareness about the need to protect their hearing.
Speech and hearing impairments impair the lives of many Americans. In
fact, almost 28 million people in the United States suffer from a
hearing loss. One out of every three people in the United States of an
age greater than 65 suffer some sort of a hearing loss and every day in
the United States approximately 33 babies are born with significant
hearing loss.
[[Page H1715]]
As someone who has had a hearing impairment, I certainly know what a
gift sound is, and I also know some of the struggles that go along with
finding a proper hearing aid. My hearing loss is as a result of an
illness that I had as a child. It was discovered a time later, and then
it was decades before I could find the proper hearing devices to help
me.
My wife, Ann, served as my hearing aid. She graciously helped me
communicate for years before I could find the solution that would help
me and I could work with.
Many dedicated professionals have assisted me over the years in my
quest to find the help I have sought. And I would like to thank them
for the work they have done in making not only my life better but so
many others.
For those who have yet to have a hearing loss and have good hearing,
I urge you to avoid harsh environments with noises that can damage your
hearing and cause permanent hearing loss. Any sounds over 85 decibels
can damage your hearing. For example, listening to an ambulance siren
for 9 seconds, a smoke alarm for a minute and a half, or airplane cabin
noise for a couple of minutes can damage your hearing. And I will say
it is not retraceable. It is much easier to protect your hearing now
than to suffering from hearing impairments.
I urge my colleagues to support May as National Better Hearing and
Speech Month. It would be an encouragement not only to your
constituents but those who suffer some sort of hearing and speech
impairment back in the district, as well as those dedicated
professionals who have worked together to help make this a better
field.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, speaking earlier today, in fact, walking over from my
office in Rayburn to the House floor to work with the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) on the Ryun legislation today, and I was
talking to some people whose families have Alzheimer's, who are
advocating for Alzheimer's patients, again, this Congress is falling
short on substantive kinds of issues to help people with Alzheimer's.
There are some four or five million people suffering from Alzheimer's
today.
If we do not do the research right, if we do not take care of those
people well enough, that number is going to be as high, they say, in
the next few years as 14 million patients.
We are falling short on what we are doing for community health
centers and the National Health Service Corps, from the Community
Access Program that my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green),
has worked on, the Chronic Disease Prevention program with CDC, nurses
shortage, pharmacist shortage, the problems with home health care
reimbursement, the problems with physician reimbursements, the problems
with hospitals, especially rural hospital and inner-city hospitals
reimbursement.
Those are the kinds of issues this Congress should work on. Not to
belittle this resolution, which is important to educate people on
speech and hearing loss, but this Congress needs to get its act in gear
and begin to deal with issues like prescription drugs and
reimbursements issues for providers and all the kinds of public health
issues that this Republican Congress does not seem too very interested
in.
The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the chairman of our
subcommittee, has done yeoman's work in trying to bring these issues
forward. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership is not nearly so
interested as many of us are on the committee in moving forward on
public health issues, on prescription drug issues, community health
centers and community access programs and CDC, and all the things that
really will make a difference beyond the passage of a few resolutions
that this Congress seems intent on doing week after week after week.
{time} 1630
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Before I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Walsh), I would
thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) for his kind remarks.
Certainly I do not disagree with them. I think it is important that all
of us, rather than just a lot of rhetoric, sit down and try to work
these things out, and if we have basically hard, fast, nonobjective
thoughts about how things ought to be, nothing is ever going to get
done.
I dare say that the gentleman from Ohio is not among the category of
some people who would rather have an issue November. I really feel with
my heart that he wants to do something about these things, and
hopefully, working together, we can accomplish it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he might consume to the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Walsh), the author of the hearing bill in the year
2000, who along with the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Ryun) has really
been the conscience of the Congress on this issue.
Mr. WALSH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Bilirakis) for the leadership that he provides in this Congress on
health issues and especially those that affect children.
I would respectfully disagree with my colleague from Ohio who spoke
earlier. There is no partisanship in this issue. There is great
leadership on both sides of the aisle from both parties. Our health is
something we all hold in common.
I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 358 designating May
2002 as National Better Hearing and Speech Month. I commend my
colleague, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Ryun), for introducing this
resolution and also for his hard work and contributions as a co-chair
of the bipartisan Congressional Hearing Health Caucus. Because of his
personal experience with hearing loss, he brings firsthand knowledge of
living with hearing loss to our caucus and to the public as a whole.
Thirteen years ago I began working with the deaf and hard-of-hearing
community to craft legislation to have all infants screened for hearing
loss at birth. At that time, only three hospitals in the country had
programs, and only 3 percent of all infants born in the United States
were being screened.
Since passage of the Newborn Infant Hearing Screening and
Intervention Act of 1999, which gives States seed money through HRSA
and CDC to set up their own screening and intervention programs, we are
now screening 66 percent of infants born. This is remarkable progress,
and yet we have much more to do.
Unfortunately, this year's budget zeros out funding at HRSA for these
programs and basically level-funds the programs at CDC. I am working
very closely with my fellow caucus co-chairs, the gentleman from Kansas
(Mr. Ryun), the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps), and the
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy), to ensure that this critical
program receives additional appropriations so that we can screen all
children.
The science in this area is clear. By identifying children with
hearing loss by age 3 months and beginning intensive intervention by
age 6 months, these children can and do develop communication skills on
par with their normal hearing counterparts by the time they are ready
to enter school. The next step is to ensure that children identified
get appropriate interventions through the medical, audiological,
educational and community support systems. All of these components are
equally important.
Before I close, I want to invite all of my colleagues to a hearing
health fair to be held on Wednesday, May 8, 2002, from 11:00 a.m. to
1:00 p.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building foyer. At this event our
Federal agency counterparts, as well as several advocacy groups, will
have representatives at booths to meet with anyone needing information
on hearing health issues. I encourage everyone to attend as this will
be a wonderful opportunity to have questions answered on anything from
hearing aids to testing and living with hearing loss.
While most of my comments have focused on infants with hearing loss,
the issue affects people of all ages. Regardless of whether hearing
loss is genetic, disease-based, a function of the aging process or of
unknown etiology, most people can be helped to maximize their hearing
capabilities and communication skills, and I encourage my colleagues to
take the opportunity to get a hearing screening during National Better
Hearing and Speech Month.
[[Page H1716]]
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would just like again to thank the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) for his leadership. He is one of
the newest members of the Health Hearing Caucus. We are delighted that
he is and we urge him to continue his important leadership.
Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, for 75 years, May has been designated
Better Hearing and Speech Month. With an estimated 42 million Americans
affected by speech, language, and hearing disorders, audiologist and
speech language pathologist have made a special effort during this
month to inform, educate, and raise awareness about this critical
health care issue.
It is estimated that one in six Americans has a hearing, speech, or
language problem--a condition that makes it difficult to communicate
with others. An impairment of the ability to hear, speak, or understand
effectively can affect anyone, of any age, at any time. If left
untreated these problems can limit a person at home, school, and work.
With proper treatment, however, the isolating effects of communication
disorders can be minimized or completely eliminated.
As with most health care conditions, it is critical that
communication disorders be diagnosed early. As the most common
congenital birth defect, hearing loss can severely affect a child's
social, emotional, and academic development. That is why I urge all 50
states to follow the example of my home state of Michigan, and
implement routine hearing screens for every newborn before they leave
the hospital. Also, hearing loss among Americans age 65 and over
affects one out of three people, but without effective screening, many
are condemned to suffer in silence. We must seek comprehensive hearing
screening for all Americans.
Therefore, I support this resolution recognizing May as Better
Hearing and Speech Month and urge the people of the United States to
focus on preventing, mitigating, and curing communication disorders.
Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.
Con. Res. 358 and in celebration of May, National Better Hearing and
Speech Month.
Did you know that 28 million people in the United States today suffer
from hearing loss, and 16 million people have a speech or language
disorder? 42 million people have a speech, language, voice or hearing
impediment. Hearing loss is the most common congenital disorder found
in newborns, and ten percent of children entering the first grade
suffer from mild speech disorders like stuttering.
As a nurse, I know the issue of speech and hearing health affects
many different people, from infants to adults to senior citizens. You
can be born with a disorder, or you can develop one later in life due
to late onset of a specific impediment, a stroke or traumatic event.
But many Americans don't realize the extent to which our society deals
with speech and hearing disorders. That is why, since 1927, the speech
and hearing community has celebrated May as a month to increase
national awareness of this health problem.
As a nurse, I understand the importance of getting the right
healthcare immediately, especially when it comes to our children.
Deafness is the most common birth defect; that out of the 12,000 babies
born in the U.S. each year with hearing loss, 4,000 of them are
profoundly deaf and need a cochlear implant, and 8,000 need hearing
aids. Unless a child gets medical attention by the time they are two,
permanent damage is done to his or her language and speech.
A newborn hearing test is simple and easy, and only costs $35. Our
babies are subjected to batteries of other tests, and I think it's
crucial for this one to be included.
As a founding member of the Congressional Hearing Caucus, I am
extremely proud of H. Con. Res. 358. Not only does this resolution
support the goals and ideals of National Better Hearing and Speech
Month, it calls attention to and commends the 41 states that have
implemented routine hearing screenings of every newborn before the baby
leaves the hospital.
The resolution also supports the efforts of speech and hearing
professionals to improve the speech and hearing development of children
and encourages all Americans to have their hearing checked regularly
and to avoid environmental noise that can lead to hearing loss.
All across the United States, people are trying to make a difference.
I commend everyone in the speech and hearing community for their
education and awareness efforts, as well as the extraordinary level of
care and medical attention they give to their patients.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I do not have any further requests for
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Walden of Oregon). The question is on
the motion offered by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) that
the House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H.
Con. Res. 358.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was
agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________