[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 87 (Thursday, June 29, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING JO MERRILL ON HER RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 29, 2006

  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Jo 
Merrill, a tireless public health advocate for healthy babies, on the 
occasion of her retirement from the March of Dimes after 22 years.
  Today is a bittersweet day for all of us in Congress who have been 
involved in the effort to improve the health of babies in this country. 
For many Members, Jo Merrill has become the face of the March of Dimes. 
She educated us with the facts, challenged us to take action, and 
supported our efforts to improve the lives of infants through public 
health policy. The legacy that she leaves behind is one of healthier 
babies across this country, and we here in Washington will miss her 
wisdom and her dedication.
  Jo joined the March of Dimes National Office of Government Affairs in 
1984, after 10 years working for several members of Congress. The first 
twelve years of her tenure with the March of Dimes she focused on state 
based advocacy, working closely with their Chapters and Regional 
offices. In 1996 she moved to her current position as Director of 
Public Policy and Government Affairs.
  Jo has played a key role in gaining enactment of a number of bills 
important to the March of Dimes and the health of babies. Jo made an 
important contribution to the creation of the State Children's Health 
Insurance Program (SCHIP), an effort that has resulted in the expansion 
of health insurance for countless uninsured children across our 
country. She also gave guidance for the Birth Defects Prevention Act of 
1998, which authorized a comprehensive birth defects surveillance, 
research and prevention program at the Centers for Disease Control 
(CDC). She was instrumental in the development and implementation of 
the Children's Health Act of 2000, which established the National 
Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at CDC, expanded 
the National Folic Acid Education Campaign, and authorized a Federal 
newborn screening program. And finally, Jo was a strong advocate for 
the reauthorization of the National Center on Birth Defects and 
Developmental Disabilities in 2003.
  It has been my privilege to have worked with Jo to improve the health 
of infants through two of these major public health efforts. The first 
was policy aimed at increasing folic acid consumption by women in order 
to reduce the incidence of neural tube defects in babies. Jo was 
instrumental in helping my staff and I draft the Folic Acid Promotion 
and Birth Defects Prevention Act of 1999, which was successfully passed 
into law as part of the Children's Health Act of 2000. Since that time, 
Jo has been an effective advocate in pushing for increased funding for 
the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to carry out a national 
folic acid education campaign, and we have been successful in making 
incremental progress each year in preventing these unnecessary birth 
defects.

  My staff and I have also worked closely with Jo on the Newborn 
Screening Saves Lives Act. My bill will educate parents and health care 
providers about newborn screening, improve follow-up care for infants 
with an illness detected through newborn screening, and help states 
expand and improve their newborn screening programs, in order to help 
save thousands of babies each year from unnecessary disability and 
death. It is our hope that this legislation will pass the House and 
Senate in the very near future, and when it does, it will become yet 
another piece of the legacy that Jo leaves here in Washington.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to personally 
congratulate Jo Merrill on her retirement from the March of Dimes. I 
wish her the very best in her new life on the South Carolina coast. 
Charleston is inheriting a woman of great wisdom, charm and commitment, 
and I am sure that she will continue to make significant contributions 
in her efforts as a Public Affairs volunteer.
  It is my hope that this accomplished and deserving woman will find 
much happiness and fulfillment in this new phase of her life. Godspeed, 
Jo.

                          ____________________