[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 174 (Friday, November 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2387-E2388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3043, DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH 
AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS 
                               ACT, 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 6, 2007

  Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
conference report, which keeps our commitments to our veterans and 
invests in critical domestic priorities to strengthen our Nation. By 
putting the needs of the American people first, we are moving in a new 
direction to make overdue investments in education, health care, and 
jobs. We're doing this in a bipartisan way: both pieces of the bill 
originally passed the House with strong bipartisan support.
  I would like to thank Chairman Obey again for working with 
Representative Weldon to secure an important provision that 
Representative Weldon put forward in today's LHHS conference report 
that will ban the use of funds from being used to administer a mercury-
containing flu vaccine to children under the age of three. This 
provision implements the policy advocated by the American Academy of 
Pediatrics, the U.S. Public Health Service, and vaccine manufacturers. 
Providing our children with safe vaccines is long overdue.
  In addition to making vaccines safer, helping families pay for 
college, funding job training and providing for groundbreaking medical 
research, this bill helps the heroes of 9/11 who have become sick 
because of their work at Ground Zero. These are police officers, fire 
fighters, cleanup workers and others who risked their lives in the 
hours after the planes hit and risked their health in the weeks and 
months that followed, laboring in the toxic dust and fumes. For the 
first time, funding for 9/11 health needs is being included in regular 
spending. The $52.5 million included in the conference report will go a 
long way in providing medical monitoring and treatment for everyone 
exposed to the toxins of Ground Zero.
  I have to emphasize again the ``everyone.'' I have always said that 
it shouldn't matter

[[Page E2388]]

what hat you were wearing after 9/11, because everyone was exposed to 
the same toxins. Provisions in the bill recognize that reality; for the 
first time residents, area workers and school children who were exposed 
to the deadly toxins will move toward having the same high quality care 
that responders have. We've been fighting for residents for a long 
time, and this is a giant first step in taking care of them. I want to 
sincerely thank Chairman Obey and his outstanding subcommittee staff 
for their hard work.
  It is critical that the Federal Government step up to the plate and 
fulfill its responsibility to all the victims of the attacks of 
September 11. New Yorkers know it, people from everywhere else in the 
Nation know it, and this spending measure shows that Congress knows it, 
as well. The President should sign this bill to keep our commitment to 
our veterans and invest in crucial domestic priorities, so that we can 
show all Americans we're serious about putting the people's priorities 
first and ensuring that the heroes and heroines of 9/11 get the care 
they need and deserve. It is the least we can do as a grateful Nation.

                          ____________________