[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 131 (Wednesday, September 16, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H9554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TAKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, the great debates in this Chamber often 
center around the question of whether and how much government can do to 
address a particular problem. There is one thing, though, that we can 
all agree on, which is that if our families act more responsibly on 
just about everything--education, energy, health--we are all much 
better off.
  Madam Speaker, September is Emergency Preparedness Month, and as a 
member of the Committee on Homeland Security, nowhere is this more true 
than when we think about our health and our security. Our families can 
do some simple things to make them safer and healthier: have a plan in 
the event of an emergency, have a place to meet, know how to contact 
each other.
  As we think about facing the H1N1 threat this winter, there are some 
simple things we can do as families. We can wash our hands often. We 
can sneeze into a tissue. We can stay home if we feel ill. If we do 
these small, small things, we can take what is potentially a large 
problem and make it much, much smaller.

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