[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 149 (Friday, September 7, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H7939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





           GOVERNMENT INACTION IS FAILING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  (Mr. DELANEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DELANEY. Mr. Speaker, this week we have seen firsthand another 
example of how government inaction is failing the American people.
  With preexisting conditions at risk, hospitals are being forced to 
take on drug companies alone without any action from their Congress, 
and we continue to have a staggering mental health crisis in this 
country.
  The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 75 percent of the American 
people want preexisting conditions to be protected, conditions like 
asthma, mental health, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer's, MS, Crohn's, 
colitis, surgery, and pregnancy--yes, pregnancy.
  Are we really going to allow women to be charged more for their 
healthcare because they want to be mothers?
  With out-of-control drug prices, 90 percent of the American people 
agree that we should be allowing the government to negotiate with 
pharmaceutical companies to lower those prices and stop the wealth 
transfer from the taxpayers of the U.S. to the shareholders of these 
companies. But that is not taking place.
  I, for one, am tired of Congress' inaction. This week, I introduced a 
letter, a bipartisan letter, to ask for additional funding to expand 
programs for mental health education, treatment, and suicide 
prevention.
  Mr. Speaker, 87 percent of the American people believe more mental 
health support should be provided to our youth, and the funding 
requested in this letter will do just that.
  I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for joining me in 
their work and strongly encourage the rest of the Congress to start 
acting on these important issues.

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