[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 48 (Thursday, March 17, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H3779-H3780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      MINORITY HEALTH DISPARITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Barragan) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BARRAGAN. Madam Speaker, today I rise with a great sense of 
gratitude. Gratitude for the opportunity to serve the people's House 
and gratitude for passing my first standalone bill, H.R. 189, the John 
Lewis National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities 
Research Endowment Revitalization Act. It passed the House and Senate, 
and on a bipartisan basis to boot. The bill is on its way to the 
President's desk, and on Friday, President Joe Biden will sign it in a 
White House ceremony that this kid from the harbor area of Los Angeles 
never dreamed was possible.
  This is a full circle moment for me, one that made me tear up last 
night as I sat to reflect how I got here and how my passion on the 
issue of disparities in health took shape.
  In 1998 as a young college student, I had an opportunity to work as 
an intern in the Clinton White House. I worked in the Office of Public 
Liaison doing African-American outreach under Ben Johnson and Minyon 
Moore. It was during my work there that I learned about the issue of 
racial health disparities. At the time, United States Surgeon General 
David Satcher highlighted the issue, and it became a passion of mine.
  A year later I would continue my work on the issue and in the 
healthcare space at the NAACP with Hilary Shelton. Ben Johnson and 
Hilary Shelton mentored and inspired me. They encouraged me to keep up 
my work on the issue.
  Today, as a Member of Congress, the issue of racial health 
disparities and the need for us to close the healthcare gap is among my 
top priorities. In that light, during the 116th Congress when I was in 
my second term, an opportunity arose to work with organizations like 
the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools and others on a 
bill to help fund research on health disparities at schools of 
excellence.
  I remember approaching our friend, the late John Lewis, about the 
bill. He encouraged me to fight and to get it across the finish line, 
and he agreed to become an original cosponsor.
  In this Congress, the 117th Congress, I renamed the bill in honor of 
my friend, the late John Lewis. H.R. 189 is now the John Lewis National 
Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Endowment 
Revitalization Act.
  I thank the gentleman from Georgia, Representative Buddy Carter, for 
being a co-lead on the bill. The Senate bill, S. 320, was introduced 
and championed by Senators Bill Cassidy and Brian Schatz. I am grateful 
for their work to get this across the finish line and Senator Cassidy 
for being gracious.
  H.R. 189 will, once again, allow for current and former NIMHD or 
Health Resources & Services Administration Centers of Excellence to 
receive research endowment funding, money that is critical in the fight 
to reduce minority health disparities.
  The research endowment program at the National Institute on Minority 
Health and Health Disparities provides funding to the endowments of 
academic institutions across the country. Schools like Charles R. Drew 
University of Medicine and Science will qualify; Morehouse School of 
Medicine, the University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine, 
Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, Xavier University 
of Louisiana College of Pharmacy, and many more will be eligible to 
receive funding under this bill.
  The goals of the program include promoting minority health and health 
disparities research capacity and infrastructure, increasing the 
diversity and strength of the scientific workforce, and enhancing the 
recruitment and retention of individuals from health disparity 
populations that are underrepresented in the scientific workforce.
  On Friday, 24 years after getting my start in politics at the White 
House, I will be back there again, this time as a Member of Congress to 
see H.R. 189 become law and move us one step closer to ending the 
disparities in public health facing communities of color.
  For that I am grateful.

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