[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21559]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



    CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2590, TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT 
                        APPROPRIATION ACT, 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 31, 2001

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to express 
my support of the Treasury Postal Appropriations Conference Report, but 
would like to note several exceptions.
  The first provision that I support is the contraception coverage for 
employees under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) plan. This 
provision, which passed as an amendment in 1998, has been threatened 
every year. This year, President Bush eliminated this provision in his 
Budget Blueprint. Fortunately, this Congress realized its significance 
and worked to keep it in this conference report.
  The Federal Government is the nation's largest employer and the FEHB 
program is the basic health plan for federal employees and their 
families. The contraception coverage provision is an important 
component of this plan because family planning is a vital family issue.
  Family planning should not be a political issue, but a personal 
issue. Contraception coverage helps women to plan their families 
responsibly. Adequate contraception access makes planned pregnancies 
possible.
  Contraception access is also crucial to preventing the risk of 
contracting a sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancies.
  Approximately 1.2 million women rely on this program for their 
medical care. Women of reproductive age spend more in out-of-pocket 
health care costs than men.
  Also Mr. Speaker, I support the provision that bars the use of funds 
made available for the Customs Service in this Act to allow the 
importation of any good produced or manufactured by forced or 
indentured child labor.
  Another important provision includes the Breast Cancer Research Stamp 
Act of 2001, which allows the reauthorization of the issuance of the 
breast cancer research postage stamp at a special rate of postage.
  It is important to recognize and support the September 11 Heroes 
Stamp Act of 2001, which this bill does. Through this stamp, assistance 
will be provided to the families of emergency relief personnel killed 
or permanently disabled in the line of duty in connection with the 
terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. In 
the same vein, I introduced H. Con. Res. 228 to expedite Federal 
services and benefits to the children who lost a parent or guardian as 
a result of the attacks.
  I also support the provision appropriating $1.3 million to implement 
the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
  One exception to this Conference Report is the provision that 
prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for an abortion through FEHB. 
I strongly oppose this.
  For those who rely on the FEHB program for their medical care, they 
are unable to take advantage of the same reproductive health care 
services that are available to private sector employees.
  The current provision discriminates against women in public sector 
service. Federal employees should not be denied this legal health 
procedure simply because of the political nature of abortion. For a 
government employee faced with the decision about a serious fetal 
health condition, this provision leaves her with few options.
  Although the provision contains exceptions for cases of rape and 
incest or cases where the life of the mother is in danger, this 
language contains no health exception. This omission places many women 
in the painful decision to continue a potentially health-threatening 
pregnancy.
  Mr. Speaker, my biggest disappointment concerning this legislation is 
its failure to address the real crisis facing the Postal Service today. 
There are Members of Congress who have joined together in a bipartisan 
fashion to draft legislation that address critical security issues 
facing the Postal Service.
  I sit on the Homeland Security Task Force and serve as Vice-Chair of 
the Domestic Law Enforcement Working Group of this Task Force. Our 
legislative initiative, the Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2001 (BioP 
Act) will be introduced this week.
  The BioP Act authorizes $250 million dollars to address the threats 
to the operation of our mail delivery system. The Act's proposed 
solutions include developing and deploying faster scanning technologies 
that can be widely implemented in local sorting facilities.
  Another solution to these biological threats is the implementation of 
improved mail tracking abilities to track suspicious packages to their 
source, and to investigate ``treating'' mail with radiation or other 
methods to reduce or mitigate threats posed by mail.
  The Act strongly encourages the Administration to respond urgently to 
the needs of the Postal Service and its employees.
  Mr. Speaker, we live in dangerous times. We must do our best as 
legislators to be proactive. I urge my colleagues to support passage of 
the Treasury and Postal Operations Conference Report.

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