[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17406]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             THE HEALTHY START REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. FRED UPTON

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 22, 2004

  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to announce that, along with my 
colleagues Representatives Edolphus Towns, Charles ``Chip'' Pickering, 
Elijah Cummings, Shelley Moore Capito, Rosa DeLauro, John Spratt, Bobby 
Rush, Jim Marshall, and Danny Davis, I am introducing legislation to 
reauthorize the Healthy Start Act, H.R. 4905.
  The Healthy Start program works to reduce the incidence of infant 
mortality and low birth weight and eliminate perinatal disparities in 
communities across the Nation where the infant mortality rate is in 
excess of 150 percent of the national average. The program, which began 
as a successful demonstration project in 1991 under the leadership of 
Health and Human Services Secretary Lewis Sullivan and was 
overwhelmingly authorized by Congress in 2000, has at its core the 
recognition that infant mortality and morbidity are not just medical 
problems, they are community problems. To qualify for a Healthy Start 
grant, communities must buy-in by forming networks of community public 
and private decision-makers and leaders, educators, health 
professionals, and family members to set ambitious goals for themselves 
and work in a coordinated and effective way to meet those goals. These 
programs are targeted to at-risk populations and are characterized by 
aggressive outreach to reach young women who are pregnant and/or are 
already mothers, as well as fathers, who live in communities with the 
toughest poverty, drug use, and unemployment.
  We are fortunate to have a Healthy Start program in Kalamazoo, 
Michigan, in my Congressional district. Our Healthy Start Family 
Resource Center offers prenatal care, WIC resources, transportation, 
personal counseling and many other services. So far, 100 percent of the 
expectant mothers who have received prenatal care and other services 
through the Center have delivered healthy, full-term babies.
  The Healthy Start Reauthorization Act will reauthorize the program 
for fiscal years 2005 through 2010 at ``such sums as may be 
necessary.''

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