[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11997]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        SENIOR INDEPENDENCE ACT

  (Mr. EHLERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, today I want to commend Chairman McKeon of 
the Energy and Workforce Committee and Congressman Tiberi, who chairs 
the relevant subcommittee of that committee.
  Today, we are going to discuss on suspension a bill that they have 
created, the Senior Independence Act, which is the reauthorization of 
the Older Americans Act. They have done excellent work, and I also want 
to thank Congressman Danny Davis, who has worked with me and I have 
worked with him to make certain that we also address mental health 
issues in this bill.
  Last winter, I had the pleasure of meeting Suzann Ogland-Hand, who is 
one of my constituents, and whom I nominated for the White House 
Conference on Aging. She is a mental health expert, and she helps large 
numbers of elderly people deal with their mental health problems.
  Clearly, this is an issue whose time has come, and I am very pleased 
that the bill we will be taking up today under suspension includes 
provisions that will take care of the mental health needs of so many 
Americans, large and small, and deal with all the different issues that 
the elderly face.
  I commend, again, Mr. McKeon for bringing this bill to the floor.

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