[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 21509-21511]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             SUPPORTING EFFORTS TO REDUCE INFANT MORTALITY

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 260) supporting efforts to reduce infant mortality 
in the United States, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 260

       Whereas the infant mortality rate of a nation is an 
     important indicator of that nation's overall health;
       Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have 
     found that the United States ranked 29th in the world in 
     infant mortality in 2004, falling from 12th in 1960;
       Whereas there are more than 28,000 deaths to children under 
     1 year of age each year in the United States;
       Whereas preterm birth has a considerable impact on the 
     United States infant mortality rate, in 2005, 68.6 percent of 
     all infant deaths occurred to preterm infants, up from 65.6 
     percent in 2000;
       Whereas the United States infant mortality rate for non-
     Hispanic Black women was 2.4 times the rate for non-Hispanic 
     White women in 2005;
       Whereas in 2005, the United States infant mortality rates 
     were above average for non-Hispanic Black women at 13.63 
     deaths per 1,000 live births, for Puerto Rican women at 8.30 
     deaths per 1,000 live births, and for American Indian or 
     Alaska Native women at 8.06 deaths per 1,000 live births;
       Whereas in Memphis, Tennessee, the infant mortality rate is 
     three times higher than that of the United States (higher 
     than any other city in the country), and the 2005 infant 
     mortality rate in the 38108 zip code of Memphis was deadlier 
     for babies than that of the countries of Vietnam, Iran, and 
     El Salvador with 31 deaths per 1,000 live births, 5 times 
     that of the 2005 national average of 6.86 deaths per 1,000 
     live births;
       Whereas adequate prenatal care has a studied, positive 
     effect on the health of the baby;

[[Page 21510]]

       Whereas prenatal care is one of the most important 
     interventions for ensuring the health of pregnant women and 
     their infants;
       Whereas 29 percent of mothers 15 to 19 years of age 
     received no early prenatal care in 2004 according to the 
     Department of Health and Human Services;
       Whereas non-Hispanic Black mothers were 2.6 times more 
     likely than non-Hispanic White mothers to begin prenatal care 
     in the third trimester, or not receive prenatal care at all;
       Whereas babies born to mothers who received no prenatal 
     care are three times more likely to be born at low birth 
     weight, and five times more likely to die, than those whose 
     mothers received prenatal care, as stated by the Department 
     of Health and Human Services;
       Whereas the United States' high infant mortality rate 
     reflects in part racial disparities in premature and low 
     birthweight babies; and
       Whereas the racial disparities in infant mortality may 
     relate to socioeconomic status, access to medical care, and 
     the education level of the mother: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives supports 
     efforts to understand racial disparities and the rate of 
     infant mortality in order to lower the rate of infant 
     mortality in the United States.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) and the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. 
Blackburn) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Tennessee?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 260, a resolution 
that supports efforts to reduce infant mortality in the United States.
  The United States amazingly enough ranks 29th in the world in the 
incidence of infant mortality. That is a shocking figure. And while 
there are a lot of reasons for infant mortality--there's education, 
there's health care, there are certain other issues that may be 
existent--health care is the primary one. And as we discuss health care 
in this Congress, it is hard to submit looking at the United States 
being 29th in the world in infant mortality, that we don't have a 
problem somewhere with our health care system.
  The extremely high incidence of infant death in the African American 
community is particularly troubling. In Shelby County, Tennessee, the 
county which I represent, African American babies die at three times 
the Nation's infant mortality rate. Prematurity is the number one cause 
of infant death in the United States, accounting for at least 60 
percent of those deaths. Poor women are much more likely to deliver a 
premature or a low-weight baby as they cannot afford prenatal care or 
are simply not educated about what is required for women during 
pregnancy or have access to health clinics or inner- city doctors, 
general practitioners, which might be provided if we can pass a health 
care bill here.
  We must work together to lower our country's infant mortality rate, 
and that starts with lowering our rate of premature births and 
educating people and providing access to health care.
  I was spurred to introduce H. Res. 260 by the devastating rate of 
infant mortality in Memphis, in Shelby County. And I represent part of 
Shelby County; the honorable gentlewoman from Brentwood, Tennessee, 
represents a part of Shelby County, as well, on the Republican side.
  In 2007 the 38108 ZIP code in north Memphis, which is a predominantly 
low-income neighborhood, had an infant mortality rate of 31 deaths per 
1,000 live births. That's almost five times the Nation's rate of 6.78 
deaths per 1,000 live births; and that ranks the 38108 area worse than 
the developing nations of Iran, Indonesia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, 
Syria, and Vietnam in infant mortality.
  In my own family, there was an incident of infant mortality. My 
mother and father's first child, Rosemary, died at 1 month of age in 
1945. She was buried with some other family members, not direct family, 
in 1945. When my father passed in 1992, we buried him at Elmwood 
Cemetery, a different cemetery than where my sister was buried. But my 
mother was so touched and always was by the loss of her child that she 
had her name put on the stone with my father even though her remains 
were at another cemetery where her name was also.
  That taught me something about infant mortality: a mother never 
forgets the loss of a child, and it affects that mother forever. So 
it's a problem that affects people of all races and stays with us for 
all time.
  I recently had the opportunity to visit Africa, several countries 
there, one of which was Liberia, which has a very high rate of infant 
mortality as well. They have very few doctors there. They don't have 
good health care. And that has got to be a problem that we need to deal 
with and we try to with our foreign aid, and I commend President Bush 
as well as President Obama for extending aid to Africa and so many 
humanitarian efforts, particularly PEPFAR, but also others.
  This month Nicholas Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, authored a 
book, published it, entitled ``Half the Sky,'' which is about women in 
the world and how they have had difficulties rising to the level that 
they could and that we could empower women and have a tremendous 
economic advantage, particularly in disadvantaged countries, by giving 
women the opportunity to participate in the workforce and be educated. 
Much of the book is dedicated to the enslavement of women but also to 
maternal mortality and infant mortality as well. I encourage everybody 
to consider reading the book and taking up this cause.
  This September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month; so I am 
especially proud that we are considering this important resolution 
today.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of House 
Resolution 260, which supports efforts to address this important public 
health problem and a moral problem, and understand racial disparities 
that persist in infant mortality and try to make America better than 
29th in the world.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today to support H. Res. 260, supporting efforts to reduce 
infant mortality in the United States.
  I want to thank my colleague Congressman Cohen for his work on this 
resolution. It has been exemplary, and we thank him for his leadership. 
I also want to recognize other members of our delegation who have stood 
with him and with me in this work to address infant mortality, 
Congressman Tanner and Congressman Gordon, both of whom are original 
cosponsors, as is Congressman Wamp; and we thank them for their 
participation.
  Congressman Cohen has championed the cause of prenatal care since he 
and I served together in the Tennessee Senate, and I am honored to 
stand and work on this resolution with him now. I stand in support of 
the legislation, and I hope that all of our colleagues will join us in 
this effort. It is an important issue for Memphis, Tennessee, which, as 
Mr. Cohen said, is a community we both represent. And I hope that our 
conversation on the floor today will be just one more step in a unified 
effort to end the staggering rates of infant mortality that plague many 
of our communities.
  In this conversation, I am reminded of the Healthy Start program that 
was reauthorized and signed into law by President George W. Bush on 
September 3, 2008. Healthy Start provides services tailored to the 
needs of high-risk pregnant women, infants, and mothers in 
geographically, racially, ethnically, linguistically diverse 
communities with exceptionally high rates of infant mortality. The goal 
of the program has been to reduce the factors that contribute to infant 
mortality, particularly among minority groups, and remains a very 
important program to help reduce the deaths of children each year.

[[Page 21511]]



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  Congressman Cohen's work certainly builds on this goal. Adequate 
prenatal care should be available to all mothers in Tennessee and 
certainly in this country to ensure healthy infants and pregnant women.
  The Department of Health and Human Services has stated that children 
of mothers who receive no prenatal care, and this is a staggering 
statistic to me, those children born to mothers who receive no prenatal 
care are three times more likely to be born at low birth weight and 
five times more likely to die than those born to mothers who receive 
prenatal care. Again, that is three times more likely to be born at a 
low birth weight which makes that first year very difficult, and five 
times more likely to die. This is an area where working together, we 
can do something.
  It is important that our communities and also young mothers get the 
care that they need in early pregnancy. Memphis, Tennessee, has one of 
the highest infant mortality rates of any city in the U.S. That isn't a 
statistic that only impacts the neighborhoods in Memphis where infant 
mortality is a daily reality, it is a tragedy that all of Tennessee 
mourns.
  By stating today that the rate of infant mortality in Memphis, 
Tennessee, and in America is unacceptable, we are making another 
important step toward solving the problem.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlelady from Tennessee for her 
remarks which are so appropriate; and I would like to add that there 
are efforts in Shelby County, the Blues Project and the ABC Project 
that the county has, to combat infant mortality and work with pregnant 
women and new mothers.
  If a child is born premature, it costs at least 20 times as much 
money to keep that child alive for the first year. So if their efforts 
could be successful to eliminate and reduce infant mortality, and some 
of that comes through programs such as the county and others have--Blue 
Cross/Blue Shield has the Blues Project--we could save money in the 
health system because we won't spend so much keeping premature babies 
alive at the trauma center. It is an example where if we have 
preventive care and wellness programs, by investing money, we can save 
money. And we can save so much with infant mortality.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, just to add to the gentleman's comments 
and to talk a little bit about the efforts that we have participated in 
in our State, as you look at Shelby County and Memphis, you see there 
has been a wonderful partnership between your local, State, and Federal 
entities to address this. Also between the community and the not-for-
profit sector, individuals who have said this is a problem. These 
children deserve to have a healthy start in life. They deserve to have 
a good solid first year.
  Recognizing that you have a problem is the first important step in 
solving that problem. Certainly we have all worked together for many 
years to make certain that education is an enormous component of the 
step forward to address low birth weights, to address infant mortality, 
and to make certain that our children get that healthy start that they 
need in life.
  I commend those who have worked with us at the local, State and 
Federal level, as well as the community partners in Shelby County and 
across the State of Tennessee, who have made this a priority. I thank 
the gentleman for his leadership on the issue.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WAMP Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 260, a resolution 
supporting efforts to reduce infant mortality in the United States. I 
thank Congressman Steve Cohen for introducing this legislation, and I 
am proud to be an original cosponsor.
  The infant mortality rate provides the best sense of the health of a 
country, and unfortunately, the U.S. ranks 29th in the world in this 
category. That means twenty-eight other countries have better success 
than us in delivering and maintaining the health of a child during its 
first year of development. Needless to say, this is a disturbing sign, 
and something we as a nation must address.
  Although this is a national problem, it unfortunately hits close to 
home for my state of Tennessee. Nowhere in the country is the infant 
mortality rate higher than in Memphis. While devastating, the issue has 
inspired St. Jude's Hospital in-depth research on infant mortality, and 
this has led to discoveries about the variety of factors that affect 
infant mortality.
  My hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, also struggles with a similar 
sad phenomenon known as low birth weight (LBW) which can, and usually 
does, lead to the death of children under one year of age. A baby is 
considered to have a low birth weight if it is less than five pounds at 
birth. Of the twenty-eight zip codes in Hamilton County which 
encompasses Chattanooga, twenty-seven have high rates of LBW, meaning 
Hamilton County has a higher percentage of LBW than some third-world 
nations. Researchers are hard at work to pinpoint the actual cause.
  Mr. Speaker, our nations's high infant mortality rate is one of the 
most significant issues facing the health and future of our country, 
and this resolution recognizes the exceptiional work that is being done 
to address it.
  I urge all Members to support the passage of this important 
resolution.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 260, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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