[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 1080-1081]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   HEALTH CARE AND JOBS ARE IMPORTANT

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, last week we were honored, in the State of 
the Union, to hear President Barack Obama address in this hall a joint 
convention, and then he met with the Republican Caucus this week in 
what was a remarkable political instance of reaching out to the other 
side. Not since Bill Russell controlled the center for the Celtics have 
questions and thoughts been deflected in such a marvelous and a deft 
manner.
  The President is concerned about health care and jobs, and in my 
community of Memphis, Tennessee, we need both. And each interest is 
represented in the MED, our charity hospital, our community hospital 
that's in danger of closing. It's the trauma center for the Midsouth. 
Because of the

[[Page 1081]]

cuts in Medicaid, or TennCare in Tennessee, and the lack of 
disproportionate share for our State which we could have taken care of 
in a conference committee report and gotten equality with Hawaii, the 
MED's in danger of closing. It will have ripples throughout the health 
community and the hospital community in the entire Midsouth, and it 
will threaten jobs.
  Health care is jobs. Jobs are important. This administration and our 
government needs to put our economy in the right direction and do it 
and preserve health care and trauma centers and emergency rooms like 
the MED.

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