[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21088]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           COMMENDING YUVRAJ PURI FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION

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                       HON. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA

                           of american samoa

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 14, 2010

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend Yuvraj Puri 
for his initiative in crafting a bill to reduce the amount of annual 
Medicare fraud and prevent future Medicare fraud. Yuvraj is 13 years 
old and attends Cooper Middle School in McLean, Virginia, where he is 
currently in the 8th grade.
  As a second-generation Indian-American and in tribute to his Asian 
culture which teaches children to respect and take care of their 
elders, it has been Yuvraj's dream to work with senior citizens. In 
fact, for the past 3 months, Yuvraj has been volunteering at the 
Herndon Senior Center for 4 hours every week.
  At the center, his primary duties are to update the database, set up 
bingo, clean up and lock down the center, type up the lunch menu, 
decorate, write the program board, and clean out the closet for 
recyclables.
  This experience has instilled in Yuvraj a desire to take his work 
further and so he chose to research Medicare fraud and present a paper 
and draft a bill as part of an assignment at school. Although the 
school had each student partner with another, I am impressed that 
Yuvraj went beyond what he was required to do and, on his own 
initiative, sought to visit the U.S. Congress to see how bills are 
introduced, managed and eventually passed into law.
  As an Asian-Pacific American, Yuvraj also requested a meeting with 
Members of the Executive Board of the Congressional Asian Pacific 
American Caucus (CAPAC), including the Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary 
who serves as Chair of the CAPAC's Healthcare Task Force. Since its 
inception in 1994, CAPAC has continued its commitment to promote and 
secure equal rights for not only Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders 
(AAPI), but all Americans.
  Through his research, Yuvraj learned that CAPAC fights to eliminate 
health care disparities and works to ensure that Asian Americans and 
Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities are not left out of policy 
decisions. Recognizing CAPAC's importance and knowing that CAPAC can 
influence the passage or defeat of a bill, Yuvraj referenced CAPAC in 
his presentation and sought a meeting with us to present his bill, 
especially since he is a member of the AAPI community.
  Today, it was our honor to personally meet Yuvraj and accept his 
bill, and I thank Congressman Mike Honda, Chairman of CAPAC, and also 
Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, Chair of CAPAC's Healthcare 
Taskforce, for joining with me to commend Yuvraj for his initiative.
  As Members of CAPAC's Executive Board, we join together in wishing 
Yuvraj much success in his pursuit to attend the Thomas Jefferson 
School for Science and Technology (TJSST) in Alexandria, Virginia. We 
believe Yuvraj is a rare student who has the capability to become a 
leader of the 21st century and it is clear that his intellectual 
curiosity will serve him well on his road to study medicine at 
Princeton as he seeks to do all he can do to serve the elderly to the 
best of his ability.
  Again, I commend Yuvraj for his self-motivation and aspirations, and 
I extend to him and his family my very best regards.

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