[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14707-14708]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER FUNDING

  (Mr. TAKANO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I rise to remind my colleagues that we 
have just 4 days to authorize mandatory funding for our Nation's 
Community Health Centers.
  If Congress fails to act before September 30, the Community Health 
Center program will suffer a 70 percent cut

[[Page 14708]]

to its funding. Our constituents and our economy will suffer the 
consequences.
  Without this funding, an estimated 2,800 health center facilities 
will be forced to close, 51,000 medical professionals will lose their 
jobs, and 9 million patients will lose access to the care they rely on.
  The critical role Community Health Centers have in serving patients 
is beyond dispute, and it should be beyond partisanship.
  While our Senate colleagues are scrambling to meet a self-imposed 
deadline, they are ignoring real deadlines that we must meet. We must 
fund these health centers this week, or we will be responsible for the 
economic and human cost of our inaction.

                          ____________________