Donna Christensen

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) who are members of the health brain trust of the Congressional Black Caucus for joining me here this evening. Mr. Speaker, I rise to once again register our dissatisfaction with the funding that the committee is proposing to provide for the HIV/AIDS public health emergency in African-American communities and other communities of color. Mr. Speaker, people of color are represented in the AIDS epidemic in numbers that far exceed our representation in the general population. African Americans and Hispanics are the most severely affected groups, representing well over 60 percent of all AIDS cases in the United States. Of the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections each year, almost 50 percent are in African Americans, and 20 percent are in Hispanics. African Americans were 49 percent of new HIV infections in 1998 and Latinos were 11 percent. In 1998, African Americans accounted for 45 percent of all total AIDS cases; 40 percent of all cases in men, 62 percent of all cases in women, and 62 percent of all cases in children. In 1998, the AIDS incidence rate among African Americans was eight times that of whites, and for Latinos the incidence rate was 3.8 times that of whites. Mr. Speaker, if this does not represent an emergency in our community, I do not know what does. This is further compounded by the disparities that exist in all communities of color with respect to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and infant mortality among other diseases. But in all of these, African-American communities experience disparities that far exceed all other groups combined. We need to change these dire statistics. They are a blight on this great country. And we need to provide access to health care for all on a level that is equal to the majority population. The CBC initiative seeks to do this by empowering communities with the resources they need to be agents of change themselves for better health. Yesterday, I spoke about the need to fund the offices of minority health within the agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services and the importance of elevating the office of minority health research at NIH to a center. Today, I just want to say a few words about the need to address this issue in our correctional facilities. There are some statistics that we just cannot ignore. In 1995, over 1.5 million adult arrests and over 3 million juvenile arrests were made in the United States. The U.S. prison population increased threefold between 1980 and 1996. Today, there are approximately 1.7 million persons housed in correctional facilities, jails and prisons, in this country. That is the second largest incarcerated population in the developed world, behind only Russia. All told, there are more than 6 million people under some form of the criminal justice supervision, under some form of juvenile justice supervision in the United States on any given day. The majority of these individuals are arrested in, and returned to, urban, low-income communities. Rates of HIV, STDs, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis are disproportionately high among the U.S. incarcerated population compared to the U.S. population at large. This presents challenges as well as opportunities. In addition to high rates of infectious diseases, the inmate population is also plagued by a number of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and substance abuse. In 1996, 63 percent of jail inmates belonged to racial or ethnic minorities, up slightly from 61 percent in 1989. 41.6 percent were white, and 41.1 percent were African American. Among Federal prisoners, 58.6 percent were white and 38.2 percent were African American. Looking specifically at HIV, correctional populations have the highest rates of HIV infection of any public institution. A 1995 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that the AIDS case rate in prisons is six times higher than the overall U.S. AIDS case rate. In fact, 23 percent of all State and Federal prison inmates were reported to be infected with HIV. In State prisons, 4 percent of female prisoners were HIV positive compared to 2.3 percent of male prisoners. We must bring the needed funds to develop and implement strategies related to surveillance and reporting in correctional facilities. We must develop continuity of care programs and provide technical assistance to jails and communities dealing with these issues. We hope that this House will recognize the wide disparities in health care that exist for people of color in this country and the challenge it presents for us as we prepare to enter the 21st century. Mr. Speaker, we ask that our colleagues join us in facing this challenge and addressing it successfully.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, today, before I start, I want to say to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) and to the people of North Carolina that my heart and the heart of my constituents go out to them. We know what they are going through, although I think their situation is much worse than ours has ever been. We will stand by them and are ready to be of assistance in any way that we can to the people of North Carolina, Virginia, and the other States that are affected. But today, Mr. Speaker, I come here to give a brief overview of some of the critical health care issues that are a priority to the Congressional Black Caucus and its health braintrust which I chair. Many of my colleagues and I will come back on subsequent days to elaborate on the dire statistics that have compelled us and some of our individual critical issues. Last year, the Caucus was able to secure an unprecedented $156 million to fund a state of emergency or what was called a severe and ongoing crisis on HIV and AIDS and to target the needs of African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color with regard to this epidemic. The dollars were to increase capacity, to help build infrastructure, to enable us to get grants, to administer them, and reach the population within our communities that until now have been hard to reach, mainly because we, the health care delivery system, have not been going about it in the right way. Mr. Speaker, in communities of color, there are many barriers that must be overcome to bring effective messages of disease prevention and health promotion. They are language. They are culture. They are decades of mistrust. They are lack of education. There are other priorities that come from poverty, joblessness, and other social and economic factors. These communities thus have severe disparities and health services and health status and are disproportionately affected in many diseases, but especially in HIV and AIDS. The health care delivery infrastructure is just not there. While we work on that, that cannot be built in 1 day, 365 days, 1 year or even several years. In the meantime, we need to empower our communities through their indigenous community organizations to provide the prevention and intervention services that are needed. The people within the communities know their communities. They have the trust of their communities. They can do it best. What they do not have are the resources, and that is what the CBC initiative is all about. We will soon be looking at the outcome of this past year's initiative. We have some doubts that it accomplished what we asked it to, but we must prepare to continue to improve and expand on that effort. We are, therefore, asking for an increase in the FY 2000 budget above the President's request of $171 million. Because we are seeking to make sure that all communities of color receive the funding they need commensurate with the level of the epidemic and the infrastructure deficiencies that each one of us has, some greater than others, we are asking then for $349 million in the Labor HHS appropriation. This funding is critical, as our other requests for $150 million for the President's disparity initiative, $55 million towards the international AIDS program, and AIDS in Africa. Along with our requests with respect to the disparities, we are asking for the special funding to be set aside to train more providers of color, to provide Medicare and Medicaid outreach to our communities, and to increase our knowledge of and attention to HIV/AIDS and other health care issues in the Nation's prisons. Mr. Speaker, there are other issues that are just as important to us as funding, though, and which actually costs us nothing but our commitment to reduce the disparities that exist for communities of color in this country. They include the funding of the offices of minority health in the agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, such as CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SAMHSA, and to Health and Substance Abuse, HRSA, and the Agency for Health Care Research, where although they are established, they are not funded. It has been directed that up to 0.5 percent of the agencies' budget be allocated to fund them, and we want the committee to direct that this be done. With the best of intentions, the issue of people of color will not be adequately addressed unless these offices are empowered and are given some authority within their individual agencies. The other important area is the Office of Minority Health Research at the National Institutes of Health which we are asking to be raised to the level of a center. That office, to be effective, and to fulfill its important role in ending a two-tiered system of health care in this country must have budget sign off. It must have accountability for the funds and the research it has done on behalf of the people it represents. We in the Caucus will fight for this as we will fight on the other issues until this becomes a reality. We have many other challenges before this country, insuring the uninsured to name a major one. We can make a major step towards better health care in this country by supporting the initiatives of the Congressional Black Caucus. They are undertaken, not just on behalf of African Americans or Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Asian or Pacific Islanders, or Native Hawaiians or Native Alaskans, although those are our priority populations, but they are undertaken on behalf of all Americans. Just like justice, health care delayed is health care denied. We have an obligation as the Representatives of all of the people of this country to bring health care, not just to some, but to each and every American.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, once again our friends in the majority continue to ignore the will of the majority of Americans who have spoken out in support of a real Patients' Bill of Rights. Instead of heeding this call, the majority has again drafted their own cynical health care bill in a last minute attempt to prevent the people's bill, the bipartisan Norwood-Dingell bill, from passing. The Republican health care bill unveiled yesterday is not real HMO reform, and do not believe for one second that it expands health care coverage for uninsured Americans. The Dingell-Norwood bill, by contrast, will put doctors and their patients back in charge of health care, increase access by making sure the insured can get the medical care they need, and makes managed care plans accountable when they decide to deny care. We must not let the opponents of the reform all our constituents asked for succeed. Support the Dingell-Norwood consensus managed care reform act.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton) for his kind remarks and for joining me on the floor this afternoon for an explanation of H.R. 2481, to provide the Virgin Islands with greater fiscal autonomy consistent with other United States jurisdictions. I want to thank the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), chairman, and the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the ranking member, for their support on this bill and for their willingness to assist the Virgin Islands generally to recover from our fiscal difficulties. Mr. Speaker, the Governor of the Virgin Islands requested that I introduce H.R. 2481 to make it less expensive for his administration to close on a planned financing to meet currently due obligations as well as to provide sufficient cash reserves to operate the territorial government while his deficit reduction plan and budget initiatives take effect. Usually matters such as this one relating to the bonding authority to a particular State or territory are defined by local law. However, in the case of my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, we have not yet adopted a constitution, and the Federal law which acts as our constitution does not give us the same general obligation bonding authority enjoyed by other local jurisdictions; thus the need for this bill which was reported out of Committee on Resources by a unanimous vote. I also want to take this opportunity to discuss briefly the overall financial picture of the U.S. Virgin Islands, as further background. We are presently wrestling with a large cumulative deficit which has developed over the last 10 years and an annual operating deficit which has brought the Territory close to the bridge of fiscal collapse. The causes are many, both internal and external. As my colleagues know, we have been the victim of a series of hundred-year hurricanes which came at such a rate and pace that we have never been able to completely recover. The toll that these natural disasters took on the private sector placed an extra burden on an already over-bloated government sector and increased the obstacles to our struggle to downsize or right-size. Even though government revenues are still not where they should be because of the problems yet being faced by our private sector, steps are being put in place to reduce government spending and increase revenues in order to begin to reduce our deficit. Initiatives are also in progress to stimulate our economy. The bill before us today is an important part of this effort. But there are other important areas in which we look to Congress for support and assistance. The first is lifting the current cap on the return of Federal excise taxes on Virgin Islands-produced rum, as provided for in our Organic Act, or our working constitution. I cannot overstate the importance of the funds that lifting the rum cap would provide to the Virgin Islands. It is essential that we receive these additional funds if we are to have any success at all in recovering from the current fiscal crisis. We have certainly appreciated the passage of my bill to revive a watch industry that has been the mainstay of employment for many on the island of St. Croix, and I thank my colleagues, but that will not be enough. We also need for my colleagues to provide full funding to the territories under the Children's Health Insurance Program or CHIP. Full funding under CHIP to the territories, based on our populations, was proposed by the administration when the program first began. However, decisions made by this body as a result of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, provided us with less than what is necessary to ensure that our children receive medical care, and this causes an undue strain on our already beleaguered local treasury. Mr. Speaker, my colleague, the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. Romero-Barcelo), and I have a bill to provide full funding for the territories under CHIP, and I hope that all my colleagues will support its passage. There are incipient discussions on several other initiatives for which, when further researched and developed, we may ask later for your assistance and support as well. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2841 would allow the government of the Virgin Islands to avoid a costly two-step financing arrangement. In the absence of such legislation, the outdated limitations in the Government's general obligation authority would cause the government of the Virgin Islands to incur extraordinary costs in excess of $6 million in order to complete this process. Additionally, the new authority that the bill provides will expire on December 31, 1999, if the government of the Virgin Islands and the Secretary of the Interior do not reach an agreement on various fiscal and accountability standards for reducing the islands' deficit. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to just thank again the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), the ranking member of the committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), and my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton), as well as my staff and the staff of the committee for the hard work in assisting me to get this bill to the floor today.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, S. 944 would permit the execution of mineral extraction leases on individual Indian trust lands when more than 50 percent of owners agree to the lease. This bill will only affect about 8 tribes in the State of Oklahoma. Under current law, more than 50 percent of owners need to approve a lease for agriculture or forestry purposes; however, 100 percent of owners need to approve a lease for mineral exploration. Due to the century-old Federal allotment policy, Indian-owned parcels of land can have dozens or, as we have heard, even more than that of owners. In many cases, not all owners can be found, while others may be tied up in a lengthy probate process. This bill was passed by the Senate in August of this year and is supported by the Department of Interior. The gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the senior Democratic member of the Committee on Resources, collected letters of support from each of the tribes whose members are included in this bill. Similar legislation was passed last Congress with respect to mineral leases on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, and I ask my colleagues to support passage of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2392, the Small Business Innovative Research Program Reauthorization. I want to take this opportunity to commend my colleagues, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly), the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), our ranking member, and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Talent) for their hard work and leadership on our committee. The SBIR research program is one of the most effective and successful technology programs for entrepreneurs. Today's vote will take us one step closer to extending the program for another 7 years. Without research and development budgets, small businesses rely on the SBIR program to help them fund important innovative research and development. As a member of the Committee on Small Business and ranking member on the Subcommittee on Rural Enterprises, Business Opportunities and Special Small Business Problems, it is my priority to ensure that small businesses continue to have every opportunity to succeed and that our government is a partner in that endeavor. An important part of this effort is the continued funding of SBIR. Agency programs report that SBIR awards are much more likely to result in commercial products than other government-funded programs. In addition, approximately 12 percent of the SBIR awards made under the program are given to minority and disadvantaged businesses. This translates into over $850 million since the program began, providing real opportunities for many businesses that might not otherwise have this funding. As we have seen with companies such as Microsoft and others, small businesses provide the innovation that makes this country the leader in technological advances. SBIR has helped companies create innovations in medical and pharmaceutical research to fight cancer and other diseases. These advances have not only enhanced business performance domestically and helped companies increase their export sales, but they have helped countless individuals and their families to live healthier, longer, and better lives. SBIR is a win-win situation. I am pleased to support H.R. 2392 through which Congress would do more to ensure that valuable research dollars continue to be available to small businesses, and I ask for the support of my colleagues.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) for yielding this time to me. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 140 expressing the sense of Congress that Haiti should conduct free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections, and I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt), and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) for their bill, as well as the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), for their leadership and support of this resilient island nation. I have had the opportunity to visit Haiti three times over the last 3 years. The last time was 2 weeks ago with the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and several of my other colleagues, specifically to review the progress that was being made with regard to the upcoming elections. Madam Speaker, I saw a Haiti which despite the fact that democracy has not made any significant bread and butter changes in the lives of its people continue to hold on to the ideal of full democracy and economic progress despite the steepness of the uphill battle. The people of Haiti remain strong in the spirit which, despite the odds, made them an independent nation almost 200 years ago. Despite continuing poverty, little infrastructure, recent hurricane damage, we were able to see active building and vibrant commerce as well as other, if small, signs of improvement and hope. Much progress, Madam Speaker, I think was also seen in the public sector. Madam Speaker, the people of Haiti want the upcoming elections, and they want elections that they will have confidence in. The United States has helped in the past years to help Haiti on the road to democracy and a healthier economy, but we have done far less than we should have. In the upcoming elections we have the opportunity to correct this and make an important contribution to the future of the Haitian people, to the Caribbean region, and to our hemisphere. I join my colleagues in expressing the sense of Congress in support of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections; but Madam Speaker, we should do more by making all the necessary resources available to make it possible. This is another critical juncture in Haitian history. The integrity and the outcome of this election will determine Haiti's future. I want us to be on the right side of that history. I urge the passage of House Concurrent Resolution 140.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Veterans Millennium Health Care Act and I compliment my colleagues Mr. Sutmp and Mr. Evans for bringing this bill to the floor today. Mr. Speaker, we can all agree that we have not done right by our Veterans. Over and over we have told our young men and women that if they answered their country's call to serve, we would provide for their health for the rest of their lives. But, sadly, this has not been done. We have instead, continued to reduce spending for veterans services and at the same time narrowly classify the eligibility for veterans to receive this limited services. It is because of this why I am pleased to support the Veterans Millennium Health Care Act because it begins to reverse this unfair treatment towards veterans and responds to some of their pressing needs. Some of the bills key provisions include the requirement that the VA increase both home and community-based long term care particularly for veterans who are 50% service-connected and veterans needing care for a service-related condition. This provision is particularly important to the veterans in my Congressional District who have to travel, at their own expense, to the neighboring island of Puerto Rico for their care. I am likewise very pleased that the bill would also authorize the VA to pay reasonable emergency care cost for service-connected, low-income and other high priority veterans who have no health insurance of other medical coverage, authorize an increase in the copayment on prescription drugs and extend the VA's authority to make grants to assist homeless veterans. Mr. Speaker, in my previous life as a Family Physician, I counted many of our local veterans as my patients. I got to know many of them very well and came to understand the disappointment that feel about their apparently reneging on the promises that were made to them when they enlisted. It is time that we begin to do right by our veterans and H.R. 2116 is a good beginning. I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong opposition to HR 2684, the VA/HUD Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2000, because of the substantial and devastating cuts that the bill makes in funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. At a time when our nation is experiencing record budget surpluses, it is unconscionable that this body would cut funding that goes to some of the most neediest of our constituents. The bill before us today could likely result in 40,000 Americans, including many of my constituents in the Virgin Islands, being forced out of their current HUD funded housing and onto the street due to the draconian cuts in the Section 8 program. And as if these cuts weren't bad enough, the bill cuts the funds for repairing and maintaining public housing properties by a half a billion dollars and underfunds operating subsidies by $400 million on top of the $400 million shortfall in the current fiscal year. As a result of these cuts, over 105,000 affordable housing units will not be modernized and properly maintained meaning that in districts like my own which are prone to natural disasters those units would be in even more jeopardy. My colleagues, while our poorest families, the elderly and the disabled are the ones who will be most directly harmed by the cuts in this bill, ultimately all of us will all be affected and will pay the price of increased homelessness and dilapidated buildings. For the Virgin Islands these cuts will be particularly hard felt because the local government is currently wrestling with a current fiscal year deficit of $100 million dollars and an accumulated deficit of one billion dollars. If the $250 million from the CDBG program isn't restored, the affect that it will have on hundreds of my constituents who benefit from the several worthy local programs which CDBG funds would be tragic. I ask you, my friends in the majority: is it right that you would propose to spend almost all of the $800 billion non-Social Security surpluses on a politically motivated tax bill while at the same time refusing to fund the President's request for 100,000 incremental Section 8 vouchers when a record number of Americans face a lack of affordable housing? I urge my colleagues to join the Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies, the National Community Development Association, the National Rural Housing Coalition, the National Association of Counties, the National Association of Housing Partnerships, the National League of Cities and the US Conference of Mayors in opposing this VA/HUD Appropriations bill because of what it will mean to the neediest among us.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the rule on the VA/HUD Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2000, because our majority colleagues have prohibited the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Edwards from offering an amendment to increase funding for our veterans' medical care. Mr. Speaker, as a strong supporter of the men and women who answered our country's call to serve, I was elated when Vice President Gore announced, last month, that the Administration was going to seek an additional $1 billion to ensure that our veterans will have timely access to quality health care. Likewise I was equally thrilled when the VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee included this additional funding when it reported its FY 2000 bill. But while this additional funding is welcomed, there is still more that needs to be done. That is why I was so disappointed that the Edwards-Evans-Stabenow amendment, which would have provided an additional $730 million for the VA to help ensure that an additional 140,000 veterans would get the health care that they need, was not made in order. While our friends in the majority rushed to spend almost $800 billion on a politically motivated tax bill--virtually all of the projected on- Social Security surpluses over the next ten years--they could not find a mere $730 million to help disabled and paralyzed veterans. In my own district, Virgin Islands veterans have to struggle every day to find the $200 to $300 to fly to the San Juan VA Medical Center for treatment because the VA does not have the funding to either pay for them to receive service on their home island or to reimburse them for their hefty travel expenses. My colleagues we must defeat the previous question on the VA/HUD rule so that the bill can be sent back to the rules committee to have the Edwards-Evans-Stabenow amendment made in order. It is time that we keep our promise of free medical care to our veterans!!

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment. I have heard my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say that needle exchange sends a negative message, but needle exchange sends a good message that we will implement and support policies that save lives. Our colleagues who support that amendment use the statistics and deliberately twist them to support a position that flies in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence and is contrary to public health policy. The needle exchange programs take place in communities where there is high drug use, so of course the statistics show high drug use. But they have been proven over and over again, that drug use is reduced in those communities where needle exchange programs exist. Yes, I am a physician. I know from experience what HIV can do to end lives that have otherwise gotten back on track and are productive after leaving drugs behind. What we are doing here does not even give people, good people who have had the illness of drug addiction, a chance. But do not take my word for it. My colleagues have heard of all of the other organizations that support needle exchange, and take what Dr. Koop says, that it can save lives and reduce drug abuse. This is a terrible amendment. It jeopardizes the District's effort to address what is a serious epidemic here. Let us not write off lives, let us save them.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking and applauding our cochair, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) and our covice-chair, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender- McDonald) for putting together this Special Order and all of my other women colleagues for joining us this evening. I want to join also in thanking the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) and former Congresswoman Edith Green for their foresight in championing and protecting the rights of women and young girls against gender discrimination within the educational system of this country, particularly in athletics; and I want to also thank all the other Members of Congress who have continued to fight to end discrimination of all kinds in this Nation. Title IX was important legislation, and its impact is immeasurable. Its very intent was the impetus for ensuring that today's sheroes would become role models for the young girls of today and those yet to be born. Access to equal opportunities in education has made it possible for all of us to be here as representatives in Congress. Thanks to those like the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) who came before me, when I was fortunate to have been accepted into medical school, unfortunately, we were still less than 5 percent of our class. Now, women at George Washington University School of Medicine, my alma mater, make up more than 50 percent of any incoming class. In the past few weeks we have also had outstanding examples of what Title IX has done for women in the United States since its implementation. As many have said, on Friday, Air Force Colonel Eileen Collins made NASA and U.S. history as the first woman to command a space shuttle; and of course, we are all still basking in the success as well in the recent victory of the women's soccer team this month at the World Cup, which indicates what significant progress continues to be made each and every day. More women are enrolled in college and universities than ever and are pursuing postgraduate and professional degrees, a key factor in the swell of women-owned businesses across this country today. One of the most obvious benefits of Title IX is the impact it has had on women's participation in intercollegiate athletics, and our young women are determined to make their mark in the sport arena. In my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, educational and athletic equity has long been practiced, and we have produced a multitude of successful players in various sports, as well as in other fields. One of our long-standing track and field success stories in the Virgin Islands is Flora Hyacinth who is one of 24 Virgin Islanders participating in the Pan American games in Winnipeg this week, and we wish her well. Ms. Hyacinth also set a world record in 1986 for the triple jump while attending the University of Alabama, and just last year won the long jump gold in the Venezuela games. She and Ameerah Bello, another winning track and field athlete from the Virgin Islands, are both qualifying members of the Virgin Islands Olympic team. Also making her mark in women's track and field is 16-year-old Rodneysha Pitts, who recently ranked among the top 10 U.S. high school students while attending school in Indiana briefly last year. At the college level, Vania Blake, a volleyball player from the Virgin Islands at North Carolina A&T, was named Athlete of the Year and MVP of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for her school; and, Felicia James, the MVP of the All Star basketball games at Grambling State University in Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I am sure that we have all had many shining examples of young women who have been able to succeed in their respective areas because of the freedom and opportunity Title IX provides. One only need attend a WNBA game here in the District or in any city to truly realize the impact that women's sports has had on up and coming female athletes nationwide; and it is here that we can also be proud of the precedence that Title IX has set, for without it, entities such as the WNBA would not have been possible. While we still have a long way to go in ensuring equality across the board for women and all Americans, we can look onward with pride as young women like Venus and Serena Williams dominate the world of tennis and cheer on all of the women who are charting a bright future in women's sports. I look forward to the day, Mr. Speaker, when there will be a women's soccer league, baseball league, and any other league that we choose to break ground in. The sky is the limit for our young women in sports, in business, in politics, and now in space. I am proud to be here this evening with Congresswoman Meek and my other colleagues and to be able to work with them, to continue to open doors for women and for all Americans.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise to support this amendment. It has been a priority of mine and the rest of the Congressional Black Caucus to bring some of the many resources of this country and of the profits of our corporations to help fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Africa. In this regard I applaud my colleagues, Mrs. Jackson-Lee and also Mr. Olver for their amendments. I would be remiss not to also recognize our former distinguished colleague, Mr. Dellums for his leadership in this arena. Mr. Chairman, to date AIDS has killed more than 11 million people and continues to infect over 22 million of our brothers and sisters in sub- Saharan Africa. Millions of children are orphaned and countless families are destroyed. In supporting this amendment, and asking for its passage, I take this opportunity to call on the administration, this Congress and our corporations to not only reach for our better selves, but into our very full pockets to help our fellow human beings who are in such great need.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I rise in wholehearted support of H.R. 434, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a landmark piece of legislation that is long overdue. I also want to applaud my colleagues, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Crane), the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), and all of the others who have worked so hard through several Congresses to bring us to this day. Mr. Chairman, the United States has come to the aid of many countries, some of which have not made the strides in democracy we are seeing in many parts of the African continent. Today, with very little impact on jobs in the U.S., we can begin a process that has the potential to turn Sub-Saharan Africa into a model of economic progress. Through enacting this important piece of legislation, we will also see a win for this country in terms of increased trade and, thus, more jobs, not less, as the charts next to me support. Mr. Chairman, I also want to strongly support amendments which will address what would be a major obstacle to the success we envision through H.R. 434, that of AIDS in Africa, a pandemic which is destroying families and decimating the populations of many of the countries we seek to help. Mr. Chairman, I urge the passage of this bill and ask my colleagues to join us in the effort to bring affordable medication and health care to the people of Africa and the rest of the world.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise to support this amendment brought by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver) which focuses on what poses the biggest threat to what we are trying to do through H.R. 434. HIV/AIDS has killed more than 11 million people and continues to infect more than 22 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Today, while we try to meet our obligation to help Africa economically, we must not lose sight of this pandemic which is killing and affecting individuals in the prime of their life. I urge passage of this amendment.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I also rise today in support of the amendment of my colleagues, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell), the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Hoeffel), and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt) to add $30 million to the State-side funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This is a critical program to communities such as mine where our natural and human resources, in this case our youth, are both in jeopardy. The funding provided by this amendment will give a tremendous boost to the efforts of our local communities to provide recreational outlets to our young people. Sadly, for the fifth year in a row the Interior Appropriations bill has not provided funds for this program. Mr. Chairman, the development of new recreational outlets is overwhelmingly supported and needed by our constituents. In my district, the commissioner of parks and public lands has repeatedly called upon me to seek such funding as is found in the increase in the State-side funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. While some do, as we have heard not every community has a large surplus to spend. But even for the communities that do, it is time for the Federal Government to step up to the plate and do something positive for our young people and our communities, and it can do this through providing this funding. I also want to take this opportunity to join my colleague, the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Faleomavaega) in urging that all due consideration be given to the needs of all of the U.S. insular areas. While many of the districts of my colleagues are experiencing good fiscal fortunes, the non-State areas of Guam, American Samoa, and my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, are experiencing very tough financial times. While our local governments are working to do all that they can to reduce spending and get our budgets balanced, we still need the assistance of the Federal Government if we are to be successful. It is unfortunate and the cause of great concern when the needs of one insular area is pitted against the other, forcing us to choose between accepting financial help at the expense of another sister insular area. I urge the members of the subcommittee to be mindful of this fact as we go forward in crafting the final version of the Interior Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2000. Again, Mr. Chairman, I support this amendment.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and I want to join the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) in thanking the gentleman for leading this special order, and all of the other special orders, hearings, and activities to highlight this very important issue to all Americans, an issue that is represented quite well in the Democratic Patients' Bill of Rights. At one time it was thought that managed care was a panacea, not only to curb skyrocketing health care costs, but also to provide better health care for more people. As a physician from the outside, I had serious doubts about the outcome of a health care delivery system created to cut costs, rather than to heal and keep people well. As time has gone on, my worst fears have actually been realized. For 2 years now, 2 years or more, we have been trying to pass an important piece of legislation, one that the American people care about and one that they desperately want and need. It is aptly called the Patients' Bill of Rights, and speaks to rights that we Democrats want to return to the people and to the doctors that they choose to put themselves under their care. But it is about something even more important. It is about life and it is about the quality of one's life. It is about putting health care decisions back in the hands of those who are trained to make those decisions. Today, after managed care has come to cover the great majority of persons who are insured by their employer, what has happened paradoxically is that the American people have less access to health care, rather than more. We have an obligation to fix that, and that is just what we, the Democrats, are trying to do through the Patients' Bill of Rights. This Congress must make this commitment to our constituents a reality, and then we must move on to provide health insurance for all the other Americans, many of them people of color, who have none at all. I am a physician, a family physician. I was very fortunate to have been able to practice the old way, taking the time to speak with and getting to know my patients and their families, using what I had learned and what I continued to learn to provide preventative care and treatment for their illnesses when they needed it, to be free to fully inform them of all of their treatment options, to refer them for specialty consultation when needed, and remain the manager of their care, and yes, even being held accountable for the decisions that I made about their health care. That is the way medicine should be practiced. It is not that way anymore, in many cases, and specifically in most managed care organizations. That is why I am here to join the gentleman this evening to support the Patients' Bill of Rights. I join my colleagues in calling on the leadership of this body to bring the bill to the floor. The American people have lost their faith in our health care system, and as a physician, I know just how important it is to have confidence in the person and the facility where you receive your care. They rightfully want to have their doctors make the decisions about their health care, not some paperpusher miles away. They want to be able to get to an emergency room when, in the judgment of the one who knows their body best, themselves, something seems to have gone seriously wrong. They want to go there with the peace of mind that they will be seen without undue delay, and that the visit will be paid for. They want to be able to discuss their care fully with their doctor, to know all of the implications and available therapies. They insist on participating in the decision on when a specialist is needed, and they want to be able to see one when one is. Just as the doctor or the provider has always been accountable for the judgments they make, the managed care organization, when the decision is theirs, must also be held accountable. So just as Americans have lost faith in managed care, they are about to lose their trust in this body because the leadership has failed to address this issue that they, the people of America, rank as the most important to them and their families. I applaud the other side for taking up S. 6 this week, but it is important that they and we pass a comprehensive bill. Piecemealing this issue will not fix it. Just as we physicians must treat the whole patient or the whole person, this Congress has to fix the entire system. So before I close, I also want to remind my colleagues that providing access to necessary health care, which H.R. 3605, the Democratic Patients' Bill of Rights, does, is an important step. It still is a part of what we need to do. This bill does also begin to address another issue important to providers of color and the people we serve. Managed care organizations operating in communities of people with color often do not include traditional community providers within their system. The providers who work there are not always culturally competent. In many localities, minority providers are closed out and with them, their patients, who are often sicker, and thus undesirable to the HMO because providing care for them will cut into the all-important profits. Further, there are still too many Americans who do not have any insurance coverage at all. The system will not be right until all of us have access. This Nation can never be all that it holds out itself to be to the rest of the world until all of its citizens and residents have access to equitable, quality health care. The Democratic Patients' Bill of Rights is a great first step and a very important first step. I may have left the practice of private medicine, but seeing that good health care is available to all is still very important to me. My colleagues on this side of the aisle and I am sure a few on the other side will join us as well and continue to work as long as we need to to see that this comprehensive bill of rights becomes a reality. I thank the gentleman for giving me this time this evening.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman from New Jersey. He said earlier that it is a common sense bill and it is what the people of America have said they want. They want their doctors who have been trained to sit with them and make the decisions about their health care. They want someone that they can have a personal relationship with. And that personal relationship between the patient and the physician is a very important one, and it is not there in managed care the way it is when the doctor can make the decisions. And, of course, if the managed care organization is making the decisions, then they ought to be held accountable for making those decisions. But the Patients' Bill of Rights that we are talking about, which is comprehensive, is what the American people have said that they want.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Right. And I believe one of the articles, that we had talked about someone who had gone into an emergency room and one of the things that our bill provides for is reasonable judgment allowing for emergency room care and having that care covered and also allows for things like pain, which make a lot of sense to be a reason why someone might decide to go to an emergency room. There are many stories of persons who have gone into emergency rooms with something like chest pain and, while waiting for an approval, those first few minutes are some of the most critical minutes, and the person had an arrhythmia and died. And so our bill is very important, and it is a matter of life, as I said, and quality of life for American citizens.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding this time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1568, the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999, to also commend our chairman, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Talent) for introducing this bill and to commend both him and our ranking member for their untiring efforts on behalf of small businesses in this country. Mr. Speaker, there have been several bills brought to this floor today that recognize meaningful and tangible ways the contributions our Nation's veterans have made and the debt this country owes to them. I am proud to support them all. As we all are aware, veterans, particularly those who served during and since Vietnam, encounter many barriers in transitioning to civilian life. Part of this transitioning includes obtaining meaningful employment or starting their own businesses. Our disabled veterans, like other citizens and residents with special health care needs, have particularly difficult times entering the economic mainstream. H.R. 1568 seeks to break down many of those barriers. One of the most significant things this legislation does is to create a national veterans business development corporation charged with increasing entrepreneurship and technical assistance to veterans. It also requires that small businesses owned by veterans be included in all government contracting and sets a goal. And it creates a small business relief program for reservists and members of the National Guard who own small businesses when they are called up to active duty. Passage of the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 will ensure that veterans, even after their service is over, have the opportunity to pursue their dreams to achieve success and to share in the prosperity of this great Nation. In sum, this bill enables our veterans to become self-sufficient. With all that they have done for this country, as has been said earlier, this is the least that we can do for them. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 1568.