Stephanie Jones

Mrs. JONES of Ohio

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. That's correct. First Focus of Alexandria; National Association of Community Health Centers; AARP; Action for Children of North Carolina; African American Health Alliance; AIDS Alliance for Children; AIDS Institute; Alliance for Children, Youth & Families; Alliance for Children and Families; Alliance for Excellent Education; Alliance for Retired Americans; Aloha United Way; Ambulatory Pediatric Association; American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; American Academy of Family Physicians; American Academy of Nursing; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Academy of Pediatrics of Colorado; American Academy of Pediatrics of Iowa; American Academy of Pediatrics of Pennsylvania; American Academy of Pediatrics of Rhode Island; American Association of People with Disabilities of Washington, D.C.; the American Association of University Women of Utah; American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities; American Cancer Society; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; American Counseling Association; American Dental Association; American Dental Hygienists Association; American Diabetes; American Health Quality; American Heart Association; American Humane Association; American Mental Health; American Music Therapy; American Network of Community Options and Resources. All of these organizations want SCHIP to be reauthorized. American Nurses; American Psychiatric Association; American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; AMERIGROUP Corporation; Anchor House. All of these organizations want SCHIP, and the list goes on. Centene Corporation; Center for Civil Justice; Center for Community Solutions of Cleveland, Ohio; Center for Law and Social Policy; Center for Medicare Advocacy; Center for Public Policy Priorities; Central County United Way; Chicago Foundation for Women; Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative; Child and Family Policy Center; Child Care; Child Welfare; Children First for Oregon; Children Now; Children's Action Alliance; Children's Defense Fund, and the list goes on. How can this President stand up to all 270 organizations?

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. And the crazy thing about that statement is that if you talk to senior Americans across this country and you ask them about Medicare, they will say that Medicare is one of the finest systems of delivery of health care in this country, and they are so happy that we have Medicare and that the cost of running Medicare is equal to the cost that people pay, that it is a well-run program. So, even if we were talking about government-run health care, which we are not, let's talk about how great a program Medicare and Medicaid have been. So I just want to close out, as I leave the two of you with the last few minutes of this, I'm calling upon everybody who can hear what I'm saying, and if you can't hear me and you're reading my lips or there's a script going under your TV, call your congressperson. Ask them, are you supporting SCHIP? If they are not, ask them why. Call your neighbor; ask your neighbor to call your congressperson. This is down to a battle, and the battle is either for the children or against the children, and we're for the children.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Little pressure.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I am so happy, Mr. Speaker, to have an opportunity to be on the floor with two of my favorite Congress people, Tim Ryan and Kendrick Meek. Over the past few years, these two young men have shown such great leadership in the 30-Something Working Group, and I am just proud to be counted among the 30-Something group even though all of us know I am not 30-something, though I think I manage well anyway. It is just so significant that we have an opportunity to be here this evening to talk about an issue that is so very, very important to all of America: our children. A child. You think about when your baby is born or before your baby is born, how important it is to you to contemplate that he or she be of good health. More important than it be a boy or a girl, it's important that they come here and you start counting, do they have all their fingers? Do they have all their toes? Is their heart working? Are their eyes open? Can they hear? Can they see? And for some parents, it becomes a difficult moment because all those wonderful things that you would hope would be the case are not. But moving along, regardless, every parent wants their child to have access to good health care. And one of the wonderful things about this program called SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance Program, is that it will provide health insurance for all of our children. And who could not want that? Our President. Our President has made a decision that SCHIP is not something that he can support. Now, he has made all kinds of excuses as to why he can't support it, but the reality is that 72 percent of the American public support the State Children's Health Insurance Program. And it's not a panacea. It's more than many children have. Now, the argument that the President would want to make is that children who don't have health insurance can go to the emergency room and get health care. Anybody can walk into the emergency room and get health care. What kind of sense does that make? One of the most expensive ways in which to deliver health care in America is the emergency room, and if any of you have been in the emergency room recently, I have. When my father was very ill, he was in the emergency room. And people were loaded. We sat for hours waiting to get X rays. There were not enough doctors, not enough nurses, not enough facilities. And the people in the emergency room do a great job. I commend them. University Hospitals is where I usually go with my dad or some member of my family. But the reality is that is not the place where we should be rendering health care. I am going to move on because there are other people here to talk, but contemplate this: We want our children to be competitive. We want our children to be able to compete with children from China, children from Russia, children from every country in the world, and we want to deny them health care. An unhealthy child cannot learn. An unhealthy child causes a dilemma or problems for other children in the classroom. All of you that are new parents and you take your child to day care and the first thing you know is that baby comes home with an ear infection, pink eye. It's guaranteed. You even get sick from whatever it is that baby has going to day care and brings it home to you. We know that the children of America deserve better. We know that the children of America deserve health care coverage. And we know that all children who are required to compete in this world in America by the tests that we are giving them to be No Child Left Behind that health care is the most important thing in addition to a great education that we can give to them. The most important thing that will give them the opportunity to be successful in their childhood, in their middle age, and in their lifetime is good health care. The State Children's Health Insurance Program is the beginning of that. And it is a shame, it is a shame that we would have a President who would get partisan with an issue so important to both Democrats and Republicans and veto that legislation.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I was just going to say, I am a coffee drinker. And that $3.50 is much less----

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Oh, now, cut it out. You're getting personal out here now. But the reality is that I am a coffee drinker, and that $3.50 could go so much further if we were to invest it in the State Children's Health Insurance Program. And the other dilemma that the President is faced with is, he is claiming about States who have been given waivers to provide health care to those other than children, but it was his administration that granted the waiver. Now, if you're mad about a waiver, then bite your own nose, smack your own face, but don't hurt children over the fact that they have been given an opportunity to have health care in America. And the other thing I want to switch to, and I'm jumping around a little bit, is there are Republicans, there are strong-minded, good- thinking, good-hearted, smart Republicans who have voted with us on the SCHIP bill. In the Senate, 68 Senators, including 18 Republicans, voted for the bill. There are 43 Governors, including 16 Republicans, who have voted for it. In the House, 45 Republicans voted with us on this SCHIP bill. And the good thing is that they recognize the need that we have for child health insurance. I don't know if anybody has given these quotes. Senator Grassley, ``The President's understanding of our bill is wrong. I urge him to reconsider his veto message.'' Senator Orrin Hatch, ``We're talking about kids who basically don't have coverage. I think the President had some pretty bad advice on this.'' Let me say that again. Orrin Hatch said, ``I think the President had some pretty bad advice on this issue.'' And Susan Collins, ``I cannot believe the President would veto a program that benefits low-income children.'' I yield.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I just want to make one point and then yield to my colleagues. My colleague Kendrick Meek so eloquently put forth the debt that we are, as a Nation, in and you think about it from this perspective. Every child born in the United States at the time they are born are owing, owe part of the U.S. debt. They say it's now somewhere between $27,000 and $28,000. If that is a fact, why then can we not allocate $3.50 a day to health care coverage for our children? $27,000 they owe when they are born. They are entitled to $3.50 a day for good health care. It is fiscally sound and it makes great sense.

Ms. JONES of Ohio

Ms. JONES of Ohio. Let's take President Bush's own words. He says, ``I have strongly supported SCHIP as a Governor. I have done so as president. My 2008 budget proposed to increase SCHIP funding by $5 billion over 5 years.'' Now, this is Bush math, because it is a 20 percent increase, according to him. But reality, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the President's budget for SCHIP would result in 840,000 children currently enrolled in SCHIP losing their coverage. According to CBO, due to rising health care costs, the President's increase of $5 billion for SCHIP over 5 years fails to cover the cost of simply maintaining the current SCHIP enrollment of children of 6 million. Indeed, according to CBO, over the next 5 years, the President's budget so underfunds SCHIP that it will result in 840,000 children losing their SCHIP coverage. Even more, the number of uninsured children jumped by 600,000 in 2006, up to nearly 8.7 million children. Yet President Bush, the Bush budget does nothing to reduce the number of up insured children. Finally, what I would just say is, it is not just us saying it. Listen to what newspapers across the country are saying. The Washington Post editorial: ``Children's health check.'' Austin American Statesman editorial: ``For many kids, the doctor is not in.'' Atlanta Journal editorial: ``Kids lose out to politics.'' Chicago Tribune editorial: ``A sound children's health bill, SCHIP.'' New York Times: ``Overcoming a veto and helping children.'' The Daily News, New York: ``Presidential malpractice.'' Akron Beacon Journal: ``SCHIP at the brink.'' USA Today: ``Plan to protect kids on needless veto fight.'' Charlotte Observer: ``Vote for healthy children.'' Des Moines Register: ``Don't abandoned kids needing health care.'' Charleston Gazette: ``Child health. Override the President. Houston Chronicle: ``Wrong priorities. Presidential veto of SCHIP expansion would place ideology over children's health.'' The Republican editorial: ``Bush abandoned kids on health insurance.'' And the list just goes on. You don't have to believe me or Mr. Murphy or Mr. Ryan or Mr. Meek. The newspapers, who are supposed to be the bastion of giving us all that we need to know and independent thinkers in the world, are saying that this President is wrong, that the veto is wrong, and we need to override the veto. I am calling on all my colleagues. My Ohio Republican colleagues, they are stepping up and I am very proud of them. But we need more across this country to step up and say that we are going to support children in this Congress.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Wow. Wow. The only thing that I want to end on, and I am going to be very quick to yield for the last time to my colleagues Mr. Ryan and Mr. Murphy, was I participated one Saturday afternoon in a program at University Hospital in my Congressional district called ``healthy children.'' The purpose of the program was to help these children who were overweight understand the importance of choosing the right foods, the right diet and exercise. There are so many unhealthy children in these United States. There are so many children who are suffering from type II diabetes, who are suffering from all types of conditions that could be dealt with given a strong health care opportunity, given an opportunity for their parents to have the appropriate guidance. We cannot afford to let our children down, because when we have children who are unhealthy, who may be overweight, who are suffering from diabetes, it also leads to children who have depression, children who don't want to be here because somebody is kidding them or their self-esteem is low. The State Children's Health Insurance Program, SCHIP, will give our children the opportunity to have a chance, have a chance to be successful in a world where you would think it would be no big deal; that it would be no big deal to say to the American public, yes, we are going to give you health care, children. We owe it to them. We are morally obligated as the grownups in this country. I am just so proud of my colleagues that I am here on the floor with. I am proud to be part of the 30-Something. I thank them for their leadership and their guidance.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, it's so good to see you in the Chair, especially on this occasion as we engage in the Congressional Black Caucus message hour. This evening it gives me great pleasure to spend some time talking about the annual legislative conference that was this past weekend right here in Washington, DC. I am joined this evening by the cochair. The Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus foundation is Kendrick Meek, but the cochairs of this wonderful weekend this year are my good friends G.K. Butterfield from North Carolina and my colleague and good friend Donna Christensen from the Virgin Islands. So I am going to begin by yielding to my colleague and good friend from the great State of North Carolina, G.K. Butterfield.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Are you a member of the 30-something club?

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. More than 3,000.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. It gives me great pleasure to yield time to my colleague and good friend, Congresswoman Donna Christensen. She cochairs the brain trust for the Congressional Black Caucus. She represents the Virgin Islands. She has done a great job and always been a great friend since I have been in the Congress. This year, along with G.K. Butterfield, she cochaired the annual conference for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, ``Unleashing Our Power.''

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Absolutely.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I am with you.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Thank you, Madam Chair, Donna Christensen, the Delegate from the Virgin Islands, one of the co-chairs for the ALC Conference. It gives me great pleasure at this time to yield 5 minutes to my colleague and good friend, Diane Watson from California, our former ambassador to Micronesia.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on the subject of this Special Order today, the annual legislative conference of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. At this time it gives me great pleasure to have the opportunity to yield 5 minutes to my colleague and good friend from the great State of North Carolina, the immediate past Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Mr. Mel Watt.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I had a recent discussion with our colleague Keith Ellison from Minnesota, and he was telling me that in the seventh circuit that it had been granted to go to the Supreme Court on a voter ID. That will be an interesting case to watch as it goes forward as well.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for his leadership on getting the Voting Rights Act reauthorized, Congressman Mel Watt of North Carolina. It gives me great pleasure at this time to yield to my colleague and good friend, a former judge from the great State of Texas, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. It gives me great pleasure at this time to yield 3 minutes to the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and my great friend and son in the House of Representatives, Congressman Kendrick Meek, from the great State of Florida, Miami, Florida.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I thank you, Mr. Chair. It is always great working with you. At this time, I would like to yield 4 minutes to my colleague and good friend from the great State of Virginia, Congressman Bobby Scott, who has been a leader in and around so many issues. It is great to yield to you.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Thank you to the gentleman from Virginia for his comments. It gives me great pleasure at this time to have the opportunity to yield 3\1/2\ minutes to my colleague and good friend from the great State of New Jersey, who serves on the International Relations Committee and is just a leader in the international arena, my colleague and good friend, Donald Payne.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Thank you, Congressman Payne, from the great State of New Jersey. I am going to close out this hour and take these last couple minutes. One of the things that you make a mistake about when you leave a Special Order is you yield to everybody, and you forget to talk about your own workshops. So very quickly, I am going to talk about the two workshops that I did. The first one was ``African American Athletes: Roles, Representation, and Expectations.'' It was a wonderful opportunity where I had the opportunity to host Jim Brown, the former Cleveland Browns player, renowned athlete, to talk about things he has been doing around outreach and mentoring. I had Keven Davis, a partner at Garvey, Schubert & Barer, who provided an overview of how African American athletes are represented in financial transactions. Carlos Flemming, a VP of IMG, who represents Venus and Serena Williams. Everett Glenn, the president and CEO of Entertainment & Sports Plus, who is an agent. Ken Harvey, president and CEO of JAKA Consulting, a former NFL player and a representative. Jacquelyn Nance, who is the executive director of the LeBron James Family Foundation. And finally, William Rhoden, who is the author of ``Forty Million Dollar Slaves,'' and is a sportswriter for the New York Times. And I particularly want to thank him for taking care of the workshop while I was required to be here on the floor voting on some other issues. It was a great opportunity, and we talked about a lot of issues around African American athletes. My second forum was focused on the declining enrollment of African Americans in law schools across the Nation. My panel consisted of Christopher Johnson of General Motors; Vanita Banks, the president- elect of the National Bar Association; John Nussbaumer, associate dean of Thomas Cooley Law School; Dwayne Murray, the Grand Polemarch of Kappa Alpha Psi; John Brittain, a lawyer from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights; Karen Weaver, associate dean for academic affairs and diversity; and Pauline Schneider, on behalf of the ABA. She's at Orrick & Harrington. And the quick issue around law schools is that African Americans do have a decline in enrollment and that ABA is responsible for accreditation. So with that, Madam Speaker, I want to yield back my time and say thank you to Speaker Pelosi for giving the CBC this Special Order to focus on the ALC weekend. It's not a party; it's a legislative conference with great import for all people across the country.

Mrs. JONES of Ohio

Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, on Thursday, September 27, 2007, I missed three rollcall recorded votes due to unforeseen circumstances. On rollcall vote No. 914, on a Motion to Adjourn, I would have voted ``No.'' On rollcall vote No. 922, on a Motion to Recommit with Instructions, I would have voted ``No.'' On rollcall vote No. 923, on Final Passage of the Small Business Investment Expansion Act of 2007, I would have voted ``Aye.''