Pallone Chosen To Chair Powerful Energy And Commerce Subcommittee On Health

PALLONE CHOSEN TO CHAIR POWERFUL ENERGY AND COMMERCE SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) was chosen by his Democratic colleagues on the House Energy and Commerce Committee today to chair the committee's powerful Subcommittee on Health at an organizing meeting on Capitol Hill. The subcommittee has sole jurisdiction over Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and shares jurisdiction of Medicare with the Ways and Means Committee. The subcommittee oversees public health, biomedical programs, food and drug safety, mental health and research, hospital construction and all health care homeland security-related concerns. Pallone issued the following statement after being chosen as the new chairman.

"I thank my committee colleagues for giving me the opportunity to chair this critically important subcommittee and look forward to developing an agenda that will improve our nation's health care system for all Americans.

"This new Congress must address the inadequacies that currently exist in our broken health care system. In a country as wealthy as ours, it is simply unacceptable for over 46 million Americans to be uninsured. We must explore ways to end the troubling trend of skyrocketing health care costs that make it increasingly difficult for individual consumers and employers to afford insurance.

"One of my top priorities as chairman will be to focus on issues concerning the health and well being of our nation's seniors. The subcommittee will provide aggressive oversight of the Medicare program and explore ways to make it work better for America's seniors. I plan to also hold hearings to explore ways that we can better help seniors with their long term care needs, while, at the same time, preparing for the large number of baby boomers who will soon need long term care assistance.

"I will also work to strengthen other public programs such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). After a decade of Republican policies that sought to dismantle our nation's safety net system, it is time for a renewed commitment to preserve and protect these programs and the vulnerable citizens who rely upon them.

"It is also time the subcommittee reforms our food and drug safety laws, so that consumers are not being put in harm's way. We must also do more to safeguard our communities in the event of both manmade and natural public health emergencies such as bioterrorism and avian influenza.

"As chairman, I will continue to be a strong advocate for the need to expand NIH medical research and will continue to raise awareness about the need to improve minority health and eliminate the gross health disparities that currently exist in our country."

http://www.house.gov/list/press/nj06_pallone/pr_jan9_chair.html