Supporting American Diabetes Month

Floor Speech

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 1690. Earlier this year, the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a hearing on our collective battle against diabetes, the progress we have made so far and the challenges that remain.

Over 30 years ago, Congress passed the National Diabetes Research and Education Act, the first significant legislation directed at coordinating and expanding the government's research and prevention efforts related to diabetes. While we have made tremendous progress in understanding and treating diabetes, it remains a significant public health epidemic.

It's staggering to realize that over 23 million Americans have some form of diabetes today and the number is growing. Even more troubling is that 57 million Americans are at serious risk for developing type 2 diabetes, including women with gestational diabetes.

Until recently, kids were rarely diagnosed with anything but type 1 diabetes. But the increasing rate of childhood obesity is changing the face of diabetes, and certainly not for the better. Furthermore, diabetes is the leading cause of heart disease, stroke, blindness, and kidney failure. As is often the case, diabetes disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities. American Indians have the highest prevalence of diabetes nationwide, and Hispanics and African Americans are close behind.

Moreover, there is clear economic cost. It has been estimated that over $220 billion in medical expenses in 2007 can be attributed to diabetes. There are serious problems which need aggressive and innovative action. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases located at NIH and the Centers for Disease Control are both doing landmark research and surveillance work related to diabetes and have translated this into more effective prevention and treatment strategies, including the development of key therapies and technologies.

I want to commend the sponsor of this legislation, the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DeGette) not only for the work on this bill but for all the work on the Energy and Commerce Committee and also as the cochair of the Congressional Diabetes Caucus. I know I'm a member of it. It has well over 200 members, and it does a lot to raise awareness and increase education about the disease.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

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