Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

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Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Border Health Security Act of 2011.

This legislation is designed to make several important changes to current law to address pressing public health challenges along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In 1993, along with Senators HUTCHISON and MCCAIN, I introduced the original United States-Mexico Border Health Commission Act. With the support of Members from both chambers, and from both parties, we passed this landmark legislation, which was signed into law in 1994 by President Clinton. I was gratified when the bi-national agreement to establish the Commission was signed in 2000. And, I have monitored with interest the important work of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission in the years since.

As the Commission enters its second decade, the problems it seeks to deal with are no less pressing than those we originally set out to tackle with the Border Health Commission Act.

Health disparities and chronic diseases for the over 14 million people who live in the border region, comprised of two sovereign nations, 25 Native American tribes, and four states in the United States and six states in Mexico, remain at unacceptable levels, far outpacing rates in most of the United States. Far too many border residents remain uninsured. Texas and New Mexico, for instance, rank first and fifth, respectively, in the percentage of residents who are uninsured. Many who live in the region still do not have access to adequate primary, preventive, and specialty care. If the border region were considered a state, it would rank at or near the bottom on many key health indicators, such as rates of tuberculosis, hepatitis, diabetes, and access to health professionals. Compounding all these problems are high rates of poverty; three of the ten poorest counties in the United States are located in the border area.

In addition, communicable diseases that can easily travel across borders, such as tuberculosis and H1N1, strain our border's public health systems. Amplifying our public health surveillance efforts at our border can help mitigate the impact of such diseases, as well as other bio-security threats, in the rest of the nation.

I believe, just as I did when I introduced the original legislation, that the public health problems the border region faces are truly bi-national in nature. As such, they demand a truly bi-national public health architecture. Over the last 11 years, the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission has provided this structure as it worked to address these issues. It has had a number of successes, including notable conferences and reports on infectious disease surveillance, childhood obesity, and tuberculosis, developed jointly by both its U.S. and Mexican members. Its programs were particularly helpful as we coordinated our response to the H1N1 pandemic in 2009.

Still, the public health challenges in the border remain great. As the Commission enters into its second decade, this bipartisan legislation will strengthen the capacity of the Commission and authorize appropriate federal resources for its important work.

The legislation does this in several ways. First, through a new grant program, it authorizes additional funding to improve the infrastructure, access, and the delivery of health care services along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

These grants would be flexible and allow the individual communities to establish their own priorities with which to spend these funds for the following range of purposes: maternal and child health, primary care and preventative health, public health and public health infrastructure, health promotion, oral health, behavioral and mental health, substance abuse, health conditions that have a high prevalence in the border region, medical and health services research, community health workers or promotoras, health care infrastructure, including planning and construction grants, health disparities, environmental health, health education, and research.

Second, it authorizes new, funding for the successful Early Warning Infectious Disease Surveillance, EWIDS, program in the U.S.-Mexico border region. EWIDS is designed to bolster preparedness for bioterrorism and infectious disease. The legislation also establishes a health alert network to identify and communicate information quickly to health providers about emerging health care threats. It requires the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate this system.

Third, it strengthens the capacity of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission by undertaking several key organizational reforms.

Finally, the legislation encourages more coordination, recommendations, and study of these complex border health challenges. The bill affirms the need for integrated efforts across national, federal, state and local agencies to properly address border health issues. It specifies that recommendations and advice on how to improve border health will be communicated to Congress. Further, the legislation authorizes two key studies conducted by the Institute of Medicine: the first on bi-national health infrastructure and a second on health insurance coverage for border residents. A total of $31 million is authorized to carry out the act.

Without the changes and resources this legislation envisions, border residents will continue to lag behind the United States in many key indicators of good public health. Without this bill, both of our countries will be less prepared when the next bi-national health security threat hits.

I would like to thank Senator HUTCHISON, who was an original cosponsor of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission legislation, Public Law 103-400, that we passed in 1994 and is the lead cosponsor of this legislation today. She has also been the lead Senator in getting funding for the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission since its inception.

I urge the adoption of this bipartisan legislation by this Congress.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.

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