Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 09, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 754 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 5006.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. JOHN

Mr. JOHN. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the amendment.

The text of the amendment is as follows:

Amendment offered by Mr. John:

Page 105, after line 16, insert the following section:

SEC. X. Of the amount made available in title II for the account "Office of the Secretary-General Departmental Management", $100,000,000 is transferred and made available under the account in such title "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Disease Control, Research, and Training" for carrying out the program under section 317S of the Public Health Service Act (as added by Public Law 108-75).

The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of today, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. John) and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes on this amendment.

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. John).

Mr. JOHN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume, although I will not take all 5 minutes. But I did think it was important for me to come here and talk about this amendment to this legislation.

I am offering this amendment, and I have worked with the ranking member, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), and also the chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), about trying to work through this in conference, but I thought it was very important that we talk just a little bit about this piece of legislation.

The amendment that I have at the desk is an amendment today to fully fund a piece of legislation that was passed out of this body last year and that was signed by the President of the United States. It is called the Mosquito Abatement for Safety and Health Act, the MASH Act. The MASH Act has the support of the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) and also Senator Gregg, who have joined together to support this piece of legislation along with the National Association of Counties.

This amendment offers protection for our constituents from mosquito-borne diseases like the West Nile virus. This year alone, Mr. Chairman, over 1,100 human cases of the West Nile virus have popped up, and over 30 deaths have been reported in all but three States and the District of Columbia. Last year alone, this country faced over 9,800 human cases and 264 deaths from the West Nile virus which is spreading across our country.

Of course, countless Americans, mainly our young and our elderly, are very susceptible to the West Nile virus, but it can be kept under control.

I guess many of us outside of the deep South consider that Labor Day has passed and that summer is over, so the mosquitoes go away. But I can tell my colleagues that the infected mosquitoes are continuing to spread well into the months of November and even into some of December.

What this piece of legislation does is establish a one-time matching grant through the CDC, Center for Disease Control, to enable counties to begin to improve their mosquito abatement programs. Funds can be used for laboratory equipment, purchase of equipment, conduct outreach, educational programs, the kinds of things we need to do to protect our constituents from mosquitoes and this bad disease.

Currently the CDC offers some educational programs, but they do not have real assistance to our counties and to our parishes to make sure that we have the proper funds. Abatement programs are handled through the local government in many instances. So the Federal Government, I believe, because of the West Nile virus and it being spread throughout the whole continental United States, needs to get involved in this to protect our constituents.

I certainly would ask both the chairman and the ranking member to work through this in conference committee, because I feel that this is not just a Louisiana problem, it is certainly a national problem. And I am prepared to withdraw the amendment at the proper time.

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

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume to thank both the ranking member and also the chairman for working on this with me. This is a new disease, and we do not know much about it. This can go a long way in understanding and gaining some information and education about it and also in stopping the spread of this disease.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT