Recognizing The Persistently High Rates Of Drowning Fatalities Among Children

Floor Speech

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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I will reserve that option until later on in the week as the stakes get higher.

I thank the gentleman from Tennessee. I rise today in support of House Resolution 57, and thank the gentle lady from Tennessee for her kind words. We are in support of this legislation today to express our support for the importance of swimming lessons and recognizing the persistently high rates of drowning fatalities among children.

Drowning is, as you have heard, the leading cause of unintentional deaths in America to children ages 1 to 4. Last year alone, 13 children in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, which are in my congressional district, died as a result of accidental drowning in swimming pools and spas.

In fact, a recent report issued in May by the Consumer Product Safety Commission indicates that the average number of drowning deaths involving children younger than 5 in pools and spas has actually increased from a yearly average of 267 from 2002 to 2004 to 283 from 2003 to 2005.

I have been involved in the issue of pool safety throughout my career, and worked hard with many of my colleagues in this body and in the Florida legislature to pass swimming pool safety legislation and drowning prevention legislation. The passage of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act which was signed into law by President Bush on December 19, 2007, was a milestone in our efforts. The goal of that law is to improve the safety of all pools and spas by increasing the use of layers of protection and promoting uninterrupted supervision to prevent child drowning and entrapments.

Although I have been pleased to see public pools around the Nation come into compliance with the new regulations, it is clear that we must continue to raise awareness about the necessity of swimming lessons for all of our children.

Unfortunately, African Americans, Latinos, and other minority groups are more likely to live below the poverty line, putting expensive swimming lessons out of reach for too many kids. That is why we must encourage communities around the country to provide free lessons to low-income children as part of an overall child safety program.

I want to commend the organization Swim Central in my home county of Broward for the exceptional example that they provide in doing just that, providing swimming lessons for more than 30,000 children, to kids in Broward County since the year 2000.

House Resolution 57 not only condemns the persistently high rates of drowning among children, but it celebrates the hard work of organizations that are offering access to swimming education and are teaching skills that will help save lives.

I thank my friend and colleague, Congressman Sires, for introducing this important resolution and urge my colleagues to help bring awareness to this serious issue by joining me in support of its passage.

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