Health Care For America

Floor Speech

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today is indeed an historic day. As the plaque over the Speaker's rostrum says, In our time and our generation, we should do something worthy to be remembered. Those were Daniel Webster's words, a man who served in this House.

We can fulfill the destiny of other people who have served with us in the Federal Government, from Teddy Roosevelt to Franklin Roosevelt to Harry Truman to Hubert Humphrey and to the recently late Senator Ted Kennedy. This is an important date for America when we bring us into the 21st century. We should have been here 50 or 60 years ago.

It is wrong that our country has an infant mortality rate equal to third-world nations. This bill will set out a newborn program that will try to rectify that. It will see that private practice doctors go into the inner cities, with general practitioners having an incentive to go there. With community health centers in the inner cities and wellness and prevention programs not having a deductible, it will bring America into the 21st century.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a Member of the United States Congress, and never prouder than this weekend.

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