Date: 2015-10-28
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As a breast cancer survivor. I want to add to my sisters and brothers my appreciation for their strength and determination and my respect to those families whose loved ones did not survive the battle. I am very grateful that. out of this awareness. we have begun to focus on more research for breast cancer remedies and solutions. I introduced a bill dealing with triplenegative breast cancer. which is the most deadly breast cancer and impacts women and minority women to the extent that their lifespan is shortened. I rise today to indicate and to ask for renewed commitment by this Congress to focus on more research to bring an end to the forms of breast cancer that have been so deadly. in particular. to women. I want to thank the U.S. Department of Defense for working with me on providing and supporting legislation that I offered and introduced to provide the research. but also the care for military women who have had breast cancer during their service in the United States military. It is also Domestic Violence Month. and I acknowledge again the privilege I had to serve on the Committee on the Judiciary and to work with Chairman Hyde in the early stages of introducing and reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. So many strides have been made. In particular. I want to acknowledge the many agencies in Houston that have helped womenand. in some instances. menwho have been victims of domestic violence and abuse. in particular. the Houston Area Womens Center that has provided service. I served on the board previously. and I appreciate their service. We want to say to those womenand maybe mendo not suffer alone. Seek help and seek help now. Mr. Speaker. today we will be looking at the culmination of discussions that have presented themselves as a budget that would end some form of sequester and would raise the debt limit until March 15. 2017. As a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. I am committed to certain principles that I believe help all of America. and those are: the end to sequestration. the saving of Social Security. Medicaid. and Medicare. not eliminating any executive orders or toxic riders undermining. for example. the issues of dealing with our broken immigration system. and the evenness of defense and nondefense sequester relief. We have begun that journey. I also made a commitment to my seniors that we would fight against the horrific increases that were about to take place under Medicare part D. Those numbers were going to be onerous and burdensome on our seniors. and I will offer them in just a moment. In addition. let me say that the compromise generates $80 billion of sequester increases over 2 years. with the increase split evenly between defense and nondefense programs. and an additional $16 billion in discretionary funding over a 2year period. I am hoping that this will help many. As I indicated. I am supporting breast cancer research. It will help the National Institutes of Health. It will help fill the seats for so many parents who need Head Start resources for their children. Having traveled with my congressional colleagues. I know that diplomatic security is a vital component to protecting our Foreign Service officers. And then it will improve. if you will. the daytoday functions of this government. I am glad. as I indicated. with respect to the Medicare part B premiums. that we will not see the 54 percent increase that I think was the number. and that the increase will be somewhere around 18 to 20 percent. We want it to be zero. I want my seniors to know that we are continuing to fight as your increases in prescription drugs and service under Medicare part D continue to go down. And. might I just add. that I believe it is important. in addition. that we negotiate the decreasing price of prescription drugs. If you talk to any individual. what they will say is their highest cost. part of their highest cost. whether it is seniors or families. is the cost of prescription drugs. So I think it is very important. I think I want to look more into. Mr. Speaker. the Social Security disability fix that is in this budget to ensure that no one sees any loss and cuts in their benefits. We just cant stand for that. Social Security recipients. as much as people want to clarify them as some having perpetrated fraud. they do not. Mr. Speaker. As I close. let me say I want to protect those who are disabled. We are going to continue to look at this. even down to the moment of voting. to make sure that the budget brings about success and help and not harm. I ask my colleagues to be deliberative in this debate.