FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2000
CONTACT: Lisette McSoud Mondello
SENATOR HUTCHISON PLEDGES HER SUPPORT
TO LOCATING BORDER HEALTH COMMISSION IN TEXAS
- "There's No Better Place Than Texas for This Facility" -
SAN ANTONIO, TX -- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced today that she will work to locate the new U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission in Texas.
"Texas is ground zero in the fight to improve border health and that makes it the right place to locate the commission," Senator Hutchison told attendees at the International Consortium for the Environment meeting on border health issues. "Texas has the most border residents of any state and it claims more than half of the 2,000 mile border."
Senator Hutchison is the driving force behind the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission, which will research and attempt to solve the unique health problems that affect border residents. It was first authorized by Congress in 1994 at Senator Hutchison's urging. She has secured $3.3 million for the commission in fiscal years 1998-2000.
The need for this commission is evident. If the border area were a state, its residents' death rate from hepatitis would rank second nationwide, according to the Texas Comptroller. In addition, the region's alarming tuberculosis rate is three times the national average. "Texas is on the front-line of a battle to halt the spread of these diseases before they threaten people throughout our state and nation," the Senator said.
Senator Hutchison added that she is introducing a bi-partisan bill this year to establish border health research offices at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Senator Hutchison will also ask Congress this year to provide additional funding for the Border Health Commission to support more health professionals in the border region.
The Senator has long fought to increase funding to improve sanitation in colonias and she has strongly supported the North American Development Bank which provides funds to help clean the Rio Grande.
Senator Hutchison serves on the Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee which funds this commission and other important health programs.
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