HEALTH DISPARITIES IN MINORITY COMMUNITIES

On 2025-04-28, Representative Shomari Figures (D-AL-2) delivered a floor speech titled "HEALTH DISPARITIES IN MINORITY COMMUNITIES" in the House.

HEALTH DISPARITIES IN MINORITY COMMUNITIES

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 70 (Monday, April 28, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 70 (Monday, April 28, 2025)] [House] [Pages H1673-H1677] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] HEALTH DISPARITIES IN MINORITY COMMUNITIES (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Clyburn of South Carolina was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.) General Leave Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from South Carolina? There was no objection. Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to anchor this CBC Special Order along with my distinguished colleague, Representative Jennifer McClellan. For the next 60 minutes, members of the Congressional Black Caucus will have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people on the issue of minority health, an issue of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, the constituents we represent, and all Americans. Mr. Speaker, I rise along with several colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus, who Members will hear from tonight. We are here to discuss the timely issue of health disparities as we approach the end of 2025 Minority Health Month. There is a long, storied history of poor health outcomes in minority communities. African Americans have lower life expectancy, higher rates of infant mortality, increased instances of maternal mortality, higher rates of chronic illnesses, and more frequent cancer diagnoses. Every American deserves to have access to quality, affordable healthcare and lifesaving prescription medications. This is our first day back after spending time in our congressional districts and conducting face-to-face interactions with our constituents. As is often the case, our just concluded district work period encompassed the sacred observances of Passover and Easter. For those of us who celebrate the Easter side of that equation, we tend to profess pride in being Matthew 25 Christians. We often express adherence to verse 45, which admonishes: ``Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'' Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of lessons to be found in chapter 25 of Matthew long before one gets down to verse 45. There are lessons on the importance of being prepared, the importance of providing service, and utilizing good judgment. Ours is a great country, and among the things that make us great is our system of healthcare. Speaking at a 1966 healthcare conference, Martin Luther King, Jr., observed: ``Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhumane.'' Many of these inequalities are, in part, attributable to the disparities in access to healthcare. Disparities in health outcomes were starkly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Communities of color experienced higher rates of fatality and were often at increased risk for the comorbidities that led to more serious illnesses from COVID-19. My Democratic colleagues and I, in partnership with the previous administration, wrote and passed legislation such as the bipartisan infrastructure bill to expand access to broadband and provide telehealth services to rural and underserved communities. We also passed legislation to cap the out-of-pocket costs of insulin at $35 for seniors through the Inflation Reduction Act. We also passed legislation to cap the annual cost of copayments for Medicare recipients to $2,000 per year. My late wife was a four-shots-a-day diabetic. She battled that chronic disease and its by-products for over 30 years. I know what a serious financial strain essential diabetes medication can be for those families who are fortunate to have insurance. Yet, what about those among us who are less fortunate? In the last several years, we have made significant progress toward making one of the greatnesses of this country, healthcare, more accessible and affordable for all. Yet, that progress is now in jeopardy and will be dismantled and derailed by the budget being proposed by my Republican colleagues. Sadly, neither the President, nor my Republican colleagues seem willing to consider the harmful impacts of pausing these programs or the harms that steep cuts to programs like Medicaid will have on both the economic well-being and health outcomes of millions of American families. They are steadily moving forward with their plan to slash these crucial programs by billions of dollars while, at the same time, proposing big tax cuts for those who can afford to pay for quality healthcare and lifesaving medications. On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law the Social Security Amendments of 1965. Those amendments established Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly; and Medicaid, a health insurance program for people with limited incomes. Today, nearly 80 million Americans receive healthcare through Medicaid, which provides critical care throughout all stages of life. It covers childbirth and nursing home care and everything in between. {time} 1945 In my congressional district, there are 180,678 people on Medicaid. In South Carolina, it is called Healthy Connections. This number includes 105,256 children under the age of 19 and 20,000 seniors over 65, and this is just my district. Over 1 million South Carolinians are enrolled in Medicaid. In South Carolina, Medicaid covers four out of every nine children, five of every eight nursing home residents, three out of every 10 working-age adults with disabilities, and one out of every six adults ages 19 through 64. These individuals are at risk of losing their healthcare under the Republicans' budget plans. My Republican colleagues have been directed to cut $880 billion from the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid. Please understand that $880 billion is just the floor. Some of them want to cut more. The only way they can reach their goal is to gut Medicaid. No matter what they may say to their wavering Members to secure their votes and to their vulnerable constituents to prevent them from objecting, this plan will cut taxes for the rich, bankrupt the middle class, and shortchange the poor. Earlier, I quoted Scripture taken from the Book of Matthew, but as one might imagine, my favorite book in the Bible is the Book of James, not just because of my given name but because of its lessons. In James' epistle, he writes that when people are hurting and in need, it is not enough to offer platitudes like thoughts and prayers. We have a moral obligation to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and provide shelter for the homeless. I believe that if James were writing this epistle today, he would decry the shocking injustices in healthcare suffered by our most vulnerable and the friction that suffering often engenders. My father was a fundamentalist minister who often used secular thoughts to teach life lessons to his three sons. I have thought about one of those lessons at the townhalls I held during our Passover and Easter work period. The lesson came to us one day when my two brothers and I were accompanying my dad to a--well, let's call [[Page H1674]] him an automobile mechanic. Back when I was growing up in the little town of Sumter, everybody had a neighborhood mechanic, and everybody knew who that mechanic was because he was the guy with the chinaberry tree with the pulley hanging out of it. On this particular day, as my dad waited to have his car worked on, Mr. Singleton, the mechanic, hooked the pulley to the front end of that car and began to raise it so he could get under it and get it running for another week. Just as he started to lift the car, my two brothers and I started playing near the car. My dad said to us: ``Sons, I have no idea how strong this chain is. Why don't you all go across the field and play? This chain may pop, and one of you might get hurt.'' Well, we did go across the field to play, and we weren't gone long before we got into a little discussion. Now, some people looking at it might call it a fight, but it was a physical discussion. We didn't know it, but my dad was watching us. After he thought that discussion had gone on long enough, he called the three of us over to him and stood us in front of him. He had in his hands a piece of cord string. My dad gave that piece of cord string first to my youngest brother, Charles, and said, ``Charles, I want you to pop this string.'' Charles struggled, and he couldn't pop it. He then took it and gave it to my brother, John, and he said, ``John, I want you to pop this string. You are 2 years older. You are stronger. You pop it.'' John struggled, and he couldn't pop it. He then took it back, and he gave it to me. He said, ``Now, James, you are the oldest. You are the strongest. You pop the string.'' I struggled. I couldn't pop it. He then took it back and placed it in his palm, and he began to rub his hands together. The more he rubbed, the more friction he created. The more friction he created, the more unraveled that cord string became. It was not long before that cord string was in three pieces. My dad then took those three pieces, gave one to Charles, one to John, and one to me, and he said, ``Now, sons, pop the string.'' With little effort, all three of us popped the strings. He said, ``Now, sons, I want this to be a lesson to you for as long as you live. Don't you let the little disagreements that crop up among you cause so much friction until it separates you, because if you do, the world will pop you apart and you may never know why.'' I thought about that lesson as I went to these townhall meetings. The actions that are being taken by my Republican colleagues and this administration are providing