mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. christensen: the 880 campaign is based on the fact that over a decade, because we have not eliminated health disparities, over 880,000 african-americans and other people of color have died premature deaths and preventive causes. that did not need to happen. so we continue that fight in health care reform. we have made great strides in it. and we look forward to implementing that law, despite the attempts to repeal today. so i want to congratulate the naacp on their 103rd anniversary this evening. and i'd like to yield -- are you going to speak? i'd like to yield such time as she might consume to the gentlelady from texas, congresswoman eddie bernice johnson. ms. johnson: thank you very much. and thank you, mr. speaker. two weeks ago the united states supreme court justly and commendabley upheld the affordable care act, ensuring that millions of americans will continue to have access to quality, affordable health care. despite this monumental victory for our country, for the 31st time s

mrs. christensen: thank you. i thank you again for joining us and offering your views and your vision for what we could be and what we should be and for your strong words in defense of americans' right to vote. as was said, this is america. the america that goes around the world to monitor, to ensure that other countries, people in other countries exercise their right to vote. so we know that the right to vote is sacred. it's a sacred right. many sacrificed and some died for that right. as our democratic whip said, it is the most powerful guaranteer of our liberty and we must protect that right to vote and we must support the voter empowerment act. and i want to go back to the issue of guns and violence. and one might ask, well, what does guns -- what do guns, what does the gun issue have to do with the right to vote? but unfortunately it has been used to deny voting rights in the district of columbia, the place in which we meet. the district of columbia has been the victim of the gun lobby, an overzealous gun su

mrs. christensen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. christensen: i rise to speak in strong support of h.r. 3706, legislation i introduced to provide for chief financial officer for the government of the virgin islands. i want to begin by thanking chairman hastings and ranking member markey of the natural resources committee forer that support in making it possible for h.r. 3706 to be on the floor today. i also want to thank subcommittee and fisheries, wildlife chairman john fleming and of course raking member sablan for their support as well. today, as you heard, marks the fourth time in nine year this is house will consider legislation that i have sponsored to provide for a c.f.o. for my congressional district, the u.s. ver gin islands. it has passed in the previous three times. while i have been severely criticized by some for its introduction, there are many who support it. but i continue to believe that having an independent professional third party being responsible for determining the amount of revenue that the local government ha

mrs. christensen, for three minutes. mrs. christensen: just to set the record straight, i'm a family physician and the first female doctor in the congress. just less than two weeks ago the supreme court issued a final ruling that the health care law reform law is in fact constitutional, it is now the law of the land. despite this, today my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are revisitting old political battles instead of using the final weeks in this session to fully implement a current law that will protect the health of every american. instead of creating jobs during a time when unemployment benefits are set high. instraight ahead of strengthening the american economy and insuring taxes on the middle class are not raised. i heard the scare tactics and spin my colleagues are using to mislead the american public. the truth is this, repealing the health care reform bill would set this country back on a course no american, republican or democrat, wants to go back to. with the list of horrible consequences, h.r. 6079 read

mrs. christensen: with the international aids conference less than a week away i ask my colleagues to celebrate and honor those who have lost their bat until this disease and remind everyone we still have much work to do in sub-saharan africa, caribbean, and asia, but also in the united states where more than one million people, a disproportionate number of whom are people of color, living with hiv-aids today. they account for 64% of all new h.i.v. infections yet only about 28% of the population. the aids case rate among african-americans is nearly 10 times heighter than that of whites, and one recent study found while 2% of all black in u.s. compared to only .2% of all whites are h.i.v.-positive. in the virgin islands we are extremely hard hit with the third largest aids rate in the nation. the conference offers all of us an opportunity to reinvigorate our commitment to battling this disease, to reinforce existing relationships, and forge new ones with leaders in the fight against hiv-aids, and to take significant steps toward making hiv-aids a disease of the past. i yield back the balance of