The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“U.S. MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3958 on May 15, 2018.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
U.S. MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES
(Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Mr. Speaker, the U.S. State Department uses maternal mortality rates as one of its key metrics for evaluating how much a country values its women. By our own standards, the United States is failing that test as we rank just 47th for maternal mortality rate--the highest of any developed nation--and we remain one of the few countries that is actually seeing its rate of maternal mortality increase.
Our medical technology leads the world, and we spend more on healthcare than any other nation, but what we need is a commitment--a national commitment--to bringing together the experts, stakeholders, and, yes, resources to end preventable maternal deaths.
That is why I am proud to have introduced the Ending Maternal Mortality Act with Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler. Our legislation requires Federal health officials to develop a national strategy to combat maternal mortality with the goal of halving the rate of maternal mortality in the next decade and eliminating preventable maternal deaths entirely in the next 20 years.
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