Hispanic Americans: Our Work
Recent Bills Introduced To Address Critical Needs Of The Hispanic Community:
The Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007
Congresswoman Hilda Solis, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on Health and the Environment, recently introduced the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007. This comprehensive legislation aims at the root causes of the current health disparities crisis - access to health care, research, and education. This bill was developed by the Health Chairs of the House minority caucuses and will help eliminate the persistent health disparities that leave millions of Americans in poor health and more likely to die prematurely during their most productive life years. The legislation addresses health work force diversity; culturally and linguistically appropriate health care; access to health care; and data collection and analysis.
The Proud to Be an American Citizen Act of 2007 – H.R. 2405 provides authorization for Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) to support community citizenship swearing-in ceremonies, renewing a provision in the 1996 immigration reform bill that was allowed to expire last year.
Other Congressional Activity Of Note to the Hispanic Community:
- Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren has held more than 15 hearings on immigration before the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law.
- On March 28th, the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee held a hearing on the digital television transition. Witnesses focused on ways the transition will disproportionately impact 21 million U.S. households that rely solely on over-the-air television. Of these households, about 48 percent earn less than $30,000 per year per household and one-third, seven million families, are Spanish-language speakers. The hearing determined that the digital transition should include an educational outreach campaign that is proactive, consumer friendly and culturally and linguistically sensitive.
- On July 9th, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives held a field hearing titled “2010 Census: Reducing the Undercount in the Hispanic Community.” The hearing examined the Census Bureau’s plans to work with community organizations and state and local governments to ensure that Hispanics and other minorities will be accurately counted in the 2010 census. Federal and local officials testified about the importance of actively engaging community partnerships early in the preparation stages of the 2010 Census which will help ensure an accurate and thorough count.
- The Congressional Hispanic Caucus took an active role in inquiring why Ken Burns and the Public Broadcasting System failed to acknowledge the key role Hispanic soldiers played during World War II in the recent documentary, “The War.”
- The 5th Annual Tri-Caucus Health Summit, hosted by Reps. Hilda Solis, Donna Christensen, Madeleine Bordallo, Joe Baca, Carolyn Kilpatrick and Michael Honda took place in San Diego in July. The Summit brought together community and health advocates to raise awareness about health challenges facing communities of color and to learn more about the innovative work being done to address them. Some of the topics discussed during the Summit included: State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP), foster care, homelessness, quality of care, chronic diseases, health care access, health professions, health information technology, and HIV/AIDS.
- For the second year in a row, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats hosted Citizenship Workshops in their districts during the summer to promote and facilitate the citizenship process for immigrants.