Boston, Mass., November 5, 2006 –
The American Public Health Association (APHA) awarded its 2006 Distinguished Public Health Legislator of the Year Awards today to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., Rep. Major Owens, D-N.Y., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.
The awards, established by APHA's Executive Board in 1997, honor individuals each year at the federal, state or local levels who support public health issues and have taken action in the name of public health. The awards were presented here during APHA's 134th Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Harkin is serving his fourth term in the U.S. Senate and has guided efforts to focus more attention on prevention and early intervention as a means of reducing health care costs and improving quality. Along with Specter, Harkin has led the effort to double medical research funding to speed cures for cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s Disease. He has put particular emphasis on women’s health, doubling funding for breast cancer research and launching a national breast and cervical cancer early detection program.
As ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations, Harkin held hearings in Iowa and Washington, D.C., to learn more about the medical and financial costs of chronic conditions such as obesity and mental illness. He created the Harkin Wellness Grants program to promote healthier lifestyles and in 1990 authored the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Owens was elected to Congress in 1982 from the 11th Congressional Districts in Brooklyn, N.Y., and has announced his plan to retire at the end of his 12th term. Throughout his 24-year tenure, he has staunchly defended the federal Occupational Safety and Health Law against efforts to weaken and dismantle it in the 1980s and 1990s.
He has played a major role in passing bills to raise the minimum wage, expand childcare programs for working mothers and fathers, improve plant-closing notification and extend unemployment benefits.
Also a member of the Education and Workforce Committee, Owens has been an advocate for improving education in the United States and has been honored by organizations in
his district as the “Education Congressman.” He is a strong supporter of universal health care coverage, has opposed cuts to Medicaid and supports paid sick days for all workers as a tool to combat pandemic flu.
Specter was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980 and is now serving his fifth term. He chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and is a senior member of the Appropriations and Veterans Affairs committees.
He and Harkin introduced an amendment to the budget bill for fiscal year 2007 that added $7 billion for vital federal health and education programs. The budget increase passed by a vote of 73-27.
Specter has worked tirelessly to promote stem cell research, believing that the advancements made through stem cell research have the potential to provide cures to many disabling diseases, including diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Under Specter’s leadership, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget has more than doubled. He also supports the increase of education spending and the extension of unemployment benefits.
Among the bills Specter sponsored during the 109th Congress were measures to provide access to community cancer care by Medicare beneficiaries and a $2 billion increase in discretionary health and education funding.