[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 4] [House] [Pages 5384-5385] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]{time} 1015 NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH WEEK (Mrs. CAPPS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.) Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I wish to remind my colleagues that this week, April 3-9 is National Public Health Week. I want to thank the efforts of the American Public Health Association and its 200-plus partners who have organized events around the Nation that serve to raise everyone's awareness of the need to improve public health. [[Page 5385]] This year, the theme of National Public Health Week is, ``Designing Healthy Communities, Raising Healthy Kids.'' Mr. Speaker, less than 10 percent of our Nation's children walk or ride their bicycles to school, and too many schools continue to invite fast-food vendors into their cafeterias. In America today, the percentage of children and adolescents who are defined as overweight is more than double what it was in the early 1970s. My experience as a school nurse taught me that we need to make a concerted effort, all of us, to increase physical fitness activity among our children and to encourage all Americans to adopt a healthier diet that includes fruits and vegetables, but there is more. If we are going to be successful in designing healthy communities and raising healthy kids, we must make sure this message is heard the entire year and not just for 1 week. I urge my colleagues to support this and other efforts to promote children's health. ____________________