In conjunction with the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s bipartisan “Record of Success” campaign, the U.S. House passed five bills this week that include important provisions that protect consumers and children, and improve the conditions of public health.
“With five more on the floor, we are picking up right where we left off by advancing common-sense, bipartisan proposals that will help folks across the country,” Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) said.
“With bills to protect kids, improve public health and relieve the regulatory burden on manufacturers, we are making good on our pledge to have the government work better for the American people,” Upton said. “The five bills approved today are further examples of bipartisan collaboration that is adding to our growing record of success.”
The bills that were passed:
• H.R. 1344, the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act, authored by U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Lois Capps (D-CA), would reauthorize a program for early detection, diagnosis and treatment of deaf and hard-of-hearing infants and young children. The legislation was approved by voice vote.
• H.R. 1462, the Protecting Our Infants Act, authored by Reps. Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Steve Stivers (R-OH), aims to combat the rise in prenatal opioid abuse and neonatal abstinence syndrome. The legislation was approved by voice vote.
• H.R. 1725, the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting (NASPER) Reauthorization Act, authored by Reps. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) and Joseph Kennedy (D-MA), would reauthorize the NASPER program to support state prescription-drug monitoring programs. The legislation was approved by voice vote.
• H.R. 2820, the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act, authored by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Doris Matsui (D-CA), would reauthorize the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act to provide federal support for cord-blood donation, a national bone-marrow registry and research essential to increasing patient access to transplants. The legislation was approved by voice vote.
• S. 1359, the E-Warranty Act of 2015, authored by U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), would allow manufacturers to provide warranty information electronically instead of solely in paper form, thereby easing the regulatory burden facing job creators and giving customers easier and more convenient options to find warranty information. (Companion legislation in the House, authored by Reps. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Dave Loebsack (D-IA), was approved by a vote of 388 to 2.)