Committee Votes on Six Bills that Impact Students’ Safety and Workers’ Health Care Costs

09.11.24

Committee Votes on Six Bills that Impact Students' Safety and Workers' Health Care Costs

"Some of the bills the Committee will take up today would take us backward by putting nonsense, unreasonable regulations, and bureaucracy in the paths of schools and government agencies and raising costs for Americans."

WASHINGTON -Today, the Committee on Education and the Workforce marked up six bills: H.R. 5646, H.R. 7533, H.R. 736, H.J. Res. 181, H.R. 3120, and H.R. 945.

"Some of the bills the Committee will take up today would take us backward by putting nonsense, unreasonable regulations, and bureaucracy in the paths of schools and government agencies and raising costs for Americans,"said Ranking Member Scott.

The Stop Campus Hazing Act, H.R. 5646, would protect students from hazing on college campuses. By improving reporting and prevention standards, this billis a bipartisan measure toprotect the health and safety of students while ensuring that students and their parents can make informed decisions when joining campus organizations.

The Jenna Quinn Law of 2024, H.R. 7233, is a step forward in addressing and reducing child abuse and neglect. Moving forward, Congress must reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act and provide states with funding they need to strengthen community-based child abuse prevention programs. It is also imperative that a future reauthorization include a national interstate data exchange system that would allow states to share information from their child abuse and neglect registries with other states.

The Transparent Telehealth Bills Act of 2024, H.R. 9457,opens the door for bipartisan Committee efforts to address gaps in our nation's health care system. After significant Democratic improvements to the bill, the Transparent Telehealth Bills Act of 2024 protects patients from paying for unnecessary telehealth facility fees.

The Healthy Competition for Better Care Act, H.R. 3120, is well-intentioned legislation to address anticompetitive contracting practices that harm patients. The version considered by the Committee regrettably includes loopholes that undermine the bill's intentions, and I look forward to continued conversations on how to strengthen the legislation to best protect consumers.

Regrettably, this is where the bipartisanship ends.

The so-called PROTECT Kids Act,H.R. 736, would threaten to defund public schools if teachers fail to get parental permission to call a student by their preferred name instead of the name on their birth certificate. Instead of addressing the leading cause of death among children, gun violence, Committee Republicans prefer to waste time stoking culture wars.

Lastly, the Congressional Review Act resolution to repeal the Biden-Harris Association Health Plans (AHPs) final rule, H.J. Res. 181, would create needless confusion for stakeholders and consumers. The Republicans' CRA seeks to reinstate an unlawful Trump-era rule that sought to expand enrollment in AHPs offering a false promise of lower prices by evading consumer protections and shifting costs to others.

To read Ranking Member Scott's opening statement, click here.

To read Democratic amendments and letters of opposition to H.R. 5646, H.R. 7533, H.R. 736, H.J. Res. 181, H.R. 3120, and H.R. 9457, click here.

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