WASHINGTON – This week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted to favorably report six bipartisan pieces of legislation to strengthen Americans’ access to quality health care and retirement benefits.
The bills include:
Before the vote, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the HELP Committee, delivered remarks in support of the legislation. Click here to download and here to watch on YouTube.
Cassidy’s speech as prepared for delivery can be found below:
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will please come to order.
Today, the Committee is considering multiple bipartisan pro-worker, pro-family, and pro-patient bills strengthening Americans’ access to quality health care and retirement benefits.
I appreciate colleagues’ work on these bills. When the Committee sets politics aside and works together, we can deliver real results for American families. This is the first of many markups that will move down dais member priorities on both sides.
We are voting on bills to strengthen Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), empowering workers to have a stake in their company and build wealth for themselves and their families.
Senators Marshall and Kaine’s Retire Through Ownership Act clarifies federal law to ensure ESOPs can sell shares of their company to employees without the fear of frivolous lawsuits.
My Employee Ownership Representation Act adds two new ESOP board members to the ERISA Advisory Council. Senator Hassan is offering an amendment, which I look forward to supporting, to improve this bill. I appreciate her thoughtful engagement.
I want to note that the Committee is not voting on the Employee Ownership Fairness Act to authorize ESOPs to contribute into 401(k) plans without exceeding contribution limits. Every witness last week underscored how this strengthens employee ownership, putting more money in workers’ pockets. Several committee members from both sides have expressed strong support for the goals of this legislation. The bill’s not on today’s agenda, but we are working to refine the policy, get it to a good place, so it can appear on a markup in the near future.
Additionally, the Committee is reauthorizing the Over-the-Counter Monograph Drug User Fee Amendments (OMUFA) to improve the Food and Drug Administration’s review of OTC drugs, so they can be more quickly available while still ensuring safety. The Committee held a hearing last month on enhancing OMUFA. I appreciate Senators Banks and Kaine for leading this effort and the work of Senators Marshall, Husted, and Hassan to include additional policy riders to speed up the review of sunscreen and allow more drugs to be available OTC.
Senators Murkowski and Duckworth’s Uniformed Services Leave Parity Act fixes leave benefits for Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers, giving them the same leave available to other members of the uniformed services.
Senators Scott and Smith’s Improving Care in Rural America Reauthorization Act helps address the health care needs of rural communities by reauthorizing three grant programs supporting access to preventive screenings, telehealth services, and chronic disease management - important pro-patient priorities for this Committee.
Senators Collins’ and Smith’s Kay Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act strengthens programs to prepare for and respond to tick-borne and other vector-borne diseases, which are rapidly spreading in every state. The legislation is named in honor of former Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina, who passed away from a rare, tick-borne disease in 2019. Specifically, the bill improves coordination among federal agencies, health departments, and scientists and builds regional capabilities to respond to vector-borne disease outbreaks. I thank Senator Collins for her steadfast leadership on this issue critical to her state.
Thank you all for your good work and look forward to advancing these bills as part of our pro-worker, pro-family, pro-patient agenda.
With that, I recognize Senator Sanders.
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