[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 29, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5004-H5006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SCHOOL-BASED ALLERGIES AND ASTHMA MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ACT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2468) to amend the Public Health Service Act to increase the
preference given, in awarding certain allergies and asthma-related
grants, to States that require certain public schools to have allergies
and asthma management programs, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2468
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``School-Based Allergies and
Asthma Management Program Act''.
SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL PREFERENCE TO CERTAIN STATES THAT REQUIRE
CERTAIN PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO HAVE ALLERGIES AND
ASTHMA MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS.
Section 399L(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
280g(d)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)(F)--
(A) by redesignating clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) as
subclauses (I), (II), and (III), respectively, and moving
each of such subclauses (as so redesignated) 2 ems to the
right;
(B) by striking ``epinephrine.--In determining'' and
inserting ``epinephrine or school comprehensive allergies and
asthma management program.--
``(i) In general.--In determining'';
(C) by striking ``in the State--'' and inserting ``in the
State satisfy the criteria described in clause (ii) or clause
(iii).
``(ii) Criteria for school personnel administration of
epinephrine.--For purposes of clause (i), the criteria
described in this clause, with respect to each public
elementary school and secondary school in the State, are that
each such school--''; and
(D) by adding at the end the following new clause:
``(iii) Criteria for school comprehensive allergies and
asthma management program.--For purposes of clause (i), the
criteria described in this clause, with respect to each
public elementary school and secondary school in the State,
are that each such school--
``(I) has in place a plan for having on the premises of the
school during all operating hours of the school a school
nurse or one or more other individuals who are designated by
the principal (or other appropriate administrative staff) of
the school to direct and apply the program described in
subclause (II) on a voluntary basis outside their scope of
employment; and
``(II) has in place, under the direction of a school nurse
or other individual designated under subclause (I), a
comprehensive school-based allergies and asthma management
program that includes--
``(aa) a method to identify all students of such school
with a diagnosis of allergies and asthma;
``(bb) an individual student allergies and asthma action
plan for each student of such school with a diagnosis of
allergies and asthma;
``(cc) allergies and asthma education for school staff who
are directly responsible for students who have been
identified as having allergies or asthma, such as education
regarding basics, management, trigger management, and
comprehensive emergency responses with respect to allergies
and asthma;
``(dd) efforts to reduce the presence of environmental
triggers of allergies and asthma; and
``(ee) a system to support students with a diagnosis of
allergies or asthma through coordination with family members
of such students, primary care providers of such students,
primary asthma or allergy care providers of such students,
and others as necessary.''; and
(2) in paragraph (3)(E)--
(A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting ``,
such as the school nurse'' after ``individual''; and
(B) in clause (i), by inserting ``school nurse or'' before
``principal''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Pallone) and the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.
General Leave
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in
[[Page H5005]]
which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous
material on H.R. 2468.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, more than 8 percent of children in the U.S. under the
age of 18 live with asthma. For these children and children with
respiratory issues caused by asthma, access to appropriate treatment
and trained personnel can mean the difference between life and death in
emergency situations.
In 2004, Congress authorized children's asthma treatment grants to
expand access to medical care for children who live in areas with a
prevalence of asthma. Today, CDC provides financial assistance to
health departments in 24 States and Puerto Rico to ensure that
guidelines-based medical management and pharmacotherapy for those with
asthma are both available and accessible. The CDC also offers funding
to State programs and national organizations promoting asthma quality
measures and informing policymakers about the burden of asthma.
H.R. 2468, the School-Based Allergies and Management Program Act,
takes the most recent data and builds on this program to make it work
best for kids and schools today. To achieve this, preference will be
given for certain grants to States that require schools to have a
school-based allergies and asthma program, as well as the presence of a
school nurse or other trained personnel who can support students and
staff treat those with allergies and asthma.
Helping States and schools to better support students and families
treat asthma and allergies is critical to the health and well-being of
our students, and this bill will go a long way towards achieving this
goal.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank Majority Leader Hoyer for his
leadership on this bill as well as our colleague, Representative Roe. I
urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. WALDEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2468, the School-Based
Allergies and Asthma Management Program Act, introduced by
Representatives Roe and Hoyer.
This important legislation would direct the Secretary of Health and
Human Services, in making asthma-related grants, to give preference to
States that require schools to implement policies that improve the care
of children with allergies and asthma. These policies include having
plans in place for managing students with allergies and asthma and
having at least one person trained to administer rescue medication on
the premises during operating hours.
By incentivizing States to have comprehensive school-based asthma and
allergy management programs in place, this bill will help ensure that
school nurses, staff, and administrators are prepared to help students
with allergies and asthma excel at school in a safe environment.
I want to thank Dr. Roe and Leader Hoyer, who have championed the
cause of ensuring children at school have access to needed medicines
for many, many years.
I also want to thank Dr. Roe for his years of service to this
institution. Like some of the rest of us, he, too, will be retiring at
the end of this year. As a veteran, as a doctor, and as a leader--and,
by the way, as a great musician, not that he will be able to perform
that here on the House floor--he has done so much for veterans, for
improving healthcare, and for the people of the district he represents.
He has left his mark, and he doesn't have to worry about whether he
made a difference, because he has.
So, Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation,
and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to
the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), who is our majority leader.
Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, the chairman of the
Energy and Commerce Committee, and Mr. Walden, the ranking member of
the Energy and Commerce Committee, for bringing this bill to the floor.
But, most of all, I want to thank my friend, Dr. Phil Roe from
Tennessee. He is a medical doctor. He and I, as Mr. Walden pointed out,
for many, many years have been focused on making sure that those
children with asthma are safer in the school than they otherwise would
be if the schools were not prepared to deal with an asthmatic or
allergic attack. I want to thank Dr. Roe, who has been such a steadfast
ally and partner in this effort.
I am hopeful that this bill will go to the Senate, and when we come
back in the lameduck, hopefully, we will pass this and we will have
another bipartisan bill that will help children and the school systems
of America.
I am proud to be joined by Dr. Roe. It is emblematic of when you have
a problem that is needed to be solved, Madam Speaker; it is not a
partisan problem. These are not partisan issues. These are issues that
kids have, families have, and schools have.
We stood together on this floor 7 years ago when the House passed our
School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act. President Obama signed that
bipartisan bill into law in November 2013. It encouraged States to
adopt policies that require schools to stock emergency epinephrine and
train staff how to use it in case a student experiences a severe
allergy or asthma attack. Those attacks can result in death.
This is not just an inconvenience; this is just not an illness; it is
a mortal challenge, and I am proud that we got that bill done together
and we do again, today, the same.
This new bipartisan legislation would build on that earlier success,
as the ranking member and chairman of have all explained, by providing
additional incentives for States to ensure that American schools create
asthma management plans for students who need them.
This is not a difficult task, I might say, and it is not an expensive
task, but it has a lifesaving result.
I know all too well how terrifying severe childhood asthma can be. I
was diagnosed with asthma at age 4 when I went to the hospital in
Mexia, Texas. My father was stationed at a POW camp in Mexia, Texas,
not too far from Galveston. So I know the consequences of asthma.
In addition to that, my granddaughter has experienced severe food
allergies, a peanut allergy which is so much more evident today than it
was, for whatever reason, and is life threatening. I have been with my
granddaughter twice in the emergency room. Luckily, she got there in
time so that her life was not in danger, but had she not gotten there
in a timely fashion, it would have been.
Like many families, we constantly have to be vigilant and always keep
asthma inhalers present. My granddaughter always keeps an EpiPen with
her. She is 18 years of age, and she does not go anywhere without an
EpiPen.
Very frankly, my daughter, her mother, every school that she went to,
counseled with the principal, with the teacher, and with the school
personnel to let them know, A, that Alexa had that challenge and, B,
how to help her deal with it.
{time} 1500
Having a plan to manage asthma and peanut allergies makes a critical
difference. This legislation will help reduce school absenteeism, for
which asthma is one of the leading causes. I know that because as an
elementary school and junior high school student, I lost significant
time because of asthma.
Madam Speaker, again, I thank Dr. Roe for his leadership on this
issue and for working with me on these bills over the years. He is
retiring at the end of this Congress, and I will certainly miss working
with him. We will miss his expertise here in the Congress of the United
States, and I know the Committee on Energy and Commerce will miss his
advice and counsel as well. I believe that legislation like this and
the law we enacted in 2013 will be a fitting part of his legacy of
public service.
Madam Speaker, I hope that all of our colleagues will join us in
supporting this legislation and in thanking Dr. Roe for his efforts to
ensure that protecting our Nation's children against asthma
consequences remains a truly bipartisan effort.
Mr. WALDEN. Madam Speaker, I thank the majority leader for his
comments in support and authorship of this
[[Page H5006]]
legislation. Our son battled childhood asthma. It is a really scary
thing as a parent to watch a child deal with an asthma attack.
Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from Tennessee (Mr. David P. Roe), the champion of this legislation,
the great champion for a positive public health outcome for all of us,
especially for our veterans.
Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, today, I rise in
support of H.R. 2468, the School-Based Allergies and Asthma Management
Program Act, a bill I have been proud to work on with my friend, Leader
Hoyer, that will help students with asthma excel in an asthma-friendly
learning environment.
Madam Speaker, I will say that I had the privilege of visiting Mr.
Walden's district a few years ago when we were working on the VA
MISSION Act, and he explained to me that his congressional district had
more square miles than the State of Tennessee. I didn't believe that,
but it happens to be true. It has more square miles. And that one
statement really helped me in composing that bill.
I also thank Leader Hoyer--when he mentioned that in 2013, we didn't
know each other very well then, but we got to know each other. And that
bill, the EpiPen bill it is called, passed. And in my own community,
just a community about 20 miles north of me, not 2, 3 years ago, a
middle school student, who didn't know she had allergies, had
anaphylaxis, and because the EpiPen was available, because of Mr.
Hoyer's work and others, that child survived.
I also thank Mr. Pallone and Mr. Walden. Remember the incredible
arguments we had about the cost of the EpiPen? I travel with one all
the time because I am more concerned about an allergy of some kind when
I travel. They always ask on airplanes: ``Is there a doctor here?'' I
am always with one. And you all helped push the price of that down--
your work on that did--from $600, which was absurd for an EpiPen.
And you know, Mr. Hoyer, with your daughter, I don't care how much
money you have, that is a lot of money to pay. And you have to have two
of them, not one. So that price has dropped dramatically because I
think a lot of the work this Congress has done.
Last week marked the beginning of fall, as we all know. And for many
of us, the cooler weather means the return to football and a new school
year--different school year, but back. For millions of other Americans
living with asthma, seasonal allergies, and other respiratory diseases,
these changes of temperature mean difficulty breathing.
There are roughly 6 million school-aged children in the U.S.
currently living with asthma. This is one of the leading causes of
absenteeism. In fact, according to the National Asthma Education and
Prevention Program, parents have reported that students collectively
miss 14 million days of school every year due to asthma alone. While
asthma poses serious health risks, it can be effectively managed with
proper education, planning, and treatment, and does not have to
negatively impact a child's access to education.
The Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human
Services both recommend that schools have comprehensive management
programs in place to support children with lower airway disorders like
asthma and keep these disorders under control while they are at school.
Unfortunately, most schools do not have such programs in place. And
that is why our bill, the School-Based Allergies and Asthma Management
Program uses a proven model to encourage States to ensure schools are
prepared to help children suffering from asthma.
The two most important strategies for preparing schools are
implementing management plans and ensuring that school staff members
are prepared to assist children experiencing an attack. Our bill
encourages States to do just that. This type of preparation and
management in schools will not only improve a child's health but also
ensure that students are able to focus on learning. No student should
be at risk in a school because of a failure for them to manage a
respiratory disorder. The good news is that together, we can fix this.
The start of the new school year serves as a valuable reminder of the
work that still needs to be done, and I look forward to passing this
bipartisan legislation today and getting it one step closer to the
President's desk so that students with asthma and allergies can focus
on their education.
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for
their very, very kind comments, and I encourage support of this bill.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WALDEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I urge support of this legislation, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2468, the
``School-Based Allergies and Asthma Management Program Act,'' which
would provide important guidance to schools on how to support students
who have asthma.
Across the United States nearly 25 million people have been diagnosed
with asthma, including almost 7 million children.
Childhood asthma is a common, chronic pediatric condition, affecting
6.3 million children.
Morbidity from childhood asthma adversely affects school performance,
with 1 in 2 children reporting school absences due to asthma each year.
These asthma related absences influence academic achievement, leading
to decreased levels of reading proficiency and increased risk of
learning disabilities.
Improving health and school-related outcomes for children with asthma
requires the use of school-based partnerships that focus on integrated
care coordination amongst families, clinicians, and school nurses.
The best defense to asthma attacks is immediate treatment as soon as
symptoms present themselves.
Instead of contributing to the nearly 2 million asthma-related
emergency room visits each year, this bill would provide schools with
the necessary guidance on how to treat asthma attacks and support lung
health of student while in school and at home.
Improving health and school-related outcomes for children with asthma
requires the use of school-based partnerships that focus on integrated
care coordination amongst families, clinicians and school nurses.
Every day in America 30,000 Americans have an asthma attack, and 11
are killed by them.
The School-based Asthma Management Program as outlined by H.R. 2468,
is supported by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
For asthma care, the School-based Asthma Management Program has four
components to integrate schools, and specifically school nurses, within
the asthma care team.
First, the creation of a Circle of Support amongst the families,
clinicians and schools' nurses are centered around the child with
asthma.
Second, the creation and transmission of Asthma Management Plans to
schools, which includes an Asthma Emergency Treatment Plan for
emergency management of asthma symptoms and an individualized Asthma
Action Plan for each child with asthma.
Third, the development of a comprehensive Asthma Education Plan for
school personnel.
Finally, a comprehensive Environmental Asthma Plan to assess and
remediate asthma triggers at home and in school.
This bill is supported by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology (AAAAI) and the National Association of School Nurses
(NASN).
I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2468, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________