[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 201 (Thursday, November 18, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8453-S8454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. Durbin):
  S. 3233. A bill to help increase the development, distribution, and 
use of clean cookstoves and fuels to improve health, protect the 
climate and environment, empower women, create jobs, and help consumers 
save time and money; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Clean 
Cooking Support Act. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by my 
friend and colleague, Senator Durbin. Our bill aims to address a 
serious global public health and environmental issue where leadership 
by the United States can make a real difference.
  Today, close to 3 billion people, or one-third of the global 
population, rely on ``dirty cooking,'' such as open fires or 
inefficient, polluting, and unsafe cookstoves that use agricultural 
waste, coal, dung, wood, charcoal, or other solid fuels, to cook their 
meals. The majority of people using these types of cookstoves and fuels 
are in developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
  Exposure to smoke from these traditional cooking methods and open 
fires, referred to as ``household air pollution,'' causes chronic and 
acute diseases such as lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke. 
Alarmingly, the household air pollution caused by traditional 
cookstoves and open tires causes 4 million premature deaths annually, 
including 400,000 children younger than 5 years of age, most of whom 
live in sub-Saharan Africa. Women and girls are disproportionately 
affected, as they spend hours cooking, inhaling toxic smoke, and 
collecting fuels.
  These cookstoves also create serious environmental problems. 
Household air pollution does not remain in the home; it contributes to 
more than 10 percent of global ambient air pollution. According to the 
EPA, greenhouse gas emissions from nonrenewable wood fuels for cooking 
amount to 2 percent of the global CO2 emissions, on par with the global 
CO2 emissions from the aviation or shipping industries. In 2019, more 
than 600,000 deaths were attributed to ambient air pollution stemming 
from the household combustion of solid fuels.
  These cookstoves should be replaced with modern alternatives to 
reverse these alarming health and environmental trends. Since 2010, the 
Clean Cooking Alliance, an innovative public-private partnership hosted 
by the United Nations Foundation, has supported the adoption of clean 
cooking worldwide, with the goal of achieving universal access to clean 
cooking by 2030. Recognizing the serious health and environmental 
issues posed by traditional cookstoves, the Alliance aims to save 
lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat pollution by 
creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household 
cooking solutions. In April, President Biden announced that the U.S. is 
resuming and strengthening its commitment to the Clean Cooking 
Alliance, and during a recent presentation at the 2021 United Nations 
Climate Change Conference that covered clean cooking and household 
energy, EPA Administrator Michael Regan reaffirmed this undertaking as 
well.
  Our legislation reinforces our country's policy on promoting clean 
cookstoves and seeks to take a whole-of-government approach to address 
household air pollution. Specifically, the Clean Cooking Support Act 
would create an interagency working group, with representatives from at 
least six different Federal agencies, committed to increasing access to 
clean cooking fuels and technologies worldwide. Our legislation 
explicitly spells out the role of each Federal agency in the 
advancement of clean cooking as well. The Department of Energy, for 
instance, is tasked with research and development to spur the 
production of low-cost, low-emission, and high-efficiency cookstoves, 
while the Department of State is directed to engage in diplomatic 
activities across the globe to support the clean cooking and fuels 
sector. Finally, our bill would authorize funding for the U.S. 
Government to continue such activities through 2027, to ensure that 
these important efforts to prevent unnecessary illness and reduce 
pollution around the globe continue.
  Our legislation would directly benefit some of the world's poorest 
people, including the women and girls who are disproportionately 
affected, and reduce harmful pollution that affects us all. I urge my 
colleagues to join me and Senator Durbin in supporting the Clean 
Cooking Support Act.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, Ms. Warren, Mr. 
        Brown, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Markey, and Mr. Reed):
  S. 3251. A bill to provide that chapter 1 of title 9 of the United 
States Code, relating to the enforcement of arbitration agreements, 
shall not apply to enrollment agreements made between students and 
certain institutions of higher education, and to prohibit limitations 
on the ability of students to pursue claims against certain 
institutions of higher education; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 3251

       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 ``Court Legal Access and 
     Student Support Act of 2021'' or the ``CLASS Act of 2021''.

     SEC. 2. INAPPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER 1 OF TITLE 9, UNITED 
                   STATES CODE, TO ENROLLMENT AGREEMENTS MADE 
                   BETWEEN STUDENTS AND CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS OF 
                   HIGHER EDUCATION.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 1 of title 9 of the United States 
     Code (relating to the enforcement of arbitration agreements) 
     shall not apply to an enrollment agreement made between a 
     student and an institution of higher education.
       (b) Definition.--In this section, the term ``institution of 
     higher education'' has the meaning given such term in section 
     102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002).

     SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON LIMITATIONS ON ABILITY OF STUDENTS TO 
                   PURSUE CLAIMS AGAINST CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS OF 
                   HIGHER EDUCATION.

       Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
     U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(30) The institution will not require any student to 
     agree to, and will not enforce, any limitation or restriction 
     (including a limitation or restriction on any available 
     choice of applicable law, a jury trial, or venue) on the 
     ability of a student to pursue a claim, individually or with 
     others, against an institution in court.''.

     SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take 
     effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.

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