WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. House of Representatives today approved with bipartisan support several key Energy and Committee initiatives that help children with rare pediatric and genetic diseases, support pediatric medical residency programs, and improve the nation’s preparedness infrastructure, fostering the development of medical countermeasures to better respond to terrorist attacks.
The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2012, H.R. 6672, which was approved by a vote of 383 to 16, reauthorizes provisions of the Project Bioshield Act of 2004 and Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006 for an additional five years. H.R. 6672, introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), continues to strengthen the nation’s preparedness infrastructure and support development of medical countermeasures to better respond to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attacks.
The House also approved S. 1440, the Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver Infants Early Reauthorization Act (PREEMIE Act), by voice vote. The PREEMIE Act reauthorizes funding for the prevention of preterm birth that is one of the leading causes of neonatal death and disability. According to the CDC an estimated half million babies are born premature each year in the U.S. -nearly one out of every eight.
The measure also includes two key provisions ushered through the Energy and Commerce Committee: the Children’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) Support Act and National Pediatric Network Research.
S. 1440 reauthorizes the Children’s Hospital GME program that provides funds to train pediatric medical residents and allows the National Institutes of Health to fund pediatric research networks comprised of a consortium of cooperating institutions that will strengthen research efforts on conditions and diseases affecting children.
