WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved five bipartisan bills to strengthen public health and improve consumers’ access to recall and warranty information.
“The Energy and Commerce Committee is once again adding to its record of finding bipartisan solutions to challenges confronting families across our nation," said full Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ). “The five bills passed by the House tonight will help combat our nation’s growing opioid epidemic, reauthorize preventative health care programs, and clarify warranty notice rules to protect consumers. I again thank members of our Committee for their hard work in passing these needed public health and consumer safety measures."
Tonight, the House voted to advance the following bipartisan bills:
• H.R. 1725, the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting (NASPER) Reauthorization Act, authored by Reps. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) would reauthorize NASPER and provide states with grant funding to run prescription drug monitoring programs to combat the nationwide epidemic of prescription drug abuse. Ranking Member Pallone is a coauthor of the legislation and has long-led Democratic efforts for the reauthorization of NASPER.
• H.R. 1344, the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act, authored by Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Brett Guthrie (R-KY) would reauthorize the federal program responsible for administering hearing tests and intervention programs for infants and young children. Today, about 97 percent of children are screened for hearing loss thanks to the continued success of this program.
• H.R. 2820, the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act, authored by Reps. Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) will reauthorize the national bone marrow and cord blood donor registries, programs that make possible life-saving therapies derived from adult stem cells.
• H.R. 1462, the Protecting Our Infants Act, authored by Reps. Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Steve Stivers (R-OH) will standardize treatments for newborns suffering from opioid exposure.
• S. 1359, the Senate version of H.R. 3154, the E-Warranty Act of 2015, authored by Reps. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), directs the Federal Trade Commission to modernize its current rules on warranty notice by making warranty information available online for consumers.
