ICYMI: Chairman Cassidy Delivers, Passes Legislation Improving Education, Health Care Out of Committee

WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted to advance the four pieces of legislation, brought forward by Chairman Bill Cassidy M.D. (R-LA), to improve Americans' access to quality education and health care.

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.

Our job as Legislators is to Legislate. That's why we were elected.

As Chairman, I want us to work together to pass good legislation to improve Americans' lives.

The bills before us are not controversial. Republicans and Democrats wrote these bills together. Both want to see them become law. There is no reason why they shouldn't.

I thank Senators Collins, Marshall, Moody, Banks, Tuberville, Hassan, Kaine, Murphy, Alsobrooks, and Kim on this committee, and Senators Cotton, Gillibrand, Cornyn, and Warner outside committee, for working across the aisle on these bills.

As a doctor who treated patients on the organ transplant list for over 30 years, I know the Living Donor Protection Act will save lives.

Cotton and Gillibrand's Living Donor Protection Act protects the selfless individuals who choose to donate one or part of their organs, safeguarding employee's right to time off to recover and protecting them from future insurance coverage denials. By making it more appealing to donate organs, more people will donate, and more lives will be saved.

Another issue we will address today is the threat of cyberattacks on our health care system. Last year, there were more than 730 cyber breaches affecting over 270 million Americans. The biggest attack happened to Change Healthcare, exposing 190 million people's data and delaying patients' access to care. As technology continues to advance, so does the risk of cyber-attacks. My Health Care Cybersecurity and Resilience Act with Senators Hassan, Cornyn, and Warner better prepares us to address future cyberattacks from our adversaries.

Senators Hassan and Blackburn's Mathematical and Statistical Modeling Education Act modernizes how math is taught to better prepare students. Clearly current methods are not working. At the beginning of the year, I launched an inquiry into 35 selective colleges to better understand the prevalence and root causes of declines in math preparedness for college level math classes. Current K-12 mathematics instruction is not keeping pace with the evolving needs of employers, especially in data-driven industries. This mismatch contributes to a growing STEM talent gap and forces employers to spend time and resources on retraining workers or hire talent overseas.

Senators Moody's Home School Graduation Recognition Act ensure colleges recognize students who were home schooled in high school. This bill simply clarifies existing law. It does not create new mandates, new spending, or new federal standards. More and more parents are homeschooling their children. That choice and those parents should be supported, which this bill does.

These bills advance a Pro-Patient, Pro-Worker, and Pro-Family agenda, and I look forward to supporting them.

With that, I recognize Senator Sanders.

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