Chairman Cassidy Delivers Remarks During Hearing on Members’ Legislative Efforts

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered remarks during today's hearing on legislation relevant to the committee's jurisdiction.

Click here to watch the full hearing.

Cassidy's speech as prepared for delivery can be found below:

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will please come to order.

Already this congress, this committee has voted almost unanimously to advance 14 bipartisan pro-patient, pro-worker, pro-family bills. We also passed a historic bipartisan package of legislation that lowers drug prices, holds drug middle men accountable, funds primary care, and increases access to pediatric cancer treatments. As chairman, my focus is cutting through the noise to deliver for Louisiana and the country.

I practiced medicine for over 25 years; caring for people who were economically vulnerable, uninsured, living on the edge economically. Many families feel that way now. Health care, drug prices, college tuition; all too expensive. This is not sustainable.

There is more we can do in this committee if we work together; taking power from giant insurance companies and giving it to patients so that they are in charge of their own health; taking power from federal bureaucrats and giving it to parents so they can be in charge of their child's education; giving workers more freedom to pursue the job arrangement that works best for them and employers the ability to adapt retirement and health benefits to the choice the worker makes.

This hearing is to discuss ideas to do that!

A few bills I want to highlight:

Literacy continues to be a challenge. In particular, individuals with learning needs are underserved by the status quo. My 21st Century Dyslexia Act would improve screening for individuals with dyslexia and enhance access to evidence-based interventions and resources, empowering these very capable students with the tools to improve their reading abilities.

My College Transparency Act empowers students and families with more information around student outcomes at an institution so that they can make the best college decisions for the future.

We also have a responsibility to bring stability to businesses and workers to make our nation competitive in a 21st-century economy. Congress has not updated labor laws for nearly 100 years, yet the economy and the way we work have changed. We have the opportunity to pass legislation to make health and retirement benefits more portable and meet the needs of today's workers. I want this to be a bipartisan endeavor.

Part of the American Dream is having the financial freedom to retire. I've worked with Senator Kaine on multiple bills as regards to this, including the Helping Young Americans Save for Retirement Act and the Auto Reenroll Act of 2025. I thank him for his leadership and collaboration. Earlier this year the Committee and the Senate unanimously passed a bill I worked on with Senator Hassan, the Employee Ownership Act. We also passed Senator Marshall and Senator Kaine's Retire Through Ownership Act. These bills expanded employee stock ownership programs so that more workers can benefit from the success of their employer.

Let's keep delivering! Let's make health care, higher education, and life less expensive.

I'm looking forward to hearing about areas we can work on that together.

With that, I recognize Senator Sanders.

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