Wakefield Act of 2014

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2154) to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous materials into the Record on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 2154, the Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act of 2014, introduced by Senator Casey of Pennsylvania and Senator Hatch of Utah and championed in the House by Mr. Matheson of Utah and Mr. King of New York.

A child's health care necessities are not the same as their parents. Children have special health care needs, and the emergency and trauma care system has been slow to develop an adequate response. Fragmentation and poor coordination among pre-hospital services, hospitals, and public health are problems that involve emergency services in general. The gravity of the problem is worse for children when hospitals lack the appropriate medical personnel, pediatric supplies, or transfer agreements that lead to better care within the ``golden hour,'' when chances for survival are higher.

In 1984, Congress passed the Emergency Medical Services for Children, EMSC, as part of the Preventive Health Amendments of 1984. The program was last reauthorized in 2010 and aims to reduce child and youth mortality and morbidity caused by severe illness or trauma. EMSC was designed to ensure that pediatric service is well integrated into an emergency medical service system and that the entire spectrum of emergency services is provided to children and adolescents, as well as adults.

The bill is almost identical to H.R. 4290, which the House passed last week. Voting for S. 2154 would send the bill to the President so we can continue this important program that helps our Nation's children.

I ask my colleagues to vote for this important piece of legislation, which is bipartisan, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this bipartisan legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4290) to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous materials into the Record on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4290, the Wakefield Act of 2014, introduced by Mr. Matheson of Utah and Mr. King of New York.

Children have special health needs, especially in the field of emergency medical services. The emergency and trauma care system has been slow to develop an adequate response to these unique needs.

Some problems are endemic in emergency services, such as fragmentation and poor coordination among pre-hospital services, hospitals, and public health. The problem is worse for children when hospitals lack the appropriate medical personnel, pediatric supplies, or transfer agreements that lead to better care within the golden hour, when chances of survival of an accident are higher.

In 1984, Congress passed the Emergency Medical Services for Children as part of the Preventive Health Amendments of 1984. Last reauthorized in 2010, the program aims to reduce child and youth mortality and morbidity caused by severe illness and trauma.

H.R. 4290 reauthorizes the Emergency Medical Services for Children program through 2019. The program supports education and training of EMS providers and identifies models that can increase pediatric care in rural and tribal communities.

The bill also supports the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network that facilitates collaborative research on pediatric emergency services.

I ask my colleagues to support emergency medical services for children by voting for this important piece of legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Pallone, for yielding me the time.

H.R. 4290, the Wakefield Act, will reauthorize the Emergency Medical Services for Children program. For the past 30 years, the Emergency Medical Services for Children program has been the only Federal program focused solely on improving emergency medical care for children and adolescents.

In that time, emergency care has gone from treating critically injured children simply as ``little adults,'' to providing more appropriate and specialized care as children.

The program is focused on ensuring that proper emergency medical care is given to sick or injured children no matter where they live, attend school, or travel.

All States and the territories receive grant funding to educate and train medical professionals in trauma care for children. This funding and training has dramatically increased the quality of care at our Nation's emergency rooms and the quality that first providers provide, and in doing so, it has saved lives.

Allied to this, the program supports the coordination, collaboration, and data analysis of pediatric researchers across the country for the continued advancement of emergency pediatric care, a critical component of the program.

The Emergency Medical Services for Children program has long held bipartisan support in Congress throughout its 30-year history and is certainly worthy of being reauthorized because this is a Federal program that truly works, and it has data to back that up. It has dramatically helped improve the quality of emergency medical care for our children, and this bill will ensure that it continues to do so.

In closing, I want to thank both the minority and majority staffs on the Energy and Commerce Committee for working with my office on this legislation. I particularly want to thank my friend and colleague, Congressman Peter King, for introducing the bill with me.

I urge my colleagues to support this critical program by voting ``yes'' on H.R. 4290.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 2154, the Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act of 2014.

Established 30 years ago this year, the Emergency Medical Services for Children program has supported improvements to pediatric emergency care in all U.S. States, territories, and freely associated States. EMSC grant programs help assess emergency systems and implement quality improvement measures, improve services in

rural and tribal communities, and support a research network that facilitates studies in pediatric emergency care.

Last week, as the chairman said, the House approved a similar bill to reauthorize the Emergency Medical Services for Children program by voice vote. By advancing the Senate's companion legislation today, the EMSC program will be able to continue for another 5 years at its currently appropriated funding level.

I want to thank Senators Hatch and Casey for sponsoring this bill in the Senate, Congressmen Matheson and King for sponsoring the House companion bill, and leaders on the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for making it possible to have a consensus bill before us today--Chairman Upton, Chairman Pitts, Ranking Member Waxman, Ranking Member Pallone, Chairman Harkin, and Ranking Member Alexander.

I urge Members to support S. 2154 so we can send this bill to the President for his signature.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 4290, the Wakefield Act of 2014, a bill to reauthorize the Emergency Medical Services for Children program.

The Emergency Medical Services for Children program was established 30 years ago. The program includes a number of grant programs to help States to assess and improve pediatric emergency care; improve emergency services for children in rural, tribal, and other communities; and support research in pediatric emergency medicine.

The legislation before us today will reauthorize the Emergency Medical Services for Children program for another 5 years, so that this critical program can continue its lifesaving work.

I want to offer my thanks to Congressman Matheson and Congressman King for sponsoring the bill and to Chairman Upton, Chairman Pitts, Ranking Member Waxman, and our staffs for working on this bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee.

I urge Members to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to

the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson), the sponsor of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers at this time.

I urge passage of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.