Fairness For Breastfeeding Mothers Act of 2019

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 866) to provide a lactation room in public buildings.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 866.

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

Madam Speaker, today I rise in support of my bill, the Fairness For Breastfeeding Mothers Act of 2019, a bill that would require buildings that are either federally owned or leased to provide designated private and hygienic lactation spaces for nursing mothers.

The House passed this bill by voice vote when I offered it last Congress. The House also passed this bill in the 114th Congress as an amendment to the Public Buildings Reform and Savings Act of 2016. I appreciate the prior support of my colleagues, and I hope they will join me today in support of this important legislation once again.

For years, Federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have encouraged breastfeeding. The benefits are so great that the Affordable Care Act amended Federal law to require employers to provide a designated, non-bathroom space for returning employees to pump breast milk for their newborns, ensuring that new mothers would be able to continue the essential practice even after returning to work.

My bill would extend this requirement to include not only employees, but visitors and guests to Federal facilities across the Nation. Actually, Federal facilities visited by millions of Americans and others should lead the way.

My bill does not require the expenditure of Federal funds or require space to be mandated. It would simply allow visitors to Federal buildings to make use of spaces that are already available to Federal employees or to access similar spaces within those buildings.

In Washington, D.C., alone, there are millions of tourists who visit Federal sites, such as the Lincoln Memorial and the Smithsonian Institution. Increasingly, families understand the unique benefits of breastfeeding as encouraged by Federal agencies and programs, and visitors to these buildings who have newborns and babies should have a private space to breastfeed or pump.

The benefits of breastfeeding are well-documented. Breast milk contains antibodies and hormones that boost babies' immune systems. Studies have shown lower risks of asthma, diabetes, respiratory infections, and other diseases among breastfed babies.

Breastfeeding also has benefits for nursing mothers, who, research has shown, have lower risks of diabetes and certain forms of cancer.

Given the significant health benefits of breastfeeding for both baby and mother already recognized in Federal policy, my bill is a logical step to ensure that visitors to Federal sites have access to clean, hygienic, and private spaces to nurse or pump.

It is also important to ensure that lactation spaces are accessible to individuals with disabilities. While the Americans with Disabilities Act does not apply to Federal buildings, the lactation spaces required by my bill would be subject to a similar law, the Architectural Barriers Act, which requires buildings and facilities that are designed, built, or altered with Federal dollars or leased by Federal agencies, to be accessible to individuals with disabilities whenever possible.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, we have had this act come up in a Republican House. It has now come up in a Democratic House. What more do we need in order for it to be clear that this is, shall we say, motherhood legislation and that the whole House is for it?

Madam Speaker, I have no remaining speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I join my colleague in support of H.R. 866, which provides that federally managed buildings or federally owned buildings open to the public nursing rooms that are available.

The bill would apply to buildings that are already open to the public and which have nursing rooms for employees yet somehow do not manage to provide those to the general public, and they should. The requirements would not apply if the existing space cannot feasibly be opened.

As the gentlewoman notes, it does not create additional cost.

The legislation passed the House last Congress by voice vote and, if enacted, will help visiting mothers to our facilities in both the capital here and throughout the Nation.

Madam Speaker, I urge support for this legislation, and I urge the Senate to finally take up this legislation. To move it forward, I join my colleague in saying that it is about time that we open up the nursing rooms in Federal facilities to the general public in support of the care of newborns and young children.

Madam Speaker, I have no remaining speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 866 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time.

Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the bill.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.