Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022

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

I thank Chairman Davis. I appreciate his work in bringing H.R. 8876, the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022, through our committee, and I am proud to support this effective legislation named in honor of our dear friend, Representative Jackie Walorski. Jackie had a servant's heart, and we shared not only a strong friendship but a passion for creating opportunities to help others beyond just one day, with life-changing measures and positive outcomes.

In this case, those that are served are mothers and their new children, those that otherwise have many obstacles that can often lead to costly and negative health outcomes. Jackie worked tirelessly and passionately on this program with Dr. Davis. The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program is a program that is successful, and the data supports that.

What does success look like? A healthy mother with a caring support system delivering and raising a healthy new child that is ready to grow, learn, and thrive.

Earlier this year, I visited Every Child Succeeds, a Cincinnati nonprofit that helps support mothers and young children. During the roundtable discussion with local moms and home visitors, I heard firsthand how the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, MIECHV, as we call it, we heard how it is working. I also heard kids being loud and laughing, and I thought to myself, that is the sound of happy, healthy children.

Our bipartisan legislation reauthorizes MIECHV for 5 years and will serve more moms and babies by growing the capacity of the program in partnership with the States. MIECHV is a successful program, first of all, by phasing in a State match to vulnerable populations. We will expand the research of evidence-based home visiting programs across the country by adding $174 million in new State funding.

Second, we target funds to families in poverty by directing three- quarters of additional MIECHV funding based on the number of children under 5 in poverty in each State.

Third, the bill improves outcomes reporting so more people will have visibility and access to the good work being done by home visitors.

HHS will also be required to implement a State outcome dashboard, so we have more transparency on program performance measures and clinical indicators to show actual impact on families.

Lastly, we apply lessons learned from the pandemic and allow virtual visits to continue on a limited basis while maintaining MIECHV's commitment to in-person visits and high evidence standards.

As a physician, I am very familiar with the evidence-based benefits of in-home support for both new parents and children, and I am glad we are able to find common ground to provide stability for the program and the vulnerable families that the program serves. This program helps maternal and child health, family safety and stability, and readiness for school.

People said to me on my visit, ``I don't think my child would be healthy without this program, but home visiting made all the difference for us.'' That is proof that this program really works.

I also want to take a moment to celebrate and honor my good friend and battle buddy, Jackie Walorski. I am honored to continue her work here today. I can't think of a better way to honor her than seeing this bill through. She was a devoted public servant who cared deeply about this issue.

Today, this morning, another dear friend of mine is unexpectedly being laid to rest, another physician that believed in this program. Dr. O'dell Owens, a well-known and loved healthcare hero in Cincinnati, Ohio, a man for others, a true public servant, my hero and mentor.

Dr. Owens, as an OB/GYN, brought the gift of life to so many, specializing in caring for expecting mothers that face many challenges, always concerned about the health and well-being of the mothers that he cared for as well as the babies he would bring into the world.

Dr. Owens' services to the community extended well beyond the delivery room and into education, public health, and even served as coroner. Dr. Owens loved the MIECHV program and the long-term, evidence-based positive effects that the program has had on so many lives and families.

I can say with confidence that Dr. Owens and Jackie Walorski would strongly urge the reauthorization of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank, again, Chairman Davis and the late ranking Member and dear friend Congresswoman Walorski for spearheading this issue and their work on this subcommittee. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady), the ranking member of the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Murphy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Ferguson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Miller), my neighbor.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Yakym).

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank everyone involved with this really wonderful moment that we are experiencing here on the floor, not only in memory of Jackie Walorski but in the work that she put in and how much was accomplished here, especially in a bipartisan fashion on behalf of so many people across America that are going to benefit from this great program--the mothers and the children, especially.

I take a moment to thank Jackie's husband, Dean, who shared Jackie with us here in the House of Representatives, where she was able to do so much good work, and this being one of the very highlights of her career. It spoke so much about who she was and who she is.

This is a special moment for me, as I know my friend Dr. Owens in Cincinnati--who took care of so many mothers that benefit from this program--is being laid to rest today, and he was so proud of what we were doing with this program. Well, he is with Jackie now. But we are all blessed to have had so much hard work put into this across the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Davis, who worked tirelessly on this, as well. This was definitely a dual effort, and I am grateful for all those who have participated, to the entire community, the Committee on Ways and Means, the subcommittee, and to all those involved.

I am very proud that we are moving this bill forward today. I urge its reauthorization and encourage all of our Members to support this wonderful program.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1499, I call up the bill (H.R. 8876) to reauthorize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

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 material on H.R. 8876.

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

Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me commend and thank Chairman Neal and Ranking Member Brady for their cordiality and the outstanding way in which they have managed the affairs of the Committee on Ways and Means. That is one of the reasons that we are here today, for such an outstanding bipartisan bill, to talk about the welfare of children and families.

For struggling families, home visiting is a life-changing experience. Research demonstrates that home visiting works. I have seen these successes in my home city of Chicago, parents and home visitors partnering to tackle big challenges and making children healthier and safer.

My friend Jackie Walorski saw home visiting work in her district, too. Jackie was deeply committed to helping vulnerable children and families, and she was my partner in our committee's effort to preserve and strengthen home visiting. I really wish she was here today as we continue with the work that we did together.

I also thank our colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee-- Chairman Pallone, Ranking Member McMorris Rodgers, Health Committee Chair Eshoo, and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Guthrie--for their leadership on this bill.

The Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act would reauthorize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program for 5 years.

Over that 5 years, the bill would double our Federal investment in evidence-based home visiting, bringing home visiting to more families and communities.

This bill would more than double our investment in Tribal communities, where so many residents need home visiting but have been left out due to a lack of funding.

It would invest in the critical home visiting workforce because it is the support and relationships that home visitors build with mothers, fathers, and children that make home visiting work.

And it would ensure that States and territories have reliable, predictable funding and rules so that they can focus on helping more families thrive.

The Ways and Means Committee passed this important, bipartisan legislation on a unanimous vote of 41-0. I urge all my colleagues to join us in supporting the bill today, as we work to enact it into law in the coming weeks. I also thank my colleagues at the Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees for their input and support on the introduced bill.

The bill also has the overwhelming support of home visiting stakeholders, including the Home Visiting Coalition, which endorsed the bill and wrote that it addressed every request the coalition made in a ``thoughtful and productive manner.''

We have an opportunity to make a real difference for children and families across America, and so I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' and then work with us to enact the bill this year.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the outstanding gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore), a fierce defender of poor and disadvantaged people.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell), an outstanding gentlewoman that many of us call the pride of the South.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Let me, first of all, thank Dr. Wenstrup for his leadership. And I also thank all of those who have spoken to the virtues of the bill as well as the virtues of Jackie Walorski.

I was able to attend her homegoing services, and I can assure you if you were in Mishawaka or South Bend, Indiana, you would hear the same words that have been spoken here today. She was indeed an amazing woman.

Mr. Speaker, before I close, I would mention another amazing woman who has been legendary and become legendary in this institution, and that is our dearly beloved Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who has led this body for a number of years. And I think that this can indeed be one of its proudest moments.

Mr. Speaker, I close by quoting Erika Beck, who receives home visiting services in Chicago. At one of the hearings Jackie and I held, Ms. Beck said, ``I know that our lives are changed forever and for the better because of Myia, our home visitor. She is helping me and Louis, my husband, help our kids succeed, and she is educating all of us.''

Such is the feeling of those who receive these valuable services.

Mr. Speaker, I also take this opportunity to thank all of the organizations and individuals who have joined our fight to continue and expand home visiting.

I thank the bipartisan Committee on Ways and Means staff: Staff director Morna Miller, Taylor Downs, Cheryl Vincent, and Andrew Gradison.

I also thank the tremendous nonpartisan staff that my staff and I relied on so much throughout this process. Patrick Landers and Karen Lynch at the Congressional Research Service; James Grossman at the Office of Legislative Counsel, and Carolyn Ugolino at the Congressional Budget Office.

Mr. Speaker, I also thank my legislative staff director, deputy chief of staff, Dr. Jill Hunter-Williams, who put in so much time, energy, and effort on this bill. I also thank all of us who worked with her.

I have had some proud moments in this body, but I can tell you that there is no prouder moment that I have had than to be a force and to suggest when we vote for this bill, for this home visiting opportunity for thousands and thousands of children and mothers and families to experience the help that they need to become everything that America has the potential of helping them to be.

Again, Mr. Speaker, it is an excellent piece of legislation. I urge its passage, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8876 The Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022, which reauthorizes a modification and an increase in funding to the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program.

Specifically, the Act would set requirements for allocating program funds, increase the percentage of funds reserved for tribal entities, establish a publicly available dashboard that reports program outcomes, and allows for vital home visits.

Congresswoman Jackie Walorski, in whose honor this bill was named, was a champion for women, children, and families who inspired this pivotal piece of legislation.

Her dedication and commitment to the health of children, families and future mothers will live on through the passage of the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act.

The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program supports pregnant people and parents with young children who live in communities that encounter greater risks and barriers to achieving positive maternal and child health outcomes.

Home visits help communities and families through development of strong relationships and trust by meeting regularly and addressing family needs.

These home visitors encourage early language development and early learning at home, teach positive parenting skills, help families set goals for the future, connect families to other services and resources in their community, and support future mothers by teaching healthy pregnancy practices.

These tailored programs focus on empowering the wellbeing of families and children and help reduce crime and domestic violence at home, improve family economic self-sufficiency and improve maternal and newborn health.

In the U.S., two-thirds of pregnancy related deaths are preventable and for every pregnancy-related death, there are 70 pregnancy-related near-death experiences.

There is a severe gap in care that is contributing to these avoidable casualties. It's extremely important that we remove barriers in health care that may be contributing to these deaths.

In comparison to other industrialized nations, the United States has been trending downward when it comes to maternal health, and the numbers continue to get worse.

According to the World Health Organization, from 1990 to 2015 maternal mortality rates increased by 16.7 percent in the United States.

In the rest of the world maternal mortality decreased during that same period.

In 2020, 861 women died of maternal causes in the U.S. That equates to 861 women who planned on living full, healthy lives and planned on being parents to the children they carried for 9 long months.

That's 861 children who must grow up without their parent. That's 861 families that are forever altered. That's a medical system and society that has failed 861 women.

According to the American Medical Association, Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth than white women.

Black women across all socioeconomic statuses and education levels are more likely to experience maternal mortality than white women.

H.R. 8876, the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act is a first step to closing these inequitable gaps.

Our dear friend, Congresswoman Walorski, made it her priority in Congress to fight for American women and children. Her spirit, along with those of her two dedicated aides who perished with tragically, are with us here today.

The passage of H.R. 8876 is vital to the wellbeing, health, and safety of millions of mothers, children, and families across America who live in communities that endure greater risks and barriers to achieving positive maternal and child health outcomes.

A timely five-year reauthorization before the end of this year is needed to minimize service interruption, staff losses, and disruption of local programs.

I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 8876, the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022 to help the millions of Americans who are most in need of this assistance.

Mr. Speaker, this week, we honor the legacy of Representative Jackie Walorski by renewing our commitment to help moms and babies thrive. I thank Chairman Davis and our Republican leader, Dr. Wenstrup, for their leadership on this issue.

Throughout her life, Jackie served vulnerable families, from the mission field in Romania to the halls of Congress, where she proudly represented the men and women of Indiana's Second Congressional District.

She reached across the aisle and worked closely with Chairman Davis to move this important bipartisan bill forward. My last conversation with Jackie was by Zoom on this bill itself.

We miss her very much. We are proud to dedicate the product of her collaboration today to her because she has been such an inspiration in these efforts.

Jackie knew that this was a critical program that supports vulnerable families and improves the health of moms and babies through pregnancy into the early years of a child's life.

This program builds upon decades of research that proves home visits by a nurse, social worker, or other trained professional during pregnancy, and in the very first years of a child's life, help to prevent child abuse and neglect, support positive parenting, improve maternal and child health, and promote the development of kids and school readiness.

This is a bipartisan bill that reflects many of our Republican priorities, including increasing transparency about outcomes and results for families and targeting dollars to the neediest communities.

Most Federal programs, unfortunately, operate in a black box. Less than $1 out of every $100 the government spends is backed by even the most basic evidence and research to make sure the money is spent wisely and succeeds.

Unlike many of those programs, MIECHV is evidence-based, so we know the real impact on families and children. We are able to direct funding toward what works for them.

The Walorski home visiting program will gradually increase funding from $400 million a year to $800 million a year over a 5-year period and introduces a State match so we can stretch those dollars even further back home.

The principle is simple. Where the States see value in investing, the Federal Government will also invest. It also ensures the new matching funds are allocated to States based on the number of kids under 5 living below poverty, so funding goes where the needs and the kids are.

The bill increases transparency by creating what I love, which is a State-by-State outcomes dashboard so all of us can see how these interventions are helping families, and it maintains the current focus on high standards.

I take this moment to thank my friend, Dr. and Representative Wenstrup, who serves today as acting Republican leader of the Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support. He stepped up to the plate to carry on Jackie's legacy with grace and determination, and I thank him for his hard work.

I think all of us can think of no more fitting tribute to Jackie than the bipartisan support coming together for something that helps our most needy families.

I, like many of us today, am grateful we are getting this bill across the finish line together in her honor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to provide enthusiastic support of this bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, now to be named after our late, marvelous colleague, Ms. Jackie Walorski.

This strong reauthorization for 5 years would provide additional funding. It would double the Tribal home visiting set-aside to respond to the needs of Tribal communities for home visiting and address workforce shortages, among other things.

Now, home visiting is not just some feel-good policy. As my colleagues on both sides have indicated, it has been repeatedly evaluated and consistently proven to provide improved outcomes for families and children, and we have good data that shows that it works.

Importantly, we have families that are stronger because they have gotten the help that they needed when they needed it. We have new moms, for example, who have access to help at critical points as they try to navigate this exciting but frightening moment in life.

Oh, my goodness. It reminds me of when I was 18 years old some 50 years ago and had my first baby. I had a baby who had an asthma attack 4 days after birth, and I didn't even know how to change a diaper. The home visiting program was a fail-safe for me.

I think, too, of women like Brittany who live in our community. She benefited from Children's Wisconsin's Healthy Families Milwaukee County Home Visiting Program 8 years ago but then reached out to the Home Visiting Program earlier this year for help because she was now pregnant again after a recent cancer diagnosis.

Brittany trusted her home visitor to help guide her through this pregnancy as they had supported her in the past. They were able to set up home visits and help Brittany advocate for her own healthcare, for herself as well as her unborn child, and supported the entire family.

When they asked Brittany what was the most valuable thing that she got from the program other than, of course, the plethora of help, one of the things that struck me was that her home visitor helped her to learn to trust her own instincts, something that you have to have if you are a mom.