Infant Plan of Safe Care Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4843, the Infant Plan of Safe Care Improvement Act. Introduced by my colleague and friend, Mr. Barletta, this bill takes steps to strengthen protections for our Nation's most precious and vulnerable population: infants and children.

In Pennsylvania alone, nearly 8,000 infants were diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome between 2010 and 2014, and that number is increasing every day.

Neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, is defined by the National Institutes of Health as a set of problems that occurs in a newborn who was exposed to addictive opiate drugs while in the mother's womb. Infants experiencing NAS can endure fevers, rapid breathing, seizures, and even death.

While States are currently required to certify to the Department of Health and Human Services that they have developed a safe care plan for infants born under these conditions, it has come to light that HHS does not independently verify State plans unless there is a specific reason to do so.

My cosponsorship of this bill is a direct assertion of my belief that our Nation's infants deserve more from legislators, Federal agencies, and the administration. This valuable legislation will help clarify the intent of safe care plans, provide States with best practices for keeping infants safe, and improve accountability across the board.

Mr. Speaker, every district in every State in the United States has been affected by what has been referred to as a substance abuse epidemic. While there is hope in the fact that the House is taking up more than a dozen opioid bills this week, we must not lose sight of the long road ahead of us.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4843 and join the fight to defend our Nation's children.

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