Scarlett's Sunshine on Sudden Unexpected Death Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Scarlett's Sunshine on Sudden Unexpected Death Act.

I thank Chairman Pallone, Ranking Member Walden, Subcommittee Chairwoman Eshoo, Subcommittee Ranking Member Dr. Burgess, Congresswoman Kuster, Congressman Tom Cole, Congresswoman Jamie Herrera Beutler, Congressman Josh Gottheimer and so many others who have heard the cries of hurting families that have experienced the tragic death of a child, often unexpected and without explanation.

I want to thank the advocates, like John Kahan, Judy Rainey, Stephanie Zarecky, Shelia Murphy, who have worked hard to help get this bill to the floor.

This bill is named after one of those children--Scarlett Lillian Pauley, Stephanie's daughter--who left this earth too soon. It is also a story about her family--her mom and her dad (and now her little sister) who took their personal pain and used it to begin to advocate to help prevent other families from having to go through what they did.

January 8, 2017 is a day that Scarlett's family will never forget. To this day, her family does not know what took Scarlett from them. But I hope that September 21, 2020 is also a day they or other families that have gone through this gut-wrenching experience will never forget. It's the day when this House stepped up to the plate to help ensure that their pain and loss was not in vain.

The statistics tell us that thousands of families experienced the unexpected death of an infant or child each year, with SIDS just one in this category. But we must never forget that this is not just about statistics.

It's about the real families, the real tears that have been shed, the real frustration when they can't get an answer for why even years after the death, and the real fear that lives with them.

I remember sitting down with Scarlett's mom, Stephanie, earlier this year after she had the privilege of sharing her story before the Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee. She and her husband have a little girl--I think she is 18 months or so--and I asked her if she still lived in fear that the same thing would happen again--and the answer was yes.

So today, we honor Scarlett and the others who lost their lives way too soon by passing this bill to strengthen existing programs to help get answers. To improve training so that these deaths are investigated thoroughly and uniformly across the country. Without knowing why, we can't act to stop these deaths.

I thank everyone who worked to help get us to this day and I urge my colleagues to vote Yes on this bill.

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