Cardiomyopathy Health Education, Awareness, and Research, and Aed Training in the Schools Act of 2024
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. 6829 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
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Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Mr. President, I have great, great, and wonderful news. Just now, after so much work, we have finally reached the end zone and are sending the HEARTS Act to the President's desk. We scored a touchdown for America's children. Today, the Senate unanimously passed the HEARTS Act, and with it, we are giving schools across America the tools they need to save lives.
Just yesterday, I was in Buffalo, NY, at Cheektowaga High School with Damar Hamlin and members of the community for this very cause: making sure that every school has AEDs and the ability to teach CPR.
Damar Hamlin's story is a powerful reminder that in a cardiac emergency, every minute counts. He learned that when he had his cardiac arrest on the football field, and all Americans learn that all the time. It is especially true when it comes to our children.
Over the past few months, Damar and I have worked tirelessly on the HEARTS Act so we can increase funding for schools to purchase more AEDs and ensure students and staff know how to use them. Many Members in both Chambers have likewise worked relentlessly on this bill. It is a bipartisan bill, it is a commonsense bill, and most importantly, it is a lifesaving bill.
Mr. President, this bill will save lives. When our young athletes have a cardiac arrest or need some other form of CPR, there will be the AED equipment at the school, and there will be trained personnel who know how to apply the AEDs and CPR. It is going to save lives. It is a beautiful thing.
I have to salute Damar Hamlin. After his bout with cardiac arrest, he went forward and said: I have to change this and get the AEDs available to everybody. He came and visited me in Washington. I said: I want to help. And together, we have been a great team.
I told Damar that passing this legislation, which has just happened, is his first Super Bowl ring; winning the Super Bowl, which I believe the Bills will do, will be his second Super Bowl ring.
With the passage of the HEARTS Act, we are putting AEDs within the reach of more schools and children. Studies show that schools with AEDs and CPR-trained staff are seven times--seven times--more likely to save a life during a cardiac emergency. That statistic is now a promise we are making to every parent, every teacher, every student in America, that they will have the resources they need.
I want to thank Damar Hamlin for his courage, his partnership, his dedication. He is both a strong man and a humble and modest man, a beautiful person. I count him as a friend. He turned a personal tragedy into a mission to save others. Again and again, Damar would tell me ``Let's make history'' on this bill, and today, history is being made.
I would like to thank the NFL for their support. I would like to thank the Buffalo Bills for their support. I would like to thank all of those who worked to make this possible. To every colleague here in this Chamber who helped get this bill across the finish line and to the staff who worked so hard on this bill, especially Gunnar Haberl, a proud member of the Bills Mafia--and we went to Cheektowaga High School. His father is a PE teacher there, and I met him yesterday as well. I can tell you, Mr. Haberl is so proud of what Gunnar has done. He is right here. Not Mr. Haberl--Gunnar. Gunnar, as I said, is a proud member of the Bills Mafia, who doggedly worked on this piece of legislation.
So today is a good day. Because of the HEARTS Act, more lives will be saved, more families will be whole, and more communities will be prepared.
And, of course, go Bills--on to the second Super Bowl ring for Damar.
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