Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act of 2024
Floor Speech
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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill, H.R. 6960, the Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act of 2024.
As a healthcare professional serving in Congress, my goal is to increase the accessibility, affordability, and quality of healthcare for all patients, including children. That is why I am proud to sponsor the bipartisan Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act, which will improve emergency care for children.
This bill reauthorizes the Emergency Medical Services for Children program, which focuses on addressing the unique needs of children in emergency medical systems with the ultimate goal of reducing the prevalence of morbidity and mortality in children. For nearly four decades, the Emergency Medical Services for Children program has been the only Federal grant program specifically focused on addressing the needs of children in emergency medical systems.
As we know today, children have special healthcare needs. Whether children require emergency care following a car crash or when falling ill in the middle of the night with nowhere else to turn, our emergency medical system needs to have staff trained to treat children. A major part of that is providing the resources to equip healthcare professionals with the right size medical tools.
As a pharmacist, I understand how critical it is that children receive care that is specialized to their unique needs. That is why I am proud to be leading the reauthorization of the Emergency Medical Services for Children program, which has proven to be an effective approach for saving America's children.
The authorization of the Emergency Medical Services for Children program is set to lapse on September 30 if Congress does not reauthorize it. That is why we are strongly urging Congress to reauthorize this program through 2029 without any disruption to it.
I thank Representatives Castor, Joyce, and Schrier for working with me on this important issue, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
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