Pallone Opening Remarks at Full Committee Markup of 16 Bills

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following opening remarks today at a Full Committee markup of 16 bills:

Today, the Committee will mark up 16 bills – some are bipartisan and will garner support from both sides of the aisle, but others are partisan and stand no chance at ever becoming law.  

I’m pleased that we will be taking action to extend key telehealth flexibilities until the end of 2026 and to improve access to Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS). I have long highlighted the need to make meaningful investments and improve the standard of care in our long-term care system. I am proud to have worked with Chair Rodgers on legislation to give states a new way to cover HCBS for people who would otherwise be ineligible.

These are important bills, but we cannot forget that Trump’s Project 2025 seeks to eliminate middle-income Medicaid recipients leaving many elderly and disabled people who rely on Medicaid for long-term care with nowhere to turn. We simply cannot allow this to happen.

We will also consider a few Republican bills that would take massive steps backward in protecting nursing home residents and the workers who care for them. H.J. Res 139 would block the Biden-Harris Administration’s final rule implementing a minimum staffing standard for nursing homes and prevent any similar measures from ever taking effect. H.R. 9067 and H.R. 3227 would roll back protections to ensure nurse aides working in nursing homes meet minimum training requirements and that their training is provided in settings that meet reasonable standards. I urge my colleagues to oppose these proposals.

We will also be marking up a package of FDA bills, including a reauthorization of the pediatric priority review voucher program. I remain concerned by our reauthorization of this program without concrete evidence that the program has been effective in stimulating development or providing expedited patient access to these drugs. I am disappointed that my Republican colleagues were unwilling to consider guardrails to make sure that the program is incentivizing truly innovative drugs. I will continue to seek this improved transparency and accountability regarding the benefits of this program, but I believe that on balance the package before us merits my support today.  

We will also consider COPPA 2.0 and KOSA. As I have said repeatedly, we must hold social media companies accountable for harming all Americans including our nation’s youth. I have long believed that adopting comprehensive privacy legislation to provide strong federal privacy and data protections for all Americans is a crucial part of holding Big Tech accountable.  

I am proud of the work that Chair Rodgers and I did on the American Privacy Rights Act, and I deeply regret that the House Republican Leadership interfered in the Committee process in June because APRA provides far stronger protections for children than COPPA 2.0. But I also understand and appreciate that COPPA 2.0 and KOSA aim to improve on existing privacy and safety protections for children. However, the filing of substantial and substantive replacements for those bills the day before markup has left members and key stakeholders insufficient time to identify and try to address the consequences of those changes, particularly as they will impact some of our most vulnerable children and teens. Fundamental issues have simply not been hashed out.  

I appreciate that the sponsors of KOSA have addressed several of my concerns with the earlier draft of that bill, but they have created others. My concerns that COPPA 2.0 is simply not strong enough to truly to protect our kid’s privacy have not been addressed. I plan to offer concrete changes to strengthen COPPA 2.0 when it is called up, but I have not heard a willingness to solve the additional issues created by sponsors’ amendment to that bill.  

I’m pleased we will consider a bill that I introduced with Subcommittee Chair Bilirakis to preserve access to analog AM radio in all passenger cars sold in the United States. For those of us who have experienced a natural disaster like Superstorm Sandy, we know that AM radio is an important lifeline when other forms of mass communication go out. It’s an important bill that I believe will help keep Americans safe and I look forward to passing it out of Committee today.

Finally, we will consider three resolutions that would invoke the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal critical environmental and public health protections.  

All of these resolutions have one thing in common: they are all direct attacks on the Clean Air Act, which explicitly states EPA has both the authority and the obligation to protect Americans from dangerous pollution. Republicans are here today to undermine that authority and threaten Americans’ right to safe, clean air.

These resolutions are taken straight from Trump’s extreme Project 2025 playbook – they are nothing more than Republicans’ latest attempt to do the bidding of their corporate polluter allies and prevent EPA from protecting Americans’ health. All three of these CRAs should be defeated.   

And I yield back the balance of my time.

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