Congress passed a bill today(!) that would help fund school efforts to fight allergy attacks.
The U.S. Department of Education currently offers grant money to states in which schools are taking steps to prepare for asthma attacks. Under the newly passed H.R. 2094, though, the department would prioritize those funds to benefit states wherein schools also prepare for allergy attacks by having a stock of epinephrine (EpiPen), and staff trained to use it.
The U.S. House of Representative passed the bill in late July, but other, um, legislative priorities have taken up Congress’ time during the intervening months. But as Alyson Klein details at Politics K-12, the Senate education committee approved the bill this week, and the full Senate followed swiftly through a vote of unanimous consent.
In a statement released after the Senate voted, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. Phil Roe (R-Md.) praised the legislature’s decision, and urged President Barack Obama to sign the bill into law.
I join @DrPhilRoe in applauding Senate passage of School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, urge POTUS to sign it //t.co/WlV6iIecsH
— Steny Hoyer (@WhipHoyer) November 1, 2013
“As the grandfather of a child with severe food allergies, I know all too well how critically important it is to administer life-saving epinephrine in the minutes following the onset of an anaphylactic attack,” Hoyer said.