Remarks by President Biden on American Rescue Plan Investments; September 02, 2022, South Court Auditorium Eisenhower Executive Office Building
‘Working-age women are now, for the first time, back at work at rates not seen since before the pandemic.”
SEPTEMBER 02, 2022• SPEECHES AND REMARKS
South Court Auditorium
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
11:23 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you all for your patience.
Secretary Raimondo, thank you.
Before we begin, I’d like to speak very briefly about today’s jobs report that was just been issued.
We received more good news. In August, the economy created 315,000 new jobs. The great American jobs machine continues its comeback. American workers are back to work, earning more, manufacturing more, and building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.
But with today’s news, we have now created nearly 10 million new jobs since I took office. Nearly 10 million jobs — the fastest growth in all of American history.
In August, we also saw that the share of Americans who are working in our economy went up. Economists call that the “labor force participation rate.”
Working-age women are now, for the first time, back at work at rates not seen since before the pandemic.
Wages are up. Unemployment remains near a 50-year low. And, yesterday, we got that — we got data that showed that manufacturing orders were up but cost increases of supply chain items were beginning to ease.
The week before that, we got data showing that price increases may be beginning to ease as well.
The bottom line is: Jobs are up. Wages are up. People are back to work. And we are seeing some signs that inflation may be — may be — I’m not going to overpromise you — may be beginning to ease.
Couple that with the fact that gas prices have now fallen 80 straight days — the fastest decline in over a decade –
and the price at the pump is now $1.20 a gallon less than it was the beginning of summer.
America has some really good news going into Labor Day weekend.
But we’re also seeing something else critical to the backbone of the American economy: manufacturing. Manufacturing is roaring back.
Since I took office, the economy has created 668,000 manufacturing jobs — the strongest manufacturing job recovery since the 1950s.
And just last week, we’ve seen major American companies — from First Solar to Corning to Micron — announce plans to invest tens of billions of dollars — tens of billions, that’s not a misstatement — tens of billions of dollars, expanding manufacturing in America.
We’ve seen major global companies –like Toyota and Honda — announce that they are choosing America to invest and build.
None of this is happening by accident. These investments and this recovery are a direct result of my economic plan. Some people gave up on American manufacturing. Not me. Not the Secretary. Not the American people.
“Make It in America” is no longer just a slogan; it’s a reality in my administration.
I’m committed to building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out. You’ve heard me say that a thousand times. But that’s what’s happening. And that’s what we’re here to talk about today.
Now, a big part of the American Rescue Plan that I signed once I — a month after we got in office — we were facing a once-in-a-century pandemic, historic joblessness, businesses struggling to stay open, remote learning for our children.
But thanks to the American Rescue Plan, we have come a long way. We got vaccine shots in arms. We helped people who needed it — it the most. We kept teachers in the classrooms, cops on the beat, firefighters on the job — because the local communities didn’t have the money to pay for them.
And as a result, COVID no longer controls our lives. More Americans are working than ever. Businesses are growing. Schools are open. And today, we’re celebrating a signature program the American Rescue — of the American — within the American Rescue Plan that’s going to help communities that need it most.
Look, it’s called the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. It’s centered around a vision that, as our economy recovers and modernizes, as science and technologies accelerate and change the nature of how we manufacture, we want workers and small businesses leading this transition — making sure they’re a part of it, not just being shunted aside — instead fearing that the transition will be leave them behind. We’re going to help them get retrained and many other things.
And thank — think — look, think of the 55-year-old small businessman who has been making a single screw — this is literally true — for a combustible engine for cars for decades. He and his workers are worried. Why? Because we’re moving to high-tech electric vehicles. We’re going to help them and their businesses with training and new technology to help them make parts for electric vehicles and lead the transition to a clean energy economy so they’re not left behind.
This is about investing in them, believing in them, helping them transition to a new world. They can do these jobs, just like they did the ones they had before. This is about jobs in their communities for them — not having to leave or not having to go on unemployment.
As new enterprises are created in the communities, they should have — they shouldn’t have to leave. They should be the ones being able to fill in for those jobs.
So we designed this program by thinking about people and places in a really important way. And I know I got all of you up on the screen here in 21 different communities.
This American Rescue Plan program invests $1 billion — a total of $3 [billion] — but $1 billion to create jobs and opportunity for people in the places where they live and where they’ve worked their entire careers so they don’t have to leave.
I know when folks hear such big numbers, they don’t think it’s — it’s for them. But this is for them. It is for them.
VA Disability: Clearer Claims Processing Guidance Needed for Selected Agent Orange Conditions, Publicly Released: Sep 01, 2022
For decades, Veterans Affairs has denied most disability claims by Vietnam veterans for 3 conditions associated with exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange. These conditions—which involve nerve damage, skin cysts, and blistering—must have manifested within 1 year of service in Vietnam for VA to presume a connection between the condition and exposure.
But claims processors didn’t consistently understand what evidence could be used to support that connection. This could lead to wrongly denying benefits to some veterans. And VA’s guidance doesn’t clearly address the issue.
We recommended that VA clarify its guidance for evaluating these claims.
What GAO Found
About 8 percent of Vietnam veterans who received disability compensation claim decisions for three conditions associated with exposure to herbicides were granted benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), according to GAO’s analysis of VA data from fiscal years 2003 through 2021. During this period, GAO estimates that VA granted benefits to about 11,000 out of 130,000 Vietnam veterans for the three conditions. These conditions are: early-onset peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage), chloracne, and porphyria cutanea tarda (skin blisters). These conditions are unique in that they must have manifested within 1 year of service in Vietnam for VA to presume a connection between the condition and exposure to herbicides used in the Vietnam War, such as Agent Orange.
GAO’s interviews with claims processors suggest that they evaluate claims for these conditions inconsistently based on inaccurate interpretations of VA’s claims processing procedures. Specifically, during interviews at three selected offices that process Agent Orange claims, GAO heard inaccurate statements about (1) when the 1-year manifestation period requirement applies and (2) what types of evidence can be used to address this requirement or to support requesting a medical opinion that could be used to support veterans’ claims. VA’s guidance does not clearly address these issues. Without clear guidance, claims processors may incorrectly apply the 1-year manifestation period requirement when veterans have evidence suggesting a direct connection to service and, in turn, could inappropriately deny benefits to some Vietnam veterans.
GAO estimates that removing the 1-year manifestation period requirement for the three conditions could cost VA between $16.7 billion and $25.8 billion over 10 years. This estimate includes disability payments of $12.6 billion to $18.5 billion for about 130,000 to 217,000 veterans with these conditions, though primarily for peripheral neuropathy (see figure). It also includes increases in VA health care and administrative costs.
Estimated 10-Year Cost of Disability Payments from Removing 1-Year Requirement for Three Selected Conditions, with High and Low Assumptions for Disease Prevalence and Number of Claims
Why GAO Did This Study
VA paid an estimated $28 billion in disability compensation to more than 1.4 million Vietnam War era veterans in fiscal year 2020. Some may have conditions associated with exposure to Agent Orange.
The Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 includes a provision for GAO to report on VA’s efforts to provide benefits to Vietnam veterans for certain conditions associated with Agent Orange exposure. This report examines (1) what is known about how many Vietnam veterans have been granted disability benefits for early-onset peripheral neuropathy, chloracne, and porphyria cutanea tarda; (2) to what extent claims processors follow VA procedures in evaluating claims; and (3) the estimated cost of removing the 1-year manifestation requirement.
GAO reviewed relevant federal laws and regulations, VA guidance, and available VA data on claim decisions for these conditions from fiscal years 2003 through 2021. Similar to prior estimates, GAO used these and other data to estimate the 10-year cost of removing the 1-year requirement. GAO also reviewed a non-generalizable sample of 50 claim decisions from fiscal years 2014 through 2021 and interviewed 11 claims processors from three of 14 offices that process Agent Orange claims.
Recommendations
GAO is making one recommendation to VA to clarify its guidance on how to evaluate claims for the three selected conditions. VA agreed with GAO’s recommendation.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Under Secretary for Benefits should clarify the guidance in its claims processing manual to make clear that claims processors can potentially support a rationale for service connection—or request a medical opinion—for early-onset peripheral neuropathy, chloracne, or PCT without medical documentation of the condition from during or within 1 year of service in Vietnam. For example, in sections of the manual that discuss the 1-year manifestation period requirement, VA could define key terms, add examples of acceptable lay evidence, and include cross references to other sections of the manual to help claims processors better understand the guidance. (Recommendation 1) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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Full Report
Fed Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell At “Reassessing Constraints on the Economy and Policy”: “We must keep at it until the job is done”, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
At “Reassessing Constraints on the Economy and Policy,” an economic policy symposium sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today.
At past Jackson Hole conferences, I have discussed broad topics such as the ever-changing structure of the economy and the challenges of conducting monetary policy under high uncertainty. Today, my remarks will be shorter, my focus narrower, and my message more direct.
Right, Chair Powell, Commons Wikimedia
The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) overarching focus right now is to bring inflation back down to our 2 percent goal. Price stability is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve and serves as the bedrock of our economy. Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone. In particular, without price stability, we will not achieve a sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all. The burdens of high inflation fall heaviest on those who are least able to bear them.
Restoring price stability will take some time and requires using our tools forcefully to bring demand and supply into better balance. Reducing inflation is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth. Moreover, there will very likely be some softening of labor market conditions. While higher interest rates, slower growth, and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses. These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation. But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.
The U.S. economy is clearly slowing from the historically high growth rates of 2021, which reflected the reopening of the economy following the pandemic recession. While the latest economic data have been mixed, in my view our economy continues to show strong underlying momentum. The labor market is particularly strong, but it is clearly out of balance, with demand for workers substantially exceeding the supply of available workers. Inflation is running well above 2 percent, and high inflation has continued to spread through the economy. While the lower inflation readings for July are welcome, a single month’s improvement falls far short of what the Committee will need to see before we are confident that inflation is moving down.
We are moving our policy stance purposefully to a level that will be sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent. At our most recent meeting in July, the FOMC raised the target range for the federal funds rate to 2.25 to 2.5 percent, which is in the Summary of Economic Projection’s (SEP) range of estimates of where the federal funds rate is projected to settle in the longer run. In current circumstances, with inflation running far above 2 percent and the labor market extremely tight, estimates of longer-run neutral are not a place to stop or pause.
July’s increase in the target range was the second 75 basis point increase in as many meetings, and I said then that another unusually large increase could be appropriate at our next meeting. We are now about halfway through the intermeeting period. Our decision at the September meeting will depend on the totality of the incoming data and the evolving outlook. At some point, as the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases.
Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy. Committee participants’ most recent individual projections from the June SEP showed the median federal funds rate running slightly below 4 percent through the end of 2023. Participants will update their projections at the September meeting.
Our monetary policy deliberations and decisions build on what we have learned about inflation dynamics both from the high and volatile inflation of the 1970s and 1980s, and from the low and stable inflation of the past quarter-century. In particular, we are drawing on three important lessons.
From Book Stacks to Psychosis and Food Stamps, Librarians Confront a New Workplace
But like many librarians, she saw plenty of chaos. Patrons racked by untreated mental illness or high on drugs sometimes spit on library staffers or overdosed in the bathrooms. She remembers a co-worker being punched in the face on his way back from a lunch break. One afternoon in 2017, a man jumped to his death from the library’s fifth-floor balcony.
Dunseth retired the following year at age 61, making an early exit from a nearly 40-year career.
“The public library should be a sanctuary for everyone,” she said. The problem was she and many of her colleagues no longer felt safe doing their jobs.
Libraries have long been one of society’s great equalizers, offering knowledge to anyone who craves it. As public buildings, often with long hours, they also have become orderly havens for people with nowhere else to go. In recent years, amid unrelenting demand for safety-net services, libraries have been asked by community leaders to formalize that role, expanding beyond books and computers to providing on-site outreach and support for people living on the streets. In big cities and small towns, many now offer help accessing housing, food stamps, medical care, and sometimes even showers or haircuts. Librarians, in turn, have been called on to play the role of welfare workers, first responders, therapists, and security guards.
Librarians are divided about those evolving duties. Although many embrace the new role — some voluntarily carry the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone — others feel overwhelmed and unprepared for regular run-ins with aggressive or unstable patrons.
“Some of my co-workers are very engaged with helping people, and they’re able to do the work,” said Elissa Hardy, a trained social worker who until recently supervised a small team of caseworkers providing services in the Denver Public Library system. The city boasts that some 50 lives have been saved since library staffers five years ago began volunteering for training to respond to drug overdoses. Others, Hardy said, simply aren’t informed about the realities of the job. They enter the profession envisioning the cozy, hushed neighborhood libraries of their youth.
“And that’s what they think they’re walking into,” she said.
But many were ill prepared for the transformation in clientele as drug addiction, untreated psychosis, and a lack of affordable housing have swelled homeless populations in a broad array of U.S. cities and suburbs, particularly on the West Coast.
Amanda Oliver, author of “Overdue: Reckoning With the Public Library,” which recounted nine months she worked at a Washington, D.C., branch, said that while an employee of the library, she was legally forbidden to talk publicly about frequent incidents such as patrons passing out drunk, screaming at invisible adversaries, and carrying bed bug-infested luggage into the library. This widespread “denial of how things are” among library managers was a complaint Oliver said she heard echoed by many staffers.
The 2022 Urban Trauma Library Study, spearheaded by a group of New York City-based librarians, surveyed urban library workers and found nearly 70% said they had dealt with patrons whose behavior was violent or aggressive, from intimidating rants and sexual harassment to people pulling guns and knives or hurling staplers at them. Few of the workers felt supported by their bosses.
“As the social safety net has been dismantled and underfunded, libraries have been left to pick up the slack,” wrote the authors, adding that most institutions lack practical guidelines for treating traumatic incidents that over time can lead to “compassion fatigue.”
Library administrators have begun to acknowledge the problem by providing training and hiring staff members experienced in social services. Ensuring library staffers did not feel traumatized was a large part of her focus during her years with the Denver libraries, said Hardy. She and other library social workers in cities such as San Francisco and Washington have worked in recent years to organize training programs for librarians on topics from self-care to strategies for defusing conflict.
About 80% of librarians are women, and the library workforce skews older, with nearly a third of staff members over 55. As in many professions, salaries have failed to keep pace with rising costs. According to the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association, the average salary for a public librarian in the U.S. was $65,339 in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available.
Studies confirm that many librarians experience burnout.
Statement by Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.: Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Scientific Leaders As They Help Prepare the World to Face Future Infectious Disease Threats
I am announcing today that I will be stepping down from the positions of Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, as well as the position of Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden. I will be leaving these positions in December of this year to pursue the next chapter of my career.
It has been the honor of a lifetime to have led the NIAID, an extraordinary institution, for so many years and through so many scientific and public health challenges. I am very proud of our many accomplishments. I have worked with — and learned from — countless talented and dedicated people in my own laboratory, at NIAID, at NIH and beyond. To them I express my abiding respect and gratitude.
Over the past 38 years as NIAID Director, I have had the enormous privilege of serving under and advising seven Presidents of the United States, beginning with President Ronald Reagan, on newly emerging and re-emerging infectious disease threats including HIV/AIDS, West Nile virus, the anthrax attacks, pandemic influenza, various bird influenza threats, Ebola and Zika, among others, and, of course, most recently the COVID-19 pandemic. I am particularly proud to have served as the Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden since the very first day of his administration.
While I am moving on from my current positions, I am not retiring. After more than 50 years of government service, I plan to pursue the next phase of my career while I still have so much energy and passion for my field. I want to use what I have learned as NIAID Director to continue to advance science and public health and to inspire and mentor the next generation of scientific leaders as they help prepare the world to face future infectious disease threats.
Over the coming months, I will continue to put my full effort, passion and commitment into my current responsibilities, as well as help prepare the Institute for a leadership transition. NIH is served by some of the most talented scientists in the world, and I have no doubt that I am leaving this work in very capable hands.
Thanks to the power of science and investments in research and innovation, the world has been able to fight deadly diseases and help save lives around the globe. I am proud to have been part of this important work and look forward to helping to continue to do so in the future.
Pickleball: Injury Considerations in an Increasingly Popular Sport
National Institutes of Health
Are the benefits worth the risks? With a few precautions, yes for most people.
Pickleball is a recreational sport that is gaining in popularity and has become one of the fastest growing sports in America. The sport is easy to learn, promotes competitiveness and socialization, and is a great form of low impact exercise.
The game was developed in 1965 by a former Washington state congressman, Joel Pritchard. He and a friend were looking to play badminton, but unable to find a full set of rackets they improvised, playing with wooden ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. With this collection of equipment, they played on an asphalt surface using a badminton net adjusted to a height similar to that of tennis. The friends eventually developed a permanent set of rules. Their intention was to develop a sport the entire family could enjoy together. Within two years, the first permanent court was constructed next door to Joel Pritchard’s home. Within a few more years, a corporation was developed to protect the sport. Since its inception, the game has continued to grow, and is now played in all 50 states.
There are differing reports on how the sport developed its interesting name. According to Joel Pritchard’s wife, she started calling the game Pickleball because the combination of elements of multiple sports reminded her of the pickle boat in crew, where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers from other boats. However, according to other accounts, the game was named after the Pritchards’ dog, Pickles. In the early development of the game, there no official name assigned to it. As the game progressed, an official name was needed, and “Pickleball” was it.
Pickleball is currently the fasting growing sport in the US.1 The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) estimated that in 2017 there were over 2.8 million Pickleball players in the U.S., which was an increase of 12.3% from the previous year.1 Further details from the 2016 SFIA report included that over 1.5 million people were ‘casual’ participants (play one to seven times per year), and that 930,000 were ‘core’ participants (play eight or more times per year). Further breakdown of participation rates by age showed that ‘core’ participants tend to be older, with 75% of core participants being age 55 or older, and 42% of all players over 65 considered to be core participants. Along with fitness benefits of the sport, many older adults enjoy playing Pickleball because it promotes competitiveness and socialization.2,3
Rules
Pickleball can be played indoors or out, on a court that is 20 ft. by 44 ft. This is comparatively much smaller than a tennis court (36 ft. by 78 ft). Like tennis, Pickleball can be played as doubles or singles, but the court dimensions do not change for the doubles game. The net is slightly lower for Pickleball at 34 inches at the center, compared to 36 inches for tennis. There is a seven foot no-volley zone that extends from each side of the net (Figure 1).
USAPA Regulation Pickleball Court
The premise of the game is similar to other racket sports. To score points, a player hits a hard plastic ball with holes (similar in size to a Wiffle ball) over the net with a wooden or composite racket. The racket is larger than a ping-pong paddle, but smaller than a tennis racket. Serving is performed underhand, with the server making contact with the ball below the waist. The receiving opponent returns the ball within bounds of the court, but outside the no volley zone. Once the ball bounces once on each side, a volley ensues. The serving team continues to serve until a fault occurs. A fault can occur if the ball touches any part of the no-volley zone on the serve, is hit out of bounds, does not clear the net, is volleyed from the no volley zone, or is volleyed before a bounce has occurred on each side. Only the serving team can score. If the serving team commits a fault, the serve passes to the other team. Games typically are played to 11, 15, or 21 points, with the winning side required to win by two points.
Defendant Jack Owuor in ‘Grandparent Scam’ Network Sentenced for RICO Conspiracy Targeting Elderly Americans
A California man was sentenced today to 46 months in prison for his participation in a large-scale “grandparent scam.”
According to court documents, Jack Owuor, 25, of Paramount, California, was part of a network of individuals who, through extortion and fraud, induced elderly Americans across the United States to pay up to tens of thousands of dollars each to purportedly help their grandchild or other loved one. On March 9, 2022, Owuor pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
Members of the network contacted elderly Americans by telephone and impersonated a grandchild, other close relative, or friend of the victim. They falsely convinced the victims that their relatives or friends were in legal trouble and needed money to pay for bail, for medical expenses for car accident victims, or to prevent additional charges from being filed. The defendants and their co-conspirators then received money from victims via various means, including in-person pickup, the mail, and wire transfer, and then laundered the proceeds, including through the use of cryptocurrency. Owuor personally made cash pickups from numerous victims. Owuor also recruited and directed other members of the conspiracy.
“The Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch will continue to pursue and prosecute groups that target elderly and vulnerable Americans through extortion, fraud, and impersonating their loved ones,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We are grateful to our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California and the FBI for their work to advance the department’s efforts against organized elder fraud, and to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.”
“Today’s sentence, including prison time, demonstrates the gravity of the defendant’s egregious behavior to steal from the elders of our community,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman for the Southern District of California. “It is despicable that these fraudsters preyed on a grandparent’s care and concern for their loved ones to line their own pockets. This important effort to bring these unscrupulous wrongdoers to justice helps protect victims and send the message that crime doesn’t pay.”
FDA Finalizes Historic Rule Enabling Access to Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids for Millions of Americans More Affordable Hearing Aids Could Be in Stores as Soon as Mid-October
As of August 17, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule to improve access to hearing aids which may in turn lower costs for millions of Americans. This action establishes a new category of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, enabling consumers with perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment to purchase hearing aids directly from stores or online retailers without the need for a medical exam, prescription or a fitting adjustment by an audiologist.
Right, Hawksley Acoustic Fan described as “one of the most elegant of the numerous disguised aids”; Auricles from the T. Hawksley & Son catalog
The rule is expected to lower the cost of hearings aids, furthering the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of expanding access to high-quality health care and lowering health care costs for the American public. It is designed to assure the safety and effectiveness of OTC hearing aids, while fostering innovation and competition in the hearing aid technology marketplace.
[The] action follows President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, which called for the FDA to take steps to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter and set a swift 120-day deadline for action, which the FDA met. In 2017, Congress passed bipartisan legislation requiring the FDA to create a category of OTC hearing aids, but it was not fully implemented until now. Consumers could see OTC hearing aids available in traditional retail and drug stores as soon as mid-October when the rule takes effect.
“Reducing health care costs in America has been a priority of mine since Day One and this rule is expected to help us achieve quality, affordable health care access for millions of Americans in need,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Today’s action by the FDA represents a significant milestone in making hearing aids more cost-effective and accessible.”
Close to 30 million adults in the U.S. could benefit from hearing aid use. Individuals with permanent hearing impairment can use hearing aids to help make speech and sounds louder, improving the ability to communicate effectively with others. Many hearing aids can be expensive. The final rule aims to stimulate competition and facilitate the sale of safe and effective OTC hearing aids in traditional retail stores or online nationwide, providing consumers with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss with improved access to devices that meet their needs and are less expensive than current options.
“Hearing loss is a critical public health issue that affects the ability of millions of Americans to effectively communicate in their daily social interactions,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. “Establishing this new regulatory category will allow people with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss to have convenient access to an array of safe, effective and affordable hearing aids from their neighborhood store or online.”
The OTC category established in this final rule applies to certain air-conduction hearing aids intended for people 18 years of age and older who have perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment. Hearing aids that do not meet the requirements for the OTC category (for example, because they are intended for severe hearing impairment or users younger than age 18) are prescription devices.
*Weekly Congressional Legislative Update on August 22; Research Program for Risks Posed By Components of Menstrual Products; National Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month, Amending Age Discrimination in Employment Act
*Added August 22:
Reproductive Health
H.R. 8724 — Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)/Energy and Commerce (8/16/22) — A bill to establish a program of research regarding the risks posed by the presence of dioxins, phthalates, pesticides, chemical fragrances, and other components of menstrual products and intimate care products.
Bills Introduced: August 8-12, 2022
Civil Rights
H.R. 8702 — Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA)/Energy and Commerce (8/12/22) — A bill to prohibit the implementation of the proposed rule entitled “Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities.” The proposed rule would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and other characteristics in certain health programs.
Right, California Representative Katie Porter
Employment
H.R. 8690 — Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI)/Education and Labor (8/9/22) — A bill to amend the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to extend protection to additional employees.
Health
H.R. 8695 — Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA)/Homeland Security (8/9/22) — A bill to require hygienic handling of breast milk and baby formula by security screening personnel of the Transportation Security Administration and personnel of private security companies providing security screening, and for other purposes.
Human Trafficking
H.R. 8684 — Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA)/Judiciary (8/9/22) — A bill to extend by 19 days the authorization for the special assessment for the Domestic Trafficking Victims’ Fund.
International
H.R. 8695 — Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)/Judiciary (8/9/22) — A bill to provide support for nationals of Afghanistan who supported the United States mission in Afghanistan, adequate vetting for parolees from Afghanistan, adjustment of status for certain nationals of Afghanistan, and special immigrant status for at-risk Afghan allies and relatives of certain members of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. The bill would expand Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) eligibility, including for members of the Female Tactical Teams of Afghanistan.
Violence Against Women
H. Res. 1317 — Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)/Judiciary (8/12/22) — A resolution expressing support for the designation of November 20, 2022, through December 20, 2022, as “National Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month.” The resolution finds that more than half of women who are victims of homicides are killed because of intimate partner violence.
Women’s History
H. Res. 1315 — Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN)/House Administration (8/9/22) — A resolution honoring and celebrating the life and legacy of Representative Jackie Walorski.
H. Res. 1319 — Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)/Considered and agreed to (8/12/22) — A resolution expressing the profound sorrow of the House of Representatives on the death of the Honorable Jackie Walorski.
Bills Introduced: August 15-19, 2022
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This Week: August 15-19, 2022
Floor Action:
The House and Senate are in recess until September 6.
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