Cassidy, Bill: We've also passed a historic bipartisan package of legislation that lowers drug prices, holds drug middlemen accountable, funds primary care, and increases access to pediatric cancer treatments. As chair, my focus is cutting through the noise to deliver for Louisiana and for the United States of America. In my practice of medicine for over 25 years, I cared for people who were economically vulnerable, uninsured, living on the edge economically. And a lot of families feel that way now. Healthcare, drug prices, college tuition is all too expensive, and for these families it is not sustainable. The more that we can do in this committee, working together, taking power from giant insurance companies and giving it to patients so that they are in charge of their own health, taking power from federal bureaucrats and giving it to parents so they can be in charge of their child's education, giving workers more freedom to pursue the job arrangement that works best for them, and employers the ability to adapt retirement and health benefits to the choices the workers make, the more we are doing our job. This hearing is to discuss ideas to do all those things. A few bills I want to highlight. Literacy continues to be a challenge. In particular, individuals with learning needs are underserved by the status quo. My 21st Century Dyslexia Act would improve screening for individuals with dyslexia and enhance access to evidence-based interventions and resources, empowering these capable students with the tools they need to improve reading ability. My College Transparency Act empowers students and families with more information around outcomes at an institution so they can make the best college decisions for the future. to businesses and workers to make our nation competitive in a 21st century economy. Congress has not updated labor laws for almost 100 years, yet the economy and the way we work has dramatically changed. We have the opportunity to pass legislation to make health and retirement benefits more portable to meet the needs of today's workers. This should be bipartisan. Part of the American dream is having the financial freedom to retire. I've worked with Senator Kaine on multiple bills as regards this, including the Helping Young Americans Save for Retirement Act and the Auto-Re-Enroll Act of 2025. I thank Senator Kaine for his leadership and collaboration. Earlier this year, the committee and the Senate unanimously passed a bill that I worked on with Senator Hassan, the Employee Ownership Act, and we also passed Senators Marshall and Kaine's Retire Through Ownership Act, bills expanding employee stock ownership programs so that more workers can benefit from the success of their employer. Let's keep delivering. Let's make health care, higher education, and life less expensive. I'm looking forward to hearing about areas we can work on together. Before we begin, as a reminder, members on committee will have three minutes to testify and off-committee members will have two minutes. With that, I recognize Senator Kaine for his testimony.

This transcript is free.

Create an account to access the full transcript with speaker identification, synchronized video, and search.

Create Free Account

Or browse other hearings with transcripts