Hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. Pallone, Member Day Hearing

Hearing

Today, we are going to hear from our colleagues about the issues of importance to them within our Committee's jurisdiction.

This hearing fulfills a new requirement that was approved as part of the House Rules Package for the 116th Congress, and I think it's a good idea.

The Energy and Commerce Committee is working hard to build a stronger economy, create more good-paying jobs, combat climate change and protect consumers from skyrocketing costs that make it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. We are putting consumers first -- and I'm proud that a lot of our work in this area has been done in strong, bipartisan fashion.

Just yesterday, the House overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill that will put consumers back in control of their phones by targeting annoying and illegal robocalls. And just last week, the Energy and Commerce Committee advanced a bill that will protect patients and families from surprise medical bills.

This bipartisan cooperation is nothing new -- this Committee has a proud tradition of working together to meet the needs of the American people. We also have a proud tradition of listening to the ideas of members not on this Committee and incorporating their ideas or advancing their proposals as we work to develop the best legislation possible. We look forward to continuing to listen to the ideas of all members and this hearing today will help with that in the coming months.

Today we will break up the testimony by the jurisdictions of our five legislative subcommittees. We will begin with testimony on issues within the jurisdiction of our Communications and Technology Subcommittee, followed by Consumer Protection and Commerce, Energy, Environment and Climate Change, and then we will end with our Health Subcommittee.

We have about 50 members who plan to testify before us today, and I look forward to hearing their ideas.

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