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Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS. Madam Speaker, as a mother, I am reminded on a daily basis of the importance of the health of our Nation's children.
For that reason, I am proud to support the Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver Infants Early (PREEMIE) Act. This important legislation authorizes research to prevent preterm births and it requires the Secretary of HHS to coordinate our Nation's efforts to achieve this goal.
This legislation also amends the Public Health Service Act to extend and reauthorize appropriations for Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education. This is the source of training of most of our Nation's pediatricians.
The PREEMIE act also includes legislation introduced by Representative Capps and myself, the National Pediatric Research Network Act which will build upon our Nation's commitment to pediatric medical research. That commitment has led to the prevention and treatment of terrible conditions such as polio, meningitis, childhood leukemia, and congenital heart disease.
Research networks have a proven track record in their ability to ensure collaboration and sharing of resources which, in turn, have led to medical discoveries that have improved lives. This legislation will authorize NIH to establish up to 8 pediatric research networks throughout the nation. Each network will be selected by NIH through a competitive review process. These networks will allow multiple institutions to work together in a ``hub and spoke'' fashion in order to encourage collaboration and resource sharing.
These pediatric networks will improve health outcomes for children who have conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy, Down syndrome, and Fragile X. This will be accomplished by encouraging teamwork among researchers, patients, and NIH.
Today, I am proud to vote for measures to improve the health of our Nation's children.
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