A few months ago I participated in an event on Capitol Hill in Washington DC that was entirely made up of moms who advocate for legislation that supports babies and families. This yearly event is called “Hill Day” and is sponsored by Mom Congress.
Mom Congress is the policy organization for moms in the U.S. – a mother’s membership organization that is addressing the most pressing policy issues of motherhood, including what we call the “motherload” (the stress that U.S. mothers carry, at higher rates than other developed countries). What’s beautiful about our group is that it does not matter if you are “right” or “left” or somewhere in the middle. It only matters that you want to advocate for babies and families.
Each year passionate mothers convene tin order to connect with influential change agents, be inspired, learn how to drive change in legislative policy on Capitol Hill, and advocate for legislation that supports our mission for moms.
Mom Congress supports many pieces of legislation annually through calls to action, organizational sign-on letters, and direct advocacy by our members from across the United States.
The year’s Mom’s Agenda was jam packed with bills that needed our support. I was able to meet with lead staffers in both Congressman Michael Lawler’s office (17th District, where I live), and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office. I had very productive meetings. Please read through the bills we were asked to highlight, and I will share which ones that my Congressman signed on to support at the end (HINT: he agreed to cosponsor 5!).
Here is a copy of our Hill Day itinerary:
8:30 am – 10:00 am Congressional Briefing: Saving and Supporting Moms (Location: 2060 Rayburn House Office Building)
(Our Members of Congress: Keynote Speakers)
10:00 am – 12:00 pm House of Representatives Meetings (Location: Various locations)
12:30 pm Group Photo (Location: Capitol Hill Lawn)
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Senate and Key Committee Meetings (Location: Various locations)
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Congressional Reception, Photo Op + Meet and Greet (Location: Rayburn Foyer)
(NY & NJ Reps)
THE 2024 MOMS’ AGENDA
The following bill package is referred to as the “Moms’ Agenda.” These bills are bipartisan and have been identified as having the potential to substantially improve the lives of mothers and their families in the United States.
MATERNAL HEALTH
Midwives for MOMS Act
This bill establishes grants within the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for establishing or expanding midwifery programs at institutions of higher education and nursing schools.
Healthy Moms and Babies Act
The Healthy Moms and Babies Act will improve maternal and child health care by: 1) Coordinating and providing “whole-person” care, supporting outcome-focused and community-based prevention and support efforts, including stillbirth prevention activities, and expanding the maternal health workforce. 2) Modernizing maternal health care through telehealth to support women of color and women living in rural America. 3) Reducing maternal mortality and high-risk pregnancies and improving our understanding of social determinants of health in pregnant and postpartum women.
Mothers and Newborns Success Act
S.964, No House bill at this time.
The Mothers and Newborns Success Act will promote maternal health and reduce racial inequities in maternal and infant mortality by strengthening support for women during and after pregnancy, expanding maternal health research and data collection, and ensuring women are better matched with birthing facilities that meet their specific needs.
Preventing Maternal Deaths Reauthorization Act of 2023
This bipartisan legislation would support states in preserving maternal health throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum, addressing disparities in maternal health outcomes and finding solutions to enhance health care quality and outcomes for mothers.
Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act
Mom Congress is a proud supporter of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus, a package of 13 bills dedicated to ending preventable maternal mortality and closing racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health outcomes.
MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH
Moms Matter Act
This bill will invest in community-based programs that provide mental and behavioral health treatments and support to moms with maternal mental health conditions or substance use disorder, including: 1) Group prenatal and postpartum care models; 2) Collaborative maternity care models; 3) Initiatives to address stigma and raise awareness about warning signs for maternal mental and behavioral health conditions; 4) Programs at freestanding birth centers; and 5) Suicide prevention programs
Maintaining our Obligation to Moms Who Serve (MOMS) Act
The MOMS Act will provide service members and families with the support they need to prevent and reduce the symptoms of MMH conditions by: 1) Creating a 5-year pilot program administered at military facilities to prevent MMH conditions among pregnant and postpartum uniformed service members and beneficiaries. 2) Integrating evidence-based MMH prevention programs within existing maternal or pediatric care or programming. 3) Increasing awareness of and encouraging participation in care or programming for pregnant and postpartum service members and beneficiaries, and more.
Learn more about the MOMS Act from MMHLA
Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act
The Support Act is Mental Health program reauthorization which includes authorization for a Pregnant and Postpartum Women’s Program. That program provides them with substance use disorders residential treatment with the opportunity for their infants/kids to live onsite with them.
Learn more about The Support Act Reauthorization
LOSS
SHINE for Autumn Act
This bill authorizes grants and establishes other programs to improve data collection on stillbirths. Specifically, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may award grants for surveillance and data collection on stillbirths, and HHS must issue guidelines for health departments and vital statistics units concerning the collection of stillbirth data. HHS must also develop educational awareness materials about stillbirths and make them publicly available.
Maternal Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act
This bill amends Title V of the Social Security Act to support stillbirth prevention and research. The legislation recognizes that stillbirth (defined as the loss of a baby at 20 weeks or greater during pregnancy), and the disparity in those impacted by stillbirth, requires further research, support, and prevention programming. It also calls for evidence-based programs and activities and outcome research to reduce the incidence of stillbirth.
PREEMIE Reauthorization Act of 2023
Originally passed in 2006 and reauthorized in 2018, on December 31st, 2023, research and programs made possible by the PREEMIE Act will be put at risk when authorization for these programs ends.
Key provisions of the PREEMIE Reauthorization Act:
- Renewal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s research and programs on preterm birth, including improved tracking of national data.
- Reauthorization of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s activities aimed at promoting healthy pregnancies and preventing preterm birth.
- Provides for a new study on the costs, impact of social factors, gaps in public health programs that lead to prematurity, and calls for HHS to make recommendations to prevent preterm birth.
- Establishment of an entity in the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate all federal activities and programs related to preterm birth, infant mortality, and other adverse birth outcomes
Caring for Grieving Families Act
H.R.5909 / Senate bill is in the works. Read the bill text, press release.
The Caring for Grieving Families Act will:
- Limit cost-sharing for prenatal care provided in pregnancy bundles if a woman experiences a miscarriage or stillbirth to ensure parity with copayments for pregnancies that are carried to term
- Specifically, the legislation would prohibit group health plans or individual health insurance plans that cover pregnancy-related services in a bundled payment from imposing any cost-sharing requirement — including deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments — on prenatal services provided prior to pregnancy loss in an amount that is higher than the cost would have been for the bundled payment if the miscarriage or stillbirth had not occurred.
WORKING MOMS: PREGNANT WORKER PROTECTIONS, PAID LEAVE, CHILDCARE
In addition to supporting the bipartisan bills below, Mom Congress urges Congress to:
- Immediately address the childcare funding crisis left as funding from the American Rescue Plan ends September 30, 2023. Child care for millions of children and families nationwide will begin to disappear, with dire consequences for children, families’ earnings, and state economies.
- Provide America’s working mothers and families with access to subsidized or built-in infrastructure for infant and child care. Just as farmers and airlines are subsidized, and schools and fire departments are considered infrastructure, so should infant and childcare, and learning centers. Children are our future, and families our workforce.
Improving Child Care for Working Families Act of 2023
H.R.1421, No Senate bill at this time.
This bill increases the limitation on the exclusion from employee gross income for employer-paid dependent care assistance from $5,000 to $10,500.
Expanding Child Care in Rural America Act of 2023
This bill will direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development to authorize and prioritize projects that address the availability, quality, and cost of childcare in agricultural and rural communities through existing programs.
Child Care Assistance for Maternal Health Act
H.R.5581, Senate bill is in the works.
The Child Care Assistance for Maternal Health Act:
- Establishes a federal grant program to support mothers and families during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period by increasing access to short-term child care.
- Prioritizes grant applicants that provide families with assistance to find a long-term childcare option, serve areas with higher rates of maternal mortality and poverty, and serve maternity care target areas.
- Prioritizes support for vulnerable populations, including low-income families, families experiencing homelessness, single-parent households, and families with children with disabilities or special health care needs.
- Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to identify successful activities to improve maternal health outcomes and provide reports to Congress.
PAID PARENTAL LEAVE
Mom Congress Urges Congress to Introduce and Pass a Bi-Partisan Paid Parental/Family Leave Bill
Mom Congress will endorse a paid family leave program that, at a minimum, allows (1) parents to care for and bond with their new babies and (2) people to care for themselves or family members when they have serious health conditions, including postpartum (or other) mental health disorders. Paid leave shall be provided for at least three months and be available to all working people without the threat of losing their job.
Mom Congress applauds the work of the Bipartisan Paid Family Leave Working Group.
CHILD TAX CREDIT
We Urge Congress to Introduce and Pass a Bi-Partisan Child Tax Credit Proposal
Child Tax Credits have historically been bi-partisan. We support and applaud bi-partisan solutions to increase these tax credits for all families and those with little to no taxable income.
MOM CONGRESS MEMBER PRIORITIES
Access to Donor Milk Act of 2023
The Access to Donor Milk Act seeks to protect and expand access to pasteurized, donor human milk by: 1) Developing draft guidance via the Secretary of Health and Human Services that will appropriate standards for human donor milk with regard to collection, processing, handling, transfer, and storage. 2) Developing a public awareness campaign (through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration) with respect to the benefits and safety of donor human milk from donor human milk banks registered with the Food and Drug Administration. 3) Directing The Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to eligible entities for expanding emergency capacity with respect to banking donor human milk via annual funding ($3 million per year for three years). 4) Expanding emergency capacity for the collection and distribution of human donor milk is needed in response to a rapid increase in demand (such as occurred during the 2022 Formula Shortage).
RESOLUTIONS, FUNDING ASKS
SUPPORT FRONTLINE HEALTH WORKERS
Advance Equity and Inclusion
- Address the gender gap in health care leadership and pay
- Ensure health workers reflect the populations they serve
- Improve access to care for rural and remote populations.
Not to my surprise, Senator Chuck Schumer does not sponsor nor sign on to support very many bills since he is the Senate Majority Leader and doing so could reflect on the whole party and cause tension, so he did not sign on to support any of the bills I discussed with his staff, but we had great conversations and I am certain he will support these bills in whatever way he can. On the House of Representatives side of our government, Congressman Michael Lawler’s staffers truly impressed me and the Congressman agreed to cosponsor 5 bills that we discussed, including:
- H.R.3768, Midwives for Maximizing Optimal Maternity Services (MOMS) Act of 2023
- H.R.4605, Healthy Moms and Babies Act
- H.R.3312, Moms Matter Act
- H.R.5909, Caring for Grieving Families Act
- H.R.5486, Access to Donor Milk Act of 2023
I could not be more happy with him and his staff. They listened to every word we had to say and asked follow-up questions to make sure they understood our mission. We knew our voices and stories mattered to him. When I say we, I am referring to myself and Blakeley Lowry, another local mom advocate who joined me on this important day.
I would say that from my perspective Hill Day 2024 was a success.
I look forward to continued contact with both Senator Schumer and Congressman Lawler’s office, as well as meetings with Kirsten Gillibrand and her staff.
Please take away from my experience that you can make a difference as well. I urge you to contact your local officials and voice your support for those bills I listed above that speak the most to you. Obviously my focus is on maternal and neonatal health because of my lived experiences, but you can find bills that reflect your beliefs based on your own experiences and passions by clicking HERE and using the search bar on the right by subject area.
Much of what I summarized above can be found by visiting THIS link- and I encourage you to read more about the bills that Mom Congress supports.
Your voice matters.
One more thing….
Mom Congress and its partners released the 2024 Maternal Mental Health Report Card during our briefing on Hill Day. Take a look at the results for each state by clicking HERE.
(Maternal Mental Health Report Card 2024)
Please connect with me if you are interested in joining Mom Congress.
Thank you.
