This week, House Republicans took action to reduce health care premiums and make life more affordable for hardworking Michiganders. On Wednesday, the House passed my bill, the Association Health Plans Act, as part of the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act. The Association Health Plans Act would improve access to quality health care by allowing small businesses and their employees to band together to leverage greater bargaining power and offer coverage options at lower prices. The larger package would also require pharmacy benefit managers to be more transparent and lower premiums by at least 11% through cost-sharing reduction payments, according to the Congressional Budget Office, saving taxpayers about $30 billion. We’ll continue to work to reduce costs for hardworking families.
The burdensome bureaucracy and unnecessary litigation surrounding our current permitting process impede the deployment of critical energy infrastructure. To ensure that Michiganders have access to reliable and affordable energy, we passed the SPEED Act this week. This vital legislation would streamline the permitting process, allowing us to build critical energy infrastructure, boost economic development, and, most importantly, lower energy costs for hardworking families. We must continue to pursue efforts to lower energy bills and get America back to building.
Recently, the Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee held a markup on critical legislation to bolster Americans’ data privacy and protect children online. The subcommittee voted to advance my legislation, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), for full committee consideration. COPPA 2.0 would build upon the only online privacy law for children by prohibiting targeted advertising, establishing data minimization rules, and preventing internet companies from collecting personal information for both children and teenagers. In today’s digital age, we must protect young users and their privacy online.
I had the opportunity to visit the Align Center in Adrian to see the work they are doing to equip individuals with the skills employers seek in today's modern economy. I've been proud to chair the Education and Workforce Committee this year and help usher through provisions in the Working Families Tax Cuts legislation to foster long-term job growth. By expanding Pell Grant eligibility to individuals who are enrolling in high-quality, short-term vocational and technical-based education programs, we can fulfill critical workforce gaps. We must continue to empower our workforce so we can grow our economy and better compete.
I enjoyed stopping by Ross Design and Engineering, a local manufacturer in Cement City, and discussing the future of American manufacturing. The Working Families Tax Cuts include critical incentives to increase domestic production so that we can power our economy forward and create more good-paying jobs. Provisions like full expensing for research and development initiatives, equipment, and upgrades to manufacturing plants will create an estimated $284 billion of new economic growth from American manufacturers. Other policies, like no tax on overtime, will also provide financial relief to their workers and help them thrive.
