Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 106 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 145 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1999 No. 98 House of Representatives The House met at 9 a.m. well versed in the subject if I just take are easier to maintain and cost less. f a moment and walk them through This affords a wider range of emer- MORNING HOUR DEBATES what we mean when we use that term gency personnel to be trained and ``defibrillation.'' equipped. The SPEAKER. Pursuant to the A large number of sudden cardiac ar- Some of my colleagues might ask, if order of the House of January 19, 1999, rests are due to an electrical malfunc- the Chair will now recognize Members tion of the heart called ventricular fi- a majority of the States have laws au- from lists submitted by the majority brillation, VF. So when VF occurs, the thorizing nonemergency medical tech- and minority leaders for morning hour heart's electrical signals, which nor- nician first responders to use AEDs, debates. The Chair will alternate rec- mally induce a coordinated heartbeat, why do we need to pass this legisla- ognition between the parties, with each suddenly become chaotic, and the tion? Good question. party limited to not to exceed 25 min- heart's function as a pump abruptly This year's bill differs from previous utes, and each Member except the ma- stops. Unless this state is reversed, versions I have offered, which pri- jority leader, the minority leader or then death will occur within a few min- marily sought to encourage State ac- the minority whip limited to not to ex- utes. The only effective treatment for tion to promote public access to ceed 5 minutes. But in no event shall this condition is defibrillation, the defibrillation. The States responded to the debate continue beyond 9:50 a.m. electrical shock to the heart. this call, and many have passed regula- The Chair recognizes the gentleman My colleagues might be interested to tion to promote training and access to from Florida (Mr. STEARNS) for 5 min- know that more than 1,000 Americans AEDs. utes. each and every day suffer from cardiac However, this bill, Mr. Speaker, di- f arrest. Of those, more than 95 percent rects the Secretary of Health and SUPPORT CARDIAC ARREST die. That is unacceptable in this coun- Human Services to develop rec- SURVIVAL ACT try because we have the means, the ommendations to public access of very means at our disposal to change Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, this defibrillation programs in Federal those statistics. That is why I have morning I am here to talk about the buildings in order to improve survival Cardiac Arrest Survival Act, which I been committed to this cause. Studies show that 250 lives can be rates of people who suffer cardiac ar- will be introducing today. If this bill rest in Federal facilities. Federal build- becomes law, it has the potential of saved each and every day from cardiac arrests by using the automatic exter- ings throughout America will be en- saving thousands of lives each year. couraged to serve as examples of rapid I am pleased to have this opportunity nal defibrillation, which we will call response to cardiac arrest emergencies to work with the American Heart Asso- AED. Those are the kinds of statistics through the implementation of public ciation and the American Red Cross on that nobody can argue with. access to defibrilllation programs. this very important measure. Let me show my colleagues on the Passage of this Act would go a long next chart, did my colleagues know The programs will include training way towards making the goal of saving that for each minute of delay in re- security personnel and other expected the lives of people who suffer sudden turning the heart to its normal pat- users in the use of AEDs, notifying cardiac arrests possible. It would en- terns of beating, it decreases the local emergency medical services of sure that what the American Heart As- chance that that person will survive by the placement of AEDs, and ensuring sociation refers to as the ``cardiac 10 percent? proper medical oversight and proper chain of survival'' could go into effect. No one knows when sudden cardiac maintenance of the device. That first chain of survival is early arrest might occur. According to a re- cent study, the top five sites where car- In addition, this year's bill seeks to access, call 911, early CPR, early fill in the gaps with respect to States defibrillation, which I will go into in a diac arrest occurs are at airports, county jails, shopping malls, sports that have not acted on AED legislation moment, and early access to advanced by extending good samaritan liability care. stadiums, and golf courses. I believe we While defibrillation is the most effec- would all take great comfort in know- protection to people involved in the use tive mechanism to revive a heart that ing that those who rush to our side to of the AED. has stopped, it is also the least resuscitate us have the most up-to-date So, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to accessed tool we have available to equipment available and are trained to the support of my colleagues. I hope treat victims suffering from heart at- use it. that they will cosponsor this bill. It tack. The AEDs which are being produced has been endorsed by the American Perhaps it would be helpful for those today are easier to use and require Heart Association and the American of my colleagues listening who are not minimal training to operate. They also Red Cross. I hope all of my colleagues b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H5369 . H5370 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð HOUSE July 13, 1999 will join me by cosponsoring the bill caught up in illegality in participating bacco to get behind this effective law whose stated goal is to prevent thou- in a scheme to avoid $2.5 million in enforcement legislation or once again sands and thousands of people suffering U.S. excise taxes. to reveal its hypocrisy, from cardiac arrest from dying by Nor is RJR the only tobacco giant Mr. Speaker, with the introduction of making equipment and trained per- caught up in such criminality. Last this bill, we hope to stop the smuggling sonnel available at the scene of the year, a senior judge in Hong Kong con- and stop the mugging of the world's emergency. cluded that British-American Tobacco children through nicotine addiction. f and Brown and Williamson were help- f ing international organized crime by FRESHMEN REPUBLICANS INI- TOBACCO SMUGGLING selling duty-free cigarettes ``worth bil- TIATE BEYOND THE BELTWAY ERADICATION ACT OF 1999 lions and billions of dollars with the PROGRAM The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. knowledge that those cigarettes would GUTKNECHT). Under the Speaker's an- be smuggled into China and other parts The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under nounced policy of January 19, 1999, the of the world.'' the Speaker's announced policy of Jan- gentleman from Texas (Mr. DOGGETT) While most of the attention with our uary 19, 1999, the gentleman from Wis- is recognized during morning hour de- relations with the country of Colombia consin (Mr. GREEN) is recognized dur- bates for 5 minutes. focuses on the illegal drugs from there ing morning hour debates for 5 min- Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, the to here, a study last year found that utes. World Bank recently issued a report more than four-fifths of the 5.5 billion Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speak- entitled, ``Curbing the Epidemic: Gov- Malboro cigarettes that are produced er, 2 weeks ago, 19 Republican fresh- ernments and the Economics of To- here by Philip Morris and sold there in men stood shoulder to shoulder on the bacco Control,'' which finds disturbing Colombia are illegal smuggled goods. front lawn outside this very building. trends in tobacco use around the globe. Far from hurting business, tobacco We did so to launch our class-wide This report concludes that, in another companies have found that they can project that we are calling Beyond the 2 decades, tobacco will become the sin- move their lethal products around the Beltway. The Republican freshmen are a di- gle biggest cause of premature death world by assisting smugglers. Big to- verse group coming from diverse back- worldwide, accounting for 10 million bacco profits from selling cigarettes to grounds and representing equally di- deaths each year. That is 10 million smugglers who reduce the price for the verse parts of America. But despite unique human beings choking to death black market and increase consump- that diversity, we are all excited by with emphysema, withering away with tion and sales, helping them build a some of the innovative reforms that we lung cancer, or perhaps feeling the global market. are seeing take place in State capitals sharp pain of a heart attack as a result My bill requires that packages for ex- throughout the land. of nicotine addiction. Half of these port be clearly labeled for export to Governors and legislative leaders, deaths will occur to individuals in mid- prevent illegal reentry into the United Republicans and Democrats from dle age, who will each lose 20 to 25 States.

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