WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate passed U.S. Senator Dean Heller’s (R-NV) measures to help Nevada’s veterans find jobs, promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs that benefit pre-kindergarden-12 students, and support babies born dependent on opioids or other substances. Heller filed the bipartisan amendments to a larger appropriations package that the U.S. Senate approved yesterday.
A member of the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Heller along with U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) offered an amendment to ensure up to $2 million is available to carry out a pilot program for preparing members of the Armed Forces transitioning to civilian life by offering apprenticeship programs. Heller also teamed up with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to file an amendment that requires a report from the Department of Education (DOE) about how the agency is coordinating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Science Foundation (NSF) to promote STEM programs that benefit pre-kindergarden-12 students. Heller has a history of supporting Nevadans who want to pursue STEM careers. For example, he previously worked with Klobuchar to introduce and navigate into law legislation that authorizes the NSF to encourage its entrepreneurial programs to recruit and support women to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and into the commercial world. Heller also authored a law that directs NASA to encourage women and young girls to study STEM and pursue aerospace careers.
“I’m pleased that the U.S. Senate passed measures that I authored to help veterans get jobs, promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs that benefit elementary schools, and support newborns suffering from dependence on opioids or other substances,” said Heller. “As the fifth most bipartisan member of the U.S. Senate, I’m proud to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on these initiatives that support families in Nevada and address the challenges facing our veteran community. Whether it is increasing resources to address our nation’s opioid epidemic or my work to make sure that no veteran is sleeping on the streets, I remain focused on advancing policies that will improve the lives of Nevadans across the state and move our state forward.”
Because every 25 minutes a baby is born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), Heller has championed efforts that require Congress to step in to ensure that newborns suffering from withdrawal have access to treatment. Heller, along with a bipartisan group of senators, previously introduced the Caring Recovery for Infants and Babies (CRIB) Act, legislation that would allow Medicaid to cover health care services provided to infants in residential pediatric recovery facilities in addition to hospitals. Heller also helped introduce the bipartisan Help for Moms and Babies Act, a bill that would provide protection for pregnant women who have a substance abuse disorder and are seeking treatment within Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMDs). Heller’s bipartisan measure, which he filed with U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), that the U.S. Senate approved today will strengthen the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) efforts to leverage birth defects surveillance systems to improve its ability to monitor the occurrence of NAS.
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