2023 Moms' Agenda
The 2023 Moms’ Agenda
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 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.
The Moms’ Agenda bills are the bills our members will advocate for during the Mom Congress 2023 Hill Day of Advocacy on September 19th, 2023.
All Mom Congress members are invited to be trained in-depth on these bills virtually - live in August 2023 or by reviewing the training recordings. (Please see the members-only page for further details.) Not a member yet? Join us here.
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. In awarding grants, HRSA must give special consideration to institutions that focus on increasing the number of midwife professionals from underrepresented groups and promote practicing in areas with limited access to professional health care. Midwives for Moms was also included in the 2022 Mom Congress Moms’ Agenda.
Healthy Moms and Babies Act
The Healthy Moms and Babies Act will improve maternal and child health care by:
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.
Modernizing maternal health care through telehealth to support women of color and women living in rural America.
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.
Specifically, the Mothers and Newborns Success Act would:
Provide grants administered through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) State Maternal Health Innovation Program and the Supporting Maternal Health Innovation Program for states to create and implement plans to address disparities in maternal health and improve maternal health outcomes.
Support CDC’s work to classify birthing facilities so that patients know the level of risk-appropriate maternal and neonatal care at each facility. This would help improve care delivery and health outcomes for expectant mothers and their infants.
Support CDC’s efforts to gather pregnancy checkbox data from death certificates to help provide more accurate data on maternal deaths.
Support CDC’s data collection on maternal attitudes and experiences during the pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum periods as well as efforts to provide technical assistance to states to ensure representation of communities of color in key datasets. This data would help determine and address gaps in care.
Establish a pilot program through HRSA to identify and share best practices and evidence-based information on maternal health with providers and patients.
Establish a National Maternal Health Research Network at the National Institute of Health (NIH) to support innovative research on the underlying causes of maternal mortality and their treatment.
Support HRSA’s Rural Maternity and Obstetric Management Strategies (RMOMS) Program to improve access to and continuity of obstetrics care in rural communities, including through the use of telehealth.
Establish a public and provider awareness campaign through the CDC to promote awareness of maternal health warning signs and the importance of vaccinations for pregnant women and children.
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 2023 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:
Group prenatal and postpartum care models;
Collaborative maternity care models;
Initiatives to address stigma and raise awareness about warning signs for maternal mental and behavioral health conditions;
Programs at freestanding birth centers; and
Suicide prevention programs.
The bill will also provide funding for programs to grow and diversify the maternal mental and behavioral health care workforce to expand access to culturally congruent care and support for pregnant and postpartum people with maternal mental health conditions and substance use disorders.
Mom Congress has been in support of the Moms Matter Act since 2020.
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.
Furthermore, HHS must implement a fellowship program to provide training in perinatal autopsy pathology and otherwise support research on stillbirths and fetal autopsies. The bill also requires HHS to issue a report with educational guidelines on stillbirths and stillbirth risk factors.
SHINE for Autumn was also included in the 2022 Mom Congress Moms’ Agenda.
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
Bill number not yet published. 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.
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:
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.
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.
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). 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
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
Additional bills may be added to our 2023 Moms’ Agenda as they are introduced and numbered for the 118th Congress.
If you would like to nominate a piece of Federal Legislation to be considered for Mom Congress’ support, please do so here.