Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
by Senator Jack ReedPosted on 2015-01-26
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REED (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Markey,
and Ms. Warren):
S. 251. A bill to aid and support pediatric involvement in reading
and education; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I introduce with my colleague, Senator
Grassley, the Prescribe a Book Act I thank Senators Markey, Stabenow,
and Warren for joining us as original cosponsors of this bipartisan
bill.
Literacy skills are the foundation for success in school and in life.
Developing and building these skills begins at home, with parents as
the first teachers. Children who are read to frequently at home are
more likely to become frequent readers themselves in later years.
Indeed, according to Scholastic's Kids and Families Reading Report,
among children ages 6-11, 60 percent of frequent readers, those who
read 57 days per week for fun, were read to aloud by a parent 5-7 times
per week before they entered kindergarten. This highlights the
important role that parents play in building their children's literacy
skills.
To help support the parental role in literacy, the Prescribe a Book
Act would create a federal pediatric early literacy grant initiative
based on the long-standing, successful Reach Out and Read program. The
program would award grants on a competitive basis to high-quality
nonprofit entities to train doctors and nurses to discuss with parents
the importance of reading aloud to their children and to give books to
children at pediatric check-ups from 6 months to 5 years of age, with a
priority for children from low-income families. It builds on the
relationship between parents and medical providers and helps families
and communities encourage early literacy skills so children enter
school prepared for success in reading.
I was pleased to see last year that the American Academy of
Pediatrics, AAP, recognized the important role that pediatric providers
play in enhancing children's literacy skills In a policy statement, AAP
recommended that pediatric providers promote early literacy development
for children from birth to at least kindergarten entry, including by
counseling parents on the importance of reading to their children and
through providing age-appropriate books to high-risk, low-income young
children.
Evidence shows that that the pediatric literacy model works. Research
published in peer-reviewed, scientific journals has found that parents
who have participated in the Reach out and Read program are
significantly more likely to read to their children and include more
children's books in their home, and that children served by the program
show an increase of 4-8 points on vocabulary tests. I have seen up
close the positive impact of this program on children and their
families when visiting a number of Rhode Island's Reach Out and Read
sites. Building on existing efforts, which in the past have been
supported by Federal funding included in the appropriations process and
distributed by the Department of Education, and matched by tens of
millions of dollars from the private sector and State governments, the
Prescribe a Book Act would establish a formal authorization modeled on
this type of successful public-private partnership. By so doing, it
would leverage Federal dollars to expand pediatric literacy initiatives
so that more young children reap the developmental benefits of having
books at home and being read to by their parents.
I urge our colleagues to join us in cosponsoring the Prescribe a Book
Act, and to work to include its provisions in the upcoming
reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
______
By Mr. CORNYN:
S. 252. A bill to prohibit the consideration of any bill by Congress
unless a statement on tax transparency is provided in the bill; to the
Committee on Rules and Administration.
