TOUCHDOWN! SCHUMER SUCCESSFULLY PASSES BUFFALO BILLS’ DAMAR HAMLIN’S LIFESAVING HEARTS ACT
Schumer & Hamlin Worked Together For Months, And Tonight Schumer Successfully Passed Hamlin’s Lifesaving HEARTS Act – UNANIMOUSLY! – To Bring More AEDs To Schools Across America
Schumer-Hamlin Bill Now Heads To The President’s Desk To Be Signed Into Law
Chuck & Damar: Together We Got This Lifesaving Bill In The Endzone To Bring AEDs To Schools Across America
After standing with Buffalo Bills’ Safety Damar Hamlin, student-athletes, and Bills Mafia earlier this week, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced he successfully passed their lifesaving HEARTS Act in the Senate, and that it will now head to the President’s desk to be signed into law. Schumer said this bipartisan legislation will help put more AEDs – like the one that saved Damar’s life – into schools and help make CPR training more accessible across America.
“Touchdown! I’m proud to announce, after months of working with Damar Hamlin and the Buffalo Bills, the Senate has just passed the lifesaving HEARTS Act to put more AEDs in schools across America – like the one that saved Damar’s life,” said Senator Schumer. “Damar and I formed the perfect team, bringing together teachers, healthcare leaders and athletes to make sure every student has access to the kind of life-saving care he did. This legislation goes beyond the field and its impacts will stretch thousands of miles outside Buffalo to help millions of kids. Now, the HEARTS Act is headed to the President’s desk to be signed into law and save lives.”
When Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during an NFL game in January 2023, the Bills medical team used an AED and performed CPR, saving Hamlin’s life. Since then Hamlin has used his miraculous and inspirational recovery story to help kids across the country, working with Schumer to create a new federal program that will help put more AEDs in schools. Hamlin and Schumer worked together to garner bipartisan support for the law, which passed in the House of Representatives earlier this year. Thanks to Majority Leader Schumer, that legislation has now passed the Senate and will be sent to the President’s desk.
Schumer said that the bipartisan Cardiomyopathy Health Education, Awareness, Research and Training in Schools (HEARTS) Act, which has now passed both chambers and heads to the President’s desk, will provide direct grants to elementary and secondary schools. The bill will create a grant program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) training, in addition to supporting the purchase of AEDs and the development of cardiac emergency response plans, which can more than double survival rates from cardiac arrest by empowering people nearby to dial 911, start CPR and use an AED.
In schools with AEDs, children who experience cardiac arrest are seven times as likely to survive as children in schools without AEDs. Schumer also highlighted the importance of CPR training for students and adults in schools, saying that for every minute without CPR, chances of survival drop by 10%. With more people confident in their ability to perform CPR, people experiencing cardiac arrest will get the care they need more quickly.
###
