EHDI Reauthorization Bill Clears House Committee

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce today passed H.R. 1198, the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Act of 2008. The next step in the legislative process is for the bill to go to the full House for a vote. Thank you to the ASHA members who sent over 4,000 emails and letters over the last month to help jump start consideration of this important legislation and the second phase of our EHDI campaign.

The legislation would reauthorize the state grants and assistance for EHDI programs for early screening, diagnosis, follow-up, intervention, and family support services for newborns and infants with hearing loss. H.R. 1198 is consistent with the 2007 position statement of the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) that can be found at www.asha.org/docs. Additional details on ASHA's EHDI Phase II campaign will be forthcoming over the next few weeks. For more information on the federal EHDI reauthorization bill, please contact Deborah Darcy, ASHA's Director of Grassroots Advocacy, via e-mail at ddarcy@asha.orgor by phone at 800-498-2071, ext. 5612.