Leader Schumer, Standing With Buffalo Bills Player Damar Hamlin, Announces He Will Come To The Senate Floor To Demand Passage Of The HEARTS Act This Week; Would Be First Step To Putting AEDs in Schools And Saving Lives
Buffalo, N.Y. – After working together for months to boost bipartisan support for this bill, Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) and Damar Hamlin, safety for the Buffalo Bills, today announced that the HEARTS Act would be brought to the Senate floor via unanimous consent this week. In 2023, Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during a 2023 Bills game and he has used his miraculous recovery story to work to protect students across the nation.
Today, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, alongside, Buffalo Bills player, Damar Hamlin, announced he will bring the lifesaving HEARTS Act to the Senate floor this week for a unanimous consent request that would allow the bill to be passed into law. Tragically, in 2023, Hamlin experienced a cardiac arrest during a Bills game and had his life saved by an AED. Now, he is committed to making sure that students across the country have access to the same level of care. Schumer and Hamlin are launching their final push to show why all should support this bipartisan legislation to help schools and students be prepared to respond to cardiac emergencies by making AEDs and CPR training more accessible across America.
“For months, I’ve been proud to work shoulder-to-shoulder with Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills, and the NFL to pass bipartisan legislation what would make CPR training accessible, put AEDs in schools, and save countless lives across the country – we’re now on the one-yard line. This week, I will bring the lifesaving HEARTS Act to the Senate floor and attempt to make it a law,” said Leader Schumer. “Damar has used his own harrowing and miraculous story to shed a light for others and make meaningful change from one end of the US to another. This bipartisan legislation is not just common-sense, but lifesaving and there is no reason for any Senator to block it.”
“Since experiencing cardiac arrest, I’ve been honored to work with partners who understand how important it is to provide CPR education and have access to AEDs to save lives,” said Damar Hamlin, Buffalo Bills safety, member of the NFL Smart Heart Sports Coalition and National Ambassador for the American Heart Association's Nation of Lifesavers movement. “I’m very grateful to Senator Schumer for his work making this common-sense legislation a priority. My journey has shown us that no one expects cardiac arrest to happen - and we all need to be prepared. Working together, we have the chance now to protect kids and impact the next generation. I hope that every Senator will lend their support for this bill and that my experience with cardiac arrest will help lead to lasting change. Let’s get this done.“
The bipartisan Cardiomyopathy Health Education, Awareness, Research and Training in Schools (HEARTS) Act, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed earlier this year, would provide direct grants to elementary and secondary schools. The bill would 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. Additionally, for people experiencing cardiac arrest, every minute without CPR drops their chances of survival by 10%. With more people confident in their ability to perform CPR, people experiencing cardiac arrest will get the care they need more quickly.
In addition to Leader Schumer, this legislation was led by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Representatives Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL).
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