HRES568-119

That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that— the Department of Health and Human Services should use all practicable means and measures to increase the health sector’s climate readiness and response, including increasing the ability to withstand and maintain operations during extreme weather events, strengthening the climate resilience of health infrastructure and supply chains, and lowering the sector’s environmental impact; funding appropriated by Congress to facilitate energy efficiency retrofits, investments in clean vehicles and onsite renewable energy and storage, and planning for climate resilience projects by health care organizations and community-based organizations should be distributed without delay and with particular attention to historically underserved communities and organizations by the responsible Federal agencies; the Department of Health and Human Services should prioritize technical assistance, capacity building, and equitable access to funding for Tribal health systems, rural hospitals and clinics, and historically underresourced health care providers to support climate adaptation and preparedness; Federal agencies with responsibilities for public health, health care, and environmental data, including the Department of Health and Human Services, should orchestrate and support efforts to close information gaps and synthesize data on the health impacts of climate change, including mitigation and adaptation strategies, and use that information to develop timely, targeted, accessible, and evidence-based education and communication tools on climate-related health threats; the Department of Health and Human Services should fully reinstate the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity and the Office of Environmental Justice with the staffing and resources necessary to lead and coordinate departmental efforts, guide equitable implementation, and use all available levers to address the health impacts of climate change for all people in the United States, and particularly for those most at risk; critical agencies, staff, and programmatic functions necessary to support the goal of reducing the health impacts of climate change should be fully funded, reinstated, and supported, including— those within the Administration for Children and Families; the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; the Indian Health Service; those within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such as the National Center for Environmental Health, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; and those within the National Institutes of Health, including the Climate Change and Health Initiative; investments in climate resilience and health infrastructure should include support for— workforce training, job quality standards, and equitable access to careers in public health; emergency preparedness and energy and environmental response, particularly for workers from historically underserved communities; and community-led mental wellness and resilience building initiatives and mutual aid networks; relevant Federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, should ensure community-based organizations, Tribal governments, and environmental justice groups are meaningfully engaged in climate-health decision-making processes, and are provided with the resources and authority necessary to lead and support local resilience efforts, including public health preparedness, infrastructure adaptation, emergency response planning, support for psychological and emotional well-being, and efforts to address climate-related health disparities; the Department of Labor, through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, should promulgate a worker heat protection standard that, in accordance with the best available evidence, establishes the maximum protective program of measures an employer shall implement to regulate employees’ exposure to heat stress and prevent heat-related illness and injury that attains the highest degree of health and safety protection to the extent feasible; and the Department of Health and Human Services and other relevant Federal agencies should provide annual progress reports to Congress and the public on climate resilience investments, measurable health outcomes, and equitable distribution of resources to vulnerable populations and regions.