American Cures Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2401 To prioritize funding for an expanded and sustained national investment in biomedical research. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 30, 2019 Ms. UNDERWOOD (for herself and Mr. FOSTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Armed Services, and Vet- erans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To prioritize funding for an expanded and sustained national investment in biomedical research. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Cures Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. CAP ADJUSTMENT. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced 6 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 7 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2401 IH (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (D), (E), 1 and (F) as subparagraphs (E), (F), and (G), respec- 2 tively; and 3 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (C), the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘(D) BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH.— 6 ‘‘(i) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF 7 HEALTH.—If a bill or joint resolution mak- 8 ing appropriations for a fiscal year is en- 9 acted that specifies amounts for the Na- 10 tional Institutes of Health at the Depart- 11 ment of Health and Human Services, then 12 the adjustments for that fiscal year shall 13 be the amount of additional new budget 14 authority provided in that Act for such 15 programs for that fiscal year, but shall not 16 exceed— 17 ‘‘(I) for fiscal year 2020, 18 $2,737,000,000 in additional new 19 budget authority; 20 ‘‘(II) for fiscal year 2021, 21 $5,666,000,000 in additional new 22 budget authority; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2401 IH ‘‘(III) for fiscal year 2022, 1 $8,800,000,000 in additional new 2 budget authority; 3 ‘‘(IV) for fiscal year 2023, 4 $12,153,000,000 in additional new 5 budget authority; and 6 ‘‘(V) for fiscal year 2024, 7 $15,741,000,000 in additional new 8 budget authority. 9 ‘‘(ii) CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL 10 AND PREVENTION.—If a bill or joint reso- 11 lution making appropriations for a fiscal 12 year is enacted that specifies amounts for 13 the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 14 vention at the Department of Health and 15 Human Services, then the adjustments for 16 that fiscal year shall be the amount of ad- 17 ditional new budget authority provided in 18 that Act for such programs for that fiscal 19 year, but shall not exceed— 20 ‘‘(I) for fiscal year 2020, 21 $511,000,000 in additional new budg- 22 et authority; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2401 IH ‘‘(II) for fiscal year 2021, 1 $1,057,000,000 in additional new 2 budget authority; 3 ‘‘(III) for fiscal year 2022, 4 $1,642,000,000 in additional new 5 budget authority; 6 ‘‘(IV) for fiscal year 2023, 7 $2,268,000,000 in additional new 8 budget authority; and 9 ‘‘(V) for fiscal year 2024, 10 $2,938,000,000 in additional new 11 budget authority. 12 ‘‘(iii) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 13 HEALTH PROGRAM.—If a bill or joint reso- 14 lution making appropriations for a fiscal 15 year is enacted that specifies amounts for 16 the Department of Defense health pro- 17 gram, then the adjustments for that fiscal 18 year shall be the amount of additional new 19 budget authority provided in that Act for 20 such programs for that fiscal year, but 21 shall not exceed— 22 ‘‘(I) for fiscal year 2020, 23 $167,510,000 in additional new budg- 24 et authority; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2401 IH ‘‘(II) for fiscal year 2021, 1 $346,745,700 in additional new budg- 2 et authority; 3 ‘‘(III) for fiscal year 2022, 4 $538,527,899 in additional new budg- 5 et authority; 6 ‘‘(IV) for fiscal year 2023, 7 $743,734,852 in additional new budg- 8 et authority; and 9 ‘‘(V) for fiscal year 2024, 10 $963,306,292 in additional new budg- 11 et authority. 12 ‘‘(iv) MEDICAL AND PROSTHETICS RE- 13 SEARCH PROGRAM OF THE DEPARTMENT 14 OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.—If a bill or joint 15 resolution making appropriations for a fis- 16 cal year is enacted that specifies amounts 17 for the medical and prosthetics research 18 program of the Department of Veterans 19 Affairs, then the adjustments for that fis- 20 cal year shall be the amount of additional 21 new budget authority provided in that Act 22 for such programs for that fiscal year, but 23 shall not exceed— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2401 IH ‘‘(I) for fiscal year 2020, 1 $54,530,000 in additional new budget 2 authority; 3 ‘‘(II) for fiscal year 2021, 4 $58,350,000 in additional new budget 5 authority; 6 ‘‘(III) for fiscal year 2022, 7 $62,440,000 in additional new budget 8 authority; 9 ‘‘(IV) for fiscal year 2023, 10 $66,810,000 in additional new budget 11 authority; and 12 ‘‘(V) for fiscal year 2024, 13 $71,490,000 in additional new budget 14 authority. 15 ‘‘(v) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this 16 subparagraph: 17 ‘‘(I) ADDITIONAL NEW BUDGET 18 AUTHORITY.—The term ‘additional 19 new budget authority’ means— 20 ‘‘(aa) with respect to the 21 National Institutes of Health, the 22 amount provided for a fiscal 23 year, in excess of the amount 24 provided in fiscal year 2019, in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2401 IH an appropriation Act and speci- 1 fied to support the National In- 2 stitutes of Health; 3 ‘‘(bb) with respect to the 4 Centers for Disease Control and 5 Prevention, the amount provided 6 for a fiscal year, in excess of the 7 amount provided in fiscal year 8 2019, in an appropriation Act 9 and specified to support the Cen- 10 ters for Disease Control and Pre- 11 vention; 12 ‘‘(cc) with respect to the De- 13 partment of Defense health pro- 14 gram, the amount provided for a 15 fiscal year, in excess of the 16 amount provided in fiscal year 17 2019, in an appropriation Act 18 and specified to support the De- 19 partment of Defense health pro- 20 gram; and 21 ‘‘(dd) with respect to the 22 medical and prosthetics research 23 program of the Department of 24 Veterans Affairs, the amount 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2401 IH provided for a fiscal year, in ex- 1 cess of the amount provided in 2 fiscal year 2019, in an appropria- 3 tion Act and specified to support 4 the medical and prosthetics re- 5 search program of the Depart- 6 ment of Veterans Affairs. 7 ‘‘(II) CENTERS FOR DISEASE 8 CONTROL AND PREVENTION.—The 9 term ‘Centers for Disease Control and 10 Prevention’ means the appropriations 11 accounts that support the various in- 12 stitutes, offices, and centers that 13 make up the Centers for Disease Con- 14 trol and Prevention. 15 ‘‘(III) DEPARTMENT OF DE- 16 FENSE HEALTH PROGRAM.—The term 17 ‘Department of Defense health pro- 18 gram’ means the appropriations ac- 19 counts that support the various insti- 20 tutes, offices, and centers that make 21 up the Department of Defense health 22 program. 23 ‘‘(IV) MEDICAL AND PROS- 24 THETICS RESEARCH PROGRAM OF THE 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2401 IH DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF- 1 FAIRS.—The term ‘medical and pros- 2 thetics research program of the De- 3 partment of Veterans Affairs’ means 4 the appropriations accounts that sup- 5 port the various institutes, offices, 6 and centers that make up the medical 7 and prosthetics research program of 8 the Department of Veterans Affairs. 9 ‘‘(V) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF 10 HEALTH.—The term ‘National Insti- 11 tutes of Health’ means the appropria- 12 tions accounts that support the var- 13 ious institutes, offices, and centers 14 that make up the National Institutes 15 of Health.’’. 16 (b) FUNDING.—There are hereby authorized to be 17 appropriated— 18 (1) for the National Institutes of Health, the 19 amounts provided for under clause (i) of such sec- 20 tion 251(b)(2)(D) in each of fiscal years 2020 21 through 2024, and such sums as may be necessary 22 for each subsequent fiscal year; 23 (2) for the Secretary of Health and Human 24 Services, acting through the Centers for Disease 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2401 IH Control and Prevention, the amounts provided for 1 under clause (ii) of such section 251(b)(2)(D) in 2 each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024, and such 3 sums as may be necessary for each subsequent fiscal 4 year; 5 (3) for the Department of Defense health pro- 6 gram, the amounts provided for under clause (iii) of 7 such section 251(b)(2)(D) in each of fiscal years 8 2020 through 2024, and such sums as may be nec- 9 essary for each subsequent fiscal year; and 10 (4) for the medical and prosthetics research 11 program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the 12 amounts provided for under clause (iv) of such sec- 13 tion 251(b)(2)(D) in each of fiscal years 2020 14 through 2024, and such sums as may be necessary 15 for each subsequent fiscal year. 16 (c) MINIMUM CONTINUED FUNDING REQUIRE- 17 MENT.—Amounts appropriated for each of the programs 18 and agencies described in section 251(b)(2)(D) of the Bal- 19 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 20 (as added by subsection (a)) for each of fiscal years 2020 21 through 2024, and each subsequent fiscal year, shall not 22 be less than the amounts appropriated for such programs 23 and agencies for fiscal year 2019. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2401 IH (d) EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN APPROPRIATIONS FROM 1 SEQUESTRATION.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 255(g)(1)(A) of the 3 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 4 Act (2 U.S.C. 905(g)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting 5 after ‘‘Advances to the Unemployment Trust Fund 6 and Other Funds (16–0327–0–1–600).’’ the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘Appropriations under the American 9 Cures Act.’’. 10 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by 11 this section shall apply to any sequestration order 12 issued under the Balanced Budget and Emergency 13 Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.) 14 on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2401.IH H2401 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS