119-hres601

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 601 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 601

 Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to lead the world in 
 biomedical research.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 July 23, 2025

 Ms. DeGette (for herself, Mr. Raskin, and Mr. Auchincloss) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
 and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

 Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to lead the world in 
 biomedical research.

Whereas the model of Federal Government funding to support free scientific 
 inquiry in partnership with academia and industry since World War II has 
 produced an unprecedented increase in knowledge about medicine and the 
 human body;
Whereas the National Institutes of Health has grown from a single laboratory at 
 its founding in 1887 to the world's leading grant-making agency and 
 crown jewel of biomedical progress as the world's largest single public 
 funder of biomedical and behavioral research;
Whereas the Federal Government's unprecedented investment in research to solve 
 military medical challenges in World War II directly led to 
 breakthroughs such as large-scale penicillin production, ushered in a 
 golden age of drug development, and provided the foundation for the 
 National Institutes of Health extramural research program;
Whereas the funds of the National Institutes of Health support basic research 
 that enables downstream scientific breakthroughs but that cannot be 
 replicated in private settings, as this research often cannot be 
 directly monetized into a marketable good or service or is considered 
 too early-stage, too risky, or too complex for industry investment;
Whereas research supported by the National Institutes of Health has underpinned 
 nearly every new drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 
 the 21st century;
Whereas federally funded research into the hepatitis C virus paved the way for 
 direct-acting antivirals that cure a previously life-threatening disease 
 in 95 percent of cases;
Whereas the death rate for HIV/AIDS has decreased from a peak of 16.2 per 
 100,000 in 1995 to 1.4 per 100,000 today, and 50 drugs are now available 
 to manage HIV;
Whereas National Institutes of Health research has improved understanding of the 
 causes, prevention, and treatment of heart disease, leading in part to a 
 reduction in the death rate from heart disease from 307 per 100,000 in 
 1950 to 135 per 100,000 in 1996, and decreased rates of stroke by 70 
 percent in this same period;
Whereas the National Institutes of Health's more than $8,000,000,000 annual 
 investment in cancer research generates $69,000,000,000 in annual 
 economic activity and 7,000,000 jobs, and has fueled a reduction in the 
 cancer death rate in the United States by 34 percent from 1991 to 2022, 
 averting approximately 4,500,000 deaths;
Whereas research funded by the United States Government over 35 years prior to 
 the COVID-19 pandemic led to the capability of developing and delivering 
 effective vaccines in under 1 year;
Whereas the Human Genome Project launched the genomic revolution while producing 
 $796,000,000,000 in economic returns for an investment of only 
 $3,800,000,000, a return on investment of $209 for every $1 invested, 
 and the All of Us Research Program will enable a further revolution in 
 precision medicine;
Whereas federally supported research led to the recent development and use of a 
 miraculous personalized gene-editing therapy to treat an infant with a 
 rare, incurable disease, making history and laying the groundwork to 
 rapidly develop treatments for other rare genetic diseases;
Whereas researchers in America, due to scientific workforce breated by public 
 investment, are uniquely positioned to address major challenges in 
 public health and medicine, including--

    (1) an aging population, with nearly 58,000,000 Americans age 65 or 
older and increasing;

    (2) approximately 6 in 10 Americans have at least 1 chronic disease;

    (3) more than 90-percent of the Nation's $4,500,000,000,000 in annual 
health care expenditures go to treat individuals with chronic diseases and 
mental health conditions;

    (4) over 2,800,000 antibiotic resistant infections occur in the United 
States annually;

    (5) approximately 945,000 Americans die of heart disease or stroke each 
year;

    (6) approximately 2,000,000 Americans are diagnosed with cancer each 
year and over 600,000 Americans die from cancer each year;

    (7) over 38,000,000 Americans have diabetes, and over 98,000,000 
Americans have prediabetes; and

    (8) nearly 7,000,000 Americans have Alzheimer's disease;

Whereas the Trump administration has reduced the biomedical research capacity of 
 the United States and put the United States at risk of losing a 
 generation of scientific talent;
Whereas the Trump administration at its outset halted National Institutes of 
 Health advisory councils and study sections, effectively freezing new 
 grantmaking activities;
Whereas the Trump administration implemented a communications freeze at the 
 Department of Health and Human Services, preventing researchers at 
 National Institutes of Health Clinical Center from meeting with patient 
 groups or recruiting patients for clinical trials of new therapies;
Whereas the Trump administration's ban on research in collaboration with 
 international partners or involving topics deemed disfavored led to the 
 illegal termination or delay of nearly 2,500 meritorious grants at the 
 National Institutes of Health in the first 4 months of the 
 administration;
Whereas the Trump administration fired thousands of employees supporting 
 critical biomedical research at the Department of Health and Human 
 Services, including at the National Cancer Institute, where the 
 administration fired staff responsible for disseminating new evidence on 
 cancer treatment and diagnosis, leaving doctors and patients to access 
 outdated information, and delaying scientific progress toward finding 
 new treatments and cures;
Whereas the Trump administration has proposed cutting funding for the National 
 Institutes of Health by 40-percent and reducing its 27 Institutes and 
 Centers to just 8, which would significantly undermine the abilities of 
 the Institutes to effectuate their core scientific missions and decimate 
 progress toward understanding and treating disease;
Whereas the Congressional Budget Office has found that a 10-percent funding 
 reduction for the National Institutes of Health would result in 2 fewer 
 drugs coming to market each year;
Whereas the Trump administration has, for the first time in National Institutes 
 of Health's history, placed political appointees in positions other than 
 the Director and the Director of the National Cancer Institute, 
 including within the National Institutes of Health's Institutes and 
 Centers, threatening the independence of the National Institutes of 
 Health scientific decision making, and risking the American people's 
 trust in the National Institutes of Health's investments, statements, 
 and advice;
Whereas the Trump administration is purging scientists who are seen as 
 insufficiently aligned with the administration's views from National 
 Institutes of Health processes;
Whereas the Trump administration has halted funding allocated to leading 
 academic research institutions for lifesaving research as leverage to 
 achieve unrelated policy objectives, thereby halting or delaying ongoing 
 biomedical research projects; and
Whereas the actions of the Trump administration have led our adversaries to 
 attempt to entice our researchers and scientists to leave our shores and 
 relocate abroad: Now, therefore, be it
 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--

    (1) the biomedical research of the United States and 
 development capacity is a national asset that must be 
 protected, improved, and expanded;

    (2) Federal Government efforts through the National 
 Institutes of Health ensure a robust biomedical research 
 apparatus and support the global role of the United States as a 
 leader of biomedical advancement and innovation;

    (3) the biomedical research workforce of the United States, 
 including the public servants at the National Institutes of 
 Health and other Federal agencies, should be treated with 
 respect, and the jobs associated with biomedical research 
 should offer good pay and benefits;

    (4) protecting public health must be a whole-of-government 
 collaboration beginning with the research necessary to advance 
 public health;

    (5) Federal Government support is integral to--
        (A) training new scientists in varied public health 
 and research disciplines;
        (B) encouraging and facilitating premier scientists 
 to stay in the United States for their careers;
            (C) ensuring a robust field of scientists in the 
 United States who are committed to the advancement of 
 science, public health, and biomedicine; and
            (D) stability of biomedical research funding so 
 that United States-based researchers are focused on 
 science and advancement rather than administrative 
 burdens or political interference;

    (6) scientific decision making in the Federal Government 
 should be driven by the best available evidence, effectuated by 
 peer-reviewed scientists, and insulated from political 
 interference;

    (7) over the next decade, the Federal Government should 
 double its investment in biomedical research and properly 
 applying the findings of biomedical research to medical 
 practice;

    (8) Federal biomedical research investments should--
        (A) support basic research that improves our 
 understanding of the human body in all its diversity, 
 and how external factors such as lifestyle factors, 
 social factors, and environmental factors affect its 
 function;
        (B) support research that seeks to clarify the root 
 causes of diseases;
            (C) support translational science that accelerates 
 access of Americans to novel treatments;
            (D) support potentially transformative high-risk, 
 high-reward research;
        (E) support and enable collaborative, broad-based 
 resources that may be used across different researchers 
 and institutions;
        (F) support and enable research collaboration 
 across individual researchers and institutions and 
 facilitate knowledge sharing;
        (G) serve a dual mandate of increasing 
 understanding of a particular scientific question and 
 increasing the capacity of funded researchers and 
 institutions to perform future research of value;
        (H) support transparency, accountability, and 
 replicability in innovative biomedical research;
            (I) support novel processes, products, and other 
 innovations that have the potential to prevent, 
 mitigate, or cure disease, particularly those which may 
 reduce overall health care expenditures; and
        (J) support the integration of evidence generated 
 by biomedical research into clinical practice, 
 including by expanding partnerships with Federal health 
 agencies, health professionals, patients, health 
 systems, payors, industry, and community-based 
 organizations; and

    (9) it should be the policy of the Federal Government to 
 invest in research with the potential to improve the quality of 
 life for all Americans and innovations in medicine, including--
        (A) reversing the recent decline in United States 
 life expectancy;
        (B) developing technologies to ensure the ability 
 to prevent and respond to microbial threats to humans 
 and animals;
            (C) identifying the underlying causes of 
 neurogenerative diseases and developing tools to reduce 
 the burden of such diseases;
            (D) reducing the death rate from cancer and 
 improving the quality of life of those diagnosed with 
 cancer;
        (E) reducing the burden of Alzheimer's disease and 
 related dementias, including by developing evidence-
 based tools to effectively prevent Alzheimer's disease;
        (F) reducing the number of people who die waiting 
 for transplantable organs to zero;
        (G) avoiding preventable diabetes diagnoses;
        (H) reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease, 
 including stroke;
            (I) developing versatile therapeutic platforms that 
 can be repurposed for various applications, including 
 treatments for ultrarare genetic diseases;
        (J) developing effective interventions to prevent 
 and treat chronic symptoms of viral and bacterial 
 infections, including COVID-19, Lyme disease, and 
 Epstein-Barr virus;
        (K) developing effective preventive vaccines and 
 therapeutics for diseases that have historically 
 affected underserved populations worldwide and 
 attracted lower levels of investment, such as 
 chikungunya, dengue, and malaria; and
            (L) improving representation in clinical trials to 
 ensure broad applicability of scientific findings and 
 improve the health of underserved populations.
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