[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8141 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8141
To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish an initiative to unify
efforts and programs across the Department of Defense to improve the
cognitive performance and brain health of members of the Armed Forces,
and for other purposes.
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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 17, 2022
Mr. Bacon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Armed Services
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A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish an initiative to unify
efforts and programs across the Department of Defense to improve the
cognitive performance and brain health of members of the Armed Forces,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Warrior Brain Health Act of 2022''.
SEC. 2. BRAIN HEALTH INITIATIVE OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the
Secretaries concerned, shall establish a comprehensive initiative for
brain health to be known as the ``Warfighter Brain Health Initiative''
(in this section referred to as the ``Initiative'') for the purpose of
unifying efforts and programs across the Department of Defense to
improve the cognitive performance and brain health of members of the
Armed Forces.
(b) Objectives.--The objectives of the Initiative shall be the
following:
(1) To enhance, maintain, and restore the cognitive
performance of members of the Armed Forces through education,
training, prevention, protection, monitoring, detection,
diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation, including through the
following activities:
(A) The establishment of a program to monitor
cognitive brain health across the Department of
Defense, beginning upon the accession of a member to
the Armed Forces and repeated at regular intervals
thereafter, with the goal of detecting any need for
cognitive enhancement or restoration resulting from
potential brain exposures of the member, to mitigate
possible evolution of injury or disease progression.
(B) The identification and dissemination of
thresholds for blast pressure safety and associated
emerging scientific evidence.
(C) The modification of high-risk training and
operational activities to mitigate the negative effects
of repetitive blast exposure.
(D) The identification of individuals who perform
high-risk training or occupational activities, for
purposes of increased monitoring of the brain health of
such individuals.
(E) The development and operational fielding of
non-invasive, portable, point-of-care medical devices,
to inform the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic
brain injury.
(F) The establishment of a standardized monitoring
program that documents and analyzes blast exposures
that may affect the brain health of members of the
Armed Forces.
(G) The development of a resource that would set
forth specific criteria used in the awarding of
potential grants for research projects relating to the
direct correlation of environmental exposures and brain
injuries to the brain health of members of the Armed
Forces.
(H) The incorporation of the findings and
recommendations of the report of the National Academies
of Science, Engineering, and Medicine titled
``Traumatic Brain Injury: A Roadmap for Accelerating
Progress'' and published in 2022 (relating to the
acceleration of progress in traumatic brain injury
research and care), or any successor report, into
activities of the Department relating to brain health,
as applicable.
(2) To harmonize and prioritize the efforts of the
Department of Defense into a single approach to brain health,
to produce more efficient and effective results.
(c) Strategy and Implementation Plan.--Not later than one year
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense
shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report setting
forth a strategy and implementation plan of the Department of Defense
to achieve the objectives of the Initiative under subsection (b).
(d) Annual Budget Justification Documents.--In the budget
justification materials submitted to Congress in support of the
Department of Defense budget for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029
(as submitted with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of
title 31, United States Code), the Secretary of Defense shall include a
budget justification display that includes all activities of the
Department relating to the Initiative.
(e) Annual Reports.--Not later than January 31, 2024, and annually
thereafter until January 31, 2030, the Secretary of Defense shall
submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the
Initiative that includes the following:
(1) A description of the activities taken under the
Initiative and resources expended under the Initiative during
the prior fiscal year.
(2) A summary of the progress made during the prior fiscal
year with respect to the objectives of the Initiative under
subsection (b).
(f) Secretary Concerned Defined.--In this section, the term
``Secretary concerned'' has the meaning given that term in section 101
of title 10, United States Code.
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