Congressional Record, Volume 164 Issue 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)

[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H10280-H10282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2018

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in
the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 6615) to reauthorize the
Traumatic Brain Injury program.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:
Senate amendment:

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Traumatic Brain Injury
Program Reauthorization Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF INJURIES.

Part J of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 280b et seq.) is amended--

[[Page H10281]]

(1) in section 393C (42 U.S.C. 280b-1d) by adding at the
end the following:
``(c) National Concussion Data Collection and Analysis.--
The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, may implement concussion data
collection and analysis to determine the prevalence and
incidence of concussion.'';
(2) in section 394A(b)(42 U.S.C. 280b-3(b)), by striking
``$6,564,000 for each of fiscal years 2015 through 2019'' and
inserting ``$11,750,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through
2024''; and
(3) by striking section 393C-1 (42 U.S.C. 280b-1e).

SEC. 3. STATE GRANTS FOR PROJECTS REGARDING TRAUMATIC BRAIN
INJURY.

Section 1252 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
300d-52) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``, acting through the
Administrator for the Administration for Community Living,''
after ``The Secretary'';
(2) by striking subsection (e);
(3) by redesignating subsections (f) through (j) as
subsections (e) through (i), respectively; and
(4) in subsection (i), as so redesignated, by striking
``$5,500,000 for each of the fiscal years 2015 through 2019''
and inserting ``$7,321,000 for each of fiscal years 2020
through 2024''.

SEC. 4. STATE GRANTS FOR PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY SERVICES.

Section 1253 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
300d-53) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``, acting through the
Administrator for the Administration for Community Living,''
after ``The Secretary''; and
(2) in subsection (l), by striking ``$3,100,000 for each of
the fiscal years 2015 through 2019'' and inserting
``$4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024''.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Oregon (Mr. Walden) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon.

General Leave

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Oregon?
There was no objection.
Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6615, the Traumatic Brain
Injury Program Reauthorization Act of 2018. I thank Representative Bill
Pascrell of New Jersey for his good work on this important legislation.
I am glad to support his efforts to bring another bipartisan public
health bill forward for the full House to consider.
Mr. Speaker, the House unanimously passed a version of this bill just
last week, and now that the Senate has made some technical changes, we
are here to pass it once again and send it to President Trump's desk so
it can become law.
H.R. 6615 will reauthorize the CDC's traumatic brain injury
initiatives, and establish a national concussion surveillance system.
This surveillance system will be able to accurately determine how many
Americans, both children and adults, get a concussion each year, and
the cause of that concussion. This data would provide real benefits to
public health officials and patients in local communities and States
across the country as we seek to better understand traumatic brain
injury and best practices surrounding these injuries.
I know all too well from personal experience--I have a brother who
was injured in a motorcycle accident and suffered pretty severe TBI--as
somebody who has dealt with that, continues to, and works with men and
women in uniform and those in my district, this is important
legislation. It will help bring hope and better health outcomes for
people who suffer from TBI and maybe even prevent a few of those
injuries along the way.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Senate amendment to H.R. 6615,
the Traumatic Brain Injury Program Reauthorization Act of 2018, led by
Congressman Pascrell and Congressman Rooney.
This legislation would reauthorize programs at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention that would work to reduce the incidence
of traumatic brain injury in the United States.
These programs also help improve our understanding of the prevention
and treatment of traumatic brain injuries through surveillance efforts.
This reauthorization would expand upon existing efforts to
reauthorize CDC to establish a new national concussion surveillance
system to determine the prevalence and the incidence of concussions in
the United States. I commend the sponsors of this bill and the work
they have done.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Burgess), the chairman of our Subcommittee on Health, who
has done so much work on the cause of good public policy related to
healthcare.
Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for the recognition.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6615, the Traumatic Brain
Injury Program Reauthorization Act.
For those watching last week, the House passed this bill by a voice
vote. Now our Senate counterparts have passed the bill with a small
amendment. It is important to note that should this bill pass the
Chamber today, as I believe it will, the legislation will be sent to
President Trump's desk and signed into law.
I thank our House leaders on this bill, Representative Bill Pascrell
and Representative Thomas Rooney, for pushing this important
initiative. This legislation reauthorizes the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention traumatic brain injury initiatives.
The aggregation of these programs that will be reauthorized by this
legislation provide much hope to the individuals and families who are
affected by traumatic brain injury. We still have a lot to learn about
the risks and the short- and long-term effects of traumatic brain
injury. This legislation will help increase our goal of increasing
knowledge, awareness, and treatment of traumatic brain injury.
Once again, I thank my colleagues for supporting this legislation
last week, nearly identical legislation, now sent back to us from the
Senate with a small amendment, and I urge passage.
Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), who has done tremendous work
on this issue.
Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6615, the Traumatic
Brain Injury Program Reauthorization Act of 2018.
I join the traumatic brain injury community in expressing my
gratitude to both Chairman Walden and our incoming Chairman Frank
Pallone for their work to swiftly move this important legislation
forward. Millions of Americans living with a traumatic brain injury can
be assured that better treatments and potential cures are in the not
too distant future.
While the House passed legislation unanimously just last week, the
Senate made some minor changes that are both welcome and nonsubstantive
before they passed the bill yesterday.
There is one semantic change that does not have any impact on
definitions or programs, as well as a regrouping of funding in the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention TBI budget.

While the bill includes the same amount of funding that was included
before, it will give the CDC more flexibility to use and sustain their
funding to implement the National Concussion Surveillance System. As
the lead sponsor of this bill, I fought hard to ensure it contain the
increase in funding that we secured in the fiscal year 2018 omnibus, as
well as enough funding for CDC to finally be able to implement the
Nation's first surveillance program.
I might add to the Speaker and to Mr. Walden, back in 1999 and 2000,
when we put the task force together with Jim Greenwood from
Pennsylvania, this was our first objective. After 20 years--we are slow
learners--we finally got it done. This is going to be a big help to
researchers and doctors throughout the United States of America.
The CDC has wanted to implement this for years. This funding will
finally allow them to capture the full picture of brain injury so that
we can better understand the breadth and depth of

[[Page H10282]]

the problem and use that to work towards solutions.
Helping people who have suffered these catastrophic injuries is not a
political subject. There is no Democratic or Republican way to treat a
traumatic brain injury. I am pleased that we have strong sponsors and
support from both parties on both sides of the aisle.
When I co-founded the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force in 2001,
Members, including me, were unaware of the extent and impact of TBI--I
will be very frank with you. Today, we fulfill decades-long work from
tireless advocates to bolster our Federal agencies, States, and local
providers. They deserve Federal resources to provide the support and
breakthrough research necessary to put an end to this condition.
The TBI Act reauthorization will help servicemembers on and off the
battlefield, athletes on the ball field, and children and families
across the country who are living with brain injuries. We have a long
way to go, but the journey forward is clearer today with the passage of
this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I commend Senator Hatch and Senator Casey for quickly
advancing this important legislation in the Senate. I will continue
working with them and my co-chair, Tom Rooney, to ensure this
legislation is soon signed by the President.
Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I again encourage Members to
support this legislation. As was indicated, it has taken a long 20
years to achieve this success. Hopefully, we can support this and
provide, again, a great initiative on behalf of those who suffer from
traumatic brain injury.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this is really important work. Again, I commend Mr.
Pascrell for his incredible efforts on this initiative. I know it has
taken 20 years. I might say, maybe it just took the right chairman of
the Energy and Commerce Committee to get it done finally, but it is
probably more than that.
But I just want to say, this will bring hope. It will bring better
health outcomes and will save lives with this legislation as well.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

{time} 1530

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden) that the House suspend the rules and
concur in the Senate amendment to the bill, H.R. 6615.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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