[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.

                          ____________________