I 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 1715 To fully fund the Prevention and Public Health Fund and reaffirm the importance of prevention in the United States healthcare system. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY27, 2025 Ms. M ATSUI(for herself, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. C ASTORof Florida, Mr. TONKO, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. C OHEN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. TITUS, Mr. GREENof Texas, Mr. G RIJALVA, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. E LFRETH, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. T HANEDAR, Mr. GARCIAof California, Mr. KHANNA, and Ms. TOKUDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Commerce A BILL To fully fund the Prevention and Public Health Fund and reaffirm the importance of prevention in the United States healthcare system. 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 ‘‘Public Health Funding 4 Restoration Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1715.IH H1715 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1715 IH (1) The Prevention and Public Health Fund 1 (section 4002 of the Patient Protection and Afford-2 able Care Act (42 U.S.C. 300u–11)) was designed 3 ‘‘to provide for expanded and sustained national in-4 vestment in prevention and public health programs 5 to improve health and help restrain the rate of 6 growth in private and public health care costs’’. 7 (2) Funding under such section is essential to 8 core efforts at the Department of Health and 9 Human Services and in State, local, Tribal, and ter-10 ritorial health departments to prevent and control 11 the spread of infectious disease and prevent injuries 12 and the development of chronic conditions. 13 (3) Prevention and Public Health Fund dollars 14 support evidenced-based investments in tobacco use 15 prevention and cessation, nutrition, mental health, 16 childhood lead poisoning prevention, elder care ini-17 tiatives, and immunizations, among other prevention 18 initiatives. Funding gives States and communities 19 the flexibility to respond to public health threats 20 that may be unique to their communities and bol-21 sters the State, local, Tribal, and territorial response 22 to global public health threats. 23 (4) Such prevention efforts have shown to be 24 effective. Funding increases for community-based 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1715.IH H1715 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1715 IH public health programs reduce infant deaths and 1 preventable deaths caused by cancer, diabetes, and 2 cardiovascular disease. Every dollar spent on preven-3 tion saves nearly $6 in health spending and every 4 dollar spent on childhood vaccines saves $16.50 in 5 future health care costs. 6 (5) Investments in prevention reduce the cost of 7 health care in the United States. $2,900,000,000 in 8 investments in community-based disease prevention 9 is estimated to save $16,500,000,000 annually with-10 in 5 years. 11 (6) Cuts to the Prevention and Public Health 12 Fund and other public health prevention efforts un-13 dermine efforts to create an affordable and acces-14 sible health care system, and a better quality of life 15 for Americans. 16 (7) Cuts to the Prevention and Public Health 17 Fund endanger the ability of States and localities to 18 distribute vaccinations and public health information 19 successfully. The Prevention and Public Health 20 Fund is critical to the growth of the Centers for 21 Disease Control and Prevention’s section 317 Immu-22 nization Program and to the Epidemiology and Lab-23 oratory Capacity program. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1715.IH H1715 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1715 IH (8) Restoring Prevention and Public Health 1 Fund funding to $2,000,000,000 annually will allow 2 the Fund to invest in more innovative, evidence- 3 based public health programs and maintain and ex-4 pand investments in programs with demonstrated 5 success. 6 (9) Restoring Prevention and Public Health 7 Fund funding to $2,000,000,000 will give the Cen-8 ters for Disease Control and Prevention and State, 9 local, Tribal, and territorial health departments 10 funding that they need to invest in prevention ef-11 forts that will help the country avoid future 12 pandemics and epidemics. 13 SEC. 3. PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH FUND. 14 Section 4002(b) of the Patient Protection and Af-15 fordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 300u–11(b)) is amended— 16 (1) in paragraph (4), by adding at the end 17 ‘‘and’’; and 18 (2) by striking paragraphs (5) through (10) 19 and inserting the following: 20 ‘‘(5) for fiscal year 2026 and each fiscal year 21 thereafter, $2,000,000,000.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1715.IH H1715 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS