I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1966
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration,
to award grants to expand and improve maternal health care services,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH6, 2025
Ms. W
ATERS(for herself, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Ms. ADAMS, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms.
B
ROWN, Mr. CARSON, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CLARKEof
New York, Mr. C
OHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. DEANof
Pennsylvania, Mr. D
OGGETT, Mr. FIELDS, Mr. FIGURES, Mr.
G
OTTHEIMER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. JACKSONof Illinois, Mr.
J
OHNSONof Georgia, Ms. LEEof Pennsylvania, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. NOR-
TON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. SWALWELL,
Mr. T
HANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. VARGAS,
Ms. V
ELA´ZQUEZ, and Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services,
acting through the Administrator of the Health Re-
sources and Services Administration, to award grants
to expand and improve maternal health care services,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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•HR 1966 IH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mamas and Babies 2
in Underserved Communities Act of 2025’’. 3
SEC. 2. GRANTS TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE MATERNAL 4
HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN UNDERSERVED 5
COMMUNITIES. 6
Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 7
241 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 317K 8
of such Act (247b–12) the following: 9
‘‘SEC. 317K–1. GRANTS TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE MATER-10
NAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN UNDER-11
SERVED COMMUNITIES. 12
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 13
grants to eligible entities— 14
‘‘(1) to expand maternal health care services, 15
including prenatal care, postnatal care for infants, 16
and postpartum care for mothers; 17
‘‘(2) to improve the quality of such services; 18
‘‘(3) to improve health outcomes for women and 19
infants receiving such services; and 20
‘‘(4) to reduce disparities in access to care, in 21
the quality of services received, and in health out-22
comes for women and infants in need of such serv-23
ices. 24
‘‘(b) E
LIGIBLEENTITIES.—In this section, the term 25
‘eligible entity’ means a public or nonprofit private health 26
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•HR 1966 IH
care provider that serves one or more minority, low-in-1
come, or medically underserved communities. 2
‘‘(c) P
RIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec-3
tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 4
that, as determined by the Secretary— 5
‘‘(1) primarily serve minority, low-income, or 6
medically underserved communities; 7
‘‘(2) are led by individuals who have lived, were 8
educated, or currently reside in the communities 9
served; and 10
‘‘(3) are geographically located in the commu-11
nities served. 12
‘‘(d) C
ONDITIONS FOR RECEIVINGGRANTS.—As a 13
condition on receipt of a grant under this section, an eligi-14
ble entity shall agree— 15
‘‘(1) to provide the health care services sup-16
ported through the grant in a culturally and linguis-17
tically appropriate manner; and 18
‘‘(2) to limit the percentage of grant funds used 19
for administrative expenses to not more than 10 per-20
cent. 21
‘‘(e) A
PPLICATION.—To seek a grant under this sec-22
tion, an eligible entity shall submit an application at such 23
time, in such manner, and containing such information 24
and assurances as the Secretary may require. 25
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‘‘(f) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall require 1
grantees under this section— 2
‘‘(1) to maximize the coordination of activities 3
funded through this section with other federally 4
funded maternal health care activities; and 5
‘‘(2) to minimize the duplication of such activi-6
ties. 7
‘‘(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
‘‘(1) The term ‘medically underserved commu-9
nity’ has the meaning given to such term in section 10
799B. 11
‘‘(2) The terms ‘postnatal’ and ‘postpartum’ 12
refer to the period of 12 months following an in-13
fant’s birth. 14
‘‘(h) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 15
carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro-16
priated such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 17
2026 through 2030.’’. 18
Æ
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