I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1978
To direct the Secretary of Defense to develop a strategy to treat obesity
as a disease and reduce the prevalence of obesity in certain Armed
Forces, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH10, 2025
Mr. B
UCHANAN(for himself and Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Defense to develop a strategy
to treat obesity as a disease and reduce the prevalence
of obesity in certain Armed Forces, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. COMBATING OBESITY IN CERTAIN ARMED 3
FORCES. 4
(a) S
TRATEGY ANDEDUCATIONALCAMPAIGN.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than one year 6
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-7
retary of Defense shall— 8
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(A) develop a strategy to align the obesity- 1
related programs of the Department of Defense 2
with the classification of obesity as a medically 3
accepted disease; and 4
(B) conduct an educational campaign to 5
promote awareness, diagnosis, and treatment of 6
obesity as a disease in the covered Armed 7
Forces. 8
(2) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR STRATEGY .—The 9
strategy developed under paragraph (1)(A) shall in-10
clude the following: 11
(A) A plan to coordinate obesity-related 12
programs across the Department of Defense to 13
treat obesity as a disease and reduce the preva-14
lence of obesity in the covered Armed Forces. 15
(B) An assessment of the effectiveness of 16
health programs of the Department of Defense 17
that are intended to educate, prevent, or treat 18
obesity among members of the covered Armed 19
Forces, and a plan to modify or update such 20
programs to treat obesity as a disease. 21
(C) An assessment of the adequacy of nu-22
trition education for physicians and other 23
health care practitioners in the military health 24
system to evaluate and treat obesity as a dis-25
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ease, including the need for any additional edu-1
cation or guidelines for such physicians and 2
other health care practitioners. 3
(D) A strategy to work toward members of 4
the covered Armed Forces with obesity receiving 5
appropriate treatment. 6
(3) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR EDUCATIONAL CAM -7
PAIGN.—The educational campaign conducted under 8
paragraph (1)(B) shall include the following: 9
(A) Information to educate members of the 10
covered Armed Forces regarding best practices 11
to prevent, reduce, or mitigate obesity, and 12
available resources to address the root causes of 13
obesity. 14
(B) Information targeted to physicians and 15
other health care practitioners in the military 16
health system to promote diagnosis and treat-17
ment of obesity as a disease. 18
(4) C
ONSULTATION.—In developing the strat-19
egy and educational campaign required by para-20
graph (1), the Secretary of Defense shall consult 21
with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 22
acting through the Administrator of the Centers for 23
Medicare & Medicaid Services, and other agencies of 24
the Department of Health and Human Services, as 25
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determined appropriate by the Secretary of Health 1
and Human Services. 2
(b) I
NCLUSION OF INFORMATION REGARDING 3
U
NMETWEIGHTSTANDARDS INCERTAINREPORTS.— 4
Beginning not later than one year after the date of the 5
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall in-6
clude information regarding unmet weight standards in 7
any report submitted by the Secretary to Congress regard-8
ing disqualifications for enlistment in, disability incurred 9
in, or medical discharges from, the covered Armed Forces. 10
(c) A
DDITIONALDEPARTMENT OF DEFENSERE-11
PORTS.— 12
(1) E
FFECTS OF OBESITY ON READINESS OF 13
COVERED ARMED FORCES .—Not later than one year 14
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-15
retary of Defense, in consultation with the Adminis-16
trator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Serv-17
ices, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 18
committees a report regarding the effects of obesity 19
on the readiness of the covered Armed Forces. Such 20
report shall include legislative recommendations of 21
the Secretary to address such effects. 22
(2) E
FFECTIVENESS OF OBESITY , FOOD, AND 23
NUTRITION-RELATED PROGRAMS OF DEPARTMENT 24
OF DEFENSE.—Not later than one year after the 25
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date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 1
thereafter, the Director of the Defense Health Agen-2
cy shall submit to the appropriate congressional 3
committees a report on the effectiveness of the obe-4
sity, food, and nutrition-related programs of the De-5
partment of Defense in reducing obesity and improv-6
ing military readiness. 7
(d) GAO R
EPORT.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than one year 9
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 10
Comptroller General of the United States shall sub-11
mit to the appropriate congressional committees a 12
report analyzing the existing obesity, food, and nu-13
trition-related programs of the Department of De-14
fense. 15
(2) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The report required by 16
paragraph (1) shall include the following: 17
(A) An assessment of programs directed to 18
members of the covered Armed Forces. 19
(B) An assessment of programs directed to 20
health care providers in the military health sys-21
tem. 22
(C) An assessment of the effectiveness of 23
such programs in reducing obesity and the im-24
pact of obesity on military readiness. 25
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(D) Recommendations to coordinate and 1
improve existing programs to reduce obesity 2
and the impact of obesity on military readiness. 3
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 4
(1) The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-5
mittees’’ means the following: 6
(A) The Committee on Armed Services of 7
the House of Representatives. 8
(B) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 9
the House of Representatives. 10
(C) The Committee on Ways and Means of 11
the House of Representatives. 12
(D) The Committee on Energy and Com-13
merce of the House of Representatives. 14
(E) The Committee on Armed Services of 15
the Senate. 16
(F) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 17
the Senate. 18
(G) The Committee on Finance of the Sen-19
ate. 20
(H) The Committee on Health, Education, 21
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 22
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(2) The term ‘‘covered Armed Force’’ means 1
the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, or Space 2
Force. 3
Æ
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