I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2040
To authorize funding for the creation and implementation of infant mortality
pilot programs in standard metropolitan statistical areas with high rates
of infant mortality, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH11, 2025
Mr. C
OHEN(for himself, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mrs. CHERFILUS-
M
CCORMICK, Mr. GARCI´Aof Illinois, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms.
N
ORTON, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Ms. WASSERMANSCHULTZ, and Ms. OMAR)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce
A BILL
To authorize funding for the creation and implementation
of infant mortality pilot programs in standard metropoli-
tan statistical areas with high rates of infant mortality,
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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nationally Enhancing 4
the Well-being of Babies through Outreach and Research 5
Now Act’’ or the ‘‘NEWBORN Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. INFANT MORTALITY PILOT PROGRAMS. 1
Section 330H of the Public Health Service Act (42 2
U.S.C. 254c–8) is amended— 3
(1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 4
subsections (f) and (g), respectively; 5
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-6
lowing: 7
‘‘(e) I
NFANTMORTALITYPILOTPROGRAMS.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 9
through the Administrator, shall award grants to eli-10
gible entities to create, implement, and oversee in-11
fant mortality pilot programs. 12
‘‘(2) P
ERIOD OF A GRANT .—The period of a 13
grant under this subsection shall be up to 5 years. 14
‘‘(3) P
REFERENCE.—In awarding grants under 15
this subsection, the Secretary shall give preference 16
to— 17
‘‘(A) eligible entities proposing to serve 18
any of the 50 counties or groups of counties 19
with the highest rates of infant mortality in the 20
United States based on the most recent 3 years 21
of available national infant mortality data, as 22
determined by the Secretary; and 23
‘‘(B) eligible entities whose proposed infant 24
mortality pilot program would address— 25
‘‘(i) birth defects; 26
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‘‘(ii) preterm birth and low birth 1
weight; 2
‘‘(iii) sudden infant death; 3
‘‘(iv) maternal pregnancy complica-4
tions; or 5
‘‘(v) injuries to infants. 6
‘‘(4) U
SE OF FUNDS.—Any infant mortality 7
pilot program funded under this subsection may— 8
‘‘(A) include the development of a plan 9
that identifies the individual needs of each com-10
munity to be served and strategies to address 11
those needs; 12
‘‘(B) provide outreach to at-risk mothers 13
through programs deemed appropriate by the 14
Administrator; 15
‘‘(C) develop and implement standardized 16
systems for improved access, utilization, and 17
quality of social, educational, and clinical serv-18
ices to promote healthy pregnancies, full-term 19
births, and healthy infancies delivered to women 20
and their infants, such as— 21
‘‘(i) counseling on infant care, feed-22
ing, and parenting; 23
‘‘(ii) postpartum care; 24
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‘‘(iii) prevention of premature deliv-1
ery; and 2
‘‘(iv) additional counseling for at-risk 3
mothers, including smoking cessation pro-4
grams, drug treatment programs, alcohol 5
treatment programs, nutrition and physical 6
activity programs, postpartum depression 7
and domestic violence programs, social and 8
psychological services, dental care, and 9
parenting programs; 10
‘‘(D) establish a rural outreach program to 11
provide care to at-risk mothers in rural areas; 12
‘‘(E) establish a regional public education 13
campaign, including a campaign to— 14
‘‘(i) prevent preterm births; and 15
‘‘(ii) educate the public about infant 16
mortality; 17
‘‘(F) provide for any other activities, pro-18
grams, or strategies as identified by the plan; 19
and 20
‘‘(G) coordinate efforts between— 21
‘‘(i) the health department of each 22
county or other eligible entity to be served 23
through the infant mortality pilot program; 24
and 25
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‘‘(ii) existing entities that work to re-1
duce the rate of infant mortality within the 2
area of any such county or other eligible 3
entity. 4
‘‘(5) L
IMITATION.—Of the funds received 5
through a grant under this subsection for a fiscal 6
year, an eligible entity shall not use more than 10 7
percent for program evaluation. 8
‘‘(6) R
EPORTS ON PILOT PROGRAMS .— 9
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 10
after receiving a grant, and annually thereafter 11
for the duration of the grant period, each entity 12
that receives a grant under paragraph (1) shall 13
submit a report to the Secretary detailing its 14
infant mortality pilot program. 15
‘‘(B) C
ONTENTS OF REPORT .—The reports 16
required under subparagraph (A) shall include 17
information such as the methodology of, and 18
outcomes and statistics from, the grantee’s in-19
fant mortality pilot program. 20
‘‘(C) E
VALUATION.—The Secretary shall 21
use the reports required under subparagraph 22
(A) to evaluate, and conduct statistical research 23
on, infant mortality pilot programs funded 24
through this subsection. 25
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‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this 1
subsection: 2
‘‘(A) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Admin-3
istrator’ means the Administrator of the Health 4
Resources and Services Administration. 5
‘‘(B) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi-6
ble entity’ means— 7
‘‘(i) a county, city, territorial, or Trib-8
al health department; or 9
‘‘(ii) in the case of a State with a cen-10
tralized health department, the State 11
health department. 12
‘‘(C) T
RIBAL.—The term ‘Tribal’ refers to 13
an Indian tribe, a Tribal organization, or an 14
Urban Indian organization, as such terms are 15
defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care 16
Improvement Act.’’; 17
(3) in subsection (f), as so redesignated— 18
(A) in paragraph (1)— 19
(i) in the heading, by striking ‘‘A
U-20
THORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS ’’ and 21
inserting ‘‘H
EALTHY START INITIATIVE ’’; 22
and 23
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(ii) by inserting ‘‘(other than sub-1
section (e))’’ after ‘‘carrying out this sec-2
tion’’; 3
(B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 4
paragraph (3); 5
(C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 6
following: 7
‘‘(2) I
NFANT MORTALITY PILOT PROGRAMS .— 8
There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 9
for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 to carry 10
out subsection (e).’’; and 11
(D) in paragraph (3)(A), as so redesig-12
nated, by striking ‘‘the program under this sec-13
tion’’ and inserting ‘‘the program under sub-14
section (a)’’; and 15
(4) in paragraphs (2) and (3)(B) of subsection 16
(g), as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘subsection 17
(e)(2)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (f)(3)(B)’’. 18
Æ
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