I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2178
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health
and Human Services to carry out a program of research related to
cerebral palsy, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH18, 2025
Mr. C
OHEN(for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. CLEAVER, and Ms. NORTON)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the
Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out
a program of research related to cerebral palsy, 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 ‘‘Cerebral Palsy Re-4
search Program Authorization Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) Cerebral palsy is the most common lifelong 1
motor impairment in children, affecting more than 2
1,000,000 Americans, 1 in 345 children, and over 3
17,000,000 people worldwide. 4
(2) In the United States, more than 10,000 ba-5
bies are diagnosed with cerebral palsy each year. 6
(3) Cerebral palsy is a broad group of disorders 7
disrupting a person’s ability to move, sit, stand, 8
walk, talk, and use their hands. 9
(4) In more than 80 percent of cases, the cause 10
of cerebral palsy is unknown. 11
(5) Seventy-five percent of individuals with cer-12
ebral palsy also have 1 or more additional develop-13
mental disabilities including epilepsy, intellectual dis-14
abilities, communication problems, learning and at-15
tention disorders, chronic pain, autism, hearing dis-16
orders, and visual impairments or blindness. 17
(6) Children with cerebral palsy are more likely 18
to die from the flu and related viruses, including 19
COVID–19, than children without neurologic dis-20
orders. 21
(7) There is no consensus of best practices for 22
a person with cerebral palsy at the time of diagnosis 23
or through the lifespan. 24
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(8) It is estimated that the lifetime care and 1
medical costs for all people with cerebral palsy who 2
were born in 2000 alone will total more than 3
$13,500,000,000. The loss of productivity and lost 4
wages of the individual with cerebral palsy and their 5
family members is more than $35,000,000,000. 6
(9) Although there is not yet a known cure for 7
many types of cerebral palsy, we know that treat-8
ment breakthroughs and the prevention of many 9
types of cerebral palsy is possible. 10
SEC. 3. CEREBRAL PALSY RESEARCH. 11
Title III of the Public Health Service Act is amended 12
by inserting after section 317C of such Act (42 U.S.C. 13
247b–4) the following new section: 14
‘‘SEC. 317C–1. CEREBRAL PALSY RESEARCH. 15
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 16
the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-17
vention, and in consultation with other Federal agencies 18
and partners, shall carry out (directly or through grants 19
or contracts) a program of research related to cerebral 20
palsy, including— 21
‘‘(1) research on— 22
‘‘(A) the most promising avenues of cere-23
bral palsy diagnosis and treatment; 24
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‘‘(B) factors that may mitigate the preva-1
lence of cerebral palsy; and 2
‘‘(C) the health care and societal costs of 3
cerebral palsy; 4
‘‘(2) public health surveillance; and 5
‘‘(3) other research that the Director of the 6
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deter-7
mines to be appropriate to provide education and 8
training for health professionals and the general 9
public for purposes of diagnosing, treating, and ex-10
plaining the causes, prevalence, and lifelong effects 11
of cerebral palsy. 12
‘‘(b) T
ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may 13
(directly or through grants or contracts) provide technical 14
assistance to public and nonprofit private entities in fur-15
therance of research under this section. 16
‘‘(c) E
VALUATIONS.—The Secretary shall (directly or 17
through grants or contracts) provide for the evaluation of 18
activities under subsection (a) in order to determine the 19
extent to which such activities have been effective, includ-20
ing evaluation of the effects of such activities on various 21
demographic populations. 22
‘‘(d) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 23
carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro-24
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priated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 1
2031.’’. 2
Æ
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