I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 741
To elevate the position of Director of the Indian Health Service within
the Department of Health and Human Services to Assistant Secretary
for Indian Health, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mr. S
TANTON(for himself and Mr. JOYCEof Ohio) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in
addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned
A BILL
To elevate the position of Director of the Indian Health
Service within the Department of Health and Human
Services to Assistant Secretary for Indian Health, 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 ‘‘Stronger Engagement 4
for Indian Health Needs Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INDIAN HEALTH. 1
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—Section 601(a) of the Indian 2
Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1661(a)) is 3
amended— 4
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘tribes’’ and 5
inserting ‘‘Tribes’’; 6
(2) in paragraph (2)— 7
(A) by striking ‘‘a Director’’ and inserting 8
‘‘an Assistant Secretary for Indian Health (in 9
this section referred to as the ‘Assistant Sec-10
retary’)’’; 11
(B) by striking ‘‘The Director shall report’’ 12
and inserting ‘‘The Assistant Secretary shall re-13
port directly’’; 14
(C) by striking ‘‘the Director’’ and insert-15
ing ‘‘the Assistant Secretary’’; and 16
(D) by striking ‘‘A Director’’ and inserting 17
‘‘An Assistant Secretary’’; 18
(3) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘date of en-19
actment of the Indian Health Care Improvement Re-20
authorization and Extension Act of 2009 shall serve 21
as Director’’ and inserting ‘‘date of enactment of the 22
Stronger Engagement for Indian Health Needs Act 23
of 2025 shall serve as Assistant Secretary’’; 24
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(4) in paragraph (4), in the matter before sub-1
paragraph (A), by striking ‘‘Director’’ and inserting 2
‘‘Assistant Secretary’’; and 3
(5) by adding at the end the following new 4
paragraph: 5
‘‘(5) D
EPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY .—The As-6
sistant Secretary, with the approval of the Secretary, 7
may appoint a Deputy Assistant Secretary and may 8
employ and prescribe the functions of such officers 9
and employees, including attorneys, as are necessary 10
to administer the activities of the Service.’’. 11
(b) D
UTIES.—Section 601(c) of the Indian Health 12
Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1661(c)) is amended— 13
(1) in the matter before paragraph (1), by 14
striking ‘‘Director’’ and inserting ‘‘Assistant Sec-15
retary’’; and 16
(2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘date of en-17
actment of the Indian Health Care Improvement Re-18
authorization and Extension Act of 2009’’ and in-19
serting ‘‘date of enactment of the Stronger Engage-20
ment for Indian Health Needs Act of 2025’’. 21
(c) A
UTHORITY.—Section 601(d)(1) of the Indian 22
Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1661(d)(1)) is 23
amended in the matter before subparagraph (A), by strik-24
ing ‘‘Director’’ and inserting ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’. 25
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(d) REFERENCES.—Section 601 of the Indian Health 1
Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1661) is amended by 2
adding at the end the following new subsection: 3
‘‘(e) R
EFERENCES.—Any reference to the Director of 4
the Indian Health Service in any Federal law, Executive 5
order, rule, regulation, or delegation of authority, or in 6
any document of or relating to the Director of the Indian 7
Health Service, shall be deemed to refer to the Assistant 8
Secretary.’’. 9
(e) R
ATE OFBASICPAY.— 10
(1) P
OSITIONS AT LEVEL IV.—Section 5315 of 11
title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking 12
‘‘Assistant Secretaries of Health and Human Serv-13
ices (6)’’ and inserting ‘‘Assistant Secretaries of 14
Health and Human Services (7)’’. 15
(2) P
OSITIONS AT LEVEL V.—Section 5316 of 16
title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking 17
‘‘Director, Indian Health Service, Department of 18
Health and Human Services.’’. 19
Æ
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