II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 786
To fully fund the Prevention and Public Health Fund and reaffirm the
importance of prevention in the United States healthcare system.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY27, 2025
Mr. B
LUMENTHAL(for himself, Ms. SMITH, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. MURRAY,
Mr. W
YDEN, Mr. MARKEY, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To fully fund the Prevention and Public Health Fund and
reaffirm the importance of prevention in the United
States healthcare system.
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 ‘‘Public Health Funding 4
Restoration Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) The Prevention and Public Health Fund 8
(section 4002 of the Patient Protection and Afford-9
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S786.IS S786
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•S 786 IS
able Care Act (42 U.S.C. 300u–11) was designed 1
‘‘to provide for expanded and sustained national in-2
vestment in prevention and public health programs 3
to improve health and help restrain the rate of 4
growth in private and public health care costs’’. 5
(2) Funding under such section is essential to 6
core efforts at the Department of Health and 7
Human Services and in State, local, Tribal, and ter-8
ritorial health departments to prevent and control 9
the spread of infectious disease and prevent injuries 10
and the development of chronic conditions. 11
(3) Prevention and Public Health Fund dollars 12
support evidenced-based investments in tobacco use 13
prevention and cessation, nutrition, mental health, 14
childhood lead poisoning prevention, elder care ini-15
tiatives, and immunizations, among other prevention 16
initiatives. Funding gives States and communities 17
the flexibility to respond to public health threats 18
that may be unique to their communities and bol-19
sters the State, local, Tribal, and territorial response 20
to global public health threats. 21
(4) Such prevention efforts have shown to be 22
effective. Funding increases for community-based 23
public health programs reduce infant deaths and 24
preventable deaths caused by cancer, diabetes, and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S786.IS S786
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•S 786 IS
cardiovascular disease. Every dollar spent on preven-1
tion saves nearly $6 in health spending and every 2
dollar spent on childhood vaccines saves $16.50 in 3
future health care costs. 4
(5) Investments in prevention reduce the cost of 5
health care in the United States. $2,900,000,000 in 6
investments in community-based disease prevention 7
is estimated to save $16,500,000,000 annually with-8
in 5 years. 9
(6) Cuts to the Prevention and Public Health 10
Fund and other public health prevention efforts un-11
dermine efforts to create an affordable and acces-12
sible health care system, and a better quality of life 13
for Americans. 14
(7) Cuts to the Prevention and Public Health 15
Fund endanger the ability of States and localities to 16
distribute vaccinations and public health information 17
successfully. The Prevention and Public Health 18
Fund is critical to the growth of the Centers for 19
Disease Control and Prevention’s section 317 Immu-20
nization Program and to the Epidemiology and Lab-21
oratory Capacity program. 22
(8) Restoring Prevention and Public Health 23
Fund funding to $2,000,000,000 annually will allow 24
the Fund to invest in more innovative, evidence- 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S786.IS S786
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•S 786 IS
based public health programs and maintain and ex-1
pand investments in programs with demonstrated 2
success. 3
(9) Restoring Prevention and Public Health 4
Fund funding to $2,000,000,000 will give the Cen-5
ters for Disease Control and Prevention and State, 6
local, Tribal, and territorial health departments 7
funding that they need to invest in prevention ef-8
forts that will help the country avoid future 9
pandemics and epidemics. 10
SEC. 3. PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH FUND. 11
Section 4002(b) of the Patient Protection and Af-12
fordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 300u–11(b)) is amended— 13
(1) in paragraph (4), by adding at the end 14
‘‘and’’; and 15
(2) by striking paragraphs (5) through (10) 16
and inserting the following: 17
‘‘(5) for fiscal year 2026 and each fiscal year 18
thereafter, $2,000,000,000.’’. 19
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S786.IS S786
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB