21st Century Cures Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
21st Century Cures Act
(Sec. 2) The NIH and Cures Innovation Fund is established and funds are appropriated: (1) for biomedical research, including high-risk, high-reward research and research conducted by early stage investigators; (2) to develop and implement a strategic plan for biomedical research; and (3) to carry out specified provisions of this Act.
TITLE I--DISCOVERY
Subtitle A--National Institutes of Health Funding
(Sec. 1001) This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through FY2018.
(Sec. 1002) The NIH must establish an Innovation Prizes Program to fund areas of biomedical science that could realize significant advancements or improve health outcomes.
Subtitle B--National Institutes of Health Planning and Administration
(Sec. 1022) Directors of national research institutes and national centers have five-year terms in office.
(Sec. 1023) The NIH must reduce the administrative burdens of researchers funded by the NIH.
(Sec. 1027) The support the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences may provide to clinical trials is extended through a later clinical trial phase.
(Sec. 1028) Each national research institute must conduct or support high-risk, high-reward research.
Subtitle C--Supporting Young Emerging Scientists
(Sec. 1041) A loan repayment program is established for health professionals engaging in research. The maximum awards of other loan repayment programs are increased.
Subtitle D--Capstone Grant Program
(Sec. 1061) Capstone Awards are established to support outstanding scientists in concluding research programs. Recipients cannot be principal investigators on subsequent NIH awards.
Subtitle E--Promoting Pediatric Research through the National Institutes of Health
(Sec. 1081) The Pediatric Research Initiative is revised to require establishment of a National Pediatric Research Network comprised of pediatric research consortia.
(Sec. 1083) The NIH must convene a workshop on appropriate age groupings and age exclusions in human research and must publish the number of children included in NIH research.
Subtitle F--Advancement of the National Institutes of Health Research and Data Access
(Sec. 1101) The NIH must standardize data in the clinical trial registry data bank.
The summary continues for 84 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on July 10, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 13, 2015: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
FRED UPTON (R-MI) introduced it on May 19, 2015, and 230 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 121 Democrats, 109 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 19, 2015, 4132 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4077 days ago, on July 13, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers