PIPES Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Preventing Illicit Paraphernalia for Exchange Systems Act or the PIPES Act
This bill restricts the use of funding made available through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for community-based overdose prevention programs, syringe services programs, and other harm reduction programs.
First, the bill prohibits the use of the act's funding to procure or distribute pipes or other paraphernalia that can be used to smoke, inhale, or ingest narcotics.
Second, the bill applies to the act's funding the conditions that apply to other funding from the Department of Health and Human Services for syringe services programs and needle exchange programs. The conditions require that programs (1) operate in a jurisdiction experiencing (or at risk for) increased transmission of hepatitis and HIV infections due to injection drug use, (2) use nonfederal funds for the purchase of syringes or needles, and (3) otherwise follow applicable laws.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on February 14, 2022. 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 February 14, 2022: 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 Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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 117th Congress (2021-22), 362 of the 15,242 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 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?
Joseph Manchin (D-WV) introduced it on February 14, 2022, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
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 February 14, 2022, 1669 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1669 days ago, on February 14, 2022.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 117th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2023 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers