Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 5585, the Advanced Research Projects Agency--Health Act. During my time in Congress, I have been a strong supporter of basic medical research, and I recognize the potential translational medical research holds when it builds off this prior research. The discoveries made by our scientists at NIH and at NIH-funded universities across the nation have the potential to transform the delivery of health care and the prevention, treatment, and ultimately curing of disease.
That support for research and its potential to transform the delivery of health care led me to be an initial supporter of ARPA-H. In collaboration with my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, we provided ARPA-H with some initial funding in the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus.
However, we are appropriators, not authorizers, and many of the basic decisions about the structure and functions of the agency had to be left unmade and instead be delegated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. As I mentioned to him when he came before my subcommittee this spring, Congress still did not know how grants would be made or funded or how ARPA-H would interface with NIH.
I am pleased that this bill from the House Energy and Commerce Committee answers these questions and provides Congress the opportunity to shape this agency in line with our original intent. I am especially pleased that the resulting bill is fiscally responsible and will ensure proper oversight of ARPA-H as it implements this new research arm. H.R. 5585 establishes ARPA-H as an independent agency within HHS--separate from NIH--and provides its director with independence from NIH. It also establishes clear agency goals and mission and provides a framework for coordination to ensure ARPA-H's efforts will not duplicate or cannibalize the research efforts of other federal agencies, particularly NIH. Importantly, it also prohibits awards being made to foreign researchers and entities operating at behest of or in concert with our adversaries.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
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