Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1191, I call up the bill (H.R. 5595) to establish the Advanced Research Projects Agency Health, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. PALLONE. 5585.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 5585, the Advance Research Projects Agency-Health Act, or ARPA-H Act.

In February, the Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the Biden administration's proposal to establish the Advance Research Projects Agency for Health, better known as ARPA-H.

The agency is modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The mission of ARPA-H is to translate fundamental biomedical research into breakthrough platform technologies that would change healthcare as we know it.

ARPA-H would focus on the highest-risk, highest-reward issues in disease research. It will attempt to solve the problems that the private and public sectors have not been able to conquer. The expectations we have for this agency are justifiably high.

Our hope is that within 5 years of operations, ARPA-H will have led to the development of cutting-edge treatments and cures for cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and mental health conditions.

In order to be truly successful, we must ensure that all Americans have access to these innovations. Equity and promoting the health of all Americans must also be part of ARPA-H's mission.

The fiscal year 2022 omnibus appropriations law provided the Department of Health and Human Services with $1 billion to get ARPA-H off the ground. We must now provide the necessary and appropriate authorities to make ARPA-H successful, to clarify its mission and its organizational structure, and ensure that the work at ARPA-H is not duplicative or redundant. H.R. 5585 does just that.

ARPA-H will be led by a director and cadre of program managers with the autonomy and authority to develop high-risk, high-reward portfolios. This will be coupled with the appropriate contracting, hiring, and procurement authorities that will pull from the best minds and resources in the biomedical research ecosystem.

This legislation authorizes $500 million annually for 5 fiscal years. ARPA-H projects will be time- and milestone-limited, ensuring that each project delivers real and measurable results. The ARPA-H Act includes reporting requirements to ensure proper compliance and avoid the redundancy. The director will be required to submit reports on the actions, results, and forthcoming strategic plans of ARPA-H to Congress so that we can confirm that the agency is meeting our intent.

So last month, the Committee on Energy and Commerce advanced H.R. 5585 by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 55-3. This was a tremendous achievement and demonstrates Congress' ability to come together and find solutions that will improve the health of all Americans.

I thank Health Subcommittee Chairwoman Eshoo, who is the author of this legislation, along with Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Guthrie, our full committee Ranking Member Rodgers, and also Representatives DeGette and Upton for their work on this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R.

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Mr. PALLONE. Eshoo), the Health Subcommittee chair and the author of this legislation.

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Mr. PALLONE. DeGette), the chair of our Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee who has also worked on ARPA-H in the very beginning.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I must say that for many years we had a Congressman Brown on the committee who contributed a lot, particularly on healthcare issues. He chaired the Health Subcommittee. So it is an honor to hear from Ms. Brown of Ohio. We have another Congresswoman Brown from Ohio.

Brown).

Mr. Speaker, I just want to say in closing that I think you can feel the real enthusiasm and the hope that is involved with both the sponsors of this bill and those who spoke on both sides of the aisle.

We consider ourselves, the Energy and Commerce Committee, the innovation committee, and I think this is a prime example of the type of innovation that we see for the future and the hope in ARPA-H.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask for everyone on a bipartisan basis to vote for this, so we have a strong vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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