Policy Corner: April 30, 2021

President Delivers Message to Congress

President Joe Biden delivered his annual address to a joint session of Congress earlier this week. He spoke about his plan for America to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including efforts to treat and vaccinate individuals to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as addressed in the recently passed American Rescue Plan. He highlighted the administration’s efforts to curb hunger, prevent evictions from homes due to lack of payment for rent or mortgage, reduce child poverty, and assist businesses and Americans with employment – all since the passage of the legislation.

President Biden also called for the passage of his American Jobs Plan to invest in infrastructure, including human infrastructure, such as broadband internet and supports for the 800,000 Americans with disabilities or who are aging who are waiting for Medicaid home care and other supports for home and community living. His plan calls for investing in caregivers by increasing wages and benefits, which would both create better jobs and help families who need assistance with caregiving. Another initiative he is proposing is the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to prevent, detect, and treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cancer. These issues were also addressed in his “skinny budget” released April 9 with regard to discretionary funding requests for federal fiscal year 2022.

CBITF Chairs Issue Press Release on TBI Funding

The Congressional Brain Injury Task Force co-chairs, Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Don Bacon (R-Nebr.), issued a press release regarding their bipartisan efforts to obtain support from House colleagues requesting funding increases for vital traumatic brain injury (TBI) programs in fiscal year (FY) 2022. In a letter to the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, Reps. Pascrell and Bacon led 53 of their colleagues requesting funding increases for several programs authorized by the TBI Act, and for the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research TBI Model Systems, administered by the Administration for Community Living. The Members’ requests include: $5 million in funding for the National Concussion Surveillance System, $6.7 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue TBI programming, and an increase of $12 million for TBI-related state grants.

In a separate letter to the Subcommittee on Defense, Reps. Pascrell and Bacon led 56 House colleagues requesting increased funding for the Department of Defense in FY 2022 to identify and care for wounded warriors with TBI and psychological health issues, and to improve research in these areas.

House Committee Holds Hearing on Lingering Effects of COVID-19

The Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing April 28 entitled, “The Long Haul: Forging a Path through the Lingering Effects of COVID-19.” In a press release, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) delivered opening remarks about new health challenges people who have contracted the virus continues to have. Rep. Pallone explained, “These lingering symptoms are being described as long COVID, and it seems to be impacting a lot of people who are otherwise healthy.” He noted that symptoms can include, persistent fatigue, brain fog, headache, loss of smell and taste, dizziness, shortness of breath, fever, depression, and anxiety.

As the result, he said they have heard directly from “long haulers” that the continuation of their symptoms, as well as management of their care can be more of a battle than the initial onset of the virus – both physically and mentally. The goal of the hearing was to learn more about long COVID-19 and what is being done to address it. The panel included representatives from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which are actively monitoring long COVID-19 and are in the process of expanding their research.

BIAA gratefully acknowledges the Centre for Neuro Skills and Avanir Pharmaceuticals for their support for legislative action. Click here to read past issues of Policy Corner.