{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415793", "HHS launches new Lyme Clinician LocatorSmith, author of TICK Act, thanks Sec. Kennedy, Pres. Trump for spearheading new Lyme disease initiatives at HHS", "2026-08-17", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Caucus, applauded Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s announcement today that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching a variety of new initiatives to improve patient care, enable earlier diagnoses, and accelerate research for Lyme disease.\n\n\u201cUnder President Trump and Secretary Kennedy\u2019s bold leadership, the HHS is taking important steps towards addressing and mitigating the national public health emergency caused by Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses over the past several decades,\u201d said Smith, whose legislation (HR 4348) to provide $150 million over five years in continued funding for Lyme disease research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives just last month.\n\n\u201cI am grateful to Secretary Kennedy and President Trump for their efforts to improve the lives and outcomes of the millions of Lyme patients throughout the country, and I am glad to see that tick-borne illnesses are no longer taking the back seat in the public health space.\n\n\u201cCritically, the HHS is prioritizing early and accurate diagnoses for Lyme disease, ensuring that often-misdiagnosed patients can receive the correct treatments they need in a timely and efficient manner,\u201d Smith continued.\n\n\u201cThe HHS\u2019s new Lyme Clinician Locator, made possible through their partnership with the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), will help to significantly streamline this process, enabling patients to easily search for Lyme-literate clinicians in their area with a mere click.\n\n\u201cAs Secretary Kennedy also announced, patients can use their voices and experiences to drive science and research further by utilizing CURE ID to share which treatments have worked for them, which have not, and what is needed for the future\u2014all directly with NIH and FDA,\u201d stated Smith.\n\nSmith also highlighted and praised the work of the LymeX Innovation Accelerator Program (LymeX)\u2014a public-private partnership between the HHS and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, which funds prize competitions to advance innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease\u2014in developing two new FDA-approved Lyme diagnostic tools over the past two years.\n\n\u201cLymeX plays a vital role in improving diagnostic criteria and patient outcomes for Lyme disease, which is why I have introduced legislation (HR 7482) to finally codify this groundbreaking program. In addition to permanentizing this critical initiative, my LymeX Authorization Act allocates $5 million to the HHS Secretary to carry out prize competitions to incentivize Lyme disease research,\u201d noted Smith.\n\nFor over three decades, Smith has authored numerous amendments and legislation to enhance and expand federal tick-borne disease research, awareness, and collaboration.\n\nSmith\u2019s HR 4348\u2014which passed the House with broad bipartisan backing in late July\u2014reauthorizes the TICK Act (PL 116-94) that Smith and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) spearheaded in 2019. Smith\u2019s new bill will allocate federal monies to the CDC\u2019s regional Centers of Excellence and provide funding for states in regions that have an elevated risk of Lyme or other tick-borne disease outbreaks, enabling them to work in tandem with the federal government to quickly identify and address such outbreaks.\n\nAs passed by the House, HR 4348 authorizes\u2014over the course of five years\u2014$50 million for the regional Centers of Excellence and $100 million for cooperative agreement funding between states and localities, respectively.\n\nFurthermore, in December of last year, Smith\u2019s amendment to probe whether the Cold War-era Department of War bioweapons program ever used ticks as hosts or delivery mechanisms for biological warfare agents was included within the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was later signed into law (PL 119-60) by President Trump.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-18T05:27:41Z", "2026-08-18T05:29:06Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415793"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5134657733142376, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}