{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://lipinski.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=91&itemid=3134", "Lipinski Helps Pass Life-Saving 21st Century Cures Act", "2016-12-01", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Daniel Lipinski", "L000563", "lipinski.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) joined with colleagues from both sides of the aisle last night to pass the 21st Century Cures Act.\u00a0 The bill will boost funding for biomedical research, and streamline and update the approval process for medical innovations, improving the quality of life for many Americans.\r\n\r\n\t\u201cThis legislation will help speed the development and delivery of life-saving cures,\u201d said Rep. Lipinski.\u00a0 \u201cIt provides a critical infusion of resources for medical research, as I have long advocated for.\u00a0While not compromising patient safety, it will speed up the process by which medications and medical devices are approved in order to get new treatments to patients faster.\u00a0 While this bill is not perfect, I am glad the House could come together to get legislation passed that will improve the lives of so many people.\u201d\r\n\r\n\tHighlights from the bill include:\r\n\r\n\t\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Special National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration\u00a0(FDA) innovation accounts to support special biomedical research projects and streamlined approval for new drugs and medical devices.\u00a0 NIH would receive $4.8 billion over 10 years, while the FDA would receive $500 million.\u00a0 These funds would support important priorities set out by the current administration, including research on personalized medicine and Vice President Biden\u2019s \u201cCancer Moonshot\u201d initiative.\r\n\r\n\t\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The formal reauthorization of the NIH through FY2020.\u00a0 The reauthorization requires the NIH to support prize competitions to promote biomedical research for serious health conditions, improve transparency by allowing the NIH Director to require grant recipients to share data generated from NIH-funded research, and focus on supporting young emerging scientists.\u00a0 In addition, a new pediatric research network will help pool resources and improve coordination for efforts related to pediatric rare diseases and birth defects.\r\n\r\n\t\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New efforts to streamline FDA reviews.\u00a0 Breakthrough medical devices will now receive priority review.\u00a0 The rare pediatric disease priority review voucher program which incentivized the development of new drugs for kids with rare diseases will be renewed until October 1, 2020.\u00a0 The bill also gives the FDA the flexibility to approve antibiotics for life-threatening infections based on smaller clinical trials and allows them to use accelerated approval pathways for regenerative therapeutic products such as cell therapy and gene therapy.\u00a0 The FDA will also have more flexibility to hire staff at rates competitive with the private sector and academia.\u00a0 Currently, the FDA has trouble recruiting enough scientists as employment in the private sector is much more financially lucrative for them.\r\n\r\n\t\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The creation of a fund for states to respond to the opioid abuse crisis.\u00a0 This funding provides resources for the opioid abuse initiatives Congress passed and the President signed into law in July.\u00a0\r\n\r\n\t\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Important provisions to reorganize and expand federal mental health efforts.\u00a0 Mental health research grants will now be subject to closer evaluations and oversight, and federal agencies will be able to better disseminate information about research findings and best practices to providers and consult with stakeholders to improve community-based mental health services.\u00a0 The bill also directs Health and Human Services to clarify situations when medical providers can disclose the private health information of patients with mental illness with their responsible caregivers.\u00a0 Congressman Lipinski supported related mental health legislation when it was first considered as a standalone bill in the House this past summer.\r\n\r\n\t\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An Affordable Care Act (ACA) fix that Lipinski cosponsored to aid small employers who want to help pay for their workers\u2019 health insurance plans.\u00a0 Under the ACA, small employers were not allowed to reimburse their workers for any insurance they purchased on their own, even if the employer did not have the resources to sponsor its own job-based health plan.\u00a0 This provision once again allows small employers to help workers with their health costs in this way.\r\n\r\n\t\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Legislation Lipinski cosponsored to better track the epidemiology of neurological diseases.\r\n\r\n\t\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Healthcare price transparency for Medicare.\u00a0 Because Medicare pays for some services both in hospital outpatient departments and in ambulatory surgical centers, Medicare patients may have different out-of-pocket costs depending on where they go for the service. The bill includes a provision to create a website that would make it easy for Medicare beneficiaries to compare providers\u2019 costs and the resulting out-of-pocket expenses for these procedures.\r\n\r\n\t\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Provisions based on Lipinski\u2019s University Regulation Streamlining and Harmonization Act.\u00a0 The bill reduces the time and resources spent by researchers and universities in complying with excessive, duplicative, and inefficient federal regulations.\r\n\r\n\t\u201cWhile there are many positive aspects to this legislation, passing this bill is only the first step,\u201d stated Rep. Lipinski.\u00a0 \u201cI am disappointed that we could not vote to increase NIH and FDA funding even more, as we did in July of 2015 when the initial version of the 21st Century Cures Act was passed in the House.\u00a0 Furthermore, unlike the bill I supported last year, the legislation we passed last night does not provide a funding guarantee.\u00a0 Continued vigilance from patient advocates and researchers will be needed to ensure that the funding promises in this bill are kept.\u00a0 Congress must also exercise its oversight duties to ensure that the new streamlined FDA approval processes in this bill work as intended and do not facilitate the entry of unduly risky drugs and devices into the market.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://lipinski.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=91&itemid=3134"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2016240507364273, "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"}