I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2844

To amend the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act 

of 1990 to foster greater understanding of human dietary eating patterns 

and food intake, physical activity level, food security, dietary exposure, 

and nutritional status; to provide timely information to public program 

managers and private sector decision makers to improve nutritional intake, physical activity, health, productivity and other measures of quality 

of life of Americans, based on scientifically established norms and the 

knowledge and experience developed under the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 over the past decade; to 

reauthorize nutrition monitoring programs; and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 9, 2005

Mr. HINCHEY (for himself, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. 

FRANK of Massachusetts, and Mr. AL GREEN of Texas) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL

To amend the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related 

Research Act of 1990 to foster greater understanding 

of human dietary eating patterns and food intake, physical activity level, food security, dietary exposure, and 

nutritional status; to provide timely information to public 

program managers and private sector decision makers 

to improve nutritional intake, physical activity, health, 

productivity and other measures of quality of life of 

Americans, based on scientifically established norms and 

the knowledge and experience developed under the Na-
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tional Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act 

of 1990 over the past decade; to reauthorize nutrition 

monitoring programs; and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as ‘‘National Health, Nutri5 tion, and Physical Activity Monitoring Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 

7 The National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Re8 search Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5301–5342) is amended—

9 (1) by amending section 2 to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

11 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

12 ‘‘(1) The United States faces an epidemic due 

13 to the large number of overweight and obese Ameri14 cans. The Department of Agriculture (in this Act re15 ferred to as ‘USDA’) and the Department Health 

16 and Human Services (in this Act referred to as 

17 ‘DHHS’ ) have identified obesity as a high priority 

18 and are mobilizing resources and staff to address 

19 this growing problem. 

20 ‘‘(2) Two of the major national surveys that 

21 collect data on dietary intakes of foods and nutri22 ents, the National Health and Nutrition Examina23 tion Survey (in this Act referred to as ‘NHANES’) 
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1 conducted by the DHHS, and the Continuing Survey 

2 of Food Intakes by Individuals (in this Act referred 

3 to as ‘CSFII’) previously conducted by the USDA, 

4 were merged in 2002 into an integrated survey in5 tended to be the primary source of nationally rep6 resentative data on the nutritional status and die7 tary intakes of foods and nutrients. 

8 ‘‘(3) The newly integrated NHANES obtains 

9 data that contribute to our understanding of excess 

10 body weight, diabetes, hypertension, 

11 hypercholesterolemia, stroke, gallstones, coronary 

12 heart disease, congestive heart failure, respiratory 

13 problems, bladder control problems, psychological 

14 disorders (such as depression and eating disorders), 

15 certain types of cancer (such as breast, prostate, and 

16 colon), as well as exposure via food to environmental 

17 toxins and contaminants. 

18 ‘‘(4) Preventable lifestyle-related diseases are 

19 major contributors to poor quality of life and health 

20 care expenditures for an increasing proportion of the 

21 population. There is a lack of tracking of health be22 haviors related to dietary intakes and physical activ23 ity, via surveys such as the Diet and Health Knowl24 edge Survey, which has not been conducted since 

25 1999. 
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1 ‘‘(5) Preventable dietary and physical activity 

2 related diseases cost the economy over $117 billion 

3 annually and is predicted to rise to $1.7 trillion in 

4 the next ten years. Nevertheless, funding for the na5 tional, comprehensive nutrition and health moni6 toring system has not increased in real dollars since 

7 1992. 

8 ‘‘(6) The nation commits over $35 billion to 

9 Federal food and nutrition assistance and education 

10 designed to maintain and improve the health of mil11 lions of Americans, but Federal agencies lack ade12 quate data from a statistically valid number of nu13 tritionally vulnerable individuals on dietary and die14 tary supplement intake, physical activity, food safe15 ty, food security and bioterrorism risks, and diet and 

16 health knowledge to inform management decisions 

17 on Federal nutrition and public health efforts. 

18 ‘‘(7) Compositional changes in agricultural com19 modities as a result of new technology, as well as re20 formulation and development of food products, have 

21 brought improvements in the food supply. Any as22 sessment of food consumption patterns and intake 

23 must take into consideration product modernization 

24 and include newly available estimates of all health 

25 promoting components in food. 
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1 ‘‘(8) The USDA and DHHS have relied on 

2 data on dietary intake, physical activity, nutritional 

3 status, and diet and health knowledge to advise deci4 sions about the ‘Dietary Guidelines for Americans 

5 and the Food Guidance System’. 

6 ‘‘(9) Substantial Federal resources at the Food 

7 and Drug Administration (in this Act referred to as 

8 ‘FDA’) are committed to developing food fortifica9 tion policies, food and nutrition labeling policies, and 

10 risk assessments on food additives and contaminants 

11 based on the dietary intake data collected by the in12 tegrated NHANES. 

13 ‘‘(10) The Environmental Protection Agency (in 

14 this Act referred to as ‘EPA’) cites the dietary in15 take data from the integrated NHANES as the 

16 basis for exposure estimates included in risk assess17 ment of pesticides and toxic substances, but many 

18 scientists, including those at EPA, National Insti19 tutes of Health (in this Act referred to as ‘NIH’), 

20 and the National Academy of Sciences (in this Act 

21 referred to as ‘NAS’) recommend that a larger longi22 tudinal study is needed to collect additional data on 

23 the food consumption patterns of infants and chil24 dren for risk assessments. 
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1 ‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol2 lows: 

3 ‘‘(1) To reauthorize the National Nutrition 

4 Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 to 

5 strengthen the combined DHHS and USDA nutri6 tion monitoring and research activities. 

7 ‘‘(2) To affirm and enhance America’s commit8 ment to nutrition for all, and to ensure sufficient re9 sources for a national nutrition monitoring system 

10 that can support both management decision-making 

11 and research needed to address and improve the cri12 sis of obesity, nutrition-related diseases, physical in13 activity, food insecurity, and the poor nutritional 

14 quality of the American diet, as well as provide the 

15 data needed to protect the public against environ16 mental pathogens and contaminants. 

17 ‘‘(3) To strengthen the scientific and statistical 

18 basis for the comprehensive nutrition monitoring 

19 system to enable effective management and informed 

20 decision-making pertaining to improving outcomes of 

21 dietary and physical activity guidance and nutrition 

22 education, food and nutrition labeling, food fortifica23 tion, risk assessments of pesticides, toxic substances, 

24 and food additives, and exposure to potential health 

25 promoting components of foods. 
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1 ‘‘(4) To enhance the performance and benefits 

2 of current Federal nutrition monitoring and related 

3 data collection and research activities, and thereby 

4 provide a scientific basis for the maintenance and 

5 improvement of the nutritional status of the people 

6 of the United States and the quality (including nu7 tritive and nonnutritive content) of food supplied 

8 and consumed in the United States. 

9 ‘‘(5) To improve the quality of retrievable na10 tional nutritional, physical activity, and health status 

11 data, related data bases and networks to improve its 

12 value and accessibility for public and private sector 

13 decision makers at Federal and State level. 

14 ‘‘(6) To coordinate the Federal nutrition moni15 toring activities to provide more timely and useful 

16 data for the many health, nutrition, physical activ17 ity, food safety, and food security programs and en18 tities that use it; and to stimulate development and 

19 adoption of uniform indicators, standards, meth20 odologies, technologies, and procedures for food and 

21 nutrition monitoring. 

22 ‘‘(7) To advance mechanisms for addressing the 

23 food, nutrition, and physical activity monitoring 

24 needs of the USDA nutrition assistance programs, 

25 Federal dietary guidance and nutrition education ac-
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1 tivities, the USDA Extension Service, the USDA 

2 economic, food safety, and human nutrition research 

3 programs, the EPA, the Food and Drug Administra4 tion, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

5 (including the National Center for Health Statis6 tics), the National Institutes of Health, the Depart7 ment of Defense, the Department of Homeland Se8 curity, other Federal data users, State, and local 

9 governments, scientific and engineering commu10 nities, health professionals, and the public. 

11 ‘‘(8) To provide for the conduct of such sci12 entific research to ensure that timely collections of 

13 nutrition and physical activity monitoring data ade14 quate for program management purposes are com15 pleted, and that such data are sufficient for cor16 ollary scientific analysis that can contribute to the 

17 scientific understanding of human nutrient and food 

18 consumption. 

19 ‘‘(9) To secure ongoing source of funding.’’; 

20 (2) in section 3—

21 (A) by striking paragraphs (1), (3), and 

22 (6), and 

23 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (4), 

24 (5), (7), (8), and (9) as paragraphs (1), (2), 

25 (3), (4), (5), and (6), respectively, 
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1 (3) in section 101—

2 (A) by striking subsection (c), 

3 (B) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub4 section (c), 

5 (C) by inserting after subsection (a) the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(b) EXTENSION OF PROGRAM.—To carry out the 

8 purposes of this Act, the 10-year coordinated nutrition 

9 monitoring system known as the ‘National Nutrition Mon10 itoring and Related Research Program’ is hereby extended 

11 for the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enact12 ment of the ‘National Health, Nutrition, and Physical Ac13 tivity Monitoring Act of 2005’.’’, 

14 (D) in subsection (d)—

15 (i) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘; 

16 and’’ and inserting a period, 

17 (ii) by striking paragraph (2), and 

18 (iii) by striking ‘‘shall— (1) be’’ and 

19 inserting ‘‘shall be’’, 

20 (4) by amending section 102 to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 102. IN GENERAL. 

22 ‘‘The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of 

23 Health and Human Services shall provide jointly for the—

24 ‘‘(1)(A) continuous collection of data that is na25 tionally representative; 
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1 ‘‘(B) periodic collection of data representative, 

2 to the extent practicable, of special populations such 

3 as, but not limited to Native Americans, Alaska Na4 tives, rural populations, the homeless, and Hispanic 

5 Americans, through community Health and Nutri6 tion Examination Surveys; 

7 ‘‘(C) timely distribution of statistics through 

8 publicly accessible channels, to determine the nutri9 tional status, physical activity levels, food security, 

10 and food consumption of Americans; and 

11 ‘‘(D) collaboration and coordination with users 

12 of the data to address the nutrition monitoring 

13 needs of—

14 ‘‘(i) USDA nutrition assistance programs, 

15 Federal dietary guidance, food guidance system, 

16 and nutrition education, and USDA Extension 

17 Service programs; 

18 ‘‘(ii) USDA economic, food safety, and 

19 human nutrition research programs; 

20 ‘‘(iii) risk assessments of the EPA Office 

21 of Pesticides and the EPA Office of Children’s 

22 Health; 

23 ‘‘(iv) risk assessments, fortification deci24 sions and labeling policies of FDA; 
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1 ‘‘(v) research, education, and programs of 

2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (in3 cluding the National Center for Health Statis4 tics), the National Institutes of Health, the De5 partment of Defense, the Armed Services, the 

6 Department of Homeland Security, and other 

7 Federal data users; 

8 ‘‘(vi) health and nutrition programs of 

9 State and local governments; and 

10 ‘‘(vii) food and nutrition activities of the 

11 private sector (including both the food and die12 tary supplement industries, scientific and engi13 neering communities, and health professionals) 

14 and the public; 

15 ‘‘(2) analysis of data collected as part of the in16 tegrated NHANES, when new data becomes avail17 able, and integration with data collected under para18 graph (1) to the extent practicable, to determine the 

19 nutrition, physical activity, and health status of 

20 Americans to guide policy recommendations regard21 ing Federal nutrition programs and dietary and 

22 physical activity guidance, as well as estimate die23 tary exposures of vulnerable groups to environmental 

24 pathogens and contaminants, and to compile peri25 odic reports, at least once every 5 years, of trends 
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1 identifying nutrition, physical activity, and health 

2 status concerns that are to be made available to the 

3 public; 

4 ‘‘(3) continuous updating, in consultation with 

5 public and private stakeholders and relevant profes6 sional groups, of the food composition tables, using 

7 all reliable nutrient composition data and all avail8 able resources to analyze foods, to keep tables cur9 rent with the food supply in the marketplace for 

10 maximum usefulness in program design, and man11 agement and evaluation, as well as scientific re12 search; 

13 ‘‘(4) development of data collection methods 

14 and standards for analyses that could be used by 

15 USDA or made available to other entities, for as16 sessment of nutritional and physical activity data; 

17 ‘‘(5) awarding competitive grants to States, 

18 public, and nonprofit entities to encourage and assist 

19 local and State governments in collecting and ana20 lyzing nutritional and physical activity data, based 

21 on the methodology developed for the integrated 

22 NHANES or developed under paragraph (4); 

23 ‘‘(6) provision of competitive grants and other 

24 programs to accelerate the development of uniform 

25 and cost-effective standards and indicators for the 
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1 assessment and monitoring of nutritional, dietary, 

2 and physical activity status and for relating food 

3 consumption and physical activity patterns to nutri4 tional and health status and to further the purposes 

5 of and implement the provisions of this Act; 

6 ‘‘(7) availability of technical assistance, stand7 ards, and methodologies, to the extent practicable, to 

8 grantees supported by this subsection and other fed9 erally funded nutrition programs, to maximize the 

10 data quality and comparability with other studies; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(8) consultation, at least annually, with Fed13 eral agencies, State and local governments, the pri14 vate sector, scientific communities, health profes15 sionals, and the public, regarding monitoring and re16 lated research needs for determining the nutritional 

17 status and physical activity levels of the United 

18 States population, especially infants, children, youth, 

19 ethnic minorities, and persons with mobility-limiting 

20 physical disabilities of all ages.’’, 

21 (5) by striking sections 103, 104, and 105, and 

22 inserting the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 103. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

24 ‘‘Nothing in this title may be construed to grant any 

25 new regulatory authority or to limit, expand, or otherwise 
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1 modify any regulatory authority under existing law, or to 

2 establish new criteria, standards, or requirements for reg3 ulation under existing law.’’, 

4 (6) in section 106—

5 (A) in subsection (a)—

6 (i) by striking ‘‘Committees on Agri7 culture and Science, Space, and Tech8 nology of the House of Representatives 

9 and to the Committees on Agriculture, Nu10 trition and Forestry, and Governmental 

11 Affairs of the Senate’’ and inserting ‘‘Com12 mittee on Agriculture, the Committee on 

13 Appropriations, the Committee on the 

14 Budget, and the Committee on Energy and 

15 Commerce of the House of Representa16 tives, and to the Committee on Agri17 culture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the Com18 mittee on Appropriations, the Committee 

19 on Budget, and the Committee on Home20 land Security and Governmental Affairs of 

21 the Senate’’, 

22 (ii) by redesignating subsections (a) 

23 and (b) as subsections (c) and (d), respec24 tively, and 
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1 (iii) by inserting before subsection (c), 

2 as so redesignated, the following: 

3 ‘‘(a) There are authorized to be appropriated 

4 $44,600,000 for fiscal year 2006, $46,200,000 for fiscal 

5 year 2007, $47,800,000 for fiscal year 2008, $49,500,000 

6 for fiscal year 2009, $51,200,000 for fiscal year 2010, 

7 $53,000,000 for fiscal year 2011, $54,800,000 for fiscal 

8 year 2012, $56,700,000 for fiscal year 2013, $58,700,000 

9 for fiscal year 2014, and $60,754,500 for fiscal year 2015, 

10 for the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for 

11 Disease Control and Prevention, and $15,525,000 for fis12 cal year 2006, $16,100,000 for fiscal year 2007, 

13 $16,700,000 for fiscal year 2008, $17,300,000 for fiscal 

14 year 2009, $17,900,000 for fiscal year 2010, $18,500,000 

15 for fiscal year 2011, $19,100,000 for fiscal year 2012, 

16 $19,800,000 for fiscal year 2013, $20,500,000 for fiscal 

17 year 2014, $22,217,500 for fiscal year 2015, for the Agri18 cultural Research Service, to—

19 ‘‘(1) collect continuously dietary, health, phys20 ical activity, diet and health knowledge data on a na21 tionally representative sample; 

22 ‘‘(2) collect periodically data on special popu23 lations; 

24 ‘‘(3) distribute data to the public in a timely 

25 fashion; 
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1 ‘‘(4) analyze data when new data becomes avail2 able; 

3 ‘‘(5) update continuously food composition ta4 bles; 

5 ‘‘(6) research and develop data collection meth6 ods and standards; 

7 ‘‘(7) provide competitive grants and technical 

8 assistance for local and State government data col9 lection and analysis; and 

10 ‘‘(8) hold annual meeting with stakeholders and 

11 users of the data. 

12 ‘‘(b) The funding for the comprehensive nutrition 

13 monitoring should include, but not be limited to, con14 tinuing the integrated NHANES on at least 5000 individ15 uals on an annual basis. An additional $7,000,000 for the 

16 National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for 

17 Disease Control and Prevention for each fiscal year is au18 thorized to be appropriated to plan and commence in fiscal 

19 year 2006 and each subsequent year, the community 

20 Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Additional 

21 funds are authorized to be appropriated for Agriculture 

22 Research Service to commence a food consumption longi23 tudinal survey of at least 15,000 individuals in fiscal year 

24 2007.’’. 

25 (7) by striking title II, and 
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1 (8) in title III—

2 (A) in section 301—

3 (i) in subsection (a) by amending 

4 paragraph (1) to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

6 and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

7 publish, at least every 10 years, coordinated with any 

8 other Department effort to set health goals, a report enti9 tled ‘Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ that shall be based 

10 on the preponderance of the nutrition monitoring data and 

11 the scientific and medical knowledge that is current at the 

12 time. This publication shall be promoted by each Federal 

13 agency in carrying out any Federal food, nutrition, or 

14 health program and should serve as the basis for nutrition 

15 education, nutrition information, and food assistance pro16 grams.’’, 

17 (ii) in subsection (b)(2) by amending 

18 subparagraph (A) to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—(i) During the 60-day review pe20 riod established in paragraph (1), the Secretaries shall re21 view, and approve or disapprove, such guidance to assure 

22 that the guidance either is consistent with the ‘Dietary 

23 Guidelines for Americans’ or that the guidance is based 

24 on medical or new scientific knowledge that is determined 
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1 to comply with the standard of significant scientific agree2 ment. 

3 ‘‘(ii) If after such 60-day period neither Secretary no4 tifies the proposing agency that such guidance has been 

5 disapproved, then such guidance may be issued by the 

6 agency. If both Secretaries disapprove of such guidance, 

7 it shall be returned to the agency. 

8 ‘‘(iii) If either Secretary finds that such guidance is 

9 inconsistent with the ‘Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ 

10 and so notifies the proposing agency, such agency shall 

11 follow the procedures set forth in this subsection before 

12 disseminating such proposal to the public in final form. 

13 ‘‘(iv) If after such 60-day period, either Secretary dis14 approves such guidance as inconsistent with the ‘Dietary 

15 Guidelines for Americans’ the proposing agency shall—

16 ‘‘(I) publish a notice in the Federal Register of 

17 the availability of the full text of the proposal and 

18 the preamble of such proposal that shall explain the 

19 basis and purpose for the proposed dietary guidance; 

20 ‘‘(II) provide in such notice for a public com21 ment period of 30 days; and 

22 ‘‘(III) make available for public inspection and 

23 copying during normal business hours any comment 

24 received by the agency during such comment pe25 riod.’’, 
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1 (iii) by redesignating section 301 as 

2 section 201, and 

3 (iv) by striking section 302, and 

4 (B) by redesignating title III as title II.

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