I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3756

To establish a National Commission on Digestive Diseases. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 3, 2004

Mr. BLUNT (for himself and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To establish a National Commission on Digestive Diseases.

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

3 SECTION 1. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON DIGESTIVE DIS4 EASES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

6 Human Services (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec7 retary’’), after consultation with the Director of the Na8 tional Institutes of Health, shall, within sixty days after 

9 the date of the enactment of this Act, establish a National 

10 Commission on Digestive Diseases (in this section referred 

11 to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

12 (b) DUTIES.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall—

2 (A) conduct a comprehensive study of the 

3 present state of knowledge of the incidence, du4 ration, and morbidity of, and mortality rates re5 sulting from, digestive diseases and of the social 

6 and economic impact of such diseases; 

7 (B) evaluate the public and private facili8 ties and resources (including trained personnel 

9 and research activities) for the diagnosis, pre10 vention, and treatment of, and research in, such 

11 diseases; and 

12 (C) identify programs (including biological, 

13 behavioral, nutritional, environmental, and so14 cial programs) in which, and the means by 

15 which, improvement in the management of di16 gestive diseases can be accomplished. 

17 (2) LONG-RANGE PLAN.—Based on the study, 

18 evaluation, and identification made pursuant to 

19 paragraph (1), the Commission shall develop and 

20 recommend a long-range plan for the use and orga21 nization of national resources to effectively deal with 

22 digestive diseases. The plan shall provide for—

23 (A) research studies into the basic biologi24 cal processes and mechanisms related to diges25 tive diseases; 
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1 (B) investigations into the epidemiology, 

2 etiology, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and 

3 control of digestive diseases; 

4 (C) development of preventive measures 

5 (including education programs, programs for 

6 the elimination of environmental hazards re7 lated to digestive diseases, and clinical pro8 grams) to be taken against digestive diseases; 

9 (D) detection of digestive diseases in the 

10 presymptomatic stages and development and 

11 evaluation of new, and improved methods of 

12 screening for digestive diseases, taking into ac13 count recent technological changes in diagnostic 

14 imaging modalities; 

15 (E) development of criteria for the diag16 nosis and the clinical management and control 

17 of digestive diseases; 

18 (F) development of approaches to advance 

19 digestive diseases research by incorporating in20 sights obtained from genomic and proteomic re21 search; 

22 (G) development of coordinated health care 

23 systems for dealing with digestive diseases; 

24 (H) education and training (including con25 tinuing education programs) of scientists, clini-
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1 cians, educators, and allied health professionals 

2 in the fields and specialties requisite to the con3 duct of programs related to digestive diseases 

4 with special emphasis on training for careers in 

5 research, teaching, and all aspects of patient 

6 care; 

7 (I) the conduct and subject matter of trials 

8 in clinical and translational research in diges9 tive diseases; and 

10 (J) establishment of a system of periodic 

11 surveillance of the research potential and re12 search needs in digestive diseases. 

13 The long-range plan formulated under this para14 graph shall also include within its scope related nu15 tritional disorders and basic biological processes and 

16 mechanisms in nutrition which are related to diges17 tive diseases. 

18 (3) RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL NA19 TIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES.—The Commission 

20 shall recommend for each of the Institutes of the 

21 National Institutes of Health whose activities are to 

22 be affected by the long-range plan estimates of the 

23 expenditures needed to carry out each Institute’s 

24 part of the overall program. Such estimates shall be 

25 prepared for the fiscal year beginning immediately 
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1 after completion of the Commission’s plan and for 

2 each of the next five fiscal years. 

3 (c) COMPOSITION.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall be 

5 composed of 16 members appointed in accordance 

6 with paragraph (2) and the ex officio members des7 ignated under paragraph (3). The appointed mem8 bers shall be voting members, and the ex officio 

9 members shall be nonvoting members, except that 

10 the ex officio member designated under paragraph 

11 (3)(A) shall be a voting member. 

12 (2) APPOINTED MEMBERS.—The voting mem13 bers of the Commission shall be appointed by the 

14 Secretary, and shall be appointed from among indi15 viduals who are not officers or employees of the Fed16 eral Government. Of such members—

17 (A) 10 shall be appointed from among sci18 entists, physicians, and other health profes19 sionals, of whom—

20 (i) two shall be practicing clinical gas21 troenterologists; 

22 (ii) two shall be gastroenterologists in23 volved primarily in research on digestive 

24 diseases; 

25 (iii) one shall be a surgeon; 
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1 (iv) one shall be an expert in liver dis2 ease; 

3 (v) one shall be an epidemiologist; 

4 (vi) one shall be an allied health pro5 fessional; and 

6 (vii) two shall be basic biomedical sci7 entists (such as biochemists, physiologists, 

8 microbiologists, nutritionists, pharma9 cologists, or immunologists); and 

10 (B) six shall be appointed from among the 

11 general public, of whom at least three shall 

12 have personal or close family experience with di13 gestive diseases. 

14 (3) EX OFFICIO MEMBERS.—

15 (A) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES

16 AND DIGESTIVE AND KIDNEY DISEASES.—From 

17 among officers or employees of the National In18 stitute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney 

19 Diseases whose primary interest is in the field 

20 of digestive diseases, the Secretary shall des21 ignate an individual to serve as an ex officio 

22 member of the Commission. 

23 (B) ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.—The fol24 lowing officials (or the designees of the offi25 cials) shall serve as ex officio members of the 
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1 Commission: The Director of the National In2 stitutes of Health; the Director of the National 

3 Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney 

4 Diseases; the Director of the National Institute 

5 of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; the Director 

6 of the National Cancer Institute; the Director 

7 of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging 

8 and Bioengineering; the Director of the Na9 tional Institute of Drug Abuse; the Director of 

10 the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Al11 coholism; the Director of the National Human 

12 Genome Research Institute; the Director for the 

13 Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition 

14 within the National Institute of Diabetes and 

15 Digestive Kidney Diseases; the Director of the 

16 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the 

17 Chief Medical Director of the Department of 

18 Veterans Affairs; and the Secretary of Defense. 

19 (d) CHAIR.—From among the appointed members of 

20 the Commission, the members of the Commission shall se21 lect an individual to serve as the Chair of the Commission. 

22 (e) TERMS.—The term of a member of the Commis23 sion is the life of the Commission. 

24 (f) VACANCIES.—
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1 (1) AUTHORITY OF COMMISSION.—A vacancy in 

2 the membership of the Commission does not affect 

3 the power of the remaining members to carry out 

4 the duties of the Commission. 

5 (2) APPOINTMENT OF SUCCESSOR.—A vacancy 

6 in the membership of the Commission shall be filled 

7 in the manner in which the original appointment was 

8 made. 

9 (3) INCOMPLETE TERM.—If a member of the 

10 Commission does not serve the full term of the mem11 ber, the individual appointed to fill the resulting va12 cancy shall be appointed for the remainder of the 

13 term of the predecessor of the individual. 

14 (g) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall first meet as 

15 directed by the Secretary, not later than sixty days after 

16 the Commission is established, and thereafter shall meet 

17 at the call of the Chair of the Commission, but not less 

18 often than three times during the life of the Commission. 

19 (h) COMPENSATION; REIMBURSEMENT OF EX20 PENSES.—

21 (1) APPOINTED MEMBERS.—Members of the 

22 Commission appointed from among individuals who 

23 are not officers or employees of the Federal Govern24 ment shall receive compensation for each day (in25 cluding travel time) engaged in carrying out the du-
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1 ties of the Commission. Such compensation may not 

2 be in an amount in excess of the daily equivalent of 

3 the annual maximum rate of basic pay payable 

4 under section 5108 of title 5, United States Code, 

5 for positions above GS–15. 

6 (2) EX OFFICIO MEMBERS.—Members of the 

7 Commission appointed from among individuals who 

8 are officers or employees of the Federal Government 

9 may not receive compensation for service on the 

10 Commission in addition to the compensation other11 wise received for duties carried out as Federal offi12 cers or employees. 

13 (3) REIMBURSEMENT.—Members of the Com14 mission, while serving away from their homes or reg15 ular places of business in the performance of serv16 ices for the Commission, shall be allowed travel ex17 penses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in 

18 the same manner as such expenses are authorized by 

19 section 5703 of title 5, United States Code, for per20 sons in Government service employed intermittently. 

21 (i) STAFF.—

22 (1) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—The Commission 

23 may appoint and fix the pay of an executive director 

24 to effectively carry out its functions. The executive 

25 director shall be appointed subject to the provisions 
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1 of title 5, United States Code, governing appoint2 ments in the competitive service, and shall be paid 

3 in accordance with the provisions of chapter 51 and 

4 sub-chapter III of chapter 53 of such title related to 

5 classification and General Schedule pay rates. 

6 (2) ADDITIONAL STAFF.—The Secretary shall 

7 provide the Commission with such additional profes8 sional and clerical staff, such information, and the 

9 services of such consultants as the Secretary deter10 mines to be necessary for the Commission to carry 

11 out effectively its functions. 

12 (j) POWERS.—The Commission may hold such hear13 ings, take such testimony, and sit and act at such time 

14 and places as the Commission deems advisable. 

15 (k) REPORT.—Within 18 months following its initial 

16 meetings (as prescribed by subsection (g)), the Commis17 sion shall publish and transmit directly to the Congress 

18 a final report respecting its activities under this section. 

19 The report shall contain—

20 (1) the long-range plan required by subsection 

21 (b)(2); 

22 (2) the expenditure estimates required by sub23 section (b)(3); and 
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1 (3) any recommendations of the Commission for 

2 legislation that would facilitate the implementation 

3 of the long-range plan. 

4 In developing recommendations under paragraph (3), the 

5 Commission shall evaluate the effectiveness of the Inter6 agency Coordinating Committee for Digestive Diseases 

7 and assess its ability to monitor and promote adherence 

8 to the long-range plan. The Commission may also make 

9 recommendations regarding organizational changes within 

10 the National Institutes of Health or the establishment of 

11 new entities that would facilitate implementation of the 

12 long-range plan and otherwise coordinate the Federal di13 gestive diseases research effort. 

14 (l) TERMINATION.—The Commission terminates 30 

15 days after the date on which the final report under sub16 section (k) is submitted to the Congress. 

17 (m) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

18 purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized 

19 to be appropriated $4,000,000 in the aggregate for fiscal 

20 years 2005 and 2006.

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