II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 861 

To establish an interagency One Health Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 18, 2021 

Ms. SMITH (for herself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. GRASSLEY, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish an interagency One Health Program, 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 the ‘‘Advancing Emergency 

5 Preparedness Through One Health Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The term ‘‘One Health’’ reflects the inter9 connectedness of human health, animal health, and 

10 the environment. As technology and population 


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1 growth facilitates increased interaction of human 

2 settlements with wildlife habitats and as inter3 national travel and trade increases, the interface be4 tween these elements will also continue to rise. 

5 (2) When zoonotic diseases spill over to hu6 mans, there are often enormous health and economic 

7 costs. The World Bank estimates that, between 1997 

8 and 2009, the global costs from six zoonotic out9 breaks exceeded $80,000,000,000 and the Centers 

10 for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 

11 there are annually 2,500,000,000 cases of zoonotic 

12 infections globally, resulting in 2,700,000 deaths. 

13 (3) There are also immense effects on the agri14 culture sector. In 2014 and 2015, a high pathogenic 

15 avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak in the United 

16 States led to the cull of nearly 50,000,000 birds, 

17 and imposed up to approximately $3,300,000,000 in 

18 losses for poultry and egg farmers, animal feed pro19 ducers, baked good production, and other related in20 dustries. 

21 (4) Public health preparedness depends on agri22 culture in a variety of ways. For example, a wide 

23 range of vaccines, including those for influenza, yel24 low fever, rabies, and measles-mumps-rubella 

25 (MMR), are primarily cultivated in poultry eggs. 


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1 Egg shortages resulting from zoonotic disease out2 breaks could impose serious risks to vaccine manu3 facturing efforts. 

4 (5) It is estimated that approximately 80 per5 cent of potential pathogens likely to be used in bio6 terrorism or biowarfare are common zoonotic patho7 gens. 

8 (6) While existing Federal Government initia9 tives related to One Health span multiple agencies, 

10 including the Centers for Disease Control and Pre11 vention One Health office and the Department of 

12 Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

13 Services’ One Health Coordination Center, addi14 tional interagency coordination is necessary to help 

15 better prevent, prepare for, and respond to zoonotic 

16 disease outbreaks. 

17 SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY ONE HEALTH PROGRAM. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior, the 

19 Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Sec20 retary of Agriculture (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec21 retaries’’), in coordination with the United States Agency 

22 for International Development, the Environmental Protec23 tion Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the 

24 Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, 

25 and other departments and agencies as appropriate, shall 


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1 develop, publish, and submit to Congress a national One 

2 Health Framework (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘frame3 work’’) for coordinated Federal Activities under the One 

4 Health Program. 

5 (b) NATIONAL ONE HEALTH FRAMEWORK.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries, 

8 in cooperation with the United States Agency for 

9 International Development, the Environmental Pro10 tection Agency, the Department of Homeland Secu11 rity, the Department of Defense, the Department of 

12 Commerce, and other departments and agencies as 

13 appropriate, shall develop, publish, and submit to 

14 Congress a One Health Framework (referred to in 

15 this section as the ‘‘framework’’) for coordinated 

16 Federal activities under the One Health Program. 

17 (2) CONTENTS OF FRAMEWORK.—The frame18 work described in paragraph (1) shall describe exist19 ing efforts and contain recommendations for build20 ing upon and complementing the activities of the 

21 Department of the Interior, the Centers for Disease 

22 Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Admin23 istration, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

24 Preparedness and Response, the Department of Ag25 riculture, the United States Agency for International 


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1 Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, 

2 the National Institutes of Health, the Department of 

3 Homeland Security, and other departments and 

4 agencies, as appropriate, and shall— 

5 (A) assess, identify, and describe, as ap6 propriate, existing activities of Federal agencies 

7 and departments under the One Health Pro8 gram and consider whether all relevant agencies 

9 are adequately represented; 

10 (B) for the 10-year period beginning in the 

11 year the framework is submitted, establish spe12 cific Federal goals and priorities that most ef13 fectively advance— 

14 (i) scientific understanding of the con15 nections between human, animal, and envi16 ronmental health; 

17 (ii) coordination and collaboration be18 tween agencies involved in the framework 

19 including sharing data and information, 

20 engaging in joint fieldwork, and engaging 

21 in joint laboratory studies related to One 

22 Health; 

23 (iii) identification of priority zoonotic 

24 diseases and priority areas of study; 


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1 (iv) surveillance of priority zoonotic 

2 diseases and their transmission between 

3 animals and humans; 

4 (v) prevention of priority zoonotic dis5 eases and their transmission between ani6 mals and humans; 

7 (vi) protocol development to improve 

8 joint outbreak response to and recovery 

9 from zoonotic disease outbreaks in animals 

10 and humans; and 

11 (vii) workforce development to prevent 

12 and respond to zoonotic disease outbreaks 

13 in animals and humans; 

14 (C) describe specific activities required to 

15 achieve the goals and priorities described in 

16 subparagraph (B), and propose a timeline for 

17 achieving these goals; 

18 (D) identify and expand partnerships, as 

19 appropriate, among Federal agencies, States, 

20 Indian tribes, academic institutions, nongovern21 mental organizations, and private entities in 

22 order to develop new approaches for reducing 

23 hazards to human and animal health and to 

24 strengthen understanding of the value of an in25 tegrated approach under the One Health ProVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S861.IS S861

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1 gram to addressing public health threats in a 

2 manner that prevents duplication; 

3 (E) identify best practices related to State 

4 and local-level research coordination, field ac5 tivities, and disease outbreak preparedness, re6 sponse, and recovery related to One Health; and 

7 (F) provide recommendations to Congress 

8 regarding additional action or legislation that 

9 may be required to assist in establishing the 

10 One Health Program. 

11 (3) ADDENDUM.—Not later than 3 years after 

12 the creation of the framework, the Secretaries, in co13 ordination with the agencies described in paragraph 

14 (1), shall submit to Congress an addendum to the 

15 framework that describes the progress made in ad16 vancing the activities described in the framework. 

17 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 

18 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 

19 such sums as may be necessary. 

20 SEC. 4. GAO REPORT. 

21 Not later than 2 years after the date of the submis22 sion of the addendum under section 3(b)(3), the Comp23 troller General of the United States shall submit to Con24 gress a report that— 


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1 (1) details existing collaborative efforts between 

2 the Department of the Interior, the Centers for Dis3 ease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug 

4 Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the 

5 United States Agency for International Develop6 ment, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Na7 tional Institutes of Health, the Department of 

8 Homeland Security, and other departments and 

9 agencies to prevent and respond to zoonotic disease 

10 outbreaks in animals and humans; and 

11 (2) contains an evaluation of the framework 

12 and the specific activities requested to achieve the 

13 framework. 

Æ 


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