I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5794 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to enhance the national strategy 

for combating and eliminating tuberculosis, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 15, 2018 

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas (for himself, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. ENGEL, 

and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to enhance the 

national strategy for combating and eliminating tuberculosis, 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 ‘‘Comprehensive TB 

5 Elimination Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR COMBATING AND ELIMI7 NATING TUBERCULOSIS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 317E of the Public 

9 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–6) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and in3 serting the following: 

4 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.—The Secretary’’; and 

5 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this 

7 subsection, the Secretary may give priority to award8 ing grants to State health departments proposing to 

9 focus on the prevention, control, and elimination of 

10 tuberculosis in high-risk populations, including for11 eign-born, homeless, incarcerated, HIV-tuberculosis 

12 coinfected, and medically underserved populations.’’; 

13 (2) in subsection (b)— 

14 (A) in paragraph (3)— 

15 (i) in subparagraph (C), by redesig16 nating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) 

17 and (II), respectively, and adjusting the 

18 margins accordingly; and 

19 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

20 (A) through (F) as clauses (i) through (vi), 

21 respectively, and adjusting the margins ac22 cordingly; 

23 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

24 through (8) as subparagraphs (A) through (H), 


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1 respectively, and adjusting the margins accord2 ingly; 

3 (C) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

4 (A), as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘With re5 spect to’’ and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to’’; and 

7 (D) by striking subparagraph (B), as so 

8 redesignated, and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(B) Research, investigations, experiments, 

10 demonstrations, and studies in the health 

11 sciences that are related to— 

12 ‘‘(i) the development of new thera13 peutics, including vaccines and anti14 microbial drugs, to prevent and treat tu15 berculosis; 

16 ‘‘(ii) novel therapeutics for special 

17 populations, including pediatric popu18 lations, immunosuppressed individuals, and 

19 pregnant women; 

20 ‘‘(iii) the development or testing of 

21 medical diagnostics to detect tuberculosis; 

22 ‘‘(iv) public health interventions to ad23 dress the epidemiology, mechanisms, and 

24 pathogenesis of tuberculosis, such as diVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:25 May 30, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5794.IH H5794

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1 rectly observed therapy and non-pharma2 ceutical intervention; 

3 ‘‘(v) methods to enhance detection 

4 and response to outbreaks of tuberculosis, 

5 including multidrug resistant tuberculosis; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(vi) other relevant research areas.’’; 

8 (E) in subparagraph (C), as so redesig9 nated— 

10 (i) by redesignating clause (vi), as so 

11 redesignated, as clause (vii); 

12 (ii) in clause (v), as so redesignated, 

13 by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting ‘‘;’’; and 

14 (iii) by inserting after clause (v), as so 

15 redesignated, the following: 

16 ‘‘(vi) the intensification of efforts to 

17 prevent, detect, and treat latent tuber18 culosis; and’’; 

19 (F) in subparagraph (D), as so redesig20 nated, by inserting before the period the fol21 lowing: ‘‘, including public awareness campaigns 

22 and development of educational, risk, and 

23 media communications.’’; 

24 (G) in subparagraph (F), as so redesig25 nated, by striking ‘‘paragraphs (1) through 


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1 (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (A) through 

2 (D)’’; and 

3 (H) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(2) SELECTION.—In carrying out the activities 

5 described in paragraph (1), the Secretary— 

6 ‘‘(A) is encouraged to give priority to pro7 grammatically relevant research so that new 

8 tools can be utilized in public health practice; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(B) may seek input from the Biomedical 

11 Advanced Research and Development Authority 

12 in identifying novel candidates to utilize in the 

13 efforts under this subsection to prevent, diag14 nose, and control tuberculosis.’’; 

15 (3) by redesignating subsections (c) through (h) 

16 as subsections (d) through (i), respectively; 

17 (4) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol18 lowing— 

19 ‘‘(c) GRANTS FOR COORDINATION OF PROGRAMS AND

20 SERVICES FOR PREVENTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREAT21 MENT.— 

22 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.—The Secretary, acting through 

23 the Administrator of the Health Resources and Serv24 ices Administration, may award grants to State and 

25 local governments and Federally qualified health 


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1 centers for coordinating the programs and services 

2 of such States, governments, and centers to ensure 

3 timely and appropriate prevention, risk-based screen4 ing, diagnosis, and treatment of latent and active tu5 berculosis. 

6 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

7 ‘Federally qualified health center’ has the meaning 

8 given to such term in section 1861(aa) of the Social 

9 Security Act.’’; 

10 (5) in subsections (d), (e), and (f), as so redes11 ignated, by striking ‘‘(a) or (b)’’ each place it ap12 pears and inserting ‘‘(a), (b), or (c)’’; 

13 (6) in subsection (g)(4), as so redesignated, by 

14 adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(C) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Sec16 retary is encouraged to make the reports under 

17 subparagraph (A), or other publications rel18 evant to domestic tuberculosis surveillance, pub19 licly available on the Internet website of the 

20 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 

21 disseminate such information to stakeholders.’’; 

22 (7) in subsection (h), as so redesignated— 

23 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

24 (i) by striking ‘‘research into new 

25 tools under subsection (b)(2)’’ and insertVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:25 May 30, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5794.IH H5794

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1 ing ‘‘the research, investigations, experi2 ments, demonstrations, and studies in 

3 health science under subsection (b)(1)(B)’’; 

4 and 

5 (ii) by inserting ‘‘ensuring access to 

6 the products developed as a result of such 

7 research, investigations, experiments, dem8 onstrations, and studies and’’ after ‘‘advice 

9 regarding’’; and 

10 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

11 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 

12 (D) and (E) as subparagraphs (E) and 

13 (F), respectively; and 

14 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 

15 (C) the following: 

16 ‘‘(D) members of the Biomedical Advanced 

17 Research and Development Authority;’’; and 

18 (8) in subsection (i)(1)(A), as so redesignated, 

19 by striking ‘‘$200,000,000’’ and all that follows 

20 through the period and inserting ‘‘$142,200,000 for 

21 fiscal year 2018, $195,700,000 for fiscal year 2019, 

22 $225,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, $236,250,000 for 

23 fiscal year 2021, $248,062,500 for fiscal year 2022, 

24 and $260,465,625 for fiscal year 2023.’’. 


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1 (b) NIH TUBERCULOSIS ACTIVITIES.—Section 

2 424C(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 285b–7c(b)) is amended by striking paragraph (1) and in4 serting the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) enhancing basic, clinical, and operational 

6 research on tuberculosis, including with respect to— 

7 ‘‘(A) drug-resistant tuberculosis; 

8 ‘‘(B) infection with tuberculosis and la9 tency and progression of tuberculosis; and 

10 ‘‘(C) pediatric tuberculosis;’’. 

11 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 

12 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

13 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 

14 shall issue a report on the coordination of efforts in the 

15 United States to— 

16 (1) prevent, control, and eliminate tuberculosis; 

17 and 

18 (2) implement the activities under section 317E 

19 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b– 

20 6), as amended by this Act, and the National Action 

21 Plan for Combating Multidrug-Resistant Tuber22 culosis, issued in December 2015. 

Æ 


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