II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1902

To establish a National Commission on Digestive Diseases. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2003

Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. SPECTER, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. ALLEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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 and Human Services (in this section referred to 

7 as the ‘‘Secretary’’), after consultation with the Director 

8 of the National Institutes of Health, shall, within 60 days 

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

10 National Commission on Digestive Diseases (in this sec11 tion referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 
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1 (b) DUTIES.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall—

3 (A) conduct a comprehensive study of the 

4 present state of knowledge of the incidence, du5 ration, and morbidity of, and mortality rates re6 sulting from, digestive diseases and of the social 

7 and economic impact of such diseases; 

8 (B) evaluate the public and private facili9 ties and resources (including trained personnel 

10 and research activities) for the diagnosis, pre11 vention, and treatment of, and research in, such 

12 diseases; and 

13 (C) identify programs (including biological, 

14 behavioral, nutritional, environmental, and so15 cial programs) in which, and the means by 

16 which, improvement in the management of di17 gestive diseases can be accomplished. 

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

19 evaluation, and identification made pursuant to 

20 paragraph (1), the Commission shall develop and 

21 recommend a long-range plan for the use and orga22 nization of national resources to effectively deal with 

23 digestive diseases. The plan shall provide for—
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1 (A) research studies into the basic biologi2 cal processes and mechanisms related to diges3 tive diseases; 

4 (B) investigations into the epidemiology, 

5 etiology, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and 

6 control of digestive diseases; 

7 (C) development of preventive measures 

8 (including education programs, programs for 

9 the elimination of environmental hazards re10 lated to digestive diseases, and clinical pro11 grams) to be taken against digestive diseases; 

12 (D) detection of digestive diseases in the 

13 presymptomatic stages and development and 

14 evaluation of new, and improved methods of 

15 screening for digestive diseases, taking into ac16 count recent technological changes in diagnostic 

17 imaging modalities; 

18 (E) development of criteria for the diag19 nosis and the clinical management and control 

20 of digestive diseases; 

21 (F) development of approaches to advance 

22 digestive diseases research by incorporating in23 sights obtained from genomic and proteomic re24 search. 
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1 (G) development of coordinated health care 

2 systems for dealing with digestive diseases; 

3 (H) education and training (including con4 tinuing education programs) of scientists, clini5 cians, educators, and allied health professionals 

6 in the fields and specialties requisite to the con7 duct of programs related to digestive diseases 

8 with special emphasis on training for careers in 

9 research, teaching, and all aspects of patient 

10 care; 

11 (I) the conduct and subject matter of trials 

12 in clinical and translational research in diges13 tive diseases; and 

14 (J) establishment of a system of periodic 

15 surveillance of the research potential and re16 search needs in digestive diseases; 

17 The long-range plan formulated under this paragraph 

18 shall also include within its scope related nutritional dis19 orders and basic biological processes and mechanisms in 

20 nutrition which are related to digestive diseases. 

21 (3) RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL NA22 TIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES.—The Commission 

23 shall recommend for each of the Institutes of the 

24 National Institutes of Health whose activities are to 

25 be affected by the long-range plan estimates of the 
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1 expenditures needed to carry out each Institute’s 

2 part of the overall program. Such estimates shall be 

3 prepared for the fiscal year beginning immediately 

4 after completion of the Commission’s plan and for 

5 each of the next 5 fiscal years. 

6 (c) COMPOSITION.—

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

8 composed of 16 members appointed in accordance 

9 with paragraph (2) and the ex officio members des10 ignated under paragraph (3). The appointed mem11 bers shall be voting members, and the ex officio 

12 members shall be nonvoting members, except that 

13 the ex officio member designated under paragraph 

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

15 (2) APPOINTED MEMBERS.—The voting mem16 bers of the Commission shall be appointed by the 

17 Secretary from among individuals who are not offi18 cers or employees of the Federal Government. Of 

19 such members—

20 (A) 10 shall be appointed from among sci21 entists, physicians, and other health profes22 sionals, of whom—

23 (i) two shall be practicing clinical gas24 troenterologists;
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1 (ii) two shall be gastroenterologists in2 volved primarily in research on digestive 

3 diseases; 

4 (iii) one shall be a surgeon; 

5 (iv) one shall be an expert in liver dis6 ease; 

7 (v) one shall be an epidemiologist; 

8 (vi) one shall be an allied health pro9 fessional; and 

10 (vii) two shall be basic biomedical sci11 entists (such as biochemists, physiologists, 

12 microbiologists, nutritionists, pharma13 cologists, or immunologists); and 

14 (B) six shall be appointed from among the 

15 general public, of whom at least three shall 

16 have personal or close family experience with di17 gestive diseases. 

18 (3) EX OFFICIO MEMBERS.—

19 (A) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES

20 AND DIGESTIVE AND KIDNEY DISEASES.—From 

21 among officers or employees of the National In22 stitute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney 

23 Diseases whose primary interest is in the field 

24 of digestive diseases, the Secretary shall des-
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1 ignate an individual to serve as an ex officio 

2 member of the Commission. 

3 (B) ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.—The fol4 lowing officials (or the designees of the offi5 cials) shall serve as ex officio members of the 

6 Commission: The Director of the National In7 stitutes of Health; the Director of the National 

8 Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney 

9 Diseases; the Director of the National Institute 

10 of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; the Director 

11 of the National Cancer Institute; the Director 

12 of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging 

13 and Bioengineering; the Director of the Na14 tional Institute of Drug Abuse; the Director of 

15 the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Al16 coholism; the Director of the National Human 

17 Genome Research Institute; the Director for the 

18 Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition 

19 within the National Institute of Diabetes and 

20 Digestive Kidney Diseases; the Director of the 

21 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the 

22 Chief Medical Director of the Department of 

23 Veterans Affairs; and the Secretary of Defense. 
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1 (d) CHAIR.—From among the appointed members of 

2 the Commission, the members of the Commission shall se3 lect an individual to serve as the Chair of the Commission. 

4 (e) TERMS.—The term of a member of the Commis5 sion is the life of the Commission. 

6 (f) VACANCIES.—

7 (1) AUTHORITY OF COMMISSION.—A vacancy in 

8 the membership of the Commission does not affect 

9 the power of the remaining members to carry out 

10 the duties of the Commission. 

11 (2) APPOINTMENT OF SUCCESSOR.—A vacancy 

12 in the membership of the Commission shall be filled 

13 in the manner in which the original appointment was 

14 made. 

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

16 Commission does not serve the full term of the mem17 ber, the individual appointed to fill the resulting va18 cancy shall be appointed for the remainder of the 

19 term of the predecessor of the individual. 

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

21 directed by the Secretary, not later than 60 days after 

22 the Commission is established, and thereafter shall meet 

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

24 often than three times during the life of the Commission. 
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1 (h) COMPENSATION; REIMBURSEMENT OF EX2 PENSES.—

3 (1) APPOINTED MEMBERS.—Members of the 

4 Commission appointed from among individuals who 

5 are not officers or employees of the Federal Govern6 ment shall receive compensation for each day (in7 cluding travel time) engaged in carrying out the du8 ties of the Commission. Such compensation may not 

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

10 the annual maximum rate of basic pay payable 

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

12 for positions above GS–15. 

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

14 Commission appointed from among individuals who 

15 are officers or employees of the Federal Government 

16 may not receive compensation for service on the 

17 Commission in addition to the compensation other18 wise received for duties carried out as Federal offi19 cers or employees. 

20 (3) REIMBURSEMENT.—Members of the Com21 mission, while serving away from their homes or reg22 ular places of business in the performance of serv23 ices for the Commission, shall be allowed travel ex24 penses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in 

25 the same manner as such expenses are authorized by 
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1 section 5703 of title 5, United States Code, for per2 sons in Government service employed intermittently. 

3 (i) STAFF.—

4 (1) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—The Commission 

5 may appoint and fix the pay of an executive director 

6 to effectively carry out its functions. The executive 

7 director shall be appointed subject to the provisions 

8 of title 5, United States Code, governing appoint9 ments in the competitive service, and shall be paid 

10 in accordance with the provisions of chapter 51 and 

11 subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title related to 

12 classification and General Schedule pay rates. 

13 (2) ADDITIONAL STAFF.—The Secretary shall 

14 provide the Commission with such additional profes15 sional and clerical staff, such information, and the 

16 services of such consultants as the Secretary deter17 mines to be necessary for the Commission to carry 

18 out effectively its functions. 

19 (j) POWERS.—The Commission may hold such hear20 ings, take such testimony, and sit and act at such time 

21 and places as the Commission deems advisable. 

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

23 meetings (as prescribed by subsection (g)), the Commis24 sion shall publish and transmit directly to Congress a final 
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1 report respecting its activities under this section. The re2 port shall contain—

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

4 (b)(2); 

5 (2) the expenditure estimates required by sub6 section (b)(3); and 

7 (3) any recommendations of the Commission for 

8 legislation that would facilitate the implementation 

9 of the long-range plan. 

10 In developing recommendations under paragraph (3), the 

11 Commission shall evaluate the effectiveness of the Inter12 agency Coordinating Committee for Digestive Diseases 

13 and assess its ability to monitor and promote adherence 

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

15 recommendations regarding organizational changes within 

16 the National Institutes of Health or the establishment of 

17 new entities that would facilitate implementation of the 

18 long-range plan and otherwise coordinate the Federal di19 gestive diseases research effort. 

20 (l) TERMINATION.—The Commission terminates 30 

21 days after the date on which the final report under sub22 section (k) is submitted to Congress. 

23 (m) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

24 purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized 
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1 to be appropriated $4,000,000 in the aggregate for fiscal 

2 years 2005 and 2006.

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