I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9049 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a cancer center 
construction grant program. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 24, 2020 
Mr. HIGGINS of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish 
a cancer center construction grant program. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cancer Centers Assist-
ance for Renovations and Expansion Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. CANCER CENTER CONSTRUCTION GRANT PRO-
GRAM. 
The Social Security Act is amended by inserting after 
section 1897 the following new section: 
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‘‘CANCER CENTER CONSTRUCTION GRANT PROGRAM 
‘‘SEC. 1897A. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary 
shall establish a program to award grants to qualifying 
cancer centers (as defined in subsection (b)) for payment 
of the capital costs of projects for the improvement of re-
search, prevention, or patient care infrastructure. 
‘‘(b) QUALIFYING CANCER CENTER
AND OTHER 
DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘qualifying cancer center’ means 
an entity that is designated as a comprehensive can-
cer center by the National Cancer Institute. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘project for the improvement of 
research, prevention, or patient care infrastructure’ 
means— 
‘‘(A) the expansion, remodeling, ren-
ovating, or altering of an existing clinical, pre-
vention, or research facility; or 
‘‘(B) the construction of a new clinical, 
prevention, or research facility. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘intended use’ means the pur-
poses for which the infrastructure improvements 
were made. 
‘‘(4) The term ‘shovel ready’ means, with re-
spect to a project, that construction of the project 
will be completed within 5 years of the date on 
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which a grant for such project is provided under this 
section. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATION; QUALIFICATIONS; TERMS
OF 
GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No grant may be awarded 
under this section to a qualifying cancer center ex-
cept pursuant to an application that is submitted 
and approved in a time, manner, and form specified 
by the Secretary. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—A grant may not be 
provided under this section for a project for a quali-
fying cancer center unless the applicant— 
‘‘(A) provides assurances satisfactory to 
the Secretary that— 
‘‘(i) the project— 
‘‘(I) is for the improvement of re-
search, prevention, or patient care in-
frastructure of the center; 
‘‘(II) is shovel ready; and 
‘‘(III) will expand the applicant’s 
capacity for research, prevention or 
patient care, or is necessary to im-
prove or maintain the quality of the 
applicant’s research, prevention, or 
patient care; and 
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‘‘(ii) the applicant will— 
‘‘(I) have sufficient funds to meet 
the non-Federal share of the cost of 
the infrastructure improvement; 
‘‘(II) use the facility improved or 
resulting from the project for its in-
tended use for a period of at least 20 
years after completion of the project 
and has sufficient funds available to 
demonstrate effective use of such fa-
cility for its intended use; 
‘‘(III) facilitate reasonable depth 
and breadth of research activities in 
each of the three major areas of lab-
oratory research, clinical research, 
and population-based research, with 
substantial transdisciplinary research 
that bridges these scientific areas; 
‘‘(IV) initiate and conduct inves-
tigator-initiated, early phase, innova-
tive clinical trials; 
‘‘(V) perform community service, 
outreach, dissemination, and edu-
cation and training of biomedical re-
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