Title: Calling for the establishment of a new unit of the National Institutes of Health, to be known as The National Institute of Viral Diseases, to increase research in the field of viral disease causes, prevention, and treatment.
Policy area: Health

Summary:
This resolution calls for the establishment of the National Institute of Viral Diseases within the National Institutes of Health to coordinate and focus research funding on the causes, prevention, and treatment of diseases caused by viruses.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 93 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 93

Calling for the establishment of a new unit of the National Institutes 
of Health, to be known as The National Institute of Viral Diseases, to 
increase research in the field of viral disease causes, prevention, and 
                               treatment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 2021

 Ms. Kaptur submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Calling for the establishment of a new unit of the National Institutes 
of Health, to be known as The National Institute of Viral Diseases, to 
increase research in the field of viral disease causes, prevention, and 
                               treatment.

Whereas the pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 
        2 (in this preamble referred to as ``COVID-19'') is perhaps the greatest 
        threat to the health and prosperity of the United States since the Great 
        Depression, and COVID-19 has sickened more than 26 million people in the 
        United States, has killed more than 440,000 people, and has left 
        hundreds of thousands of survivors with long-term vascular, 
        neurological, and other complications;
Whereas COVID-19 has exceeded 102,000,000 cases and 2,100,000 million deaths 
        worldwide;
Whereas projections, using the optimistic assumption that COVID-19 will be 
        controlled by the fall of 2021 by vaccines still untried or fully 
        tested, foresee economic costs estimated at more than $16 trillion, 
        almost 90 percent of the annual gross domestic product of the United 
        States;
Whereas the toll in illness, death, and direct economic damage caused by COVID-
        19 justifies a fundamental reorganization and significant expansion of 
        the commitment of the Federal Government to fund research on diseases 
        caused by viruses and their prevention and treatment;
Whereas COVID-19 is only one of more than 130 viruses known to cause diseases in 
        humans, these diseases sicken millions of people in the United States 
        each year, and they range from relatively mild to devastating, including 
        the common cold, infectious diarrhea, HIV/AIDS, measles, chicken pox, 
        hepatitis, mumps, cervical cancer, and certain forms of leukemia;
Whereas viruses also pose serious health and economic threats to domestic pets, 
        farm animals, and food crops;
Whereas scientists predict that the toll from viral diseases will increase in 
        the future, with new disease-causing viruses spreading from animals to 
        people due to human intrusion into previously wild environments, 
        increased international travel, and mass migrations resulting from war, 
        famine, and national disasters;
Whereas despite the scope and seriousness of this problem, there is no treatment 
        or cure for most viral infections in humans and existing treatments can 
        only relieve symptoms while victims wait and hope that their immune 
        system will fight off the virus;
Whereas vaccines can protect people from some viral disease, but no vaccine 
        exists for the most common viral infections, including the common cold, 
        and vaccines for influenza provide only temporary protection and must be 
        renewed annually;
Whereas viruses called bacteriophages are one of the most promising ways of 
        treating anti-biotic resistant bacteria, but Federal investment in 
        scientific research in this area lags;
Whereas the House of Representatives recognizes the importance of biological 
        sciences research and its contributions to advancing medical 
        countermeasures for the betterment of the American public; and
Whereas the virus-related funding of the Federal Government is fragmented, 
        uncoordinated, and not uniquely focused as it is allocated among 
        multiple Federal agencies, including the National Institute for 
        Allergies and Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and 
        Preventions, the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Resources and 
        Services Administration, the United States Agency for International 
        Development, and the Fogarty International Center of the National 
        Institutes of Health: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the Director of the National Institutes of Health 
        should establish a new research institute of the National 
        Institutes of Health, to be known as the National Institute of 
        Viral Diseases, to focus, coordinate, and increase research 
        funding on the causes, prevention, and treatment of diseases 
        caused by viruses; and
            (2) all existing and future research of this kind should be 
        coordinated through the new National Institute of Viral 
        Diseases.
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