To amend the Public Health Service Act to increase accountability at the National Institutes of Health.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · May 19, 2015
This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to appoint the directors of the national research institutes and national centers (excluding the National Cancer Institute) instead of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Directors appointed by the Director of NIH have five-year terms.
This bill amends the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 to remove a provision that makes appropriations available for compensation of consultants or individual scientists appointed for limited periods of time to the Public Health Service.
Before a national research institute or national center awards a grant for a research project (R-series grant) the director of the institute or center must review and approve the award, taking into consideration the mission and priorities of the institute or center and whether other agencies are funding projects to accomplish the same goal.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Read full official summaryShow less
HHS must enter an arrangement with the National Academy of Medicine (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine) under which a study is completed on the extent to which federally funded biomedical research is duplicative and recommendations are made on preventing such duplication.
Source last updated: Jan 3, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze H.R.2421 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine H.R.2421 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine H.R.2421 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine H.R.2421 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.