PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jan 22, 2013
Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention America Act or HeLP America Act - Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, the Public Health Service Act, and other specified health law to establish or expand programs for children's nutrition and physical activity in schools and with child care providers, expanding the free fresh fruit program, promoting equal opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in schools and colleges, revising the definition of "core academic subject" to include physical education, and including the promotion of healthy, active lifestyles by students within educational grant programs.
Sets forth requirements to expand healthy activities in the community, permitting use of schools for recreational and nutritional purposes during nonschool hours, awarding grants for sports and athletic programs for individuals with disabilities, awarding grants to establish community gardens, requiring physical activity guidelines for the general public, and promoting healthy foods and physical activity at national parks. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the excise tax on tobacco products. Establishes a program to assist federal departments and agencies in integrating health goals into their activities.
Addresses workplace wellness, allowing a wellness program credit for employers, excluding from an employee's income the fees paid by an employer to an athletic or fitness facility on the employee's behalf, and promoting breastfeeding among working mothers. Establishes requirements for federal buildings, including those for: (1) application of menu labeling requirements to food establishments and nutritional standards for food provided in such buildings, (2) prompts encouraging individuals to use stairs, and (3) installation of bicycle storage areas.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Sets forth requirements to reduce the sodium content of processed food and restaurant food, expand nutritional labeling requirements, establish a front-label food guidance system, and strengthen health literacy.
Disallows a deduction for expenses relating to advertising or marketing of any tobacco product. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to impose an industry-wide penalty on manufacturers of cigarettes for failure to achieve youth tobacco use reduction goals. Expands coverage of preventive services through title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act and the Federal Employees Health Benefits program.
Establishes a training program for health professionals related to the prevention, identification, and treatment of overweight patients, obesity, and eating disorders.
Requires the Secretary to: (1) award grants for training in integrative medicine, (2) establish a national consortium on breastfeeding research, and (3) implement public health monitoring measures to address mental health and substance use disorders.
People & committees
Sen. Harkin, Tom [D-IA] · D–IA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 12, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
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.
Analyze S.39 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.
Examine S.39 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.
Examine S.39 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.
Examine S.39 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.