Description:
H.R. 1222 would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to enhance surveillance capabilities, to create a public education campaign, and to provide grants related to congenital heart disease (CHD). H.R. 1222 also would require HHS to prepare a report on planned activities, ongoing research, and a summary of research findings. In fiscal year 2018, CDC received $4 million for activities related to CHD. Based on historical spending for similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1222 would cost $18 million over the 2019-2023 period, assuming appropriation of amounts consistent with 2018 levels. Because enacting H.R. 1222 would not affect direct spending or revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1222 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. H.R. 1222 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. On September 22, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 1222, the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2017, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on June 7, 2017. CBO’s estimates of the budgetary effects of implementing both pieces of legislation are different. CBO’s estimate for the version reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is higher because it included a specified authorization level for CDC of $20 million for similar purposes over 5 years, and it also reauthorized CHD research at the National Institutes of Health, which is not included in this version.
