Menendez and Pallone’s Bill Honoring Pascrell’s Traumatic Brain Injury Legacy Advances Through House Energy and Commerce Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressman Rob Menendez (NJ-08) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06)'s bipartisan legislation to reauthorize federal traumatic brain injury ("TBI") programs and honor the late New Jersey 9th District Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr.'s leadership on brain injury awareness, research, and treatment, advanced through the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

"For over two decades, my dear friend and colleague, Bill Pascrell, was an exceptional advocate for traumatic brain injury treatment and research," said Congressman Menendez. "It's a privilege to partner with Ranking Member Pallone to honor Bill's legacy and continue his work to recognize TBIs as a chronic condition. I am glad to see our legislation reauthorizing and improving programs that prevent and detect TBIs passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee today, and I look forward to working to make this bill into law."

"Bill Pascrell understood before most people that traumatic brain injuries were a serious and often invisible public health crisis," said Ranking Member Pallone. "For decades, he fought to make sure Americans living with brain injuries were not ignored by the health care system or by Congress. I'm proud my Energy and Commerce Committee advanced this legislation to continue that mission and ensure Bill's advocacy leaves a lasting mark on the country he loved so deeply."

The legislation would:

• Rename the federal government's national TBI surveillance and registry program as the "Bill Pascrell, Jr. National Program for Traumatic Brain Injury Surveillance and Registries;"
• Reauthorize federal TBI programs for five years through Fiscal Year 2029 and continue support for research, treatment initiatives, rehabilitation services, and data collection efforts coordinated through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administration for Community Living;
• Direct the Department of Health and Human Services to study whether TBI should be formally recognized as a chronic condition, a designation that could improve long-term care coordination and federal support for survivors; and
• Require updated federal reporting on populations disproportionately affected by TBI, existing research gaps, and the long-term impacts associated with brain injuries.

Pascrell co-founded the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force in 2001 and spent more than two decades pushing Congress and federal agencies to better understand what he often called the nation's "silent epidemic."

Congressman Menendez co-led this bipartisan legislation last year alongside Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr., and Congressmembers Don Bacon (NE-02) and Dan Crenshaw (TX-02). He currently serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he continues to champion legislation supporting families, expanding community resources, and ensuring vulnerable populations receive the care and attention they deserve.

To read the full text of the bill, please click here.

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