# 119-s-4494: American Cures Act

119-s-4494, American Cures Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] (D-IL); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-07).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4494
- As of: 2026-08-07
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-4494
- Congress: 119
- Title: American Cures Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-05-12
- Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] (D-IL)
- Cosponsors: 4
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-08-07

## Summary

**Secures sustained, rising federal funding for biomedical and public‑health research.** This bill would set specific multi‑year funding levels for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense health research program, and Veterans Affairs medical and prosthetics research from FY2027 through FY2036 and then tie future years to inflation. - Researchers and research institutions: Would get steady, growing NIH funding starting at $52.5 billion in 2027 and rising to $102.3 billion by 2036, with later years indexed to the Consumer Price Index. - Public health and communities: Would authorize CDC funding rising from about $9.9 billion in 2027 to $19.3 billion in 2036, supporting disease prevention and response capacity. - Service members, veterans, and defense health research: Would fund DoD health research from about $2.9 billion in 2027 to $5.7 billion in 2036 and VA medical and prosthetics research from about $1.1 billion in 2027 to $2.0 billion in 2036. It would also exempt these appropriations from sequestration and exclude their budgetary effects from PAYGO scorecards. *Would authorize decade‑long, rising appropriations for NIH, CDC, DoD health RD&E, and VA prosthetics and set special budget treatment by exempting those appropriations from sequestration and from PAYGO scorecards.*

## Cosponsors (4)

- Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] (D-CT), 2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL] (D-IL), 2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD] (D-MD), 2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Kim, Andy [D-NJ] (D-NJ), 2026-08-05T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Big NIH research funding boost: benefit, high. If enacted, the government would give the National Institutes of Health about $52.5 billion in FY2027. The bill would set higher, year-by-year amounts through FY2036, reaching about $102.3 billion in FY2036. From FY2037 on, each year’s amount would rise by the prior year’s CPI‑U (an inflation measu…
- Bigger DoD medical research budget: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would give the Department of Defense about $2.94 billion for health research in FY2027. The bill would raise DoD health RD&E funding each year through FY2036, reaching about $5.73 billion in FY2036. From FY2037 on, each year’s amount would rise by the prior year’s CPI‑U. These…
- More CDC funding for public health: benefit, high. If enacted, the government would give the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about $9.9 billion in FY2027. The bill would increase CDC funding each year through FY2036, reaching about $19.3 billion in FY2036. From FY2037 on, each year’s amount would rise by the prior year’s CPI‑U. These fun…
- More VA medical and prosthetics research: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would give the VA about $1.07 billion for medical and prosthetics research in FY2027. The bill would raise VA research funding each year through FY2036, reaching about $1.98 billion in FY2036. From FY2037 on, each year’s amount would rise by the prior year’s CPI‑U. These funds…
- Budget protections for research funding: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would keep the Act’s appropriations off statutory PAYGO scorecards so they are not entered for PAYGO accounting. It would also add the Act’s appropriations to the list of items exempt from sequestration, so future sequestration orders after enactment could not reduce these fund…

## Related bills

- 119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-s-2823: FAMILY Act
- 119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act
- 119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act
- 119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026

## Sources
- [119-s-4494 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4494)

## Related
- [119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5066)
- [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990)
- [119-s-2823: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2823)
- [119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3869)
- [119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-51)
- [119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5108)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4494 (as of 2026-08-07).