S. 4494 · Where this bill is now
In committee
Introduced in the Senate, May 12, 2026
What this bill does
In plain words · AI-written from the official summaryPermanently funds biomedical research agencies
This bill sets up permanent funding for four major organizations that do medical research: the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense health program, and the Veterans Affairs medical and prosthetics research program. It also protects this funding from sequestration, which is an automatic budget-cutting process that normally applies across government spending.
How it affects you
If you benefit from medical research—whether you're fighting a disease, a veteran receiving care, or someone who uses treatments developed through government-funded studies—this bill aims to keep those research programs stable and well-funded without worrying about sudden budget cuts. Most everyday Americans won't see a direct change, but the bill's intent is to keep the pipeline of medical discoveries going.
Read the official summary (Introduced in Senate, May 12, 2026)
American Cures Act
This bill permanently funds several federal agencies and programs that perform biomedical research.
The bill provides specified funding for
• the National Institutes of Health,
• the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
• the Department of Defense health program, and
• the Department of Veterans Affairs medical and prosthetics research program.
The bill exempts the funding from sequestration, which is a process of automatic, usually across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently cancelled to enforce specific budget policy goals.
It also exempts the budgetary effects of the funding from the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act of 2010 and the Senate PAYGO rule.
Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.
2nd SessionS. 4494
A BILL
American Cures Act
Sponsor: Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) · Introduced May 12, 2026 · Health · 1 version of the text
Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action May 12, 2026: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Appropriations. (text: CR S2239)”