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

Washington, D.C. – Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced bipartisan legislation led by Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-6) to reauthorize federal traumatic brain injury (TBI) programs and honor the late New Jersey 9^th District Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr.’s decades-long leadership on brain injury awareness, research, and treatment.

“Bill Pascrell understood before most people that traumatic brain injuries were a serious and often invisible public health crisis,” said Congressman 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,” preserving Pascrell’s legacy as one of Congress’s most relentless advocates for Americans living with brain injuries.

The legislation reauthorizes federal TBI programs for five years through Fiscal Year 2029 and continues 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.

According to the CDC, traumatic brain injuries contributed to 69,000 deaths in the United States in 2023, while millions more Americans continue to live with long-term cognitive, physical, and emotional impacts tied to brain injuries sustained through falls, car accidents, military service, domestic violence, and sports injuries.

In addition to reauthorizing funding, the bill directs 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. The legislation also requires updated federal reporting on populations disproportionately affected by TBI, existing research gaps, and the long-term impacts associated with brain injuries.

Pallone introduced the bipartisan legislation last year alongside Representatives Rob Menendez (D-NJ-8), Don Bacon (R-NE-2), and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX-2).

“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.” 

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.”