Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) today hailed the passage of the substance of his Protecting Access to Information for Effective and Necessary Treatment (PATIENT) Act in the House’s end-of-year domestic funding package. The House-passed reauthorization of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which is now set to become law, extends funding to PCORI for ten years, through FY2029.

“Giving PCORI authorization and funding for years to come will mean patients get the evidence-based information they need to make better healthcare decisions,” said Rep. Beyer. “I am very pleased that this patient-focused legislation will become law next to other vital healthcare priorities, including investments in NIH medical research, grants to prevent suicide and fight the opioid epidemic, and the first CDC funding for gun violence prevention research in two decades. The bill also fully funded the 2020 census, invests in election security, and gave civilian federal employees a 3.1 percent raise next year while avoiding another disastrous shutdown. We did not get everything I would have liked, but these provisions include important victories for Northern Virginia families that will really help our community.”

Beyer serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, which advanced his PATIENT Act in June.

Additional details about the FY20 spending agreement are available here.

Congressman Don Beyer represents nearly 87,000 federal employees, the largest number of any Member of the House of Representatives. Beyer joined Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney this February to introduce the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act.