HR 9820: CDC Tribal Public Health Security and Preparedness Act

HR 9820 in plain English: This bill would amend existing law to update and extend CDC public health security and preparedness grant funding, with a focus on including Tribal nations. It would replace a prior funding level of $685,000,000 per year (fiscal years 2019–2023) with $750,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2026 through 2028.

Stated purpose

This bill aims to improve public health security and emergency preparedness for Tribal nations by making Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and consortiums of Tribes eligible to directly receive federal cooperative agreement funding through the CDC's existing public health preparedness program.

Key points

• Increases annual CDC preparedness grant funding from $685 million to $750 million per year
• Extends funding authorization through fiscal years 2026 to 2028
• Aims to include Tribal nations in CDC public health security and preparedness programs

Arguments supporters make

• Tribes have sovereign responsibility for their members' health and safety, and giving them direct access to preparedness funding lets them build systems tailored to their unique geographic, cultural, and jurisdictional needs.
• Removing the matching-funds requirement and allowing unspent money to carry over addresses real financial barriers that have historically prevented under-resourced Tribal governments from participating in federal preparedness programs.
• Including Tribes directly in emergency planning coordination — rather than routing everything through states — can close gaps that became visible during past public health crises affecting Tribal communities.

Arguments opponents make

• Reserving at least 5 percent of a fixed funding pool for Tribal awards could reduce the dollars available to state and local health departments that serve large populations, potentially weakening broader preparedness capacity.
• The bill sets a floor of only 10 cooperative agreements and leaves award amounts largely to the Secretary's discretion, which critics may argue provides too little certainty about how much funding Tribes will actually receive.
• Broad waiver authority granted to the Secretary — allowing many program requirements to be modified or bypassed for Tribal recipients — could reduce accountability and make it harder to measure whether funds are being used effectively.

Tradeoffs

Directing a dedicated share of preparedness funding to Tribal governments and waiving standard requirements like matching funds may improve equity and Tribal self-determination, but it reduces the pool available to state and local entities and creates flexibility that some see as reduced accountability.

Current status in Congress: In committee.

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