Precision Brain Health Research Act of 2025

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Bill ID: 119/s/800
Last Updated: April 9, 2026

Sponsored by

Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]

ID: M000934

Follow the money

The bill

Precision Brain Health Research Act of 2025

S. 800, 119th Congress — read as touching Biotech & Research.

The sponsor

Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]

Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.

The money

$81,200 raised

20 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.

The alignment

70% match to Project 2025

This bill's text tracks the "Department of Veterans Affairs" section, p. 676-678 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

July 29, 2025

Introduced

Committee Review

Floor Action

📍 Current Status

Next: The full Senate will vote on whether to pass the bill.

✅

Passed Senate

🏛️

House Review

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.

2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Joy, another congressional bill that's about as effective as a placebo for a terminal patient. Let's dissect this mess.

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Precision Brain Health Research Act of 2025 is a bill that claims to modify the Precision Medicine for Veterans Initiative of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Its main purpose is to conduct research on brain health, specifically focusing on repetitive low-level blast exposure, dementia, and other mental health conditions affecting veterans.

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** This bill amends Section 305 of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019 by adding new provisions. It establishes a data-sharing partnership between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense, which will store data on an open platform (because that's always secure). The bill also requires research studies on various topics, including big-data assessments, implementation studies, translational research, and quality improvement studies.

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The affected parties include veterans, particularly those with likely low-level repetitive blast injuries. Other stakeholders are the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (which will receive a contract to work on validation of brain and mental health biomarkers).

**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill is a perfect example of "legislative theater." It's a feel-good measure that sounds impressive but accomplishes little. The $5 million authorized for each fiscal year from 2025 through 2034 is a drop in the bucket compared to the actual costs of conducting meaningful research.

The real motivation behind this bill? To make politicians look like they care about veterans while actually doing nothing substantial. It's a classic case of "throwing money at a problem" without addressing the underlying issues. The data-sharing partnership will likely become a bureaucratic nightmare, and the research studies will be slow to produce meaningful results.

In short, this bill is a placebo for the symptoms of a much deeper disease: the lack of genuine concern for veterans' welfare among politicians. It's a Band-Aid on a bullet wound, and I'm not buying it.

Related Topics

Public Health & Pandemic ResponseMilitary & Veterans Affairs
Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$81,200
17 donors
PACs
$0
Organizations
$0
Committees
$0
Individuals
$81,200

No PAC contributions found

No organization contributions found

No committee contributions found

1
BORCK, LEON H.
1 transaction
$6,600
2
MANDELBLATT, DANIELLE
1 transaction
$6,600
3
MANDELBLATT, ERIC
1 transaction
$6,600
4
BORCK, JACKIE
2 transactions
$6,600
5
DWYER, JOHN W
2 transactions
$6,600
6
DWYER, NANCY E
2 transactions
$6,600
7
CATZ, SAFRA
1 transaction
$5,000
8
MISSION INDIANS, MORONGO BAND OF
1 transaction
$5,000
9
WILLIS, THOMAS M
1 transaction
$5,000
10
WEILERT, STANLEY R
1 transaction
$3,500
11
THOMAS, ROBERT
1 transaction
$3,300
12
LEPRINO, TERRY L
1 transaction
$3,300
13
POTAWATOMI NATION, PRAIRIE BAND
1 transaction
$3,300
14
BUKOWSKY, BROCK
1 transaction
$3,300
15
OF CREEK INDIANS, POARCH BAND
1 transaction
$3,300
16
BRIGHT, JOHN
1 transaction
$3,300
17
HEMMER, THOMAS
1 transaction
$3,300

Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance

This bill has 3 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.

Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME]

ID: K000383

Top Contributors

10

1
2120 SEA ISLAND LLC
OrganizationRIVER FOREST, IL
$3,300
Oct 26, 2023
2
THE CHICKASAW NATION
OrganizationADA, OK
$3,300
May 22, 2024
3
THE CHICKASAW NATION
OrganizationADA, OK
$2,000
Mar 29, 2024
4
THE CHICKASAW NATION
OrganizationADA, OK
$1,300
May 22, 2024
5
SMITH, BRAD
MICROSOFT CORPORATION • ATTORNEY
IndividualBELLEVUE, WA
$6,600
Feb 13, 2024
6
SMITH, BRAD
IndividualBELLEVUE, WA
$6,600
Feb 20, 2024
7
DOWNEY, NANCY A.
IndividualNEW YORK, NY
$5,000
Sep 4, 2024
8
DOWNEY, NANCY A.
NOT EMPLOYED • RETIRED
IndividualNEW YORK, NY
$5,000
Aug 31, 2024
9
OTTEN, LESLIE B.
AMERICAN SKIING COMPANY • OWNER
IndividualBETHEL, ME
$5,000
Oct 4, 2024
10
BEKENSTEIN, ANITA
NOT EMPLOYED • RETIRED
IndividualWAYLAND, MA
$3,300
Oct 24, 2024

Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD]

ID: R000605

Top Contributors

10

1
SHAKOPEE MDEWAKANTON SIOUX COMMUNITY
OrganizationPRIOR LAKE, MN
$1,000
Nov 22, 2023
2
SHAKOPEE MDEWAKANTON SIOUX COMMUNITY
OrganizationPRIOR LAKE, MN
$1,000
Apr 30, 2024
3
CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA
OrganizationDURANT, OK
$500
Nov 1, 2024
4
ROWAN, CAROLYN
CAROLYN ROWAN COLLECTION • OWNER
IndividualGREENWICH, CT
$6,600
Mar 30, 2023
5
ROWAN, MARC J
APOLLO MGMT. • CEO
IndividualGREENWICH, CT
$6,600
Mar 30, 2023
6
HEGYI, ALBERT
1ST FINANCIAL BANK • BANKER
IndividualSOUTHPORT, CT
$6,600
Aug 22, 2023
7
ROWAN, CAROLYN
CAROLYN ROWAN COLLECTION • OWNER
IndividualGREENWICH, CT
$6,600
Mar 30, 2023
8
ROWAN, MARC J
APOLLO MGMT. • CEO
IndividualGREENWICH, CT
$6,600
Mar 30, 2023
9
HEGYI, ALBERT
1ST FINANCIAL BANK • BANKER
IndividualSOUTHPORT, CT
$6,600
Aug 22, 2023
10
PFAUTCH, ROY
CIVIC SERVICE, INC. • CONSULTANT
IndividualSAINT LOUIS, MO
$6,600
Feb 20, 2024

Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN]

ID: B001299

Top Contributors

10

1
STOCKAMP FOUNDATION
OrganizationCOLUMBIA CITY, IN
$100
Feb 26, 2024
2
NEAL, ROLLIE
RETIRED • RETIRED
IndividualCLARKSBURG, WV
$13,068
Mar 12, 2023
3
NEAL, ROLLIE
IndividualCLARKSBURG, WV
$13,068
Mar 21, 2023
4
SALAMONE, CHRISTOPHER J
IndividualFAIRPORT, NY
$12,000
Feb 8, 2024
5
BARKLEY, JOSH
BARKLEY BUILDERS INC • GENERAL CONTRACTOR
IndividualOSSIAN, IN
$6,700
Apr 3, 2023
6
THRIFT, PAUL
THOMPSON THRIFT • CEO
IndividualTERRE HAUTE, IN
$6,700
Feb 28, 2023
7
MUSELMAN, ROGER C.
DRG HOLDINGS, LLC • CHAIRMAN
IndividualBERNE, IN
$6,700
Mar 28, 2023
8
WALTERS, KENNETH
JAYCO • PRESIDENT AND CEO
IndividualGRANGER, IN
$6,700
Sep 1, 2023
9
DUMEZICH, DANA A.
RETIRED • RETIRED
IndividualMARCO ISLAND, FL
$6,600
Jun 15, 2023
10
RAMSEY, JASON
IndividualBREVARD, NC
$6,600
May 8, 2023

Donor Network - Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

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Showing 56 nodes and 29 connections (46 secondary connections hidden)

Total contributions: $118,536

Top Donors - Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]

Showing top 17 donors by contribution amount

17 Individuals

Industry Impact

Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 3 helped.

  • +Biotech & Researchconfidence 0.90

    Section 2(f)(3) authorizes translational research on growth hormone replacement therapy for cognitive function, which could benefit biotech firms developing such therapies.

  • Section 2(f) directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct research within the Veterans Health Administration system, potentially increasing demand for hospital and health system services involved in veteran care.

  • +Medical Devicesconfidence 0.80

    Research on biomarkers and diagnostic improvements (Section 2(g)(1)) may increase demand for medical devices used in brain health assessment and monitoring.

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Moderate
Vector: 65%
Pages: 676-678AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill focuses on brain health research for veterans, which aligns with Project 2025's emphasis on addressing veterans' health needs, particularly in the context of evolving demographics and service-connected conditions. However, Project 2025 does not specifically mention brain health, blast exposure, or dementia research, resulting in moderate rather than strong alignment."

Key themes:veterans health careservice-connected conditionsVA research initiativesaging veteran populationhealth care innovation

— 643 — Department of Veterans Affairs with a growth in same-day surgical procedures and outpatient care, so has the VA, and in 2018 Congress added access to private-sector urgent care outlets as one of the VA’s health care benefits. Today, the VA operates 172 inpatient VA Medical Centers (VAMCs), which are an average of 60 years old, and 1,113 Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs), which are newer facilities designed to meet the needs of veterans closer to home. The VA also manages a Community Care Network (CCN) through contracts with Optum and TriWest, third-party health care administrators responsible for build- ing and maintaining a robust population of community providers to meet the needs of veterans referred for care outside of the VA system. Currently, approximately 6.4 million veterans out of 18 million nationally (and out of the 9.1 million who are enrolled) use the VA for health care; the remainder use employer-sponsored plans, Tricare, Medicare, and Medicaid. The disability benefits system evolved significantly in the years between the Cold War era and the global war on terrorism, a period when the VA enrolled large numbers of veterans from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam who were seeking disability benefits and health care. Disability compensation is the largest VA benefit, but there also are dozens of others, the next largest of which are the GI Bill and the Home Loan Guaranty. These benefits are administered through 56 Regional Benefits Offices (RBOs) and hundreds of satellite sites around the country. The Agent Orange Act of 19914 significantly expanded the scope of disability ben- efits for those who had deployed to Vietnam, and the cost of those benefits began to increase dramatically as the Vietnam generation of veterans aged and began to expe- rience adverse health conditions, some of which were presumed to have been caused by defoliant chemicals used in Southeast Asia. In 2016 and 2017, a burdensome backlog of appeals of denied disability claims from multiple wartime generations—a backlog numbering in the hundreds of thousands—led to a joint effort by the VA, Vet- eran Service Organizations (VSOs), and Congress to pass legislation that streamlined appeal processes. Implemented in 2017, this historic “good governance” success has helped the VA to reduce the number of these appeals dramatically. The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 20225 addressed adverse health outcomes presumed to be the result of veterans’ exposure to airborne toxins during the global war on terrorism and further expanded disability benefits to the most recent gen- eration of veterans. These ambitious authorities, like the 1991 authorities, have the potential to overwhelm the VA’s ability to process new disability claims and adjudicate appeals. Currently, the VA is seeking to hire large numbers of personnel to process these claims while exploring the use of an automated process to accel- erate claims reviews and decisions. The ever-present lag in the hiring and training of new employees could result in major problems with the timely adjudication of benefits well into the next Administration in 2025. — 644 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise In sum, the VA for the foreseeable future will experience significant fiscal, human capital, and infrastructure crosswinds and risks. Budgets are at historic highs, and with a workforce now above 400,000, the VA is contending with a lack of new veteran enrollees to offset the declining population of older veterans. Recruitment of medical and benefits personnel has become more challenging. Veterans are migrating from the northern states to the southern and western states for retirement and employment. Meanwhile, VA information technol- ogy (IT) is struggling to keep pace with the evolution of patient care and record keeping. Consequently, VA leaders in the next Administration must be wise and courageous political strategists, experienced managers to run day-to-day oper- ations more effectively, innovators to address the changing veteran landscape, and agile “fixers” to mitigate and repair systemic problems created or ignored by the present leadership team. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION (VHA) Needed Reforms l Rescind all departmental clinical policy directives that are contrary to principles of conservative governance starting with abortion services and gender reassignment surgery. Neither aligns with service-connected conditions that would warrant VA’s providing this type of clinical care, and both follow the Left’s pernicious trend of abusing the role of government to further its own agenda. l Focus on the effects of shifting veteran demographics. At least during the next decade, the VA will experience a significant generational shift in its overall patient population. Of the approximately 18 million veterans alive today, roughly 9.1 million are enrolled for VA health care, and 6.4 million of these enrollees use VA health care consistently. These 6.4 million veterans are split almost evenly between those who are over age 65 and those who are under age 65, but the share of VA’s health care dollars is spent predominantly in the over-65 cohort. That share increases significantly as veterans live longer and use the VHA system at a higher rate. VHA enrollments of new users are increasingly at risk of being exceeded by the deaths of current enrollees, primarily because significant numbers of the Vietnam generation are reaching their life expectancy. The generational transition from Vietnam-era veterans to post-9/11 veterans will take several years to complete. The ongoing demographic transition is a catalyst for needed assessments of how the VA can improve the delivery of care to a numerically declining and differently dispersed national population

Department of Veterans Affairs

Moderate
Vector: 65%
Pages: 679-681AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill focuses on brain health research for veterans, which aligns with Project 2025's broader goal of improving VA healthcare quality and innovation, though it does not directly address the specific VA reform priorities outlined in the policy such as infrastructure realignment, caregiver program overhaul, or personnel changes."

Key themes:veterans health careresearch and innovationdata sharingquality improvementVA-DoD collaboration

— 646 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise 3. Section 121 (developing and administering an education program that teaches veterans about their health care options available from the Department of Veterans Affairs). 4. Section 152 (returning the Office for Innovation of Care and Payment to the Office of Enterprise Integration with a joint governance process set up with the VHA). 5. Section 161 (overhauling Family Caregiver Program expansion, which has gone poorly, so that it focuses on consistency of eligibility and awareness that the most severely wounded or injured may require the program indefinitely). l Require the VHA to report publicly on all aspects of its operation, including quality, safety, patient experience, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness, using standards similar to those in the Medicare Accountable Care Organization program so that the government may monitor and achieve continuous improvement in the VA system more effectively. l Encourage VA Medical Centers to seek out relevant academic and private- sector input in their communities to improve the overall patient experience. Budget l Conduct an independent audit of the VA similar to the 2018 Department of Defense (DOD) audit to identify IT, management, financial, contracting, and other deficiencies. l Assess the misalignment of VHA facilities and rising infrastructure costs. The VHA operates 172 inpatient medical facilities nationally that are an average of 60 years old. Some of these facilities are underutilized and inadequately staffed. Facilities in certain urban and rural areas are seeing significant declines in the veteran population and strong competition for fresh medical staff. In 2018, Congress authorized an Asset Infrastructure Review (AIR) of national VHA medical markets to provide insight into where the VA health care budget should be responsibly allocated to serve veterans most effectively. However, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee lacked the political will to act on the White House’s nominations of commission members, and this ultimately led to termination of the AIR process. The next Administration should seek out agile, creative, and politically acceptable operational solutions to this aging infrastructure status quo, — 647 — Department of Veterans Affairs reimagine the health care footprint in some locales, and spur a realignment of capacity through budgetary allocations. Specifically: 1. Embrace the expansion of Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) as an avenue to maintain a VA footprint in challenging medical markets without investing further in obsolete and unaffordable VA health care campuses. 2. Explore the potential to pilot facility-sharing partnerships between the VA and strained local health care systems to reduce costs by leveraging limited talent and resources. Personnel l Extend the term of the Under Secretary for Health (USH) to five years. Additionally, authority should be given to reappoint this individual for a second five-year term both to allow for continuity and to protect the USH from political transition. l Establish a Senior Executive Service (SES) position of VHA Care System Chief Information Officer (CIO), selected by and reporting to the chief of the VHA Care System with a dotted line to the VA CIO. l Identify a workflow process to bring wait times in compliance with VA MISSION Act–required time frames wherever possible. 1. Assess the daily clinical appointment load for physicians and clinical staff in medical facilities where wait times for care are well outside of the time frames required by the VA MISSION Act. 2. Require VHA facilities to increase the number of patients seen each day to equal the number seen by DOD medical facilities: approximately 19 patients per provider per day. Currently, VA facilities may be seeing as few as six patients per provider per day. 3. Consider a pilot program to extend weekday appointment hours and offer Saturday appointment options to veterans if a facility continues to demonstrate that it has excess capacity and is experiencing delays in the delivery of care for veterans. 4. Identify clinical services that are consistently in high demand but require cost-prohibitive compensation to recruit and retain talent, and examine exceptions for higher competitive pay.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Moderate
Vector: 64%
Pages: 688-691AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill's focus on advancing brain health research and improving data sharing between VA and DoD aligns with the broader Project 2025 goal of enhancing veteran healthcare and VA effectiveness, though it addresses a specific research area rather than the comprehensive VA reforms outlined in Project 2025."

Key themes:veterans healthbrain health researchVA-DoD collaborationdata sharingfunding for veteran care

— 655 — Department of Veterans Affairs ENDNOTES 1. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Division, VHA Directive 1003, “VHA Veteran Patient Experience,” April 14, 2020, pp. 1 and B-1. 2. S. 2372, VA Mission Act of 2018, Public Law No. 115-182, 115th Congress, June 6, 2018, https://www.congress. gov/115/plaws/publ182/PLAW-115publ182.pdf (accessed January 30, 2023). 3. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA History Office, “VA History,” last updated May 27, 2021, https://www. va.gov/HISTORY/VA_History/Overview.asp (accessed January 28, 2023). 4. 38 U.S. Code § 1116, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/1116 (accessed January 28, 2023). 5. S. 3373, Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022), Public Law No. 117-168, 117th Congress, August 10, 2022, https://www. congress.gov/117/plaws/publ168/PLAW-117publ168.pdf (accessed January 28, 2023). 6. H.R. 2471, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Public Law No. 117-103, 117th Congress, March 15, 2022, Division S, Title I, https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ103/PLAW-117publ103.pdf (accessed March 18, 2023). Known variously as the Department of Veterans Affairs Nurse and Physician Assistant Retention and Income Security Enhancement Act and the VA Nurse and Physician Assistant RAISE Act. 7. See note 5, supra.

Showing 3 of 5 policy matches

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.

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