Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Caucus, applauded Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s announcement today that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching a variety of new initiatives to improve patient care, enable earlier diagnoses, and accelerate research for Lyme disease.

                “Under President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s bold leadership, the HHS is taking important steps towards addressing and mitigating the national public health emergency caused by Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses over the past several decades,” said Smith, whose legislation (HR 4348) to provide $150 million over five years in continued funding for Lyme disease research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives just last month.

                “I am grateful to Secretary Kennedy and President Trump for their efforts to improve the lives and outcomes of the millions of Lyme patients throughout the country, and I am glad to see that tick-borne illnesses are no longer taking the back seat in the public health space.

                “Critically, the HHS is prioritizing early and accurate diagnoses for Lyme disease, ensuring that often-misdiagnosed patients can receive the correct treatments they need in a timely and efficient manner,” Smith continued.

                “The HHS’s new Lyme Clinician Locator, made possible through their partnership with the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), will help to significantly streamline this process, enabling patients to easily search for Lyme-literate clinicians in their area with a mere click.

                “As Secretary Kennedy also announced, patients can use their voices and experiences to drive science and research further by utilizing CURE ID to share which treatments have worked for them, which have not, and what is needed for the future—all directly with NIH and FDA,” stated Smith.

                Smith also highlighted and praised the work of the LymeX Innovation Accelerator Program (LymeX)—a public-private partnership between the HHS and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, which funds prize competitions to advance innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease—in developing two new FDA-approved Lyme diagnostic tools over the past two years.

                “LymeX plays a vital role in improving diagnostic criteria and patient outcomes for Lyme disease, which is why I have introduced legislation (HR 7482) to finally codify this groundbreaking program. In addition to permanentizing this critical initiative, my LymeX Authorization Act allocates $5 million to the HHS Secretary to carry out prize competitions to incentivize Lyme disease research,” noted Smith.

                For over three decades, Smith has authored numerous amendments and legislation to enhance and expand federal tick-borne disease research, awareness, and collaboration.

                Smith’s HR 4348—which passed the House with broad bipartisan backing in late July—reauthorizes the TICK Act (PL 116-94) that Smith and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) spearheaded in 2019. Smith’s new bill will allocate federal monies to the CDC’s regional Centers of Excellence and provide funding for states in regions that have an elevated risk of Lyme or other tick-borne disease outbreaks, enabling them to work in tandem with the federal government to quickly identify and address such outbreaks.

                As passed by the House, HR 4348 authorizes—over the course of five years—$50 million for the regional Centers of Excellence and $100 million for cooperative agreement funding between states and localities, respectively.

                Furthermore, in December of last year, Smith’s amendment to probe whether the Cold War-era Department of War bioweapons program ever used ticks as hosts or delivery mechanisms for biological warfare agents was included within the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was later signed into law (PL 119-60) by President Trump.

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