Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation 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), sending the bill to President Trump’s desk for his signature.

                The Kay Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act (S. 2398)—sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)—is the identical Senate companion legislation to Rep. Chris Smith’s (R-NJ) HR 4348, which passed the House in late July. Having now passed both chambers, the President is expected to sign the final Senate version into law in the next several days.

                The soon-to-be law will fund critical vector-borne disease research programs and initiatives at the CDC that were due to expire on September 30^th.

                “My colleagues will recall that our distinguished colleague, North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan, suffered a tick bite and died in 2019 from encephalitis caused by Powassan virus—the current law and reauthorization is named in her honor,” said Smith, the founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Caucus, during the bill’s debate on the House floor.

                “Vector borne diseases are now endemic in regions of the country where they have not historically been present. Disease-laden ticks are now found in all 48 contiguous U.S. states. The problem is exploding—not abating,” said Smith.

                The Kay Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act will allocate $50 million over five years for 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.

                “Critically, this new bill reauthorizes cooperative agreement funding for states and localities—$100 million over five years—to tangibly assist state public health departments and other local entities to support the development and implementation of evidence-based research, interventions, and treatment,” Smith noted.

                “This legislation also supports the Trump Administration’s whole-of-government assault on Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, including several recently announced bold and innovative initiatives to control the spread of Lyme and advance diagnostics and therapies for patients,” stated Smith.

                He also noted that “U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently established the Lyme Clinician Locator, which enables patients to easily search for Lyme-literate clinicians in their area. Secretary Kennedy also announced the launch of CURE ID, a new platform where patients can share directly with the NIH and FDA which treatments have worked for them, which have not, and what is needed for the future.”

                Since 1992, Smith has authored numerous amendments and legislation to improve the lives and prognoses of those suffering from Lyme disease by enhancing and expanding federal tick-borne disease research, awareness, and collaboration. He and Sen. Susan Collins spearheaded the effort to enact the original Kay Hagan Tick Act in 2019, which later became law as part of the FY 2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act.

                The original law created, among other things, a national strategy to combat Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, with a special focus on surveillance, diagnosis, treatment, education and prevention.

                In February of this year, Smith also authored and introduced the LymeX Authorization Act (HR 7482), legislation to codify and authorize $5 million towards the LymeX Accelerator Program (LymeX), a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, which funds prize competitions to advance innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease.

                Moreover, 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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