Congress limits NIH funding for high-pain dog and cat research
H.R. 4698 — PAAW Act · Filed by Nancy Mace (R-SC) · 15 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 23, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from conducting or funding research that causes significant pain or distress to dogs and cats. It defines prohibited research as studies involving pain categories D or E under USDA standards, with a 90-day implementation window after enactment.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward prohibition on NIH funding for high-pain animal research involving dogs and cats. It is a targeted animal-welfare measure, not a broader research-funding or regulatory reform.
What the text implies
- May redirect NIH research toward alternative methods (in vitro, computational modeling, human-derived tissues) that could accelerate development of non-animal testing platforms.
- Could affect multi-year research grants already in progress; NIH may need to fund protocol modifications or early termination of affected studies.
- Applies only to dogs and cats; research on other animals (primates, rodents, rabbits) remains permissible under existing Animal Welfare Act standards, creating a species-specific carve-out.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill reduces animal suffering in federally funded research without restricting human medical access or imposing costs on ordinary citizens. It reflects a democratic choice to limit NIH funding to research methods that do not inflict high-level pain on companion animals, aligning public values with research practice.
Named in the bill
National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Public Health Service Act, Animal Welfare Act
Where it stands
15 cosponsors: 8 Democrats, 7 Republicans.
- Jul 23, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 23, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $310,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 33 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Nancy Mace, the sponsor, reported $8,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Service Employees International Union Ctw-clc — $300,000 on 1 filing
- White Coat Waste Project Inc — $10,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,000 characters) on Aug 18, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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