Congress funds Down syndrome research program at NIH

What it does

The bill creates the INCLUDE Project. It is a research program at the National Institutes of Health. The NIH Director must run and coordinate studies about Down syndrome. Studies cover a person's whole life. Research includes related health conditions like Alzheimer's disease and autoimmunity. It covers clinical trials that include people with Down syndrome. It covers ways to improve their quality of life. The NIH must report to Congress every two years.

Who it affects

People with Down syndrome and their families benefit from this research. Medical research institutions and universities that conduct studies receive funding.

One thing to notice

Congress gets reports every two years to track progress. The NIH must coordinate research across institutes to avoid repeating work.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

9 cosponsors: 6 Democrats, 3 Republicans.

• May 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• May 21, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
• Aug 6, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions discharged by Unanimous Consent”
• Aug 6, 2026 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Voice Vote. (text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR…”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

13 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 19 reports from Jun 2025 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $8,280,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 2 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 94% of bills with any report.

John Hickenlooper, who sponsored the bill, received $948,352 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• Alzheimer's Association — $3,590,000 in 2 reports
• Electronic Payments Coalition Inc. — $2,820,000 in 1 report
• Bank Policy Institute — $1,130,000 in 2 reports
• Electronic Payments Coalition — $220,000 in 2 reports
• National Association of Convenience Stores — $160,000 in 2 reports

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• National Institutes of Health — The main U.S. government agency that funds medical research.
• clinical trials — Studies that test new medicines or treatments on real people.
• coordinate — Work together and share information to avoid doing the same work twice.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
• sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.