Congress orders federal epilepsy research overhaul—but no new money attached
S. 494 — National Plan for Epilepsy Act · Filed by Eric Schmitt (R-MO) · 27 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 10, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to review federal epilepsy research, prevention, and treatment programs, identify gaps and coordination problems, and report back to Congress within two years with recommendations for improvement. The bill requires the Secretary to consult with federal agencies, patient advocates, and medical experts to develop a coordinated national plan for epilepsy.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a directed review and reporting requirement aimed at improving federal coordination of epilepsy research and care. It is a straightforward public health planning instrument with no private carve-outs or immunity provisions.
What the text implies
- The bill's effectiveness depends entirely on HHS follow-through and congressional action on recommendations—the bill itself creates no new funding, programs, or enforcement mechanisms.
- The 2-year reporting deadline may create pressure to consolidate or restructure existing epilepsy programs, potentially affecting current grant recipients and research continuity.
- Stakeholder input requirement may elevate patient-advocacy priorities (e.g., sudden unexpected nocturnal death in epilepsy prevention) over traditional research agendas.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a structured review and coordination mechanism for epilepsy research and care without restricting any citizen rights or creating new barriers. It aims to improve health outcomes for the estimated 3.4 million Americans with epilepsy by identifying research gaps and improving care coordination.
Named in the bill
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Federal agencies (unspecified), Patient advocates, Non-Federal subject matter experts
Where it stands
27 cosponsors: 19 Democrats, 8 Republicans.
- Feb 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 10, 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”
- Jul 22, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature…”
- Aug 4, 2026 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S4426-4427; text: CR S4426-4427)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 lobbying clients named this bill on 7 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,280,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 6 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 78% of bills with at least one filing.
Eric Schmitt, the sponsor, reported $274,099 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Ucb, Inc. — $710,000 on 1 filing
- Lundbeck LLC — $350,000 on 2 filings
- Epilepsy Foundation — $150,000 on 1 filing
- Epilepsy Foundation of America — $60,000 on 2 filings
- National Association of Epilepsy Centers — $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 (3,569 characters) on Jul 23, 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 Dec 2025 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.
“Congress orders federal epilepsy research overhaul—but no new money attached” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s494 Report an error
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