On Monday, February 4, 2013, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 225, the National Pediatric Research Network Act of 2013, under a suspension of the rules. The bill was introduced on January 14, 2013 by Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) and referred to the Committee on Energy & Commerce, which reported the bill by unanimous consent.

H.R. 225 authorizes the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), through the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, to establish up to 20 National Pediatric Research Consortia.  Each consortia would be composed of multiple institutions that are involved with pediatric research.  Each consortia will function in a “a spoke and hub fashion”.  These consortia will be selected through a competitive, peer-review process and would be open to private or public nonprofit agencies.

On September 19, 2012, the House passed H.R. 6163 by voice vote.  H.R. 6168 is nearly identical to H.R. 225, with changes being limited to minor technical corrections and updates.  For more information, see H.R 6163 here.

CBO is in the process of scoring the bill.