HR-8008-119
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Sponsored by Jahana Hayes (D-CT)
What it does
This bill would direct HHS to create a task force of federal agencies, patient representatives, and community organizations to develop strategies addressing non-clinical factors—like housing, transportation, and nutrition—that contribute to maternal deaths and health disparities. It would also establish a grant program awarding up to $100 million annually (2027-2031) to community organizations, Tribal organizations, and public health departments to address these social determinants of maternal health.
Who benefits
Pregnant and postpartum individuals, particularly those in high-poverty areas or with high maternal mortality rates; community-based organizations and Tribal organizations that would receive grant funding; maternity care providers and perinatal health workers (doulas, community health workers) who may gain program roles; researchers and policymakers who would receive data from required reporting.
Who is hurt
Taxpayers funding the $500 million total authorized spending; organizations that apply for grants but are not prioritized (those outside high-poverty, high-mortality areas); federal agencies tasked with additional coordination responsibilities without dedicated new staff funding specified; potentially entities that view the task force's scope-creep into housing, environmental, and labor policy as duplicating existing agency missions.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among wealthy nations, with the CDC finding many pregnancy-related deaths are preventable and linked to non-clinical factors like inadequate housing, transportation barriers, and food insecurity. They contend that coordinating across HUD, USDA, EPA, and other agencies through a dedicated task force, backed by targeted grants to community organizations already serving affected populations, could address root causes that purely clinical interventions miss, particularly for racial and ethnic disparities documented in maternal health outcomes.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that creating a 17-agency task force plus a new grant program risks bureaucratic duplication of existing HHS, HUD, and USDA programs that already address housing, nutrition, and transportation needs, without clear evidence the coordination mechanism itself would reduce mortality. They contend the bill authorizes $500 million in new spending with broad, loosely defined eligible activities ("other nonclinical factors") that could allow funds to be spent with limited accountability, and that exempting the task force from standard termination requirements under 5 U.S.C. 1013 removes a normal check on indefinite bureaucratic expansion.
Constitutional context
This bill relies on Congress's Taxing and Spending Clause power (Art. I, §8, cl. 1) to fund grants to states, Tribes, and community organizations; because grants are voluntary and not conditioned on states adopting unrelated policies, it does not raise the coercion concerns addressed in NFIB v. Sebelius (2012) regarding Medicaid expansion.
Checks and balances
Congress would authorize and appropriate funding while delegating significant discretion to the HHS Secretary to select task force members, set grant criteria, and determine "other topics" the task force may address, with Congress retaining oversight through required annual reports.
Historical precedent
Similar federal maternal health task forces and grant programs have been established previously, such as provisions in the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act of 2018, though this bill's specific focus on social determinants and its broader interagency structure differ in scope.