SRES-416-119
Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S6798; text: CR S6795)
Sponsored by Tim Scott (R-SC)
What it does
This Senate resolution expresses support for designating September 2025 as "Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month." It encourages Americans to hold programs, events, and activities to raise public awareness of sickle cell disease, including early detection, preventative care, available treatments, and patient services. The resolution does not create law, appropriate funds, or establish any new federal program.
Who benefits
The approximately 100,000 Americans living with sickle cell disease (SCD), who may benefit from increased public awareness and reduced stigma. The roughly 2,000 babies born with SCD each year and their families. Black and African American communities, who are disproportionately affected (1 in 365 newborns). Hispanic Americans, as well as individuals of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Indian origin who also carry the trait. The more than 2 million Americans who carry the sickle cell trait and may be unaware of their carrier status. Healthcare providers, researchers, and patient advocacy organizations working on SCD who may gain broader public attention for their work.
Who is hurt
No group is directly harmed by this resolution. As a purely symbolic measure, it imposes no costs, mandates, or restrictions on any individual, organization, or government entity.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that sickle cell disease remains significantly underdiagnosed and undertreated relative to its burden — in 2019, fewer than half of children with SCD received recommended stroke screenings, and only 2 in 5 used recommended preventative medication. They contend that a formal awareness designation, passed with unanimous bipartisan support, signals congressional commitment to closing these care gaps and elevating a disease that disproportionately affects communities of color, helping direct public attention toward newly approved gene therapies and the CMS access model for Medicaid beneficiaries.
Opponents argue
Opponents could argue that symbolic resolutions without accompanying funding or policy mandates do little to address the documented gaps in SCD care — such as low rates of stroke screening and preventative medication use — and may give the appearance of action without producing measurable outcomes. They could contend that congressional time and attention would be better spent on substantive legislation, such as expanding Medicaid access to the newly approved gene therapies or increasing NIH research funding, rather than on non-binding awareness designations.
Constitutional context
No significant constitutional issues are raised by this resolution. Senate resolutions expressing symbolic support for awareness designations are a well-established exercise of Congress's inherent authority to manage its own proceedings and express the sense of the chamber; they do not invoke the Commerce Clause, Spending Clause, or any other enumerated power in a legally operative way.
Checks and balances
The Senate expresses a non-binding position; no branch gains or loses authority, and no executive action or judicial review is triggered by this resolution.
Historical precedent
Congress has passed similar commemorative resolutions designating Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month in prior years, consistent with a long-standing congressional practice of recognizing health awareness months for diseases affecting specific populations.