United States House of Representatives Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) and Todd Russell Platts (R-PA-19) introduced legislation to reauthorize funding for the Traumatic Brain Injury Act earlier this month.
Pascrell and Platts have long been involved with TBI legislation and improvements in care and funding. Pascrell, founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, and Platts, co-chairman of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, are still fighting for this act, more than 10 years after its initial introduction in 1996 and its reauthorization in 2000.
The TBI Act represents a foundation for coordinated and balanced public policy in prevention, education, research and community-living for people with TBI. This act is the only legislation that specifically allocates federal funds for programs supporting individuals with brain injuries.
This act is a huge step forward in the education and prevention of traumatic brain injuries. With this act, and other future acts like it, we can begin to decrease and eventually eliminate the severity and frequency of traumatic brain injuries.