U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08), the Co-Chairman of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force today lauded the President’s signing of the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Act into law.

“After two years of fighting to reauthorize the TBI Act, I am pleased that the President has joined me to approve an extension of federal services and care for brain injury victims,” stated Pascrell, the legislation’s author.  “With thousands of brain injury survivors returning from military service and 5.3 million Americans suffering from TBI here at home, it is more critical than ever for the federal government to prioritize brain injury prevention and rehabilitation.”

Originally passed in 1996 and reauthorized 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.  The TBI Act is the only federal law that specifically authorizes programs to support individuals with brain injury.  Prior to the 1996 law, federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institute for Health (NIH) and the Health Resources Administration (HRSA) did not have the tools to assess the number of brain injury victims or provide services to them.  The TBI Act will reauthorize federal programs under these agencies through 2011.

An important new provision in the TBI Act authorizes a study by the CDC and the NIH in collaboration with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to identify the incidence of brain injury among our nation’s veterans, especially veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The reauthorized TBI Act promises to build on its tremendously successful first ten years by extending services and establishing new studies to register brain injured veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Reauthorization of this legislation combines with new military policies to screen for brain injuries and the creation of a Brain Injury Center for Excellence within the Defense Department to provide a broader baseline of new resources for TBI prevention and care.  I am encouraged by the recent advances we’ve made in the federal government to identify and care for TBI survivors and will continue to advocate for increased civilian and military TBI resources,” concluded Pascrell.  

The TBI Act was approved in the House of Representatives on April 8, 2008 and in the Senate on April 10, 2008.

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