Current status (as of September 2026): H.R. 2319 passed the House on April 21, 2026 under suspension of the rules, agreed to by voice vote. The next day it was received in the Senate, read twice, and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders as Calendar No. 380. Congress.gov's action list records nothing after that date.

H.R. 2319, the Women and Lung Cancer Research and Preventive Services Act of 2025, would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to conduct an interagency review of research on lung cancer in women and underserved populations and to report on it to Congress. It was introduced on March 25, 2025 by Rep. Brendan F. Boyle (D-PA-2) and has two cosponsors, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-1) and Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-6).

The Research Gap It Addresses

The House Energy and Commerce Committee's report on the bill, H. Rept. 119-382, states the background this way: "Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States. Worldwide, over 600,000 women die of lung cancer each year. About 10 to 20 percent of lung cancers, or 20,000 to 40,000 lung cancers each year, happen in people who never smoked or smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime. A better understanding of additional risk factors beyond smoking cigarettes is needed for more effective screening, diagnosis, treatment, and public health strategies, particularly around women and underserved populations." The committee footnoted the CDC for the first and third figures and the Lung Cancer Research Foundation for the second.

Federal cancer statistics put the same point in domestic terms. The CDC states that "more people in the United States die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer" and that "this is true for both men and women." NCI's SEER program records lung and bronchus cancer as "the first leading cause of cancer death in the United States," with an estimated 124,990 deaths in 2026 — 20.0% of all cancer deaths — and a five-year relative survival rate of 29.5% for cases diagnosed in 2016–2022. SEER's age-adjusted death rate for 2020–2024 is 26.2 per 100,000 women and 35.4 per 100,000 men; the rate of new cases for 2019–2023 is 43.6 per 100,000 women and 52.0 per 100,000 men.

The committee's stated aim is that the bill "would help advance both existing research and emerging opportunities needed to reduce lung cancer mortality," especially among women, "who face unique risks and outcomes."

What the Bill Actually Requires

Section 2(a) directs the Secretary of HHS, "in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs," to conduct an interagency review evaluating the status of, and identifying opportunities to accelerate, research in four areas: research on lung cancer in women; "research on lung cancer in underserved populations that meet the eligibility criteria for lung cancer screening as recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force"; "access to lung cancer preventive services"; and "strategic public awareness and education campaigns on lung cancer."

Section 2(b) sets out what the review and its recommendations must include:

  • "a review and comprehensive report on the outcomes of previous research, the status of existing research activities, and knowledge gaps related to lung cancer in women and underserved populations in all agencies of the Federal Government"
  • opportunities for collaborative, interagency, multidisciplinary and innovative research that would "encourage innovative approaches to eliminate knowledge gaps in research on lung cancer in women," "evaluate environmental and genomic factors that may be related to the etiology of lung cancer in women," and "foster advances in imaging technology and techniques to improve risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and the simultaneous utilization of other preventive services and activities"
  • opportunities to develop "a national lung cancer screening strategy to expand access to such screenings, particularly among women and underserved populations"
  • opportunities to develop a national public education and awareness campaign on lung cancer in women and underserved populations and on "the importance of early detection of lung cancer"

Section 2(c) requires the Secretary to submit the report to Congress "not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act." The reach of the review is set by the phrase "in all agencies of the Federal Government." Only HHS, Defense and Veterans Affairs are given a role in it. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force appears once in the bill, and only as the source of the screening criteria that define one of the four research areas.

This is a study-and-report directive, not a funding or program authorization. The committee found that the bill "would result in no new or increased budget authority, entitlement authority, or tax expenditures or revenues," and its report records that "this legislation does not amend any existing Federal statute."

Why the Screening Criteria Matter

The bill's second research area is defined by reference to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The USPSTF "recommends annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in adults aged 50 to 80 years who have a 20 pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or have quit within the past 15 years" — a grade B recommendation. Its most recent revision "expanded the age range to 50 to 80 years (previously 55 to 80 years), and reduced the pack-year history to 20 pack-years of smoking (previously 30 pack-years)."

Eligibility is therefore defined by age and smoking history, so a person who never smoked does not meet the criteria whatever their other risk factors. The committee report puts the never-smoker share at "about 10 to 20 percent of lung cancers"; NCI's patient overview states the relationship plainly: "Smoking causes most lung cancers, but nonsmokers can also develop lung cancer." What the review is directed to examine in that space is knowledge gaps, "environmental and genomic factors that may be related to the etiology of lung cancer in women," and the national screening strategy described above.

How It Got Here, and What Comes Next

The Energy and Commerce Committee ordered the bill favorably reported by voice vote on April 29, 2025 and filed H. Rept. 119-382 on November 18, 2025, reporting it "without amendment." The House took it up on April 21, 2026 under suspension of the rules — House Rule XV provides that "a rule may not be suspended except by a vote of two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present" — and agreed to it by voice vote, so the passage carries no recorded roll call.

In the Senate the bill was read twice and placed directly on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders as Calendar No. 380. Congress.gov's action list for H.R. 2319 records no referral to a Senate committee and no action of any kind after April 22, 2026.

Primary Sources

Drafted from primary source documents by LegislationPatch's automated research pipeline, then reviewed, verified, and edited by , Editor. Every figure and citation is checked against the official text before publication. See our editorial standards and AI disclosure.