Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act
Public Law 113-233 · S. 2917 · 113th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Barack Obama (D) on Dec 16, 2014 · Health
Sponsor: Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Cosponsors (45): Sen. Lamar Alexander, Sen. Barbara Mikulski,
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act - (Sec. 2) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to add filoviruses, a family of viruses that includes the Ebola virus, to the list of tropical diseases under the priority review voucher program, which awards vouchers to sponsors of human drug applications that are approved to prevent or treat tropical diseases. (A voucher entitles the holder to have a future human drug application acted upon by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within six months.)
Changes the process by which infectious diseases that do not significantly impact developed nations and disproportionately affect poor and marginalized populations can be designated as tropical diseases from rulemaking to order of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Allows priority review vouchers to be transferred between sponsors of human drug applications any number of times.
Reduces from 365 days to 90 days the advance notice required before submitting a human drug application subject to a priority review voucher.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
1 bill the Library of Congress relates to this one.
H.R. 5729Identical bill
Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 16 actions.
- Dec 16, 2014Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 113-233.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Dec 10, 2014FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Dec 3, 2014FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
- FloorFloor · Considered by unanimous consent.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Bilirakis asked unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table and consider.
- FloorFloor · Held at the desk.
- FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- FloorFloor · Received in the House.
- Dec 2, 2014FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Nov 19, 2014CalendarCalendar · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 602.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Reported by Senator Harkin without amendment. Without written report.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
- Nov 12, 2014CommitteeCommittee · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in Senate
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.