S. 620 would authorize the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Indian Health Service (IHS), to provide veterinary services to prevent and control zoonotic (animal to human) disease transmission. HHS would be required to report biennially to the Congress on those services, as well as on data from surveillance of zoonotic disease transmission. In addition, the bill would require the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to study the delivery of oral rabies vaccines to wildlife reservoir species that are implicated in rabies transmission to tribal members in Arctic regions of the United States.
Using information from IHS, CBO expects that under the bill, the agency would employ 18 veterinarians to cover its 12 service regions at a cost of $14 million over the 2025-2030 period and $46 million over the 2025-2035 period. CBO estimates that the costs of implementing the bill’s reporting requirements would be insignificant for HHS and that the Department of Agriculture’s vaccine studies would cost $1 million over the 2025-2035 period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget functions 350 (agriculture) and 550 (health).
Table 1.
Estimated Spending Subject to Appropriation Under S. 620
By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2025-2030
2025-2035
Veterinary Services and Reports
Estimated Authorization
0
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
14
46
Estimated Outlays
0
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
14
46
USDA Vaccine Studies
Estimated Authorization
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
Estimated Outlays
0
*
*
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
Total Changes
Estimated Authorization
0
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
15
47
Estimated Outlays
0
3
3
4
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
15
47
USDA = Department of Agriculture; * = between zero and $500,000.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Erik O’Donoghue (for the Department of Agriculture) and Robert Stewart (for the Indian Health Service). The estimate was reviewed by Emily Stern, Senior Adviser for Budget Analysis.
