Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

14. Department of Health and Human Services · Notable · Needs Congress

Limit HHS public health emergency declarations to a set time frame

Not started

488 14. Department of Health and Human Services

“Restrict HHS’s ability to declare indefinite public health emergencies (PHEs). … Congress should establish a set time frame for any PHE, placing on the Secretary the burden of proof as to why an extension of the PHE is necessary.”

What has happened

  1. Not started

    Congress has not acted. No bill in the 119th Congress would put a statutory time limit on a section 319 public health emergency or shift the burden of proof onto the Secretary for an extension, and the department has continued to declare and renew PHEs in the ordinary way (ASPR announced state public health emergencies in December 2025 and April 2026).

    No action found yet. This entry is the starting point, not a finding.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

  • The titles of the bills we keep and search, for “public health emergency”: one bill, S. 628 (fentanyl), referred. Nothing on declaration duration.
  • Among the public laws we keep and search, from congress.gov, no enacted law of the window amends section 319 of the Public Health Service Act.
  • Federal Register full text “public health emergency” produces only declarations and program notices; no rulemaking constrains the Secretary’s declaration authority.
  • Contrary practice, recorded as context rather than as Evidence: ASPR’s newsroom carries items whose web addresses begin “hhs-declares-public-health-emergency-state”, dated 2025-12 and 2026-04.
Action
restrict
Object
HHS public health emergency declarations
ID
1361