Sponsors (2)
The bill provides sustained federal funding to accelerate youth mental health research and target disparities—potentially improving detection and school/community interventions—but it increases federal spending and may not quickly expand access to services or could shift funds away from other research priorities.
Children and adolescents will likely see improved early identification and care for mental health crises because the bill funds research to develop and test better detection and intervention approaches.
Students, schools, and community providers will gain better evidence on how to target and deliver mental health interventions in school and community settings.
Hospitals, health systems, and local governments will receive sustained federal funding ($100M/year for FY2025–2030) to accelerate youth mental health science and help translate research into practice.
Children, families, and communities may not see faster or broader access to services because research funding alone does not create more providers or build required local infrastructure.
Taxpayers and the federal budget will bear an added cost of about $600 million over six years to fund the Initiative.
Focusing NIH resources on this Initiative could divert limited research dollars from other mental health or biomedical topics, affecting other researchers and patient groups.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a coordinated NIH initiative to expand youth mental health research and authorizes $100M per year for FY2025–2030.
Introduced April 2, 2025 by Amy Klobuchar · Last progress April 2, 2025
Creates a new Youth Mental Health Research Initiative at the National Institutes of Health to coordinate and expand research on mental health for children and adolescents, including studies on resilience, social/behavioral/developmental factors, and how to better target and deliver interventions where young people live, learn, and play. The measure authorizes $100 million per year for fiscal years 2025–2030 to carry out the initiative; authorized funding must still be appropriated before money is spent.