Every five years for nearly three decades, Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) has gotten Congress to pass a new version of his massive bill authorizing and reauthorizing federal programs for autism education and research. Today, the House passed the latest version: the Autism CARES Act of 2024.

The bill, if enacted into law, will authorize $1.95 billion for autism programs via the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Health Resources and Services Administration, keeping those programs going through 2029. It passed 402-13, with all New Jerseyans voting in support (except Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who was not present for the vote).

“The Autism CARES Act is a comprehensive reauthorization, and a strengthening of the whole-of-government effort that we have been working on now for three decades,” Smith said in remarks on the House floor.

Smith introduced the first version of the Autism CARES Act back in 2000, after meeting with the parents of autistic children in his district and realizing that not enough was being done on a federal level to research autism spectrum disorder.

“About 30 years ago, Bobby and Billy Gallagher, the parents of two children with autism who were babies at the time, came into my office in Whiting, New Jersey and said, ‘We need to do something – nothing’s really being done,’” Smith said today. “Sure enough, we found out that the CDC was spending about $287,000 a year for their entire program.”

“I introduced legislation, and the Energy and Commerce Committee incorporated it into the Childrens’ Health Act,” he continued. “That began this important rise in focus and providing the necessary resources to help those with autism – to try to find a way of mitigating its impact on both the person with it as well as upon the family.”

Smith’s Autism CARES Act passed in House