119th Congress (2025-2026)

S 201

ACES Act of 2025

Law

Jurisdiction

US Congress

Session

119th Congress (2025-2026)

Official source

Chamber

Senate

Session

119th Congress (2025-2026)

Jurisdiction

US Congress

Bill overview

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to partner with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a comprehensive study on cancer rates and mortality among veterans who served as aircrew in fixed-wing aircraft. The study will investigate potential exposures, review existing research, and analyze data to determine the prevalence and causes of specific cancers within this group of veterans.

Key provisions

The Department of Veterans Affairs will enter an agreement with the National Academies.
The study will identify exposures associated with aircrew duties.
The study will review literature on cancer associations with those exposures.
The study will focus on specific cancers including brain, colon, kidney, lung, melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, pancreatic, prostate, testicular, and thyroid cancers.
The study will utilize data from VA, DoD, and individual services.
The study will consider data from a previous study conducted in 2021.
The National Academies will submit a report to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and relevant Congressional committees.

Who is affected

Veterans
Aircrew members
Fixed-wing aircraft pilots and crew

Notable changes

This bill establishes a dedicated study to investigate cancer risks for a specific group of veterans.

Positions across the country

No public positions recorded for this legislation.

Arguments in favor

Reasons to support this legislation.

No arguments in favor have been submitted.

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Arguments opposed

Reasons to oppose this legislation.

No arguments opposed have been submitted.

Submit yours

Legislative history

2025-01-23Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

2025-01-23

Introduced in Senate

2025-03-11Senate

Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 119-35.

2025-06-03Senate

Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR S3209-3210)

Passage without roll call

The official record shows passage by unanimous consent or voice vote where no roll call was taken. No member-level tally is available for these steps, and the district map does not apply.

7/21/2025HouseVoice vote
On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3487)
No roll-call vote on record for this action.
7/21/2025Voice vote
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3487)
No roll-call vote on record for this action.
6/3/2025SenateUnanimous consent
Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR S3209-3210)
No roll-call vote on record for this action.
6/3/2025Unanimous consent
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
No roll-call vote on record for this action.

Floor votes and chamber actions

Recorded roll calls list how each member voted. Unanimous consent or voice vote appears in the official action history without a roll call; no member-level tally is available for those steps.

Passage without roll call

7/21/2025HouseVoice vote
On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3487)
No roll-call vote on record for this action.
7/21/2025Voice vote
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3487)
No roll-call vote on record for this action.
6/3/2025SenateUnanimous consent
Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR S3209-3210)
No roll-call vote on record for this action.
6/3/2025Unanimous consent
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
No roll-call vote on record for this action.

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Jan 23, 2025XMLView source

119th CONGRESS — 1st Session

S. 201

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

A BILL

To provide for a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the prevalence and mortality of cancer among individuals who served as active duty aircrew in the Armed Forces, and for other purposes.

1.Short title

This Act may be cited as the

ACES Act

2.National Academies study on prevalence and mortality of cancer among individuals who served as active duty aircrew in the Armed Forces

(a)In general

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (in this section referred to as the National Academies), under which the National Academies shall conduct a study on the prevalence and mortality of cancers among covered individuals.

(b)Study

The study required under subsection (a) shall—

(1)

identify exposures associated with military occupations of covered individuals, including relating to chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phenomena;

(2)

review the literature to determine associations between exposures referred to in paragraph (1) and the incidence or prevalence of overall cancer morbidity, overall cancer mortality, and increased incidence or prevalence of—

(A)

brain cancer;

(B)

colon and rectal cancers;

(C)

kidney cancer;

(D)

lung cancer;

(E)

melanoma skin cancer;

(F)

non-Hodgkin lymphoma;

(G)

pancreatic cancer;

(H)

prostate cancer;

(I)

testicular cancer;

(J)

thyroid cancer;

(K)

urinary bladder cancer; and

(L)other cancers as determined appropriate by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the National Academies; and

(3)

determine, to the extent possible, the prevalence of and mortality from the cancers specified in paragraph (2) among covered individuals by using available sources of data, which may include—

(A)

health care and other administrative databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the individual Services, respectively;

(B)

the national death index maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and

(C)

the study conducted under section 750 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116–283; 134 Stat. 3716).

(c)Report

At the conclusion of the study required under subsection (a), the National Academies shall submit to the Secretary and to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives a report containing the results of the study described in subsection (b).

(d)Covered individual defined

In this section, the term covered individual means an individual who served on active duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps as an aircrew member of a fixed-wing aircraft, including as a pilot, navigator, weapons systems operator, aircraft system operator, or any other crew member who regularly flew in a fixed-wing aircraft.

S 201