Congressional representatives and senators reintroduced a major health-promotion bill championed by ACSM and supported by ACSM members and certified professionals. H.R. 2094/S. 1301, the Physical Activities Recommendations for Americans Act, is designed to promote health and combat obesity by keeping the national physical activity guidelines up to date, as well as understandable and practical for all.
Specifically, the Physical Activities Recommendations for Americans Act will:
- Require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish updated physical activity recommendations every 10 years based on the latest scientific evidence;
- Require HHS to publish a second report to highlight best practices and continuing issues in the physical activity arena midway through each 10-year cycle;
- Help fight the growing obesity epidemic by recommending separate exercise guidelines for children, adults, seniors and people with disabilities.
The collective bipartisan support helped this bill initially pass the Senate during the last Congress. The House was not able to vote on the bill prior to the administration transition, causing the process to pass the bill to start again. Today, Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wis., and David McKinley, R-W.Va., introduced the bill in the House while Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., introduced it in the Senate.
“Thank you, Reps. Kind and McKinley and Sens. Brown and Wicker, for taking additional steps to push this important bill forward in the interest of better health and fitness for all Americans,” said ACSM President NiCole Keith, Ph.D., FACSM. “We also appreciate ACSM member support of the bill and their daily work to help people worldwide live longer, healthier lives. Making sure physical activity guidelines are consistently updated based on the latest evidence will provide the roadmap to better heath for our country.”
Contact ACSM Vice President of Government Relations Monte Ward at mward@acsm.org with any questions.