S. 3516 · 117th Congress

Increase Access to COVID Testing Act

Introduced on Jan 18, 2022 by Ben Sasse (R-NE). Latest action (Jan 18, 2022): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Jan 18, 2022
Cosponsors
0
Policy area
Health
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide emergency use authorization with respect to certain COVID-19 diagnostic tests approved for use in the European Union.

Subjects

  • Cardiovascular and respiratory health
  • Drug safety, medical device, and laboratory regulation
  • Emergency medical services and trauma care
  • Europe
  • European Union
  • Infectious and parasitic diseases
  • Medical tests and diagnostic methods

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in Senate, Jan 18, 2022). Public domain.

Increase Access to COVID Testing Act

This bill directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide upon request emergency use authorization for COVID-19 rapid antigen tests approved for use in the European Union.

During the declared COVID-19 public health emergency, the FDA shall grant emergency use authorization to a COVID-19 rapid antigen test upon a proper request by the test's manufacturer if (1) the test is on the European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety's common list for approved COVID-19 tests, and (2) the request is for the non-laboratory use of the test without a prescription.

The bill waives certain requirements for a request for emergency use authorization under this bill, such as a finding from the FDA that the test may be effective in diagnosing COVID-19.

If a test authorized under this bill is removed from the EU common list, the FDA must determine within 30 days of such removal whether the emergency use authorization for the test should continue.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Ben SasseR-NESponsor

No cosponsors.

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jan 18, 2022Introduced in Senate
  2. Jan 18, 2022 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.