Last month, Durbin reintroduced the Promoting Dental Health Act, which would reauthorize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Oral Health program to support states in data collection, water fluoridation, educating dental health professionals, and community outreach programs.
Support and work to pass the Promoting Dental Health Act to reauthorize the CDC Oral Health program and expand support for oral health data collection, fluoridation, professional education, and community outreach.
Occurrences
Evidence
Congress.gov says enacted bills and joint resolutions appear on the public-laws list after NARA assigns public law numbers. The 119th Congress list shown runs through PL 119-79 dated 02/18/2026; page search found no entries matching Dental or Oral.
Congress.gov lists H.R.7148 as became Public Law No. 119-75 on 02/03/2026. CRS summary says it includes the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026, but the page contains no Oral or Dental match.
The Senate roll call was on passage of H.R. 7148, as amended, on January 30, 2026; the bill passed 71-29. Durbin (D-IL) is listed as Yea.
CDC says it supports state and territorial health departments and national partner organizations. It funds 15 states through a 3-year cooperative agreement for access to preventive dental services, community water fluoridation technical assistance, oral health surveillance using secondary data, and awareness of infection prevention and control guidelines.
CDC says its Division of Oral Health provides funding, technical assistance, and training to states and territories; supports national data collection and state data collection; strengthens the workforce through a dental public health residency; and promotes community water fluoridation and school dental sealant programs.
Congress.gov lists H.R.2422, the Action for Dental Health Act of 2018, as Public Law No. 115-302. The summary says it authorized HHS grants for oral health initiatives and reauthorized through FY2023 a HRSA dental health professional shortage areas grant program.
Assessments
The core promised outcome was passage of the Promoting Dental Health Act or equivalent statutory reauthorization/expansion of the CDC Oral Health program. The evidence does not show that such a bill became law in Durbin's current Senate term, and current CDC activity appears to be ongoing program funding rather than enactment of the promised reauthorization. Durbin did vote for the 2026 Labor-HHS appropriations package, and CDC oral-health funding continues to support data/surveillance, fluoridation, workforce training, and prevention activities that overlap with the promise, so this merits partial credit rather than full delivery.