Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that he would work with lawmakers on the bipartisan PREDICT Act, which would strengthen and expand U.S. wastewater monitoring as an early-warning tool for infectious diseases. He also said the administration’s budget includes $325 million for a “bio threat radar system” intended to integrate with microbial surveillance at wastewater treatment plants.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told senators on Wednesday that he supports a bipartisan proposal to expand the nation’s use of wastewater monitoring to detect infectious disease threats earlier.
“I absolutely will work with you on the PREDICT Act,” Kennedy said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing. “It’s something that’s very personally important to me to have more wastewater surveillance. And we are also putting $325 million in this budget into a new bio threat radar system that will integrate with the microbial surveillance at wastewater treatment plants to detect pathogens as soon as they emerge in our country and elsewhere in the world.”
The Public Health Response and Emergency Detection through Integrated Wastewater Community Testing (PREDICT) Act has been promoted by Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, and Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat. A Senate press release dated March 13, 2026, said the bill was reintroduced with additional sponsors including Sens. Angus King, Maggie Hassan, Ted Budd and Roger Wicker.
The legislation would direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support and coordinate wastewater surveillance through grants and other assistance, expand laboratory capacity to detect pathogens, and improve national coverage and data-sharing, including through a public-facing dashboard and a CDC strategic plan.
Wastewater monitoring gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to detect infections at the community level, including among people who are asymptomatic. Supporters of the PREDICT Act argue that earlier signals from wastewater could help public health officials respond more quickly to outbreaks and emerging threats.
