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S. 4111Senate118th Congress (2023-2025)In Committee

ACES Act

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.

Sponsored by Mark KellySen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
Introduced April 11, 2024

AI-Generated Summary

Updated January 20, 2026 at 3:51 PM UTC

The ACES Act directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to commission a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on how common cancer is and how often it leads to death among people who served as active‑duty aircrew on fixed‑wing aircraft. The study will look at possible occupational exposures and their links to a range of cancers, then report the findings to VA officials and congressional veterans‑affairs committees. It primarily affects veterans who were pilots, navigators, weapons‑systems operators, or other crew members on fixed‑wing aircraft.

Key Provisions

  • The VA Secretary must enter into an agreement with the National Academies to conduct the cancer prevalence and mortality study.
  • The study will identify occupational exposures, review scientific literature on links to specific cancers (including brain, lung, prostate, etc.), and estimate prevalence and mortality using VA, DoD, and CDC data sources.
  • The National Academies must deliver a final report with the study results to the VA Secretary and the Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committees.
  • The bill defines “covered individuals” as anyone who served on active duty as an aircrew member of a fixed‑wing aircraft in any military branch.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action
SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

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

Veterans' Affairs Committee

April 11, 2024

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

April 11, 2024

SenateIntro Referral

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

Veterans' Affairs Committee

April 11, 2024

Bill Text

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Introduced in SenateIssued April 11, 2024

II

118th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 4111

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

April 11 (legislative day, April 10), 2024

Mr. Kelly (for himself and Mr. Cotton) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

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)

testiscular 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.