Washington, DC – Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) applauded that the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations package included $15 million for their Children and Media Research Advancement (CAMRA) Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that Congress passed and President Biden signed into law in December 2022. The CAMRA Act directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to lead a research program on technology’s and media’s effects on infants, children and adolescents in core areas of cognitive, physical and socio-emotional development. With the Fiscal Year 2023 omnibus package including $15 million for Representative Raskin and Senator Markey’s CAMRA Act, $30 million in total funding has now been dedicated to this critical research initiative. 

“This funding will ensure that the National Institutes of Health, entrusted with leading this critical research initiative, have the resources necessary to facilitate research on youth technology use and screen time,” said Representative Raskin. “This new research will empower parents, caregivers, educators and policymakers to improve the wellbeing of our kids.” 

“As kids and teens spend more and more time staring at screens, it’s time for clear, scientific evidence that exposes Big Tech’s harmful impact on young people,” said Senator Markey. “The $15 million for the CAMRA Act will put the knowledge – and in turn, the power – into the hands of young people and their parents so that they can protect their health, safety, and wellbeing online.” 

The CAMRA Act commissions research to investigate the impact of exposure to and use of media and technologies such as mobile devices, computers, social media, online applications, websites, television, motion pictures, artificial intelligence, video games, and virtual and augmented reality. The Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations helped NIH fund 26 grants for efforts to investigate how technology affects children.

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