1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Preventing Animal Abuse and Waste Act or the PAAW Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The National Institutes of Health (in this section referred to as NIH ) spends taxpayer dollars to conduct and fund research that causes pain and distress to dogs and cats. (2) The NIH states that animal models often fail to provide good ways to mimic disease or predict how drugs will work in humans, resulting in much wasted time and money while patients wait for therapies . (3) The NIH often conducts and funds tests on dogs to assess the safety of experimental human drugs even though the Food and Drug Administration has stated, The FDA does not mandate that human drugs be studied in dogs. . (4) The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has repeatedly found research on dogs, cats, and other animals that is conducted and funded by the NIH and other agencies to be unnecessary. (5) Alternative research methodologies and other species can replace the use of dogs and cats in NIH-conducted and funded research. (6) Federal agencies including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration have launched initiatives to reduce and replace testing on dogs and cats, specifically. (7) Existing reporting mechanisms do not provide adequate information to Congress and taxpayers about the scale, scope, and cost of dog and cat use in NIH-conducted and funded research. 3. Prohibition on research causing significant pain or distress to dogs and cats (a) In general Subpart 6 of part C of title IV of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 285f et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following: 447E. Prohibition on research causing significant pain or distress to dogs and cats (a) In general The Director of NIH may not conduct or support any research that causes significant pain or distress to a dog or cat. (b) Definition In this section, the term research that causes significant pain or distress