[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 35 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 35

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress 
should provide increased Federal funding for continued type 1 diabetes 
                               research.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 8, 2009

 Mr. Gene Green of Texas submitted the following resolution; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress 
should provide increased Federal funding for continued type 1 diabetes 
                               research.

Whereas as many as 3,000,000 Americans suffer from type 1 diabetes, a chronic, 
        genetically determined, debilitating disease affecting every organ 
        system;
Whereas more than 15,000 children each year are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, 
        a disease caused by an autoimmune attack that destroys the insulin-
        producing beta cells of the pancreas;
Whereas diabetes is one of the most costly chronic diseases, costing the United 
        States economy more than $174,000,000,000 and costing individuals with 
        diabetes an average of $13,000 in annual health care costs, compared to 
        $2,600 for individuals without diabetes;
Whereas insulin treats but does not cure this potentially deadly disease and 
        does not prevent the complications of diabetes, which include blindness, 
        heart attack, kidney failure, stroke, nerve damage, and amputations;
Whereas the National Institutes of Health has established 6 goal areas to guide 
        type 1 diabetes research focused on the reduction, prevention, and cure 
        of type 1 diabetes and its complications;
Whereas Federal funding has enabled research focused on determining the 
        underlying genetic and environmental causes of diabetes and testing of 
        promising new treatments to halt and reverse the autoimmune attack 
        causing type 1 diabetes;
Whereas a cure for type 1 diabetes will require restoring beta cell function 
        either by replacement with transplantation or by beta cell regeneration;
Whereas the development of a ``closed-loop'' artificial pancreas would greatly 
        alleviate the daily burden of disease management for type 1 diabetes 
        patients by continuously monitoring blood sugar levels, infusing insulin 
        as necessary when blood glucose levels become too high, and warning 
        patients when blood glucose levels become dangerously low;
Whereas continued progress toward a cure for type 1 diabetes depends on training 
        the next generation of diabetes researchers;
Whereas a strong public-private partnership to fund type 1 diabetes exists 
        between the Federal Government and the Juvenile Diabetes Research 
        Foundation International, a foundation which has awarded more than 
        $1,000,000,000 for diabetes research since its founding and in fiscal 
        year 2008 provided more than $156,000,000 for diabetes research in 20 
        countries;
Whereas Congress has provided $150,000,000 annually through fiscal year 2011 for 
        the Special Statutory Funding Program for type 1 Diabetes Research;
Whereas the National Institutes of Health devoted a total of $433,000,000 in 
        fiscal year 2009 for type 1 diabetes research; and
Whereas leading type 1 diabetes researchers have recommended a total funding 
        level of $4,100,000,000 for fiscal years 2009 through 2013 in order to 
        meet the National Institutes of Health's type 1 research goals: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That Federal funding for diabetes research should be 
increased to meet the National Institutes of Health's goals so that a 
cure for type 1 diabetes can be found.
                                 <all>