[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 21, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S563-S564]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 15--RELATIVE TO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
Mr. MACK (for himself, Mr. Frist, Mr. D'Amato, Mr. Specter, and Mr.
Gramm) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Appropriations:
S. Res. 15
Whereas heart disease was the leading cause of death for
both men and women in every year from 1970 to 1993;
Whereas mortality rates for individuals suffering from
prostate cancer, skin cancer, and kidney cancer continue to
rise;
Whereas the mortality rate for African American women
suffering from diabetes is 134 percent higher than the
mortality rate for Caucasian women suffering from diabetes;
Whereas asthma rates for children increased 58 percent from
1982 to 1992;
Whereas nearly half of all American women between the ages
of 65 and 75 reported having arthritis;
Whereas AIDS is the leading cause of death for Americans
between the ages of 24 and 44;
Whereas the Institute of Medicine has described United
States clinical research to be ``in a state of crisis'' and
the National Academy of Sciences concluded in 1994 that ``the
present cohort of clinical investigators is not adequate;
Whereas biomedical research has been shown to be effective
in saving lives and reducing health care expenditures;
Whereas research sponsored by the National Institutes of
Health has contributed significantly to the first overall
reduction in cancer death rates since recordkeeping was
instituted;
Whereas research sponsored by the National Institutes of
Health has resulted in the identification of genetic
mutations for osteoporosis; Lou Gehrig's Disease, cystic
fibrosis, and Huntington's Disease, breast, skin and prostate
cancer; and a variety of other illnesses;
Whereas research sponsored by the National Institutes of
Health has been key to the development of Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning
technologies;
Whereas research sponsored by the National Institutes of
Health has developed effective treatments for Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Today, 80 percent of children
diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia are alive and
free of the disease after 5 years; and
Whereas research sponsored by the National Institutes of
Health contribute to the development of a new, cost-saving
cure for peptic ulcers: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the ``Biomedical Research
Commitment Resolution of 1997''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE SENATE.
It is the sense of the Senate that appropriations for the
National Institutes of Health should be increased by 100
percent over the next 5 fiscal years.
Mr. MACK. Mr. President, I will take just a couple of minutes to
explain this resolution and also the motivation, if you will.
The Senate resolution calls for doubling the investment in medical
research at the National Institutes of Health over the next 5 years.
There are many, many motivations for doing this. As most of my
colleagues know, both my wife and I are survivors of cancer, Priscilla
with breast cancer; I am a melanoma survivor.
In my quest to gain more knowledge about the various weapons that
might be at our disposal to fight this disease and to hope that someday
we can find a series of cures. I have also had the opportunity to
listen to research scientist in many different areas, many different
diseases, whether that be Parkinson's disease, whether that be
diabetes, whether that be in spinal cord injuries, in the area of
cancer, prostate, breast cancer, melanoma, and so forth.
There was a hearing held at the end of the last Congress by now
retired Senator Mark Hatfield and Senator Bill Cohen. There were a
number of individuals who testified at that hearing and made, I
thought, a remarkable case about why it was no longer acceptable for
the Congress of the United States, for the Federal Government to
continue a kind of business-as-usual attitude with respect to medical
research, biomedical research. One of the individuals who spoke to us,
Joan Samuelson, speaking about Parkinson's disease, said:
The current Federal policy on Parkinson's wastes billions in public
and private dollars coping with its effects, when millions could simply
cure it.
I remember vividly the testimony of Travis Roy, a young man who today
is a quadriplegic, the result of an injury during an ice hockey game.
Part of his testimony was that he dreams in essence for the day when he
can hug his mother again.
Now, if that statement had been made before a hearing of the Congress
20, 25, 30 years ago, the response pretty much would have been that we
all certainly could understand the hurt that this individual and this
family has experienced. Most of us probably would have concluded, well,
but there is nothing that we can do. To put more money into research of
a problem we all know; we can remember those stories about spinal cord
injuries years ago--there is no way to find a cure.
The reality is in America today, this Nation happens to believe that
in all areas, or in so many different areas of diseases we are on the
verge of discovering many cures, that we can no longer take this
attitude of business as usual, and that if we make the investment in
research we can in fact find ways to solve these problems, and to find
cures, and, most importantly, to offer hope to our loved ones.
So I have introduced S. 15. I know there will be people, for example,
who will say, ``Well, Senator, you are taking about spending more
money.'' Yes, I am talking about spending more money, but it is an area
in which I believe the Federal Government should
[[Page S564]]
be more active, and I believe it is an area where we will get a major
return for it. In response to a question just recently about budget
matters, my reaction was stop and calculate what we have saved as a
Nation as a result of finding the cure for polio. In my view, there is
no reason why we cannot today operate from the perspective that there
are cures out there if we could just provide the resources to our
research scientists around this Nation. I am confident we can succeed,
and I must say, Mr. President, I stand here today filled with joy, with
the recognition that so many of my colleagues feel the same as I. I am
confident again, if we make this investment, we can offer great hope to
so many millions of Americans.
I thank the Chair.
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