[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.

                          ____________________