[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 50 (Wednesday, April 29, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           IN SUPPORT OF NIH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 29, 1998

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, last night Members from both sides of the 
aisle stood together in their commitment to doubling our nation's 
investment in biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health. 
I wasn't able to join them last night but want to add my voice to 
theirs in support increasing support for the NIH.
  Disease is not a Democratic or a Republican issue. It is a human 
issue. Bad health can strike any one--man or woman, old or young, rich 
or poor, of any religion or race or background.
  We know that scientists are on the cusp of extraordinary 
breakthroughs to treat and cure deadly diseases like cancer which kill 
hundreds of thousands of people a year--a very real plague on our 
society. With just a little more time and research funding, we can make 
huge strides into treating--and preventing--debilitating conditions 
like diabetes, asthma and Parkinson's. With enough scientific research, 
we can make Alzheimer's disease a plague of the past and improve the 
quality of life for millions of senior citizens and the families who 
love and care for them.
  But all of this promising, life-saving research costs money. We can't 
just sit back and hope that treatments and cures fall into our hands. 
They won't. If we want to cure, and prevent, deadly diseases, we need 
to make a long-term investment into biomedical research.
  That begs an important question: where will the money come from to 
cure cancer, to solve the mysteries of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's 
disease, to end diabetes?
  And increasing our knowledge of basic science does us no good if we 
don't put it to use in hospitals, in doctor's offices--and in programs 
to prevent disease in the first place. Right now we spend only one 
percent of a trillion dollar health care budget on prevention. But 
again--prevention programs do us no good if people do not have access 
to health care. And today, 44 million Americans, many of them working 
full time, still can not afford access to quality health care.
  I strongly believe that we should use funds from tobacco legislation 
to pay for health research.
  For years, the tobacco industry lied to the American people--and 
people around the world--about the addictiveness and health 
consequences of smoking. Tobacco companies paid for biased research 
that concluded smoking doesn't cause cancer. Tobacco executives 
pressured scientists to suppress important new findings about the 
negative health consequences of smoking--and even worse, buried 
research showing how to avoid those health problems.
  In 1993 alone, Americans spent more than $50 billion to treat health 
problems associated with smoking. It is only right that a portion of 
the funds from any tobacco settlement goes to improve health care and 
cure the diseases that cigarettes caused.
  The Smoke-Free and Healthy Children Act, which I introduced in the 
House and which Senator Kennedy introduced in the other body, is the 
only piece of legislation right now which increases funding for the NIH 
and provides a source of revenue for those funds. By raising the price 
of cigarettes by $1.50 a pack, we will not only put smoking further out 
of the reach of children--which is our overriding goal with any piece 
of tobacco legislation--but we will raise $10 billion a year for NIH 
research.
  At a time when we are operating under enormous budget constraints, 
and working to continue our investment in health research without 
busting the budget agreement, the Smoke-Free and Healthy Children Act 
presents us with the perfect solution. Raise money for health care 
while reducing teen smoking. It makes perfect sense.
  I thank my colleagues again for organizing this special order to give 
us the opportunity to speak about the importance of doubling our 
investment in finding treatments and cures for disease. I urge my 
colleagues to support increased funding for the National Institutes of 
Health by supporting the Smoke-Free and Healthy Children Act.

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