[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 82 (Monday, June 26, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5784-S5787]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND RELATED
AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS, 2001--Continued
Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, this morning I was invited to the White
House for a truly historic announcement. Through the collaboration of
government and private sector efforts, scientists have completed the
first rough map of the human gene. I believe history will prove this
the most significant scientific development of our generation. Its
implications for improving the health and well-being of people are
truly astounding.
Today's announcement was especially fulfilling for me. In 1989, when
I served as chair of the subcommittee responsible for this bill, I
began the funding for the Human Genome Center at NIH, and the race to
map the genome began in earnest. At that time, many criticized the
move, saying it was a waste of time and money and couldn't be done in
our lifetimes.
I listened very carefully to Dr. James Watson, the Nobel Prize winner
who first discovered the double helix of our DNA, and he was the first
director of the genome center. He talked to us at great length about
the possibilities of not only mapping the human genome but sequencing
the entire human genomic code. At that time a lot of us were captivated
by this concept, that we could actually have the blueprint of
[[Page S5785]]
life that hitherto has been known to no human being, but only to the
Almighty.
By breaking down this human genetic code, sequencing every one of the
3 billion pairs that every human has, it would, as Dr. Watson said,
provide more than a blueprint, but it would provide the source of
research that could very rapidly bring to a close our search for an end
to some of the more debilitating diseases that have afflicted mankind
for thousands of years. Knowing the genetic code, researchers will now
be able to more precisely determine the genetic markers that people
have that predispose them to one disease or another.
It was Dr. James Watson who really got the policymakers here in the
Congress excited about and interested in this human genome project. I
happened at that time to be the chair of the subcommittee. As Dr.
Watson explained to us what this would do, I had probably just enough
engineering background and mathematics background to get a feel for
what this could possibly mean. As a result, we began to fund the human
genome project and center.
Today's announcement also demonstrates the importance of our drive to
double funding for medical research. Senator Specter and I are
committed to this effort. The bill provides the third installment of a
$2.7 billion increase, the largest ever of a 5-year plan, to double
funding for NIH. The completion of mapping the human genome will yield
tremendous advances in the search for medical breakthroughs in heart
disease, cancer, Alzheimer's. We are on the way to learning more than
we ever thought possible to cure human diseases. The reward will be
reflected in the faces of MS, multiple sclerosis, patients who may live
longer and better lives because research isolated the gene that causes
their dread disease. We will see it in the faces of Parkinson's
patients who will experience an improved quality of life from a drug
targeted to their individual genome type. And we will see it in the
faces of cancer patients whose lives may one day be saved by gene
therapy.
Yet as we celebrate this great milestone, we must be looking to the
challenges ahead. I, of course, look forward to the day when genetic
discrimination will be illegal, both at the workplace and in insurance.
Genomic technologies have the potential to lead to better diagnosis and
treatment and ultimately to the prevention and cure of many diseases
and disabilities. But without antidiscrimination protections, Americans
will forego early diagnosis and treatment for fear of discrimination in
health insurance and employment.
So we cannot let discrimination or the fear of discrimination
threaten our ability to conduct the very research we need to
understand, treat, and prevent genetic diseases. That is why Senator
Daschle, Senator Kennedy, Senator Dodd, and I have introduced the
Genetic Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance and Employment Act. Our
legislation would provide greatly needed protections against genetic
discrimination in both employment and insurance and prohibit
inappropriate disclosure of that information. I urge all my colleagues
to join in passing anti-genetic-discrimination legislation to allow the
research of the human genome project to reach its full potential.
In conclusion, I offer my heartiest congratulations and appreciation
to every individual who worked on this project. There is no higher
calling than this work, saving human lives. These outstanding
scientists and researchers made this historic day possible. Not only
did they meet their timetable, they beat it, and that is what I call
real success.
In that vein I want to pay special tribute to Dr. James Watson whose
pioneering efforts made today's breakthrough possible and who, at one
critical point in this human genome project several years ago, made the
decision with the new types of supercomputers we had to ratchet up the
number of base pairs that they would be investigating and sequencing,
to a much higher level than was ever done before. Because of that, we
were able to complete the sequencing of the human gene now rather than
10 or 15 years from now.
I also commend Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the human genome
project at NIH. His brilliant and charismatic leadership of the project
has been the engine driving this effort.
I might say Dr. Collins headed not only the effort here in the United
States, but this has been a multinational effort, and this morning, at
the White House, we had Prime Minister Blair on closed circuit
television. He was in London. He had his scientists around him. They
had provided great support for our project, as had the French and the
Germans, the Swiss, the Chinese, the Japanese, and a number of others.
They had all provided help and support for sequencing this human gene.
Dr. Francis Collins led this international effort.
Finally, I also pay tribute to Dr. Craig Venter, a former NIH
scientist now the head of a private entity called Celera Genomics. It
is the private sector firm that has been central to today's
breakthrough. Dr. Venter, again, at a critical point, came up with a
new way of discovering and sequencing more base pairs in a shorter
period of time than had ever been done before. Again, because of his
insight and his leadership and efforts, and his own private enterprise,
he was able to help us reach this day a lot sooner.
I think that also points out the benefit of the tremendous
relationship we have had in this country between public-sector-funded
basic research and private-sector-funded research. Most--I would not
say all--of the basic research done in this country is funded publicly
by our taxpayers through the money that we appropriate here in the
Congress. There is some basic research done by the drug companies, that
is true. But in most of the research done in the private sector they
take the basic research that is funded publicly and determine whether
or not there is something there that can be made into a drug or
therapeutic or intervention or diagnostic tool that can be used in the
private sector, in the real world, to help either to stop the onset of
a certain illness, to cure it once it has onset, or to make the illness
less invasive and less detrimental to the normal life of a person.
With this marriage, we have in the United States cultivated a very
unique body of health research. Today's announcement, with the public
and private sector together, illustrated that.
Again, my congratulations to Dr. Venter for his leadership in the
private sector.
Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. HARKIN. Yes, I am delighted to yield.
Mr. REID. Madam President, as this week progresses, we are going to
be busier and busier and there will be less time to say what I want to
say.
I said at our subcommittee hearing how much I admire and respect the
work Senator Harkin and Senator Specter do in the subcommittee. The
audience there was very small. Hopefully, the audience here is bigger.
I want everyone to understand what great work Senator Harkin has done
with Senator Specter on this subcommittee.
This year--and the President made an announcement today--we have a
surplus of $217 billion. We have not had that in recent years. This
subcommittee, in spite of the fact it has been fighting for money, has
done wonderful things dealing with the National Institutes of Health.
They have been the leaders in stem cell research. They held hearings.
That work being done on stem cell research, together with the work
being done on the human genome, is the same as the work we did with
computers and the Internet. What we did 10 years ago with the computer
is nothing compared to what we can do now, and the same is going to be
true when we understand the genomes each of us has, together with stem
cell research and some of the other things being done as the result of
the funding of this subcommittee.
When the history books are written, the work the two Senators have
done in funding this very important research is going to be a big
chapter. There is hope, as the Senator mentioned. The people who have
multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's are going to
benefit from the work done with the funding of this subcommittee.
I hope the Senator from Iowa knows how much he is appreciated. This
is as important as anything we have ever done in this Congress. Half
the people
[[Page S5786]]
in the rest homes in America today are there because of two things:
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Think what it will mean for not only the
people who are sick but their loved ones. Think how good it will be if
we can do something to delay the onset of these two diseases or, when
the miracle does come, we can cure them. Think how important it will be
for them and their families. In addition to that, think how important
it will be for the American taxpayers. Billions of dollars go into
taking care of people who have these two diseases.
On behalf of the people of the State of Nevada, and I think I can
speak for the people of this country, the Senator is appreciated. I
hope he understands that. It is great work. We hear so much negative in
the press about no one will cooperate with anything. What this
subcommittee does is an example of what the rest of the Congress should
do. The work of the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Senator from Iowa
has been good. I want the Senator to know how much I appreciate what he
has done.
Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I thank the Senator for his kind words.
I was thinking as he was talking on this specific project, the human
genome project, it is true I happened to be chairman at that time and
we started funding it because of what Dr. Watson was able to get across
to us when he explained what this would mean down the road. I must say,
when I turned over the gavel to Senator Specter in 1995, there was not
even a bump in the road. We always worked together on this. When he
took over as chairman, we continued our strong support for NIH and our
strong support for the human genome project.
As the Senator from Nevada said, it has truly been good bipartisan
teamwork. I do not mean to say only the two of us. The members of the
committee have been very much involved in this through the years.
Looking back now and seeing what has happened gives me goose bumps
because when we first started this I checked with some people to find
out what it would mean to sequence the human genes. We knew we could
map it, but to sequence the 3 billion base pairs of genes, of cold
human genome, I asked them how long: Maybe 25 years; maybe we will get
it done in 25 years, maybe longer.
Even then they did not know if they could really get them all
sequenced. So I would talk with Dr. Watson about it, and he would say:
No, it may take us that long, but we should start on it; we should not
put it off any longer; we should start on it.
I thought when we first started this it was going to take literally
20 years, as an outside estimate. As I said in my remarks, there came a
time when Dr. Watson and some of his team figured out a better way of
sequencing these genes, and that collapsed the timeframe right there.
It took money. The whole effort in the human genome project has been
people and money. If one has the people and the money, one can get it
done. It took people to do it, but it took money to buy the big
computers. The faster the computers got, the better it was. And along
came Craig Venter with a different concept on how to do this, and that
again collapsed the timeframe.
To think we started this project literally a decade ago, in 1990, and
here we are 10 years later. Having the entire human genome sequenced is
just mind boggling. It really is the Rosetta stone. Before that, they
did not know how to read the Egyptian hieroglyphics. When they found
the Rosetta stone, they could break the code.
That is what this is. It is going to provide the best tool
researchers all over the world have ever had. The beauty of it is that
any scientist anywhere in the world can go on the Internet right now
and get all the information they need. Every sequence is now in the
public domain. It is not being held privately. Any researcher can get
access to it.
I say to my friend from Nevada, I cannot wait for the next 10 years
to see what is going to happen. We are going to see an explosion of new
findings researchers are going to come up with that are truly going to
be mind boggling.
In the next 10 years, mark my words--I probably will not be here;
maybe the Senator from Nevada will be here--by gosh, we are going to
look back and say the first decade of the 21st century was the decade
when we truly understood disease and illness, the things the Senator
from Nevada talked about--Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's
disease. Not only will we understand it, we will know how to go right
in there and fix it 10 years from now. Mark my words.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I say to my friend from Iowa--I did not do
a very good job of describing it--had someone told Senator Harkin and I
10 years ago what is now possible with the Internet through computers,
we would not have believed it. We simply would not have believed it. I
know I would not have.
Mr. HARKIN. I did not have the capacity to understand it.
Mr. REID. But now the progress that has been made is unbelievable.
What I tried to say--and the Senator from Iowa described it better than
I--the same is going to apply to medicine. Ten years from now, people
will think this conversation of ours was so amateurish.
Mr. HARKIN. Archaic.
Mr. REID. I thank the Senator.
Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burns). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending
Cochran amendment regarding antimicrobial resistance monitoring agents
be laid aside to recur as the pending business at 9:40 a.m. and there
be 5 minutes for closing remarks tomorrow morning with a vote to occur
on the amendment at 9:45 a.m. with no second-degree amendments in
order.
I further ask unanimous consent that following that vote, the Senate
resume consideration of the McCain amendment regarding the Internet.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I supported the amendment to create a
Medicare prescription drug benefit under the Medicare program offered
by my colleague, Senator Robb from Virginia, to the Labor, Health and
Human Resources and Education Appropriations bill.
Despite the Senate defeating this amendment largely along a party
line vote of 44 to 53, I vow to continue the fight with my colleagues
to push the Senate for further debate on prescription drug proposals
and pass a meaningful prescription drug bill this year. The millions of
needy seniors and those with disabilities receiving Medicare deserve
nothing less.
Some of my colleagues have argued that this was not the time, nor the
proper legislative process by which we should pass a Medicare
prescription drug proposal. Mr response to that accusation, is when is
the proper time then? When are we in Congress going to listen to the
constituents like those that I have spoken to from Wessington Springs
and Custer, South Dakota? This is not, nor should be a partisan issue.
This is not, nor should be an issue that gives greater deliberation to
the pleas of party politics than pleas of needy seniors.
Constituents in my home state of South Dakota, have been telling me
for years that they are struggling to make ends meet and need help
affording their prescription drugs. I introduced my first bill on this
issue well over a year ago in the Senate, and since then debate
surrounding how to provide Medicare beneficiaries with access to
affordable prescription drugs has produced several proposals from both
Democrats and Republicans.
Yet, this is the first time that the Senate has taken the time during
the 106th Congress to have a floor vote on this issue. I am cautiously
optimistic that we will continue to see debate on this critically
important matter, and may indeed find compromise between the two
parties to help our senior citizens better afford their expensive
prescription drug medications.
I am in constant contact with South Dakotans who have expressed their
difficulty in choosing between paying for medication, or buying food
and paying
[[Page S5787]]
utilities. I want to assure them that the Senate will not wait any
longer and will pass legislation this session to provide immediate
relief to the thousands of senior citizens in South Dakota and across
the nation who are having difficulty affording life-saving medication.
Even if we can't reach an agreement on a Medicare prescription drug
plan this year, there are several steps we can take now that would
provide some relief to seniors who face rising prescription drug costs.
All three of the bills that I have sponsored, including the
Prescription Drug Fairness For Seniors Act, the International
Prescription Drug Parity Act, and the Generic Pharmaceutical Access and
Choice For Consumers Act, if enacted this year, would provide immediate
relief to millions of Americans across the country. Equally so, these
bills would require no additional taxpayer dollars nor new government
program.''
While they may not be the magic bullet that meets all of the long
term needs of providing Medicare prescription drug coverage, they would
provide a mechanism for immediate relief from rising drug costs.
Working together, reaching across the aisle, we can use this time of
unparalleled prosperity to do the right thing by our seniors. We should
do it this year for their sake, and for the sake of the future of
Medicare.
____________________