[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 36 (Thursday, March 6, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3325-S3326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MIKULSKI (for herself, Mr. Bond, Mr. Kennedy, Mrs. 
        Lincoln, Mr. Breaux, and Mr. Dodd):
  S. 566. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 
Alzheimer's disease research and demonstration grants; to the Committee 
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Alzheimer's 
Disease Research, Prevention, and Care Act of 2003. I am pleased that 
Senators Bond, Kennedy, Lincoln, Breaux, and Dodd are joining me as 
original cosponsors of this legislation. This bill expands research on 
Alzheimer's disease at the National Institute on Aging and reauthorizes 
the Alzheimer's Demonstration Grant Program that helps patients and 
families get services like respite care and adult day care.
  I believe that ``honor thy mother and father'' is not only a good 
commandment to live by, it's also a good policy to govern by. That's 
why I authored the Alzheimer's Disease Research, Prevention, and Care 
Act--to put values into action and get behind our Nation's families.
  In 1998, the Federal Government was spending just $323 million on 
Alzheimer's disease research, a disease that affects about 4 million 
Americans. I fought for more funding for Alzheimer's disease and the 
National Institute on Aging. Not just an incremental increase--I fought 
to double the funding. I am proud that the National Institute on Aging 
was funded at $1 billion this year. That's double what it was 5 years 
ago. The Federal Government will spend more than $600 million on 
Alzheimer's research this year.
  This investment in Alzheimer's disease research is paying off. 
Scientists have found evidence that a cholesterol-lowering drug may 
prevent Alzheimer's. Researchers are testing a vaccine on mice that may 
prevent the disease in humans. Seven clinical trials are currently 
underway to find out whether estrogen, vitamin E, gingko biloba, and 
aspirin can prevent the disease.
  Even with these victories, there is still a lot more to do. 
Alzheimer's disease is a devastating illness. Four million Americans 
suffer from Alzheimer's, including one in ten people over age 65 and 
nearly half of those over age 85. Nineteen million Americans say they 
have a family member with the disease. The Medicare program alone spent 
$31.9 billion for the care of people with Alzheimer's disease in the 
year 2000. Without a cure, the number of Alzheimer's patients will more 
than triple in the next 50 years. Fourteen million Americans will 
suffer from Alzheimer's by 2050. If science can help delay the onset of 
Alzheimer's by even five years, it would improve the lives of millions 
of families and save billions of dollars.
  This legislation is about more than just statistics--it's about 
helping to meet the day-to-day needs of patients with Alzheimer's and 
the long range needs of the nation. Last year, I chaired a hearing at 
the Gerontology Research Center at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical 
center in Baltimore. I heard from Peter Savage, a Baltimore man caring 
for his wife, Ina. Mrs. Savage was diagnosed with early onset 
Alzheimer's disease at just 53 years old. I heard Mr. Savage's pain and 
frustration as he told the Subcommittee on Aging about his family's 
long struggle: watching his wife's slow decline; trying to care for 
Mrs. Savage by himself and with the help of daughters; the difficulty 
of finding someone to help them when the caregiving responsibilities 
were more than the family alone could bear; and the looming costs of 
nursing home care.
  The bill I am introducing gets behind families like the Savages and 
millions of others struggling with this disease. My bill reauthorizes 
and expands the Alzheimer's Demonstration grant Program. This program 
helps patients and families get support services like respite care and 
home health care. These

[[Page S3326]]

grants connect help states leverage private resources to fill in gaps 
in existing services and make sure that programs reach the most 
vulnerable families. This important program needs to be renewed this 
year. I'm fighting to expand this program to nearly every state, to 
keep our promises to America's families.
  This bill also helps to meet the long-range needs of our Nation by 
increasing the Federal Government's commitment to Alzheimer's disease 
research at the National Institutes of Health and the National 
Institute on Aging. It puts the Alzheimer's Disease Prevention 
Initiative in our Federal law books to speed up the discovery of new 
ways to prevent the disease. My bill sets up a cooperative clinical 
research program to stretch our Federal research dollars, by making it 
easier for researchers across the country to share data and enroll 
patients in clinical trials. It also authorizes research on ways to 
improve the health of Alzheimer's caregivers--and ease some of their 
burden.
  This bill gets behind our Nation's families--both in the lab and in 
the community. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass 
this important legislation.
                                 ______