[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 190 (Wednesday, December 12, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15165-S15166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ALZHEIMER'S BREAKTHROUGH ACT OF 2007

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, wouldn't you like to find a cure or 
wouldn't you like to be part of an effort to find a cure for 
Alzheimer's? Wouldn't you like to be part of a Congress that helps save 
lives, helps people and families struggling with Alzheimer's so perhaps 
there could be medicines for cognitive stretch- out for those who are 
facing some form of dementia? Wouldn't you like to give help to those 
practicing self-help, providing relief to hard-working caregivers?
  I know you do, and I also know a bipartisan group of my colleagues 
want to do that. That is why I introduced the Alzheimer's Breakthrough 
Act of 2007. I started this work a couple years ago, working with my 
colleague, Senator Bond, who then was chair of the Subcommittee on 
Aging. Now I am working with Senator Burr. We passed out of the Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in July critical legislation, 
the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act. It is pending on the calendar. We 
need unanimous consent to bring it up. I come to the floor today to ask 
my colleagues to give consent to move this bill forward.
  This bill has two components: one is an authorizing component and the 
other a tax credit component. In the spirit of comity, I would be 
willing to actually divide the two because I know tax policy needs to 
be very sensitive in terms of the consequences.
  Let me tell my colleagues what this breakthrough legislation does. It 
doubles the funding for Alzheimer's research at NIH. It goes from $640 
million to $1.3 billion, giving researchers the resources to make 
breakthroughs. It

[[Page S15166]]

funds a national summit on Alzheimer's so the best scientists in the 
country can come together and identify the most promising 
breakthroughs. We are not talking about long-time, longitudinal 
studies. We are talking about studies that are at a point of 
significant breakthrough, that need help, and need a boost.
  Also in our bill is the family caregivers support tax credit. It 
would create a $3,000 tax credit for caregivers with the extraordinary 
expenses of caring for someone who has a chronic condition, such as 
Alzheimer's.
  Why is this needed? Alzheimer's disease is the tsunami on the horizon 
we cannot ignore. Today there are 5 million Americans living with 
Alzheimer's disease. It is expected to triple in the next couple 
decades.
  We know a lot about Alzheimer's disease. It has been 100 years since 
it was first diagnosed, and though we know a lot, we do not have a 
cure, and maybe we will not have a cure, but we certainly can have the 
breakthroughs for what we call cognitive stretch-out. For those people 
who are gripped by this terrible disease or another form of dementia 
and those who are in social work and medicine, they have watched people 
say the long goodbye. We watched a gallant President and an incredible 
First Lady by the name of Reagan, in which the President had his long 
goodbye and the First Lady, Nancy Reagan stuck with him every minute, 
every hour of every day until his final resting. We salute them. We 
know that when the President does not have the resources to deal with 
this disease, we have so much work to do for the little people. Knowing 
that President, he would want help for the little people.
  We need a sense of urgency about Alzheimer's. If we find a cure to 
delay the onset of the disease, we could save a tremendous amount in 
Medicaid and Medicare.
  It is estimated that for every year we can have that cognitive 
stretch-out that enables people not to have to turn to institutional 
long-term care, we can save over $500 billion in both Medicaid and 
Medicare.
  Should we even put a price tag on finding a cure, better and earlier 
diagnosis, faster creation of new drugs for people? Can we afford not 
to invest in this disease? I don't think so.

  Alzheimer's is a terrible disease. I know it because we lived through 
it in our family. We watched prominent people be gripped by it. We know 
Alzheimer's is terrible for the person living with it, and we know it 
is an incredible drain on the caregiver, both emotionally and 
financially. Our country last year spent over $120 billion in dealing 
with this disease.
  I wish to come back to the caregiver. Usually it is a daughter or a 
spouse who takes care of an aging parent or spouse. Often they need 
help with durable medical equipment and specialized daycare. It could 
add up to anywhere from $5,500 to $8,000 a year. Caring for a sick 
loved one means often you give up work, you reduce your work to part 
time or certainly take money out of your household.
  We held a series of hearings on this bill, including Dr. Zerhouni of 
NIH and Dr. Gerberding of the CDC and some of our most eminent 
physicians working on this disease. It was amazing because it was so 
energizing. Often when we think about Alzheimer's, we think there is no 
hope and no opportunity to crack this disease, but there is.
  What the scientists told us is there is now an array of medical 
possibilities for both the prevention of Alzheimer's and also 
intervention that would enable people to have this cognitive 
stretchout.
  I am using the words ``cognitive stretchout.'' Maybe it is a little 
too fancy. What it means in plain English is you have a memory, you can 
think, you know night from day. I know for families that are gripped by 
Alzheimer's, both the person with it and the person living with it 
experience a 36-hour day, because often with Alzheimer's, the person 
gripped by it cannot tell the time. If we can stretch out that decline 
where they still have their memory, still can function with the 
activities of daily living, still know whether it is 3 o'clock in the 
afternoon or 3 o'clock in the morning, still be able to recognize their 
grandchild and still be able to remember how to eat, my God, what do we 
give them? We give them a year of life, we give a breather for those 
who love them and are taking care of them, and we also give a break in 
terms of the Federal budget with the assistance we provide in long-term 
care.
  This bill is pending on the calendar. We have asked unanimous consent 
to go to it. I ask my colleagues, let's have a vote. If they would like 
to separate out the tax credit aspects from the authorizing 
legislation, I would be more than willing to cooperate in the closing 
hours of this session to do that.
  I know on the floor is my very good colleague, the Senator from Iowa, 
Mr. Harkin, who chairs the Labor-HHS Subcommittee. He has been such a 
strong advocate of NIH, and we thank him for what he has done. But he 
needs help from those of us in the Senate to come up with these 
breakthroughs.
  Mr. President, rather than a parliamentary request asking consent, I 
know our cloakroom is circulating the request. I look forward to a 
reply from our colleagues in moving this bill forward, but I ask our 
colleagues: Join with us and move this bill forward.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa is 
recognized.

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