[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 21, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H4434-H4435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 MONEY WOULD BE BETTER SPENT TO FIND CURES AND TREATMENT FOR DISEASES, 
                NOT FOR MORE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, in the next day or two, this House will 
consider funding the war in Iraq and also we will be thinking and have 
been thinking about our colleague in the Senate and the father of one 
of our Members, Senator Ted Kennedy. We will think about Hamilton 
Jordan, who passed away also.
  Senator Kennedy suffers from a brain tumor. Hamilton Jordan suffered 
from cancer. When you think about how many dollars we have spent on 
that war effort and what those dollars could do to cure diseases of 
people here on Earth, I would submit, Mr. Speaker, we need to put more 
money into curing disease, finding treatments and cures,

[[Page H4435]]

rather than funding weapons of mass destruction.
  The Bible says something about beating your swords into plowshares. I 
would submit that if we have the ability to seek finite spots on the 
Earth from the air to find targets for our weapons, we should turn 
those scientists' efforts toward finding ways to look inside our bodies 
and find cures for diseases.
  Mr. Speaker, I am submitting a letter to the Speaker and to the 
chairman of the Finance Committee to do just that.

                                    Congress of the United States,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                      Washington, DC May 15, 2008.
     Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
     U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
     Chairman David Obey,
     Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
       Dear Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Obey: I am writing to 
     request that NIH funding in the President's FY09 budget for 
     the research of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, AIDS, 
     Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease be doubled in the 
     final FY09 budget set forth by Congress.
       The following are the estimates included in the President's 
     FY09 Budget request for research at the National Institutes 
     of Health (NIH):
       Cancer: $5.654B.
       Diabetes: $1.033B.
       Heart Disease: $2.111B.
       Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis 
     under National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: 
     $300M.
       Alzheimer's Disease: $644M.
       Parkinson's Disease: $186M.
       These debilitating diseases affect millions of people each 
     year across the globe. Families are torn apart, emotionally 
     and financially, by the effects of their contraction. 
     Congress has a serious responsibility to provide adequate 
     funding for research that could not only find promising 
     treatments, but permanent cures.
       I cannot imagine a more pressing issue than ensuring the 
     healthy future of those we are here to represent. The 
     disparity between the amounts of funding requested for the 
     war in Iraq and that requested to treat deadly diseases is 
     incomprehensible. The successful findings of research 
     programs made possible through increased funding will not 
     only aid people in the United States, but the rest of the 
     world, as well. It is my hope that, by taking full advantage 
     of the scientific resources we have here at home, we can 
     better our relationships with research teams across the globe 
     to reach our common goals: finding a cure and establishing 
     peace.
       As always, I remain,
           Most Sincerely,
                                                      Steve Cohen,
     Member of Congress.

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