[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 37 (Thursday, March 14, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H1403]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SEQUESTRATION

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, the other day, it became public that Valerie 
Harper, the star of ``Rhoda,'' was diagnosed with terminal brain 
cancer. She publicly went forward with that, and it was very touching. 
I saw her on the morning news when she talked about it. She said that 
she's doing chemotherapy, she has maybe 3 months--she doesn't know how 
much--to live, and she said her husband says that if we can slow this 
thing down, more stuff may come up.
  They're working fast and furiously for all of us. They're not working 
for Valerie Harper because she played Rhoda, but they're doing this for 
all cancer patients. And the people that are doing this for all cancer 
patients--the doctors, the universities, and the scientists--are funded 
by the National Institutes of Health, all of which will get a 5\1/2\ 
percent cut in their budget because of the sequestration.
  This is another example of why it was wrong for us to let the 
sequestration go into effect and why it's wrong for us not to make cuts 
that make sense. We need to put more and more dollars for cancer 
patients, for people with diabetes, people with Alzheimer's, people 
with AIDS, and people with illnesses that can and will be cured. If 
they can stay around for a little longer, they can come up with a cure 
and save people's lives. We don't need to defund or reduce the funding 
for the National Institutes of Health.

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