[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 58 (Wednesday, April 9, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2312-S2313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           American Cures Act

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, a generation ago, an AIDS diagnosis meant 
a sure and agonizing death. It was 23 years ago, when I was in the 
House of Representatives, when I was walking to the Chamber for a vote 
when I saw a colleague and friend, Tom McMillen, a Congressman from 
Maryland, coming my way. You would not miss Tom McMillen. He played in 
the NBA. He was tall. As he passed by on the sidewalk, he stopped and 
said: Magic has AIDS. It was a stunning announcement that Magic Johnson 
had been diagnosed with AIDS. The reality is that was 23 years ago. At 
the time we felt this was a death verdict, there was no way to escape 
it.
  Last month American researchers revealed that a second American baby 
born with HIV has apparently been cured of the virus with drugs 
delivered just minutes after birth.
  How far we have come in 23 years--from an AIDS diagnosis meaning 
certain death to being able to cure for the second time a baby born 
with HIV with drugs delivered minutes after birth.
  These babies were treated as part of a research program at the 
National Institutes of Health. Their apparent cures offer real hope for 
a quarter of a million babies who were born into the world this year 
with HIV--many of them in desperately poor nations.
  It is not the only happening when it comes to medical research, by a 
long shot. In my home State of Illinois, Dr. Jose Oberholzer from the 
University of Illinois-Chicago and Dr. Xunrong Luo from Northwestern 
University are among scores of researchers throughout the country on an 
NIH-sponsored project to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.
  Do you know anyone with type 1 diabetes? I do. To think that we are 
close enough to even consider the possibility of a cure should spur us 
all on to want more research in this area done as quickly as possible.
  These two doctors are part of an effort called the Clinical Islet 
Transplantation Consortium. Islets are a group of beta cells in the 
pancreas that produce insulin. Type 1 diabetes destroys these cells. 
Transplanting healthy beta cells into the liver of someone with type 1 
diabetes can enable the person's body to start producing insulin on its 
own--a functional cure for type 1 diabetes.
  This is not just a theory; it is starting to show results when it 
comes to this clinical research.
  Why do I raise these amazing medical research stories on the floor of 
the Senate? Because the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives 
each year vote on how much money we are going to put into the National 
Institutes of Health, and we have had some sad outcomes in recent 
years.
  Did you know that over the last 10 years we have been unwilling to 
give the National Institutes of Health even a cost-of-living 
adjustment? So each year they have fallen behind in medical research 
just because of inflation. They have fallen behind 22 percent in 
awarding research grants such as the ones I just described because we 
have failed to provide a cost-of-living adjustment for them.
  Does anyone believe we are saving money by cutting back on medical 
research? If they do, they are just plain wrong.
  They had a program announced about a month ago at NIH called the AMP 
Program. It is a new undertaking. The 10 largest pharmaceutical 
companies have put up $150 million--not a great amount of money for 
successful pharmaceutical companies but an investment--to be matched by 
NIH, and they are setting out to use human genomic mapping and cell 
information to find cures for Alzheimer's, type 1 diabetes, and 
rheumatoid arthritis.
  Can we afford this? Can we afford this research? Do you know what we 
paid last year in Medicare and Medicaid just for Alzheimer's patients? 
It was $203 billion--1 year. If we can, through our research, find a 
way to at least delay, if not cure, Alzheimer's, think of the misery 
that will be spared these poor families who suffer from Alzheimer's and 
think of the money we will save.
  Are we so shortsighted as a nation that we have forgotten that 
medical research not only finds cures but saves us money that would 
otherwise be spent for medical care?
  That is why I introduced, 2 weeks ago, the American Cures Act. It is 
different. There are not a lot of proposals like it before Congress. 
What I am doing with this proposal is trying to get Congress, on both 
sides of the aisle, in both Chambers, to make a commitment to American 
medical research, American cures.
  Here is the commitment: Over the next 10 years, I want a commitment 
that we will increase the funding in medical research beyond inflation 
5 percent a year--5 percent--for the National Institutes of Health, for 
the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Defense medical 
research, and the Veterans' Administration medical research.
  What is the cost of that? The cost of that is $150 billion over 10 
years--to make a commitment to go forward on medical research. It is a 
lot of money. It is a lot of money until you consider what the cost is 
each year of Alzheimer's--$200 billion--not to mention the cost of 
diabetes, arthritis, and so many other illnesses and diseases that call 
for huge investments when it comes to medical care.
  Where in the world can we get $150 billion over 10 years? Where could 
we possibly find it? Let me give you a starting place. Increase the 
Federal tax on tobacco products by 95 cents. I am for that. I will tell 
you why I am for it. I have been fighting tobacco as long as I have 
been in Congress--the House and Senate--and what I have discovered is, 
if you want to discourage young people from smoking, taking up tobacco 
addictions that will ultimately cost them their lives, raise the price 
of the product. They stop buying it.
  In my lifetime, we have seen the percentage of Americans smoking cut 
in

[[Page S2313]]

half. So raising that tobacco tax gives us money for medical research 
and reduces the likelihood that people will become addicted to nicotine 
and tobacco.
  Mr. President, 700,000 Americans will not take up the tobacco habit 
if we raise that tax 95 cents. It is money well spent on medical 
research.
  If we do not do this, what happens? We fail to find the cures for 
diseases, we continue to make massive expenditures in Medicare and 
Medicaid and other health programs, and we watch the world pass us by.
  If the United States decides to retreat when it comes to biomedical 
research, other countries are ready to step in. Now, today, China is 
investing 12 to 20 percent more each year in government research and 
medical research--each year. In 8 years China will surpass the United 
States in dollars spent on government research and medical research. 
Are we ready to let that happen? I hope not.
  For the sake of the people who live in this country who need cures 
for these diseases, and help, for the sake of the cost to our health 
care system that all of this medical challenge presents, and if we want 
to maintain a lead when it comes to researchers and doctors and 
hospitals, it is time for us on a bipartisan basis to make a commitment 
to medical research.
  I hope others will join in cosponsoring this American Cures Act. A 
number have done this already, and I thank them for joining me. One of 
them is on the floor, my colleague from California Mrs. Boxer. She is 
always by my side. We have fought a lot of these battles together. And 
the list goes on: Senators Reed, Brown, Hirono, Feinstein, Gillibrand, 
Cardin, Hagen, Casey, Markey, and Mikulski, and we are just getting 
started. I might also say that Congresswoman Anna Eshoo is cosponsoring 
this measure in the House.
  I cannot think of a more important thing that we can do to make this 
a better, safer nation, to reward research, to find cures for diseases, 
and to make sure our country continues to lead the world when it comes 
to biomedical research.
  I hope my colleagues will join me in cosponsoring this legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Illinois 
for his leadership in making our people healthier than they otherwise 
would be. He talked about the battles we have had making sure that we 
crack down on the tobacco companies that told us for years smoking was 
safe--as a matter of fact, do it, it will relax you--and they denied 
the science.
  We lived through those years. Many years ago, I worked with then-
Senator Lautenberg--and Senator Durbin led the charge in the House--to 
stop smoking on airplanes. I remember coming home from these long trips 
and literally reeking of cigarette smoke--I never smoked in my life, 
but just sitting around it in the airplanes.
  Now we are working together on NIH issues. We are very upset about 
some of the false claims that are being made about ecigarettes, and we 
want the truth out.
  So before he leaves the floor, I want to thank the Senator.