[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 15, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H5179]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           21ST CENTURY CURES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Meehan) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my deep appreciation to my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I was proud to be part of this 
body last week when together, in a bipartisan fashion, we, in strong 
numbers, passed the 21st Century Cures bill.
  Let me tell you why that bill matters. It matters because of people 
like this. This is a picture of Rhoda Mull, a woman that I had the 
opportunity to spend some time with this Monday when we sat together 
for a period of time, talking about a number of issues, but, most 
specifically, her life.
  Rhoda is an attorney of some distinction. She worked with a major 
pharmaceutical firm dealing in complex legal issues, traveling 
throughout the world.
  In about 2007, she began to feel a little droop in her foot. It 
continued to move further up. Ultimately, after numerous consultations 
with physicians, she was diagnosed with ALS, better known to many as 
Lou Gehrig's disease, and, thus, began the slow, but continuing, 
challenge of the ability for her to move about.
  But Rhoda, much to the inspiration, didn't allow this to hold her 
back. Quite the opposite. She embraced the challenge of the moment and 
reached out to become a voice, a voice for those some 30,000 people in 
our country every year who are victimized by the disease, Lou Gehrig's 
disease, ALS. She came to be a voice for those people. It is one of the 
reasons why what we can accomplish with 21st Century Cures is so 
important.
  Let me talk for a second about the fact that she was a voice. Today 
this body is very likely to deal with the issue of something called the 
Steve Gleason Act.
  It is an act which will enable the voice recorder that allows Rhoda 
to speak to be able to be approved in such a manner that they will not 
have to have these important communication tools capped by a rental 
policy that has been part of CMS' attempts to try to deal with the 
costs associated with these devices.
  One of the things that we are working on is to allow people to have 
continued access to these technologies, to see the courage of Rhoda, a 
vibrant woman in her mind, but who isn't capable of feeding herself or 
dressing herself, yet is able to speak with me.
  Inside this mind, there are tremendous things going on. And as she 
moved to that voice box and communicated with me, it inspired me to say 
we have got to continue to fight for people like Rhoda, who has been 
given a voice.
  We must stand here and give her a voice as well, to fight for passage 
of the Steve Gleason Act today and to reach out to our colleagues on 
the other side of this building to make sure that we fight for the 
passage of 21st Century Cures.
  ALS is just one of thousands of conditions for which we have no real 
cure. We have made tremendous advancements in medicine in the last two 
decades. There is still much we do not know about conditions like 
multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's.
  I have some good news to share with Rhoda. Just last week the House 
approved the 21st Century Cures Act that will direct money towards 
research into cures for conditions like ALS.
  It expands lifesaving research into conditions that affect millions 
of Americans, increasing the budget of the National Institutes of 
Health by $10 billion over the next 5 years.
  It cuts the red tape and bureaucracy, just as importantly, that 
stands between us and groundbreaking new treatments and will help train 
the next generations of doctors, scientists, and researchers. Millions 
of Americans with conditions like cancer, Alzheimer's, ALS, cystic 
fibrosis, and others stand to benefit from this research.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on the other side of the Senate to 
get behind this and pass the 21st Century Cures Act. I urge my 
colleagues in this House to stand up today and cast an important vote 
in support of the Steve Gleason Act.

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