[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 16, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6676-S6677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF SUCCESS FROM THE OFFICE OF RESEARCH ON WOMEN'S 
              HEALTH AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions be discharged from 
further consideration of S. Res. 242 and the Senate proceed to its 
immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 242) celebrating 25 years of success 
     from the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National 
     Institutes of Health.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.


                           Amendment No. 2663

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 2663 to the 
resolution and ask that it be reported by number.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Maryland [Ms. Mikulski] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 2663.

  The amendment is as follows:

                (Purpose: To amend the resolving clause)

       On page 4, line 1, strike ``it is the sense of the Senate 
     that'' and insert ``the Senate''.
       On page 4, strike line 2 and all that follows through page 
     5, line 23, and insert the following:
       (1) commends ORWH for its work over the past 25 years to 
     improve and save the lives of women worldwide and expresses 
     that ORWH must remain intact for this and future generations;
       (2) recognizes that there remain striking sex and gender 
     differences among many diseases and conditions on which ORWH 
     should continue to focus;
       (3) encourages ORWH to continue to focus on ensuring that 
     NIH supports biomedical research that considers sex as a 
     biological variable across the research spectrum; and
       (4) encourages the Director of the NIH to continue to 
     consult and involve ORWH on all matters related to the 
     influence of sex and gender on health, especially those 
     matters pertaining to the consideration of sex as a 
     biological variable in research with vertebrate animals and 
     humans.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the amendment?
  If not, the question is on agreeing to the amendment.
  The amendment (No. 2663) was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the resolution?
  If not, the question is on agreeing to the resolution, as amended.
  The resolution (S. Res. 242), as amended, was agreed to.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. I further ask unanimous consent that the Mikulski-
Collins amendment to the preamble be agreed to; the preamble, as 
amended, be agreed to; the title amendment be agreed to; and the 
motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with 
no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 2664) was agreed to, as follows:

                    (Purpose: To amend the preamble)

       In the eighteenth whereas clause, strike ``CDC'' and insert 
     ``Centers for Disease Control and Prevention''.

  The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
  The resolution, as amended, with its preamble, as amended, reads as 
follows:

                              S. Res. 242

       Whereas, on September 10, 1990, the Office of Research on 
     Women's Health (in this resolution referred to as ``ORWH'') 
     was established at the National Institutes of Health (in this 
     resolution referred to as ``NIH'') to--
       (1) ensure that women were included in NIH-funded clinical 
     research;
       (2) set research priorities to address gaps in scientific 
     knowledge; and
       (3) promote biomedical research careers for women;
       Whereas ORWH was established in law by the National 
     Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993 (Public Law 
     103-43; 107 Stat. 122) and implemented the law requiring 
     researchers to include women in NIH-funded tests of new drugs 
     and other clinical trials;
       Whereas today, more than \1/2\ of the participants in NIH-
     funded clinical trials are women, enabling the development of 
     clinical approaches to prevention, diagnosis, or treatment 
     appropriate for women;
       Whereas, in 2015, ORWH, with enthusiastic support from NIH 
     leadership, announced that, beginning in January 2016, NIH-
     funded scientists must account for the possible role of sex 
     as a biological variable in vertebrate animal and human 
     studies;
       Whereas ORWH, along with NIH leadership, enhances awareness 
     of the need to adhere to principles of rigor and 
     transparency, including the need to publish sex-specific 
     results to inform the treatment of women, men, boys, and 
     girls;
       Whereas over the past 25 years, ORWH has helped expand 
     research on women's health beyond its roots in reproductive 
     health to include--
       (1) the study of the health of women across the life-spans 
     of women; and
       (2) biomedical and behavioral research from cells to 
     selves;
       Whereas by studying both sexes, ORWH is leading the 
     scientific community to make discoveries headed toward 
     treatments that are more personalized for both women and men;
       Whereas today, ORWH communicates through programs and 
     policies that sex and gender affect health, wellness, and how 
     diseases progress;
       Whereas turning discovery into health for all, the NIH 
     motto, means studying both females and males across the 
     biomedical research continuum;
       Whereas the ORWH Specialized Centers of Research on Sex 
     Differences program supports established scientists who do 
     basic, clinical, and translational research with a sex and 
     gender focus;
       Whereas all NIH Institutes and Centers fund and encourage 
     scientists at universities across the Nation to conduct 
     research on the health of women and on sex and gender 
     influences;
       Whereas over the past 25 years, ORWH has established 
     several career-enhancement initiatives for women in 
     biomedicine, including the Building Interdisciplinary 
     Research Careers in Women's Health program that connects 
     junior faculty with mentors who share interests in women's 
     health research;
       Whereas ORWH co-directs the NIH Working Group on Women in 
     Biomedical Careers, which develops and evaluates policies to 
     promote the recruitment, retention, and sustained advancement 
     of women scientists;
       Whereas the Women's Health Initiative (in this resolution 
     referred to as ``WHI'') marked the first long-term study of 
     its kind and resulted in a wealth of information so that 
     women and their physicians can make more

[[Page S6677]]

     informed decisions regarding postmenopausal hormone therapy;
       Whereas WHI reduced the incidence of breast cancer by 
     10,000 to 15,000 cases per year, and the overall health care 
     savings far exceeded the WHI investment;
       Whereas ORWH supported the National Cancer Institute's 
     development of a vaccine that prevents the transmission of 
     Human Papilloma Virus, resulting in a decrease in the number 
     of cases of cervical cancer;
       Whereas, in 1994, ORWH co-sponsored with the National 
     Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases a landmark 
     study, the results of which showed that giving the drug AZT 
     to HIV-infected women with little or no prior antiretroviral 
     therapy reduced the risk of mother-to-child transmission of 
     HIV by \2/3\;
       Whereas according to the Centers for Disease Control and 
     Prevention, perinatal HIV infections in the United States 
     have dropped by more than 90 percent;
       Whereas ORWH co-funded a large clinical study of the 
     genetic and environmental risk factors for ischemic stroke, 
     which identified a strong relationship between the number of 
     cigarettes smoked per day and the probability of ischemic 
     stroke in young women, prompting the targeting of smoking as 
     a preventable and modifiable risk factor for cerebrovascular 
     disease in young women; and
       Whereas over the past 25 years, ORWH has contributed 
     support toward major advances in knowledge about the genetic 
     risk for breast cancer, and discovery of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 
     genetic risk markers has enabled better-informed genetic 
     counseling and treatment for members of families that carry 
     mutant alleles: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commends ORWH for its work over the past 25 years to 
     improve and save the lives of women worldwide and expresses 
     that ORWH must remain intact for this and future generations;
       (2) recognizes that there remain striking sex and gender 
     differences among many diseases and conditions on which ORWH 
     should continue to focus;
       (3) encourages ORWH to continue to focus on ensuring that 
     NIH supports biomedical research that considers sex as a 
     biological variable across the research spectrum; and
       (4) encourages the Director of the NIH to continue to 
     consult and involve ORWH on all matters related to the 
     influence of sex and gender on health, especially those 
     matters pertaining to the consideration of sex as a 
     biological variable in research with vertebrate animals and 
     humans.

  The amendment (No. 2665) was agreed to, as follows:

                     (Purpose: To amend the title)

       Amend the title so as to read: ``A resolution celebrating 
     the 25th anniversary of the Office of Research on Women's 
     Health at the National Institutes of Health.''.

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I think the parliamentary choreography 
does not show what we just did.
  We are now, through a resolution cosponsored by Senator Collins and 
me, cosponsored by all the women of the Senate on both sides of the 
aisle, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Office of Research on 
Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health.
  Twenty-five years ago, on September 10, 1990, the Office of Research 
on Women's Health was established at NIH. It ensured that women were 
included in NIH-funded research protocols. It set research priorities, 
scientific peer review and scientific knowledge, and it promoted 
medical research.
  There were two outcomes that I am so proud of--No. 1, what we have 
done to improve women's health, and No. 2, we showed that a process of 
working on a bipartisan basis actually worked.
  This is not to tell old war stories about legislative issues. Twenty-
five years ago women were not included in the protocols at NIH. There 
were many reasons given, most of them not scientifically reliable or 
accurate. Working together, Senator Nancy Kassebaum and I--the only two 
women in the Senate at the time--joined hands with the House--
Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, Connie Morella, and Senator Olympia 
Snowe--and we worked together to get legislation passed to get women 
included in the protocols, scientifically appropriate, and to establish 
the office of women's health. We worked then with Senator Tom Harkin 
and Arlen Specter here and Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Kassebaum to 
get it done. These rollcalls of people who are no longer with us in 
this institution and some who passed by showed we got it done. It was 
modest in money, big in dreams. I will give one outcome of what they 
did.
  George Bush the elder appointed Dr. Bernadine Healy to be head of 
NIH. Dr. Healy led a scientific study on hormone replacement. She was 
able to get the money because of Tom Harkin, Arlen Specter, and all of 
us, all working together. I was an appropriator as well who helped and 
assisted, Senator Kennedy, Senator Nancy Kassebaum--now, of course, 
Baker. And guess what. This is the outcome: Because of that hormone 
replacement study, medical practice was changed because of the 
excessive use of hormones in inappropriate situations. As a result, it 
is estimated by public health epidemiologists that we save 15,000 lives 
a year. Because of the hormone replacement study, breast cancer rates 
went down 12 percent.
  So when they say: Can't you guys and gals work together? When we do, 
we save lives. We save lives. It is estimated that over 600 lives were 
saved because of this one study alone, and more will happen every year. 
So when we get it together, yes, we save lives, hundreds of thousands 
at a time.
  So I commemorate the great work of the Office of Research on Women's 
Health, and I want to once again, joining with my dear friend and 
esteemed colleague Senator Collins, show that when we work together, we 
can really make a change--a change that improves the lives of the 
American people, and women all over this country thank this body for 
the leadership we have provided.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am delighted to join with my friend and 
colleague, the Dean of the Senate women, Senator Barbara Mikulski, in 
sponsoring this resolution to commemorate the 25th anniversary of NIH's 
Office of Research on Women's Health. This office has improved and 
saved the lives of countless women not only in our country but 
worldwide. It has been a great success.
  Our resolution, as Senator Mikulski mentioned, is cosponsored by 
every single one of the women serving in the Senate today. I always 
point out that just as the men of the Senate span the ideological 
spectrum, so do the women of the Senate. But we have come together to 
endorse this resolution because each and every one of us recognizes the 
critical, lifesaving work that has been done by this office at NIH.
  As the Senator from Maryland has pointed out, this was a 
collaborative effort among women--including my former colleague, 
Olympia Snowe--in both the House and the Senate 25 years ago to redress 
the fact that so many clinical trials that were being conducted by NIH 
or through NIH funding excluded women. I remember one on heart disease 
that was called Mr. Fit. Mr. Fit. Not a single woman was included in 
this groundbreaking study despite the fact that women die of heart 
disease more than any other disease and despite the fact that women 
react differently than men do to different therapies, to different 
drugs.
  Our resolution commends the office for its work over the past 25 
years to improve and save the lives of women. It recognizes that there 
remain striking gender differences among many diseases and conditions 
on which this office should continue to focus. It also encourages the 
office to continue to focus on ensuring that NIH supports biomedical 
research that considers gender as a biological variable across the 
spectrum of research projects that we are doing. And it encourages the 
Director of the NIH to continue to consult and involve the Office of 
Research on Women's Health on all matters related to the influence of 
gender on health, especially those pertaining to the consideration of 
gender as a biological variable in research with humans.
  I am delighted that we have now been able to clear the obstacles to 
the adoption of this resolution and that it has been approved without 
dissent. As my colleague has indicated, it is an example of a 
development that was taken 25 years ago in response to a real problem 
of women being excluded from clinical trials, from health care 
research, and we have made a difference with this office. That is why I 
am proud to join with my friend the senior Senator from Maryland, the 
Dean of the women of the Senate, in sponsoring this legislation with 
each of our female colleagues serving the United States as Members of 
this great body.

                          ____________________