[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 159 (Wednesday, October 28, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7552-S7553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is possible this week that we will pass 
a budget agreement for the fiscal year we are currently in. That year 
started October 1 and runs, of course, until the end of December in the 
next calendar year. If we do reach that agreement--and I hope we do--it 
is going to give us some opportunities. One opportunity it will give us 
is to spare ourselves the possibility of this Congress failing to enact 
a new budget ceiling to basically guarantee the full faith and credit 
of the United States of America. We won't face that showdown. Also, the 
possibility of a government shutdown will be relieved by the passage of 
this budget agreement.
  Those are good, positive things for this institution and for the 
economy of America, but there are specifics that also need to be noted 
because this budget agreement gives us a chance to invest in areas of 
our budget that sadly would have been overlooked if we hadn't reached 
this agreement.
  This morning we had an extraordinary presentation by the National 
Institutes of Health. Twenty Senators came to hear the presentation 
about research at the National Institutes of Health and what it means 
to us. Dr. Francis Collins is the Director and is an extraordinary man. 
He is a medical doctor who was given the task of mapping the human 
genome and did it. He did it in an extraordinary way, creating new 
information and new opportunities.
  A doctor from the Mayo Clinic explained what that meant. It meant 
that we have now reached a point where we can map the genome of 
individuals, their DNA, and we can then make decisions on the 
appropriate prescriptions for illnesses and diseases they face and in 
doing that, be more effective, save lives. That is what medical 
research can mean. Each of us will not only have a basic biography in 
our medical record--when we were born and some of the basic illnesses 
we have faced--but also our individual map of our DNA, which will 
instruct doctors when it comes to treatment of cancer, if it should 
strike us, or some other disease.
  It is an amazing leap forward. It is a leap forward that would not be 
possible without medical research. Yet, in the past 12 years, we have 
seen a downturn in investment in medical research of more than 20 
percent--more than 20 percent. It has meant that a lot of researchers 
have been discouraged and walked away and said there is no future in 
medical research. What a loss. They don't make a lot of money--many of 
them don't. If they don't think we are going to support them with our 
investment in NIH and medical research, they look in other places.

  This morning we considered where we are. At this moment in time, the 
Senate, under the leadership of Senator Blunt of Missouri and the 
Appropriations subcommittee on health and human services, has provided 
basically a 7-percent increase in the funding for the National 
Institutes of Health next year. That is a good thing.
  I will say quickly that Senator Blunt cut a lot of other areas in his 
bill that I think need to have help, but I hope that he will stand tall 
and tough when it comes to that 7-percent increase as we approach this 
budget negotiation. The House, conversely, did not give such an 
increase to NIH, but they increased the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, which is a companion sister agency that is important for 
medical research.
  We have a chance to come together on a bipartisan basis and come up 
with a number that gives 5-percent real growth in spending at both the 
National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention. It will pay us back many times over.
  Most Americans say: What are we going to do about the cost of 
Medicare? Medicare is an important program to over 40 million 
Americans, and the costs keep going up. There are two facts that we 
learned about this morning and people should be aware of them: $1 out 
of every $5 spent under our Medicare system is spent on Alzheimer's and 
dementia. If we could have a means of early detection, prevention, 
treatment or cure for these horrible diseases, that would dramatically 
change the lives of millions of Americans and millions of families, and 
it would dramatically reduce the cost to Medicare and Medicaid.
  Medicare spends $1 out of $3 for the treatment of people with 
diabetes. If we put the research into finding a cure

[[Page S7553]]

for diabetes and can alleviate the suffering associated with that 
disease, it not only will help lives across America, but it will save 
us money in our important health care programs. Investment in medical 
research by the United States of America has been the pillar for the 
world when it comes to looking to a better day for the people who live 
in each country.
  This brain initiative, which was described to us this morning by the 
National Institutes of Health, needs to be funded. It is not adequately 
funded now. We dedicated some $350 million to Alzheimer's and brain 
research. It sounds like a lot of money. It is about one-third of what 
the researchers need. They have that many opportunities waiting to be 
funded. Will they all succeed? No, but that is the nature of research, 
and each one of them will be a good investment which will lead us to 
the day of prevention, treatment, and a cure when it comes to 
Alzheimer's.
  I hope that we come together on a bipartisan basis when it comes to 
this budget. In this area of medical research, there is plenty of room 
for us to work together, and there has already been leadership shown on 
the other side of the aisle. We are going to help to try to move that 
forward, both in the Senate and in the House, on a bipartisan basis.
  When I meet with people across my State--and I guess many other 
States--and talk about political issues, there are a lot of folks with 
some very strongly held opinions on one side or the other, but when it 
comes to funding medical research, I have found that this is the kind 
of issue that opens the doors. People of all political stripes agree 
this is a good investment for the future of America.

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