[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 17, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 637--EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR VIEWING WOMEN'S HEALTH AS 
A CRITICAL ISSUE FOR THE ECONOMY AND WORKFORCE OF THE UNITED STATES AND 
         FOR ADVANCING THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF ALL PEOPLE

  Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. Markey, Mr. Brown, Mr. Van Hollen, 
Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Warren, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
Lujan, and Ms. Rosen) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:

                              S. Res. 637

       Whereas women constitute 50.8 percent of United States 
     citizens and nearly \1/2\ of the workforce in the United 
     States;
       Whereas women control 60 percent of personal wealth and are 
     responsible for 85 percent of consumer spending and 80 
     percent of health care decisions;
       Whereas, across races, ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, 
     disability statuses, and age groups--
       (1) women experience many diseases and disorders 
     differently than men;
       (2) the incidence, prevalence, symptomology, and severity 
     of disease may differ between men and women;
       (3) women vary in the risks of certain diseases and the 
     benefits of medical therapies; and
       (4) for many years, women were underrepresented in 
     biomedical and clinical research;
       Whereas longer life spans of women require the need for 
     research on the health of older women;
       Whereas women and men have fundamental biological 
     differences at the cellular level;
       Whereas \2/3\ of patients with Alzheimer's disease are 
     women;
       Whereas heart disease is the leading cause of death in 
     women, and women are 50 percent more likely to die the year 
     following a heart attack than men;
       Whereas 80 percent of patients with autoimmune diseases are 
     women;
       Whereas women have more stroke events and are less likely 
     to recover from such events than men;
       Whereas there are significant sex and age differences 
     between men and women with respect to drug administration and 
     dosage;
       Whereas older women are more prone to having multiple 
     medical problems and, as a result, may be taking incorrectly 
     prescribed medications due to lack of information on gender 
     and age differences;
       Whereas, on January 25, 2016, the National Institutes of 
     Health implemented a policy requiring federally funded 
     investigators to consider sex as a biological variable in 
     preclinical research;
       Whereas such policy has improved inclusivity in women's 
     health research, but disparities still remain;
       Whereas the 2021 report entitled ``The Case to Fund Women's 
     Health Research: An Economic and Societal Impact Analysis'', 
     published by Women's Health Access Matters (commonly known as 
     the ``WHAM Report''), states that in 2019, of the funding 
     provided by the National Institutes of Health, 12 percent of 
     the funding for Alzheimer's research, 4.5 percent of the 
     funding for coronary artery disease research, and 7 percent 
     of the funding for rheumatoid arthritis research focused on 
     women;
       Whereas this research gap has had economic consequences, 
     including--
       (1) pushing women out of the workforce to care for their 
     own health or to act as caregivers; and
       (2) contributing to increased costs of health care because 
     of delays in care;
       Whereas the improvement of women's health relies on sex- 
     and gender-based biomedical and clinical research;
       Whereas the promise of personalized medicine cannot be 
     realized without sex- and gender-based parity in research;
       Whereas the WHAM Report states that small investments in 
     women's health research will bring larger returns to the 
     economy and add productive years to the workforce of the 
     United States; and
       Whereas the WHAM Report shows that doubling current funding 
     focused on women across Alzheimer's disease, coronary artery 
     disease, and rheumatoid arthritis is a $300,000,000 
     investment that would return over $13,000,000,000 to the 
     economy of the United States: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) expresses support for viewing women's health as a 
     critical issue for the economy and workforce of the United 
     States and for advancing the health and well-being of all 
     people; and
       (2) supports efforts--
       (A) to increase health research focused on women, 
     particularly for diseases that differentially and 
     disproportionately affect women;
       (B) to double the current share of women's research focused 
     on Alzheimer's disease (12 percent), coronary artery disease 
     (4.5 percent), and rheumatoid arthritis (7 percent), which 
     the 2021 report entitled ``The Case to Fund Women's Health 
     Research: An Economic and Societal Impact Analysis'', 
     published by Women's Health Access Matters shows is a 
     $300,000,000 investment that will yield $13,000,000,000 in 
     economic returns;
       (C) to increase awareness of the value of sex- and gender-
     based biomedical research, including the benefits to the 
     economy and workforce of the United States of accelerating 
     health research focused on women; and
       (D) to encourage individuals, including researchers, 
     doctors, and patients, to advocate for sex- and gender-
     inclusive research across races, ethnicities, socioeconomic 
     statuses, disabilities, and age groups.

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