[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14452]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         INCREASE FUNDING FOR THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, thousands of Americans are on Capitol Hill 
today to attend the Rally for Medical Research and to demand increased 
funding for the National Institutes of Health.
  The NIH supports 400,000 American jobs. In fact, 82 percent of its 
budget supports research conducted in every State in this Nation, and 
every dollar of NIH funding generates $2.21 in local economic activity.
  The effects are, obviously, not only economic. Thanks in large part 
to the National Institutes of Health, deaths from heart disease are 
down 50 percent over the last 40 years, deaths from cancer are down 20 
percent since 1991, and the cure rate for childhood cancer is now 80 
percent.
  From 1997 to 2003, Congress doubled funding for the National 
Institutes of Health, but, since then, it has fallen by 25 percent when 
accounting for inflation.
  Just yesterday, the National Cancer Institute released a report that 
identifies research that won't be conducted unless Congress restores 
its purchasing power with sustained annual funding increases over the 
next decade. We must not let that happen.
  I urge this House to give the NIH the resources it needs to conduct 
the work our Nation deserves.

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