[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10497-10498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ALZHEIMER'S AND BRAIN AWARENESS MONTH

  (Mr. JOLLY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. JOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to add my voice in support of 
Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month.
  Today, 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's, including 
200,000 who are younger than 65. When you include dementia and other 
brain diseases with Alzheimer's, the number of diagnoses is nearly on 
par with cancer diagnoses.
  In fact, Alzheimer's, itself, is the sixth leading cause of death in 
the United States, and of the top 10 causes of death, Alzheimer's is 
the only one that today cannot be prevented, cannot be cured, and 
cannot be slowed.
  This week, Congress is taking action. Yesterday, the House 
Appropriations Committee approved an initial funding bill for the 
Department of Health and Human Services that provides a $300 million 
increase over last year's level for Alzheimer's research at the 
National Institute on Aging.

[[Page 10498]]

  Additionally, the committee continues its support for the Peer 
Reviewed Alzheimer's Research Program at the Department of Defense.
  These programs, coupled with several bills pending in the House, 
including the HOPE for Alzheimer's Act, are a testament to the strong 
advocacy that we have been witnessing on Capitol Hill and throughout 
the country, but we must continue to do more.
  I encourage my colleagues to join me in this fight and join me in 
raising awareness of this most critical national health concern.

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