Alert

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, yesterday spoke on the Senate floor to highlight the $2 billion funding increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) he secured in the bipartisan, committee-passed LHHS funding bill. As chairman for the last three years, Blunt has successfully included a $2 billion increase for NIH in every Labor/HHS bill the subcommittee has put forward, amounting to a 20 percent increase for the agency during that time.

Following are key excerpts from Blunt’s speech:

On the importance of prioritizing federal investments in NIH medical research:

“Research, whether it's ag research or health research or other research, is one of the things that the government has done for a long time and can really commit itself to in ways that the private sector can't. So, when you begin to hold back health care research here, not only do people not have the same potential they'd have to have their health challenges met and their family health challenges met, but we also hold back our ability to move forward with lifesaving cures and lifesaving practices in an economy that that makes a difference in and in a world where these things are changing quickly.”

On the impact of Alzheimer’s disease on patients, families, and taxpayers:

“You know, every 68 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer's. And, this is a disease that not only impacts in a dramatic way the person who has it, but arguably impacts in at least as dramatic a way the people who care about them and do all they can to care for them. It is the most expensive disease in America. … Right now we are spending $250 billion tax dollars every year on Alzheimer's related care. That is about half the defense budget. The estimate for 2050 is if something doesn't change, we will spend $1.1 trillion on Alzheimer's related care. … [I]f we don't do something to change what’s happening on Alzheimer's, we are going to be spending twice of everything we spend to defend the country just on taxpayer related Alzheimer's care.”