National Institutes Of Health Reform Act Of 2006
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH REFORM ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - September 26, 2006)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would like to read a letter from Leo T. Furcht, M.D. who is the president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. In his letter to Chairman Barton Dr. Furcht wrote: ``We thank you for your leadership in protecting the National Institutes of Health from disease-specific funding set-asides. From the FASEB perspective, directed research initiatives fail to recognize several principles inherent to the nature of medical research. Thus, we doubly appreciate your legislation's emphasis on investigator initiated competitive research.''
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy), an esteemed psychologist.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I would remind the gentleman that President Reagan was no fan of high taxes, and I would also remind this body that the Republicans in this body have been responsible for the largest increase in NIH funding in America's history, period, end of discussion; except to add that Chairman Barton was a leader in that regard.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I want to add to the list that Chairman Barton read about individuals and groups that support this NIH reauthorization: the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Autism Society of America, the Colorectal Cancer Coalition, the Men's Health Network, the Society for Gynecologic Oncologists, and the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology. Truly a diverse group that supports this legislation.
Madam Speaker, last week, many of us had constituents from our districts come through our offices who were cancer survivors, and the question always comes up, and Mr. Markey asked it tonight, are we doing enough? Well, another question that we could ask, and we should ask, is do we know what we have already done?
Let me quote, Madam Speaker: ``This year, for the first time in history,'' for the first time in history, ``the absolute number of cancer deaths in the United States has decreased. We now have 10 million cancer survivors. We can detect and treat cancer at earlier stages. Targeted therapies have emerged, using specific molecular targeting to treat tumors with new agents.''
This quote was from Elias Zerhouni as he addressed our committee.
Madam Speaker, let me just add that, thanks to the tools and technologies developed by the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health, changes in the genetic blueprints that are associated with all types of cancer are now known. A new generation of targeted diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventatives for all cancers will pave the way for more personalized cancer medicine.
What does this mean? It means that we are well on our way to a time when, should a person be diagnosed with cancer, their physician will be able to say whether or not certain therapeutics are appropriate. Think of the dollars that that will save. Not everyone who receives a diagnosis has to go through the same treatment. There are some genetic makeups that will be helped; there are some that will not be helped. Let us target our therapy where it does the most good. We are clearly moving in the right direction in this regard.
We heard the chairman, we heard people from the other side describe the National Institutes of Health as the crown jewel of the Federal Government. I believe that is correct, and we should all be proud of the organization's dedication to improving the health of Americans and mankind.
The bill before the full House tonight improves on that commitment by providing sustainable funding increases for medical research, granting the NIH Director more authority and increasing accountability, and it creates the Common Fund to put dollars toward trans-NIH research activities. These trans-NIH research initiatives will make historic breakthroughs in medical research.
Already, the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute are collaborating on the Cancer Genome Atlas. This project will develop a useful atlas of the changes that occur in the human genetic blueprint associated with all types of cancers. This project will give medical professionals a new generation of targeted diagnostics, therapies and preventative services to treat a host of different cancers.
We are, indeed, Mr. Speaker, moving in the right direction. We are, indeed, doing good work for the American people with the reauthorization of this bill, and this bill maintains that important momentum. Be it a cure for cancer or greater understanding of the human genome or advances in heart disease, an avian flu vaccine, the National Institutes of Health has a proven record of innovation.
Mr. Speaker, this is a good bill. By increasing the authorized level by 5 percent, Chairman Barton and Chairman Deal have produced a bipartisan approach to capitalizing on the gains made by the NIH over the past several years.
Vote for your constituents and the future of medical care by voting in favor of H.R. 6164.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://thomas.loc.gov/