Research Review Act of 2004

RESEARCH REVIEW ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - October 06, 2004)

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5213) to expand research information regarding multidisciplinary research projects and epidemiological studies, as amended.

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GENERAL LEAVE

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5213, as amended.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Florida?

There was no objection.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5213, the Research Review Act. I introduced this legislation only with the fantastic cooperation of my colleagues and friends, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) from Ohio, the ranking member on my subcommittee. It was with their cooperation and with the hard work of members of the staff, Mr. Speaker, we were able to get this thing done at really almost the 11th hour.

As chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health, I am extremely concerned, as I think all of us are, about how Federal agencies that fall under our committee's jurisdiction set their priorities for disease research. Every day I have patients, along with their families and friends, looking to me to increase research funding for diseases and conditions that afflict them or their loved ones. While I know that it is not in anyone's best interests to mandate agencies to conduct research into specific diseases, I do believe it is my job, I believe it is our job, to ensure that the Federal initiatives are sufficient.

Next year, I look forward to working with the gentleman from Texas (Chairman BARTON), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) and all the members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce to reauthorize the National Institutes of Health. My subcommittee has held five hearings during this Congress, the 108th, to highlight research activities at the NIH and to educate members and others about the work that the NIH is doing so we can assess how to help NIH better meet its stated mission.

One thing that has become clear is that while NIH is an exemplary agency, its transparency and accountability in letting Members of Congress and the public know what research is being funded and why could be improved. Providing the public with information is not a problem that is unique to the NIH, however; many of our agencies have similar problems translating their efforts to the public.

I introduced H.R. 5213 to take an additional step in assisting Congress to understand the process of Federal agencies. I believe that this legislation will assist Members of Congress as we work with Federal agencies in the future. It will allow two agencies, the NIH and the CDC, to highlight their involvement using the examples of two debilitating conditions that afflict many individuals, paralysis and inflammatory bowel disease, which we refer to as IBD.

H.R. 5213 directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Director of the National Institutes of Health, to prepare a report outlining the methods by which the roadmap for medical research created by Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni has advanced the use of multidisciplinary research teams and institutions to advance treatments, develop new therapies and collaborate in clinical trials, and to also include in this report how this relates to the Federal research initiatives into spinal cord and paralysis research.

The bill also requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, to prepare a report outlining epidemiological studies conducted at the CDC, including the irritated bowel disease study currently under way at CDC. The study would include a description of the activity CDC is undertaking to establish partnerships with research and patient advocacy groups to expand these studies, such as the partnership between the CDC and the Chron's and Colitis Foundation.

Additionally, H.R. 5213 directs the General Accounting Office to conduct studies on the Medicare and Medicaid coverage standards that apply to patients with inflammatory bowel disease for therapy, such as medically necessary food products and nutrition services, and the problems that IBD patients encounter when applying for Social Security disability benefits.

Both paralysis and inflammatory bowel disease are crippling diseases, Mr. Speaker, though in very different ways, and both can be extremely debilitating.

I would like to thank the Christopher Reeve Foundation and, in particular, Mr. Christopher Reeve and the Chron's and Colitis Foundation for all of their help. I have worked closely with both of these groups, as well, as I indicated, with the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) to develop this legislation.

I do want to thank the staff, Mr. Ford from the other side, Cheryl Jaeger and Jeanne Haggerty of our staff on this side, for their hard work in getting this piece of legislation ready to come to the floor today; and also I would like to thank the gentleman from Texas (Chairman BARTON) for his leadership in working to provide oversight and reauthorize these Federal agencies; and obviously the cooperation I have always had with the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown).

I urge my colleagues to approve this important bipartisan bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly), who probably knows more about IBD, with the exception of the medical doctors in the Congress, and she shares that information with us, and we are just very indebted to her for making us aware of the horrors of this disease.

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Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Culberson). The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5213, as amended.

The question was taken.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of those present have voted in the affirmative.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.