National Institutes of Health Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding.

I rise in strong support of this bill that funds the NIH and makes sure that cancer patients are able to get the treatments that they need and that that vital research continues to move forward.

Clearly, we've got some disagreements between the House and Senate on other areas of government funding, but shouldn't we at least be able to come together on this area where we all have agreement and make sure we take care of those cancer patients so that they're not held hostage to these other negotiations?

In fact, we should be able to get that, but Senator Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, was earlier asked, ``But if you could help one child who has cancer, why wouldn't you do it?''

Senate Majority Leader Reid's response was, ``Why would we want to do that?''

It would be disgraceful, Mr. Speaker, for Senator Reid to deny cancer patients the treatment and the research they deserve just because he wants to score some kind of political point.

Mr. Speaker, it's not too late for Senate Majority Leader Reid to have a change of heart. Stop holding people hostage. We can come to agreement as Republicans and Democrats. Let's do that, and then deal with the other areas of disagreement. Let's at least take care of our cancer patients.

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