Political Quotes

“I thank and commend my colleague from Maryland who has been a great champion of the effort to deal with the terribly distressing and fatal disease of Alzheimer's in proposing--and I am happy to join her--a measure to honor Ronald Reagan, his memory, his life, his work, and his family with a living tribute, a redoubled effort on behalf of this Nation to deal with Alzheimer's. Senator Mikulski and others who have lived with and lost a loved one from Alzheimer's can say very clearly how difficult it must have been for Mrs. Reagan and the Reagan family as this true leader went through the final stages of his life, crippled and debilitated by Alzheimer's, to see this man who was so vigorous, who had contributed so much be reduced to the indignities of Alzheimer's. His life and legacy can be honored in many ways. People will remember him for many reasons. I will speak of those in a moment. But by increasing research for Alzheimer's disease, helping to limit the number and maybe even eliminate Alzheimer's, providing assistance to families who must deal with patients with Alzheimer's, and providing assistance in identifying and preventing Alzheimer's is vitally important. One of the facts that struck me as we listened to the experts was that as we get older more and more of us are going to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. We were told in our hearing about a month ago that if you reach 85, you have a 50-percent chance of getting Alzheimer's disease.”