Political Quotes

“I voted against the NIH amendment not because I oppose the valuable research that NIH does, but rather because I wanted to draw attention to the fact that we risk focusing on NIH spending to the exclusion of other important initiatives. Biomedical research at NIH is important, but we must recognize we have other priorities as well. The NIH is important, but so is the basic scientific research that we do at the National Science Foundation. Basic research is the foundation on which applied science and technology rests. Understanding how the world works has applications in every field, including health. Without increased funding for basic research, we will soon find that our basic scientific understanding is too limited to get the maximum value from the applied research NIH does. The NIH is important, but so are community health centers. These local clinics provide basic primary care services to close to 12 million Americans at over 3,000 sites in medically-underserved urban and rural communities across the country.”