Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the full committee for his full support of this legislation from the very beginning. Mr. Speaker, this has been somewhat of a long journey. It began in March of last year, 2021, when a group of Members, bipartisan and bicameral, were invited to the White House to meet with President Biden. When we gathered there, he spoke about his vision for creating ARPA-H, an advanced research project for health. It is modeled after DARPA, the highly innovative and successful small agency that was created many years ago. I think one of its chief assets is its autonomy, and its successes are extraordinary because of the way it is shaped. They have produced the internet, GPS navigation, and Moderna's mRNA vaccines. This bill is shaped to maximize the promise of ARPA-H. All of us have a relative or someone in our family, extended family, and our communities that when receiving a diagnosis, it is a death sentence. That is what the mission of ARPA-H is directed to address. I have full confidence that, the way this legislation is shaped, it can meet that challenge. It will be a place where highly innovative ideas are tested, and if the approaches fail because these are high-risk undertakings, then the agency will quickly move on to new ones and redirect the money. It will be flat and small like DARPA, but it has a mighty mission. Mr. Speaker, I thank all the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee on the majority and the minority side.…”