Bob Filner: “I rise today in support of doubling the budget of the National Institutes of Health to further life-saving research. The…”

“I rise today in support of doubling the budget of the National Institutes of Health to further life-saving research. The world is at the cutting edge of biomedical research breakthroughs that will alter forever the age-old battle of humans against disease. The discovery of cures for most life threatening diseases can, and will, be achieved in our lifetime. But, we can cross that ultimate frontier of an improved quality of life for all Americans only if this Nation commits itself to funding biomedical research at a sufficient level to do the job. Mr. Speaker, we can demonstrate our collective resolve to accomplish that result by doubling the funding for the National Institutes of Health. Our research is beginning to pay off. Hundreds of new drug discoveries are rapidly making their way through clinical trials. Through the concerted genome effort, we will in a very short time have effectively decoded the enormous amount of DNA sequence information that forms the blueprint for human life. The developing field of proteomics will provide the tools to understand the function of proteins produced by genes. The quantity and quality of targets for the development of new drugs will be increased by a factor of previously unbelievable proportions. In addition, progress is being made in learning how to stimulate the immune system itself to fight cancer and other diseases.”