On the recordDecember 11, 2013
I thank the gentlelady for her support and for her involvement in this very critical issue. I am really very grateful for the conversation we have had this hour on the National Institutes of Health, but I am also anxious for the millions of Americans across this country who are suffering with some diabolical disease--some cancer--some disease that has no cure, whether it is heart disease or glioblastomas or breast cancer. There are millions of Americans right now who are dealing with stage 4 cancers, who are holding on by just their fingernails, hoping against hope that there will be some cure, some breakthrough drug, some clinical trial they can participate in. I think, for each and every one of us in this House, we have to think about those people in our districts, and there are thousands of them in each of our districts. If they knew that we were tying the hands of the National Institutes of Health in doing that kind of cutting-edge research, I think they would be so disappointed--more than disappointed. They would be so angry that the lives of their loved ones were in the offing. I would like to continue with a brief discussion on our academic health centers in the United States. They are, really, the pulse of so much of the research that goes on when it comes to advanced medical research. Many of them are funded through the NIH, as was mentioned earlier--thousands of them across this country. I am going to tell you about one such researcher. Her name is Dr.…
