Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, the American people are becoming more and more aware of the degenerative disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE, due to the crisis in the NFL. The NFL, of course, has been trying to sweep this under the rug. Very recently, the Journal of the American Medical Association, a premier journal that is peer-reviewed, provided a study that found severe neurological damage in the vast majority of former football players' brains that were donated for research after they developed mental symptoms during life. Eighty-seven percent of all football players' brains showed CTE, but a truly horrible figure, 99 percent of the brains of NFL players showed CTE. However, the dangers of CTE are not confined to football. Our servicemen and -women are subject to similar--or, oftentimes, even worse--dangers in the line of duty for the service they provide to our Nation. Last year, I was honored to host Dr. Bennet Omalu for the State of the Union. He is the doctor portrayed in the film ``Concussion,'' exposing the impact of CTE on professional football players. He began his research covering his own expenses and exposing a coverup of the suicides of former athletes. However, his research and the research of others is limited by the funding, which is why I am offering this amendment. Today we have an opportunity to prevent a similar kind of coverup among our service agencies.…”