Wendy Sherman: “Our work now is to negotiate a new relief bill. So far we have spent trillions of dollars bandaging our economic wounds…”

“Our work now is to negotiate a new relief bill. So far we have spent trillions of dollars bandaging our economic wounds, yet less than one-half of 1 percent has gone to beat the disease through research on therapeutics and prophylaxes. All hands should be on deck. Every reasonable idea should be tested. But our professional medical researchers are today sitting at home because their non-COVID research has been suspended and our COVID research funding has been modest. The HEROES Act provides $5.5 billion to do this medical research. That is the most important one-quarter of 1 percent of that bill, and we need to fight to expand it in negotiations. Medical research is the best investment we can make for America. It is also the only way we are likely to provide major help for the billions of people who live in poor countries, and it is the best investment that we can make in America's standing in the world. Thomas Edison looked at 3,000 different filaments to invent one practical light bulb. It took him 2 years. We need to test 3,000 different combinations of compounds, and we don't have 2 years. ____________________”