Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from Tennessee for his kind words and thank him for his leadership on so many issues. He is chairman of the health and education authorizing committee, and we also serve together on Appropriations Committee. It has been a real pleasure to work with him over the years on so many issues but particularly on the issue of medical research. It would surprise a lot of people--maybe even disappoint them--to know how bipartisan we are when it comes to this issue. I can say, on behalf of Senator Murray on our side of the aisle and Senator Blunt on the other side of the aisle, that he and I have created a little team, a little cabal, that watches the authorization and appropriations bills. This will be the fourth consecutive year that we have had 5 percent real growth at the National Institutes of Health. As Dr. Collins--one of the great living Americans--has told us, this is going to reap dividends, as the Senator described earlier in his speech, in terms of breakthroughs when it comes to dealing with suffering and disease and early death that we can do something about in our lifetimes. I don't quarrel with the Senator's conclusion in his speech that we are talking about the direct appropriations bills here, the direct spending of the government, and we are keeping that at a slow rate of increase. On the mandatory side of the programs where we see dramatic increase, part of it has to do with the cost of healthcare in America.…”