Dick Durbin: “this Senator will never apologize for medical research--never. I certainly understand the National Institutes of Health…”

“this Senator will never apologize for medical research--never. I certainly understand the National Institutes of Health have the primary responsibility for medical research. I am pleased to report that at this moment in the subcommittee, we are marking up an increase of more than 5 percent in the funding for that important agency. I thank Senator Blunt from the other side of the aisle and Senator Murray from our side of the aisle for finding the resources for that. But to argue that because we are putting money into the National Institutes of Health we can take money away from the Department of Defense ignores the obvious. We take money away from the Department of Defense medical research program at the expense of men and women in the military, their families, and veterans. Look at the example the Senator from Arizona used. He stood and he pointed to his chart and he said: Well, there is even spending here for epilepsy and seizures. Now, why would that be? We have to spend money on our military and their issues. Well, let's take a look. Since the year 2000, over 300,000 Active- Duty servicemembers have experienced a traumatic brain injury. Currently, the prevalence of post-traumatic epilepsy among those members who have suffered a brain injury is unknown. There are few risk factors that are known to guide decisionmaking in diagnosing the treatment of the disease.…”