Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Massachusetts for calling us together on the floor to discuss this important bill, the 21st Century Cures Act. It is a bill I followed closely because I started off introducing the American Cures Act. My goal in medical research was inspired by Dr. Francis Collins at the NIH. He just told me point blank: If you want to increase the output of medical research, find cures for diseases and help innocent people, increase the spending at the NIH by 5 percent real growth a year for 10 years, and I will light up the scoreboard. That is what I set out to do. That is what the American Cures Act set out to do, including the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Defense medical research. As is usually the case in Congress, it is no surprise when someone sees an idea and thinks they can do it a little differently and a little better so, in the House of Representatives, Congressman Fred Upton and Congresswoman Diana DeGette introduced the 21st Century Cures Act. Theirs was a different approach. I guess it reflected a difference in philosophy. What we see today is what has happened to an originally good idea as it worked its way through the House of Representatives over a long period of time. The simple concept of increasing medical research spending at NIH by 5 percent a year has now become a very complicated formula. Frankly, it is one I have very mixed feelings over.…”