Dick Durbin: “First, I want to thank her. I took a look at the 200 pending amendments on this budget resolution, and I think at least…”

“First, I want to thank her. I took a look at the 200 pending amendments on this budget resolution, and I think at least 10 relate to biomedical research from both sides of the aisle. This is clearly a bipartisan issue, and I thank my colleague for speaking out on this Alzheimer's issue, because these victims and advocates for research came this week to visit. It is stunning, just stunning, to think for a moment that we diagnose a person with Alzheimer's in America once every 68 seconds. When staff told me that, I couldn't believe it. I said, that has to be wrong, but it is right. It is an indication of the rapid development and growth of this terrible disease. So I thank my colleague for putting in perspective the fact we spend over $200 billion a year already on it, and that doesn't calculate all of the sacrifices of the caregivers in helping members of the family. It would seem to me that amidst all this budget debate there should be certain areas that are sacred, and I think biomedical research should be one of them. I thank my colleague for speaking up on Alzheimer's and I hope we can continue this dialog on behalf of NIH and the other agencies doing the research.”