Dick Durbin: “I am really encouraged that this piece of legislation increases spending on Federal medical research projects by 7…”

“I am really encouraged that this piece of legislation increases spending on Federal medical research projects by 7 percent. I wish it were a lot more, and I bet the Senator from Iowa and the Senator from Pennsylvania agrees. Not too many years ago, we found that the NIH was only approving a fraction of those good research projects which should have been funded. There just wasn't enough money there. Anyone in this body, any member of our family, anyone listening to this statement, either in the galleries or by television, understands how vulnerable we all are to medical illness. There are times in each of our lives when we pray that someplace at sometime someone is investing enough money to make sure that the cures for these illnesses are found. This is the bill that invests the money.”