Chris Van Hollen: “I rise to support the motion of my colleague from Texas and thank him for his leadership on this issue. If there is…”

“I rise to support the motion of my colleague from Texas and thank him for his leadership on this issue. If there is anything that we as a Nation ought to be able to agree on, it is our common resolve to fight and overcome the scourge of disease and disability. This is not a Democratic issue. This is not a Republican issue. It is an American issue. It is really a human issue. And I want to commend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) and the others who on a bipartisan basis over the years have helped double and really make a commitment to this issue. There are literally tens of thousands of our fellow citizens and their families waiting today, right now as we are talking on this floor, for a cure or a treatment or a breakthrough that will mean the difference between sickness and health, between hope and despair, between independence and suffering, between life and death. How disappointing, then, that after following through on our noble bipartisan effort to double our NIH budget over 5 years, we should be here today talking about an effective freeze on spending, on our investment in basic biological and biomedical research. It is as if we had our collective foot on the pedal together in a race for a cure on all these diseases and then all of a sudden we slam on the brakes. What happened? Did we win the race against these diseases? Of course not. Is there any less need today? No. Are there fewer promising avenues for research? Of course not.”