Political Quotes

“I want to thank my colleague and friend from Illinois for his comments. I happened to catch his speech yesterday. There was a sea of purple at our hearing--purple representing the Alzheimer's cause. I hope one day purple will represent Alzheimer's survivors. Wouldn't that be wonderful. This is a high priority for me. And I agree with the Senator from Illinois, I believe we should be increasing our investment in biomedical research, particularly for Alzheimer's, but in many other areas as well. The irony is that, ultimately, it will reduce not only human suffering but the cost of health care. The trajectory of Alzheimer's is such that if we do not develop better treatments, a means of prevention, or a cure, by the year 2050 the estimate is we are going to be spending more than $1 trillion taking care of people with Alzheimer's. For all of us in the baby boomer generation, the estimates are that by age 85, nearly 1 out of 2 of us will be afflicted with Alzheimer's, if the current trajectory is unchanged. Frankly, we are going to be spending our golden years either with Alzheimer's or taking care of someone with Alzheimer's. So this is a crisis, and it deserves our attention. I know Senator Moran also has a broader amendment on biomedical research, which I am proud to be a sponsor of, and this is an area where I hope we can come together in a bipartisan way, as my colleague has suggested. Mr.…”