Haley Stevens: “I think I can say with assurance, I am probably the only Member of the Senate who has had a traumatic brain injury in…”

“I think I can say with assurance, I am probably the only Member of the Senate who has had a traumatic brain injury in connection with a jet crash in 1978. I have deep respect for the researchers who are involved in this area. But really, this is an amendment to give the University of Chicago's research team $2 million. The NIH has a substantial number of programs. I am told that through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a whole portion of NIH has an extensive traumatic brain injury program that supports basic, translational, and clinical research through grants and contracts through over 100 research teams and investigators. In addition, we have $45 million in this bill that can be used. It is called the Peer Review Medical Research Program. This amount can come out of that $45 million if the Department of Defense needs it. It is up to them. To stay within our allocation, we had to notify Members who brought us requests for medical research that we had established this $45 million program, and from that the Defense Department can pick these suggestions that come from Members of the Senate, the Congress, too. The House will be involved in it obviously. This is not a neglected area. We spent over $1 billion in research grants for studies in this area, particularly funding long-term research in traumatic head injury, head and spine injury, and epilepsy. This amendment deals with epilepsy and its connection with brain injuries.…”