Frank Lautenberg: “Once again, Mr. President, I find myself on the opposite side of an amendment that, frankly, I would not mind…”

“Once again, Mr. President, I find myself on the opposite side of an amendment that, frankly, I would not mind supporting. I do not think we do enough to combat the diseases that plague our society, things that we could ultimately save, I think, a fortune with if we could develop some of the programs that are now kind of just showing up with a light at the end of the tunnel. I met with a group of drug executives last week in New Jersey, and when they laid out the programs that are near completion--some of those are in testing now in FDA--and the prospect of saving costs for long-term diseases, whether it is Alzheimer's or osteoporosis and so many other things, it is a great advantage for us, both financially and functionally, as a society. Because we are in this bind where the funds would come from functions like education, environment, crimefighting, frankly, I am going to have to oppose it.”