Joseph Skeen: “I commemorate today the anniversary of the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research Act, and I am pleased to be here among…”

“I commemorate today the anniversary of the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research Act, and I am pleased to be here among other champions of the cause from the Parkinson's Working Group here in the House. Mo Udall was more than a colleague. He was a friend. We didn't always agree on politics, but we could always share a laugh. I remember flying him around on my plane in NM. And, I remember helping to pick up his papers when they fell to the ground in the Interior Committee. But, this anniversary honors more than Mo Udall. It honors our commitment to helping science keep its promise. It has been more than fifteen years since America began to hear that a cure for Parkinson's was just around the corner, . . . perhaps just five years away. Yet it is not here yet. This Udall Act of 1997 was the first time we put the money where science's mouth was. Thanks to NIH, the U.S. Army, Udall Centers of Excellence, and private research carried on largely thanks to an outstanding advocacy community, we are still on target. As this Anniversary hits . . . it also marks the sunset of the bill. Perhaps it is time we reauthorize it. Let us continue to help science keep its promise. Thank you.”