On the recordMarch 14, 2013
The other day, it became public that Valerie Harper, the star of ``Rhoda,'' was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She publicly went forward with that, and it was very touching. I saw her on the morning news when she talked about it. She said that she's doing chemotherapy, she has maybe 3 months--she doesn't know how much--to live, and she said her husband says that if we can slow this thing down, more stuff may come up. They're working fast and furiously for all of us. They're not working for Valerie Harper because she played Rhoda, but they're doing this for all cancer patients. And the people that are doing this for all cancer patients--the doctors, the universities, and the scientists--are funded by the National Institutes of Health, all of which will get a 5\1/2\ percent cut in their budget because of the sequestration. This is another example of why it was wrong for us to let the sequestration go into effect and why it's wrong for us not to make cuts that make sense. We need to put more and more dollars for cancer patients, for people with diabetes, people with Alzheimer's, people with AIDS, and people with illnesses that can and will be cured. If they can stay around for a little longer, they can come up with a cure and save people's lives. We don't need to defund or reduce the funding for the National Institutes of Health. ____________________
