David Obey: “Madam Chairman, the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education bill has always reflected our priorities as a Nation.…”

“Madam Chairman, the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education bill has always reflected our priorities as a Nation. I believe we have an obligation to the people of this country to provide services that help us meet the most basic needs we have as a community, be they health, the education of our children, or scientific research that finds the medical cures for tomorrow. Wherever one stands on the distribution of tax cuts that the Republican leadership in this Congress has passed, it is undeniable that they have significantly limited this government's ability to meet those challenges and to do our jobs. And of all the glaring inadequacies in this bill, cutting funding for the National Institutes of Health, the largest and the most distinguished biomedical research organization in the world, might be the most egregious. It is not overstating the case to say that the NIH has prolonged or improved the life of every American. Childhood leukemia, because of research at NIH, the cure rate is now 80 percent. Diabetes, because of new treatments in Type 1, diabetics are now producing their own insulin, no longer requiring daily injections. NIH is also working on state-of-the-art treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and HIV.”