HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

74

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

Requesting the united states congress to increase funding for the national institutes of health.

 

 

WHEREAS, more than 1.7 million Americans die in one year from just four diseases: heart disease-945,836; cancer-550,000; stroke-167,661; and diabetes-69,301; and

WHEREAS, the three diseases with the highest mortality rate, heart disease, cancer, and stroke, caused Americans to spend over $500 billion; and

WHEREAS, new drugs such as Gleevec for chronic myeloid leukemia and Herceptin for breast cancer are less toxic and more effective than older drugs, but, without adequate research funding, they may never be made widely available to cancer patients; and

WHEREAS, the National Institutes of Health provides funding for more than fifty thousand scientists working in every state and several foreign countries, every specialty of medicine, every medical field, and every major university and medical school; and

WHEREAS, the goal of the National Institutes of Health's research is to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability, from the rarest genetic disorder to the common cold; and

WHEREAS, the National Institutes of Health can fund only one out of every four research proposals, leaving three of every four possible cures not funded; and

WHEREAS, in 2001, John Ruffin, Ph.D., Director of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities noted that "the National Institutes of Health has always been at the forefront of progress in the area of minority health from the first centers in the early 1970s to study sickle cell disease, a genetic disorder that primarily affects African Americans, to the more recent studies in the areas of HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer"; and

WHEREAS, National Institutes of Health Director, Elias Zerhouni, M.D., stated, "Only further fundamental discovery will allow us to meet the health care challenges facing us." He also said, "We need to bring the fruits of our research to clinical testing more rapidly and enhance our ability to prevent and detect diseases much earlier"; and

WHEREAS, in a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee of the Senate Labor, Health, and Human Services Committee, Senator Arlen Specter and Senator Tom Harkin wrote:

Without increased funding, ongoing research will be stalled and pathways of discovery will not be explored. At a time when the nation is confronted with serious health challenges ranging from chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and Alzheimer's, to West Nile virus, SARS and the ever-present threat of bioterrorism, we must not diminish our commitment to medical research; and

WHEREAS, Senator Dianne Feinstein stated, "By pledging an additional $1.5 billion, Congress will be able to help ensure that the National Institutes of Health will be better equipped to meet the many medical challenges facing our society. Millions of people depend on the research this amendment would fund. We cannot afford to let them down"; and

WHEREAS, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins, and fifty-five of their fellow senators have called for an increase in the level of funding for the National Institutes of Health; and

WHEREAS, during consideration of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill in early October 2003, fifty-two senators supported an amendment to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health by 9.2 per cent; however, budget rules require sixty votes and the amendment did not pass. At this time, sixty-nine senators are on record in support of increasing the funding for the National Institutes of Health; and

WHEREAS, in July, over five hundred health organizations expressed concern with the then proposed funding levels in a letter to President Bush and Congress; and

WHEREAS, in a poll conducted by Research America, ninety-seven per cent of American citizens believed that the United States should maintain its global leadership in medical research and improving healthcare; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, that Congress is requested to appropriate increased funding to the National Institutes of Health to permit the National Institutes of Health to fund additional research proposals to facilitate and enhance continued medical research and discovery; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, and the Director of the National Institutes of Health.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Increased Funding; National Institutes of Health