[Pages S2469-S2470]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     National Institutes of Health

  Mr. President, I am here to discuss another subject. It is one that 
you hope you will never have to think about on a personal basis, but 
you know the possibility is always there.
  America is a nation of pride, of resilience, of grit, but of all 
else, we are a nation of hope. Vaclav Havel--a Czech statesman and 
poet--once said:

       Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out 
     well . . . but the certainty that something makes sense, 
     regardless of how it turns out.

  This, to me, is the essence of medical research. There are few 
guarantees when it comes to medical research. There is no assurance 
that any single clinical trial will reveal the best treatment option; 
that one experiment will lead to a groundbreaking discovery; that one 
promising grant application will result in a breakthrough cure.
  But there is certainty in funding medical research; certainty in 
knowing that, while not all trials, experiments, and grants will result 
in a breakthrough, some of them will. Because of medical research, kids 
with a simple ear infection and pneumonia can find relief with 
antibiotics. Because of medical research, we have vaccines that have 
saved tens of millions of lives worldwide. Because of medical research, 
we have anesthesia to allow patients to safely undergo major surgery. 
Because of medical research, people are surviving heart attacks, 
beating cancer, living with HIV/AIDS, receiving organ donations, 
surviving drug overdoses, and living longer.
  There is a lot more to be done. So many people are still hoping and 
praying for more: the wife hoping for treatment that will slow down or 
stop her husband's ALS; the father or mother hoping for a cure that 
saves the life of their child with glioblastoma brain cancer; the son 
or daughter hoping for medication that helps their mom, suffering from 
Alzheimer's, to remember who she is.
  Do you know who offers that hope? The National Institutes of Health. 
It is our Nation's premier biomedical research Agency. It is considered 
the gold standard around the world.
  For decades, NIH has been a bipartisan success story, with Congress 
privatizing the funding of promising lifesaving medical research in all 
50 States; prioritizing, creating, and supporting good-paying jobs in 
red, blue, and purple States; and offering real hope to families who 
are desperate for it.
  Consider this: 99 percent of all drugs approved by the Food and Drug 
Administration between 2010 and 2019 were developed with NIH funding--
99 percent. Have you seen all of those ads on television about 
breakthrough drugs? Ninety-nine percent of them started with the 
government Agency known as the National Institutes of Health.
  NIH means new cures and treatments. It is that simple. Yet we find 
ourselves today at a point of decision on the future of medical 
research in America.
  President Trump and his billionaire buddy Elon Musk and our Nation's 
health Secretary have decided to take a sledge hammer to NIH and 
medical research writ large. They have illegally cut off funding for 
medical research around the country, terminated clinical trials in 
progress, placed gag orders on researchers, and fired more than a 
thousand NIH employees. Think of that--a thousand NIH employees have 
been fired by this administration.
  Instead of bolstering medical research, they are breaking it. Instead 
of offering hope to patients in need, unfortunately, they are crushing 
it.
  Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and RFK, Jr., are either completely 
oblivious to what they are doing, or they just don't care.
  But do you know who isn't oblivious? Many of my Republican 
colleagues, many of whom who fought by my side to increase the NIH 
budget by 60 percent over the past decade. This was a bipartisan effort 
over the last 10 years.
  Roy Blunt, a conservative Republican Senator from Missouri, was 
leading the effort most of the time because he was the subcommittee 
chairman in Appropriations for NIH. In addition to him were Lamar 
Alexander--a thoughtful, conservative Republican from Tennessee--and 
Patty Murray. We were the team, the four of us. We just kept reminding 
people year after year, budget after budget that medical research would 
pay off and do so if we committed ourselves to it. And it worked.
  Many of my colleagues on the Republican side came to understand that 
and gave us their support as well, which is why their silence now--
their refusal to say anything or to act--in the face of President 
Trump's dismantling of NIH is just so devastating.
  This is a truly bipartisan issue, medical research. We ought to step 
up and say to this administration or any administration: For God's 
sake, don't cut back on medical research. You know the price we will 
pay in the years to come.
  If Republican Senators won't stand up for NIH funding in their United 
States, for constituents in their States, I am going to do it.
  I plan to come to the Senate floor in the coming weeks to talk about 
the importance of medical research and NIH funding, even in red States 
across the

[[Page S2470]]

country. Today, I would start with the State of South Dakota, home of 
the Senate majority leader.
  In 2024, South Dakota research institutions received nearly $29 
million in NIH funding, which supported 453 jobs in South Dakota.
  Sanford Research/University of South Dakota and South Dakota State 
University were among some of the top NIH-funded institutions in South 
Dakota. So what did they do with this Federal money? Could they survive 
an audit if they had to explain how they spent it? You decide.
  Sanford Research/University of South Dakota researchers used NIH 
funding to support their Center for Pediatric Research, with a specific 
focus on training new scientists to study pediatric diseases. Is that a 
priority? If it is your child or grandchild, you bet it is.
  South Dakota State University used NIH funding to increase cervical 
cancer screening among indigenous women who faced higher rates of 
cervical cancer prevalence and death. They also used funding in South 
Dakota to develop new targeted therapies for colorectal cancer. They 
are safer and more effective than current chemotherapy.
  These researchers know that cuts to medical research mean diseases 
will not be cured and treatments will not be found. They know the mass 
indiscriminate firings at NIH don't just mean we are losing talent; it 
also means we are losing time and progress.
  Nelson Mandela once said:

       May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.

  I am pleading with my Republican colleagues: May your choices reflect 
your hopes for new cures and treatments for patients fighting cancer, 
ALS, Alzheimer's, and heart disease; not your fears about what will 
happen if you cross this President.
  Let us do what is right. Let's come together again on a bipartisan 
basis for medical research. Let's make it clear to this President and 
every President, regardless of party: Medical research is not partisan. 
Medical research helps all people--conservatives, progressives, you 
name it. Everybody gets a helping hand.
  Let us do what is right. Let's come together and save medical 
research for every single person in America who is desperate for hope.
  I yield the floor.
  (Mr. BUDD assumed the Chair.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Banks). The Senator from Kentucky.