Nathan Deal

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I have no other requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I would, as I rise in support of this legislation, first of all express appreciation to Chairman Barton, who has previously spoken. Without his determination and hard work, we wouldn't be here tonight. It has been 3 long years, but he stuck by the issue, and I think the legislation that is here will be a great improvement. It will help improve research, the outcomes at NIH, by enhancing the agency's transparency by its reporting and its strategic planning for medical research. During the 3-year development period, the Committee on Energy and Commerce and its Subcommittee on Health has held 11 hearings, had numerous interviews with NIH Institute and Center Directors, conducted consultations with NIH Director Zerhouni and Former NIH Director Harold Varmus, worked closely with experts in the area of public-sector organizational theory and design, piloted town-hall-style meetings with stakeholders, and the development of legislation to reauthorize programs of the NIH have been reached through a fully bipartisan process. This is indeed a good day, and the National Institute of Health Reform Act I think is long overdue. That was reflected by the overwhelming vote in the committee of 42-1 as we passed this legislation out. I would like to also join Chairman Barton as he thanked the staff, and they have done tremendous work: Cheryl Jeager, Katherine Martin, and John Ford. They have worked long hours, and tonight we see the results of their efforts. I hope, too, that as we pass this tonight that we will also be able to see our companion body do the same and that we will have this legislation on the President's desk by the end of this year and before the conclusion of this Congress. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the author of the resolution, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw).

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am pleased to rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 210, a resolution supporting the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015. To many people, the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer in under a decade may seem impossible or at least highly unlikely. But when we take a step back and look at the amazing things we have accomplished in the last three decades, I believe that with the hard work and concentrated effort of our Nation, this goal is realistic and achievable. Thirty years ago, just hearing the word ``cancer'' sent chills down people's spines. Cancer of any kind was seen as a virtual death sentence. And unfortunately, today cancer is still a death sentence for far too many people from all ages and all walks of life. But for an increasing number of Americans, cancer is no longer a death sentence as it once was. Rather, it is becoming a preventable, controllable, beatable disease. Today medical science is accomplishing things that were undreamed of 30 years ago. For the first time, we are seeing a decline in the numbers of lives claimed by cancer each year. People are living longer both with the disease and after the disease. Screening is better and more widespread than ever. Treatments are better and safer, and outcomes continue to improve. Based on the strides that we have made, I can honestly say I think we are winning the war on cancer. I can also say with confidence that the future of cancer research looks bright. With the mapping of the human genome, we will be able to identify each person's cancer-related genes. Using this information, we can design tailored prevention and treatment options for each individual patient. The availability of these advanced techniques is not a question of if, but when. While the goal of ending suffering and death from cancer by the year 2015 requires us to set our eyes on the future, we must also focus on what can be done today. The resolution before us encourages Congress to examine how the resources of this great Nation can best be harnessed to reach the ultimate goal to finding a cure. Whether through government- sponsored research, partnerships with the private sector, investors, or philanthropic organizations, we must pursue this enemy of cancer on all fronts. We must set priorities. We must demand more for our money. We must foster the next generation of cancer scientists and researchers and encourage more young people to enter this high calling. We must ensure that the fruits of research make their way into clinical practice and into public health efforts to reduce the burden of cancer. We must promote policies that encourage proper intellectual property management, the key to scientific innovation. We must make sure that people who qualify have access to clinical trials. But finally and most importantly, we must not forget the human face of cancer. Outside of this Chamber, thousands of people are gathering on the National Mall as part the American Cancer Society's Celebration on the Hill. People whose lives have been touched by cancer from every State and every congressional district across the United States have come to celebrate life, to remember those that were lost, and to have their voices heard. I applaud their courage, faith and perseverance, and I look forward to meeting with many of them during the coming hours and days. With their help and shining example, along with the continued attention of this great Nation, we can meet the challenge set forth in the resolution, to end suffering and death from cancer by the year 2015. In closing, I would like to commend the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw) for introducing this important resolution. I urge my colleagues to support it. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 210) supporting the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015, as amended.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 210.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. It is apparent that there is more than one cancer that we are fighting around here, and that is the cancer of political rhetoric that would take a resolution designed to say that we have a goal of eliminating cancer within the next 10 years and try to change it into one of political talk. I would invite the gentleman from California to accompany me and Mr. Pallone tomorrow to the Energy and Commerce Committee, where we will be voting to once again reauthorize and to change and expand the concept of the National Institutes of Health of which the Cancer Institute is one. I would remind him that the National Institutes of Health funding has been doubled during the Republican control of this Congress, something that has not happened prior to that time. Everyone knows that this is a resolution on its face that is designed to say let us all get behind this issue and put aside political rhetoric and try to have an achievable goal. It is regrettable, and I would apologize to those who are here because they are concerned about the issue of doing something about it, that even a resolution of encouragement and establishing a goal has to take on political overtones. Tomorrow, the Energy and Commerce Committee will reauthorize and change some of the provisions that have hampered research within the National Institutes of Health and in that will be the Institute for Cancer Research, and I think that is a laudable goal, one that we will be bringing to the floor in the not-too-distant future. I urge the adoption of the resolution.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I am pleased that we are here today uniting behind this bill and this goal, but we can and we must do much more than pay lip service to meeting the 2015 deadline. Let's take this opportunity to come together and eradicate cancer by fully funding NCI, by supporting local centers, and by reauthorizing and funding the very programs that reach the men, women, and children who need them most and can least afford them.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 982) supporting the goals and ideals of National Peripheral Arterial Disease Awareness Week.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material on the resolution.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 982, a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Peripheral Arterial Disease Awareness Week. While not as well known as many other vascular diseases, peripheral artery disease is a serious illness that affects millions of Americans. It occurs when narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the limbs. The disease increases the risk of heart attack and stroke and is also a leading cause of lower limb amputation in the United States. But perhaps the most alarming statistic of all is that most people who suffer from peripheral arterial disease have no symptoms and do not know that they have the disease. This resolution, with the goal of raising awareness of this deadly disease and its warning signs, was authored by my friend and colleague on the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health, Mrs. Capps of California. I would like to thank Mrs. Capps and her staff for their leadership and work on this important resolution. I look forward to hearing more about the disease and its impact on our Nation's cardiovascular health. I urge my colleagues to support the resolution. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time with the intention of closing.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 526) supporting the goals and ideals of observing the Year of Polio Awareness, as amended.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on the resolution.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 526, a resolution authored by Mr. Rothman of New Jersey that supports the goals and ideals of observing the Year of Polio Awareness. I commend Representative Rothman for introducing this important resolution, which helps to raise awareness about polio and the continued need to vaccinate all children against polio and other infectious diseases. While many of us in this Chamber are old enough to remember polio as a national tragedy that claimed thousands of lives and left thousands more permanently disabled, younger generations may have only read about polio in history books. But the story of polio, its spread, its dreaded consequences, the millions of lives it touched, and our ultimate triumph over the disease, should forever remain etched in our national memory. Recently, the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History held an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the injectable, killed polio vaccine, also known as the Salk vaccine. The exhibit detailed the incredible story of polio in the United States, beginning with the 1916 outbreak in New York City that paralyzed 9,000 people and killed 2,400, most of whom were children less than 10 years of age. It went on to tell visitors about the all-consuming race to find a vaccine, from the story of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who may have been paralyzed by polio and went on to found the March of Dimes, the organization that raised hundreds of millions of dollars for polio research and treatment, and for which President Roosevelt's image was etched on the United States dime; to the research efforts led by Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin, and others to come up with a vaccine that was safe and effective; to the mammoth public health effort needed to vaccinate all children in the United States once a workable vaccine had been found; and, finally, to the worldwide effort to eradicate polio in the latter 20th century. The fight against polio is an amazing story that deserves to be remembered and retold. But like most museum exhibits, the most striking things about the exhibits were the images. On display were several iron lungs, the metal apparatuses that helped to keep children and adults with polio alive. These metal contraptions restricted all movement and were mostly small because they primarily housed children. They were necessary to help polio patients continue to breathe. Photographs depicted huge warehouses that had been converted to makeshift hospital wards, filled with rows of iron lungs and the children inside. Other pictures showed parents standing on ladders and soap boxes, peering through hospital windows, trying to see their children who had been quarantined. Such pictures are painful reminders of a past that should never be relived. The resolution before us today reminds all of us that we have all the tools needed to prevent the reemergence of polio in this century. By far the most crucial weapon in the fight against infectious disease is vaccination, the medical advance that has saved more lives than any other. Vaccines continue to serve as the first line of defense against infectious disease. The resolution rightly recognizes the need of every child to be vaccinated against polio. It also recognizes the 1.6 million Americans who survived polio, but still suffer from its effects today. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, certainly as we talk about the elimination of polio, it is one of the great success stories, but one in which we must continue to be vigilant, as has been pointed out. As a Rotarian, I am proud that my organization, on an international basis, undertook as a project to eliminate polio worldwide, poured millions of dollars into that effort, and contributed greatly to the success of the elimination of polio in other parts of the world. But as we talk about the polio vaccine, a disease that has been able to be treated with a vaccine, we are also on the verge of recognizing that we are going to have, as we currently have, a problem with vaccine manufacturers for not only this disease, but many other diseases as well. Today we only have four United States vaccine manufacturers. That is down from about 50 that we had back in the 1960s. The bipartisan Institute of Medicine has identified three primary factors as the reason we have lost vaccine firms and for the reluctance of firms to get into the manufacturing of vaccines. One is the economic realities, and certainly those are very real; secondly, the burdensome regulations that they must go through; and third, legal liability. As we deal with other diseases, in addition to this question of polio, we are going to be faced with the fact that we are going to have to encourage manufacturers of vaccines to get in the marketplace, and we must deal with those three factors as we move forward on this issue of vaccines for other illnesses as well.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time and urge the adoption of the resolution.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 386) honoring Mary Eliza Mahoney, America's first professionally trained African-American nurse, as amended.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to add extraneous material to the bill.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, today I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 386, honoring Mary Eliza Mahoney, as America's first professionally trained African American nurse. Born in 1845, Mary Eliza Mahoney lived with her parents, Charles Mahoney and Mary Jane Steward Mahoney. For 15 years, Mary Eliza worked alternately as a cook, janitor, washerwoman, and an unofficial nurse's assistant at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Roxbury, Massachusetts. In 1878, at the age of 33, she was admitted as a student into the hospital's nursing program. After graduation, 16 months later, Mary Eliza worked primarily as a private-duty nurse. Her nursing career ended as director of an orphanage in Long Island, New York, a position she had held for over a decade. As the resolution states, Mary Eliza Mahoney's motto was always, ``Work more and better the coming year than the previous year.'' Mahoney also recognized the need of nurses for nurses to work together to improve the status of African Americans in the profession. In 1908, she was the cofounder of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. Mahoney gave the welcoming address at the first convention of NACGN and served as the association's national chaplain. She became an inspiration to all nurses and helped make it possible for the members of the NACGN to be received at the White House by President Warren G. Harding. Ms. Mahoney died in 1926. Because of her dedication and untiring will to inspire future generations, she has been an inspiration to thousands who are a part of the nursing profession. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the author of this resolution, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, for her leadership in honoring this great American. I encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor of the resolution. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.