During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke about his bill to protect NIH funding.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. President, for the second time over the past few weeks, I have come to the Senate
00:05floor to talk about the importance of medical research funding at the National Institutes
00:09of Health, NIH.
00:12Last week, during his address to Congress, President Trump unveiled a new member of the
00:16U.S. Secret Service, a 13-year-old named D.J., who had always dreamed about becoming a police
00:21officer.
00:22It was a touching moment because D.J. wasn't supposed to be alive today.
00:26You see, in 2018, he was diagnosed with brain cancer and given just a few months to live.
00:33But because of advances in science and medicine, because of medical researchers conducting
00:38life-saving work, because of new treatments and cures, thank goodness this young man is
00:43alive today.
00:44And he's alive because of the work of the National Institutes of Health.
00:49But that work for a lot of other desperate families is in danger because of President
00:55Trump and his unelected assistant, Elon Musk, who are carrying out a cruel campaign to
01:02cut research funding for diseases such as childhood cancer, ALS, Alzheimer's, dementia,
01:09and so many more.
01:11I don't know young D.J. or his family, but I can just imagine what they went through
01:16when they were told their son had brain cancer.
01:19Who can imagine as a parent what that must have been like?
01:22And I'll bet you one of their first questions to the doctor was basic.
01:27Is there a cure?
01:28Is there a treatment?
01:29Is there something we can do?
01:31Thankfully, the answer was yes because of medical research.
01:35You know all the miracle drugs you see on TV?
01:38Constant deluge of ads about new drugs?
01:41Ninety-nine percent of drugs approved in the last ten years benefited from NIH research.
01:49NIH funding is what kids like D.J. are using to beat cancer, why babies are being spared
01:56preventive illness, why HIV is no longer a death sentence, why progress is being made
02:03in ALS and so many neurological diseases.
02:06Since the start of this administration, we've seen the White House unleash a lawless, chaotic
02:12attack on everything from the Federal Aviation Administration to biomedical research.
02:18First, President Trump and Elon Musk ordered a freeze on most federal grant funding, including
02:23medical research funding.
02:25You see, after extensive review of grant applications, the NIH awards approximately $38 billion a
02:33year in funding to the best and brightest medical researchers at universities in all
02:3850 states, Illinois included.
02:42But Trump and Musk inexplicably view this as wasteful and needless.
02:47While this freeze was found illegal by a federal judge, the administration has continued
02:52to defy court order.
02:53To this day, we are taking actions to prevent medical research funding from going out to
02:58scientists and labs with breakthrough ideas.
03:01As a result, NIH has delayed awarding approximately $1 billion in grant funding to institutions
03:08nationwide.
03:09What alarms me is that NIH funding has not historically been a partisan issue.
03:14This used to be the most bipartisan thing in the Senate.
03:17Over the past decade, a bipartisan group in Congress, Roy Blunt, Republican Senator from
03:23Missouri, Lamar Alexander, Republican Senator from Tennessee, Patty Murray, Democrat from
03:28Washington, joined with me in an effort to increase funding for NIH.
03:33This bipartisan team, which I was proud to be part of, increased NIH funding over the
03:38last 10 years by 60%.
03:41We did this because we know that sickness does not respect partisan lines.
03:46We need cures on a bipartisan basis, and NIH funding leads to new breakthroughs for all
03:51patients in need, supports good-paying jobs in red and blue states, and cements our global
03:57leadership.
03:58Illinois universities and hospitals receive approximately $1.3 billion in NIH funding
04:05every year.
04:06That supports 16,000 researchers in our state and $3.6 billion in economic activity.
04:13And our state is the rule, not the exception in this regard.
04:18But Trump and Musk aren't finished here.
04:20Next, they tried to indiscriminately slash how NIH pays for indirect costs.
04:26What's an indirect cost?
04:27It helps medical research operate the laboratories.
04:30It pays for the new computers, the microscopes, the handling of hazardous materials.
04:35They are negotiated on a case-by-case basis between the federal government and each hospital
04:40or university.
04:41Look, I'm open to discussions about reforms to show how indirect costs are calculated,
04:47but just arbitrarily and illegally slashing all indirect costs will stop medical research
04:54in its track in many laboratories.
04:57Thankfully, Illinois' Attorney General, with 21 others, sued and secured a temporary
05:02relief for universities and researchers.
05:05Now Trump and Elon Musk have focused their efforts on firing the medical researchers
05:11themselves.
05:12Reports indicate that 1,200 NIH employees have been fired so far, experienced vaccine
05:19researchers, the next generation of scientists, and the acting director of the NIH Alzheimer's
05:24and Dementia Program.
05:26Further, Trump and Musk have ended a popular trainee program that brought 1,600 young scientists
05:31out of colleges to the NIH world, the renowned campus in Maryland.
05:36NIH research leads to new cures and treatments that extend, improve, and save lives.
05:42That's why I'm once again trying to pass a resolution pledging just basic bipartisan
05:46support for NIH.
05:48This resolution is simple.
05:50It says the work of NIH should not be subject to interruption, delay, or funding disruptions
05:55in violation of the law, and it reaffirms the workforce of NIH is essential to sustaining
06:01medical progress.
06:02For kids like DJ, for people like my friend Brian Wallach who's fighting ALS, for every
06:08family out there dealing with life-threatening diagnoses, we cannot, we must not stay silent
06:13in the face of Donald Trump and Elon Musk's assault on medical research.
06:17I will never stop fighting to protect NIH and the medical research it supports.
06:21I hope that it will become, once again, a bipartisan effort.
06:28And so, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health,
06:33Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration, and the Senate
06:37now proceed to SRES 93, for the resolution be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider
06:43be considered and made and laid upon the table.
06:46Is there an objection?
06:48Present.
06:49The Senator from Oklahoma.
06:50I object.
06:51The objection is heard.
06:54Mr. President.
06:57The Democratic whip.
06:58I'm disappointed.
06:59I hope I can appeal to my friend from Oklahoma about how important this is to every single
07:05state.
07:06It's certainly important to my state of Illinois, where we have thousands of researchers and
07:11millions of dollars being spent.
07:13But it's also important to his state.
07:16Oklahoma has some very valuable laboratories and hospitals that do research as well.
07:21I'd like to just give you some examples.
07:24Each year, Oklahoma receives $160 million in NIH funding.
07:28This money supports 2,500 jobs in the state of Oklahoma and $450 million in economic activity.
07:36The top NIH-funded research in Oklahoma is the University of Oklahoma.
07:40It receives $80 million a year.
07:43With this funding, researchers in Oklahoma have recently conducted medical research on
07:48slowing kidney disease progression, improving brain function after strokes, and how changes
07:54to cell activity can slow progression of Alzheimer's.
07:58Senator Mullen, I know, is a graduate, a proud graduate, I'm sure, of Oklahoma State University,
08:03which receives $15 million in NIH funding annually.
08:06And so, Mr. President, I hope I can appeal to my colleague and others to take a close
08:11look at their own home states of how this medical research makes a difference in their
08:15states and will make a valuable difference in the quality of life for Americans across
08:20the board.
08:21And I yield the floor.