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ENZI URGES APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED DOUBLING NIH BUDGET TO NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION BUDGET


Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member ofthe Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today urgedCongress to apply the lessons learned as it restructured and doubled funding for theNational Institutes of Health (NIH) as it now considers the President’s request to doublefunding for basic research conducted by the National Science Foundation. “To ensure that the United States remains a world leader in research to find curesand life-giving therapies for diseases that afflict too many Americans, we would do wellto give the National Science Foundation and its leaders the flexibility to fund researchwhere progress – as measured by sound science – is being made,” Enzi said, following aHELP Committee hearing, “The Broken Pipeline: Losing Opportunities in the LifeSciences.” “During the last Congress, we passed the ‘NIH Reform Act’ to ensure that theNIH continues to be a driver of innovation,” Enzi said. “That act provided the director ofthe NIH with the flexibility and resources he needed to address a changing list ofpriorities such as funding new programs, encouraging young investigators, and promotinginnovative, cross cutting research. The same approach is needed to support the nation’songoing research in life sciences while meeting tighter and tighter demands on ourbudgetary resources,” he added. ### Statement of Senator Mike EnziHELP Committee Hearing “The Broken Pipeline: Losing Opportunities in the Life Sciences” Thank you Chairman Kennedy for holding today’s hearing. I also want to thankour hearing participants for taking the time to join us. I am looking forward to hearingyour views, insights and suggestions about our Life Sciences system and what is workingwell, and what needs to be improved. Your recommendations will greatly assist us in theeffort to ensure that we not only make progress in this field, but continue to be a worldleader in the effort to research and find cures for the diseases that continue to afflict fartoo many Americans. Throughout the history of our nation, generations of American scientists havelooked for ways to improve the human condition and address the problem of disease andthe afflictions of old age. As they conducted their research, each scientist’s work built onthe discoveries that preceded it, and the results they achieved over the years have enabledus to live longer, healthier, more productive lives. Over the years, the progress we havemade depended upon new generations of scientists taking up and carrying on the work ofthose who came before them. The Federal government played a central role in that effortby providing the funds that were needed to sustain and support the work they were doingand train those who were doing the research. Our investment in life science and in NIH has been a central part of that effort.NIH-funded research has played an integral role in most of the discoveries of the past 50years that have improved human health. In the United States alone, NIH research hashelped lead to: • An 80 percent overall five-year survival rate for childhood cancers;• A 70 percent decline in AIDS-related deaths between 1995 and 2001;• A more than 40 percent decline in sudden infant death syndrome rates between1994 and 2000;• 40 and 51 percent declines, respectively, in death rates from heart disease andstroke between 1975 and 2000;• The ability to eliminate or greatly reduce symptoms in 80 percent ofschizophrenia patients and to improve the quality of life for more than 19 millionindividuals suffering from depression; and,• A blood supply that is the safest in the world.In addition to saving lives, our investment in research has led to the creation of anew industry and the jobs that were needed to sustain it. Because of our investment inNIH and the technology that has spun out of it, the United States has been a world leaderin health care, as we have developed a long list of vaccines, therapeutic medicines anddevices to combat disease. To ensure that the NIH continues to be a driver of innovation, we passed the NIHReform Act during the last Congress. This act provided the director of the NIH with theflexibility and resources he needed to address a changing list of priorities. I am pleasedthat the Director, Dr. Zerhouni has used that authority to create new programs, encourageyoung investigators, and fund innovative cross cutting research. It is particularly worthnoting that he was able to do this with an appropriation that did not meet theauthorization levels that this Committee enacted. Although appropriations that match authorization levels are important to allowadministrators at the NIH to plan and budget, it is also important to remember that ourresources are finite. Ultimately the NIH needs to have the flexibility to put the resourcesit is given where they can be used to the best advantage, funding scientists and sciencethat are deemed the most appropriate to fund. That is our current status, but it may not stay that way for much longer. Thebudget and the priorities that we set are continuing to be squeezed tighter and tighter bythe demands of each year’s mandatory spending. It is a difficult problem, but withplanning and a compelling vision for the future, it is one that can be overcome.Although this hearing will focus on NIH, it is important to remember the fact thatthe research arm of the Federal government is made up of more than just the NIH. TheNational Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, theNational Aeronautic and Space Administration, and the USDA are also importantcomponents of the federal government’s commitment to science and research. Just likelife sciences, material sciences, mathematics, aerospace, and electronics are crucial to ourfuture health and well-being. Further, it is clear that advances outside of the healthsciences drive the advances made in life sciences. As we examine this report it is important that we look to the experience at NIHand apply those lessons to the National Science Foundation. President Bush’sannouncement that the Administration wants to double the National Science Foundationshould serve as an invitation to learn from the NIH doubling experience and the success ithas proven to be. Thank you all for coming today and I look forward to the discussion we will haveon the implications of this issue. There will be no greater influence on the quality of ourfuture than the ability of our people to lead happy, healthy and fully productive lives. ###