Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the Senate is currently considering a bipartisan energy bill that could lead America on a pathway to rebuilding our Nation's economy in this century. It has been 9 years since we passed an energy bill and a lot of things have changed.

The bill we are considering contains important provisions to build domestic clean energy sources, strengthen energy efficiency measures, and modernize our electric grid.

This bill also represents a commitment to basic science research at the Department of Energy. I believe it can and should do more than what the original bill proposes. We need more robust support for basic science research--the kind of research that costs too much and takes too long for any individual company to undertake. We need to invest in medical and basic science research. The investment will pay off for generations to come.

I cochair the Senate National Lab Caucus, and I know that if we invest in research in the National Labs, it will lead to breakthroughs that will help keep America competitive and create good-paying jobs.

At Fermi National Accelerator Lab in Illinois, the development of superconducting wire technology enabled the large-scale manufacture of the magnetic resonance imaging--or MRI--machines doctors use today. Sometimes it is hard for the scientists and engineers and leaders at these labs to explain in simple words what they are doing and why it is important. This is an example. They were working on a wire technology that probably didn't mean much certainly to me or to many people, but when they finished, they came up with an MRI--a brandnew way of imaging our bodies to detect illnesses and plot a way to cure them.

In the 1970s, the scientists building Fermilab's particle accelerator drove cutting-edge research in superconducting wire fabrication. Rather than patent these advances, Fermilab made them freely available to the public and private sector, opening the door to large-scale superconducting wire manufacturing by private industry. Since MRI machines rely on superconducting wires, this made commercialization possible.

Today, MRI machines are widely used to image the human body. Using MRIs nearly eliminates the need for exploratory surgery, which, of course, means it is cheaper in the long run and safer.

Last month, a new generation of MRI machines at the Illinois Neurological Institute saved the life of a 27-year-old farmer from Canton, IL, Cody Krulac. Cody had a tumor that was located in the part of his brain that would have been difficult to image using old technology and would have relied on surgery and guesswork, but using the new MRI machine, his doctors were able to pinpoint exactly where the tumor was and exactly how much to remove, meaning Cody spent less time in surgery and recovered more quickly.

Another example of the Department of Energy's success can be found in Argonne's Advanced Photon Source. Its power x-ray beams enable the observation of extremely small objects in unprecedented detail. This allows scientists to see how viruses, such as HIV, replicate and how cancer grows. This understanding led to the discovery of a new drug for AIDS therapy, a drug called Kaletra, which is now the most prescribed drug in its class for this deadly disease. It also led to the development of a drug, Zelboraf, to treat melanoma. This drug has been used by 11,000 patients worldwide and is approved in 43 countries. The research at this National Lab really paved the way.

Building and operating a facility like the Advanced Photon Source is too expensive and specialized for any single company to do. Only investment by America in its own Department of Energy can make something like this possible.

Let me give one final example of how the Department of Energy's Office Of Science has had an impact on every American life. Researchers from Illinois University, Fermilab, and Argonne have teamed up to give a tenfold boost to normal CT scanning capabilities. The result was a next-generation CT scanner that limits the patient's exposure to radiation while giving better images that allow doctors to more accurately detect and treat cancer and save lives. This research also led to two U.S. patents and spurred an Illinois startup company called ProtonVDA through the National Institutes of Health small business innovation research grant.

These are only some of the Department of Energy's and the National Lab's success stories, but they are examples that show that this investment, which cannot be effectively made by most businesses in America, can really make America safer, healthier, and pave the way for new businesses and jobs. America's place as a world leader in cutting- edge research is at risk if we fail to make the necessary investments in basic science research.

I want to commend my colleagues in the Senate, particularly Senator Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri; Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee; and Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from the State of Washington. They really stepped up when it came to NIH research--the National Institutes of Health. In this year's budget, we are going to have virtually a 5-percent real increase in research--$2 billion of new money going to NIH. I am willing to stake my future in the Senate and tell you that investment at the NIH this year in research will ultimately lead to breakthroughs that will save lives. This is another area which is equally promising.

I remember visiting the Department of Energy a few months back with Ernest Moniz, our Secretary, whom I respect very much. I told him the story of how I am committed to NIH's basic biomedical research. I said one example is Alzheimer's.

I was surprised when my staff said one American is diagnosed with Alzheimer's every 67 seconds. I said: Go back to the drawing board. That can't be true.

They went back and came back and said: No, Senator, that is exactly right. One in every 67 seconds on average, an American is diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

I told that story to Ernest Moniz, the Secretary of Energy, and I said that is why we need this NIH research.

He said: Senator, my Office of Science in the Department of Energy is developing the imaging techniques so that we can detect Alzheimer's in living human beings.

Currently, the only confirmation of the diagnosis is confirmed in autopsy. If we can look at the early onset of Alzheimer's, we can better respond to it. That is why, if one is interested in curing diseases, in finding ways to avoid expensive surgery, in reducing the cost of medicine but still protecting America, this generation of lawmakers needs to make a commitment to science research.

I have already thanked my colleagues by name who have done so much for the NIH, and I will be offering an amendment with Senator Alexander of Tennessee that is going to help increase our commitment to research in the Energy bill which is before us. The 4-percent growth in the bill is good, but unfortunately it does not protect against inflation. What we are calling for is 5-percent growth over inflation in this Department. I can guarantee that the breakthroughs that will come from this research will make life better and create more opportunities for people living in this country. We need to have sustained funding to ensure that cutting-edge research can bear fruit, and we are asking that they maintain this growth period of 5-percent real growth for 5 years.

Congress needs to help America's best and brightest do what they do best. This amendment represents an investment that will save lives.

I will say parenthetically that this morning I made a trip to Atlanta, GA. Every 2 or 3 years, I go down to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This agency is not well known or well understood by most Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, is the first line in America's national defense when it comes to public health threats.

We now have a mosquito called the Zika mosquito spreading a virus in Brazil to the point where women are being warned that now is not the time to be pregnant. If one of those mosquitoes should sting you and if some of the virus gets into your body, it can cause a miscarriage or some terrible birth defects in the baby. That is how dangerous it is. The frontline of defense in the United States is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA.

As I walked through there and met with the pathologists, the doctors, veterinarians, and others who work there, I saw this amazing array of extraordinary talent, people who were excited about their work, about making our country and the world safer. The Zika virus, of course, is our current threat, but there are many more. They faced the Ebola crisis in Africa, and luckily it did not spread beyond the few countries where it was first reported. So when we talk about investments in research by the U.S. Federal Government, it is research that is good for us and our families, and it is good for the world.

I will be offering this amendment probably this week with Senator Alexander and others to increase this commitment to research. It is an investment that will lead to new breakthroughs in this bill on energy, in scientific discoveries, energy innovation, and national security. This amendment strengthens the bill before us and helps us move to our 21st-century economy in the world. I urge my colleagues to support it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source