Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I am so honored to stand here today in support of this legislation, which will revolutionize how our Nation researches and develops new cures and treatments for some of the world's most difficult diseases.

There is not a person in this room or in this Capitol who hasn't been impacted in some way by a devastating disease--cancer, Alzheimer's, or something else. These diseases don't care if you are a Democrat or a Republican. They affect all of us. It needs to be our collective mission to cure all of them immediately.

The ripple effect that they have on our communities is immeasurable. The pain and suffering that they cause, not just to those who become ill but to their families, friends, and loved ones, is irreparable. They place significant strain on our public health systems and significant strain on our economy.

For years, scientists and researchers, both here in the U.S. and around the world, have been searching for ways to prevent and treat these devastating illnesses.

I see my friend and colleague Fred Upton here on the floor with us today. Fred and I worked on the 21st Century Cures bill in 2016 which has revolutionized the way we do a lot of this discovery and development. But what we need more of now is an all-hands-on-deck approach to end these illnesses, and that is exactly why this legislation was developed.

As Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Pallone, and others said, it will create a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, ARPA-H, which will bring together some of the world's greatest minds and give them access to the Federal Government's seemingly unlimited resources to make the impossible possible.

Mr. Speaker, modeled after the DARPA program, as you heard, the new agency will be lean and it will be mean. It will be targeted at specifically researching and finding cures for some of the most intractable diseases that we have.

It is going to be run by a small number of program managers, and it will be able to take on the high-risk, high-reward projects that others simply cannot. It will not substitute for the basic research at the NIH or the research at our great universities or in private business. It will supplement it by targeting these tough issues, and it will reshape the future of biomedical research in this country for many, many years to come.

As I said, this legislation is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to put our country on track to ending cancer as we know it. It is an opportunity to save millions of lives. If we cure cancer, and if we save lives and improve the health and well-being of our constituents, isn't that what we came here for?

Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone to vote ``yes.''

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