Bold Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Reauthorization Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my good friend from Iowa for yielding. I also appreciate her leadership on this issue. So many of the bills we are debating and talking about tonight under her leadership are complementing and bringing in her medical expertise to the Energy and Commerce Committee, particularly the Health Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in support of my bill, H.R. 7218, the Building Our Largest Dementia, or BOLD, Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Reauthorization Act of 2024.

Nearly 7 million Americans aged 65 and older are currently living with Alzheimer's. I know my good friend from Iowa said her mother has dementia. I just lost my mother-in-law almost a year ago to Alzheimer's.

By 2050, this number is projected to rise to 12.7 million. This means that over 10 percent of people over the age of 65 have Alzheimer's. Sadly, one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia.

The cost of this disease is tremendous, particularly in the human costs of what it does to families, what it does to the person suffering with Alzheimer's, the families' emotions, the exhaustion of dealing with this very emotional and difficult disease.

It is also tremendously costly, with long-term healthcare costs projected to reach $360 billion in 2024 and nearly $1 trillion in 2050, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

The BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Reauthorization Act would enable continued research into Alzheimer's disease, invest in caregiver support services, including more hands-on educational resources for those caregiving for their loved ones, and help support local efforts to detect and diagnose Alzheimer's disease sooner, especially for those in rural and medically underserved communities.

The more we know about this disease, the sooner we will be able to appropriately treat it, giving patients more precious time with their loved ones and easing the significant caregiver burdens associated with Alzheimer's and related dementias.

I look forward to continued progress in ushering in a new era of innovation. I appreciate the bipartisan action that the Energy and Commerce Committee has taken on this bill, and I appreciate everybody working together.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to continue to show bipartisan action by supporting the underlying bill.

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