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Deondra Dixon Include Project Act of 2024

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 20, 2024
Location: Washington, DC

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Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the DeOndra Dixon INCLUDE Project Act.

In 2018, NIH launched the INCLUDE Project to investigate conditions that affect individuals with Down syndrome and the general population, such as Alzheimer's disease, congenital heart disease, and diabetes. Many diseases affect individuals with Down syndrome differently than typical people. This means including individuals with Down syndrome in biomedical research is crucial to understand how to treat them. It also means investigating those differences helps us understand how diseases work generally.

The University of Colorado's Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome Research has been on the forefront of this critical work. Just last month, Crnic Institute scientists published groundbreaking research on the differences in oxygen physiology for people with Down syndrome. This new knowledge will help improve treatments for all people with chronic hypoxia. This is the kind of research we need to foster, and it's why the INCLUDE project needs its own authorization to continue its important work.

I do want to raise one issue I have with this bill as we consider it today. It originally contained an authorization of $250 million annually, but to conform with the inexplicable rules of this majority which say you can't authorize more than a current appropriation, it was amended in subcommittee to only $90 million each year. This authorization does not even match the $125 million included in this year's NIH appropriations bill for the INCLUDE Project, much less give the program room to evolve. We need to move this important legislation, but we must restore the authorization to $250 million as consideration of this bill continues.

Finally, I'd like to thank my constituent Michelle Whitten, founder of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, whose tireless advocacy for people with Down syndrome has spurred research and led to scientific breakthroughs. It has also helped bring this bill to the floor of the House of Representatives today.

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