Alzheimer's Accountability and Investment Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of S. 134, the Alzheimer's Accountability and Investment Act.

This bill would require the National Institutes of Health to annually submit an estimate of its budget and personnel needs for carrying out initiatives related to the National Alzheimer's Project.

The Energy and Commerce Committee reported out this bipartisan bill sponsored by Representatives Chris Smith and Paul Tonko this spring.

According to the Alzheimer's Association 2024 report, the annual cost of caring for people with Alzheimer's or other types of dementia will be about $360 billion this year alone. That is $15 billion higher than in 2023.

The report also found that 6.9 million Americans aged 65 and older have Alzheimer's dementia, with nearly 185,000 residing in my State of New Jersey. Nationwide, between 2000 and 2021, the number of deaths from Alzheimer's disease more than doubled, increasing 141 percent.

In order to make sure we meet the goals set out by the National Alzheimer's Project, which the House is also considering today, we must make sure that NIH has our support. S. 134 will require that the NIH submit a professional judgment budget for the National Alzheimer's Project so that we can identify the needs of the agency.

With this information, we can be assured that the Nation's experts are speaking directly to Congress on resources they need to effectively treat the disease and effectively communicate the capacity needs of NIH.

I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on S. 134 so that we can continue our commitment to combat Alzheimer's disease.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, again, whatever we can do to help prevent or deal with more effectively with the Alzheimer's disorder cases, we should support it.

For that reason, I ask all my colleagues to support this bill on a bipartisan basis.

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