Fund Science, Not Weapons of War

FUND SCIENCE, NOT WEAPONS OF WAR -- (House of Representatives - May 14, 2008)

(Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today or sometime this week, this House will vote on additional funds for the wars in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan. I wish there was an opportunity for me to vote for funds to support our troops in Afghanistan, who are making an effort in defeating the Taliban and seeking out Osama bin Laden, the perpetrators of 9/11. However, the bills are drawn together; so I will vote ``no.''

And I feel at this time we know the war in Iraq is going in the wrong direction, but I also know that there are catastrophic illnesses and diseases on mankind and womenkind in our world, and a great country should use its resources for the best purposes, not weapons of war but use our science and our intelligence to find ways to conquer disease.

I had polio when I was a child, and if we had put more money into helping Jonas Salk, maybe I would not have had polio. It was months after Salk's vaccine was introduced.

I lost a friend to cancer last week, Thomas Boggs. There will be a time when people lose friends to cancer that could have been cured if we had put more money into research earlier. Diabetes, Parkinson's, heart disease. In Memphis we have St. Jude Children's Hospital looking for cures to illnesses and diseases.

A great country should do great things. I encourage us to not fund war but to fund science.

Source