National Alzheimer's Project Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, Thank you, Chairman Waxman, Chairman Pallone, Representative Burgess, and Ranking Member Barton.

I'd like to thank Senators Bayh and Collins for their leadership on this bill, the Senate companion to H.R. 4689 which I introduced with my friend and cochair of the Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease, Representative Chris Smith from New Jersey.

The poet Robert Browning once wrote, ``Grow old with me, the best is yet to be.''

Unfortunately, the ``Golden Years'' can be the worst years for Americans afflicted with Alzheimer's and their families.

We've worked with the Senate to engage in a bipartisan, constructive process with stakeholders to reach legislative language and move this bill forward.

After all, Alzheimer's is an equal-opportunity disease. My father was a milkman, my mother the valedictorian. My father always said it was an honor that my mother married him and that if Alzheimer's was determined by the strength of your brain, ``Your mother would be taking care of me instead.'' He took care of her in our living room in Malden, Massachusetts for 10 years as she suffered from Alzheimer's. I'm thinking of them both today.

Alois Alzheimer first discovered the plaques and tangles in the brain that cause Alzheimer's in 1906--within the very same year that my mother was born.

At the time, doctors believed that dementia in the elderly was a normal part of the aging process that was caused by the hardening of the arteries.

However, Alzheimer's groundbreaking work was done on a patient who was only 51 years old. So Alzheimer reached the conclusion that the condition he had discovered was a kind of ``pre-senile dementia,'' and that the pattern of plaques and tangles he had identified was a rare condition that afflicted only the young.

Years passed, my mother grew up, and researchers did little to study and learn about the plaques and tangles that were forming in her brain.

It wasn't until the mid-1970s that it became clear that the most common form of dementia in older people was caused by the same plaques and tangles that Alzheimer had identified decades earlier.

Unfortunately, the search for the cure had begun too late for my mother who was diagnosed in 1981--75 years after Alzheimer had discovered the disease that lead to her death.

Alzheimer's patients are the mothers and fathers, and sisters and brothers who we recognize even if they don't recognize us; who we remember even if they don't remember us, and who we continue to love and cherish even as their condition worsens.

A few stats: 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer's; it is the 7th leading cause of death; $172 billion is spent annually for Alzheimer's.

Our challenge is to ensure that we increase not only the lifespan, but also the health span of Americans, so that the 30 bonus years of life we gained in the 20th century--and hopefully will continue to gain in the 21st--are truly better years of life.

The Alzheimer's community has been waiting for help, and trying to maintain hope.

Today the House can take action to help and give hope to Alzheimer's families.

The bill we are considering today will help coordinate Alzheimer's research, care, and services across all Federal agencies.

The United States is one of the only developed nations without a national plan to combat Alzheimer's. For too long, we've been unarmed against this disease.

Through this plan, will be developed: An assessment of all Alzheimer-related Federal efforts; recommendations; annual updates; and a strong advisory committee.

This bill will: Help coordinate the health care and treatment of citizens with Alzheimer's; it will accelerate the development of treatments that would prevent, halt or reverse the course of Alzheimer's by coordinating existing government resources; and it will ensure the inclusion of ethnic and racial populations at higher risk for Alzheimer's and reduce health disparities among people with Alzheimer's.

Thank yous: The Alzheimer's Association--Harry Johns, Rob Egge, Mary Richards, Katie Maslow, Matthew Baumgart; Maria Shriver for all of her great work; The Alzheimer's Foundation of America--Eric Hall, Sue Peschin; Cure Alzheimer's Fund--Tim Armour, Dr. Rudy Tanzi; The National Institute on Aging--Dr. Richard Hodes, Tamara Jones; Keep Memory Alive--Maureen Peckman, George and Trish Vradenburg, Patience O'Connor, Meryl Comer, Jillian Oberfield, Mark Bayer, Kate Bazinsky, Josh Lumbley, Amit Mistry, and Binta Beard from my office; Tim Lynagh from Representative Chris Smith's office; Emily Gibbons, Sarah Despres from the Energy and Commerce Committee Majority Staff; Ryan Long and Clay Alspach from Mr. Barton's staff; J.P. Paluskiewicz from Dr. Burgess's Office; Sarah Kyle and Kevin Kaiser from Senator Bayh's Office.

Thank you to the many hard-working advocates for this disease, and those who are caretakers, bearing many burdens day in and day out.

I once again thank my colleagues for their support--Waxman, Pallone, Burgess, and Barton.

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