Here is an editorial by Morton Kondrake from "Roll Call Online".  IMHO, Mr.
Kondrake is a real-life Superman himself.  His documentary on the Politics
of Medicine with his wife and with our own Joan Samuelson was a powerful
piece of journalism, as well as being a "3 hankie" drama.  How fortunate we
are to have him in our "family"!

[log in to unmask],  50/7, sinemet, mirapex, singing, T'ai Chi, udalling

******************************************************************


Date: Sat, 07 Mar 1998 15:00:17 -0800

http://www.rollcall.com/2H1hYOk6/commentary/kondracke.html

          --------------------------------------------------------
          Superman Arriving To Rescue the Cause Of Doubling
          Research

          By Morton M. Kondracke

          Actor-activist Christopher Reeve is coming to town later
          this month to boost a cause whose time ought to have
          arrived: doubling the federal government's budget for
          medical research.

          There is significant bipartisan Congressional support
          for the idea. Academic studies confirm that medical
          science is on the edge of curing numerous diseases, and
          if only enough research dollars were spent, they would
          be cured. The Clinton Administration, previously stingy
          on medical research, also advocates a major increase.

          Moreover, the government has money for investments for
          the first time in years -- either from a budget surplus
          or a proposed tobacco tax. Biomedical investment will
          pay rich dividends.

          Despite all the favorable indicators, however, it's not
          at all certain that Congress will budget the money this
          year -- mainly because politics and other priorities may
          get in the way.

          Reeve is coming to rally support for doubling. I
          cheerfully disclose that I helped invite him -- to a
          dinner sponsored by the Parkinson's Action Network on
          March 18 and a press conference on March 19 for all
          disease groups and Members of Congress who back
          budget-doubling over five years.

          As the husband of a Parkinson's victim, I'm on the board
          of PAN and convenor of a pro-doubling group, NIH2.

          Supporters of biomedical doubling include Congressional
          leaders, such as House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga) and
          Senate GOP Conference Chairman Connie Mack (Fla); the
          chairmen of the House and Senate Labor-HHS
          Appropriations subcommittees, Rep. John Porter (R-Ill)
          and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa); and influential
          Democrats, such as Sens. Edward Kennedy (Mass) and Tom
          Harkin (Iowa).

          In fact, it's hard to find anyone in Congress who
          opposes significant increases in research funding. The
          Clinton Administration has recommended a 50 percent
          increase over five years.

          The problem, though, is priority -- and finding a
          funding source for the $30 billion it will take to ramp
          up the budget for the National Institutes of Health from
          its present $13.7 billion to $27.4 billion by fiscal
          2003.

          Theoretically, getting the doubling effort started with
          a 15 percent increase for fiscal 1999 -- $2 billion, as
          has been proposed by Specter -- could come out of the $8
          billion projected budget surplus.

          Politically, though, that's impossible because the
          Administration, to forestall a GOP tax cut, moved to
          reserve the surplus for the Social Security trust fund.
          Republicans have been forced to accept the idea.

          The Administration's source for research funding -- and
          much else -- is a tobacco tax. Clinton is proposing to
          raise $65 billion over five years with a $1.10 per pack
          tax, which would fund school construction and child care
          as well as medical research.

          Many in the disease-advocacy community regard Clinton's
          proposed 8 percent increase for NIH in fiscal 1999 --
          $1.15 billion -- as "funny money" because it depends
          entirely on passage of tobacco legislation, which is
          problematical.

          Most Republican leaders are hostile to Clinton's
          non-research spending ideas and are talking about
          passing only a limited tobacco bill designed to restrict
          youth smoking.

          At least eight bills have been introduced to raise
          tobacco taxes and devote some of the proceeds to medical
          research. Sponsors include Sens. Kennedy, Mack, Harkin,
          Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), John McCain (R-Ariz), Kent Conrad
          (D-ND), and Jim Jeffords (R-Vt), and Reps. Rosa DeLauro
          (D-Conn) and George Gekas (R-Pa).

          Another tobacco proposal, expected to be unveiled next
          week, is a bipartisan measure sponsored by Sens. Harkin,
          John Chafee (R-RI), and Bob Graham (D-Fla) that could
          serve as a vehicle to unite factions and create a health
          research trust fund.

          So far, despite broad support, the idea of doubling
          medical research funding is not a sufficiently
          high-priority goal that the GOP is willing to raise
          tobacco taxes to pay for it. House and Senate Budget
          Chairmen John Kasich (R-Ohio) and Pete Domenici (R-NM)
          haven't committed to reserving money in the budget,
          either.

          That could change, however, if disease groups --
          advocating research for cancer, AIDS, Parkinson's,
          spinal injury, diabetes, heart disease, etc. -- unite to
          mount both grassroots and inside-the-Beltway lobbying
          campaigns to influence Congress.

          That's the purpose of the visit by Reeve, a spinal
          injury victim and advocate, at one event sponsored by
          the Parkinson's disease group and another at which all
          disease groups are invited to participate.

          At the 1996 Democratic National Convention, in
          Congressional hearings, and on his two-hour TV spinal
          injury fundraising gala last Sunday, Reeve has been
          generous in advocating an across-the-board increase in
          research funding not limited to his own affliction.

          Reeve became famous for playing Superman in the movies.
          But his struggle to recover from his spinal injury and
          his advocacy of causes other than his own have made him
          a real-life hero.

          --------------------------------------------------------