J DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN #6 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND NOTE: Under Committee Rules, Mr. Young, as Chairman of the Full Committee, and Mr. Obey, as Ranking CRAIG HIGGINS, SUE QUANTIUS, SUSAN ROSS FIRTH, MEG SNYDER, and FRANCINE MACK-SALVADOR, Subcommittee Staff COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS C. W. BILL YOUNG, Florida, Chairman RALPH REGULA, Ohio JIM KOLBE, Arizona SONNY CALLAHAN, Alabama CHARLES H. TAYLOR, North Carolina ERNEST J. ISTOOK, JR., Oklahoma JOE KNOLLENBERG, Michigan JACK KINGSTON, Georgia RODNEY P. FRELINGHUYSEN, New Jersey ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi GEORGE R. NETHERCUTT, JR., Washington RANDY "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM, California TODD TIAHRT, Kansas ZACH WAMP, Tennessee TOM LATHAM, Iowa ANNE M. NORTHUP, Kentucky JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire JOHN E. PETERSON, Pennsylvania JOHN E. SWEENEY, New York VIRGIL H. GOODE, JR., Virginia DAVID R. OBEY, Wisconsin ALAN B. MOLLOHAN, West Virginia NANCY PELOSI, California PETER J. VISCLOSKY, Indiana NITA M. LOWEY, New York CARRIE P. MEEK, Florida DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina ROBERT E. “BUD" CRAMER, JR., Alabama JESSE L. JACKSON, JR., Illinois CHAKA FATTAH, Pennsylvania JAMES W. DYER, Clerk and Staff Director DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2003 TESTIMONY OF INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2002. NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR EYE AND VISION RESEARCH WITNESS RICHARD J. SALEM, SALEM SAXON P.A., TAMPA, FLORIDA Mr. REGULA. Okay, we'll get started today. We have a long list of witnesses, and I'll just repeat the rules. Five minutes. We'll have a timer on the table. It will be green, caution and stop. If I ask questions, that's on my time. Or if you'll save a little of your time, it would be helpful. So we'll get started here. Our first witness will be Richard J. Salem. He will be introduced by the Chairman of the Full Committee, Mr. Young. Mr. YOUNG. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I'm happy to welcome Mr. Salem here. Mr. Salem is a prominent attorney in the Tampa Bay area that I have the privilege of representing. Mr. Salem, until he was a teenager, was able to see as well as the rest of us, maybe better than some of us that have to wear glasses. But he had a baseball accident and lost his vision. The interesting story is that he applied to Duke University for admittance to college. They said, you know, Mr. Salem, we're not really sure that we're ready for a blind student. He said, well, I'm not really sure that I'm ready for you. But anyway, they got together and he graduated with honors from Duke Law School. He's a founding partner of Salem and Saxon, which is a firm based in Tampa. And he's here representing those with sight problems. He's been extremely active in issues working with the disabled, where there is a lack of sight or whatever. He's just been a real trooper when it comes to trying to help other people. And he's here today and I notice he has no notes in front of him, because he couldn't read them if he had. He works from the brilliance of his own brain. Richard, we're very happy to have you here before this distinguished Subcommittee. Mr. Regula is an outstanding Chairman and the members of the Committee are all very sympathetic to the problems of the disabled, whatever that dis (1) ability might be. So we're happy to have you here, Richard, and thank you. Mr. SALEM. Thank you, Chairman Young and thank you, Chairman Regula, for the invitation and our thanks to your members of the Committee and the staff for the hard work that you have been doing. We were fortunately or unfortunately here on September 11th in Washington, and have recognized since then the hard work that you, Chairman Regula, and Chairman Young, under his leadership, have done to protect and preserve the rights that we so, so jealously guard as uniquely American. Thank you for your hard work on the war against terrorism. We know it's been a lot of work. The issues that you're dealing with today are indeed another urgent battle that we are fighting. Can you imagine, Mr. Chairman, a seven year old boy who is frightened and dreads trick-or-treating on Halloween? It's a hard thing to think about, as a parent or think of it in terms of even when we were children, always a grand day. The truth of the matter is that kids that are losing their sight through retinitis pigmentosis and other degenerative disease often lose their night vision first. It becomes very frightening to them. I tell you this story, it's not about me, it's about young Bob Mack. And his parents, Steve and Lisa Mack, are here with us today. They are constituents of one of your Committee members, Congresswoman Morella, from Gaithersburg. Steven, Lisa, would you stand up, please? I bring them with us this morning-thank you-Mr. Chairman, because they represent the future. Their five year old and seven year old boys are losing their sight. They can't see at night now and soon they won't be able to see during the day time either. And they're important, too, because they're parents. The first time I ever saw my father cry was the day we left Johns Hopkins and went home. Driving into the parking lot of my father's office, my mother said, well, do you want to tell him or should I tell him. I said, I can do it, Mom. I walked into my father's office, I was 16 years old, and said, Dad, we just finished at Hopkins, and before we left, the doctors told me that in a few months I'm not going to be able to see any more. My father's eyes teared up, he cut off the lights and dried his eyes off with his handkerchief and came over and dried my eyes off and gave me a hug. He said, okay, Rick, we've got to fight. Let's get out there and fight this. That's what we're doing today, Congressmen. That's what we're asking your help in doing. There are extraordinary things happening in the science of vision research. I have the privilege of serving on your National Institutes of Health National Eye Institute board of advisors. One thing is for sure, I often think I should have paid more attention in science class. But having said that, sitting through enough scientific meetings, you start to get the idea, it is imminent. What we're asking for is something that you started last year, catching up, thank you, Chairman Regula, the budget of the Eye Institute that had lagged behind for decades from the other institutes at NIH, to catch up their research. Things as exciting as, and I'm sure you recall meeting Lancelot, Lancelot was a dog born blind. Through research therapy, they've been able to restore the sight in his eyes. There are more Lancelots coming, and soon human trials will follow. We have already funded those at NEI. There are sciences out there, as you have read in the paper recently, that allow chips to be implanted on the retina and vision to be stimulated in the eye. The eye is indeed the window to the body. It's also a direct line to the brain. Neurology and ophthalmology go hand in hand. The Alliance for Vision Research is a group, a consortium of pharmaceutical companies, Allergan, Alcon, the Academy of Ophthalmologists, organizations such as the Foundation Fighting Blindness, your friend Mr. Gordon Gunn's organization. Private monies are being raised to match with Federal monies to keep the research going, and with your help this year, at a budget figure of $692 million, we think that in the near term, that you will see not only the Dannys and Bobs of this world have their vision loss arrested, but possibly vision restored. Those sciences can be transferred to other areas of the body and the knowledge gained used to accomplish great ends for our individual kids and our Na tion. So thank you, Chairman Young, Chairman Regula, Members, for your time and attention and for your effort in getting us to that $692 million figure. [The prepared statement of Mr. Salem follows:] |