Bipartisan group of Senators call on Trump to boost Alzheimer’s funding

A bipartisan group of senators is calling on President Trump to boost funding for Alzheimer’s research in his fiscal 2019 budget set to be released this month.

“At a time when the United States is spending more than $200 billion a year to care for Alzheimer’s patients, we are spending less than two thirds of one percent of that amount on research,” the letter — led by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and signed by a dozen others — states.

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“Although we have made progress in increasing funding, Alzheimer’s research funding remains disproportionately low compared to its human and economic toll,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to the president.

The National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease goal is to prevent and effectively treat the disease by 2025. A bill passed in 2011 created an Alzheimer’s panel of experts, which has noted that $2 billion is needed per year to help meet that goal, according to a news release on the letter.

The Senate proposed increasing Alzheimer’s research by $414 million in its fiscal 2018 bill — bringing the total of money for the disease to $1.8 billion. But the measure hasn’t passed, as Congress has been passing short-term funding measures instead given the intense partisan fighting over funding the government in recent months.

“Federal funding for Alzheimer’s research is a wise investment.  We urge you to support efforts to meet the research investment objective set forth in the National Plan by boosting the current investment in Alzheimer’s research in the fiscal year 2019 budget request,” the letter reads.

The president sends a budget to lawmakers every year, though Congress largely creates its own spending bills.