Ann Romney: I'll be the first to lobby against Trump's cuts to NIH

[babylonsister]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/326192-ann-romney-ill-be-the-first-to-lobby-against-trumps-cuts-to-nih

Ann Romney: I'll be the first to lobby against Trump's cuts to NIH
By Rebecca Savransky - 03/28/17 04:59 PM EDT


Ann Romney voiced her opposition Tuesday to cutting funds for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

"I will be the first one down lobbying against this if someone will sign me up for that," Romney said during an interview with Yahoo News.

Romney, who is living with multiple sclerosis, said it's important that NIH continue receiving funding so that progress can be made and people can eventually be treated using new research.

"Nothing comes from nothing. If you don't have that funding, there will be nothing," she said.

"There will be no new treatments, there will be no new drug therapies. Progress in medicine will come to a halt."

Romney said she doesn't believe members of Congress think funding that goes to NIH is wasted spending.

"I'm not sure it would be such a hard sell for me to go to Congress and say do not defund NIH, because I'm sure a lot of those people will understand how significant that funding is," she said.

"But people just need to be educated on it and understand that if we are going to be leading with advancements in science and in helping people break through with these horrific diseases...then NIH is absolutely critical to making that happen."

The president's proposed federal budget cuts nearly $6 billion from NIH. The Trump plan proposes a "major reorganization" of the institutes and centers at NIH to "help focus resources on the highest priority research and training activities."

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Right. so as it affects HER personally, sign me up. Is she gonna sign up for a fight

over NEA?


etc...

[babylonsister]

4. Her motives are hers; I'm glad she's speaking up. nt

[Eliot Rosewater]

5. Sure, but they ONLY speak up when it harms THEM. They dont give a shit

about any issue affecting others.

[babylonsister]

6. And we don't have a hope in hell of changing that, so

I guess I'll take what I can get.

[Eliot Rosewater]

7. I know. My initial reaction is what you saw here. I have to accept that

they are by their nature not good people, who will never advocate for others.

Take their help when you can get it, I guess.

[chelsea0011]

2. To hell with her unless she parts ways with the republican hand outs

to the wealthy.

[mahina]

3. Good on her. Go lobby for his impeachment while you're there please, Ann.

All of that man's crazy executive orders to destroy the EPA and defund the NIH etc- doesn't congress have to vote on them? I don't understand the 'how' behind all his pronouncements. I'm a little embarrassed to ask but hope to learn something.

[monmouth4]

8. Let's see if she fights FOR Planned Parenthood now that her having baby days are over..n/t

[Demonaut]

9. iokiyar?

[Chiyo-chichi]

10. Ann Romney aside...

I can't see members of Congress voting to cut hundreds of millions that go to THEIR STATES. Red states benefit, too.
Texas alone received over $1 billion in NIH funding last year. That supported more than 23,000 jobs and resulted in more than $3.6 billion in economic activity in Texas.

http://www.unitedformedicalresearch.com/state-by-state/#state/texas

$6 B in cuts will result in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs nationwide. Universities will lose top research faculty. And we will get further away from new treatments and cures for cancer and many other diseases for which we currently have no cure.

Like Trump and Mulvaney know better than the NIH how to prioritize research.