{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=048784F4-8A80-4B79-B408-B37D08E3BD03", "Alexander: House Passes Most Important Legislation of the Year by an Overwhelming Margin, 392 to 26", "2016-11-30", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Lamar Alexander", "A000360", "www.alexander.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "$6.3 billion game-changing 21st Century Cures package, including new research funding, mental health reforms, and state grants to fight opioid abuse now ready for Senate floor\r\n\u201cThe real winners today are American families whose lives stand to be improved by the Cures legislation passed overwhelmingly today by the House and that we should pass by a wide margin in the Senate. This bipartisan legislation \u2013 which Majority Leader McConnell has called \u201cthe most important legislation Congress will pass this year\u201d \u2013 will help us take advantage of the breathtaking advances in biomedical research and bring those innovations to doctors\u2019 offices and patients\u2019 medicine cabinets around the country. ... It\u2019s time for the Senate to deliver on the promise of 21st\u00a0Century Cures for patients.\u201d\r\nWASHINGTON, November 30\u00a0\u2014 Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement after the House of Representatives passed the 21st\u00a0Century Cures Act, by an overwhelming vote of 392 to 26:\r\n\u201cThe real winners today are American families whose lives stand to be improved by the Cures legislation passed overwhelmingly today by the House and that we should pass by a wide margin in the Senate. This bipartisan legislation \u2013 which Majority Leader McConnell has called \u201cthe most important legislation Congress will pass this year\u201d \u2013 will help us take advantage of the breathtaking advances in biomedical research and bring those innovations to doctors\u2019 offices and patients\u2019 medicine cabinets around the country. This legislation will advance Vice-President Biden\u2019s moonshot to find cures for cancer, President Obama\u2019s Precision Medicine Initiative, and Alzheimer\u2019s research \u2013 and it will help states in the fight against opioid abuse and the one in five adults in this country suffering from a mental illness. It\u2019s time for the Senate to deliver on the promise of 21st\u00a0Century Cures for patients.\u201d\r\nLast week, House and Senate health committee leaders released the\u00a021st\u00a0Century Cures Act. The Senate will take up this legislation, sponsored by Alexander and Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), early next week.\r\nThe 21st Century Cures agreement will:\r\n \r\nHelp bring safe drugs and devices to market more quickly and at less cost by making needed reforms to the FDA, including: expedited review for breakthrough devices, increased patient involvement in the drug approval process, a streamlined review process for combination products that are both a drug and device, and freedom from red tape for software like fitbits or calorie counting apps.\r\nProvide $4.8 billion to National Institutes of Health, including: $1.8 billion for Vice President Biden\u2019s \"Cancer Moonshot\u201d to speed cancer research; $1.4 billion for President Obama\u2019s Precision Medicine Initiative to drive research into the genetic, lifestyle and environmental variations of disease; and $1.6 billion for the BRAIN initiative to improve our understanding of diseases like Alzheimer's and speed diagnosis and treatment.\r\nProvide $500 million to the Food and Drug Administration.\r\nProvide $1 billion in grants to states to address the opioid crisis.\r\nAddress the country\u2019s mental health crisis and help the one out of five adult Americans suffering from mental illness receive the care they need.\r\n \r\nFor more information about the 21st Century Cures Act, click\u00a0here.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=048784F4-8A80-4B79-B408-B37D08E3BD03"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6998199969530106, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}