{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=97D931C1-4EF1-4D54-87F9-ED7C014F54BE", "Alexander: Leader McConnell Announces Senate on Monday Will Take Up Most Important Legislation of the Year", "2016-12-01", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Lamar Alexander", "A000360", "www.alexander.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.,\u00a0Dec. 1\u00a0\u2013 Following Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell\u2019s (R-Ky.) announcement that the Senate will begin its consideration of 21st Century Cures on Monday, Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said he looks forward to getting a result for American patients on this bipartisan legislation that Leader McConnell has called \u201cthe most important legislation Congress will pass this year.\u201d\r\nThe $6.3 billion game-changing 21st Century Cures package\u2014which includes new research funding, mental health reforms, and state grants to fight opioid abuse\u2014passed the House of Representatives yesterday by an overwhelming vote of 392-26.\r\n\u201cThe House of Representatives, with its vote last night of 392-26, has sent an unmistakable message that the time is now to deliver on the promise of 21st Century Cures,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cI look forward to a successful vote in the Senate next week, so we can send this legislation to the White House where the president has his pen ready to sign it.\u201d\r\n\u201cThis legislation will help us seize on the breathtaking advances in biomedical research and bring those innovations to doctors\u2019 offices and patients\u2019 medicine cabinets around the country. It will advance Vice President Biden\u2019s moonshot to find cures for cancer, President Obama\u2019s Precision Medicine Initiative, and Alzheimer\u2019s research. Finally, it will help states in the fight against opioid abuse and help the one in five adults in this country suffering from a mental illness get the treatment they need. I look forward to getting a result on this game-changing legislation on behalf of American patients.\u201d\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 Food and Drug Administration (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 FDA.\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\nImprove electronic health records for doctors and their patients. \u00a0\r\n \r\n\u00a0\r\n###\r\nFor access to this release and the senator\u2019s other statements, click here.\r\nTo stay up-to-date on the senator\u2019s latest actions, follow him on Twitter and YouTube.", 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=97D931C1-4EF1-4D54-87F9-ED7C014F54BE"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4788759872317314, "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"}