Senator Collins Forecasts Appropriations Priorities

Portland, ME — U.S. Senator Susan Collins has long championed robust federal funding for biomedical research, which aims to understand, treat, and one day cure diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s that affect nearly every American family.  In an address at the first-ever Maine biomedical research symposium, she told an audience of the state’s top biomedical researchers that she will continue to prioritize this funding as the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

“There simply is no investment we can make that provides greater returns for Americans than our investment in biomedical research.  It is not an exaggeration to say that biomedical research improves and changes lives and can change the world,” Senator Collins said.

“Since 2015, Congress has increased funding for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health by $15.4 billion. That's a 51% increase,” Senator Collins continued. “We need to continue full speed ahead to boost federal research dollars so that we can keep this critical momentum going and realize the returns on our investment. What is not helpful is a stop-and-go policy, where Congress some years provides a lot of money, then retrenches in the next year. We need to have the pathway to funding established so that researchers, scientists, physicians and others will feel confident that if they're working in an area that grants will continue to support them…When a new Congress convenes in January, I will be the lead Republican, and, I hope, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  In my new role, I will continue to advocate for robust federal support for biomedical research.”

She touted “so many examples” of where this increased federal investment has yielded significant results, including advancements in Alzheimer’s disease research and diabetes technology, specifically, the development of the artificial pancreas – “a real breakthrough and potentially the most significant advance in diabetes care since the discovery of insulin.”

In January of 2023, Senator Collins will become the lead Republican on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending for the federal government, including biomedical research.

The Symposium was held in Innovation Hall on the University of New England’s Portland campus and showcased Maine’s growing leadership in the increasingly important field of biomedical research.  It was jointly organized by the University of Maine, University of New England, University of Southern Maine, Roux Institute, The Jackson Laboratory, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, MaineHealth and Northern Light Health.