ALS patients nation wide are being held hostage this Christmas by a Grinch on Capitol Hill. His name is Tom Coburn, Senator from Oklahoma. The Wall Street Journal posted the front-page article on Dec. 21st and detailed how this Senator worked late while others adjourned for the Holidays. His scrooge style mission was to place a "hold" on selected bills, a procedural maneuver that allows a single senator to prevent a bill from being passed quickly without a roll-call vote or floor debate. The bill held hostage is the ALS Registry Act S.1382. This legislation would authorize the establishment of an ALS Registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The House of Representatives passed the bill on Oct.16, 2007 by an overwhelming 411-3 vote. The Senate H.E.L.P. Committee favorably reported the Senate version of the bill on Nov. 14, 2007 and more than two-thirds of the Senate has cosponsored the bill. The ALS Registry Act is needed to build on projects underway at the CDC and supported by the Congress and the Administration.
This bill was drawn up and introduced by Congressman Elliot Engel, N.Y. in 2004. When this bill finally becomes law it may take the CDC two years to collect the first of its ALS data. My question for Senator Coburn would be to tell me how many ALS patients would die in this five-year period. If we had the ALS Registry Act we would know the facts and much more Senator.
