Legislation authorizing $1.3B for autism research passes Senate, awaits president's signature
Source: By Nicole Mulvaney | Times of Trenton
on August 01, 2014 at 1:58 PM, updated August 01, 2014 at 2:05 PM
File photo of U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th District). (Courtesy of Chris Smith)
Legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th District) authorizing $1.3 billion over five years for federal autism research passed the Senate Thursday night.
The bill cleared the House of Representatives in June and is now awaiting President Obamas signature into law.
By passing this legislation, Congress assures individuals with autism and their families that they will not be left behind, and that we are working to assist and empower them, Smith said in a news release.
The Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support or Autism CARES Act tasks federal agencies with examining and anticipating needs for adolescents with autism who are aging out of their school-based support systems, the release said.
Read more: http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2014/08/legislation_authorizing_13b_for_autism_research_passes_senate_awaits_presidents_signature.html
Indydem
(2,642 posts)I'm guessing about a billion.
Skittles
(153,220 posts)while his caretakers go on vacation
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)apprehensive.
How old is your brother?
Skittles
(153,220 posts)he functions fairly well with simple tasks but certainly needs supervision
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)designed to teach more meta-thinking skills that will, hopefully, allow for less supervision.
She's a genius, yet you have to remind her to eat and change her underwear.
Skittles
(153,220 posts)I long ago stopped despairing trying to get him to enter my world; instead, when I am here I adapt to his
you are right though - they CAN and do learn
pipoman
(16,038 posts)TIMETOCHANGE
(86 posts)The rates of children born with autism is insane. I know folks who work with autistic children and its become an issue in my family law practice. We need some serious funding to discover the cause, prevent the cause, and treat those already afflicted. We got to start somewhere. Hopefully this is that start.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)PETITION EXCERPT:
Last night the Senate passed by unanimous consent the re-authorization of the former Combating Autism Act (House Resolution HR 4631.) It allows $260 million per year for the next five years to be spent on research related to autism. The bill now goes to President Obama.
Our criticism of the bill is straightforward: the money to date has been misspent, and the overall level of effort is paltry compared to the scope of the epidemic. According to the CDC there are 1 million people in the US with ASD and the same number infected with HIV/AIDS. Unlike autism, official medicine knows the cause of AIDS, effective prevention methods are known, and highly effective treatments are available as well, yet we are still spending more than 10 times as much on HIV/AIDS research as autism. The Government Accountability Office issued a report showing that 84% of autism research is potentially duplicative. The epidemiology done by the CDC is designed not to be able to answer the obvious question: Is the autism rate going up? And we are spending eight times as much on dead-end genetic research than finding environmental causes.
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