Rep. Stewart signs on as co-sponsor of House bill to boost Alzheimer’s disease research

In a file photo, Rep.Chris Stewart, R-Utah, speaks to constituents at a town hall meeting in Hurricane, Utah, Aug. 5, 2019 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A local congressman has signed on as a co-sponsor of a congressional bill that would boost research into Alzheimer’s disease and the funding behind it.

A group of seniors enjoy activities to help their mind stay sharp, unspecified location and date | Photo provided by Memory Matters Utah, St. George News

Rep. Chris Stewart, who represents Southern Utah in the House of Representatives, will co-sponsor the House version of The ENACT Act of 2021, which has sat in the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health since May 2021 (a Senate version of the bill also remains in committee).  

A week before, Stewart expressed his support for the bill to St. George News. 

Jeremy Cunningham, public policy director for the Utah Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, welcomed the news, noting the large elderly population of Southern Utah affected by Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“This will impact generations of families,” Cunningham said. “People of diverse populations are underserved.”

The $240 million bill would have U.S. National Institute on Aging increase research and clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias on specialized populations of the elderly, including racial minorities and the LGBTQ+ community. Congress would authorize $60 million for each of the next four years after the bill’s passage. 

The need to study specific populations was bolstered by the release Thursday of a major study of more than 10,000 women that discovered a particular gene that makes women more susceptible to Alzheimer’s. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than two-thirds of Alzheimer’s victims in the U.S. are women.

Stewart is the 82nd co-sponsor and the second from Utah after Rep. John Curtis. Both congressmen won their Republican primary elections on Tuesday.

The House bill was created by Democratic lawmaker Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Deleware. 

Cunningham said Alzheimer’s doesn’t know political boundaries. 

“Dementia is not a red or blue disease,” Cunningham said. “It’s going to affect everybody.”

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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