II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1555 

To establish the Office of the National Alzheimer’s Project. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2009 

Mr. MARTINEZ (for himself, Mr. BAYH, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BENNET, Mr. 

FEINGOLD, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish the Office of the National Alzheimer’s Project. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Office of the National Alzheimer’s Project Act’’. 

6 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that according to the 

7 2009 Alzheimer’s Study Group National Strategic Plan 

8 and the 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures re9 port of the Alzheimer’s Association— 

10 (1) Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, debili11 tating, terminal disease with no known cure; 


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1 (2) Alzheimer’s disease was the sixth leading 

2 cause of death in the United States for all ages in 

3 2006 and the fifth leading cause of death for people 

4 age 65 and older; 

5 (3) currently, an estimated 5,300,000 Ameri6 cans of all ages have Alzheimer’s disease, and 13 

7 percent of people age 65 and older have Alzheimer’s 

8 disease; 

9 (4) of those with Alzheimer’s disease some mi10 nority populations are disproportionately suffering 

11 from the disease; 

12 (5) there are 78,000,000 people in the baby 

13 boom generation, and in 2011, the first baby 

14 boomers will turn 65, and by 2029, all baby boomers 

15 will be at least 65 years old; 

16 (6) the number of people aged 65 and older 

17 with Alzheimer’s disease is estimated to reach 

18 7,700,000 in 2030, more than a 50 percent increase 

19 from the 5,100,000 aged 65 and older who are cur20 rently affected; 

21 (7) the 85 years and older population currently 

22 comprises nearly 50 percent of the individuals with 

23 Alzheimer’s disease, or about 2,700,000 people, and 

24 by the time the first wave of baby boomers reaches 

25 age 85 years (2031), there will be an estimated 


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1 3,500,000 people aged 85 and older with Alz2 heimer’s; 

3 (8) in 2008, 9,900,000 unpaid caregivers pro4 vided care valued at $94,000,000,000 for a person 

5 with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia; 

6 (9) total per-person payments from all sources 

7 for health and long-term care were three times high8 er for Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s dis9 ease: $33,007 compared to $10,603; 

10 (10) in 2009 the Federal Government will 

11 spend more than $100,000,000,000 through Medi12 care and Medicaid to care for those with Alzheimer’s 

13 disease; 

14 (11) if the United States follows current trends 

15 the Federal Government will spend more than 

16 $1,000,000,000,000 per year by 2050 on Alz17 heimer’s disease care; and 

18 (12) between 2010 and 2050 Medicare and 

19 Medicaid programs are projected to spend 

20 $20,000,000,000,000 for Alzheimer’s disease care. 

21 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL ALZHEIMER’S PROJECT. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.—There is estab23 lished in the Office of the President the Office of the Na24 tional Alzheimer’s Project (referred to in this Act as the 

25 ‘‘Office’’). 


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1 (b) PURPOSE OF THE OFFICE.—The Office shall— 

2 (1) accelerate the development of treatments 

3 that would prevent, halt, or reverse the course of 

4 Alzheimer’s; 

5 (2) be responsible for the creation and mainte6 nance of an integrated national plan to overcome 

7 Alzheimer’s; 

8 (3) help to coordinate the health care and treat9 ment of citizens with Alzheimer’s; 

10 (4) ensure the inclusion of ethnic and racial 

11 populations at higher risk for Alzheimer’s or least 

12 likely to receive care, in clinical, research, and serv13 ice efforts with the purpose of decreasing health dis14 parities in Alzheimer’s; and 

15 (5) coordinate with international bodies to inte16 grate and inform the fight against Alzheimer’s glob17 ally. 

18 (c) DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE.— 

19 (1) APPOINTMENT.—The President by and with 

20 the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint 

21 a Director of the Office. 

22 (2) DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Of24 fice shall— 


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1 (i) oversee the creation and updating 

2 of the national plan described in subpara3 graph (B); 

4 (ii) use discretionary authority to 

5 evaluate all Federal programs around Alz6 heimer’s, including budget requests and 

7 approvals; and 

8 (iii) prepare and submit to the Presi9 dent the annual budget estimate for the 

10 Office. 

11 (B) NATIONAL PLAN.—The Director of the 

12 Office shall carry out an annual assessment of 

13 the Nation’s progress in preparing for the esca14 lating burden of Alzheimer’s, including both im15 plementation steps and recommendations for 

16 priority actions based on the assessment. 

17 (3) SERVICE BY DIRECTOR.—The Director of 

18 the Office shall serve— 

19 (A) on the advisory board of the Office of 

20 Science and Technology to promote research ef21 forts into mechanisms to slow and stop the de22 velopment of Alzheimer’s for those at risk of 

23 developing the disease, or may appoint a des24 ignee to sit on such board; and 


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1 (B) on the Domestic Policy Council to rep2 resent those who have or will develop Alz3 heimer’s, including on matters of housing, 

4 transportation, and education. 

5 (d) ADVISORY COUNCIL.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

7 Office an Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research 

8 and Treatment (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Advi9 sory Council’’). 

10 (2) MEMBERSHIP.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Council 

12 shall be comprised of the following: 

13 (i) A designee of the Office of Science 

14 of the Department of Energy. 

15 (ii) A designee of the Office of the 

16 Secretary of the Department of Health and 

17 Human Services. 

18 (iii) A designee of the Administration 

19 on Aging. 

20 (iv) A designee of the Centers for 

21 Medicare & Medicaid Services. 

22 (v) A designee of the Indian Health 

23 Service. 


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1 (vi) A designee of the Office of the 

2 Director of the National Institutes of 

3 Health. 

4 (vii) The Surgeon General. 

5 (viii) A designee of the National 

6 Science Foundation. 

7 (ix) A designee of the Department of 

8 Veterans Affairs. 

9 (B) NON-FEDERAL MEMBERS.— 

10 (i) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the 

11 members outlined in subparagraph (A), the 

12 Advisory Council shall include 12 members 

13 from outside the Federal Government, in14 cluding 2 members who are patient advo15 cate members and 2 members who rep16 resent States, and members appointed pur17 suant to clause (ii). 

18 (ii) CONGRESSIONAL APPOINT19 MENTS.— 

20 (I) IN GENERAL.—In addition to 

21 the members outlined in subparagraph 

22 (A) and clause (i), the majority and 

23 minority leaders of the Senate and the 

24 Speaker and minority leader of the 

25 House of Representatives shall each 


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1 appoint 2 members from the pool de2 scribed in clause (II) to the Advisory 

3 Council for a 2-year term, with each 

4 such member eligible to be re5 appointed. 

6 (II) REMAINING NON-FEDERAL

7 MEMBERS.—The remaining non-Fed8 eral members shall be representatives 

9 of academia, research, health and 

10 elder care delivery (both community11 based and institutional), technology, 

12 or other related sectors. 

13 (III) VACANCIES.—Any member 

14 appointed under this clause to fill a 

15 vacancy occurring prior to the expira16 tion of the term for which the mem17 ber’s predecessor was appointed shall 

18 be appointed for the remainder of 

19 such term. A member appointed under 

20 this clause shall serve until the mem21 ber’s replacement has been appointed. 

22 (3) MEETINGS.—The Advisory Council shall 

23 meet quarterly and such meetings shall be open to 

24 the public. 


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1 (4) ADVICE.—The Advisory Council shall advise 

2 the Director of the Office. 

3 (5) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Advisory Council 

4 shall provide to the Director of the Office— 

5 (A) recommendations for information to be 

6 included in the annual report to Congress by 

7 the Office; and 

8 (B) an annually updated national plan. 

9 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Director of the Office 

10 shall submit to Congress— 

11 (1) an annual report that includes an evalua12 tion of all nationally and federally funded efforts in 

13 Alzheimer’s research, clinical care, institutional, and 

14 home- and community-based programs and their 

15 outcomes; and 

16 (2) an annually updated national plan. 

17 (f) SUNSET.—The Office shall expire on December 

18 31, 2025. 

Æ 


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