U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko’s office announced Friday that the U.S. Senate passed the National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act, sending it to the White House where President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law.
Tonko, D-Amsterdam, pushed for the bill’s passing in collaboration with Mark Burek, a local Parkinson’s patient and Tonko’s guest at Biden’s State of the Union Address on March 7. U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Florida, co-sponsored the bill with Tonko in the House of Representatives. The bipartisan bill was then moved to the U.S. Senate by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia.
“We need a national plan to end Parkinson’s, and that requires serious collaboration across the public and private sector,” Murphy said in a statement. “This legislation would make sure the federal government is doing everything it can to find a cure and support patients and their families.”
According to Tonko’s office, the primary objective of the legislation is to write a national plan to cure and prevent cases of Parkinson’s while also alleviating the financial burden on the government and families impacted by the disease.
Tonko said in a 2023 press release, “Our legislation will foster a much-needed, coordinated, pioneering national response — from federal agencies to local stakeholders — to prevent and end the disease of Parkinson’s. I know that, with our continued bipartisan collaboration and the strong advocacy of dedicated stakeholders, we will make this compassionate bill the law of the land.”
The potential impact of the bill was recognized by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
“This historic bill would foster collaboration between the public and private sectors toward better treatments and access to quality care that every person and family touched by this disease urgently needs,” Fox Foundation co-Founder and CEO Deborah W. Brooks said in a statement.
Citizens living with Parkinson’s disease also voiced their support of the passing of this bill.
“The National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act gives people suffering from Parkinson’s disease new hope for a cure,” said Charleston businessman and Parkinson’s patient George Manahan in a statement.
The bill is expected to be on President Biden’s desk in the coming days.
