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WASHINGTON -- Taking time out from symposiums and poster sessions, close to 500 attendees of the American Thoracic Society's annual meeting -- ATS 2017 -- assembled in view of the U.S. Capitol building Tuesday afternoon to rally in support of science.
Billed as "Lab Coats for Lungs," the rally was held to send a message to the Trump administration and Congress that science matters, organizer and ATS Chief of Advocacy and Government Relations Gary Ewart told MedPage Today.
"I've been with ATS for 22 years and this is the first time, to my knowledge, that we have held a rally," Ewart said.
"The current administration and some of its policies threaten the things we care about. The proposed cuts in NIH research budgets, the significant cuts in EPA's budget, and the rollback of Medicaid expansion are all things we care about, and we needed to speak out."
Ewart said the rally was meant to be aspirational, "to highlight the things we are for, not against."
"We are for clean air, we are for research, we are for access to care for our patients," he said.
U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Ed Markey (D-MA) were among the speakers, and both voiced strong criticism of the Trump administration's 2018 budget, delivered to Congress earlier in the day.
The budget proposes massive cuts to spending for scientific and medical research along with disease prevention programs and medical coverage for people living in poverty.
Under the Trump budget, federal funding for the National Institutes of Health would be slashed from $31.8 billion to $26 billion, including a $1 billion cut to the National Cancer Institute's budget alone, according to the
The budget would cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency which would represent the lowest spending level for the agency in 4 decades.
Sen. Markey called on the health professionals gathered under grey skies to remain politically active and vocal in their opposition to the budget cuts.
"The scientists, the physicians in our country are under assault with this Trump budget," he said, specifically calling out the proposed EPA cuts as a significant threat to clean air and clean water.
"What the polluters are hoping is that they can get this stuff through without a big public debate. But the most respected voices in our society on this are the scientists. So we need you here today. We need you to raise your voices every day for the next 3 years and 40 weeks until we rid this pathology of a presidency from the United States of America."
Sen. Carper was also strongly critical of the Trump administration budget, but he expressed optimism that the proposed cuts would be rejected by Congress, noting that the 2017 Omnibus Spending bill agreed on by Congress early in May left federal spending for science and medicine largely untouched.
"The Constitution held, and I'm encouraged by that and you should be as well," he said.
Carper closed his speech by quoting Winston Churchill, who reportedly said following World War II: "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing -- after they've tried everything else."
"We are trying Trump for a while, but I think we are going to be ready to move on to another brand soon," Carper said.
ATS President Elect Polly Parsons, MD, said that for too long the medical community has failed to hold "our leaders and ourselves accountable."
"We proudly announce the development of breakthrough drugs and medical devices," she said. "But we have remained quiet when these breakthrough products were priced beyond the means of most Americans.
"For too long we have let politicians lead the voters astray with the false choice between protecting the environment and growing our economy. A strong economy and a healthy environment are symbiotic."
"We expect the public to fund our research endeavors, but we fail to explain to a larger public why good science is an essential public good."
"It is time for change, and to bring change we must change," she said. "Positive change starts with accountability, so join with me today in saying, 'We hold ourselves accountable.'"
Pulmonologist Karin Provost, DO, of Buffalo, N.Y., told MedPage Today that she felt it was important to attend the rally to show support for her patients.
"Healthcare is a right, not a privilege," she said.
Critical care specialist Stephen Winter, MD, of Norwalk, Conn., said he attended, in part, to show his support for the Affordable Care Act: "Healthcare is under attack in this country right now," he said. "[The ACA] is not perfect, but it's a sincere effort. If we committed to improving it and not doing away with it, we could certainly improve on what we had before and what is being proposed for the future."