Alzheimer’s Disease and its related dementias affect communities across our great Commonwealth and our nation indiscriminately. This terrible disease takes our loved ones from us and puts a strain on families working to provide care throughout their loved one’s battle with the disease.

Right now, nearly seven million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s Disease, and sadly one in three seniors will die from it or another related dementia. By 2050, this number is projected to rise to 12.7 million Americans, meaning that without action over ten percent of people aged 65 and over will eventually have Alzheimer’s disease.

This isn’t just conceptual to me. Like so many others, my family has dealt with the terrible effects of Alzheimer’s, having lost a family member in 2023 after a year’s long battle with the disease. Bringing relief to families and caregivers across our communities has been a top priority for me.

That’s why last year I proudly worked with both Republicans and Democrats, including my lead cosponsor Congressman Paul Tonko of New York, to ensure relief finally comes to our communities. Together, Congress passed my Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Reauthorization Act unanimously. It was signed into law this past December, authorizing crucial funding to our caregivers and researchers across Kentucky and the nation.

This critical bill reauthorized the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act of 2018, which I helped to lead through Congress before it was signed into law by President Trump in 2019. It created programs to support prevention, detection, treatment, and care for patients with Alzheimer’s and related neurological diseases.

Building upon that effort, the BOLD Reauthorization Act will help to continue the work we started in 2018 and ensure these programs continue to operate effectively and efficiently. This law will enable continued research into Alzheimer’s Disease and caregiver support services including more hands-on educational resources for those providing care for their loved ones. It will also help support local efforts to detect and diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease sooner, especially for those in rural and medically underserved communities.

This law provides critical support as our Kentucky communities are at the forefront of this fight with 81,000 people aged 65 and older living with Alzheimer’s and 157,000 caregivers providing support in our Commonwealth alone. With this law, I am proud that our communities will continue to treat those currently facing the disease as well as support funding for critical research that will some day help bring an end to this awful disease. The more we know about Alzheimer’s, the sooner we can appropriately treat it, giving patients more precious time with their loved ones and easing the significant caregiver challenges associated with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

Although I am proud of this significant accomplishment, I know our fight is not over until we are able to eradicate Alzheimer’s once and for all. As your member of Congress and as the Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce I will never stop working to achieve this goal.

— Congressman Brett Guthrie, KY-02.