mr.chairman , i rise today to join my colleagues in urging full funding of the national children 's study .  two of the most important health studies ever conducted were large , ambitious epidemiological studies .  the framingham study followed the health and risk factors of thousands of men and women for fifty years .  the result has been a major change in the way we view , treat and prevent heart diseases .  the nurse 's study has monitored the health of over one hundred thousand women for decades .  it , too , has resulted in unprecedented leaps forward in public health .  now , we must turn our attention to one of the biggest sources of public health threats of our time : our own environment .  the national children 's study will follow 100 , 000 children from before birth until age 21 .  similar to the framingham study and the nurse 's study , it could yield giant steps forward in our efforts to solve some of the most complex and pervasive health problems of our time : obesity , asthma , and autism are just a few .  and we could start to see results within a few years of data collection .  yet the study has been left in a holding pattern .  in order to begin recruiting participants in the study , 69 million dollars is required for this year .  only 12 million dollars is provided in the fy 06 labor hhs bill .  i hope that the conference committee allocates 69 million dollars in the conference report for the fy 06 labor hhs appropriations bill to the national children 's study .  we are not doing our future children any favors by postponing this study until it is financially convenient .  the need is here .  the possibilities are here .  