Todd Young - Senior Senator for Indiana, 2017-2022

Senator Young earns a C+ for his middling support of science and science funding. While he is a member of the Committee on Finance and the Subcommittee on Health Care, and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, he does not frequently sponsor or co-sponsored bills that would support neuroscience. While he has not actively tried to impede such bills, his lack of active support and non-membership in the NIH caucus hurts his final grade.

“If we can get more minds collectively thinking about medical breakthroughs, about actually curing diseases, as a preventative measure, we can save significant amounts of money in the long term. We can dramatically improve lives in the shorter term.”

Co-sponsored: S.1117 - Gateway to Careers Act of 2019

Mike Braun - Junior Senator for Indiana, 2019-2024

We give Senator Braun a C- for his lack of public statements, bill sponsorship or co-sponsorship, or other signals of support for neuroscience funding. He has broadly stated he is for reducing the budget deficit, but not said anything specifically about discretionary funding. Despite his membership on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Committee on the Budget, and on the Special Committee on Aging, he has not advocated for funding to increase to any neuroscience causes. He is additionally not a member of the NIH Caucus. The senator could improve his score through engaging on neuroscience policy initiatives, publicly supporting increasing the NIH/NSF budgets, and joining his fellow Special Committee on Aging members in supporting increased research for dementias.